USA > Maine > Somerset County > Skowhegan > History of the old towns, Norridgewock and Canaan, comprising Norridgewock, Canaan, Starks, Skowhegan, and Bloomfield, from their early settlement to the year 1849; including a sketch of the Abnakis Indians > Part 3
USA > Maine > Somerset County > Canaan > History of the old towns, Norridgewock and Canaan, comprising Norridgewock, Canaan, Starks, Skowhegan, and Bloomfield, from their early settlement to the year 1849; including a sketch of the Abnakis Indians > Part 3
USA > Maine > Somerset County > Bloomfield > History of the old towns, Norridgewock and Canaan, comprising Norridgewock, Canaan, Starks, Skowhegan, and Bloomfield, from their early settlement to the year 1849; including a sketch of the Abnakis Indians > Part 3
USA > Maine > Somerset County > Starks > History of the old towns, Norridgewock and Canaan, comprising Norridgewock, Canaan, Starks, Skowhegan, and Bloomfield, from their early settlement to the year 1849; including a sketch of the Abnakis Indians > Part 3
USA > Maine > Somerset County > Norridgewock > History of the old towns, Norridgewock and Canaan, comprising Norridgewock, Canaan, Starks, Skowhegan, and Bloomfield, from their early settlement to the year 1849; including a sketch of the Abnakis Indians > Part 3
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from a text in their creed -" that it is no sin to break faith with heretics."
* " Such were their uncommon miseries, that humanity weeps over them. Besides famine, in which their English prisoners were the most wretched sharers, - a mortal sickness was rag- ing among them."
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broke up, and savages were infesting the settle- ments throughout the summer.
The language of the Norridgewogs was one of the most harmonious dialects of the best of Indian tongues. A few extracts are sufficient to show us that it was peculiarly beautiful and rich. " Alas," says old Duponceau, "if the beauties of the Leni-lenape language were found in the ancient Coptic, or an ancient Babylonish dialect, how would the learned of Europe be at work to display them in a variety of shapes, and raise a thousand fanciful theories on that foundation. " Though not so flowing, the language of the Norridgewogs was particu- larly synthetic. Entire English sentences were formed with a single Indian word, and in all their intercourse with the French and English, especially with the former, -and although they lived in common with Father Râle and his compeers, the Norridgewock dialect of the Abnaki tongue, was never augmented by foreign additions. Gov. Lincoln presents us with several specimens of that tongue, which from their beauty and simplicity astonish us. Instead of giving all parts of speech in a com- plicated sentence, a single word is modified to meet all emergencies. Thus: nepeskessamon - I break it ; napooskoonamon - I break it with the hand ; napooskooadahmon - I break it with the teeth ; napooskooahkamon - I break it with the feet. Their vocabulary was that of poetry. Thus, when we find the Indian word
* Maine Hist. Coll., p. 313.
4
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God, signifying " the great Father of Life," the name alone elevates the thoughts and kindles the fancy.
After showing that the Norridgewog tongue possessed many advantages ascribed to the Greek and Sanscrit, and other of the most admired tongues in the world, he makes the following random citations, illustrative of his position. I sing - nakeeooahhahdoo ; I sing quick - nanahbahronmootahmen ; I sing slowly - namonnahronmootahmen ; I sing to cause dancing - nanahooahdwa; I sing well - noo- rinte ; I sing badly - nomatrinto ; I sing the death song - nametsitsintoo ; &c." These phrases, and the proper names which abound where this tribe formerly dwelt, when properly pronounced, show us that for poetical form and signification, and rich beauty, this northern tongue is unsurpassed by that of any of the Indian tribes. There were other modes of com- munication, mostly hieroglyphical, as by belts, shells, drawings, &c. Gov. Lincoln relates, that Father Râle, on a particular occasion, was absent from his post, and that one of his savage friends was convinced of his death, and deter- mined to acquaint the rest of the tribe of the fact ; he painted with a coal on a piece of birch bark, Father Râle surrounded by English, with his head cut off by one of them. This he placed on a stake, on the bank of a river. Its communication was understood, and it filled the tribe with alarm. They also drew charts of routes on birch bark, laying out rips, carrying places, falls, &c., with great precision. I pre-
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sent a few Norridgewock phrases and their signification : messeewee - all ; ooasoos - bear ; merahroo - tongue ; ahnoodee - a way ; nanan- mah - slowly ; noska - squirrel ; oosakooes - an orphan girl; ooesoomenar - yellow corn ; skahmoon - indian corn.
Numbers in the Norridgewock language .*
1, pézekč ; 2, niss ; 3, nass ; 4, ïéč ; 5, baren- eskč ; 6, negodaus ; 7, taübăövañs ; 8, ntsaüsek ; 9, něriói ; 10, mtára; 1,000, negodamgčaki.
The strophe of a hymn at the elevation of the host, commencing "O salutaris Hostia," reads, Kighist ouï nuanurouinus spem kik papili go ü damek Nemeani ouï kouidau ghabenk Taha saü grihine. " O saving sacrifice, who art con- tinually offered, and who givest life, thou by whom we enter Heaven, we are constantly assailed ; O strengthen us."
The benighted neighbors of the Norridge- wogs caused the good father Râle some anx- iety ; but in at least one recorded instance he poured that oil on the troubled waters which smoothed their raging, and made them obe- dient to his will. In the year 1697 word was brought to him that the Amalingans, a tribe that had steadily repelled all the approaches of Christianity, were about settling within a day's travel of Norridgewock. This news appalled the good Father. He feared that the plant which had begun its healthy growth in the desert would wither before this bad influence, and that his children would return to their sav-
* Râle's Vocabulary, Mem. Am. Acad. John Pickering.
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age and heathen condition; and accordingly he put all the arts of the Jesuit into requisition, and endeavored to ward off the impending blow. When some of the Amalingans came to stipulate with the Kennebecs, Râle took them into the temple, and having appealed to their imagination and uncultivated feelings with his mysterious ceremonies, he addressed them in the most pliant language his seductive tongue could modulate. " For a long time, my children,* I have desired to see you ; now that I have that happiness, my heart cannot contain its joy. Think of the pleasure that a father experiences, who tenderly loves his chil- dren, when he revisits them after a long ab- sence, during which they have incurred the greatest dangers, and you will conceive a part of mine ; for although you do not yet pray, I still regard you as my children, and entertain for you the affection of a father, inasmuch as you are children of the Great Spirit, who is the author of being as well to you as to those who pray ; who has created the heaven for you as well as for them, and who thinks of you as he thinks of them, and of me, that they may en- joy an eternal happiness. That which pains me, and diminishes the joy of this meeting, is
* " I was then," says Râle, "occupied in receiving the con- fessions of my Indians, which lasted the whole of that (Corpus Christi) day, the night following, and the next day even till noon, when commenced the Procession of the Consecrated Host. This was conducted with much order and devotion, and although in the middle of these forests, with more of magnificence and pomp, than you can well imagine. This spectacle, which was entirely new to the Amalingans, attracted their attention and excited their admiration."
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the reflection that I shall one day be separated from a part of my children, of whom their lot will be eternal misery, because they do not pray ; - while the others who pray, will pos- sess the joy which endures forever. When I reflect on this fatal separation, can I have a heart at ease ? The joy I feel for the happiness of the one, does not balance the affliction I suffer for the misery of the other. If prevented from prayer by insurmountable obstacles, and remaining in the state in which you are, I could procure your admission into heaven, I would spare nothing to obtain you that bless- ing. I would aid you, I would cause you all to enter there, so much do I love you, so much do I desire your happiness ; but that is impos- sible. It is necessary to pray, it is necessary to be baptized to be enabled to enter into that abode of pleasure." He then continued by explaining the Catholic faith, appealing to their sympathies to found a mission, and con- cluded thus : "Let us not separate, that some may go in one way, and some in another. Let us all go into heaven ; it is our country, it is the place to which we are invited by the sole master of life, of whom I am but the inter- preter." *
The reply of the Amalingans was evasive, but the ceremonies and address had evidently made a deep impression upon them. They concluded by asking Râle to wait until autumn for their answer. At that time, the Amalin-
* Maine Hist. Coll., vol. i., p. 333-4. 4*
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gans sent word by a Norridgewog who visited them, and in the name of Râle besought their answer, as follows :
" We cannot forget our father's words while we have a heart, for they have been so deeply engraved that nothing can efface them. We are persuaded that he loves us; we wish to listen to him, and to comply with his wishes. We consent to his proposition, and we see nothing but what is good and praiseworthy ; we are determined to embrace it, and should before this time have gone to visit our father in his village, if he had been furnished with pro- visions sufficient for our subsistence during the time consecrated to our instruction. But in what condition shall we find him there ? We know that famine is in the cabin of our father, and we are doubly afflicted that he is suffering, and that we cannot go to receive instruction. If our father will come to pass some time with us, we will furnish him with provisions, and he shall instruct us."
This invitation was accepted, and Râle em- barked in a canoe for their village. Before he arrived, a salute of musketry assured him of the friendly enthusiasm of the Amalingans, and gave him an earnest of the success he met with. He erected a cross and chapel, and suc- ceeded in baptizing the entire tribe. When he departed for Norridgewock, the Indians testi- fied their thanks in language that must have been sincere. "It seems to us now," said they, "that we have a new heart. All that gave us pain is dissipated, our thoughts are no
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longer wavering, baptism has fortified us in- wardly, and we are resolved to honor it all our lives." This pledge was fully redeemed. In peace and war, in plenty and famine, the Ken- nebecs and Amalingans buried the hatchet in earth, or sunk its edge in human blood, as the French priests and rulers requested. Their lightest word was stringent law.
The Kennebecs demanded that their church, which had been destroyed by Col. Hilton in 1705, should be rebuilt. Accordingly an em- bassy was sent to Boston to effect that result. The governor wished to improve the opportu- nity to secure the alliance of the Kennebecs, in the event of subsequent troubles. While the embassy was in Boston, he addressed them to that end ; he assured them, that although it belonged to the governor of Canada to rebuild their church, yet he would gladly do it in his stead. He assured them that he would treat them with more friendship than the French governor had done. "For me," said he, " I defend myself as I can, but he makes use of you to protect him, and then abandons you. I will deal better with you ; for I will not only furnish you workmen, I am willing also to pay them, and to be at the expense of building the edifice you are desirous to have constructed ; but as it is not reasonable that I, who am an Englishman, should build you a church with- out providing a minister to take care of it, and to teach you prayer, I will give you one with whom you shall be satisfied, and you must send to Quebec the French minister who is in your village."
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The answer of the Indians was full of sar- casm and satire, and reveals to us one fact : that the English missionaries were no better than the French priests. At least we may say, that if the French were as bad, their exquisite art concealed their intentions. Said the In- dians :
" When you came here, you saw me a long time before the French governors knew me ; but neither your predecessors, nor their ser- · vants, ever spoke to me of prayer, or of the Great Spirit. They have seen my peltries, my skins of the beaver and the deer, AND OF THOSE ONLY HAVE THEY TAKEN THOUGHT. Those they have sought with eagerness. I could not furnish them enough, and when I brought them many, I WAS THEIR GREAT FRIEND, - that was all. On the contrary, my canoe being one day lost, I mis- took my course and wandered a long time by chance, until I stopped near to Quebec, at a great village of the Algonkins, where the black coats lived. Scarcely had I arrived, when a black coat came to see me. I was loaded with peltries. The French black coat did not even deign to look at them. He spoke to me at once of the Great Spirit, of paradise, of hell, and of prayer, by which is the only path to heaven. I listened to him with pleasure, and relished so well his conversation, that I stayed a long time in that village to hear him. Fi- nally, prayer was agreeable to me ; I engaged him to teach me; I demanded and received baptism. My people, emulous of my happiness, sought to partake it, and they also
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went to find the black coat, and demanded baptism, Thus have the French conducted towards me. If when you saw me you had spoken to me of prayer, I should have had the misfortune of praying as you do, for I was not capable of distinguishing whether your prayer was good. Thus I tell you that I hold fast the prayer of the French. I like it and will pre- serve it until the earth shall burn up and per- ish. Keep then your workmen, your money, and your minister. I will mention them to you no more. I will tell the French governor, my father, to send them to me." The English governor did not insist on his terms, but built the chapel.
Râle says : " The Governor-general of New England sent to the lower part of the river the most able of the ministers * of Boston, to es- tablish there a school to instruct the children of the Indians, and maintain them at the expense of the government. As the pay of the minister was to increase in proportion to the number of scholars, he neglected nothing which could attract them. He went himself to seek them out ; he caressed them ; he made them little presents ; he pressed them to come and see him; in fine, he gave himself the trouble of many useless manœuvres during two months, without being able to gain a sin- gle child."
Râle opposed his labors, and wrote him a letter, in which he informed him that his neo-
* Rev. Joseph Baxter, of Medfield.
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phytes were good Christians, but not able dis- putants ; and attempted to prove, from Scrip- ture and tradition, the "verities of the Catholic faith." The letter, which was about one hun- dred pages in length, challenged the Protestant to a discussion. Râle complains, that Baxter sent him a short answer, and took his depar- ture for Boston, and that the Latin of his cor- respondent was so bad, that he could only " comprehend it at last, by dint of study." At the end of two years, he received another an- swer, which did not enter at all into the sub- ject-matter of discussion. Thus ended the efforts of the Protestants to establish their reli- gion on the Kennebec.
The Indians were in great distress in 1708, having scarcely food or raiment. The Kenne- becs and Penobscots would have been, but for their trade with the English, - a fact which old Charlevoix chuckles over considerably .*
The Norridgewogs were very busy, and were a source of much trouble to the English in Queen Anne's war. About 1710, according to Râle, "they spread themselves over about twenty leagues of territory, filled with villages, hamlets and mansions ; on the day designated they made their attack early in the morning, and that single day swept away all that the English possessed there, killed more than two hundred, and took five hundred prisoners." There were five parties, and they returned with ten canoes filled with valuable plunder.
* Pp. 100-20. + Early Jesuits, p. 55.
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Throughout the war, they laid waste the Eng- lish possessions, and filled the settlements with distress, although there were but two hundred and. fifty warriors. These outrages were all attributed to Râle, and a reward of a thousand pounds sterling was offered for his head.
Those who signed the treaty of 1713, at Casco, were Warraeensit, Wadacanaquin, Bo- mazeen, and others. Moxus would not sign. The modes in which the several wars and treaties were made, are very differently related by the English and French historians. Râle and Penhallow, Charlevoix and Hutchinson, give altogether different versions. One charges all to the English, and the other all to the French. " The golden mean lies between."
At the Arrowsic meeting, in August, 1717, the Canibas chiefs led in council. The gover- nor offered them an English and Indian Bible, and Rev. Mr. Baxter as a minister. They re- fused all advances peremptorily, and chose to adhere to the Catholic creed, saying, " All peo- ple love their own ministers. Your bibles we do not care to keep; - God has given us teaching, and should we go from that, we should offend God."
The English insisted on certain claims east of the river, and the Indians denied those claims. The difference was so wide, that the Indians threw their English flag on the ground, and entering their canoes, they paddled to another island. In the evening they returned, bringing a letter from Râle,* addressed to * Williamson, vol. ii., p. 92.
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Governor Shute, declaring that the King of France had never, by any treaty, ceded the lands of the Indians to the English, and that he would defend them from their aggressions, at all hazards. His interference highly incensed the governor, and as he made immediate prep- arations for embarkation, and as the Indians were not ready for war, they begged to be further heard, and asked for the flag they had insulted. It was at length agreed that the English should settle wheresoever they had purchased, and that the Indians should hunt and fish where they chose. The published correspondence of Râle is considerable, while his unpublished letters are very numerous. He met the arguments and accusations of the Eng- lish with great adroitness. He was not, however, always quite so successful. In August, 1718, he sent a letter to Governor Shute, in the course of which he says : " Ecclesia abhorret a sanguine." * To which the governor replied : "I suppose you mean vera Ecclesia,t the church of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, JESUS CHRIST himself being the chief corner stone."
Charlevoix says, the Canibas sang the war song in 1720, and that they generally built the great council fire at Narantsouak, or Norridge- wock. - Nouvelle Francais, iv., p. 120. In the year following, however, the Indians began to discover the folly of waging war with their powerful foes, and they sued for peace. Râle steadily, though cautiously, opposed pacific
* " The church abhors blood." + " The true church."
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INDIAN HISTORY.
measures, but the peaceful movement prevail- ed, and Ouikouiroumet was sent to Boston to treat with the English. It was agreed to allow no injuries to be done to the English, and two hundred beaver skins and four hostages were sent to Boston as pledges of fidelity. Râle sent an Indian runner to Vaudreuil, with the particulars of this unwelcome movement, and the governor immediately replied. He raved sadly at the Indians, and told them that he had secured the services of the villages of St. Francois and Becancourt to sustain the people of Norridgewock, and that if they gave way, the English would have others to deal with. He sent Father de la Chasse and Lieutenant de Croisel to Norridgewock, to strengthen them in their attachment to the French interest, and to endeavor to draw the cords of alliance between them and the Penobscots.
There were, as a result of these movements, two parties in the village and tribe : - the war party and the peace party. The former were instigated by Râle, and the latter were warned by their fears, strengthened by experience. About two hundred of those at Penobscot and Kennebec were prevailed upon to go down to Padeshal's island, Georgetown, accompanied by Râle, La Chasse, Croisel, and Castine,* in August. The main body remained behind,
* Baron De St. Castine was a Frenchman, born in Oleron. He came to America as an officer, but at length moved to the Penobscot, and began to live among the Abnakies. He married a daughter of Madokawando, and became entirely domesticated among the savages. Such was his conduct and character, that he gained the entire confidence and veneration of the Penob- 5
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while the leaders continued their journey to Arrowsick, where they had an interview with Penhallow who commanded. They gave him a letter, probably written by Râle, addressed to Governor Shute, in which they threatened the entire extermination of the English settlers, if they did not vacate their premises within three weeks.
Soon after this the four hostages escaped, and the province was thrown into great alarm by expresses which passed through the settle- ments, and a detachment of troops, who de- manded the surrender of all the Jesuits, and especially of Râle, or the transportation of all Indians which were found, to Boston. The hostages were retaken, but the capture of Râle was determined on, and in December, 1721, a party under Col. Westbrook was ordered to Norridgewock to secure him.
As these latter conflicts had thus far been bloodless, there had been no impassable breach made, and the Governor sent a valuable pres- ent to Bomazeen, to obtain his friendly inter- ference. But the repeated wrongs committed by the English were too great to be borne, and there were unmistakable tokens of a coming storm.
June 13, 1722, about thirty Canibas, with as many more Anasagunticooks, took nine families near Merry-meeting bay, but they seemed well
scot family of the Etechemins, and was made chief. He amassed a large fortune, had several daughters, all of whom married Frenchmen, and never seems to have abused his power and influence. - Abridged from Memoires de l'Amerique.
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disposed even then, for all the prisoners were dismissed except five - Hamilton, Hanson, Trescott, Love, and Edgar, who were retained as sureties for the four hostages at Boston. They then continued their depredations on the settlements, and war was formally declared against them, August 8, 1722.
Feb. 6, 1723, an unsuccessful attempt was made on Norridgewock. Capt. Harman, with 120 men, went up the Androscoggin, to the head waters of the Sandy river. The state of the country was such, that they abandoned their enterprise. The winter had been warm, the country was full of water, and the rivers were clear of ice, so that they were obliged to return without seeing an Indian.
Râle wrote the following in a letter to his · brother in 1723. " The village in which I live is called Narrantsouack, and is situated in a country between Acadie and New England.
The river which flows through my mis- sion is the largest of all those which water the territories of the Indians. It should be marked on the maps by the name of Kinibiki, and it is this which has induced the French to give these Indians the name of Kanibals. This river empties into the sea at Sankderank." - Early French Jesuits, p. 51. The French seem to have pronounced the harsh guttural ock as ank. Hence Sagadahock is called Sankderank.
The following just account is by the late Gov. Enoch Lincoln : * " A great and mem-
* Maine Hist. Coll., vol. i., p. 331 - 2.
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orable portion of the life of Father Sebastian Reaslé was identified with the relations be- tween the natives of our state and the English, and with incidents which must always be con- spicuous on the pages of our early history. The faithful attachment of the Indians to his person and his doctrines, presented an insuper- able barrier to the plans of occupancy and domination, which our forefathers prosecuted in regard to the country and its inhabitants, where his influence extended ; and the English have charged upon his head the Christian blood which flowed in the wars in which these parties engaged. However groundless or well founded such a charge may be, the character of the man is too remarkable, and the scenes in which he was engaged too important, that he should be passed by without especial notice, in regard to so much of his life as was spent with the Abenakis.
" The Indian village where Father Rallé established his abode, was then called Nanran- tsouak, and is now known by the name of Norridgewock; and it certainly had even then some advantages in its situation, to compensate for his immense sacrifice, in the abandonment of civilized society. It is seated near the con- fluence of the Sandy river with the Kennebec, on one of those beautiful prairies, or spots of alluvial ground, to which nature seems to have invited the residence of man, as if to free him from toil, and to lavish upon him all the goods which spring from fertility, and all the pleasure which conversation with the finest scenes of a
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romantic solitude can afford. Above, the rapid of the Kennebec gave the unceasing music of a waterfall ; little islands below studded the ex- panse at the confluence of the streams, and the horizon around rested on a gently waving line of hills." How admirably has New Eng- land's favorite poet described the sabbath stillness and loveliness of the autumn scenery, before the red foot of War trampled it out.
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