USA > Maine > York County > Biddeford > Stories and legends of old Biddeford > Part 4
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11
"Much the boldest movement made this year was on the 21st of September by a party of 150 Indians, coming in 50 canoes to Winter Harbor. Here they attempted to take possession of two shallops lying at anchor, while Captain Austin, Mr. Harmon, John Cole, sergeant of the garrison, and five others were on board. By waiting till the enemy was near, and then firing all at once, they (the white men) threw the savage flotilla into great confusion. Recovering themselves, the Indians returned a discharge of musketry with so much spirit that our men were forced to abandon one of the shallops; and entering the other, cut her cables, endevored to spread the sails, and put to sea."
The rest of the story is told in the words of one of the men who took part, but whose name is unknown:
"The Indians, instantly taking possession of the little prize, had up the mainsail before ours was half mast; and plied their oars and paddles so dexterously on each side as to render their pursuit fearful. Their bark, however, was a dull sailer, and themselves unskilful mariners; and when they saw they were falling astern (of the white men's shallop), a number of them in a dozen canoes, by means of fishlines, undertook to tow her ahead. In the chase, a breath of air breezed up and by hauling her too near the wind, she came several times to stays - which greatly retarded her progress. A perpetual firing was kept up by the parties on each other; and so near together were they at times - so smart was the skirmish - and so daring the Indians that they attempted to seize the blades of the oars as our men were rowing. The engagement lasted about three hours; and when the chase ceased, our men had scarcely five charges of powder left. Our loss was only one man, Benjamin Daniel, fatally wounded, who exclaimed: 'I am a dead
27.
٢٠٠٧٥
PTU
ராக்சின் ஃப்
.
olus
127:
Digly bos
U
3
م
Stories and Legends:
man, but give me a gun to kill one more before I go! ' Yet the brave man had not strength to fire. About nine of the enemy were killed in this well-fought skirmish, and twice as many wounded. "
Another account says that there was a boy who helped the eight men escape with the one small sailboat. But even with the boy added, it seems that 150 Indians would have been a tough handful for eight men and a boy to escape, especially when armed with muskets and close enough to "seize the blades of the oars. " But that's the way the story was told, and that is the way it has come down to us. In thet respect, the story hos interesting reminders of the story Captain Vines heard in Boston nearly . sixty-five years before (sec pages 8 and 9), of the valiant sea-captain and the Turkish pirates.
The running chase and battle, incidentally, must have taken place in the area between the mouth of the Pool and the chain of islands (Wood, Basket and Stage islands) that made up the natural harbor shown on the old maps as Winter Harbor.
YSsow
3
9
Bar
Fail:
Marsh
Pool
3 ponds
Thatch
Stage
2 Gut
Island
Winter
Harber
IsTint
Wood
Winter Harbri Village
Neero
4
1 1
Island
Island
This map was traced from an official map of Biddeford, 1 made in 1794, and not quite 90 years after the canoe fight. But the place had changed very little then. The three ponds shown, are still to be seen along the road at Fortunes Rocks. The figure 1 marks Ferry Lane. 2 marks the site of Fort Mary. 3 marks Camp Ellis, then known as Bare Knee Point.
28.
£
E
Stories and Legends:
In 1708, the next year after the battle on water between the canoes and the sailboat, the stone fort at the Falls was abandoned (probably because nearly all residents had left that vicinity) and in the next two years Fort Mary was built on the hill overlooking the Gut and the Pool. There are indications that there had been an earlier fort somewhere near, also known as Fort Mary, but the evidence is clear that the construction done from 1708 to 1710 was so large as to constitute a wholly new fort. In a document of 1715, Fort Mary is described as a "Wooden Fort."
The fort had barely been finished when in August, 1710, a raiding party of about 50 made an attack on Winter Harbor village, killing a woman and capturing two men. One of the men was Pendleton Fletcher, and it was his fourth time as an Indian prisoner. The garrison of Fort Mary is said to have ransomed him. But they must have cautioned him against letting this captivity business get to be a habit!
The very next week another raiding party killed three people at Winter Harbor and carried away six as captives - but Pendleton doesn't seem to have been one of the six. Maybe he had learned at last how to dodge an Indian.
It was apparently about this time that the famous story of Mary Dyer began. The best version, written down in 1880 from family tradition, runs as follows:
"The savages were continually prowling around and watching every movement of the settlers. Many who ventured out were slain. Six soldiers at Fort Mary who had been out on the beach, were attacked and after a fierce encounter were overpowered by superior numbers; some were captured, and the others killed. Mary Dyer, who lived on the Neck, or at the Pool, one day while the men were out fishing she saw some Indians coming down the beach toward her house. She knew the danger of her situation, and she had two small children. With one of the children in her arms, and the other clinging to her dress, she hastened to the Gut. A boat was lying there, and placing her children in it she seized an oar, pushed the boat from land, and glided over the dashing surface like a frightened bird. She landed (on the opposite side of the Gut), secured her boat, and while climbing the cliff to reach Fort Mary a bullet from an Indian's musket struck the ground near her. She coolly stopped and put a stick into the earth to mark the spot. The Indians plundered her house, but she (and her children) remained safe in the Fort. After the Indians retired she went to the spot where the bullet struck, dug it out, and it was kept in the family for three generations as a memorial to her heroism."
Another version of the legend says that a bullet passed
29
٠
F
:
. ......
2
1
Stories and Legends:
through her home spun skirt, without wounding her. And as late as 1901 a writer claimed to have seen the skirt, the bullet hole still in it, preserved in a Biddeford home.
Queen Anne's War ended in Europe in 1713, and Indian raids stopped here for another ten years. In 1717 the town records began again, and in 1718 the town was formally named Biddeford. From this period date the oldest houses that still survive. This was also the period when "garrison houses" became important here. The principal survivor is the so-called Jordan Garrison, now known as the Goldthwait House at Hill's Beach. This house was built as early (and perhaps earlier) as 1717 by Captain Samuel . Jordan and a description written in 1830 says that the house "was more strongly fortified and secured against the Indians than any other in town, being encompassed by a stone wall of great strength - the remains of which are still seen (in 1830). Below is a probable view of the Goldthwait House as it looked when actively used as a garrison house.
Captain Jordan's father had been killed by Indians, and · Captain Jordan himself had been a prisoner of the Indians when he was only a boy. He learned the Indian language while a prisoner and after he came to Biddeford to live he was often used to interpret important messages between Indians and whites. He was an expert marksman and the Indians knew it. In July of 1723 he was working in a field somewhere near his house. He had his loaded musket with him and when Indians suddenly appeared he took aim and threatened to fire. The trouble was, however, that he had not brought extra ammunition - when he fired his musket he would be through. Accordingly he kept his musket in a threatening position, just as if he was ready to shoot, and began to edge backwards toward his garrison. The Indians followed but took good care not to get too close - close enough to make him shoot. And so he was able to get inside the stone wall of the garrison where he could shoot and drive them off.
At another time the Indians managed to creep inside the garrison wall before they were seen. Captain Jordan was alone with his family but at once began to call out as though he were telling a number of men to get their muskets. The Indians thought he must have at least a squad of armed men with him, and they hurriedly got outside the garrison wall again.
Still another story of Captain Jordan runs that one day in the woods just back of his home he discovered a party of Indians having some kind of a party over a calf which they had stolen from the Jordan herd. He crept skillfully up behind them, close enough to hear and see what they were doing. They were
30.
F
5
n
,
.
an
Wa Jo WO
to
ga
Was He the the
Jo bu ent
se a eac tha
oth ev fa
be
no
en
we
he
an op Ro si bu
cl tr th
St
Stories and Legends:
seated around the dead calf, cutting slices from the flesh, and each Indian was saying: "So we will cut Jordan." It was more than Captain Jordan could stand - and he sent a charge of shot whizzing through the group. One Indian was killed, and the others were so startled that they fled through the woods without even trying to find out whether the Captain was alone or not. In fact, they ran so fast that they did not even take their muskets.
The Indians never did get to kill or capture Captain Samuel Jordan. He died peacefully nearly thirty years later and was buried in the small burying ground on the Pool Road, near the entrance to the Hill's Beach Road, where his gravestone may still be seen.
Another story of this time concerns a John Stackpole who was walking along the beach between the Pool and Fortunes Rocks. He suddenly saw Indians in the distance (apparently coming from the direction of Fortunes Rocks) and he turned and ran toward the Pool. It must have been low tide because Stackpole started to wade across the Pool, probably trying to reach the Jordan garrison. But one of the Indians (well-known to the settlers as Wahwa) waded out after Stackpole with the cry: "Boon quarter, John.' Boon quarter'", by which he meant that Stackpole's life would be spared if he surrendered.
So John Stackpole, finding the Indians were getting too close, stopped and surrendered. They took him to Canada but travelled so leisurely that they spent a winter on the way, in the wilderness near the White Mountains. He finally was released and got back home after an absence of nineteen months. At that he was lucky. Two other men - Nathaniel Tarbox and Thomas Haley - were killed by the Indians at Winter Harbor in a similar encounter.
Somewhere about this time a group of stories center around another old house still standing in Biddeford. On the Pool Road, opposite the entrance to an old road that once led to Fortunes Rocks, stands the Haley House. It is known to have been standing since 1730, and there are good reasons for believing that it was built even earlier. Possibly as early as the Jordan Garrison, now known as the Goldthwait House.
The Haley House, as it looked about 1880
31
.
. .
*
0
:
. .
៛
.
-
F
.
.
.
.
K TA
-
S
Stories and Legends:
Here are the legends of the Haley House, as told in 1880:
"Mr. Haley was for many years on friendly terms with the Indians, and remained in his house after many of his neighbors went into garrisons. A blockhouse stood in the field of John Tarbox, near the water, on the farm adjoining the Haleys. This was known as the Dyer and Tarbox Garrison. Mr. Haley's neighbors exhorted him to join them, but believing the natives to be friendly he supposed he would be safe.
One night, however, he was aroused by a loud rapping at the door. He arose and unbarred it, and found that two Indians sought admittance, saying they desired to warm themselves. He admitted them and kindly kindled the fire in the big fireplace. He soon saw that they intended mischief, and ordered them out, but they reached in the fireplace, drew out flaming sticks and threw them around the room, trying to set the house on fire. Mr. Haley then seized his musket and, as the Indians were armed only with tomahawks, he was able to drive them out of the house and into the woods while Mrs. Haley managed to put out the fires they had started. After that experience the Haleys took shelter in the nearby garrison house.
"But from that time the Indian enmity was aroused and they continually tried to waylay him. He always went armed (he was a good shot) and had several narrow escapes. At this time the inhabitants did not fence in their cattle; the grazing was in common, and at night the cattle were secured in stockades as a precaution against wolves (which still infested the country) as well as a protection against the Indians. The cattle wore bells, the sound of which each owner could recognize.
"One night Mr. Haley's cows did not return with the others, and the family waited anxiously till darkness gathered in the forests. Then the tinkling of a cow bell could be distinctly heard, and it was evident that the animal was not far distant. So Mr. Haley started out to find her and the people in the garrison could hear the bell grow fainter as if the cow was moving away from Haley. Then came the sound of a musket shot, and the tinkling of the bell stopped. The garrison was alarmed; an armed squad hastened in the direction of the sound. They soon found the cow - it had been killed - and further on lay what was left of Mr. Haley. His body had been cut in small pieces. The Indians had evidently killed the cow early in the day, and had used the bell as a decoy to entice him out to be killed. This is supposed to have taken place about 1724, and not far from the Haley House.
32.
٨ـ
٠٠
٠٠
Stories and Legends:
Another legend runs:
"In those trying times the men went armed to their labors in the field, and the women guarded the garrison. Some stood sentry, while others worked at the cards (for wool), the wheel, or the loom. One day at this garrison the women at the lookout saw several savages secreted near the house, evidently listening to learn if the men were within.
"The women at first thought to fire a signal to call the men home, but fearing they would fall into an ambush ... they (the women) resorted to strategem to terrify the lurking Indians. So they placed hats upon poles and showed the hats frequently at the windows and above the palisades. The Indians were near enough to hear the movements within.
"In the upper story of the house was a pile of pumpkins. The women collected these at the head of the stairs, and the woman with the strongest voice commenced giving commands. Then at a given signal the other women, at regular intervals, rolled the pumpkins down the stairs. This sounded like the footsteps of a squad of men rushing out of the house. At the same time (with the pumpkins rolling ) the women fired their muskets - and the Indians (there were 18 of them) fled to the woods, thinking they had been discovered and were about to be attacked by a superior force of men. Thus the heroic women 'held the fort. '"
This famous story is told in connection with the Haley House but it may concern the nearby garrison house mentioned in the preceding stories of Mr. Haley and the Indians. At all events, the incident must have occurred in the Haley neighborhood. Incidentally a similar story is told in New Hampshire about a Mary Corliss who being necessarily left alone by her husband one day, discovered Indians skulking about her isolated home and frightened them off by rolling cheese down the cellar stairs. The bumping of the large round cheese, like the bumping of the pumpkins, frightened off the Indians in this New Hampshire legend. The Indians were certainly scary, as many old stories show.
In 1725 came the famous "Lovewell's Fight" in which the remaining Saco Valley Indians, under their chiefs Paugus, Wahwa, and Ade awando., ambushed and almost completely wiped out a force of 46 white scalp-hunters near the present Fryeburg. Much false romance has been written around this "massacre." The truth is that Captain Lovewell was a professional scalp-hunter, a paying business in those days when Massachusetts paid $500 for every Indian scalp. One of Lovewell's feats was to kill and scalp ten sleeping Indians - for which he was paid 1000 English pounds, or about $5000. But the "massacre" of Lovewell and his men was long remembered in Biddeford because one of the survivors made his way here, and was healed of his wounds. This closed the fourth
Indian war for Biddeford.
33.
1
٢
هـ السر
.
٠
.
Stories and Legends:
Fort and Trading Post built in 1730
This fort and trading post was built to keep the Indians, coming here to trade their furs, away from Biddeford. It was located on the river bank, about ten miles from Biddeford, at Union Falls in the district now known as Dayton. There is no record that it was ever attacked by Indians. It continued in active use until about 1759 when the small cannon in the upper story were removed to a fort in Boston Harbor in Massachusetts. The Indians used to call these cannon "thunder guns" and were very much afraid of them.
It is said that the portholes or embrasures in the fort and palisade were closed tight by blocks of wood. Each block had a long wooden handle and was connected with the stockade by a piece of cord. "When the men were loading their muskets the block was thrust into the loop hole; when ready to fire the block was removed and allowed to hang within easy reach. " It was these blocks, it is said, that gave the name "block house" to such fortifications. The idea was to keep the holes from being used by Indians (who might have crept up unseen) to
34
٠٠
L
.Dal we b
٠
Stories and Legends:
shoot through from the outside, at the garrison. The normal garrison of this fort was ten soldiers, but in time of danger twenty soldiers were kept in the place. It is not known just how accurate this drawing is, but it comes from an old book written by a man who knew old residents who had seen and lived in the fort. The type of fortification shown was one much used during the later Indian wars.
In March of 1744 another war broke out between France and England. From bitter experience the people were sure that there would be fighting on this side of the ocean also. A diary kept by a Portland minister at the time says, in fact: "All the thoughts and talk are about war. People are everywhere garrisoning." In Biddeford some of the old garrisons were repaired and the town records show that a large new refuge was begun whose specifications were given as sixty feet square and made with planks two inches thick. Two flankers, or watch towers, were built at opposite corners - one flanker being fifteen feet square , and the other ten feet square. The planks were built, apparently, as a palisade around the town parsonage which stood somewhere along the Pool Road and above the present Morrill School. From another source it is learned that in such palisades the planks were sunk three and a half feet in the ground, and projected ten feet above ground. The plan of such a stockade is shown below.
1804196
At this same time, on the seashore near Fortunes Rocks, four houses were built in the form of a square and apparently joined by a palisade. A number of families from Winter Harbor took refuge there. Also in what is now the center of Biddeford the "public house" or inn of Captain Daniel Smith "was secured by a brick wall on the inside, with flankers at each end. " This inn is believed to have stood on the high ground just behind the City Building, and about where the Dearborn-Bacon-Warren house now stands at 26 South Street. This location was then part of the main postroad from Boston.
Perhaps because of these precautions the Indians made no organized attacks here during this fifth Indian war that lasted
35
-
Stories and Legends:
from 1744 to 1748. But Indians lurked stealthily in the woods, particularly along the Pool Road, and it was never safe for the people to relax their caution and watchfulness. It may be that to this war belongs the story of the two Biddeford girls who had been living in a garrison house somewhere near Ferry Lane. No Indians had been seen for some time, and so one day the girls grew tired of being cooped up inside the palisade and wandered off to the river bank. They had been gone some time, and had gotten out of sight of the garrison, when a sentry heard what seemed to be a number of blue jays calling in the woods. It was an old Indian trick, to signal by bird calls, and the sentry decided there were too many calls for one flock of birds. He gave the alarm, a gun was fired, the people working in the fields nearby hurried to the garrison house. The gate was left open for the two girls who now suddenly appeared in the distance, running hard for safety.
And then the people in the garrison saw with horror that two Indians had suddenly appeared and were trying to cut the girls off from the garrison. They were beyond musket shot; the men in the garrison could only watch helplessly (to venture out might have meant running into an Indian ambush) as the girls ran still faster to evade the Indians. Luckily the two savages were too late to intercept the girls, and when they saw that they could not catch them, one Indian stopped and fired his musket - the bullet going through the skirt of one of the girls, but without wounding her. And before the musket could be reloaded again (an operation thet took some time in those old muzzle-loading days) the girls had managed to reach the garrison and safety.
But on the morning of September 6, 1746, two young men of the Pool Road were not so lucky. Here is the story as it was written down in 1830, by a man who had talked with Biddeford residents who had been children at the time of the tragedy.
"On the morning of Sep. 6, two young men, sons of Mr. Joseph Gordon, and named Pike and Joseph respectively, were surprised by Indians while on the way from their father's house to the Falls. They were employed in the Cole mill (a lumber mill) and left home between daylight and sunrise to go to their work. As they were passing a blacksmith's shop which stood a few rods below the house of Captain James Murch, the Indians rushed from behind it into the road; the young men turned and ran. Joseph, who was very swift of foot, seemed likely to escape and the savages, fearing to lose him, fired and killed him on the spot. Pike (the other young man) was taken by a part of the scouting party (of Indiens) who lay concealed further down the road, and was carried to Canada.
"The Indians retreated at first into a swamp not far from the road, taking with them the body of Joseph. It is said they secreted themselves there all the day, notwith- standing that the inhabitants turned out and made a diligent search for the young men. . ... Seven weeks afterward, the
36.
E
3
L
Stories and Legends:
remains of the young man were found and conveyed the first certain information of his melancholy fate to the afflicted family. A letter was afterwards received from Pike (the other brother) at Quebec, giving an account of his capture; he died in that city the same winter, on December 6th."
Pike Gordon, the brother who was captured, seems to have been quite a man. For the story goes on that when the Indians got away from here and started back to Canada, Pike found himself part of a group of prisoners whom the Indians treated "with great indignity as well as cruelty. " Particularly, they fed the prisoners with mere scraps and "leavings", and would not allow the captives to eat with them. But one day when the Indians hed killed some wild animal and (after cutting off all the best portions for themselves) threw the poor remainder to the prisoners to eat as best they could, the insolent and scornful treatment so angered young Gordon that he walked right up to the fire around which the Indians were sitting, eating the good meat. With a
knife he cut himself a slice from the meat hung by the fire; ate it, and cut himself some more. And thus, in spite of the fierce frowns of the watching Indians, Pike Gordon got himself the first good meal he had had since being taken prisoner. What's more, his courage so impressed the Indians that thereafter he was always allowed to eat with them (and of the best food) while the other (and timid) captives kept on getting scraps.
The tragedy of the Gordon brothers made a great stir. In those days, and for many years afterward, it was the custom for ballads to be written around unusual events. These ballads were often printed in what were called "broadsides" (because they were printed on paper the size of a handbill) and sold widely, being used as recitations, and as mementos. It is said that a young Biddeford woman, who had been engaged to Joseph Gordon, wrote a ballad for the occasion, but whether it was printed or not is not known. However, a part of the ballad has been preserved and it began as follows:
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.