USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Brunswick > Indian tribes of Maine : with particular reference to Indian activities in the regions around the present locations of Bath and Brunswick > Part 2
USA > Maine > Sagadahoc County > Bath > Indian tribes of Maine : with particular reference to Indian activities in the regions around the present locations of Bath and Brunswick > Part 2
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The aid of the French in the conflict gave new impetus to the savages. To discourage the settlement of the English in the Maine colony the French offered a reward for English captives taken by the Indians, and to collect that reward, every captive, not being killed or dying as the result of mistreatment or exposure, was carried to Canada
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for ransom. The ransom was in accordance with the position and im- portance of the prisoner. Thereafter he was treated like any prisoner of war, and generally treated kindly by the French until in due season he was ransomed by the government or exchanged for French prison- ers. The greatest hardship was the exposure to wind and cold and lack of food on the march on the long journey northward through the wilderness. Following a trail and relying upon his skill to obtain food was a normal procedure in the Indian's life but it meant great hardship to the captive used to a softer mode of living. It must be remembered that an Indian squaw might easily start traveling a few days after childbirth, whereas to the white man, forcing a new mother to march under such circumstances was considered inhuman. The Indian either failed to grasp an idea of this sort or he may have thought any prisoner so weak was of little use alive. Frequently the Indian captor, tired of the ill health or the laments of his prisoner, disposed of him or her on the way rather than burden himself with a prisoner whose ransom was worth but little after reaching Quebec. There is no doubt, however, that certain Indians derived a sadistic enjoyment from watching torture, but there were many white men of no different calibre.
On August 2nd Pemaquid was destroyed and practically all the eastern inhabitants withdrew to the fort at Falmouth for safety. Most of the smaller forts eastward were abandoned, while farms fell into disuse and crops were left to rot unharvested. Massachusetts ordered six hundred men to be raised for the defense of its eastern holdings and supplied the garrison at Falmouth with "corn, rye, biscuit, salt and clothing." Thomas Danforth, President of the Province, com- missioned Major Benjamin Church to take over the expedition and to station his headquarters at Falmouth, empowering him "To im- press boats, carts, carriages, horses and men to aid him in pursuit of the enemy." This appears to be the most serious attempt on the part of the general government to suppress the Indians in this vicinity. The Mohawks, approached again to aid in the war, refused to go against the "Onagounges" as they called the Maine Indians collective- ly. To make things still more distressing, Count Frontenac, anxious to aid in prosecuting the war that was going on between England and his native country, sent out three expeditions, the first of which de- stroyed Schenectady, a Dutch settlement in New York; the second into Maine reducing the towns of Berwick into ashes; the third directed against Falmouth. The Berwick expedition numbered fifty men, half of which were Kennebec Indians under their famous chief, Hope- good.
The capture of Falmouth was one of the greatest victories of the French and Indians up to this time. Two other forts at Casco capitu- lated after a brief siege but Fort Loyal surrendered only after a siege of four days and four nights. The promise of protection for the wom- en and children was horribly violated according to Captain Davis, one of the few surviving prisoners. The French, he stated, "permitted the women and children to be murdered before our eyes." The stories of
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the few survivors are too horrible to be related. Overloaded with burdens, taunted and tortured they set out upon the march, many of them going to death eventually before they reached Canada. The French abruptly returned to Quebec anticipating an attack from the English who had just finished a successful campaign under Phips in Nova Scotia.
Major General Church was again sent into the field to visit the forts at Casco and Pejepscot (Brunswick) , and to dispatch the French or Indians who might be in possession. He landed at Maquoit and before daylight headed for Fort Andros. He surprised young Doney, son of the chief who maintained quarters at Winter Harbor, with his squaw and two captives on foot on the further side of a marsh about a mile from the fort. Doney, who is said to have been half French, half Indian shouted, "Englishmen, Englishmen!" and began to ford the stream with General Church and his men wading after him to their arm pits. (This is probably Mair Brook which was then a stream of considerable proportions.) Warned by the fleeing Doney, the In- dians fled from the fort, some escaping under the falls, others drown- ing in the river, while the few remaining surrendered without opposi- tion. The captives were in a starving condition, and among the pris- oners taken was the wife of Worumbo and several other squaws of the sagamores. The wives of the sagamores were sent on board a vessel for Wells as prisoners of war, but the remaining captives were killed, including the women and children. Major Church's brutality may be pardoned in view of the high feeling regarding the Falmouth episode. He next proceeded up the Androscoggin where he recovered seven captives and killed twenty Indians. This was probably the Indian stronghold above Great Falls mentioned earlier. One captive, Great Tom, escaped and fled to warn the sagamores, with the result that Anthony Brackett taken prisoner at Falmouth the preceding year was abandoned and managed later to meet up with Church at Maquoit. Proceeding next to Winter Harbor in search of Old Doney, he was successful again, and stopped on his return at the Brunswick Fort, where he put all the occupants to flight once more.
Although Major Church had scoured the eastern territory the government thought his accomplishment negative. He himself said, "The easterward expedition rolled home upon him like a snow- ball gathering size at every turn till he was quite overshadowed and hidden from all favorable view of his friends."
He was quite successful however in collecting funds and supplies in the Plymouth Colony for the relief of the distressed Maine settlers and in one other respect was his campaign favorable. The sagamores were so gratified that their wives were restored to them that they agreed with the English that the French had made fools of them.
"We will go to war no more" they said. "We are ready to meet you at any time and at any place you appoint and enter into a treaty."
It was, nevertheless, a dark period for the Maine settlers. Only four towns York, Wells, Kittery and Appledore (Isle of Shoals) sur- vived and these apparently were destined too for destruction. At the
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time appointed for the treaty not one sagamore appeared. The treaty time was postponed and at last, despairing of accomplishing anything, President Danforth withdrew from Wells, with the promise of sending reinforcements to Captain Converse. Just half an hour after their arrival the garrison was attacked by Moxus, henchman of Modocka- wando, who is said to have remarked.
"Moxus miss it this time-next year I'll have the dog Converse out of his den."
In February 1692 the long delayed attack on Wells was carried through with disastrous results, about seventy-five people being killed and nearly a hundred prisoners taken. There is indication that the Androscoggins were involved in this attack, several women and chil- dren being spared, it is believed out of recognition of the like cour- tesy shown at Brunswick. This, if true, illustrates, one dominant trait of the Indian-gratitude for any favor.
Wells was victim of another assault on June 10th, by five hundred French and Indians. Converse refused to surrender on any terms, remembering the fate of the women and children at Falmouth. Sev- eral fell here, one a French soldier. To avenge his death the Indians put John Desmond, their one prisoner, to death in the approved In- dian fashion.
The war dragged on unsuccessfully even with Converse, the in- domitable, in charge of the eastern forces. Pemaquid, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland were re-possessed by the French and fear of fur- ther conquest in Maine caused Massachusetts to strengthen her fron- tier fortifications. Before plans were completed peace was concluded between England and France, an occasion for great rejoicing.
Major Converse and Col Phillips came from Boston to meet the sagamores of the Kennebec, Penobscot and Androscoggin tribes for ratification of a treaty at Mair Point. Allegiance was renewed to the King and prisoners were exchanged, among them Bomaseen of the Kennebec tribe.
This closed the second Indian war. As a great part of it was in the Pejepscot district or its environs, peace was suitably enough con- cluded at Mair Point within its precincts. It was a costlier war than the first. Practically all that had been accomplished in the way of cultivation and building was utterly demolished either through actual destruction or left to waste through the settlers' abandonment. For reward the Indians gained little, a few scalps and some plunder, and the rather dubious honor of praise from the French. Modockawando, the Tarrantine chief, most zealous in the prosecution of the war, had fallen a victim to "the wasting sickness" to which the Indians seemed especially vulnerable. The Androscoggins and the Saco Indians were ready for peace, with only the Kennebecs anxious for war. About 450 settlers had been killed or died of their wounds, while 250 more had been taken captive, many of them never to see their homes again.
Another interval of peace, which lasted till 1703, gave the Indians an opportunity to recruit their depleted strength. The third war is commonly known as Queen Anne's war. The wasted forces of the
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Maine tribes had been persuaded to collect and settle at Beancourt and St. Francis in Canada where the French could count on them in future engagements. St. Francis is pictured as a sizable Indian village with many wigwams, a chapel and parsonage house, furnished with a missionary and interpreter. Many embraced the Catholic faith, though few strayed far from their primitive beliefs and superstitions. The French controlled their fur trade and held them in readiness for protection against the dreaded Mohawks. The English settlers were kept constantly on the alert against the French struggling to build a colonial empire on the fringe of the British colonies, while the In- dians still nursed old grudges for the loss of their hunting grounds. Here is an instance of their lack of astuteness, for it may be easily seen that between the English and French rivalries the Indians were doomed. Not even the promise of eternal brotherhood with the French or the magnificent gifts with which the English governors at times showered them availed them anything. They were doomed to inevitable defeat whether the British or the French triumphed.
The first outbreak in the third Indian war was the plundering of the home of Baron Castine. He himself had gone back to France but had left one son "Castine the Younger" by an Indian wife, probably the daughter of Modockawando. "The Younger" complained to the General Court but offered no violence as he was disposed to peace. The Indians next fell upon Wells, Saco, Scarborough and Casco, kill- ing nine at Purpooduck. Next they came to Casco taking a sloop and two shallops intending to undermine the fort from the waterside as they had done successfully before. Captain Southwick routed the force, estimated at 500, and raised the siege but the attack was violent enough to alarm the whole district. Major Church was summoned for his fifth expedition into the provinces, an expedition which car- ried him successfully into Nova Scotia. An attempt was made on Norridgewock under Colonel Hilton but there nothing was found but empty wigwams and an abandoned chapel. Father Rasle's successful mission with the Indians there continued for many years to be a chief source of annoyance to the English.
The war dragged on without much profit to either side. After five years the lumber and shipping business in the district was prac- tically ruined and the inhabitants discouraged. The conquest of Port Royal by the English in 1710 brought the long sought for peace, with Nova Scotia no longer a convenient hiding place for unfriendly tribes. The treaty of Utrecht in 1713 brought the usual supplementary treat- ies between the English and the Indians. Delegates from the various tribes met at Portsmouth in July and two days later local ratification was made at Casco, though Moxus, who claimed to have succeeded Modockawando as chief of all the eastern tribes, did not sign.
The Indians had lost heavily in this third war. Of the earlier powerful tribes not more than three hundred warriors remained. They had lost, too, a great part of their tribal ferocity of the two earl- ier conflicts. Bombaseen, now advanced in years, signed the treaty for the Kennebecs. Besides "Castine the Younger" and Moxus only
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Assacombuit remained as leading sagamores of the eastern tribes. It is said that Assacombuit was taken to France to encourage the Indians in aiding the French in the war. When he appeared at court he raised his hand and exclaimed:
"This hand has slain 150 of your Majesty's enemies within the territories of New England."
The monarch was so pleased that he knighted him and Assacom- buit, returning home with his honors, became so insufferable to the tribe that they threatened his life, and he was obliged to flee.
Castine the Younger was a direct contrast to Assacombuit. His policy was to maintain peace with the English and all his dealings were endowed with honesty and good sense. About 1722 he is thought to have visited France to inherit his father's fortune, from which country we hear nothing more of him. It is possible that under his guidance in the ensuing wars the fate of the eastern Indians might have been different.
In the same year as peace was concluded the General court ap- pointed a Committee of Claims and Settlements to clarify the deeds which had either been lost or destroyed during the late war. It was a significant period in the history of Brunswick. Richard Wharton, Thomas Purchase's successor to the Pejepscot grant, having died in- solvent, a group of men later known as "The Pejepscot Proprietors" purchased his claim for the sum of one hundred pounds, and asked the Court to encourage settlement of three new townships to be known as "Brunswick, Topsham and Harpswell." They agreed to exempt these towns from taxes for five years if advanced four hundred pounds for a good stone fort, with the understanding that they would pro- vide a minister and maintain a guard of fifteen men. The plea was granted and Fort George begun in 1715 at a spot which was a favorite meeting place for the eastern and western tribes of Maine. The writer is convinced that Merrymeeting Bay is so-called because of these tribal gatherings rather than because it is the meeting place of five rivers.
Settlement in Brunswick was not, however, immediate. In 1718 there were only a few families living in or near the fort of which Cap- tain Woodside was in command. A blockhouse, located near Maquoit became a favorite landing place for eastward traders or military expe- ditions. The two other towns were sparsely settled several years later, then abandoned during Lovewell's war.
Once again the new settlements growing up grieved the Indian tribes. As one method of conciliating them, the General Court of- fered one hundred and fifty pounds annually to a minister to reside at Fort George to instruct and guide them. A young scholar was to act as his associate and was given the sum of ten pounds to purchase books and "Curiosities which was to be distributed among his pupils according to their merits." Indian education was not found to be generally effective and compulsory school attendance was met with resistance. It was thought that peaceful association with white men might be used to advantage as this method had earned the French
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many an ally. At a conference held shortly thereafter at Arrowsick the Governor presented them with English and Indian Bibles.
"All people," the Indian spokesman said, "Love their own min- isters. Your bibles we do not care to keep; God has given us teaching and should we go from that we would offend God."
That very evening a letter of defiance came from Sebastian Rasle, the French missionary at Norridgewock, saying that he would protect the lands of the Indians against every encroachment. Parley was re- newed with the Indians who seemed anxious for peace but there was much protest against more fort building. Nevertheless work was be- gun on Fort Richmond about opposite Swan Island, the chief strong- hold of the Kennebecs. In 1719 the inhabitants noticing increasing insolence of the Abenaques and Governor Shute increased the num- ber of guardsmen along the frontiers. Contrary to Father Rasle's ad- vice the Norridgewocks elected a peace lover as their chief and mani- fested friendliness to the extent of sending four Indian hostages to Boston. The Governor of Canada, on being notified of this, informed his minister at Norridgewock that he had applied to the Indians at St. Francis and Beancourt, to let the English know, he said,
"That they will have to deal with other tribes than the one at Norridgewock if they continue their encroachments."
Attended by Father Rasle and Castine the Younger, two hundred Indians arrived at Arrowsick in August and presented the commander with a letter addressed to Governor Shute, the substance of which was a solemn warning that if the inhabitants did not remove themselves within three weeks, the Indians would destroy their houses and their cattle. In the winter of 1721 Col. Westbrook set out with a party against Rasle and Norridgewock but found the priest and his support- ers departed. His correspondence with the Governor of Canada be- ing discovered, they had proof that he was endeavoring to incite the Indians against the English settlers. Since there had been no blood- shed, only grumblings and warnings, the Governor devised a new policy of ignoring ill feelings and made valuable presents to Bom- baseen, now an old man, but still influential with the tribe.
The fourth Indian War, usually called "Lovewell's War," because it was at Lovell's Pond in Saco that the most disastrous engagement was fought, was perhaps the most bitter conflict of all for the region, as it assumed largely a local character between the Indians and the Maine settlers. Its purpose was to accomplish two things: dislodge Rasle and the French influence from Norridgewock and make the settlements safe from Indian marauders. The eternal grievance of the Indian was the encroachment of growing settlements in his land. He wished above everything to lay waste all signs of civilization, re- store the cleared fields to untrampled wilderness and still the whining of the sawmills.
The first act of hostility opened on the Androscoggin June 1722, when a party of Indians, sixty or more, probably Androscoggins and Kennebecs, appeared at Merrymeeting Bay where they captured nine families at Pleasant Point. All were released except five men, Ham-
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ilton, Hanson, Trescott, Love, and Edgar who were carried to Canada and later redeemed at a high ransom. Other attacks followed on Fort St. George at Castine and Casco, and later the same summer another attack was made in Brunswick. Not content with murdering and taking the settlers captive they burned their homes and the little settle- ment was left in ashes. Captain John Harmon was notified at Arrow- sick and came up the river in whaleboats in time to surprise the In- dians resting at Pleasant Point after their delightful orgy. It was on this occasion that their prisoner Moses Eaton was put to death and his son taken captive by Sabatis.
The following spring another attempt was made on Norridge- wock but the winter had been so mild that it was found impossible to reach the place either by land or water. In August 1724 three cap- tains, Harmon, Moulton and Bane left Richmond Fort and went as far as Teconnet (Winslow) by water, where they left their boats and started by land for the far-famed Norridgewock. This time they were successful. Bombaseen lost his life at the outset and the forces sur- prised Father Rasle in his wigwam. Moulton had ordered that his life be spared but young Lieutenant Jacques of Harpswell shot him, he declared in self defense. The justice of Rasle's execution has long been a subject of difference of opinion. Charlevoix describes his death as a martyr, while the Protestant account relates that a young English boy had just been tortured by him. The English detachment arrived back at Fort Richmond without losing a man. The Norridge- wock power was broken, all its noted warriors, Bomaseen, Mogg, Job and Carrabassett being killed in the fray.
The following April two Indians surprised a scout named Coch- ran at Maquoit and held him captive two days. Cochran appeared at the end of that time back at the fort with a gun and an Indian scalp. He told an ingenious story of how he had risen at night while his captors slept, killed them both and taken their guns and scalps, one of which he had lost fording the river. His companions returned to the woods at Maquoit and found the two Indians just as he had said.
The battle of Lovell's Pond is perhaps too well known in Maine for great detail of it to be given here. It is enough to say that it was one of the most desperate engagements fought on Maine soil. Cap- tain Lovewell, setting out with forty-six volunteers arrived at his des- tination near Pegwacket, the present town of Fryeburg, with only thirty-four, the rest having been brought down by fatigue or sickness. Attacked by sixty-three Indians under Paugus and Wahwa, two Saco chiefs, his numbers swiftly diminished. Evening found them with ten already dead, nine injured and one missing. Retreat was impossible and surrender never considered. "The battle of Pegwacket," though it utterly annihilated the English force, broke the power of the Saco Indians. The body of Paugus was found on the spot later by Colonel Tyng though the bodies of other warriors had been removed by their comrades.
A treaty was signed in December 1725 and ratified at Falmouth
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the following July. About forty chiefs appeared at the conference, among them Wenemovet who claimed he was empowered to act for the Canibas, the Androscoggins and also for the St. Francis Indians and Wawenocks from whom he had received two belts of wampum from Canada as a token they wished to be included in the treaty. Loron was the chief speaker, saying that the Indians had done their best to preserve their agreement. Later he wrote Mr. Dummer say- ing:
"Never let the trading houses deal in much rum. It wastes the health of our young men, it unfits them to attend prayers. It makes them carry ill to both your people and their own brethren. This is the mind of our chief men.'
The famous Dummer Treaty of 1725 was renewed several times with the tribes. It is estimated that one-third of the Abenaques were destroyed in the war. They made no figure nor took any part in the treaty. The eastern tribes, especially the Tarratines took supreme leadership of the tribes of Maine thereafter.
About two hundred English were killed or taken captive in the war which was largely a conflict between the settlers and the Indians. Morcus, chief sagamore of the Kennebecs, spread the word to the Anasagunticooks saying.
"I will stand by the peace so long as God gives me breath."
Mr. Dummer, Lieutenant Governor of Maine tried a new experi- ment to establish confidence and gain favor with the Indians. He established "Truck houses" or trading posts near several forts, the earliest at St. George and Richmond. Truckmasters were placed in charge of them and instructed to pay full value for furs and to sell commodities like molasses, sugar, rum, corn meal and tobacco at a price that would cover the cost with a small surplus for freight and waste. In many instances the General Court allowed ten per cent for waste in order that the truckmasters might lower the prices without loss when costs dropped. On the whole the truckhouses proved ex- pensive to the government, for whole Indian families were maintain- ed at public expense when the sanup, or Indian husband, was unable to provide food for his family. In 1730 there is a record of Sabatis requesting that supplies be kept at Fort George, for, he said,
"Cold winters and deep snows, my Indians, unable to go to Fort Richmond, sometimes suffer." His request was granted and there was no disturbance locally though the tribe was always viewed with distrust.
The next few years were, on the whole, peaceful. A throat dis- temper in 1735 resulted in the death of about five hundred settlers. The year following there was a shortage of crops which caused great distress. It is said there was even little bread to be bought in Boston. In 1742 the population of the whole eleven incorporated towns of which Brunswick was the youngest, incorporated in 1738, was esti- mated at 3,692. In Brunswick there were about forty men. On the prospect of a new war between France and England, the Legislature appropriated 1280 pounds to be used for strengthening the defense of
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Maine frontiers. Fort George which they had threatened to dismantle was again made a public garrison with six men on duty. In addition the county of York (to which Brunswick then belonged) was to have a detachment of 400 enlisted men ready to march at any time to any place. Each soldier was to equip himself with a good gun, sufficient ammunition, a hatchet, an extra pair of shoes, a pair of moccasins and even a pair of snowshoes.
The war which the English had been expecting broke out in June, 1744, when three hundred Indians made an attack upon Annapolis, Nova Scotia. Eastern garrisons were immediately reinforced by 73 men and a group of three hundred organized as scouts. The force at Fort George was doubled to twelve men. War was declared on all tribes east of Passamaquoddy and an effort made to enlist the Tarra- tines on the English side. They refused to take arms against the St. John Indians, their brethren, and indeed they resembled the tribes to the eastward, the Marachetes and the Micmacks, all three belonging to the Etechemin group.
The capture of Louisberg in 1745 under the forces of Sir Wil- liam Pepperell was a most amazing and favorable undertaking. So popular was the expedition that hundreds of Maine colonists aban- doned their holdings for the glory of sharing in the expedition. There was great consternation in Brunswick when twenty-five or thirty men enlisted, the remaining few observing a day of fasting and prayer. The General Court was petitioned to send troops to protect them during the men's absence, for a general opening of hostilities with the French meant an almost certain uprising among the Indians. Many of the older chiefs, like Castine the Younger, had died and younger warriors were eager to join the Canadian Indians in warfare. Truckhouses which had done so much to establish friendly relations fell into disuse and no new truckmasters were appointed.
In July hostilities commenced at Damariscotta and in the same month a boy was scalped in Topsham, while at New Meadows a man had his horse shot from under him. For the next few years hostilities were unceasing in this vicinity. The full number of men protected Fort George and a number of blockhouses were erected. Scouts were maintained between Brunswick and Falmouth under Captain Mo- chus, while Captain Gatchell scouted between Fort George and Fort Richmond. In May 1747 the Indians shot Mr. Seth Hinckley of New Meadows and shortly afterwards killed Moffit and Potter cross- ing the river to Topsham. In 1748 they shot and killed Capt. Burns and a Mr. Bragg at Mair Brook, and on May third of the same year Captain Burnell and another man were killed at Brunswick. A let- ter written by Samuel Whitney of New Meadows to Lieutenant Governor Phips relates that he had lost everything in the late up- rising. He states incidentally that the Indians who made the attack were nine of them Norridgewocks, one of them well known to him, the remaining were Canadian Indians. These Indians, he said, had removed to Canada, drawn there by the French and were well sup- plied with guns and ammunition.
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Every effort was made to supply the eastern inhabitants with proper protection. A committee of five trustees was appointed in 1747 to remunerate the soldiers, to send generous provisions and in addition a bounty amounting to about forty pounds was offered for every scalp of an Indian. The same amount was offered for a French prisoner, a method of retaliation for the general massacre of English captives by Indians who had renewed attacks on Falmouth and nearby towns.
The winter of 1747 was unusually severe and bread scarce owing to lack of cultivation the preceding summer. There were four or five large garrisons in Maine and Sagadahoc (the eastern Maine province was so-called) , twenty-five or more blockhouses, yet only three hun- dred soldiers retained in service. The Indian attacks took on more and more the color of guerilla warfare with sudden siezures and single murders over widely scattered areas. Every spring the Indians came early and kept the settlers constantly on the alert so that their regular occupations suffered accordingly. Happily, war was concluded be- tween France and England in 1748 and late in October representatives from the Penobscot, St. Francis and Norridgewock tribes appeared at Falmouth and signed the provincial peace treaty. It was a renewal of the famous Dummer Treaty of 1725, conveying all hitherto unas- signed lands to the Indians with the usual hunting and fishing privi- leges. The Indians swore allegiance to the king and agreed to bring all matters under dispute to the provincial courts. For the St. Fran- cis Indians, the following chieftains signed: Sawwaramet, Ausado, Waaungunga, Sauguish, Warcedeen and Wawaunka.
Scarcely six weeks later an affray broke out in Wiscasset in which three white men killed one Indian and badly wounded two others. The men, Obadiah Albee and Richard and Benjamin Holbrook were taken into custody and imprisoned at Falmouth from which they shortly escaped. The Indians were greatly incensed about the whole affair and to quell the disturbance the offenders gave themselves up for trial which the Indians were to witness to see that justice was done. None of the prisoners were ever found guilty. It was an oc- casion for eighty members of the St. Francis tribe to threaten an ex- pedition against Falmouth. Fort Richmond was warned they might expect an attack within forty-eight hours. Since Richmond had but fourteen soldiers at the time and the nearest neighbors, Brunswick, but four, there was great anxiety. Had the Indians known the weak- ness of the forces they might easily have taken it, but they chose to spend the night in marauding leaving time for Captain Goodwin and his men to reach the fort and defend it. The marauders continued on to Dresden, then down the river to Arrowsick, capturing twenty or thirty prisoners in all, among them a man from Maquoit. The epi- sode mentioned above concerning the mischief done Samuel Whitney and the death of Isaac Hinckley at New Meadows occurred at this time. Shortly afterward the tribes of Penobscot, Passamaquoddy and St. John concluded peace at St. George's Fort, though there is no record of the St. Francis delegates being present.
The next few years were filled with new anxieties, with French
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settlements increasing along the Chaudiere, the sources of which were near those of the Kennebec. In 1754 three new forts were constructed along the upper Kennebec, Fort Shirley at Dresden, Fort Western at Augusta and Fort Halifax eighteen miles further north at Teconnet (Winslow) . A road between Fort Western and Halifax was ordered to be cleared and made fit for carriages. In addition, the year follow- ing, four expeditions were sent out against the French; General Brad- dock against Fort Duquesne which fell in July, 1775; the second against the French Acadians and Indians of Nova Scotia; the third under General Johnston at Crown Point; the fourth under General Shirley himself moved unsuccessfully against Niagara and Fort Fron- tenac. It was a concerted, well organized effort to oust the French from every province. The General Court declared war against the Anasagunticooks and all other Indian tribes east of the Piscataqua, except the Penobscots. Bounties up to two hundred pounds were offered for every Indian scalp, and by November the General Court saw fit to include the Penobscots in the general proclamation, owing to the difficulty of "Distinguishing men of your tribe from others with whom we are at war." Provision was made for a winter establishment at the forts with eighty regular soldiers at Halifax and Cushnoc, fif- teen at Saco and five at Fort George.
On May third three well-armed men went from Brunswick to Harpswell where three Indians rose up and took one of them, a scout named Young, prisoner. At Fort Halifax two men were shot at the falls while fishing and were mortally wounded. Before the summer was out a great number of farms were abandoned or laid to waste, as usually happened even when the savages were bent on nothing more serious than mischief. Captain Lithgow and a party of eight men were attacked by a group of Androscoggin Indians not far from the fort, in Topsham, and two of them were wounded.
The war came to a close in September, 1759, with signal victories all around for the English and colonial forces, with the astonishing capture of Quebec under General Wolfe's forces, the fall of Crown Point and Ticonderoga under General Amherst. The most signal defeat to the Indians was the destruction of their villages St. Francis and Beancourt by Major Robert Rogers' Rangers. The power of St. Francis and the allied tribes of the Kennebecs and Androscoggins was forever broken.
The tribes to sue for peace first were those at St. John and at Passamaquoddy. The Dummer Treaty was again confirmed, recog- nizing the MicMacs and Marachetes as subjects of the King. The In- dians agreed to trade only at the truckhouses and offered hostages for good conduct. Early the next spring settlers left the garrisons and blockhouses and returned to their farms. The frontiers of Maine were safe, the Indian warwhoop to be heard no more. Peace after nearly eighty-five years of war began to have the aspects of permanence.
In the long bitter conflict against the Indian tribes Brunswick played only a small part, but that nobly.
As for the Indian he still lives in names alone-the Androscoggin
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THE BRUNSWICK PUBLISHING COMPANY BRUNSWICK, MAINE
1961
5/3/2010 DT 196854 1 22 00
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