History of York County, Maine, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 2

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

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On the last day of August, De Poutrincourt was sent back to France with Secretary Ralleau, the former to make arrangements for his adventure at Port Royal, the latter to put in order some of the affairs of the company. What follows we give, as far as space will allow, from Gen. Brown's excellent translation of Champlain's own account :

" After the departure of the vessel the Sieur de Monts determined to send an expedition, without loss of time, along the coast of Norum- begue, and this he committed to my charge, which was much to my liking. To this end I left St. Croix the 2d of September, 1604, with a pattache of seventeen or eighteen tons, twelve sailors, and two sav- ages as guides. This day we found the vessels of the Sieur de Pou- trincoart, which were anchored at the mouth of the river on account of the bad weather, and from this spot we could not move until the 5th of the same mouth, and then, when two or three leagues at sea, the fog came up so thickly that we soon lost their vessels from sight. Continuing our course along the coast we made this day some twenty- five leagues, and passed by a great quantity of islands, shallows, and reefs, which extend seaward in places more than four leagues. We have named the islands ' Les Istes Rangees.' . . . This same day we passed quite near an island, which is some four or five leagues long, and were nearly lost oo a little roek just under water, which made a small hole in our bark near the keel. . . . The island is very high. and so cleft in places that at sea it appears as if seven or eigbt moun- tains were ranged side by side. . . . I have named this island ' L'Isle des Monts-deserts ;' its latitude is 44}º. The next morning, 6th of September, we made two leagues, and perceived a smoke in a creek which was at the foot of the mountains, and saw two canoes propelled hy savages, who came within musket-shot to reconnoitre us."

This narrative of Champlain's is exceedingly interesting, because it names and locates many places on the coast now quite familiar to the modern traveler. At Mount Desert, on the southwestern side of which he appears to have anchored and stayed overnight, he had an interview with the savages, who, after receiving presents in exchange for fish and game, consented to guide them to their home at Peimtegouët, where they said their chief, Bessabez, was. Referring to the Penobscot, he says,-

" I think this river is the same called by several piluts and histo- rians Norumbegue, and which has been described by most of them as broad and spacious, with very many islands, with its entrance in 43º to 434° of latitude, or, according to others, in 44º more or less. As for the longitude, I have never read or heard any one speak of it. They say, also, there is a great city well peopled with savages, adroit and skillful, and used to the manufacture of cotton. I am sure that most of those who speak uf these things have never seen them, and derive their authority from men who know no more than themselves. I am ready to believe there are some who have seen the mouth of the river (i.e., the bay), because there are a great many islands there, and it is io 44°. But there is no appearance of any one's having entered there, for they would have described it in quite another fasbion in

EARLY DISCOVERIES AND SETTLEMENTS.

order to rid many of the doubt. I shall, therefore, narrate truly all that I have discovered and seen from the beginning as far as I have been."

Champlain then describes in great detail the physical fea- tures of Penobseot Bay, which he makes extend from Mount Desert on the east to the promontory of Bedabedec on the west,-the present Owl's Head. Midway, and out at sea, he deseribes that singularly picturesque island named by him Isle Haute,-a name it still bears. Fish of all kinds abound, and game, which make the numerous islands a frequent resort for the natives during the season. On the western shore are the mountains of Bedabedec, the Camden Hills of the present day, and everywhere are wooded islands, low-lying roeks, and dangerous reefs. With the scrupulous eare which characterizes him everywhere, he gives the neees- sary directions for entering the head-waters of the bay. Take the following :

" Coming to the south of the Isle Haute, and ranging along the shore for a quarter of a league, where are some rocks just out of water, and then heading to the west until you open all the islands which lie to the north of this island, and you may be sure that when you see the eight or nine summits of Isle des Monts-Deserts and the heights of Bedabedec you are directly opposite the river of Norumbegue; to enter, you must head to the north towards the very high mountains of Bedabedee, and you will see no islands before you, and can enter safely with plenty of water."

Entering the bay, Champlain proceeded, under the guid- ance of the savages, to the narrows at the mouth of the river, and ascended the river to the mouth of the Ken- duskeag, at the present site of Bangor. Here the party met Bessabez, the chief of the tribe of that region, and Cabahis, who had jurisdiction of a tribe to the westward. There was great stir among the natives at the sight of the strangers, daneing and singing, and much consumption of tobacco. But Cabahis drew himself apart from the noisy throng for a while, because, as the narrative says, "it was the first time he had ever seen a Christian."

The day following, which was the 17th of September, Champlain took the altitude, and found 45° 25' north lati- tude. He then began the deseent of the river, and so con- tinned eoasting westward. At what has been judged to be St. George's River the native guides left them because the savages of the Quinbequy were their enemies. Champlain says,-

"We ranged along the coast some eight leagues to the westward as far as an island distant some ten leagues from the Quinbequy, where . we were obliged to stop on account of had weather and coutrary winds; in one part of our route we passed a quantity of islands and breakers, very dangerous, and shelving out into the sea some leagues."

At this point the weather, head-winds, and seareity of provisions compelled our hardy adventurers to retraee their steps. On the 23d of September, three weeks after leaving St. Croix, they set out on their return, and in nine days after were greeted by their companions. The little band at St. Croix had busied themselves in making preparations for the winter. They were scanty enough for the inclement season, and disease of a virulent type soon broke out among them ; before spring set in the little eemctery on the island had in it thirty-five graves. De Monts resolved to abandon his plantation and return to France; but on the 15th of June the little company was gladdened by the arrival of two ships from Franee bringing men and provisions.

" On the 17th of the month" (says Champlain) " the Sieur de Monts decided to seek for a place better suited for habitation than ours, and on the 18th he left the Island of St. Croix, with some gentlemen, twenty sailors, and two savages, Panounias and his wife, whom he did not wish to leave behind, and whom we took with us as a guide to the country of the Almouchiquois, hoping by means of her to see and learn more of the country, for she was a native of it."

In this second voyage Champlain and his party sailed westward to the mouth of the Sheepscot River, which they ascended to its head, probably at the site of what is now Wiseasset. On the way up the river they narrowly eseaped being lost on a rock which their vessel grazed in passing ; farther on they met some savages in two eanoes, who were aceosted by the aid of the wife of their guide, and induced to conduct the party to their chief, Manthoumermer, whose village was at the head of the river. Here they met the chief and some twenty-five or thirty savages ; the conference resulted amieably, and a treaty of alliance was entered into between the natives and the French. The former conducted Champlain and his party down the river on the following morning. Passing some islands, each of the savages left an arrow near the eape by which all must pass, assigning as a reason for this custom that unless they did it the evil spirit would bring about some misfortune.

" Near this cape," says Champlain, " we passed a fall of water ; but it was not done without great difficulty, for, although we had a fair and fresh wind, and carried all the sail we possibly could, we were obliged to take a hawser ashore and fasten it to the trees, and then pull with all our strength, and thus hy main foree and the favoring wind we got through. The savages who were with us carried their canoes along the shore, being unable to make headway with their pad- dles. After having passed the fall we saw beautiful meadow-lands. I was much astonished at this fall because we descended easily with the tide, but at the fall it was against us, but above the fall it ebbed as before, much to our satisfaction."

Says General Brown in commenting upon this passage,-

" It is evident that Champlain ascended the Sheepscot to the northern extremity of Westport, descended the river on the west side of the island, passed close to what is now Hoekamock Point, pulled the vessel through upper Hellgate, and so entered the Kennebec proper, and passed on to Merrymeeting Bay. The deseent was made by the true channel to the site of Fort Popham, where they probably anehored, unless they made a harbor a little farther to the westward."

Coasting to the westward, the vessel of Champlain next eame to anchor off Old Orchard Beach, and inside of Stratton's Island. Here they saw a large number of natives on the main shore, with whom they held a friendly eonfer- enee. They visited Wood Island, which Champlain named " L'Isle de Bacchus," on account of the grapes which he found there, the first, he says, he had seen after leaving " Cape la Heve." " At high water," Champlain continues, " we weighed anchor and entered a little river (the Saco), which we could not do sooner on account of a bar, on which at low tide there is but one-half a fathom of water, but at the flood a fathom and a half, and at the spring tide two fathoms ; within are three, four, five, and six fathoms," __ a very accurate deseription of the physical features appar- ent to this day. Champlain, with his customary exaetness, enters into minute details of the habits, appearance, and character of the people. The river, he says, was called the river of the Chouacoet* country. They landed and

# Pronounced swaw-co,-very nearly the sound of the present name.

HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY, MAINE.

examined the little gardens of the inhabitants ; Cham- plain and De Monts were interested in the culture of maize. " They plant," says the narrative, " in gardens, sow- ing three or four grains in one spot, and then with the shell of the signoc they gather a little earth around it ; three feet from that they sow again, and so on."

We can scarcely improve even now on this method of planting corn, which Champlain calls " wheat of India." The shell-hoe used by the natives, which Champlain calls the signoc, was probably the curious shell of the horseshoe- crab, and those familiar with it can easily understand how serviceable it may have been in their simpler gardening operations, particularly in the soft sandy soil. Champlain made a chart of this harbor, giving all the prominent features of the coast and river line, with soundings, just as he had conscientiously done before at the Kennebec, the St. Croix, on the shores of the Bay of Fundy, and Nova Scotia. These were all studies for the maps which, as Royal Geographer, it was his special mission to prepare.

On Sunday, the 11th, the little company left Chonacoet, making some twenty miles to the westward, where, on ac- count of contrary wind, they were compelled to anchor ; on the main shore they saw two natives, who fled at their approach. They describe the country here as abounding in meadow-lands of great extent, wild grapes, walnuts, and luxuriant verdure. The wind continuing, they retraced their course six miles, and found a harbor at Cape Por- poise, which Champlain calls Port aux Isles, on account of the three islands which furnish shelter there. He also notices the entrance to Kennebunk River, and gives a cor- rect description of the harbor, with such sailing directions as would make the passage easy to any navigator who might follow him. His computation of the latitude of this point is within five one-hundredths of a degree. On the 15th of the month they proceeded upon their journey, coasting along the sea-beaches of Wells, York, and Hampton, pass- ing the Merrimac and its surrounding marshes, which, in the dim twilight, seemed like a great bay; they caught glimpses, in the east, of the Isles of Shoals, and at last anchored, under the shelter of Cape Ann, to await the day. In their progress farther southward they crossed Massa- chusetts Bay, entered, on the 18th, the harbor in which, fifteen years later, the Pilgrim Fathers found their home, rounded the sandy promontory of Cape Cod, and terminated their southward journey at what is now Nanset. To Cape Cod, Champlain gave the appropriate designation of Cap Blanc,-the white cape.

On the 25th of July, De Monts, finding his stores rap- idly diminishing, decided to return to St. Croix. On his return he stopped again at Saco, and here had an interview with Marchim, the sagamore of Casco Bay, "who had the reputation of being one of the bravest men of his country, and he had a fine manner, and all his gestures and move- ments were grave and dignified, savage though he was." They gave him presents, and he, in turn, gave them a young Etechemin, from the eastward, an Indian boy, whom he had made prisoner in some foray. From the Saco they pro- ceeded to the Kennebec, arriving there on the 29th of July. Here they had an interview with a chief named Annassou. Champlain says,-

"He told us there was a vessel six leagues from the harbor, which had been engaged in fishing, and the people on board had killed five savages of this river, under the pretense of friendship, and according to his description we judge them to be English, and named the island where they were ' Le Nef,' because at a distance it had that appear- ance."

( That is, it looked like the hull of a ship.) The island was Monhegan, and the vessel referred to the "Archangel," under Capt. George Weymouth. This is the only allusion made by Champlain to any contemporary English discoveries on the whole coast, so far as his explo- rations extended.

Leaving the Kennebec, Champlain and his company returned to St. Croix, where they arrived on the 2d of August, and found a vessel and supplies from France.

Dissatisfied both with his settlement at St. Croix, and his discoveries to the south and west along the coast, De Monts now determined to transport his colony to Port Royal. He himself returned to France. Champlain re- mained to complete his discoveries, his desire being to extend them in the direction of Florida. On the 1st of March, 1606, the Sieur du Pont-Grave fitted out a vessel of about eighteen tons ; on the 16th they set sail, but were obliged to seek a harbor on an island to the south of Grand Menan. On the following day they encountered a severe storm, which drove them ashore, and after repairing their bark they returned to Port Royal. On the 29th of April they made another attempt, only to meet with fresh disas- ters ; at the entrance to Port Royal they were wrecked, losing their vessel, and running imminent risk of their lives. Disheartened at these disasters and the non-appearance of the vessels which were expected with supplies, Du Pont decided to return to France, and on the 16th of July they abandoned Port Royal, leaving two men who had bravely volunteered to remain and guard the property which was left behind. After having rounded Cape Sable, however, they were gladdened by the sight of a shallop, in which was Sieur Rallean, secretary of De Monts. He announced the arrival of the "Jonas," a vessel bringing new accessions to the colony, under the command of Poutrincourt, among others the versatile advocate Lescarbot, the future historian of New France. So they gladly retraced their steps, and on the 31st of July arrived once more at Port Royal. While the new-comers set to work with commendable vigor to make preparations for their stay, Du Pont decided to return to France, and to take with him all the company who had spent the previous winter in the colony. A few desired to remain, and among the number was Champlain, who says, --

" I remained also, with the Sieur de Poutrincourt, intending, by the grace of God, to finish and perfect the chart which I had commenced of the country and the coast."

In this third voyage the company left Port Royal on the 5th of September, 1608, and, after visiting the St. Croix and Kennebec, arrived at Saco River on the 21st. No in- cident of interest is mentioned in the narrative in connec- tion with their landing here, except that the Indians had finished their harvest.

From this point they made Cape Ann, and so to the southward. In a conflict with the natives they lost several of their company. On the 28th of October they set sail from Malabarre for the Isle Haute, on their return voyage.

EARLY DISCOVERIES AND SETTLEMENTS.

On the 31st, between Mount Desert and the mouth of the Machias, they lost their rudder, and were in imminent peril. With much ingenuity they succeeded in reaching a harbor, but not until the 14th of November, after many dangers and disasters, did they reach Port Royal.

Thus closes our hasty account of the services to geo- graphical science of a very remarkable man, whose three voyages of discovery furnish the first intelligible contribu- tion to the cartography of Maine. In the language of the translator of his narrative, J. Marshall Brown, of Portland, whose valuable paper we have substantially followed in the account of these voyages,-

" His monnment is here, as well as on the banks of the majestic St. Lawrence, and his memory will be preserved in the great landmarks on our coast, which bear the names he gave them two hundred and seventy years ago."

The colony planted at Port Royal (now Annapolis, Nova Scotia) continued to prosper for a time ; from it originated the second settlement by the French on the coast of Maine, -the mission at Mount Desert founded by the two Jesuit priests, Fathers Biard and Massé. These priests had been brought from France to Port Royal by Biencourt in 1608, to take charge of the spiritual interests of the plantation, and had assumed to exercise a controlling influence in civil affairs ; for this cause a quarrel ensued between them and the Governor which resulted in their separation from the colony. They went to Mount Desert, where in 1609 they established the mission of St. Sauveur, planted gardens, laid out grounds, and entered with zeal upon the work of preaching their faith to the natives in that vicinity. Prior to 1613 the French had built a small fort at the mouth of the Penobscot. Their disposition to occupy the country farther west aroused the alarm of the English colony established in Virginia, and in 1613 they sent Capt. Ar- gall to drive out the French, who, in the summer of that year, seized their forts at Mount Desert, St. Croix, and Port Royal, and carried their vessels and ordnance, together with their cattle and provisions, to Jamestown. The power of the French in this quarter was thus interrupted for several years. The conflictiug claims growing out of the French and English charters inaugurated a series of wars which were perpetuated between the colonies of the two nations, enlisting on one side and the other the savage ferocity of the Indian tribes, for more than a hundred and fifty years, and were never finally settled till the conquest of Canada by the English, in 1760. Between the province of Maine and the French colony of Acadia the situation was about as follows: the English occupied the country exclusively as far east as the Kennebec, and the French, except when dispossessed by treaty or actual force, had ex- clusive occupation as far west as the Penobscot. The coun- try between these two rivers was debatable land, both parties continually claiming it, and each occupying it at intervals. In the commission to the French Governor before the treaty of Utrecht, in 1713, Acadia is described as extending to the Kennebec River, and the whole was then ceded to the English. But in the construction of that treaty the French restricted the territory to Nova Scotia.

After the expeditions of the Cabots, 1497-98, the Eng- lish made little effort to discover or acquire territory in the

new world for more than a century. In 1602, Gosnold sailed along the coast of Maine, and in 1603, Martin Pring discovered Penobscot and Casco Bays, and sailed up the Saco River to the falls. The voyage of George Weymouth, in 1605, was the first attempt which had been made by English navigators to sail due west from England to the coast of North America. His course brought him to Mon- hegan Island, eighteen miles from the mainland at Booth- bay. He anchored three miles north of the island, which he named St. George's, in honor of his patron saint, in a harbor which he called Pentecost Harbor. The vessel in which he arrived was named the " Archangel." He re- mained upon the coast for several weeks, proceeding in his pinnace several miles up a " most excellent river," and carrying home with him five Indians, whom he treacher- ously decoyed into his vessel, three of whom he gave to Sir Ferdinando Gorges, by whom one of them was sent back in 1607, with Capt. George Popham.

James Rosier, an English gentleman, who accompanied Capt. Weymouth as chronicler, wrote a glowing account of the newly-discovered country in 1605, but omitted all names and observations of latitude and longitude, in order, it is said, to prevent navigators of other nations from seeking the same spot. The consequence has been that the river has been guessed to be the Hudson, the James, the Saco, and, more recently, the Penobscot, the Kennebec, and the arm of the sea north of Monhegan, running up to South Thomaston, and known as the St. George's. Capt. Wey- mouth also discovered the fishing-banks, which are still known as the George's banks; and although his name has failed to displace the old Indian name of Monhegan, there has been a strong presumption that the nameless river which he found might still wear, like the banks, the name of his patron saint. Dr. Belknap, the historian of New Hampshire, however, conjectured that Weymouth had ascended the Penobscot River, and this opinion was gener- ally followed until the late John McKeen, of Brunswick, suggested that Rosier's description better fitted the Kenne- bec, and a few years later Rev. David Cushman, of Warren, contended that the St. George's River was intended.

All these conjectures, however, were set at rest by the pub- lication, in 1849, by the Hakluyt Society (and afterwards by the Historical Societies of Maine and Massachusetts) of William Strachey's account of the Popham settlement, writ- ten not later than 1618, and preserved in manuscript in the British Museum. Strachey was the secretary of the Vir- ginia Company, and was in Virginia from 1610 till 1612. He says, in so many words, that Captain Weymouth made a search " sixty miles up the most excellent and beneficyall river of the Sachadehoc." But the Sagadahoc is only an- other name for the waters of the Kennebec below Merry- meeting Bay, including the waters which flow out through the passage opposite Bath into the Sheepscot, and the Sheepscot itself, which may be regarded as one of the mouths of the Kennebec. Thus the question has finally been set at rest.

The expedition of Captain Weymouth, together with the active movements of the French at this period, served to awaken an interest iu England in the colonization of North America ; and in April, 1606, a charter was obtained from

HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY, MAINE.

King James for the whole extent of country lying between the 34th aod 44th degrees of north latitude. This large tract was divided between two companies ; the first, reach- ing to the +1st degree of north latitude, was bestowed upon a London company, the founders of the settlement at Jamestown, Va .; and the northern part was granted to a company in the town of Plymouth. Under this charter the respective companies sent out colonies in 1607. With the one destined for Virginia we have nothing to do in this connection ; the one from Plymouth, destined for the north- ern shores, consisted of two ships and one hundred and eight men, under command of Captain George Popham as president, and Captain Rauleigh Gilbert as admiral. They sailed from Plymouth on the 31st of May, and arrived at Monhegan, on the coast of Maine, August 11th, and thence continued on to the Kennebec, where they planted them- selves ou the west bank of the river upon the peninsula now known as Hunnewell's Point, called by the Indians Sabino. This was the first English colony, not merely in Maine, but upon the whole New England coast. Here they erected Fort St. George, on the site of which the United States government has built a fort called Fort Popham, in honor of the first president of the colony .*

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History of York County, Maine, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 2

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