USA > Maine > Waldo County > Belfast > History of the city of Belfast in the state of Maine v.I, 1770-1875 > Part 6
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The necessity of a fort in this quarter was suggested to the General Court by Governor Pownall, in his speech of Feb. 1, 1759, as follows : -
" As the British Crown has secured and fortified St. John's River, the enemy has now no other outlet to the sea than through the Penobscot River, the door being shut upon them in every other part. These lands ought to be in our possession ; for, as long as an Indian has any claim to them, the French will main- tain a title to them. To take possession there will assure the honor of completing his Majesty's dominions on the Atlantic : the title to those lands will be secured to the subjects of the Province." He also stated that the expense of establishing a military post would be defrayed by the Crown.
Such a proposition met with immediate acceptance ; and a re- solve authorized " the employment of four hundred men, under the direction of the governor, to take possession of the Penobscot country, and erect a fortification there." Arrangements for the expedition were soon completed ; and the forces, having been divided into four companies, sailed from Boston early in May, touching at Falmouth, where the materials for the fort had been collected. Governor Pownall was accompanied by General Waldo, who, as proprietor of the Waldo Patent, was deeply interested in
1 Allen's Biog. Dict., 675; Bancroft's Hist. U. S., IV. 369; Willis's Hist. Portland.
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HISTORY OF BELFAST.
the enterprise. Brigadier-General Preble, of Portland, was ap- pointed colonel of the troops, which, with the workmen, were embarked in transports, the frigate " King George " and sloop of war " Massachusetts" acting as convoy. From the journal of the governor, it appears that the armament reached the mouth of Georges River on the tenth of May. Here the vessels remained for several days; Governor Pownall, in the mean time, holding a conference with the Indians at St. George's Fort. "On the twelfth," says the journal, "marched off Brigd: Preble with two hundred and eighty-four men. Orders to Brigd: Preble to March to the Mouth of Pausegassawackeag, a river that runs into Penobscot about thirty miles from Georges. Appointed one Robinson, a hunter, as his Guide, and gave him a Signal; viz., Three distinct Smoaks, which I would answer with a Gun, upon which he was to send up a fourth Smoak. Ordered L: Small, a good surveyor, to chain the whole way, and keep a field book."
As Governor Pownall's journal contains the earliest mention of the river Pausegassawackeag, or, as more generally written, Passa- gassawakeag, an attempt to define this almost unpronounceable name will now be given.
One tradition traces its derivation to the Indians, who, terrified by ignes fatui, or luminous meteors, seen in a damp night on the eastern shore, where then existed a deposit of decaying animal or vegetable matter, exclaimed to some old hunters, "Passagassawa- keag !" or "place of ghosts" or " spirits." Another account says that when the first settlers arrived they found the hulk of an old vessel embedded in the sand, which emitted similar phenomena. As the Indians beheld the flitting lights, they made the same ex- clamation, meaning " dead men walk," which is supposed to have given the name to the river. It was inferred that the Indians regarded the lights as the departed spirits of the crew, who had been murdered. The hulk was visible until 1808. Investigations into the Abenaki language afford a more probable explanation. In that dialect, pas, pos, passa, signify great ; ess, a clam,1 the plural being essak; wabi, wampi, wambi, white, clear, shallow; keag, place ; making Passagassawakeag, or " the great clam, clear, or shallow water place." In the Mohegan dialect, Saxawaug is
1 But in the St. John dialect, passa signifies great water, as Passamaquoddy, - great water for haddock or pollock, the final syllables, aquodie, meaning the latter. Coll. Me. Hist. Soc., IV. 191.
FIRST PERMANENT SETTLEMENT ON PENOBSCOT BAY. 53
the word for round clams. The extensive mnd-flats in our har- bor have always afforded an abundance of this shell-fish. Profes- sor N. T. True, of Oswego, N. Y., gives another definition, as follows : -
" The analysis may be resolved into three parts : 1. Passag, from an Etchemin word, Pahsukus, signifying a sturgeon. This definition was also given to me by Sockbasin Swasson, and other Indians, at Oldtown. 2. Wasse. The definition of this is not quite so clear. We have in Rasle wasse-begat, -' clear-standing water.' It also means 'luminous, bright.' It is probable that the word niwesku, a ghost, or spirit, has the same origin ; and there may be grounds for the tradition that the natives saw the Inminous vapors that arose from the decay of a deposit of vegetable matter on the eastern shore, and from which has descended to us the definition, ' the place of ghosts, or sights.' But this can be only a partial definition of the whole word. 3. Keag. This termination of In- dian geographical names, on the Penobscot and other waters, so common, is a suffix, and denotes a fishing-place of some peculiar kind, as by a weir, or by spearing. It is also written keke, and in the Abenaki dialect it is khige. It is always used as a suffix by the Indians, though we sometimes say skeag for Namaskeag.
"The syllable wa occasions some trouble ; and I can only get rid of it in the same convenient way that Sockbasin did. He said that it did not mean any thing. It is possible that it was in- troduced for euphony. I incline to the opinion that the second mode of spelling the word in question is the true one, which would rid us of the syllable. Gathering up the component parts of the word as we have explained them, we may define Passagassawa- keag as ' The Sturgeon fishing-place, where there are ghosts ; ' i.e., where jack o' lanterns abound." 1
Perhaps this definition is as reasonable as any, although stur- geon have never been numerous in our river. The last one seen was in 1869, near City Point.
"On the fourteenth," continues the journal, " as cold as ever I had felt it all winter. Came to Sail, and arriv'd just before Sun- sett off the north of Pausegasewackeag River.
" 15th. At 4 p. M. Preble arriv'd, made his Signal, which' I answered, and he raised his fourth Smoak. Sent for him aboard. He reported to me by the Survey they had Marched 30 Miles and 64 rod."
1 Rep. Journal, Jan., 1862.
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HISTORY OF BELFAST.
On the following day, his vessels still lying in our harbor, the governor held a conference with the Indians. Giving them a Union flag, a Red flag, and a White flag, he announced that he had come to build a fort upon the Penobscot, and to make the land English ; that he was able to do it, and would do it; that they should have justice, and should do it, too ; that they should be cared for and protected, if they were friends, but that he would sweep the river of them, from one end to the other, if they were not ; and that to keep faith with the English was indispensable to their existence. With these admonitions, accompanied by presents of ammunition, food, and rum, the Indians were dismissed. The Tarratine tribe at this time had become so wasted by war and dis- ease, that, as stated by themselves the following year, they were reduced to five sachems, seventy-three warriors, and about five hundred others.1
After reconnoitring the shore, Governor Pownall landed on Wasaumkeag Point, now Fort Point, in Stockton, and encamped his men. Although the spot seemed favorable for his purpose, he did not decide to build his fort there till he had made further explorations. With a detachment of one hundred and thirty-six men, he ascended the river and landed on the eastern side, a few miles above Brewer. On the 23d of May he took possession of the country in the name of the king, and on "the top of a very high piked hill, on ye east side ye river, about three miles above Marine Navigation," with due ceremonies, buried a leaden plate, containing this inscription : -
" MAY 23, 1759. PROVINCE MASSACHUSETTS BAY. DOMINIONS OF GREAT BRITAIN. Possession Confirmed by Thomas Pownall, Governor." 2
This solemn act had an importance which, at the time, could not have been foreseen. It created the evidence of possession and jurisdiction that enabled our commissioners at Paris for establish- ing the treaty of 1783, when the question of the limits of the United States came to be discussed, to insist upon the St. Croix, instead of the Penobscot, as the eastern boundary. The British plenipotentiaries claimed that Massachusetts had never rightfully exercised jurisdiction east of the latter river. John Adams, one of our commissioners, settled the question by exhibiting the record
1 Hist. Me., II. 345.
2 Gov. Pownall's Journal.
FIRST PERMANENT SETTLEMENT ON PENOBSCOT BAY. 55
of Governor Pownall. Thus this act of occupation secured to our State a large and valuable portion of its territory. Without it, the country east of Penobscot would now have been a part of New Brunswick, or perhaps a province by itself, as was proposed dur- ing the Revolution, under the name of New Ireland, with Castine as its capital.
Near the spot where the plate was deposited, General Waldo was seized with an attack of apoplexy, and soon after expired. The expedition immediately returned to Fort Point, bringing his re- mains, which were interred on the following day with military honors and religious services. They still repose there, but the exact place is unknown.
Governor Pownall, having found "no place equal to this Point of Wasaumkeag, determined this to be the place for the Fort." Having selected a spot about twenty-five rods from the water's edge, in front of the site of the present hotel, where remains of the breastwork are yet to be seen, he commenced the erection of a fortification, insignificant compared with military works of the present day, but sufficient to intimidate the savages, and to insure protection from their raids. As its establishment was the means of opening the whole Penobscot valley to settlers, and of inviting immigration to the territory which embraced Belfast, a brief de- scription of the structure may be appropriate.
It was a regular fortification, with parapet, ditch, and glacis, square in form, with flankers, and a blockhouse in the centre. The dimensions were three hundred and sixty feet, or ninety feet on each inner side of the breastwork, which was ten feet in height. This was circumvallated by a moat or ditch fifteen feet in width at top, five at the bottom, and eight deep. In the centre of the ditch were palisadoes quite around the fort, except at the port- cullis on the eastern side, where a drawbridge crossed the excava- tion. The blockhouse was two stories in height, and had flankers of diamond shape at each corner. The latter were thirty-three feet on a side, the blockhouse itself being forty-four feet square, and all constructed of square timber, dovetailed at the corners. In the upper story, which jutted over the lower one, several can- non were mounted. The roof was hipped, with a sentry-box on the top. There were two chimneys, in opposite corners. Three or four cannon were placed in the area between the breastwork and the blockhouse.1 The following engraving was prepared from
1 History of Maine, II. 337.
56
HISTORY OF BELFAST.
a description given by Joseph P. Martin, Esq., in 1828, accompanied by a ground plan of the fort.1 He derived his information from an aged person who had lived within its walls.
FORT POWNALL. BUILT 1759. DESTROYED 1775.
The fort was completed July 28, 1759,2 at a cost of £5,000. It was the most regular and defensible work in the Province. The expense of its construction was reimbursed by Parliament. In his address to the General Court, Governor Pownall stated that he had " taken possession of the Penobscot country, a large and fine tract of land belonging to the Province, but for many years a den of savages, and a lurking-place for some renegade French, and estab- lished that possession by fixing a fort on Penobscot River, in a situation respectable for its own defence, being nowhere com- manded, but more so for the command it holds of both branches of the river, and of the carrying-place therefrom ; of Edgemoggin Reach, the outlet, and of Pentagoet, the rendezvous of the eastern Indians when they come against our frontiers. This river was the last and only door that the enemy had left to the Atlantic, -
1 The original description and plan made by Mr. Martin are now in the library of the Bangor Historical Society.
2 Hist. of Maine, II. 338.
FIRST PERMANENT SETTLEMENT ON PENOBSCOT BAY. 57
now hopefully shut for ever." The General Court highly approved of the measure, and, in honor of the governor, voted to call the fortification FORT POWNALL.1
A garrison was constantly maintained at the fort until the Revolutionary War. General Jedediah Preble was first placed in command, with a force of eighty-four men. The Indians soon became convinced of the policy of keeping on terms of friendship with their neighbors, and entered into a treaty which ever re- mained unbroken. A truck-house was established at the fort for their accommodation, and a large trade in furs sprang up. Build- ings were erected in the vicinity ; among them a small Episcopal chapel, of brick, the foundations of which still exist. The houses of the commander and others occupied a position between the fort and the river.
General Preble resigned the command after holding it four years. His successor was Colonel Thomas Goldthwait, a native of Chel- sea, Mass., an unscrupulous man, of considerable ability. He was the first justice 'of the peace in this section. John Preble, a son of the first commander, succeeded him in 1770. But Governor Hutchinson, a zealous royalist, upon coming into power the fol- lowing year, reinstated Goldthwait. The latter was hostile to the American interests, and in the spring of 1775 greatly exasperated the people by permitting Captain Mowatt to dismantle the fort, by removing the guns and ammunition. He was deposed soon after, and possession given to Colonel Jonathan Buck, of Bucksport. Goldthwait then joined the British and escaped to Halifax.
"Soon after Maja-bagaduce was occupied by the British, A.D. 1779, Colonel Cargill came from Newcastle and burnt the block-house and curtilage," says Mr. Martin ; 2 but two contem- porary accounts agree that this destruction was effected in July, 1775.8 The trading-house was kept up until 1777.
On the 28th of July, 1859, a centennial celebration of the. com- pletion of the fort was held at Fort Point, and drew together one of the largest assemblages of residents of the Penobscot valley which has ever been convened. The Rev. Joshua Hall, ninety-one
1 Coll. Me. Hist. Soc., V. 386.
2 History of Maine, II. 426.
8 Pennsylvania Journal, Ang. 23, 1775, which says that the blockhouse and all the wooden works were burned to the ground, from a fear that they would be occupied by the enemy, to the prejudice of the neighboring inhabitants. This is confirmed by Davidson in his MS. narrative.
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HISTORY OF BELFAST.
years old, officiated as president of the day, assisted by several vice-presidents, among whom were Josiah Farrow and James P. Furber, of Belfast. An oration ' was delivered by the Rev. Stephen Thurston, D.D., of Searsport, followed by toasts and speeches.
1 The oration was published in full in the "Progressive Age" of Aug. 4, 1859.
59
THE SCOTCH-IRISH.
CHAPTER V.
THE SCOTCH-IRISH.
The Province of Ulster depopulated by Rebellion. - Re-settled by Scotch Presbyterians. - Prosperity of the New Colony. - Hostility between the Irish and Scotch. - England imposes Taxes. - Causes of Emigration to America. - One hundred Families reach Boston. - Erroneously regarded as Irish. - Nutfield, afterwards Londonderry, estab ;- lished. - Character of the Colonists. - Strong Religious Principles. - Education. - Introduction of the Potato into New England. - The Town becomes wealthy and populous. - Inhabitants from it make other Settlements. - Belfast a Scion from the Parent Tree.
D URING the reign of Elizabeth, Ulster, a province embracing the northern counties of Ireland, became depopulated by frequent rebellions and was forfeited to the crown. Her successor, King James I., took measures for planting new colonies in that fer- tile country. Among his subjects whom liberal offers encouraged to leave their native homes and to settle upon these lands, was a company of Presbyterians from Scotland. Under the royal pro- tection, good order was secured, the Irish were removed from the hills and established in open localities, and Ulster, formerly a wild and disorderly region, soon became cultivated and civilized.1 These immigrants were scattered chiefly in the counties of Down, Londonderry, and Antrim, and greatly assisted to build up the principal cities of Bangor, Derry, and Belfast.2 Their prosperity, however, was regarded with a jealous eye and with feelings of ani- mosity by the natives of the soil who had been driven from their possessions. This disposition, together with a cherished hate of the heretical Protestant, was the cause of the rebellion that oc- curred thirty years afterwards, under Charles I. Macaulay, in adverting to the hostility existing between the two races, says : " On the same soil dwelt two populations, locally intermixed, morally and politically sundered. The difference of religion was by no means the only difference, and was, perhaps, not even the chief difference which existed between them. They sprang from
1 Hume's Hist. Eng., III. 308.
2 Coll. Maine Hist. Soc., VI. 5.
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HISTORY OF BELFAST.
different stocks. They spoke different languages. They had different national characters as strongly opposed as any two national characters in Europe. They were in widely different stages of civilization. There could, therefore, be little sympathy between them; and centuries of calamities and wrongs had generated a strong antipathy." 1
As Presbyterians and dissenters from the Church of England, this Scottish people experienced many embarrassments. They were, indeed, permitted to maintain their own forms of worship unmolested ; still, they were compelled to aid in supporting a minister of the established religion, and tithes were rigorously exacted for this purpose. They also held their lands and tene- ments by lease from the crown, and not as proprietors of the soil.2 In addition to this, the government began to impose taxes upon their industry and trade, like those which, at a later period, hampered and restricted the enterprise of the American colonies. Such inconveniences induced a respectable number of them to seek an asylum in the New World, where they might escape these burthens, and have full scope for their industry. About one hundred families arrived at Boston in the autumn of 1718. At first, they were not treated with due consideration, the people of this country erroneously regarding them as Irish, whereas no term could be more offensive. No relations of affinity or of con- sanguinity had ever existed between the two races, and they were as distinct from the native population of Ireland as if they had never left Scotland.
After a fruitless search along the shore, finding no place that suited them, in the spring of 1719, sixteen families, among whom appear the names of Barnet, Clark, Clendennin, Gregg, McKeen, Mitchell, Morrison, Nesmith, and Steele, whose sons and grandsons were prominent in the foundation of Belfast, "hearing of a tract of good land above Haverhill, called Nutfield, from the abundance of chestnut and walnut trees that grew there," selected it for their residence. Soon joined by others, they built up a town, which, in commemoration of the place whence many of their number had emigrated, was called Londonderry. They were generally men of middle age, robust, persevering, and adventurous; such as were well suited to encounter the toils of commencing a new settlement. Subjected to hardships which would have discouraged men of less energy, they soon began to exert an influence extensive
1 Macaulay's Hist. Eng., II. 118.
2 Parker's Hist. Londonderry.
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THE SCOTCH-IRISH.
and beneficial.1 Our whole country is to-day the better for them. In the language of one of their most honored descendants, "there has been . almost no place of eminence, political, literary, or professional, to which men of this race have not attained. The number of them, whose names have been written in history, is endless." 2
The pioneers of Londonderry first introduced the potato into New England. So ignorant were the inhabitants of the nature of this important vegetable, that in the neighboring town of , Andover the seed-balls were at first cooked, as the edible product. But in the spring, when the plough turned up the large, fair fruit, they found that they, like many another honest people, had simply made a wrong beginning. Again, it is said that the first pound of tea ever seen in the new settlement was rejected as un- palatable, after having been boiled, and the leaves served up as greens. To the little colony belongs, besides, the credit of bring- ing into general use the hand-card, the foot-wheel, and the loom, implements afterwards common to every New England town.
" The trait most distinguishing the character of the first settlers," says the historian of Londonderry, "and the most valuable in its influence, was their steadfast adherence to enlightened religious principle, and to all the forms and duties of devotion." They were also mindful of the means of education. Schools received public attention at an early period. The great proportion could read and write, while a few were more highly educated. Wher- ever a Londonderry man was found, there, with a few exceptions, was found a steadfast supporter of popular instruction, as well as of other civil institutions. Under these influences, by the rapid increase of the settlement, and by constant accessions from abroad, Londonderry became populous, thriving, and wealthy. Three years after its commencement, the several lots into which the town had been divided were mostly taken up, and families planted in various sections.8
" For no very long time did the ranks of the original associa- tion remain unbroken. Our country was then, as it is now, a land of changes. One eligible opening after another in the inland domain beckoned away little detachments, to lay the foundations
1 Belknap's Hist. N. H., I. 192.
2 Oration at the 150th anniversary of the settlement of Nutfield, June 10, 1869, by Hon. Charles H. Bell.
8 Parker's History of Londonderry.
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HISTORY OF BELFAST.
of other settlements. It was usually a few families, connected by the ties of consanguinity or friendship, who made up each of these expeditions; the sparseness of the population and the impracticability of frequent communication making the undertaking too serious to be encountered without companionship. Within the half century succeeding the foundation of the township, some ten or twelve little companies had quitted its precincts, and spread themselves in various parts of south-western New Hampshire, in New York, Vermont, and Nova Scotia, each forming the nuclens of a new town, which bore a marvellous family likeness to their common parent."1 Not the least scion from the original tree is our own city, established, as will be seen in the next chapter, by the sturdy Scotch-Irish of old Nutfield.2
1 Oration of Hon. Charles H. Bell. It is noticeable that neither Parker's History, nor the Proceedings of the Londonderry celebration in 1869, contain the slightest reference to Belfast.
2 Nutfield comprised the towns of Londonderry, Derry, and Windham, and parts of Manchester, Hudson, and Salem, N. H.
63
PROPRIETARY HISTORY.
CHAPTER VI.
PROPRIETARY HISTORY.
John Mitchell, the Founder of Belfast. - His Birth and Parentage. - Obtains a Patent for Eastern Lands. - Visits Penobscot Bay. - Attracted by our Township. - Pro- prietary for its Purchase formed at Londonderry. - First Meeting. - Conditions of Membership. - Names of Proprietors. - Tract purchased for Twenty Cents an Acre. - Survey. - Plan. - First Division or Harbor Lots. - Reservations for Minis- ter, Meeting-house, Graveyard and Training Field. - Highways. - Township called Passagassawakeag. - Lots in First Division drawn. - Names of Drawers. - Length of Side Lines. - " Pitched Lots." - Description and Bounds of Each Lot. - No. Twenty-six reserved for Ministerial and Public Purposes.
A MONG the sixteen men, who with their families first com- posed the settlement at Londonderry, was one John Mitchell. He brought with him from Ireland a son of the same name, then five years old. The latter was afterwards apprenticed to a house- wright, and, as late as 1768, styles himself " a joiner." Early in life, however, he relinquished his trade, and became a well known practical surveyor, and a teacher of the higher branches of mathe- maties. In 1755, he published a map of the British and French possessions in America, " undertaken with the approbation and at the request of the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Planta- tions," being the most complete work of the kind that had appeared. It was recognized as of high authority in negotiating the treaty with Great Britain in 1783, and in establishing our north- eastern boundary sixty years later. Soon after the termination of the French war, Governor Bernard, of Massachusetts, appointed him to superintend a survey of the Schoodic River and of Pas- samaquoddy Bay, a service which he performed to the entire satis- faction of his employer. Subsequently, he was interested with the governor and others in a patent for land in that vicinity ; but no settlements were effected, and with the Revolution the title of the patentees became extinct.
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