USA > Maine > The history of Maine, from the earliest discovery of the region by the Northmen until the present time; including a narrative of the voyages and explorations of the early adventurers, the manners and customs of the Indian tribes, the hardships of the first settlers, etc > Part 10
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4 " Wolves then abounded all along the coast. The town of Wells was infested with them. Their hideous howlings mnade night terrible to the settlers. The lit-
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Sir Ferdinando Gorges had looked with special interest upon the pleasantly located little settlement at Agamenticus. On the 10th of April, 1641, he organized a territory here, which, from the description, we infer to have been six miles square, into a town, or borough. The inhabitants were allowed to elect a mayor and eight aldermen, and to manage their own internal affairs. About a year after this, on the 1st of March, 1642, he erected the borough into a city, extending the charter over a region embracing twenty-one square miles. This forest city was on the north side of the river. It had an ocean front of about three miles, and extended seven miles back from the river's mouth.1 He called this city Gorgiana.
The officers of the city government were, a mayor, twelve aldermen, and twenty-four common councilmen. It is estimated that at this time there were seventy-seven Christian ministers in New England who had been driven from home by persecu- tion ; and there were about fifty towns or villages.2 The rela- tions with the Indians were continually growing more threat- ening. This was mainly caused by unprincipled traders and wretched vagabonds, who were ranging the coast and country in all directions beyond the reach of law, inflicting the most intolerable outrages upon the natives. The governors of the colonies, and the many good Christian men in the settlements, were anxious to do every thing in their power to secure just treatment for the Indians; but it was impossible for them to restrain the reckless adventurers who crowded to these shores.
In addition to the danger to which the colonists were exposed from the angry attitude assumed by the Indians, there were also continual disputes arising in respect to boundaries, with the Dutch in New York, and the French in Canada. Influenced by
tle stock on the farms was always in peril, and every precaution was necessary to guard against their attacks. They were the worst enemies that the pioneers had to encounter. Hitherto they had had free access to the coast; and it was impos- sible to drive them away from the old ground, while new temptations were offered to them in the flocks of sheep and cattle which were rapidly being introduced into their territories. Every settler was interested in their extermination, and at this court it was ordered that every family should pay twelve pence for every wolf that should be killed." - History of Wells and Kennebunk, by Edward E. Bourne, LL.D.
1 Hazard's Historical Collections, vol. i. p. 480.
2 Collections Massachusetts Historical Society, vol. i. p. 247.
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these considerations, the colonists of Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven, entered into a confederacy in the year 1643.1 The Province of Maine was not a member of this confederacy. It is said that this was in consequence of the strong royalist and Episcopal tendencies of its rulers.
The French called their dominions in North America, includ- ing Canada, Acadia, and Louisiana, by the general name of New France. For its government, Cardinal Richelieu formed an association called the Company of France.2 It was estimated that about sixteen thousand souls had emigrated to these re- gions. The intolerance of the court in England had roused the Commons to an appeal to arms. This at once checked the tide of emigration. The people, who had been fleeing from the tyranny of the crown, were now disposed to remain at home, and fight the battles of freedom on their own soil. So many returned to England, that during the next twenty years the New England colonies lost more from returning emigrants than they gained by accessions from the mother country.3
The people of these colonies were generally republicans in their political principles, and dissenters from the Established Church of England in their ecclesiastical relations. Their sym- pathies were consequently warmly with the Commons in its war- fare against the Crown. The Commons, in gratitude, voted, in the year 1642, that the merchandise of either country should be exchanged free of duty.4
Jealous of the power of the king, and of the grants or patents which he had conferred upon his favorites, they appointed the Earl of Warwick, governor-general, and high admiral of all the American Plantations. He was to be assisted by a board of sixteen commissioners. They were enjoined to watch with care that the colonists were protected in the true Protestant religion and in the exercise of all their political rights.
Gov. Gorges, a partisan of the king, was much annoyed by the attitude which public affairs were assuming. He determined to leave the Province of Maine, and return to England. The
1 Winthrop's Journal, p. 276; Hubbard's New England, p. 463.
2 History of the French Dominions, by Thomas Jeffreys, p. 101.
8 History of New England, by Daniel Neal, p. 218.
4 Hist. Coll. by Eben. Hazard, p. 494.
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administration of affairs was intrusted to George Cleaves, as his deputy. Cleaves selected Portland for his residence, then called Casco Peninsula.1
He speedily summoned a court at Casco, that he might inform himself more minutely respecting the affairs of the Province ; but he found himself at once in conflict with the government Gorges had established. Richard Vines convened a council at Saco. In the controversy which arose, Cleaves sent a friend, Mr. Tucker, to Saco, to propose submitting the questions in dis- pute to the magistrates of the Massachusetts colony. Vines assailed the envoy with abusive language, threw him into prison, and did not release him until he gave bonds to appear at the next court at Saco.2
Though Sir Ferdinando Gorges had now reached his three score years and ten, his zeal for the crown was such, that, in the civil war then raging, he joined the royalist army of Prince Rupert during the siege of Bristol. The great events transpiring in England threw British affairs everywhere into some degree of confusion. It would only bewilder the reader to endeavor to explain all the entanglements. There seems to have been for some time quite a conflict between Cleaves at Portland and the court at Saco.
In the year 1647 Richard Vines had returned to England. At a session of the court holden by Mr. Cleaves, the Piscataqua plantations were formed into a town called Kittery. Its ter- ritory, at that time, embraced not only the present town of Kittery, but also North and South Berwick, and Elliot. It would seem, from the following curious memorial presented to the court at that time, that "woman's rights" were not then very highly respected : -
" The humble petition of Richard Cutts and John Cutting, showeth, that contrary to an act of court which says, 'No woman shall live on the Isles of Shoals,' John Reynolds has brought his wife hither with an intention to live here and abide. He hath also brought upon Hog Island a great stock of goats and swine, which, by destroying much fish, do great damage to the petitioners and others; and also spoil the spring of water upon that island, rendering it unfit for any manner of use.
1 Hutchinson's History, vol. i. p. 163.
2 Hubbard's History of New England, p. 369.
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" Your petitioners therefore pray, that the act of court may be put in execution for the removal of all women from inhabiting there; and that said Reynolds may be ordered to remove his goats and swine from the island without delay."
The court ordered the removal of the swine, but decided, as to the complaint against the wife, "It is thought fit by the court, that, if no further complaint come against her, she may enjoy the company of her husband." 1
Ferdinando Gorges died two years before the execution of his royal master, Charles I. In the year 1635 Razilla, governor of Acadia, died. Two of his subordinate officers struggled to succeed him in the command. One of these, Charles de la Tour established himself at the mouth of the River St. John.2 The other, D'Aulney de Charnisy, took his residence about a hundred and fifty miles west, on the eastern side of the Penob- scot, at the point now called Castine.
The valleys of these two rivers were inhabited by two quite powerful Indian tribes. The king of France, involved in a war with Spain, paid but little attention to the quarrels of two offi- cers in the wilderness of the New World, separated from France by an ocean three thousand miles in width. The strife between the officers was imbittered from the fact that D'Aulney was a Catholic, and was sustained by the powerful influence of the Jesuits. La Tour was a Protestant, and looked for countenance and aid to the Puritans of New England.
He sent from his settlement on the St. John, an agent, M. Rochet, to propose free trade between the colonies, and the co-operation of Massachusetts in the endeavor to drive D'Aulney from the Penobscot. The result was, that free trade was intro- duced, but the military alliance was postponed.3
The Jesuit influence was such that the Protestant, La Tour, had no chance of obtaining support of the throne of France, in his conflict with his Catholic competitor. The Jesuits succeeded ere long in obtaining a royal edict, which denounced La Tour
1 Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. vii. p. 250.
2 There are two De la Tours mentioned in this history, -Claude, the father, and' Charles, the son.
: 8 Hazard's Historical Collections, vol. i. p. 198; Journal of John Winthrop, p. 265.
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as an outlaw and a rebel. Thus encouraged, D'Aulney fitted out an expedition against his opponent, of four vessels, with five hundred men. He blockaded the harbor of La Tour, cut off all his communications, and reduced the garrison to the greatest distress.
In the night of the 12th of June, La Tour and his wife escaped from the blockaded port, and proceeded in a vessel to Boston. He was a man of persuasive address, and he exerted all his powers to induce the government of the colony to aid him with a military force. There was quite a division of senti- ment in the colony, upon this subject. Some were warmly in favor of espousing his cause ; for he showed them his commission from the French cabinet, appointing him the king's lieutenant- general in Acadia. La Tour's friends in the Massachusetts Colony urged that he was the legitimate ruler, and that their commercial interests, and their religious principles, alike de- manded that they should support his claims.
But the opponents urged, that they could not be certain as to the exact justice of the case ; that the French cabinet had man- ifestly vacillated ; that it was to be feared that La Tour's Prot- estantism was mainly the absence of all religion; and that it was not for the honor of Massachusetts to engage in war, as the followers of a French adventurer.1
All the settlements in the Province of Maine were much agi- tated by this question. The deputy governor wrote, from his residence at Kittery Point, to Gov. Winthrop of Massachusetts, under date of June 28, 1643. In this letter he says, -
" RIGHT WORTHY SIR, -I understand by Mr Parker, you have written me by Mr. Shurt, which, as yet, I have not received. It cannot be un- known to you what fears we are in, since La Tour's promise of aid from you. For my part, I thought fit to certify so much unto you; for I suppose that not only these parts which are naked, but all north-east, will find D' Aulney a scourge. He hath long waited, with the expense of near eight hundred pounds per month, for an opportunity of taking supplies from his foe; and, should all his hopes be frustrated through your aid, you may conceive where he will seek for satisfaction.
" If a thorough work could be made, and he be utterly extirpated, I should like it well: otherwise, it cannot be thought but that a soldier and a
1 See these arguments in full, Haz. Coll., vol. i. p. 502-516.
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gentleman will seek to revenge himself, having five hundred men, two ships, a galley, and pinnaces well provided. But you may please conceive in what manner he now besieges La Tour. His ships lie on the south-west part of the island, at the entrance of St. John's River, within which is only an entrance for ships. On the north-east lie his pinnaces. It cannot be con- ceived but he will fortify the island, which will debar the entrance of any of your ships, and force them back, showing the will, not having the power to hurt him.
" I suppose I shall sail for England in this ship; I am not yet certain, which makes me forbear to enlarge at this time, or to desire your commands thither.
" Thus in haste I rest your honoring friend and servant,
" THOMAS GORGES." 1
After much deliberation, the Massachusetts magistrates in- formed La Tour, that, though they could take no active part in the conflict, he might purchase or charter ships, and enlist as many volunteers as he pleased. It was all, however, to be done at his own expense. He at once chartered four vessels for two months, at the price, for the four, of two thousand six hundred dollars. One hundred and forty-two men, sailors, and seamen were placed on board, with thirty-eight pieces of ordnance. The little fleet was well furnished with provisions and ammuni- tion.
To raise the needful money, he mortgaged his fort at St. Johns, with all its ammunition and stores, and also all his real and personal estate in Acadia. The squadron, thus equipped, sailed on the 14th of July, 1643. It would seem that he had five vessels in his fleet ; the "Clement," in which he had entered Massachusetts Bay, and the four vessels he had chartered, namely, " The Seabridge," " The Philip and Mary," "The In- crease, " and " The Greyhound." 2
It will be perceived that this trouble took place in Acadia a year or two before some of the events in Maine, which we have already described.
1 Hazard's Hist. Coll., vol. i. p. 498.
2 Hubbard's History, vol. i. p. 150.
CHAPTER VII.
COLONIAL JEALOUSIES AND ALIENATIONS.
Conflict between La Tour and D'Aulney-Its Strange Result - Attack of Wannerton - Madame La Tour -D'Aulney attacks the Fort at St. John - Heroic Defence of Madame La Tour - Her Capture and Death -Treason of La Tour - Gov. Godfrey -Purchases of Indian Chiefs - Boundary Disputes - Final Settlement -Submission of Godfrey-Ecclesiastical Condition of Maine -Sullivan's Testimony - Dutch Settlers - Savage Insolence.
TT would seem that La Tour made a sudden and furious attack upon the vessels of D'Aulney, and drove them from their station, and chased them into the Penobscot.1 Here D'Aulney ran two of his vessels aground, and quite a brisk action took place, in which several Frenchmen were either killed or wounded on each side ; but not a man from the Massa- chusetts Colony was hurt. The chartered vessels returned to Boston within the allotted time. La Tour brought with him a ship of D'Aulney's, which he had captured, freighted with val- uable furs.2
D'Aulney was very indignant in view of the aid the Massa- chusetts Colony had rendered La Tour. He wrote a very angry letter, to which the governor replied, -
" Had we been molested in the right of free trade, as you threatened us, we should not have been backward to do ourselves justice. But the colony government of Massachusetts has, in fact, taken no measures, nor granted any commission, against you. To admit La Tour to enlist and hire forces with his own money, violates no sound political rules. It is a mere attri- bute of our independence, while the laws of Christian duty require us to relieve all distress. Yet surely nothing would be more grateful to our wishes than reconciliation and peace." 8
1 So say both Sullivan and Hutchinson. Winthrop says they were driven to Port Royal.
2 Hubbard's New England, p. 483.
8 Williamson, vol. i. p. 314. See also Hubbard's New England, p. 483.
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D'Aulney applied to the court of France for aid, to take revenge upon Massachusetts. He represented that the French colonies in Acadia were in danger of destruction, from an expedition which Massachusetts was fitting up against them ; he also resolved to put a stop to all intercourse whatever be- tween Massachusetts and La Tour. Situated as he was, between them on the Penobscot, he could, with his ships, easily inter- cept any vessels passing along the coast.
Three gentlemen of distinction from the English colonies embarked for La Tour's port on the St. John River, to settle some pecuniary claims. These were Vines of Saco, Shurt of Pemaquid, and Wannerton (or Wanerton as Winslow spells the name) from New Hampshire. When they reached the Penob- scot, D'Aulney caused their arrest and imprisonment. It was with much difficulty, that, after several days of confinement, they obtained their release. Neither of these gentlemen had any connection with the Massachusetts Colony. They were detained simply as Englishmen.
Wannerton was an impetuous man, who was thrown into a fever of passion by the outrage. The envoys continued their voyage to the St. John. There they learned that D'Aulney's garrison at Castine, or Biguyduce as the place was then called, was very feeble. Wannerton engaged a party of twenty men to accompany him to the Penobscot, and take vengeance upon D'Aulney. They were all thoroughly armed. D'Aulney had a well-stocked farm about five miles from his fort. The aven- gers landed in their boat, and marched to the buildings, which were not far distant from the shore. It was a time of piracy and robbery of every kind.
It would seem that the laborers saw the approach of the armed band, and rushed into the house for defence. Wanner- ton led his party, and knocked at the door. It was opened, and immediately a volley of bullets was discharged from within upon the assailants. Wannerton fell mortally wounded ; another of his party was struck by a bullet, and one was shot dead. The men in the house, having offered this resistance, threw down their arms, and surrendered.
The torch was applied. The house and all the outbuildings,
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with the furniture, the tools, and the farming stores, were laid in ashes. All the animals were killed. Nothing was left behind but smouldering ruins and utter desolation. The destruction was entire. The proud avengers scorned to take any booty.1
D'Aulney's rage passed all bounds ; though Wannerton acted solely upon his own responsibility, taking individual vengeance for the affront he had received, D'Aulney breathed threatenings and slaughter against all the English. He proclaimed loudly, that he would make prize of every English colonial vessel he could find east of the Penobscot River; and he issued commis- sions to that purport. The governor at Boston addressed to him a letter of remonstrance. After reminding the enraged Frenchman of many acts of aggression of which he had been guilty, he added, -
" Yet I inform you that no hostile act against either French or Dutch is allowed. La Tour cannot expect any more succors from this place. A mer- chant's trade is permitted between us and St. John; and rest assured it will be protected." 2
That which is done in a passion is seldom well done. D'Aul- ney soon became convinced that he had committed a blunder. The French Government was not disposed to enter into a war with England, upon the issue which their irate officer, in the wilds of Nova Scotia, had .raised. D'Aulney was mildly re- buked by the French cabinet, and was ordered to maintain friendly relations with all the English.3
But, on the other hand, the French Government gave its sup- port to the Catholic D'Aulney, in opposition to the Protestant La Tour. The latter and his wife were denounced as traitors, and orders were given for their arrest. Madame La Tour was apparently a woman of sincere piety, and conscientiously a Protestant. She was then in Boston, having recently arrived there on her way from France to St. John.
On the 4th of October, 1644, D'Aulney sent an envoy, M. Marie, with an imposing retinue of ten attendants, to negotiate
1 Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts, p. 125.
2 Williamson, vol. i. p. 315. 3 Winthrop's Journal, p. 356.
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a treaty with the government of Massachusetts. Gov. Win- throp endeavored to bring about a reconciliation between the two antagonistic French parties, and to secure a safe return of Madame La Tour to her husband. But M. Marie angrily replied, -
"No! nothing but submission will save La Tour's head if he be taken; nor will his wife have any passport to St. John. She is known to be the cause of his contempt and rebellion. Any vessel which shall admit her as a passenger will be liable to arrest."
Under these circumstances the governor decided to stand entirely neutral. It is, however, evident that his sympathies were with La Tour. A commercial treaty was signed, and both parties agreed to abstain from all hostile acts.1
The inhabitants of Maine greatly rejoiced over this result. They were quite defenceless, and were in much fear that the reckless, passionate D'Aulney would seize their vessels, and plunder their settlements. Capt. Bayley, the master of the ship which brought Madame La Tour from France, had engaged to leave her at St. John. Instead of this, he had landed her at Boston. She could now return to St. John only by equip- ping a force which would enable her to cope with the enemy. She prosecuted for damages. The court, after a four-days' trial, granted her a verdict for ten thousand dollars. With this sum she chartered three London ships, and proceeded safely to her home.
D'Aulney was exceedingly chagrined. He had fully ex- pected to make her his captive. His anger against the Massa- chusetts Colony was renewed. He denounced the governor as having violated the treaty by allowing the ships to be chartered. He obtained information that La Tour was absent on a cruise in the Bay of Fundy ; that there were but fifty men left in gar- rison, and that they had but a small supply of food and ammu- nition.
Early in the spring, when winter breezes still lingered, and snow covered the ground, he took a ship to capture the works at St. John. He sailed, with his well-equipped war-vessel,
1 Journal of John Winthrop, p. 357.
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from the Penobscot. Soon he overtook a New England vessel which was bound to the St. John with supplies. Regardless of the commercial treaty, he seized the vessel, landed the crew in an open boat upon a desolate island, and in his cruel rage abandoned them, without even leaving them the means of kind- ling a fire. Very thinly clad, they succeeded in constructing a miserable wigwam, where they suffered severely from cold and hunger. Here they remained ten days, until they were taken off, and sent home in an old shallop.
D'Aulney entered the harbor at St. John, moored his ship opposite the fort, and opened a vigorous fire. But Madame La Tour was already there. She was a true heroine. Her intre- pidity was sufficient to quadruple the strength of the feeble garrison. She caused the fire to be returned, and with so much skill, that, in a short time, the deck of D'Aulney's vessel ran red with blood, and was strewed with the mangled bodies of the dead and dying. Twenty were killed and thirteen wounded. Every shot from the fort struck the ship. Her hull was shat- tered. The water was rushing in at the shot-holes; and still the deadly fire was kept up without intermission, while the gar- rison behind strong ramparts remained unharmed.
D'Aulney was effectually repulsed. To save his ship from . sinking, he hastily warped her under shelter of a bluff, beyond the reach of cannon-shot. Having repaired his damages, buried his dead, and dressed the terrible wounds inflicted by cannon- shot, he spread his sails, and, greatly crestfallen, returned to Castine.
Massachusetts was justly incensed at the gross violation of the treaty in seizing a New England vessel. An envoy was promptly sent to D'Aulney demanding explanation and satisfac- tion. There was an angry and unsatisfactory interview. The enraged Frenchman, losing all self-control in his reckless charges, said, -
" You have helped my mortal enemy in aiding La Tour's wife to return to St. John. You have burned my buildings; you have killed my animals. I warn you to beware of the avenging hand of my sovereign."
The envoy with dignity replied, -
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" Your sovereign is a mighty prince; he is also a prince of too much honor to commence an unjustifiable attack; but, should he assail us, we trust in God, who is the infinite Arbiter of justice."
The only result of the conference was the establishment of a sort of truce until the next spring. It was evidently impossible to maintain peace and free trade with both of these French generals, who were so bitterly hostile to each other. A little more than a year passed away, with occasional diplomatic cor- respondence. In September, 1646, three commissioners arrived in Boston from D'Aulney, and demanded four thousand dollars damages for losses which he professed to have received from the English. The governor and his magistrates, on the other hand, deemed a larger sum due to them.
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