USA > Maine > Hancock County > Mount Desert > Mount Desert : a history > Part 6
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Church lay at Piscataqua nearly a week, “in all which time heard never a word of the Man 1 Church's Eastern Expeditions, 88.
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of War." Starting from Piscataqua on August 22, he touched at York, Winter Harbor, and Monhegan, being in great hopes to come up with the French and Indians, " before they had scat- tered and were gone past Penobscot or Mount Desart, which is the chief place of their departure from each other after such actions ; " - at Monhe- gan the English lay hidden all Day and "at Night the Major ordered the Vessels to come to sail and carry the Forces over the Bay near Penob- scot ; but having little Wind, he ordered all the Souldiers to embark on board the Boats with eight days Provision, and sent the Vessels back to Monhegin, that they might not be discovered by the Enemy; giving them orders when and where they should come to him. The Forces being all ready in their Boats, rowing very hard, got ashore at a Point near Penobscot just as the day broke, and hid their Boats, and Keeping a good look- out by Sea, and sent Scouts out by Land; but they could not discover neither Canoos nor In- dians." 1
The next night they rowed again, and on "getting up to Mathebestuck hills (Camden), day coming on, landed, and hid their Boats ; looking out for the Enemy, as the day before, but to little purpose." The next night they reached the mouth of Penobscot River, and the night after they pulled up to the falls (Bangor). 1 Ibid. p. 89.
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Here a canoe was captured conveying a letter from a priest to Casteen (Castine) in which the priest desired to hear of the proceedings of De- borahuel (D'Iberville) and the French-man-of- war. Having failed to find the enemy in the river, " Maj. Church then incouraging his Soul- diers, told them he hop'd they should meet with part of the Enemy, in Penobscot bay, or at Mount Desert, where the French Ships were " " next morning came to their Vessels, where the Major had ordered them to meet him, who could give him no intelligence of any Enemy." Then they went on " to Nasket point (Naskeag at the entrance of Blue Hill Bay) ; where being informed was a likely place to meet with the Enemy ; com- ing there found several Housing and small Fields of Corn, the fires having been out several days, and no new Tracks. Then they divided and sent their Boats some one way and some another, thinking that if any straggling Indians, or Cas- teen himself should be thereabout, they might find them, but it prov'd all in vain. Himself and several Boats went to Mount Desert, to see if the French Ships were gone and whether any of the Enemy might be there, but to no purpose : The Ships being gone and the Enemy also." They now perceived " all their extream rowing and travelling by Land and Water Night and Day to be all in vain. The Enemy having left those parts, as they judg'd about eight or ten days be-
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fore." The expedition then went on to Beau Basin and St. John in the Bay of Fundy, and on the way back Church was superseded in command by Colonel Hathorn.
In May, 1704, after the dreadful pillage of Deerfield, Governor Joseph Dudley issued in- structions to Colonel Church for his so-called fifth expedition. These instructions read in part :
" When you sail from Piscataqua, keep at such distance off the Shoar, that you be not ob- served by the Enemy to Alarm them. Stop at Montinicus, and there Embark the Forces in the Whaleboats for the Main, to range that part of the Country, in search of the Enemy, to Mount Desart ; sending the Vessels to meet you there ; and after having refreshed and recruited your Souldiers, proceed to Machias, and from thence to Passamequado ; And having Effected what spoils you possibly may upon the Enemy in those parts, Embark on your Vessels for Menis and Signecto, touching at Grand Manan, if you see cause, and from Menis and Signecto, to Port Royal Gut ; And use all possible Methods for the burn- ing and destroying of the Enemies Housing, and breaking the Dams of their Corn grounds in the said several places, and make what other Spoils you can upon them, and bring away the Prison- ers. In your return call at Penobscot and do what you can there, and so proceed Westward.1
1 Church's Eastern Expeditions, p. 104.
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On June 7, 1704, Church and his party accord- ingly " went directly for the Mainland of Penob- scot, and Mouth of that River, with their Pilots Tom and Timothy, who carried them directly to every place and Habitation both of French and In- dians thereabouts,1 with the assistance of one De Young [a French Canadian prisoner] whom they carried out of Boston Gaol for the same purpose, who was very serviceable to them ; being there we kill'd and took every one both French and In- dians, not knowing that any one did escape in all Penobscot ; among those that were taken was St. Casteen's Daughter, who said that her Husband was gone to France, to her Father Monsieur Cas- teen : She having her children with her, the Com- mander was very kind to her and them. All the Prisoners that were then taken held to one story in general, which they had from Lafaure's Sons ; that there were no more Indians thereabouts, but enough of them at Passamequado ; upon which they soon returned to their Transports with their Prisoners and Plunder. The Commander giving order immediately for the Souldiers in the whale- boats to have a recruit of Provisions for a further Pursuit of the Enemy, giving orders to the Trans- ports to stay a few days more there, and then go to Mount Desart (and there to stay for her Ma-
1 Timothy on "being ask'd, What number of Indians and French there were at Penobscot ?" had replied that "there were several families but they liv'd scattering."
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jesty's Ships, who were directed to come thither) and there to wait his further order. Then Col. Church and his forces immediately imbarked on board their Whale-boats, & proceeded to scour the Coast, and to try if they could discover any of the Enemy coming from the Passamequado ; making their stops in the day time (at all the Points & Places where they were certain the Enemy would Land or come by with their Canoes) and at Night to their Paddles. Then coming near where the Vessels were ordered to come, having made no discovery of the Enemy, went directly to Mount Desart, where the Transports were just come ; and taking some Provisions for his Soul- diers, gave directions for the Ships & Transports in 6 days to come directly to Passamequado, where they should find him & his Forces."
On the 7th of June they came to Passama- quoddy, where they did some damage, and then went up the Bay of Fundy. On June 21 they captured the French settlement at " Les Mines" (Minas), burning the houses, spoiling the crops, and cutting the tide dams. Then they pillaged Pigiguit and Cobeguit, but after a Council of War, they did not think themselves strong enough to attack Port Royal, and so decided that the naval vessels " should stay some days longer at Port Royal gut, and then go over to Mount Desart Harbor and there stay till Col. Church with his Transports came to them." Church
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went up to Signecto (Chignecto) and again de- stroyed Beau Basin and " then embarked on board the Transports and went to Mount Desart, where he expected to have met the Ships from Port Royal gut; and going into the Harbour at Mount Desart, found no Ships there, but a Runlet [a small keg for liquors] rid off by a line in the Harbour, which he ordered to be taken up, and opening of it found a Letter, which gave him an account that the Ships were gone home for Boston. Then he proceeded and went to Penobscot "1 and so home.
Though oft-repeated experience convinced the Massachusetts authorities that one might as well chase shadows as try to catch Indians in the wilds of the Maine woods and along the deeply indented shores, yet the expeditions that went in pursuit of the elusive marauders undoubtedly had some negative results. They helped to keep the sav- ages scattered and to prevent the gathering of the war-parties. As a rule the New England men were no match in the frontier fighting for the nimble French and Indians. They were brave and stubborn, but slow in movement, and quite as slack in discipline as their enemies. Their whaleboats could not catch the light Indian canoes, and in the march through swamp and for- est the naked savages played around the flanks
1 Church's Eastern Expeditions, p. 120.
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of the burdened militia. Burning the deserted wigwams was like burning so much brushwood. They were almost as easy to rebuild as to de- stroy. Yet so urgent was the distress of the border and so great the hope of striking some final blow, that year after year New England sent her levies into the northern wilds to garri- son the outposts or to pursue the bands that so quickly disappeared from their haunts. One other of these expeditions seems to have ranged as far east as Mount Desert. In the winter of 1722-23 Colonel Thomas Westbrook1 led three hundred men against the Penobscots. His letters and reports are printed in the "New England Historical and Genealogical Register" (vol. xliv). On February 27, 1723, he wrote to the gov- ernor from Burnt Coat Harbor as follows : -
1 Thomas Westbrook was a native and leading citizen of Portsmouth, N. H. He was an extensive trader, a shipper of lumber, the agent of the English government in getting out masts for the navy, a large employer of labor, and an officer in the militia. In 1721 he led a military expedition against the Norridgewock Indians on the Kennebec, and in 1722 against the villages on the Penobscot. Both expeditions were futile. In 1727 Colonel Westbrook moved to Casco Bay, settling at Stroud- water. His speculations in land brought financial disaster upon him, and he died in 1744. The town of Westbrook, near Portland, was named for him. From 1720 to 1740 he was influential in all the affairs of church and state in northern New England. See his reports quoted above and also Mass. Hist. Coll. second series, viii, and Willis's Hist. of Portland.
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" May it Please Your Honor :
These are to give you a short account of my proceedings since my last, which as on the tenth of this instant, since which we have ranged amongst the islands and on the mainland, be- tween Kennebec river and the eastermost side of Mount Desert bay, and have met with nothing worth your notice, save numbers of wigwams on almost every island and the mainland where we have ranged which, we judge, were deserted in the fall ; two French letters inclosed which were found in John Deny's house ; as also two small fire-places at the head of Mount Desert bay, which, we judge, had been made about three or four days; supposing there might have been four or five men who, we judge, may no longer abode there than just to refresh themselves. We now lie at Burncoat Harbor and are ready to proceed to Penobscot, waiting only for wind and weather, proposing after my return from Penob- scot to send you a complete journal of my pro- ceedings."
Once more the veil of silence lifts to reveal the tragedy of our island history. This is recorded in the story of the wreck of the ship Grand Design in the year 1740. This ship was a vessel of two or three hundred tons, bearing a consid- erable company from the north of Ireland who were intending to settle in Pennsylvania. Many
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were persons of station and wealth, and some of them had already established themselves in Penn- sylvania and were returning to their homes. The ship was driven out of its course by a southerly gale, and finally was flung ashore on Long Ledge off the southeastern end of Mount Desert and at the entrance to the Western Way. The ship's company escaped in the boats and landed in the cove now known as Ship Harbor. The story of the rescue of the people is thus told by Mr. Cyrus Eaton in his " Annals of Warren, Me." 1 "It was at or about this time that letters were brought by the Indians from some shipwrecked persons on Mount Desert who were suffering every extremity and dying with hunger. The Indians had given them every aid that they could, and now came to this settlement and that at Damariscotta for further assistance. Measures were immediately concerted by the people of these two places and a vessel with provisions dis- patched to their relief." It appears that the ship- wrecked company, after saving all they could from the wreck, and providing for themselves such shelter as they could, dispatched a party of young men to the mainland in hopes of finding some settlement. Nothing was ever heard after- wards of this searching party. The rest waited through weary months of disappointment, expos-
1 Cyrus Eaton, Annals of Warren, Me., second edition, pp. 63-65.
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ure, and starvation, relieved only by the uncer- tain resources of the sea and the wilderness. At length a party of Indians came to the island, and though without an interpreter, an exchange was made of a few articles of food for clothing and other things. It was these Indians who carried word to Warren. The vessel sent to their relief brought some provisions, but these were soon ex- hausted, and the shipwrecked people reached the settlements on the St. George River in a famish- ing condition.
Among the suffering passengers of the Grand Design were a Mrs. Gallaway and a Mrs. Sherrar, who had not long been married when they left Ireland. The former had a child three months old. Both the husbands died of starvation, and the two women dug the graves and buried the bodies, " there being no men among the remain- ing to give assistance." The sequel to their story is to be found in the genealogy of the Gamble family. Archibald Gamble, a young Irishman, had recently settled on a farm at St. George's, now a part of Warren, and John McCarter had set- tled at McCarter's Point, now a part of Cushing. These two young men sought marriage with Mrs. Gallaway and Mrs. Sherrar. In their loneliness in a strange land they each accepted the offer of their former countrymen. Mrs. Gamble became the mother of children whose descendants number a hundred families of different names in Knox
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County. The descendants of the McCarter union are almost as many.
The wreck of the Grand Design is probably the basis of all the legends relating to wrecked ves- sels in Ship Harbor. The story shows the Indians under a friendlier aspect than most of the border legends. Instead of ruthlessly destroying the helpless survivors of the wreck and making off with their goods, the Indians kept faith, and not only bartered some of their scanty supply of food, but faithfully carried news of the distressed com- pany to the far-off settlements at St. George's.
It remains only to repeat that the annals of the first permanent white settlers on Mount Desert in the years following 1762 contain no allusions to the Indians. The settlers were indeed attracted to the region largely because it had been so com- pletely cleared of savage foes. Since the modern summer colony has peopled the headlands and shores of the islands, the descendants of the Penobscot and Passamaquoddy tribes have come back to their camping grounds, not to hunt and fish, but to sell their wares, basket-work, toy canoes, bows and arrows, fancy moccasins and dried skins. They form a picturesque feature of the summer life, as well as a link with the island's historic past.
IV THE TORY AND REFUGEE PROPRIETORS
Then I unbar the doors: my paths lead out The exodus of nations: I disperse Men to all shores that front the hoary main.
I too have arts and sorceries; Illusion dwells forever with the wave. I know what spells are laid. Leave me to deal With credulous and imaginative man; For, though he scoop my water in his palm, A few rods off he deems it gems and clouds. Planting strange fruits and sunshine on the shore, I make some coast alluring, some lone isle, To distant men, who must go there, or die. EMERSON.
THE TORY AND REFUGEE PROPRIETORS
THE century and a half of conflict between France and England for the possession of Acadia and eastern Maine was settled by Wolfe's victory on the Plains of Abraham (September 13, 1759). The treaty which ended the long warfare was the signal that the whole northeastern seacoast was open for English settlement. In 1759 and for several years afterwards the tide of immigra- tion from the older settlements of New England set strongly eastward. Already some of the towns of Massachusetts had voted in town meet- ing that "there was no more land within the town limits than they needed for their own in- habitants." It is recorded that in 1759 two hun- dred immigrants went to Nova Scotia from Bos- ton, one hundred and eighty from Plymouth, and a hundred from New London. Later the bays and rivers of eastern Maine began to be explored. A whole fleet of sloops and fishing vessels sailed from the Massachusetts shores, bringing a hardy race of settlers into every cove and harbor from Pemaquid to St. Croix. It was emphatically a family exodus, and its importance has not been realized by historians. It was the first of the
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great migrations which have by steady advances won the continent for English-speaking civiliza- tion, and it was the only migration that went eastward rather than westward. In the summers of 1760 and 1761 hundreds of men were hasten- ing to Maine by every kind of craft that would float. The new free lands were an irresistible bait, the harbors were unequaled, the great woods promised inexhaustible supplies of timber, the waters teemed with fish, and the rushing streams gave power for grist and lumber mills. As a rule the men came in the first summer, chose a site for habitation, and made a clearing. The next summer the family came, usually two or three families together, and lived in the ves- sels until the log houses were built. This is the story of the founding of all the shore towns east of Penobscot Bay.
Such a movement could hardly escape the no- tice of the government at Boston or fail to excite the interest of the merchants. Foremost in in- terest and activity was the governor, Francis Bernard. Bernard was a worthy and upright English gentleman, born in 1714, a graduate of Oxford, appointed governor of New Jersey in 1758 and transferred to Massachusetts in 1760. He was not only interested in the eastern lands because they offered opportunity of profitable investment, but also because he was anxious to claim and hold the province of Maine for Massa-
Copyright by Charles A. Townsend
THE OVENS
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chusetts. His financial circumstances were at the time not altogether fortunate. His own tastes and his connection with noble English families had led him to adopt a scale of living more pre- tentious than the preceding governors, while at the same time his revenues were not increased. He had further been under additional burden in his change from the governorship of New Jersey to that of Massachusetts, for by the death of the king, George the Second, just at that time, he had been obliged to pay the large fee required for a new commission from George the Third. When he applied to the General Court for some relief, he was told that land was more abundant than money and accordingly he made petition for a grant of eastern lands.
On February 27, 1762, the General Court of Massachusetts made a grant to Governor Bernard of one half of the island of Mount Desert in con- sideration of "his extraordinary services." This phrase probably refers to a somewhat elaborate legal paper which the governor prepared as a statement of the facts upon which the Massachu- setts title to the lands between Penobscot and St. Croix depended as against the claims of Nova Scotia.1
This paper shows that Governor Bernard was a trained lawyer. He argued the right of Massa- chusetts from history, from the submission of the
1 Sparks MSS. vol. x, p. 83.
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Indians and the treaties with them, from "law, equity, and policy." He showed that the Massa- chusetts ownership was further implied in the recent building by the province of Fort Pownall at the mouth of the Penobscot River, of which he said : " The province has heretofore been pre- vented from settling this country by the contin- ued intrigues of the French among the Indians, but had determined to do it at the end of the war. For this purpose in 1749 Governor Pow- nall with a large armed force erected a very re- spectable fort on the Penobscot and took formal possession of the country in the right of Massa- chusetts." 1
This argument might well pass with the Gen- eral Court as "an extraordinary service," for it was in the line of the ambitions of Massachusetts to extend eastward as far as the St. Croix River. What was more fitting than to reward the zealous advocate of this claim by granting him a part of
1 Governor Pownall, after building the fort, " proceeded with an armed body above the Falls, hoisted the king's colors, which were saluted by artillery at sunset. Thereon his excellency or- dered a lead plate inscribed : 'May 23rd, 1750, Province of Massachusetts Bay, Penobscot, dominion of Great Britain, Pos- session confirmed by Thomas Pownall, Governor,'" to be buried in the land on the east side of the river Penobscot.
Governor Pownall's own record of this act is contained in his journal. " I buried said plate at the root of a large white birch tree, three large trunks springing from the one root. The tree is at the top of a very high piked hill on the east side of the river about three miles above marine navigation."
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one of the new townships to be created east of the Penobscot ? No doubt was made that the home government in England would confirm such a grant to its favored servant.
In September of 1762, therefore, Governor Bernard prepared to visit his new possessions at Mount Desert and to promote the settlement of the island. He was wont to do things in a stately fashion, so he started from Castle William with a considerable suite. Five days before, he dis- patched in a small schooner two surveyors, John Jones and Barachias Mason, whose maps and records are still in existence. The journal of Gov- ernor Bernard's voyage, found in the Sparks Manuscripts, might be the log book of a yachting cruise to-day. It reads as follows : -
" September 28th, 1762. I went on board the sloop Massachusetts lying off Castle William in Boston Bay at 5 p. m., weighed anchor, and with wind southeast passed Deer Island on the left.
" Sept. 29. Morning hazy. Passed Cape Ann by reckoning at 5 A. M., stood for Portsmouth, looked for Isles of Shoals. A thick fog arose, bore out to sea, keeping a good offing to avoid rock called Boone Island Ledge. Saw it two miles distant at 2 P. M. Weather cleared up, a fresh gale arose from south to east, bore for Cape Por- poise with all the sail we could set, passed into harbour in narrow channel between frightful rocks and came to anchor at four o'clock. Found
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several fishermen there who had put in for shelter who supplied us with excellent fish for our dinner. Night windy and rainy, lay very quiet though there was a great storm at sea.
"Sept. 30. Morning hazy : cleared up. At 3 A. M. went out with small breeze at northwest, which failing in the narrow passage we were in danger of being flung upon the rocks, but the breeze freshening carried us out. Very little wind and great rowl of sea : put out lines and caught some cod and haddock. At noon a fresh breeze arose from West. Course East, Northeast, passed Wood Islands, Cape Elizabeth, Segwin Island, wind fair, but a great swell of sea. At 6, altered our course to East by North, stood for Monhig- gon Island. Breeze freshened about midnight.
" Oct. 1. At daybreak entered Penobscot Bay : passed the Musselridges and the Owl's head on the left, and Fox Island on the right. Between Fox Islands saw Mt. Desart hills at near 30 miles distant. Passed Long Island on the left. At the end thereof saw Ft. Pownall at six miles distant. A fresh gale from the Northwest, Anchored at 11. The Fort saluted us with eleven guns, we returned seven guns. Went on shore, dined at the Fort, spent the afternoon reconnoitering the country. Went on board in the evening.
"Oct. 2. Weighed anchor at 7 A. M. Fresh gale from the Northwest ; passed by many islands on the right, which with the continent on the left
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formed many pleasant sounds and bays. Came to Neskeag Point, thirty miles from Ft. Pownall. Found several vessels there, among which was a schooner with my surveyors on board, who left Boston five days before me. Took them on board and with a pilot proceeded for Mount desart. Arrived there at 3 o'clock, but the wind being against us we were two hours turning into the harbor. At first we came into a spacious bay formed by land of the great island on the left and of the Cranberry islands on the right. To- ward the end of this bay, which we call the Great Harbour, we turned into a smaller bay called the southwest harbour. This last is about a mile long and three fourths of a mile wide. On the north side of it is a narrow opening to a river or sound which runs into the island eight miles and is visible in a straight line with uneven shores for nearly the whole length. We anchored about the middle of the Southwest Harbour about 5 P. M.
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