USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Waldoboro > History of old Broad Bay and Waldoboro, Volume 1 > Part 24
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France was not yet at war, but she was hostile and her In- dian allies were even more so. In the early autumn of 1754 the dreaded congeries of St. Francis braves took to the trail. Their warpath was very nearly the present route of the Grand Trunk Railroad. From St. Francis they crossed the Memphremagog, took the Clyde River to Island Pond, then crossed the Mulhegan, thence to the Connecticut, to the upper Ammonoocuc and across the An- droscoggin and the Kennebec and down these rivers to the coastal settlements. Their first blow fell at Fort Halifax on the Kennebec, about thirty miles from Broad Bay. The attack was made Novem- ber 6th on some men drawing logs near the fort, one of whom was killed and scalped, and four taken prisoner. There were further attacks, also on the New Hampshire frontier. The news of the raids spread terror along the whole frontier. At Broad Bay prac- tically the entire settlement took up residence in the garrisons; relatively few at this time took refuge in Boston. Henceforth the people ventured out to work on their farms and in the woods only under strong guards, an arrangement which was to be in effect for the next seven years.
As a consequence of this attack, the provincial government in Boston issued orders at once to six companies of minutemen in Maine to mobilize, and the frontier garrisons were strengthened. Seventeen regulars were stationed at the Mill Garrison, and twelve in each of the middle and lower garrisons. In addition to this all who were able to bear arms entered some form of service. Matthias Römele (anglicized to Remilly), who had been a soldier in the German Army and was ultimately commissioned a captain, was placed in charge of a contingent of local militia which was known throughout the district as "the Dutch Rangers." The personnel of this troop at one time was made up of the following Broad Bayers:
Matthias Remilly Philip Fogler David Rominger
Frank Miller Frederick Winchenbach Franz Eisele
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Adam Schumacher
Gottfried Feyler
John Henry Bender [Benner]
Peter Müller
Anthony Burchardt [Burkett]
Georg Hiebner [Heavener]
Michael Heisler
Heinrich Köhler [Kaler]
Matthias Hoffses
John Heidenheim
John Joseph Weber [Weaver]
Jas. Genthner10
Muster Roll No. 170 shows the following in service:
Friedrich Sechrist
Jacob Heins
Baltes Castner
Heinrich Miller
Gottfried Bornheimer Jacob Rominger
David Kuebler
Jacob Winchenbach
Valentin Jung
In the company of Captain James Fitch were Heinrich Lehr and John Adam Levensaler; in that of Captain Alexander Nickells was James Littell (Little), while William Farnsworth, George Jung, Wilhelm Jung, Jacob Hyler, and Georg Schmauss (Smouse) served in the St. George Company. A study of the muster rolls in the Massachusetts Archive would doubtless give a much longer list. Captain Charles Leissner's "Scouts" were drawn in part from the Frankfort (Dresden) area. These organizations drew pay and ra- tions from the government, which in considerable measure helped to reduce the food shortage in the colony. As long as the river remained open, the Province Sloop made regular trips and con- tinued to land stores. With such preparations Broad Bay seemed immune from destruction except through an attack in great force with artillery, and against such an attack the defensive steps pro- vided ample warning. The greatest fear was from the small roving bands of savages that could slip through the defense and strike without warning at the unsuspecting settlers.
The Penobscots in the early phases of this war were neutral, and the Government followed a program designed in every way to foster this neutrality. Such a policy, however, soon proved itself impractical, since to the settlers an Indian remained an Indian and once passions were aroused by savage raids any Indian was killed, where possible, on sight.
There were no attacks at Broad Bay in the winter of 1754- 1755, but fear was acute and general; and early in the new year (1755), the Government in Boston began receiving distress calls. The first was from Charles Leissner to Governor Shirley under date of January 29, 1755, and it reveals the state of mind in the settlement, as well as its needs:
The warre of which there is at present so much talke of, is not onlly so freightfull to the Settlers of the place, but their not being provided the necessary ammunition, as Powder and Ball, and some being entirely without any Fire Arms; they have in so far provided as to built five gar-
10 Muster Roll No. 201, Mass, State Archives, 96B.
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risons, and are to be built Three more, and it would be a very necessary thing, to have Three or Four small Cannon in the Upper Garrison, as the same is almost at the end of the Settlement, and Two large Hills to be defended; Therefore I and the Inhabitants of This Place Pray Your Ex- cellency's assisstance in the above mentioned articles.11
The Governor answered with reasonable promptness, and on February 22nd it was voted in the General Court that "his Ex- cellency, the Captain General be desired to give Order that there be sent to Broad Bay Three small Canon two pounders, One Bar- rel of Powder and a proper proportion of ball out of the Maga- zine of the Province."12
On April 24, 1755, Matthias Remilly replied, thanking the Governor for providing the settlement with ammunition and ask- ing for firelocks, "there being abt. 150 able men in this settlement and 75 of them being without arms, and not Capable to purchase the same." Then he adds: "should there be any rupture, it would be a Damage to this part, for so many people to be ruined, or Obliged to break up for want of arms to defend themselves."13
The savages began to infest the entire frontier of Maine with the advent of mild weather in 1755. Early attacks were made at Gorhamtown and New Boston (Gray). In the more immediate vicinity two men were killed and scalped at Frankfort (Dresden). At Sheepscot five settlers were plowing in a field. The savages crept upon them under the lee of a fence and all five were captured. On June 9th, the House ordered one hundred men for scouting from Frankfort to the truck house on the Georges River.14 On June 12th the Governor offered bounties on scalps, ranging from £100 for a male Indian scalp to £20 for a female or a male scalp under the age of twelve.15 Conditions in the Medomak-Georges area are vividly set forth by Thomas Kilpatrick in a letter to the Governor and Council from the blockhouse on the Georges under date of June 14th:
Our woods round our garrisons are crawling with lurking enemies watching our motions, so that we are in continual fear and danger. As is evident by their late clandestine attempts, for after killing and barbar- ously using and sculping one boy, they at the same time killed and car- ried captive another, and soon after have killed one man and carried another captive of the Dutch at Broad Bay.16
This is undoubtedly a reference to the unhappy fate of Johann Heinrich Demuth and Hermann Kuhn. Demuth, whose
11Colls. Me. Hist. Soc., Doc. Ser., 2nd Ser., XXIV, 26.
12Order of the House, Feb. 22, 1755, p. 27, Mass. Court Records.
13Colls. Me. Hist. Soc., Doc. Ser., 2nd Ser., XII, 390.
14Orders of the House of June 9, 1755, p. 31, Mass. Archives. 15 Boston Gazette, June 12, 1755.
16Colls. Me. Hist. Soc., Doc. Ser., 2nd Ser., XII, 419; also Joseph Ludwig, cited by Eaton in Annals of Warren, 1st ed., pp. 102-103.
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farm was located on the east side a bit south of Storer's Point on the opposite bank, noticed some cows in the cabbage patch on the Point. As farming in this emergency in a large measure was carried on in common and all shared in the limited produce raised, Demuth, in company with Kuhn, a neighbor, crossed over in a boat to drive the cattle out. While they were engaged in this task, Indians sud- denly appeared from nowhere as it were, and Demuth was taken captive. Kuhn outran his pursuers, but while making away from the shore was fired on and killed. Demuth was never heard of again, which warrants the inference that he was either killed or died in captivity.
Another known casualty in the spring of this year was that of a German settler by the name of Bauzer who had wandered off in search of his cow near the Slaigo Brook at the foot of Thomas' Hill. By the use of the cow's bell, the Indians led him into ambush and dispatched him. It is probable that the St. John's as well as the St. Francis Indians were engaged in these outrages, since in June of this year the Government had found cause to declare war on all the Indians east of the Penobscot River.
Throughout the year 1755 the policy of appeasing the Penob- scots, of alienating them from the French and attaching them to the English, was encountering serious obstacles. It was felt by the settlers that under this screen of immunity, the Indians were se- cretly operating in hostile ways. Captain Bradbury, in command of the fort on the Georges, made a sincere but futile effort to carry out the Province's policy of appeasement in the case of the Penobscots, but to the settlers a single Indian aggression, irre- spective of what tribe committed it, was chargeable to the whole race. Even though Bradbury might conciliate the savages on the Penobscot and secure the settlers from their aggression, neverthe- less he could not persuade the settlers to maintain a conciliatory attitude, and this fact carried events beyond his control. Even Bradbury himself was not certain that the hands of the Penobscots were entirely clean; and in a letter of June 27, 1755, to the Gov- ernor, he begged to be relieved of his post. The Governor, too, apparently felt the need of smoking the Indians out and accord- ingly sent a letter to their chiefs stating that he expected that "a competent number of their most able men should join with the English in avenging the wrongs inflicted by the other tribes."17 To that end he invited them to repair to St. Georges and be ready to join in that service when required. In such an event he promised pay, rations, and protection for their women, children, and aged people at the fort.
17 Mass. Archives, XXXII, 647-648,
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Such a solution was destined never to eventuate. Fate inter- vened in the person of James Cargill, the captain of a company of scouts raised among the men of Newcastle. On July 1st he crossed the county, spent the night at Broad Bay and the next day was in the Georges district. His object seemed to have been the easy money that could be had from the scalps of unsuspecting Indians, it being rather difficult to determine from the evidence of a scalp whether the Indian had been hostile or otherwise. The first victims of Cargill's enterprise were Margaret Moxa, her husband, and child. All three were murdered and scalped. Margaret was a friendly squaw who had been of great service to the garrison at the fort by keeping them acquainted with the movements and intent of roving bands of savages. The scouts next moved into the Owl's Head district, where they encountered a band of Indians on a hunt. These they fired upon, and nine were killed and scalped. These treacherous acts committed against the Penobscots stunned the Government by reason of their impolicy. Cargill was arrested and compelled to stand trial in Boston for murder.18
With the prejudice of the country running high against the natives, however, it was impossible to secure a jury that would convict on such a charge, and Cargill was acquitted. The Penob- scots were fully aroused by this turn in a situation which they could not understand and were loath to forgive or let pass un- avenged. Among the tribes they were distinguished for coolness and prudence, in consequence of which they still hesitated, since it was clear to them that by war with the English their fate would be set. The Government, having been blocked in its policy of con- ciliation, and believing that the tribe now had adequate grounds for becoming openly hostile, closed the issue by publicly proclaim- ing war against them on the 5th of November, 1755. Such an act, of course, meant that the area between the Penobscot and the Kennebec would immediately become a more active scene of In- dian warfare.
During the winter of 1755 the number of regulars in the gar- risons at Broad Bay was reduced. The Indians were seldom on the warpath in the dead of winter, and furthermore, the removal of the regulars provided added space, since the entire population of the colony was housed in the five garrisons. There was, however, distress and gloom; and this was rendered deeper by a heavy earth- quake, the most severe ever experienced in the District of Maine. It was felt throughout the area extending from the Chesapeake to Nova Scotia. It began at eleven minutes past four on the morning of November 18th and lasted for four minutes,19 According to
18 Mass. Archives, XXXVIII, 167.
1ºSmith's Journal, op. cit., entry under 1756.
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Joseph Ludwig "the houses shook like a ship on the sea, yet it did no further damage than to topple a few chimneys."20
Such an event preyed on the moral sensibilities and the su- perstitious fears of the people. In some districts the 23rd of De- cember was observed as a day of humiliation and prayer in propi- tiation to the Deity, in order to avert the evil that this omen might portend. There were also other depressing problems. Food was scarce. Many lived on the rations which the head of the family drew from the Government as a militiaman. One family sustained itself the entire winter on frostfish with only four quarts of meal.21 Throughout the winter lumber and cordwood were cut under guard along the river for spring export. At this task a quart of buttermilk would often command a day's wages. Conditions bore most heavily on the migrants of 1752 and 1753 who were com- pelled to sell their services to the earlier settlers who went under guard during the day to their farms to care for their stock and work in the woods, which now were back from the river by about half a mile. It was thus that winter was passed in fear and misery, but happily with no further Indian raids at Broad Bay.
In June 1756 war was formally declared against France. In the early spring of that year the Indians again infested the fron- tier, operating in the main on the eastern end of it; but it was not as simple for the savages to surprise the settlers now as formerly, for the settlers had begun to keep dogs and train them as Indian hunters. When on the warpath the savage customarily greased his entire body with bear fat which gave off a distinctly pungent odor, and this scent the dogs would pick up with the greatest ease at a considerable distance. For their part the Indians seldom mo- lested the dogs as a shot at them would reveal their presence, sound the alarm over a wide area, and destroy their chances to catch the settlers unawares.
Throughout this year, the Penobscots concentrated their ac- tivities largely on the eastern end of the frontier, since these set- tlements were in their own tribal area, and it was their presence that they most deeply resented. On September 26th they succeeded in burning one schooner and capturing two others in the Georges River, with the loss of three men killed and three taken captive. This burst of relentless activity led Governor Shirley on April 7th to report the following to the House of Representatives: "The people in those eastern parts seem to be in a peculiar manner the objects of the enemy's fury and resentment, and the terror thereof has made such impression on the inhabitants that there seems to be a growing danger that without immediate relief the place will
20 Joseph Ludwig, cited by Eaton, Annals of Warren, 1st ed., p. 89. "Ibid.
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HISTORY OF OLD BROAD BAY AND WALDOBORO
be abandoned." The next day the House voted a detachment of fifteen men "to guard the inhabitants of Broad Bay during their seed time and harvest and on other necessary occasions."22
The Governor seemed to have grounds for his fears, for there was something of an exodus to the Boston district on the part of those who felt the uncertainties of existence at Broad Bay to be unendurable. Hausmann Mellen took refuge in Boston; Chris- tian Hilt in Worcester; Friedrich Schwarz in Boston; Captain John Ulmer and his brother Jacob in Marblehead, from which place the latter never returned; John Martin Schmidt in Dedham; Georg Light, Georg Light, Jr., and John Jacob Weyl in Boston. The minutes of Boston Selectmen's meetings contain the following warnings for 1756:
Capt. John Phillips of Marshfield called on the Selectmen with Georg Storer, a German with his wife and two children as passengers from Broad Bay. Ordered: Capt. Phillips to carry them back to the place from whence they came, or give bond so that they may be no charge to the town.
Sent to the Almshouse on 9th inst. [Dec] on account of the Province, a poor woman from Broad Bay, taken up this morning on the Neck, hav- ing laid there all night in a suffering condition. Her name is unknown as she speaks no English.
1758. Mr. Thomas Flucker reports that there are a number of Dutch people on Wheeler Point who came from Broad Bay.
Peter Hammond? came from Broad Bay, - Horn and wife also.
There are names in Broad Bay history that appear only a few times in the early annals. Such are those who most probably sought refuge in other areas and never returned to their original homes on the Medomak.
It was not entirely a one-way war at Broad Bay, for it some- times happened that the Indian came to a sorry end as well as the white man, even though we only catch an occasional glimpse of such an occurrence, as in the following item: "From Broad Bay we hear a Dutchman observing an Indian with his back to him fir'd and killed him, when two others started up, took the dead Indian ... and carried him off."23 Such reports, in fact, all save official ones, reached the Boston newspapers from the captains of the coastal schooners that regularly entered the rivers to discharge supplies and load cargoes of wood and lumber.
The year 1756 passed at Broad Bay with no relaxing of vigi- lance, and no variation from the crowded life in the garrisons. All farming was carried on as heretofore under guard, and the limited
22Colls. Me. Hist. Soc., Doc. Ser., 2nd ser., XIII, 19. 23 Boston News Letter, May 27, 1756.
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amount of food that could be raised under such conditions was further restricted this year by the visitations of insect pests which devoured the crops.24 Those saved were so scanty as to cause grave apprehension and, later in the season, actual want. The Penobscots too were having their troubles "in eastern parts." They were re- ceiving little attention and aid from the French; their crops were scanty; their numbers decimated by smallpox; their hunting par- ties were kept constantly on the move by the English scouting parties; they achieved no major successes; there was a price on their heads, and they were highly apprehensive concerning their future. During the winter a body of one hundred and fifty rang- ers was raised to range their hunting grounds. By spring this tribe at least was ready for peace. The Government, however, distrusted their sincerity, and since the tribe was not willing to subscribe to the somewhat harsh conditions laid down, the war was continued.
The year 1757 was a bloody one in Broad Bay history despite the fact that in addition to the regular garrisons, eighty-seven men constantly patrolled the frontier from the Georges to the Kenne- bec. This patrol followed the same pattern as in previous years. These companies had their headquarters at the major forts. At Broad Bay the patrol operated from the Mill Garrison.
In spite of constant vigilance the Indians were just as con- stantly in the near-by cover, but never in sufficient force to de- liver a telling blow. They were prone to wait until a man or woman was a safe and certain victim and then strike. All casualties among the settlers were of this type. The house of a Broad Bayer by the name of Piper (anglicized from Pfeiffer) in the Back Cove area was ambushed of a morning. As Piper came out of the house for wood, he was shot and killed. His wife placed her child in the cellar, closed the trap and then sought to prevent the savages from entering. The attackers shot through the door and killed Mrs. Piper, then they entered and plundered the house. The child, how- ever, was overlooked and was later found uninjured.25 In the course of the season several Broad Bayers were taken captive, but unfortunately no record of their captivities has been preserved. Among the captives was one of the sons of Christian Klein (Kline), either Georg or Johann. The young man was taken to Canada and sold to the French. After the war his father proceeded thither, searched, found the boy and returned with him to the settlement.26 Since the Kleins were of the migration of 1753 and in residence at the Mill Garrison, the seizure of the young man in all probability took place in that general neighborhood.
24Smith's Journal, p. 66.
25 Joseph Ludwig, cited by Eaton, Annals of Warren, 1st ed., pp. 102-103, 26Ibid.
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The history of Broad Bay in this year of the war, 1757, is illuminated in a most interesting way by documents from the hands of those who were present and active participants; and since their awkward and incoherent English imparts a flavor and a real- ism to their distress and their tragedies that can in no other way be so poignantly expressed, I incorporate them verbatim. First, there is the letter of Charles C. G. Leissner to Sir William Pep- perell written from Broad Bay on May 9, 1757:
Honble Sir:
I beg leave to send your Honr inclosed a copy of my Journall,27 what trouble and Barbarety hapned since my last. A Whaile Boat would be a most necessary thing for this place, as I can't come to the Assisstance on each side of the river without going round the Falls, which will take near a day, should therefore be glad if your Honr would please to order one. Scarceness of time obliges me to break off. So subscribe myself Your Honrs most submisfull serv't. C. C. Leissner28
In this letter Leissner put a finger on the main weakness in Broad Bay's defense, for at times he might be with his detail on the Dutch Neck when an outrage would occur at South Waldo- borough. To march with his force to the Falls in order to get across the river and then on to the scene of the outrage on the lower east side was little more than a futile protective gesture. With a whaleboat patrol on the river, a fairly rapid contact could have been made at nearly any threatened point, but there is no evidence to show that Leissner ever got his whaleboat. In the meantime outrages continued, and Leissner's scouts continued to arrive on the scene too late to avert them.
The captivity of Demuth and the death of Kuhn at Storer's Point within sight of the Mill Garrison has already been narrated. A little farther down the river on the east side was the farm of Kazimir Lösch with its cabin near the shore just west of Governor Marble's old home. On May 27, 1757, Mr. Lösch was engaged in hauling wood to the shore for shipment on a coaster when he was attacked by three Indians. In such situations the savages were loath to resort to gunfire as this gave the alarm and the scouts could follow a fresh trail. Consequently they aimed to take Lösch pris- oner or to kill him in a quieter fashion. In the struggle the sturdy yeoman got the better of two adversaries and the third was com- pelled to shoot, which brought Leissner's scouts to the scene on the double. This was the only casualty of this war which is at- tended by the account of an eyewitness, and since along with this
27 A report sent in weekly with an account of happenings. This would have been a most revealing document.
8ºColls, Me, Hist, Soc,, Doc, Ser., 2nd ser., XIII, 59-60,
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unhappy episode Captain Leissner's report to Sir William Pepperell includes other news of the Broad Bay scene, his entire letter of May 28, 1757, follows:
Honorable Sir :-
Your Honrs humanity and wonted goodness toward the distressed, has been [made] known by Coasters and Masters of Vessells to the Set- tlers of this Place: and as I am their director, they have desired me to inform Your Honr of their distresses and deplorable situation.
Yesterday in the morning about nine of ye Clock, one Cassemir Lash, an inhabitant of this Place, being at his Farm at Work, close by a Garri- son, was Shot by the Indians, whereupon Larm was fired; I went imme- diately with Fifteen Men in the Woods, and took around to the place where the damage was done, we found the body laying a burning, with the Hatched Sticking fast in his Skull, he was Shot under the right arm, and Stabbed with a Knife in a most barbarous manner, his wife being at the time the Murder was done at the House and Saved herself by flying to the Garrison.
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