USA > Maine > Androscoggin County > Wales > History of Monmouth and Wales, V. 1 > Part 2
USA > Maine > Kennebec County > Monmouth > History of Monmouth and Wales, V. 1 > Part 2
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was, probably, mistaken. The depth of the excava- tions, as well as the great number of relics that have been exhumed, certainly indicate a permanent dwelling place. But still more conclusive evidence exists. When the first settlers built their cabins at East Monmouth, they found an Indian cornfield on the shore of South Pond. The hills were then plainly marked, running in three long rows, from near the water's edge, south- ward, to a point two-thirds of the distance to the brow of the hill. This field has never been disturbed by the plough, and close scrutiny will still reveal the ·outline of the rows. A few years ago, the breaking up plough was put into the soil on the brow of the hill, about ten rods south-west of this cornfield. When the sward was overturned, a stone pavement was dis- covered, covering an area of above four hundred square feet. This pavement was composed of closely packed, round stones. It was nearly as level as a house floor, and was completely covered with a stratum of ashes underlying a layer of earth several inches in depth. Undoubtedly, this is where the savages held their harvest-feasts and powwows. It requires no great stretch of the imagination to picture the whole tribe of painted and feathered Anasagunticooks coming in their canoes, thousands strong, from their villages all along the banks of the Androscoggin and the sides of the quiet lakes and streams, to celebrate some import- ant event at their feasting grounds on the shore of the Anabessacook. Perhaps they gathered here after
the chase, to celebrate, with barbecue and symposium, their successful tournament ; perhaps, with gory scalps dangling from their belts, to leap around the glaring
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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH.
flames, with fierce yells and wild contortions, in the horrible jubilation of a war victory .*
At one time the Anasagunticooks, numbering seven hundred, assembled at Rocomoco, with the intention of attacking and burning Gosstown.t They glided down the Androscoggin in their canoes at dead of night. Before reaching the dangerous rapids of Ameriscoggan (Lewiston Falls), the chief detatched a brave from the fleet with the injunction to paddle with all haste to the highlands above the falls, and there build a signal fire; seeing which, the fleet would land, make a portage around the turbulent waters, and re-embark in the smooth river below. By a timely intervention of Prov- idence-or was it by mere chance that Daniel Malcolm, of Gosstown, a noted Indian-hunter, by them known as Surgurnumby, i. e., "a very strong man," arrived on the scene just as the Indian was fanning into a flame the faint spark that he had produced with steel and flint? Malcolm's keen perception read in this act the whole scheme. Creeping up softly, he dispatched the plotting brave, and, hastily extinguishing the flames, ran to a high point of land far below the falls, and there raised a broad, gleaming beacon. The unsuspecting savages paddled down the river in apparent security. They
*This discovery may have an important bearing on the ancient Pema- quid pavements, concerning which so much speculative history has been written. Since this chapter was begun, I have been apprised of the ex- istence of another of these singular structures on the banks of the Sheepscott. The fact that a deep deposit of loam had formed over the stones, while a century had failed to accumulate a stratum of sufficient depth to obliterate the hills in the cornfield, is good evidence in favor of the theory that this may be a relic of an age anterior to that of the North American Indian. After all our theorizing is concluded, we can only place it on the shelf with the monuments of the Mound Builders and the shell heaps of Newcastle.
tBrunswick. - The Indians called it Pejepscot, the first settlers, Gosstown.
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THE ABORIGINES.
saw the light, and, supposing it to be the one their confederate had built, paddled on into the very jaws of the rapids. Nearly every brave in the fleet was either mangled on the rocks or drowned in the current. And this exploit not only saved the people of Gosstown from a worse fate than that shared by the savages, but con- pletely shattered the strength of the Anasagunticooks. It was their last expedition of warfare.
The Anasagunticooks had a burying ground on Norris's Island, in Wayne, and another at the head- waters of the Jocmunyaw stream, in Wales, on the farmi long known as the Capt. Labree place; now owned by Mr. Daniel P. Boynton, of Monmouth. A great number of relics have been exhumed in both of these places. So far as is known, these were the only general burying places of the Anasagunticooks, al- though they must have had others." The extensive Indian burying grounds at Winslow, Me., from which so many valuable relics have been taken, belonged to the Canibas tribe.
Although the eastern Aborigines usually had special grounds where the bodies of their dead warriors were interred, it is by no means an uncommon occurrence to find one isolated from his fellows-perhaps on account of some misdemeanor or crime; perhaps as a mark of respect, as to a chief. Not many years ago, a massive Indian skeleton was exhumed at East Monmonth, about half way between the house now owned by Mr. Frank Jones and the schoolhouse. James Nichols was the fortunate discoverer. He was shoveling sand from a
*A few of their graves have been found on the west shore of the Cochnewagan. in the pasture belonging to the B. F. Marston estate.
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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH.
bank beside the road, when the blade of his shovel struck the collar bone of the skeleton. By proceeding carefully, the entire frame was unearthed. It proved to be that of a giant, measuring almost seven feet and a half in height. The skull is said to have been as large as a common iron tea-kettle. The body was buried with its feet toward the rising sun; and a complete outfit of implements of warfare, buried at its side, in- dicated that it was that of a warrior-perhaps a saga- more. The bones remained on the spot for two or three years. The schoolboys of that district found in this relic an infinite source of delight. Every recess found them with the skull poised on the crown of a large rock, bombarding it with the arm and leg bones of the dismembered warrior. If any one ventured to question their right to indulge in such acts of desecra- tion, they would pause long enough to ejaculate, "Shooting Injuns!" and resume' their sport with re- doubled vigor.
To the Anasagunticooks we are indebted for the names of many of our beautiful ponds-Cobbossee-con- tee, Cochnewagan, Anabessacook, Sabattis and Andro- scoggin.
Cobbossee-contee, literally translated, is, "Sturgeon many." Originally, the ending, "cook," meaning, "place of," was appended. Thus written, Cobbossee-contee- cook, it signified, "the place of many Sturgeon." Dr. James Cochrane, Jr., whose opinions will be frequently cited in these pages, argues that the word, "Cobbossee," signified"Salmon." Sturgeon were found in the Kenne- bec in plentitude, but none were known to enter the
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THE ABORIGINES.
narrow waters of the Cobbossee-contee, while they almost swarmed with salmon .*
In connection with this, a tradition, quoted by J. W. Hanson, in his history of Gardiner and vicinity, will not prove uninteresting. "When the first red men came from the distant and beautiful northwest, to which the Indian always directed his gaze, and where he fancied were the Happy Hunting Grounds, a small clan settled along the Cobossee-contee,f from its source to its mouth. Scarcely had they pitched their wigwams when, one day, one of their number, a noted brave, went down to the shore, and divesting himself of his clothing, exclaimed, "I am a Sturgeon" or Cabbassa, and plunged into the Kennebec near the mouth of the stream. Immediately a large sturgeon was seen frol- icking among the waves, but though the sanups and sachems of the tribe looked long and anxiously for the warrior's return, and though his squaw and pappooses mourned his absence, he was never seen again. Ever after, when one of the tribe was asked who he was he would reply,'I am a sturgeon' or cabbassa, or, in other words, a red man from Cabbassaguntiag. Gradually the hieroglyph of a sturgeon was adopted as their sym- bol, and was attached to their treaties, or deeds."
Wilson pond received its name from one Wilson, a hunter, from the town of Topsham, or Brunswick, who
*MS. Lectures, delivered about 1851.
tThe name is spelled in various ways - Cobossee-contee, Cabassee- contee, Cabassaguntiag, etc. The Indians having no written language, those who attempted to reduce their words to writing used such charac- ters as would best convey the pure sound; and, as the Indian dialect is replete with gutterals that can hardly be expressed with letters, it is not strange that different writers should use different combinations of symbols to express them. Cochnewagan is also spelled Caughnewagan, Cawnewago, etc.
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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH.
was caught by Indians and drowned near the islands at the head of the pond. Another tradition says that he fell from his boat while intoxicated. The former version, being the more romantic, has the preference.
Sabattis pond took its name from a celebrated chief of the Anasagunticooks who bore that appellation. Sabattis was an Indian of keen intelligence and a skilful diplomatist. His name may be found often in the petitions and documents relating to Indian affairs, on file in the Massachusetts Archives. In 1725, a trading house was established at Fort Richmond. Two years later, Sabattis requested the government to keep stores at Brunswick, saying, "In cold winters and deep snows, my men,unable to go to Fort Richmond, some- times suffer."
In 1717, the General Court of Massachusetts voted to pay seven hundred and fifty dollars, annually, for missions. Sabattis, ever on the alert to promote the interests of his tribe, at once presented to that honorable body a petition, in the name of the praying Indians of the Anasagunticooks, requesting "that ye Great Gover- nor and Council would order a small Praying house to be built near the ffort the English and vs to meet in on Sabbath days." This petition, dated at Fort George, Brunswick, Oct. 3, 1717, was signed by Sabattis and two of his warriors, and interpreted by John Gyles. About the year 1757, during the French war, Sabattis captured, at Topsham, a man by the name of Daniel Eaton, who, in company with John Malcolm, was going to Maquoit for salt hay. Malcolm escaped; but Eaton was wounded in the wrist, captured, and carried to Canada, where Sabattis sold him for four dollars. The
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THE ABORIGINES.
only food the captive had to eat, during the long journey, was a partridge, which his keeper shot. Of this, the kind-spirited, but by no means fastidious, chief reserved only the head and entrails for himself, giving the more palatable portion to Eaton. More than forty years later, Sabattis again passed through Brunswick. He visited a store in the village, where quite a crowd gathered to see the noted old chief, then almost a cen- tenarian. A lad was sent for Eaton, who left his work and joined the crowd at the store. He was immediately recognized by Sabattis, who seemed pleased to meet him. Eaton drew up his sleeve and showed the chief the buckshot that he fired at the time of his capture. Sabattis appeared to be greatly disturbed by this re- minder of the days of "auld lang syne," and remarked, "That long time ago; war times too." After a brief but friendly conversation, the old warrior and his form- er captive shook hands and parted.
In 1775, Sabattis acted as guide to Benedict Arnold when he ascended the Kennebec river on his expedition to Quebec. It is probable that the veteran brave, whom history would have a frequent visitor to the shores of the Kennebec, watched with keen interest the building of Arnold's pontoons, at Pittston, and that the patriotic ardor that marked his youth, and now again his declin- ing years, caused him to forget that seventy, or more, winters had stiffened his limbs when he offered to lead the party through the mazes of the wilds of northern Maine.
When they reached the headwaters of the Kennebec, Sabattis committed the party to the guidance of his brother, Natahnis, who lived in a lonely cabin, far back
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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH.
toward the Canadian frontier. For some reason, Natahnis left the army, and disappeared in the forest. Arnold suspected him of treachery, and, after several days, sent a body of men back through the wilds to his cabin, to surround it and arrest him as a spy. The cabin was found to be deserted ; but near at hand, im- paled on a stake, was a sheet of birch bark, on which Natahnis had sketched a very accurate map of the route to Canada, without which Arnold could hardly have guided his army through the unexplored region of the Chaudiere.
Sabattis died at an age rarely attained by man, beloved by the remnant of his tribe, and respected by those who had once been the avowed enemies of the red man. He was buried, it is supposed, on the mountain in Wales which bears his name.
How the Cochnewagan received its name can only be conjectured. There is a tradition among the Indians that a battle was once fought upon this pond, and that Cochnewagan means "battle" or "fight." According to this tradition, the belligerent parties were the tribe living in this vicinity, and a tribe from Canada. The Canadian Indians conquered; and ever after, as the subjugated braves gazed upon the scene of the conflict, they mournfully exclaimed-"Cochnewagan !"
Drake, who is considered good authority on questions relating to the aborigines, claims that the true trans- lation of the word is, "a place of praying Indians." It is strange that two definitions, which, ethically con- sidered, are diametrically opposed, should be applied to this word, since all this occurred before the advent of church choirs.
L
"THE DEVIL'S DEN," SABATTUS MOUNTAIN. TRADITIONAL SPOT ON WHICH SABATTIS WAS SHOT .-- PAGE 14.
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THE ABORIGINES.
Tradition having testified, we will now turn to his- tory. On the night of the eighth of February, 1690, an attack was made on the village of Schenectady, on the Mohawk, fourteen miles above Albany, N. Y. The enemy consisted of about two hundred French, and a horde of Caghnawaga Indians, under the command of D'Aillebout, DeMantel and LeMoyne. Their first de- sign was against Albany, but having been two-and- twenty days on their march, they were reduced to such straights that they had thoughts of surrendering themselves as prisoners of war. The Indians, there- fore, advised attacking Schenectady. The attack was made in the dead of night. All the houses were surprised simultaneously, and before the frenzied in- mates could rise from their beds, the enemy were in possession ; and almost instantly, the whole village was in flames. The outrages committed by the brutal savages on this occasion, beggar description. Women were outraged, and their children either dashed in pieces against the doorposts, or thrown into the flames before their eyes. Sixty persons were massacred and about thirty made prisoners. The rest fled, naked, through the deep snow, in the midst of a terrible storm. In this flight, twenty-five of the unhappy fugitives lost their limbs through the severity of the weather. The enemy pillaged the town and went off with the plunder, which included about forty of the best horses. The rest, with all the cattle they could
find, they left slaughtered. As soon as the news reached Albany, the Mohawk Indians joined a party of young men from that place, and, pursuing the murderers and falling upon their rear, killed and
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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH.
captured nearly thirty of them. How far they pur- sued them is not known. There is, however, a tradition among the Mohawk Indians that they pur- sued them as far as the borders of this pond, and that the battle fought at this time gave the pond its name. It will hardly do to give this great credence. It is far more in accord with reason to fix upon a place upon the Mohawk river, six miles below Albany, called Caughnewaga, as the place where the fight occurred between the retreating fiends and the pursuing aven- gers-whence the name, Caughnewaga-a fight. But there is no reason to doubt that the tribe, or clan of the Anasagunticook tribe, living on the shores of Cochnewaga pond was the assaulting party at the time of this outrage. It is generally supposed that the Caughnewagas who committed this act of brutality were those who dwelt on the Mohawk river. This, the bare facts contradict. This tribe was a branch of the Mohawks, who had, as all historians know, always been on most amicable terms with the English settlers, aiding them in their wars against the French and the Eastern Indians.
The facts in favor of the supposition that the assault- ing tribe was from the vicinity of Monmouth are these : the distance from here to the scene of the massacre is about four hundred miles. An Indian travelling on snow-shoes at the rate of twenty miles in a day, would cover the distance in just about the space of time which authorities claim was consumed on the journey-twenty-two days. One narrator states that the Indians came from Canada. The towns of Jay and Canton were formerly known as "Phipps Canada,"
THE ABORIGINES.
which appellative became, in the course of time, con- tracted to simply Canada .* Here was Rocomoco, the headquarters of the Anasagunticooks, of which the Cochnewagans were a branch. But most conclusive of all is the fact, that, so far as is known, no other locality of the Eastern States bears the name of the assaulting horde. There is, indeed, in the vicinity of the Madawaska settlements, on the northern frontier, the lingering spark of a tribe called the Cochnewagas; but it is composed of descendants of the small tribe of natives that the first settlers found dwelling on the shore of this pond, who pushed back into the northern wilds soon after their domains were invaded. After a careful examination of all accessible records relating to this subject, the writer is firm in the conviction that the tribe which became notorious for this atrocity started from Phips Canada, having resorted there from the shores of the Cochnewagan to receive instruction from the grand sachem, and, journeying westward, met the French troops from Montreal, by preconcerted agree- ment, and, with them, marched against Schenectady.
The Jocmunyaw received its name from an old hun- ter and trapper by the name of John Munyaw, who made the banks of that stream his principal resort. Tradition opens its voluminous pages again with the claim that Munyaw was a red man. Whether this be true or not, it is not to be doubted that "Jock" as he was familiarly called, was a tangible being, and that the stream perpetuates his memory.
Purgatory Pond, the greater part of which lies with-
*This tract was granted to Capt. Phipps and sixty-three others for services rendered in the Indian wars.
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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH.
in the limits of Monmouth, was christened by a party of hunters who encamped on its shores to pursue their vocation. The black flies tormented them beyond the power of endurance, and they finally abandoned their camp, leaving behind, as a token of their appreciation of the delights of the locality the name it still bears.
A great deal of romance attaches to the history of the lakes and streams about us. Much of this is obviously mythical. From a mass of folk-lore and history, the foregoing has been carefully selected, avoiding everything that did not bear well-defined marks of authenticity.
In closing this chapter, the reader is invited to take a stroll over the hill that rises from the western rim of the Cochnewagan, following the old Lewiston road down from its brow, as far as the farm buildings of Mr. Kingsbury. Turning abruptly to the right, we will then follow a wood road leading through the pasture until we reach the edge of the woodland. Turning to the right again, we confront the last relic of the original forest growth. It is a massive white birch, girding, at least, eight feet, and crowned with a mass of twisted scrawny limbs that have writhed in the storms of a hundred winters, and may yet sway in the breezes of another century; for the land on which it stands was sold with the understanding that this veteran should remain unmolested until the elements level its proud form. Close scrutiny reveals the fact that it rises from the centre of a stone fire place, and that a parallelogram is described around it in traces of an old log wall.
This decayed wall measures about nine and twelve
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THE ABORIGINES.
feet on its respective sides, with the stone work and its superincumbent pile at the southern end.
Sometime during the progress of the Revolutionary war, a deserter from the American Army came into the wilderness of Maine to escape the penalty of his offence. Selecting a spot far from any human habita- tion, on the side of a densely wooded hill, he built a cabin of rough logs, covered overhead with hemlock bark and boughs, and settled down to reflect on his past life and probable future.
Knowing that he could never with safety return to his former habitation, he endeavored to supply himself, as far as possible, with the comforts of life. He soon had his cabin surrounded by a flourishing orchard, and was enjoying the prospect of a coming fruitage, when he heard the sharp ring of a woodman's axe in the forest, not a gunshot from his home.
Fear of detection and apprehension drove away any pleasant anticipations that the prospect of meeting another of his kind may have afforded, and this fear, it is to be supposed, drove him farther back into the forest, where again the only sounds that could greet his ears were the fierce howl of wolves and the blood- curdling screech of the wild-cat.
Down at the foot of the hill on which his cabin rested, snuggling under its sturdy sides as if for protection, lay a tiny sheet of water with a circular border, carved as if by artifice. Its smooth face, protected from the winds by the topping hills, was always smiling when the weary outcast canie down to fill his birchen bucket. If a pencil of sunlight found its way down through the dense foliage, it was thrown back into his frowning face,
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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH.
as if to brighten not only his features but his dreary life. And when the clouds thickened above it and darkling shadows spread themselves over its sensitive surface, it seemed to glance up with sympathy that caused the lonely recluse to feel that he was not with- out companionship. Then, too, its mirrored surface gave him the only sight of humanity that was afforded him in all his years of solitude.
Is it strange that he should often resort to its mossy banks? And is it not fitting that this companion of his dreary life should still be wedded to his memory ? That it should ever bear his name in - Bonney Pond.
CHAPTER II.
THE FIRST SETTLERS.
VERY early in the seventeenth century, Europeans began to land upon the shores of Maine and to ascend the rivers, as far as navigable, into the interior. At first, voyagers were attracted to our shores by the hope of discovering some mine of precious metals or jewels. Although neither gold, silver nor diamonds greeted their eyes, their anticipations of discovering a mine of wealth were not wholly blasted, for a highly remunera- tive traffic was established with the natives. But this traffic, although it brought wealth into the coffers of the European adventurers, proved in the end highly disastrous, and brought calamity upon their heads and the heads of their children.
Vessels loaded with trinkets as gaudy as the autumn leaves that fell in the New England forests, and pos- sessing about the same intrinsic value, visited the new country and returned freighted with furs valued at thousands of dollars.
It was not long, however, before the natives began to
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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH.
realize that they were not receiving an adequate return for their products and this source of revenue became unfruitful.
About that time gentlemen of opulence and ability attempted to found colonies upon the Sagadahoc* and Kennebec rivers. Although they found no difficulty in securing the requisite number of volunteers to the adventurous enterprise, their plans were thwarted and their hopes unrealized. Unwilling to open the vast resources that lay ready to reward the willing muscle, and disappointed in the hope of founding an aristocracy to be supported on the sinewy backs of the tawny skinned natives, the indolent malcontents turned the prows of their shallops towards the east, and set sail for the mother country.
It was not until the Pilgrim Fathers landed upon the shores of Plymouth that permanent settlements began to be founded upon the shores of New England. Soon after the principle of industry found a footing in Maine ; but, alas! it came too late. Scarcely the first harvest ripened on the rich soil of the Kennebec before the germ of distrust and hatred, that had been sown in the hearts of the natives by the early adventurers, burst into full flower. Speak as we may of the cruelty of the American Indian, judge him as we may for his atroci- ties, we must admit that the terrible outrages which our fathers suffered only instanced the truth of the proverb,-"The fathers have eaten a sour grape and the children's teeth are set on edge." It is only necessary to read a few pages in the early history of
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