USA > Maine > The beginnings of colonial Maine, 1602-1658 > Part 10
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February 5, 1608, two days before Gorges wrote to Cecil con- cerning the arrival of the Gift of God, President Popham died. Gilbert and the remaining colonists doubtless gave him fitting
1 There is a very full statement concerning the "Colonists Sent Back" in Thayer's Sagadahoc Colony, 197-199.
2 Thayer, The Sagadahoc Colony, 116-119. The letter and a translation by Leonard Woods, D. D., president of Bowdoin College, were printed in 1857 in the Me. Hist. Society's Coll., Series I, 5, 344-360.
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THE BEGINNINGS OF COLONIAL MAINE.
burial within the enclosure of Fort St. George. Gorges says, "he had long been an infirm man". High aims and purposes, how- ever, still animated him. He was not one who would turn back in any worthy enterprise. The opportunity for securing for his king and country a stronghold upon the American continent, he clearly saw, and he embraced it with whatever of toil and hardship it might bring to him personally. We have no information concern- ing his last days. No other member of the colony died from sick- ness that winter. In fact, the health of the colonists throughout the winter season was exceedingly good. In all probability on account of his extreme age, the leader of the enterprise was ill- prepared to endure the exposures to which an unusually severe winter subjected him and his followers.1 Whether, however, the end came suddenly, or after prolonged illness, Popham manfully fulfilled all the duties devolving upon him as the head of the col- ony, and worthily finished his course. Gorges, writing many years afterwards, paid beautiful tribute to Popham's steadfast loy- alty to God and native land, in the words : "However heartened by hopes, willing he was to die in acting something that might be serviceable to God and honorable to his country."
Meanwhile Gorges, Sir Francis Popham and others, were busily employed in securing supplies and forwarding them to the colo- nists at the mouth of the Sagadahoc. Writing to Cecil March 20, 1608, Gorges said :3 "As concerning our plantation, we have found the means to encourage ourselves anew, and have sent two ships from Topsham for the supplies of those that be there, with vict- uals and other necessaries, having set down the means how we shall be able by May next to send one more of two hundred tons".
1 A bit of information concerning the hard experiences of the Popham col- onists that winter is mentioned by Gorges in his Briefe Narration, in the statement that during the winter the "store house and most of their provis- ions were burned." Baxter, Sir Ferdinando Gorges and his Province of Maine, II, 15. In the Relation, published in 1622 by the Council for New England, it is stated that "their lodgings" also were burnt.
2 Baxter, Sir Ferdinando Gorges and his Province of Maine, II, 16.
8 Ib., III, 165.
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THE POPHAM COLONY.
The two vessels thus despatched brought to the colonists the intel- ligence of the death of Sir John Popham in the preceding June. This was a loss as unexpected as it was severe. But the welcome arrival of these two ships with abundant supplies was ample testi- mony to the fact that the colonists still had in England ardent friends of the enterprise. In the reports that have come down to us concerning the arrival of these two vessels, there is no mention of any increase in the membership of the colony by recruits from England. Gorges refers to supplies only. Of course there was need of these; but it was not by any means the only need of the men, who, notwithstanding past discouragements, were loyally sustaining Sagadahoc interests; and it is impossible to think of any such gathering of supplies by Gorges and his associates that was not at the same time accompanied by the most earnest efforts to reinforce the little company of forty-five left with Popham and Gilbert on the departure of the Gift of God in the middle of December. Such efforts, however, seem to have been unsuccess- ful.1
But the affairs of the colonists brightened with the arrival of the two vessels from England. The winter with its cold and storms was behind them. Gilbert had succeeded George Popham as president of the colony. The Virginia had been launched and was ready for service. With the promise of a third vessel and added supplies soon to be on their way, the outlook for the future of the colony was certainly a more favorable one. Evidently neither on the part of the supporters in England, nor on the part of the leaders of the enterprise at Fort St. George, was the possi- ble abandonment of the undertaking in any way under considera- tion.
Concerning the condition of affairs under the direction of Gil- bert we have no information whatever. All we know is that his
1 "No evidence whatever shows subsequent accessions to the depleted company. . . . The several writers make references to a new supply furnished, necessaries to supply them, ships sent back with supplies. .
but there is joined no word respecting men also, whether laborers, mechan- ics, planters, or persons for special duty." Thayer, Sagadahoc Colony, 198.
.1.
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THE BEGINNINGS OF COLONIAL MAINE.
presidency was brought to an unexpected end by the tidings brought to the Sagadahoc by the third vessel despatched thither. When Gorges, March 20, wrote to Secretary Cecil concerning this third vessel, he thought it might be ready to sail in May, but for some reason unknown there was delay in the preparation for the voyage, and in all probability the vessel did not leave England until July. This is a well-founded inference from the fact that Sir John Gilbert, the elder brother of President Ralegh Gilbert, died July 5, 1608.1 The third vessel, bringing this intelligence to President Gilbert, could not have left England before that date. Probably there was not much added delay in despatching the ves- sel, and if this was the fact the arrival of the vessel must be placed about the first of September, or a little later. President Gilbert was his brother's heir, and on account of the large personal inter- ests involved in this fact, it became necessary for him to make preparations for an early return to England. The situation was a peculiar one. Among the little company remaining there was no one who possessed the requisite qualifications for the successful administration of the affairs of the colony. To continue the enter- prise, therefore, seemed out of the question. Accordingly, the complete abandonment of Fort St. George and all for which it stood followed, and preparations at once were made for dismant- ling the fort and removing the ordnance and stores to the vessels anchored near by. How much time was required in accomplish- ing this transfer is not known. In all probability the embarka- tion of the colonists occurred as early as the close of September. In the records that have come down to us concerning the return of the colonists there is not a hint that the departure brought any sorrow or even disappointment to those who constituted the great body of Gilbert's company. Their interest in the undertaking was of the slightest kind. In all probability the experiences of a single winter at the mouth of the Sagadahoc made welcome to them an opportunity to return thus early to more desirable condi- tions of life in their native land. Far otherwise was it with
1 The Sagadahoc Colony, 195.
SITE OF FORT ST. GEORGE INDICATED BY ARROW.
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THE POPHAM COLONY.
Gorges and other steadfast friends of English colonization in America, when about the close of November, or early in Decem- ber, the three vessels and the pinnace Virginia, built by the colo- nists,1 arrived in Plymouth harbor and announced the abandon- ment of the colony. This was chilling information, and years afterward, Gorges, in referring to its effect upon himself and other patrons of the undertaking, could only say : "all our former hopes were frozen to death."" The collapse of the colony was complete. Strachey says : "all embarked and set sail for Eng- land." 3
Why was not the Popham colony assigned to a more southerly location on the American coast, one in which the colonists would have avoided that severity of the winter season to which they were unaccustomed in their English homes? Certainly it was not from any lack of knowledge concerning the unfavorable conditions in which they found themselves after the location of the colony. Nor was it because of insufficient information with reference to the character of the country farther down the coast. There had been careful exploration of the territory to the southward as far nearly as Narraganset bay. Pring, whose explorations largely determined the location of the Popham colony, was familiar with the coast as far as Massachusetts bay. What advantage, then,
1 The pinnace was one of the vessels of the fleet that sailed from England to the southern colony in 1609.
2 Sir Ferdinando Gorges and his Province of Maine, II, 17.
3 The Sagadahoc Colony, 85, 86. Baxter's Sir Ferdinando Gorges and his Province of Maine, II, 17. In "A Description of New England", obtained in England by Mr. Henry F. Waters, and published in the New England Hist. and Gen. Register, January, 1885, we get a glimpse of the remains of Fort St. George at a little later period. The description is supposed to have been written about 1660 by Samuel Maverick, who came to this country in 1624, which is thought to be the approximate date of the visit. He says : "Three leagues distant from Damerell's Cove is Sagadahock at the mouth of the Kennebeck river, on which place the Lord Popham's people settled about fifty years since, but soon after deserted it and returned for England ; I found roots and garden herbs and some old walls there, when I first went over, which showed it to be the place where they had been."
7
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THE BEGINNINGS OF COLONIAL MAINE.
had the location at the mouth of the Sagadahoc over places in a more congenial climate ?
Evidently one of the determining factors in its selection was the great value of the fisheries in the immediate vicinity of Fort St. George. The early explorers on the coast, in their printed reports, and much more by word of mouth, had called attention to the rich returns that these fisheries promised. English fishermen also were already acquainted to some extent with the fishing privileges in these waters. Those who were especially interested in the establishment of the colony were merchants of Plymouth and Bristol, long connected with fishing interests, and attracted hither by the reports of the greater abundance of fish on the American coast. Certainly, these fishing grounds had a value that could not be overestimated. France was endeavoring to seize and hold these grounds, but England claimed them and their possession was deemed worthy of a supreme effort on the part of the English nation.
Another determining factor in the location of the Popham col- ony is to be found in the opportunity that the river Sagadahoc offered for profitable trade with the Indians, especially in valuable furs. There was no such opportunity farther down the coast.
From a commercial point of view, therefore, the location of the Popham colony seems to have been amply justified.
Why, then, did the colony fail? Primarily, the death of the Pophams, Sir John in England and Captain George, the president of the colony, in Fort St. George, was a heavy blow at the enter- prise. Then, too, Gilbert's recall to England on account of the death of his brother was doubtless a heavy stroke, inasmuch as among the other colonists no one could be found who was capable of taking Gilbert's place. This statement, however, reveals only partially the difficulties of the situation. Not only were the Pop- ham colonists generally lacking in those sturdy qualities that such an enterprise demands, but if we may accept the testimony that is furnished by contemporary writers, the company comprised the vagrant and the dissolute to such an extent that Gorges is
MEMORIAL OF THE POPHAM COLONY (FORT ST. GEORGE).
NOONA
*NOVOS MAITOND ANA
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THE POPHAM COLONY.
believed to have stated the fact mildly when he wrote, that they were "not such as they ought". Indeed, as later he reflected upon the disastrous ending of the undertaking, he felt, and had reason for feeling, that if he and others interested in American coloniza- tion would achieve success in connection with their desires and endeavors, "there must go other manner of spirits" than were found so largely in the Sagadahoc colony.1
1 The tercentenary of the landing of the Popham colony was celebrated by the Maine Historical Society August 29, 1907. It was one of the fairest and brightest of summer days. The site of Fort St. George was first visited. The literary exercises that followed were held in the Popham Beach village meetinghouse. Addresses were delivered by Hon. James P. Baxter, presi- dent of the society, and Prof. Henry L. Chapman of Bowdoin College. A poem, The Virginia of Sagadahoc, by Mr. Harry L. Koopman, librarian of Brown University, was read by Rev. Dr. John Carroll Perkins of Portland. On the rocky eminence overlooking the site of Fort St. George, and a part of the fort inclosure, a memorial had been placed with this inscription :
THE FIRST ENGLISH COLONY ON THE SHORES OF NEW ENGLAND WAS FOUNDED HERE AUGUST 29, N. S. 1607 UNDER GEORGE POPHAM.
The memorial was unveiled by Mrs. William Addison Houghton, president of the Maine Society of Colonial Dames, and Mr. Fritz H. Jordan, governor of the Maine Society of Colonial. Wars ; and addresses were made by Rev. Henry S. Burrage, D. D., and Mr. Fritz H. Jordan. Following the unveil- ing, the U. S. Revenue Cutter, at her anchorage north of the site of Fort St. George, fired a governor's salute in honor of George Popham, the first gov- ernor of the Popham colony, who died in Fort St. George and was buried within the inclosure.
CHAPTER VII.
THE FRENCH COLONY AT MOUNT DESERT.
S O great, however, was the disappointment in England over the failure of the Popham colony, that the adventurers in the enterprise made no attempt to renew the undertaking. As Gorges says, the colonists had branded the plantation "as being over cold, and in respect of that not habitable by our nation". Besides, he says, "they understood it to be a task too great for particular persons to undertake". This also seems to have been the opinion of Gorges, who would have the king mani- fest an interest in American colonization as a matter of national importance. England, as a growing power, was not playing the influential part in matters across the sea which in his view the opportunity demanded. In fact Gorges, who had had high hopes for the future of his nation in connection with the opening of the new world, was for a time utterly cast down because of this lack of interest in England in extending the national domain. It was a depressing thought that he could not find the men who were willing to second him in an attempt to revive the colony. But though cast down he was not destroyed, "not doubting", he says, "but God would effect that which man despaired of".1 As for the coldness of the climate at Sagadahoc, he said, he had had too much experience in the world to be frightened by such a blast, "as knowing many great kingdoms and large territories more northerly seated and by many degrees colder"; and so, though others abandoned hope, he would not .? If organized effort had failed, however, there was still an opportunity for individual enterprise; and Gorges makes mention of Sir Francis Popham,
1 Sir Ferdinando Gorges and his Province of Maine, II, 17.
2 Ib., II, 18.
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THE FRENCH COLONY AT MOUNT DESERT.
Sir John's only son and successor, who, "having the ships and provisions which remained of the northern company and supply- ing what was necessary for his purpose, sent divers times to the coast for trade and fishing", but his endeavors likewise proved fruitless ; so that, as Gorges says, Sir Francis "was necessitated at last to sit down with the loss he had already undergone".
It was Gorges greatest anxiety with reference to English inter- ests in America, however, that while England was neglecting the opportunity for planting colonies on the northern American coast, France, disappointed at the failure of de Monts' colony at St. Croix island, would now make a new and stronger effort to secure a foothold. What Gorges foresaw, and naturally greatly depre- cated, soon happened ; "the Frenchmen", he says, "immediately took the opportunity to settle themselves within our limits".1
The reference is to such facts as are recorded in the Relation2 of Father Pierre Biard of the Society of Jesus. Sieur de Monts' entire company, abandoning Port Royal, and returning to France in October, 1607, preceded the return of the Popham colony to England. Even before de Monts left Port Royal, Jean de Bien- court (de Poutrincourt) requested a gift of that place, which de Monts granted, stipulating only "that within the two succeeding years Sieur de Poutrincourt should go there with several other families to cultivate and inhabit it, which he promised to do".3 The deed of gift was made, and Poutrincourt laid it before Henry IV, requesting him to ratify it. The king acceded, and in the interest of mission work among the Indians, in connection with colonial undertakings, he appealed to the head of the Jesuit order for the appointment of missionary priests to accompany the expe- dition. Toward the end of 1608, such an appointment was received by Father Biard, then a teacher of theology in Lyons ;
1 Sir Ferdinando Gorges and his Province of Maine, I, 207.
2 The Relation, in both the French text and English translation, comprises volumes III and IV of the Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents, edited by Reuben Gold Thwaites, and published by the Burrows Brothers, Cleveland, Ohio, 1897.
8 The Jesuit Relations, III, 161.
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THE BEGINNINGS OF COLONIAL MAINE.
but on repairing to Bordeaux as directed, he found he had been as much "deceived in regard to the place, as the time".1
About a year later Poutrincourt appeared in Paris, and the king, learning to his surprise that he had not left France, addressed him with such severity of words and manner that Poutrincourt has- tened to make preparations for the voyage. Father Biard again offered the services of himself and others of his order in connec- tion with the expedition; but, evidently adverse to the presence of missionaries in the colony, Poutrincourt advised him to await developments on the American coast, saying "that as soon as he arrived at Port Royal he would send his son back to France, and that with him all things being better arranged, such persons should come as it might please the king to send".2
Poutrincourt finally sailed toward the end of February, 1610, and arrived at Port Royal about the beginning of June. When, however, the son returned to France, and failed to fulfill the prom- ise of his father concerning the Jesuit missionaries, Madam de Guercheville®, who had become much interested in religious work among the Indians, took the matter in hand with the result that Father Pierre Biard and Father Enemond Masse were able to make arrangements for their departure. There were still added delays, it is true; but at length they were received on board a small vessel that sailed from Dieppe, January 26, 1611, and arrived at Port Royal on June 22, following.
The little colony was found to be in straits even with the sup- plies that the newly arrived vessel brought; and Poutrincourt, about the middle of July, sailed for France, leaving his son, Bien-
1 The Jesuit Relations, III, 163.
2 Ib., III, 165.
3 She was a lady of honor to Marie de Medici, Queen of France, and is rightly characterized by John Fiske in his New France and New England (74, 75) as one whom Henry IV "wooed in vain". She had purchased all the rights and claims of de Monts to land in Acadia, and she had also obtained from the boy king, Louis XIII, a grant of all the territory between the river St. Lawrence and Florida. Father Biard refers to her as "ardently zealous for the glory of God and the conversion of souls". III, 167.
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THE FRENCH COLONY AT MOUNT DESERT.
court, in command of the colony. With a view to added explora- ation evidently, Biencourt proceeded down the coast. Father Biard accompanied him, and the party reached the Kennebec toward the close of October. In his Relation, Father Biard makes brief mention of such information as was received at this time and place concerning the Popham colonists,1 who, they were told, had been driven away by the Indians. "They made excuses to us for this act", says Father Biard, "and recounted the outrages that they had experienced from these English; and they flattered us, saying that they loved us very much", etc. In relating this story as to the cause of the abandonment of Fort St. George, the Indi- ans evidently flattered themselves as well as their French visitors. The story is without support of any kind. Friendly relations the Popham colonists desired and sought in their brief stay. The Indians, doubtless, were glad to witness their departure, and prob- ably believed their own story that the compelling force in the departure of the Popham colonists was to be found in them; but, as is well known, the flag of St. George at the mouth of the Saga- dahoc was lowered primarily by remote circumstances, with which the Indians on the Kennebec had no connection whatever.
Biencourt remained at the Kennebec with his party until November 4, or 5, and then set out on the return to Port Royal. At Pentegoet,2 he found an assemblage of eighty canoes and about three hundred Indians. Then, passing up the coast, he visited the site of de Monts' settlement at St. Croix island. Finally, on an unknown date, the exploring party reached Port Royal, where snow began to fall on November 26.
Father Biard's narrative shows that the relation of the Jesuits to the other members of the colony at Port Royal, during the win- ter that followed, was by no means an harmonious one. Evidently complaints of hindrances of various kinds, if not of ill treatment and open opposition, were made by the Jesuits to their friends in
1 Father Biard assigns to the Popham colony the years 1608 and 1609. They should be 1607 and 1608. III, 223.
2 The present Castine.
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THE BEGINNINGS OF COLONIAL MAINE.
France.1 Meanwhile the missionaries devoted themselves to the study of the language of the natives, and to such other matters as opportunity offered, displaying considerable adaptability to their surroundings. At length relief from unhappy conditions was at hand. In response to the appeal of the missionaries, Madame de Guercheville and her friends in France fitted out a vessel "to take the Jesuits away from Port Royal, and to found a new French set- tlement in a more suitable place".2
Such is Father Biard's statement concerning this added effort to advance French interests on the American coast. Zeal for reli- gion was a motive of importance in connection with the movement ; but it had also another motive, namely, the establishment of "a new French settlement in a more suitable place than Port Royal". That more suitable place was only to be found within the English claim farther down the coast, a movement which Father Biard, who had been as far as the Kennebec, had doubtless urged.
At the head of this new expedition in the interest of religion and French colonization was Captain Saussaye. He was to take with him two Jesuits, Father Quantin, and a lay brother, Gilbert du Thet, and on his arrival at Port Royal, he was to receive on board his vessel Father Biard and Father Enemond Massé. His entire company, including sailors, numbered forty-eight persons. Charles Flory, "a discreet, hardy and peaceable man", was the master of the vessel, which was not only amply provided with pro- visions for a year, also with horses and goats for domestic pur- poses, but the queen contributed "four of the king's tents or pavilions, and some munitions of war".
1 "A lay brother, named Gilbert du Thet, had brought out supplies, and on his return to France, he acquainted the Marchioness de Guercheville, the patroness of the mission, with the wretched state of the two fathers, and the wrong done them, and sought to make some arrangement which would leave the missionaries at liberty to prosecute their labors. Failing in this, she resolved to found in some other spot a mission colony." History of the Catholic Missions among the Indian Tribes of the United States, 1529-1854, by John Gilmary Shea, 131.
2 Relations, III, 261.
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THE FRENCH COLONY AT MOUNT DESERT.
The expedition sailed from Honfleur, France, March 12, 1613, and in two months la Saussaye reached Cape la Have on the coast of Acadia, where he landed and erected a cross, upon which he placed the coat of arms of Madame de Guercheville, "as a sign of his having taken possession there in her name".1 Thence the vessel proceeded to Port Royal, but the date of the arrival is unknown. The royal command, in letters of the queen, "to release the Jesuits", was at once presented, the arrangements for the departure were soon made, and, in a few days, la Saussaye, having taken the missionaries on board, left Port Royal and started down the coast "to go to the river Pentegoet, to the place called Kadesquit,2 the site destined for the new colony", and a most advantageous place, it was believed, for such an enterprise. "But God ordained otherwise", wrote Father Biard. A dense fog enveloped the vessel on the way, and the wind not permitting the captain to stand out to sea, all on board were in imminent peril from breakers and rocks throughout two days and nights. Prayers were offered for divine help. "When evening came on", says Father Biard, "we began to see the stars, and by morning the fogs had all disappeared". At once the position of the ves- sel was made out by those on board who were familiar with the coast. "We recognized that we were opposite Mount Desert (au devant des Monts deserts)3 an island, which the savages call Pemetiq. The pilot turned to the eastern shore of the island, and there located us in a large and beautiful port, where we made our thanksgiving to God, raising a cross and singing to God his praises with the sacrifice of the holy mass. We called this place and port Saint Sauveur." 4
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