History of York County, Maine, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 15

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 730

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CHAPTER XVI. FOURTH INDIAN WAR.

All the Eastern Tribes Engaged-Measures of Defense-Indians Seize and Arm English Vessels-Destruction of Norridgewock-Death of Father Râle-Expedition of Captain Lovell-Desperate Battle with the Sokokis-Dummer's Treaty signed at Falmouth.

THE period from 1722 to the winter of 1726 was one of constant war with the Indians. All the eastern tribes were

engaged in the struggle. Although the French did not appear openly in this war, for fear of violating the treaty between the two nations, yet they zealously worked in secret by means of their priests and agents to incite the Indians to an attempt to dispossess the English of the lands which had been conveyed by their sagamores, and to either exter- minate the white settlements or restrict them to a portion of the country in the western part of the province. In an interview, in 1724, the sagamores told the commissioners of Massachusetts that " if the English would abolish all their forts, remove one mile westward of the Saco River, rebuild their church at Norridgewoek, and restore to them their missionary father, they would be brothers again." In the former treaty they had conveyed their lands to the English, and agreed to become British subjects. But they little un- derstood the import of these acts. The Indians supposed that all the conveyance which a sagamore intended to give was merely the consent of his people for the whites to occupy the lands in common with themselves; whereas the English believed that all their rights to the land were entirely extin- guished upon the Androscoggin, the Kennebec, and other rivers of which the sagamores had given deeds. This con- troversy could only be settled in blood and the extermina- tion of the inferior race, as it has been settled over nearly the entire continent. The Indians, foresecing that such must be the result of the struggle if they yielded to the English, resolved to unite their strength and make one more deter- mined effort to retain their country and the graves of their fathers. Every effort to conciliate them now proved fruit- less, and the war broke out on the 13th of June, 1722.

At this time a party of sixty Canibas and Anasagunti- cooks landed, in twenty canoes, ou the northern shore of Merrymeeting Bay, and took nine families. At Damaris- cove, in North Yarmouth, they boarded a fishing-vessel, and when they had pinioned Lieut. Tilton and his brother, unmercifully beat the commander. They next made an attack upon Fort St. George, burnt a sloop, and took sev- eral prisoners. They, however, in the siege lost twenty of their men, and on account of the heavy rains were obliged to discontinue. Soon after, they set fire to the village of Brunswiek, which was reduced to ashes. On the 12th of July they made an attack upon Casco; the English were driven into the garrison, but at night the Indians were pur- sued by Capt. Starman, and several of them killed. On the 25th of July the General Court declared war against the eastern Indians as the king's enemies, and as traitors and robbers. A force of one thousand men was raised, two armed vessels and several whaleboats brought into the ser- vice. These men were distributed as follows : one hundred at York, thirty at Falmouth, twenty at North Yarmouth, ten at Maquoit, twenty-five at Arrowsic, and twenty-five at Richmond fort. A large force was appointed to range per- petually between the Penobscot and Kennebec, and to de- stroy the strongholds of the Indians. Bounties of sixty ponnds, afterwards raised to one hundred pounds, were awarded for Indian scalps, and other vigorous measures entered into. Command of the forces was given first to Col. Walton, and afterwards to Col. Thomas Westbrook, who made an expedition to the Penobscot, destroying considera- ble Indian property.

* Massachusetts Records, 1719.

HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY, MAINE.

In April an attack was made on Falmouth, and Sergt. Chubb, being taken for the commander of the garrison, was pierced by eleven balls. In May two men were killed in Berwick, one in Wells, and two on their way from that town to York. On the 19th of April and 26th of June the garrison-house of Roger Deering, in Scarborough, was sur- prised ; his wife, two of the inhabitants, and two soldiers were killed. Also, John Hunnewell, Robert Jordan, Mary Scamman, and Deering's three children, while picking ber- ries, were seized and carried into captivity. Five Indians, in August, entered the field of Dominiens Jordan, a princi- pal inhabitant of Saco, fired at him and wounded him in three places. He, however, protected himself with his gun, retreating baek wards, while they were reloading, and made his escape to the fort.

The Indians again appeared at Arrowsie, and beset the garrison, still commanded by Capt. Penhallow. Turning away suddenly, they made three of the inhabitants pris- oners, as they were driving their cows to pasture, nor did they leave the island until they had killed a large number of cattle. At Purpooduck, May 27th, a party killed a man and wounded another ; and about the same time David Hill, a friendly Indian, was shot at Saco. Afterwards the savages for a month or more withdrew from Maine to New Hampshire and the frontier settlements eastward. Never- theless, a party of twenty-five fell upon the garrison at Spurwink, July 17th, and killed Solomon Jordan at their first approach, as he was stepping out of his gate. This was a timely alarm. The next morning the enemy re- treated, pursued by Lieut. Bane, from the fort, attended by about thirty men, who, overtaking the Indians, obtained one scalp, which commanded a bounty of one hundred pounds to the pursuers.

So well prepared this year were most of the places as- sailed that the savages obtained comparatively little booty. They therefore rushed down upon the sea-coast and under- took to seize upon all the vessels they could find in the east- ern harbors. New to them as this kind of enterprise was, they were in a few weeks in possession of twenty-two vessels of various descriptions, two of which were shallops taken at the Isles of Shoals, eight fishing-vessels, found at the Fox Island thoroughfare, one a large schooner armed with two swivels, and the others prizes taken at different places. Iu these successful feats of piraey they killed twenty-two men, and retained a still greater number prisoners. These were generally the skippers and best sailors, whom they compelled to serve on their motley fleet, and, supplying themselves with armed Mickmacks from Cape Sable, they became a terror to all the vessels which sailed along the eastern shores.

One of the most noted events of the year 1724 was the destruction of the Indian settlement at Norridgewock, and the death of Father Rale, the Jesuit priest, who had long resided there, and whose influence in instigating the Indians to hostilities against the English settlers was well known. He had, indeed, been the chief agent by whom the Gov- ernor of Canada had kept the animosity of the savages in a continual blaze, and in his religious teaching, which ex- erted a strong influence over them, he had ineulcated doc- trines which aroused their deepest passions and prejudices. For these reasons Norridgewock was singled out for de-

struction. The execution was committed to a detach- ment of two hundred and eight men, divided into four companies, commanded respectively by Capts. Moulton, Har- mon, Bourne, and Bane. They left Richmond fort on the 19th of August, and ascended the Kennebec River in seven- teen whale-boats, arriving about noon on the 22d in sight of the village. Here the detachment was divided,-Capt. Har- mon taking sixty men and going off towards the mouth of Sandy River, where smoke was seen, and it was supposed that some of the Indians were at work in their corn-fields, and Capt. Moulton forming his men into three nearly equal bands, and proceeding directly upon the village. All the Indians were in their wigwams, when one happening to step out, glaneed around and discovered the English close upon them. He instantly gave the war-whoop and ran in for his gun. The amazement and consternation of the whole village were now exhibited; the warriors, about sixty in all, seized their guns and fired at the assailants, but in their tremor and excitement they overshot them, and not a man was hurt. A discharge was instantly returned, which did effectual execution. The Indians fired a second volley without breaking Moulton's ranks. Then, rushing to the river, they tried to escape. The stream at this season was only about sixty feet wide, and in no place more than six feet deep. A few jumped into their canoes, but for- getting to take their paddles, were in a hopeless dilemma ; and all, especially the old men, women, and children, fled in every direction. The soldiers shot them in their flight to the woods, upon the water, and wherever they could bring their guns to bear upon them. About fifty landed upon the opposite side, and about one hundred and fifty more effected their escape into the thickets, where they could not be followed.

The pursuers then returned to the village, where they found the Jesuit in oue of the wigwams firing upon a few of the English, who had not followed the eseaping fugitives. He had with him in the wigwam an English boy, fourteen years of age, who had been a prisoner six months. This boy he shot through the thigh, as Harmon states upon oath, and afterwards stabbed in the body, though he finally recovered. Moulton had given orders to spare the life of Râle, but Jaques, a lieutenant, finding he was firing from the wigwam and had wounded one of the soldiers, stove open the door and shot him through the head. As an excuse for the act, Jaques declared that when he entered the wig- wam Râle was loading his gun, and declared he would neither give nor take quarter.

Mogg, an aged and noted chief,* was shut up in another wigwam, from which he fired and killed one of the three Mohawks who had accompanied the expedition. This so enraged his brother that he broke through the door and shot the old sagamore dead, and the soldiers dispatched his squaw and children.

The soldiers, posting a strong guard, spent the night in the wigwams. When it was light, they counted, as two authors state, twenty-seven, and as a third says, thirty, dead bodies, including that of the Jesuit and several noted saga- mores.

# A different Indian from the chief known as Mugg, killed near the close of the first war (see Chap. x.).

FOURTH INDIAN WAR.

The plunder they brought away consisted of the plate and furniture of the altar, a few guns, blankets and kettles, and about three barrels of powder. After leaving the place, on their march to Teconnet, one of the Mohawks, either sent back or returning of his own accord, set fire to the chapel and cottages, and they were all reduced to ashes. Râle, the Jesuit, had ministered thirty-seven years to the Indians in this place .* On the 27th the detachment ar- rived at Fort Richmond without the loss of a man. It was an exploit exceedingly gratifying to the whole country, and considered as brilliant as any other in any of the Indian wars since the fall of King Philip. Harmon, who was senior in command, proceeded to Boston, where he was honored with the commission of lieutenant-colonel. In this bloody event the glory departed from the celebrated Canibas tribe to return no more. The power and strength of the tribe were completely broken.

Another expedition of deserved note during this war was that of Capt. John Lovell against the Sokokis, on the northern border of York County. Capt. Lovell resided at Dunstable, where his patriotism, military ardor, and suc- cess as a leader of expeditions drew to his standard a num- ber of enthusiastic and determined men, who were ready to fight the Indians anywhere under his leadership. On the 15th of April, 1725, he had gathered at Dunstable a company of forty-six volunteers, well supplied and armed, and on the 16th they took up their line of march towards the Ossipce Ponds and the upper branches of the Saco River, the region and range of the remaining Sokokis tribe of Indians. The great bravery of these natives and their antipathy towards the English were characteristics well known. Lovell's lieutenants were Josiah Tarwell and Jon- athan Robbins ; his ensigns, John Harwood and Seth Wy- man ; his chaplain, Jonathan Frye ; and his chief pilot, Toby, an Indian. On their march Toby fell sick and re- turned. A soldier becoming lame was dismissed, though with reluctance, and was barely able to get home. An- other was brought down by fatigue and illness after travel- ing upwards of a hundred miles, when the captain came to a halt on the westerly side of the Great Ossipee Pond, in New Hampshire, ten miles from the west line of Maine. Here he built a small stockade fort, principally for a place of retreat in case of any misfortune, and partly for the accom- modation of the sick man, who was now left, with the sur- geon and some provisions, under a guard of eight wearied men.

The number was thus reduced to thirty-four, including the captain, who, resuming their march, shaped their course northeastward till they came to the northwesterly margin of a pond, abont twenty-two miles distant from the fort,- since called Lovell's, or Saco Pond, which is situated in the southeasterly part of the present town of Fryeburg. They had passed by the bend of the Saco River, where it crosses the line between New Hampshire and Maine and turns northeastward, leaving the Indian Pequawket village (now Fryeburg) between one and two miles north of them, and in the heart of the enemy's country, at the western corner of the pond, pitched their camp for the night. Early in

the morning, May 8th, they heard the report of a gun, and discovered a single Indian standing on a point of land a mile distant, on the easterly side of the pond. They sus- pected that he was placed there to decoy them, and that the main body of the enemy was probably in their front. After a consultation they decided to march in that direc- tion. They had traveled about a mile when they met the Indian they discovered in the morning returning towards the village. As he passed he did not notice them till he received their fire ; then, instantly returning it, he wounded Lovell and another man with a charge of small shot. Ensign Wyman then shot him, and they took his scalp. Seeing no other enemy they returned towards a place where they had left their packs on their march up. The enemy, meantime, having discovered their tracks where they had crossed the trail leading to the village, and counted them to ascertain the number of men, had followed on till they came to the packs, and there lay in ambush, about fifty in number. The moment Lovell and his men reached the spot, about ten o'clock A.M., the Indians rose in front and rear, and surrounding them, rushed upon them with a horrid yell. The English received the shock with entire steadiness, returning the fire, and driving the foe several rods. They rallied again and again, till three rounds had been fired on each side, during which Capt. Lovell and eight of his men were killed, and Lieut. Forwell and two others wounded. Several more of the enemy fell. yet being superior in numbers, they endeavored to surround the English. The latter retreated in good order to near the edge of the pond, where, on their right, was the mouth of Battle Brook (since so called), and on their left a point of rocks which extended into the water, their front being shel- tered by a few pine-trees standing on a sandy beach, partly covered by a steep bog. Here they maintained the fight for eight hours against a foe superior in numbers and equal in courage, being at frequent intervals engaged in front and flank. At one time a group of savages appeared by their gestures to be engaged in a powwow, when Ensign Wyman, secretly approaching, shot the chief actor, and the others dispersed. Some of the Indians asked the English if they would have quarter. "Yes," they replied, "at the muzzles of our guns." They were determined to meet a speedy and honorable death rather than fall into the hands of the savages, to be tortured or made captives.

Mr. Frye, the chaplain, who was a young man much be- loved, fought with undaunted courage. About the middle of the afternoon he received a wound which proved mortal, but after he had fallen he was heard several times to utter an audible prayer for the success of his companions.

John Chamberlain, a soldier, and Paugus, a noted chief, both men of undoubted courage and large stature, finding their guns too foul for proper use, accidentally stepped down to wash them at the same moment at the brink of the pond. Standing not far apart, they exchanged a few defying words, while, without waste of time, they washed their guns. The chief, as he forced down the bullet, called out to his foe, "Quick, me kill you now !" " May be not," said Cham- berlain, whose gun, by priming itself, gave him the advan- tage, and in an instant he laid the warrior low.

At night the Indians retired from the battle, leaving the

# Charlevoix, iv. p. 120, Paris ed., 1744.

HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY, MAINE.

bodies of Lovell and his companions unsealped. The best authorities put the loss of the Indians at forty or fifty. Penhallow says, " Forty were said to be killed, and eighteen more died of their wounds." Of Lovell's band ten were killed, fourteen wounded, and one missing. Five of the wounded died afterwards. The uninjured ones were only nine. This battle broke the heart and spirit of the Sokokis, and they were never able to inflict any more loss and suf- fering upon the English. Col. Tyng and Capt. White, with attendants from Dunstable, subsequently went to the spot and buried the bodies of the fallen heroes at the foot of an aged pine, on which their names were carved, marking the place where the battle was fought.

The treaty of peace which closed this war was concluded at Falmouth, Aug. 6, 1726, and was signed and sealed by Lieutenant-Governor William Dummer, John Wentworth, Paul Mascerene, and several provincial couneilors, and by Wenemovet, chief sachem, and twenty-five others of his associates.

CHAPTER XVII.

WAR BETWEEN FRANCE AND ENGLAND.

The French Seize Nova Scotia-Maine and Massachusetts aroused- Expedition against Louisbourg Set on Foot-Its Complete Success -Part taken in it by Men of York County-Sir William Pepperell -War Declared against the Penobscot Indians-Local Military Operations-Depredations by the Indians-Dispersion of a.French Fleet-Treaty of Peace.

WAR again broke out between France and England in March, 1744, and before the intelligence reached Boston, the French Governor of Cape Breton had sent eight or nine hundred men in armed vessels, and seized upon Canseau, in Nova Scotia, lying immediately across the strait from Louis- bourg, their stronghold and principal military station upon the island. Nova Scotia had been in the possession of the English since the peace of Utrecht, a period of thirty years. The houses at Canseau were burned by the French, and the garrison and inhabitants seized and made prisoners. This was followed by an attack upon Annapolis, the seat and garrison of the English Governor, who, not yet apprised of the taking of Canseau, was beset on the 30th of May by about three hundred Indians, led on by M. Luttre, a French missionary, who boldly demanded a surrender. But the Governor refused to capitulate, and immediately sent an ex- press to Governor Shirley requesting assistance. Meanwhile, Duvivier the Governor of Cape Breton, arriving with his forses, joined Luttre, and they both invested the place till July 3d, when a reinforcement of four companies from Massachusetts compelled them to retire. During the siege they had surprised and killed as many of the English as could be caught without the fort, and had killed their cat- tle and burnt their houses.

This sudden onset of the French and Indians made it imperative that steps should immediately be taken for the defense of the eastern frontiers. It was readily seen that the Indians of the Penobseot-although by solemn treaty they had declared their allegiance to the English-might be induced to join the more eastern tribes in the war, and

kindle a flame which would again sweep over the entire country. While, therefore, forces were hurried forward to supply the garrisons and to act as seouting-parties, and munitions of war were sent into all the townships and plantations, no time was lost in sending commissioners to the Indians to ascertain more definitely their temper, and to confirm them, if possible, in their treaty stipulations of friendship and allianee. A delegation from Boston met the sagamores of the Penobscot tribe at Fort St. George in July, and after a parley, received from them fresh assurances of their desire for peace. After this the eastern people felt some relief, and a part of the seouting soldiery was dis- missed.

The policy adopted by the Governor was to draw a line of separation between the Indians supposed to be loyal or neutral and those who had taken sides with the French, offering the former protection and friendship so long as they kept good faith with the English, and had no inter- course with such Indians as were enemies. With the ad- viee of the Council he issued a proclamation, October 20th, publicly declaring war against the several tribes eastward of Passamaquoddy, and forbidding all the Indians westward of a line running thence to the St. Lawrence to have any correspondence with those Indian rebels. It was soon found, however, that geographical lines and executive edicts were an insufficient barrier against the natural attractions of race and the affiliations of old friendship.

Doubts being entertained as to the loyalty of the Penob- scot tribe, it was determined to bring them to a decision one way or the other, and in November, Col. Pepperell was sent to require of them their quota of fighting men, aeeord- ing to the stipulation of the Dummer treaty. They were told that if they would enter the service they should receive soldiers' pay and rations, but if they failed to comply war would be declared against them at the end of forty days. In January they sent by express their answer to Boston, saying that their young men would not comply with the proposal of taking up arms against the St. John's Indians, their brothers.

Preparations having been made for the winter defenses of the garrisons, and one hundred effective men divided into scouting-parties to patrol the country continually between Berwiek and Fort St. George, the Governor and Council now turned their attention more directly to the seat of war.

The conviction had been growing throughout the autumn that Louisbourg must be wrested from the enemy, or it would always be a place of the greatest possible annoyance to the eastern colonists and to the New England fishermen. Gov- ernor Shirley had learned of the strength and situation of the place from the English prisoners who had been taken at Canseau and retained some time at Louisbourg before being exchanged and sent to Boston. He associated with himself William Vanghan, Esq., of Damariscotta, a son of Lieutenant-Governor Vaughan, of New Hampshire, and they by careful inquiry and close investigation made them- selves fully acquainted with the situation and strength of the place. Vaughan was largely engaged in the eastern fish- eries, and from those employed in that business he gathered many valnahle facts. The plan being laid before the Gen- eral Court in the winter was at first rejected, but was recon-

WAR BETWEEN FRANCE AND ENGLAND.

sidered on the 26th, and carried by a majority of one vote. No sooner was the vote carried than there appeared through- out the province an uncommon degree of unanimity and zeal in the enterprise.

Louisbourg was situated in the southeastern part of the island of Cape Breton, about twenty leagues southeast from Canseau, on the opposite side of the strait. The entrance to it was a fine harbor of nine to twelve fathoms of water. The exterior of the town was two miles and a half in cir- cumference. It was fortified on the southwesterly side by a rampart of stone, from thirty to thirty-six feet in height, and a ditch eighty feet wide. On the southeasterly side, along a space of two hundred yards, it was secured by a dyke and a line of pickets, where the opposite water was shallow and bordered by rocky cliffs, which rendered the place inaccessible to shipping. Its fortifications were very strong, there being six bastions and eight batteries, with embrasures for one hundred and forty-eight guns (forty-five mounted) and sixteen mortars. On the island at the en- trance of the harbor was planted a battery of thirty guns, carrying twenty-eight-pound shot, and in front of the entrance, four thousand eight hundred feet from the island battery, was the royal battery of twenty-eight forty-two- pounders and two eighteen-pounders ; and on a high cliff, opposite the battery, stood the light-house. The entrance to the city from the country was at the west gate, over a draw-bridge, near to a circular battery mounting sixteen guns of fourteen-pound shot. The streets of the town, which were wide, crossed each other at right angles, and the houses were well built. In the centre of the chief bastion, on the west side of the town, was a large stone building called the citadel, within which were the apart- ments of the Governor, soldiers' barracks, arsenal, and magazine, richly furnished with military stores. The French had been engaged in building and fortifying the place twenty-five years, and it had cost the crown thirty millious of livres. The conception of taking such a place by surprise was certainly a bold one, and was regarded by many as a wild and visionary scheme. Still every circum- stance seemed to favor it, and no movement during any of the wars was entered into with so much ardor and enthu- siasm.

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History of York County, Maine, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 15

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford) Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck Number of Pages: 730

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 730