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 21
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 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46
The conflict commenced with the dawn of the 16th. It raged until the afternoon of the 20th. Nearly all the inmates of the garrison were then slain. Either the French were dressed as Indians, or had so concealed themselves, that the English could not tell whether there were any of that nation in the savage band assailing them. They, therefore, sent a flag of truce, that they might ascertain whether they could, by a surrender, hope to save the lives of the survivors. Thus they learned that there were many Frenchmen in the party; and they were promised, that, as a condition of surrender, the lives of all should be . spared, and that they should be conducted, under guard, to the next English town, where they should be set at liberty. The French commander took a solemn oath, by the ever living God, that the articles of the capitulation should be sacredly per- formed.1
The gates were thrown open, and the savages rushed in. Awful was the scene which ensued. Mons. Burneffe had prob- ably lost all control over his ferocious allies. No respect what- ever was paid to the terms of the surrender. There were seventy living men within the garrison, many of whom were wounded, and a large number of women and children. Nearly all were slaughtered, and many with inhuman tortures.
The French rescued Capt. Davis, and succeeded in saving the lives of, some say fifty, others say a hundred prisoners. It seems to have been a custom among the Indians to put to death as many of their captives as they themselves had lost in the conflict.2 The whole village was laid in ashes. The dead were
1
1 " The French and Indians were under the command of M. Burneffe, a Cana- dian officer. His lieutenant was M. Corté de March. Most of the French troops were from Quebec, under Capt. M. de Portneuf. The Indians were led by Baron Castine and his son-in-law, Madockawando. They came to Casco Bay in a large fleet of canoes. Charlevoix gives the command of the expedition to Portneuf, and dates the surrender on the 27th. In both of these statements he is doubtless incorrect." - See Letter of Capt. Davis in Collections of Massachusetts Historical So- ciety, vol. i. 3 ser., p. 104.
2 "When the prisoners marched out of the fort, fifty in all, the savages raised a shout, fell upon them with hatchet and sword, and killed all except four; and these were wounded." - Histoire et Disc. Gen de la Nouvelle France, par Père de Charlevoix, vol. iii. p. 78.
RUSSELL .RICHARDSON 50
X
PEJEPSCOT FALLS, BRUNSWICK AND TOPSHAM, ME.
230
THE HISTORY OF MAINE.
left unburied. The number slain in this awful massacre is not known. The French, after participating in this demoniac deed, commenced their march back to Canada.
"I must say," writes Capt. Davis, " they were kind to me in my travels through the country. Our provisions were very short, -Indian corn and acorns. Hunger made it very good, and God gave it strength to nourish."
Davis was a prisoner-of-war in Quebec for four months, when Sir William Phips effected his exchange for a Frenchman. The capture of Falmouth was a terrible disaster. The victori- ous Indians scattered in all directions, perpetrating the most horrible deeds of cruelty and crime. Many of them were demons in character, and recoiled from no horror. The cruel- ties they often committed are too revolting to be described. Even the recital brings torture to the soul.
From all the feebler garrisons the people fled in dismay, west- ward, and took refuge in Storer's strong garrisons at Wells.1 The government sent them re-enforcements, with directions to make a stand there, and resist all attacks.
The valiant Major Church was despatched with another expe- dition, of three hundred men, to visit Casco and Pejepscot, to chastise the Indians, and regain captives, if possible. This was early in September, 1690. He landed at Maquoit, and marched at night across the country to Pejepscot 2 Fort, which, it will be remembered, was located west. of the Androscoggin, at the Pejepscot Falls. The Indians held possession of the fort. The accompanying illustration shows the appearance of these cele- brated falls, after the lapse of nearly two centuries.
A watchful eye discerned the coming, and spread the alarm. The savages fled in all directions, leaving several English cap- tives behind. One Indian man was taken, with a few women and several children. The horrors perpetrated by the savages had created great exasperation against them. Church's men
1 "No other town in the province was so well provided with houses of refuge :as Wells. This was due to the prudent foresight of Storer and Wheelwright. There were here seven or eight garrisons, some of them built in the best manner, against assaults from without, and for the protection and comfort of those with- in."-History of Wells and Kennebunk, by Edward E. Bourne, LL D. p. 196.
2 Williamson spells this both Pejepscot and Pegypscot, pp. 37, 724.
231
THE HISTORY OF MAINE.
were about to put the man to death, when the female white captives, who had thus been rescued, earnestly pleaded for his life. They said that he had ever been kind to them, and had several times saved them and others from death.
The wives of two of the distinguished sagamores, Kankama- gus 1 and Worumbee, were among the prisoners. As they promised that eighty English captives should be surrendered for their ransom, their lives were spared, and they were sent to the garrisons at Wells. The sister of Kankamagus was slain. Worumbee's two children were carried, with their mother, into captivity. Mr. Drake quotes the following statement from a manuscript letter written at that time by Major Church, and addressed to Gov. Hinckley of Plymouth : -
" We left two old squaws that were not able to march; gave them victuals enough for one week, of their own corn, boiled, and a little of our provis- ions; and buried their dead, and left clothes enough to keep them warm, and left the wigwams for them to lie in; gave them orders to tell their friends how kind we were to them, bidding them to do the like to ours. Also, if they were for peace, to come to Goodman Small's at Berwick, within four- teen days, who would attend to discourse them." 1
This capture upon the Androscoggin took place on Sunday, Sept. 14, 1690. The victors retired with five English captives, whom they had rescued, and nine Indians prisoners.
Major Church and his victorious party, about forty in num- ber, ascended the Androscoggin seven miles, to another Indian fort. There he killed twenty-one Indians, took one a prisoner, and rescued seven English captives. The torch was applied, and the works laid in ashes. The single savage whose life was spared was a gigantic fellow, Agamcus, who was nicknamed
1 " Kankamagus, commonly called Hoykins, Hawkins, or Hakins, was a Pen- nacook sachem. He was faithful to the English as long as he could depend upon them for protection. When the terrible Mohawks were sent to destroy the east- ern Indians, he fled westerly to the Androscoggin. Here he and another sachem, called Worumbee, lived with their families. He could speak and write English. His several letters to Gov. Canfield prove his fidelity. There can be no doubt that he would have been true to the English, had they been true to him." - Drake's Book of the Indians, book iii. p. 106.
2 Drake's Book of the Indians, book iii. p. 108.
232
THE HISTORY OF MAINE.
Great Tom.1 On the march he escaped, and carried to the Indians such reports of the strength and prowess of Major Church's troops, that they retired far back into the interior wilderness.2
Church sailed along the coast, touching at various points, and inflicting all the injury he could upon the Indians. It was, however, not often that they gave him an opportunity to strike a blow. On the 21st of September, he landed three companies on Purpooduck.3 Here a strong band of Indians fiercely as- sailed him. He repelled them with the loss of five of his own men, after having slain eight or ten Indians, and taken thirteen canoes. Major Church afterwards learned, from a returned captive, that the savages put just as many English prisoners to a cruel death as they had lost in the conflict.
In October, ten sagamores went to Wells, where the captive women and children were restored to them. They expressed unbounded gratitude in view of the kindness with which they had been treated, and declared their earnest desire for peace. " We are ready," they said, "at any time and place you may appoint, to meet your head men, and enter into a treaty."
On the 29th of November, a truce between the Massachu- setts commissioners and six sagamores was signed. It would appear that there was much difficulty in agreeing upon the terms on which hostilities should cease. The Indians had even abandoned the council, and retired to their canoes, before terms were offered them which they were willing to accept. The truce was to continue through the winter, until the 1st of May, when they promised to visit Storer's garrison, in Wells, to bring
1 We hope that the following statement made by Mr. Williamson is a mistake. "The wives of the two sagamores and their children were saved. But it is pain- ful to relate, and no wise creditable to the usual humanity of Major Church, that the rest of the females, except two or three old squaws, also the unoffending chil- dren, were put to the tomahawk or sword." - Vol. i. p. 625.
2 "Many Indians bore the name of Tom. Indian Hill in Newbury was owned by Great Tom. He is supposed to have been the last Indian proprietor of lands in that town. In written instruments he styles himself, -'I Great Tom, In- dian.'" - Drake, book iii. p. 114.
3 The first inhabitants of Cape Elizabeth, which is separated from the penin- sula by Fore River, seated themselves opposite to the harbor, upon Purpooduck Point; from which the plantation, commencing forty-four years prior to King Philip's war, derived its name." - Williamson, vol. ii. p. 377.
233
THE HISTORY OF MAINE.
in all the English captives they held, and to establish a perma- nent peace.
The condition of Maine at this time was deplorable in the extreme. All the settlements were devastated, but four. Those were Wells, York, Kittery, and the Isle of Shoals. At the appointed time, Pres. Danforth, with quite an imposing reti- nue on horseback, repaired to the strong garrison. But, for some unexplained reason, the sagamores did not appear.1 Some attributed it to the influence of the French. It is more proba- ble that they feared treachery. During the winter, the English had been preparing to strike heavy blows, should the war be renewed. The wary Indians, through their scouts, kept them- selves informed of every movement.
Capt. Converse, who had command of the troop of horse, sent out a detachment, who brought in a few of the neighbor- ing chiefs. To the inquiry why the sagamores did not come in, according to the agreement, to ratify the treaty, they returned the unsatisfactory reply, -
" We did not remember the time. But we now bring in and deliver up two captives. We promise certainly to surrender the rest within ten days." 2
The chiefs were permitted to return to their homes. Ten days passed away; but no Indians appeared. Apprehensive that an attack was meditated, Pres. Danforth returned to York, and sent a re-enforcement of thirty-five soldiers to strengthen the garrison at Wells. They arrived on the 9th of June, 1692. It was none too soon.
In one half-hour after their arrival, a band of two hundred savages made a fierce but unsuccessful attack upon the garrison. The only account we have of this battle is the following : -
" We have intelligence that the eastward Indians and some French have made an assault upon the garrisons in and near the town of Wells, and have
1 "The reason of this we cannot explain, unless the warlike appearance of the English deterred them. After waiting a while, Capt. Converse surprised some of them, and brought them in by force. Having reason to believe the Indians pro- voked by this time, he immediately added thirty-five men to their (his) force." - Drake, book iii. p. 102.
2 Williamson, vol. i. p. 627.
234
THE HISTORY OF MAINE.
killed about six persons thereabout. They drove the cattle together, and killed them before their faces." 1
The savages, thus baffled, retired, threatening soon to come again. At Cape Neddock, in York, they burned several houses, and attacked a vessel, killing most of the crew. Indian bands continued to range the country, shooting down all they could find, and inflicting all the damage in their power.
Another dreary summer passed away, and another cheerless winter came. The Indians seldom ventured to brave the cold and the storms of a Maine winter in their campaigns : conse- quently the inhabitants of York remitted their vigilance at that time. The Indians, with the military skill they were accus- tomed to display, selected this season for their attack.
The little village was scattered along the eastern bank of the Agamenticus River. There were several strong block-houses, in which the inhabitants could take refuge in case of an alarm. The accompanying illustration faithfully represents the struc- ture of one of those houses.
GARRISON-HOUSE AT YORK, BUILT ABOUT 1645.
1 Letter of Gov. Stoughton of New York, dated June 24, 1691.
235
THE HISTORY OF MAINE.
Early on a dark, cold morning of February, 1692, a band of between two and three hundred French and Indians, having traversed the wilderness from Canada on snow-shoes, made a furious attack upon different portions of the hamlet. The peo- ple were as much taken by surprise as if an army had descended from the clouds.
A scene of terror, carnage, and woe, ensued, which can neither be described nor imagined. In one half-hour seventy- five of the English were slain, and more than a hundred taken prisoners, many of them wounded and bleeding. All the un- fortified houses were in flames. Those within the walls of the garrison fought with the utmost intrepidity. The assail- ants, despairing of being able to break through their strong walls, and fearing that re-enforcements might come to the aid of the English, gathered up their plunder, huddled the dis- tracted, woe-stricken prisoners together, and commenced a retreat.
Awful were the sufferings of these captives, - wounded men, feeble women leaving the gory bodies of their husbands behind them, and little children now fatherless. The French and the savages co-operated in these demoniac deeds. The victors com- menced their march over the bleak, snow-drifted fields, towards Sagadahoc.
With the exception of the garrison-houses, the whole village was destroyed. One-half of all the inhabitants were either killed, or carried into captivity. Rev. Shubael Dummer was the excellent pastor of the little church there. He was about sixty years of age, a graduate of Harvard College, a man of devoted piety, and greatly beloved. He was found dead upon the snow. His wife, a lady from one of the first families, and distinguished for her social accomplishments, and her mental and moral cul- ture, was seized, and dragged away with the crowd of captives. But the massacre of her husband, the scenes of horror which she had witnessed, and the frightful prospect opening before her, soon caused her to sink away in that blessed sleep which has no earthly waking. But few of those thus carried into captivity, amidst the storms of an almost arctic winter, ever saw friends or home again.
236
THE HISTORY OF MAINE.
One pleasing event which occurred is worthy of especial record. The Indians selected from their prisoners several aged women and several children, just the number, and about the ages, of those whom Major Church had treated kindly in the capture of the Pejepscot Fort. These were safely returned, with ex- pressions of gratitude, to one of the English garrison-houses.1 A party from Portsmouth, N.H., set out in pursuit of the Indians ; but they could not be overtaken.
In Wells, there were but fifteen men in garrison. They were commanded by Capt. Converse. Two sloops and a shallop, manned by fourteen sailors, were sent to them with supplies. Before the dawn of the morning of June 10, 1692, an army of five hundred French and Indians, under Mons. Burneffe, attacked the place. The Indians were led by four of their most distinguished sagamores. As usual, the assault was commenced with hideous yells. The military science of the French was combined with the ferocity of the savages. The strength of the assailants was such, that they had not the slightest doubt of success. Mather writes, -
" They fell to dividing persons and plunder. Such an English captain should be slave to such an one. Such a gentleman should serve such an one, and his wife be a maid of honor to such or such a squaw. Mr. Wheel- wright, instead of being a worthy counsellor, as he now is, was to be the ser- vant of such a Netop."
John Wheelwright was widely known. He was the most prominent man in the town. His capture would have been deemed an inestimable acquisition. The assailing army ap- proached the feeble garrison, according to European, not Indian tactics. It appears that Capt. Converse had in the garrison about thirty armed men. Probably half of these were inhabit- ants of the place. They had fled to that retreat in consequence of suspicions that Indians were skulking around. We know
1 Collections Maine Historical Society, vol. i. p. 104.
It is extremely difficult to ascertain with accuracy the course which Major Church pursued at Pejepscot. The accounts are very contradictory. Mr. Drake, in his valuable Book of the Indians, represents him as acting with shocking inhu- manity, "knocking women and children in the head." But this fact seems to imply that he was guilty of no such atrocities.
237
THE HISTORY OF MAINE.
not how many women and children had taken refuge there. Converse ordered his men to keep carefully concealed, and not to fire a gun until they were sure of their aim. One of the garrison, terror-stricken in view of the formidable array ap- proaching, tremblingly said, "We cannot resist. We must surrender."
" Repeat that word," Capt. Converse replied sternly, "and you are a dead man." The assailants opened fire. The garri- son returned it with several small cannon as well as musketry. The women assisted in bringing powder, and in handling the guns. The bullets, thrown with cool and accurate aim, created great havoc in the ranks of the enemy. This was not the Indian mode of fighting. Instead of admiring what was called the gallantry of the French in thus exposing their lives, they regarded them as fools in thus, as it were, courting death. Cot- ton Mather, in his description of the battle, writes, "They kept calling to surrender ; which ours answered with a laughter and with a mortiferous bullet at the end of it."
There is probably more poetry than prose in that statement. We apprehend that there was little time for laughter on that dreadful day, when the feeble little garrison was struggling against a foe outnumbering it nearly twenty to one. They believed that it was the determination of the Indians, incited by the French, to destroy every vestige of the English settle- ments, and to put to death, or drive from the land, all the Eng- lish inhabitants.
Capt. Converse had but fifteen men in what was called the Storer's garrison.1 The battle of the first day was mainly directed against the garrison. But brave hearts behind strong defences beat off the foe. The sloops were anchored in a nar- row creek, which was bordered with high banks. The vessels were so near the shore, that the Indians, from their hiding-
1 "We know not whether the little band on board the vessels, or the noble men and women within the garrison, are entitled to the higher meed. History speaks of fifteen soldiers within the latter; but we think there may have been thirty. Whether the latter or the former is the true number, the victory over the assail- ants was one that entitles not only these soldiers, but all who were within the walls of the fort, to the grateful remembrance of those who have entered into their labors." - Bourne's History of Wells and Kennebunk, p. 216.
238
THE HISTORY OF MAINE.
places, could easily throw stones on board. They built a breast- work of planks, over which they cautiously took aim. With fire-arrows they succeeded several times in setting the vessels on fire. But the sailors extinguished the flames with mops on the end of long poles.
.At length the Indians built a breastwork on a cart. This they pushed within fifty feet of one of the vessels. Not a shot could strike them. As they were carefully pressing it forward, one of the wheels entered a rut. It could not be extricated without exposure. A gallant Frenchman sprung to the wheel, and was instantly shot down. Another Frenchman took his place : he, also, fell, pierced by a bullet. The Indians did not regard this as sensible warfare, but fled as fast as possi- ble.
The next morning was Sunday. The enemy combined all their energies in a renewed attack upon the garrisons; but their bullets produced no effect upon the strong block-houses. Not a man was wounded. Many of the Indian chiefs could speak English. They often called upon Capt. Converse to sur- render. To these summons he returned defiant answers. One of the chiefs shouted, " Since you feel so stout, Converse, why do you not come out into the field and fight like a man, and not stay in a garrison, like a squaw ?"
" What a pack of fools you are !" Converse replied. "Do you think that I am willing, with but thirty men, to fight your five hundred ? But select thirty of your warriors, and, with them only, come upon the plain, and I am ready for you."
" No, no!" the chief replied in broken English. " We think English fashion all one fool, -you kill me, me kill you. Not so. We lie somewhere, and shoot 'em Englishmen when he no see. That's the best soldier."
Another Indian exclaimed, " We will cut you into pieces as small as tobacco, before to-morrow morning."
" Come on, then," the brave captain retorted : " we are all ready for work."
Finding their efforts unavailing, the combined foe of French and savages again turned their attention to the two small sloops which were anchored close together. There were but seven or
239
THE HISTORY OF MAINE.
eight sailors on board.1 An army of five hundred men attacked them. Small, comparatively, as were the contending forces, it is indeed true that a more heroic defence history has seldom recorded. The savages constructed a raft about twenty feet square, upon which they piled all kinds of combustibles, - dried branches, birch-bark, and evergreen boughs. Applying the torch, they converted it into an island of fire, the forked tongues of flame rising twenty or thirty feet high.
The destruction of the sloops now seemed sure. Five hun- dred yells of triumph pierced the air, as the fire-raft swung from its moorings, and floated down on the current towards the apparently doomed vessels. No skill, no courage, could avail against such a foe. But they were saved by a more than human power. The wind changed : and the floating volcano was driven to the opposite shore, where it was soon converted to ashes.
One of the French commanders, Labocree, was shot through the head. Many others of the French and Indians were either killed or wounded. Thus baffled, the foe retreated, after inflict- ing all the damage in their power, in burning the dwellings, and shooting the cattle. In the dusk of the evening they with- drew ; and silence and solitude reigned where the hideous clangor of battle had so long resounded.2 But one man of the English was killed. He was shot on board one of the vessels.
One unhappy Englishman, John Diamond, was taken captive. The savages, in revenge for their losses, put him to death with the most horrible tortures which their ingenuity could contrive. Capt. Converse,3 for his heroic defence, was promoted to the
1 "Our sloops were sorely incommoded by a turn of the creek, where the ene- my could be so near as to throw mud aboard with their hands. Other accounts make their distance from them sixty yards." - Mather's Magnalia, vol. ii p. 532.
2 Drake's Book of the Indians, book iii. p. 103. See also Mather's Magnalia, vol. ii. p. 532; and Bourne's History of Wells and Kennebunk, p. 215.
8 "The courage of the brave and intrepid Converse kept that of all his com- rades from waning. He knew how much depended on his own resolution and firmness: his noble manliness amidst the storm was the inspiration of all about him.
"History does not record a struggle more worthy of perpetual remembrance. The names of those noble men, Gooch and Storer, should never be forgotten by the townsmen of Wells. We know not who else was on board these vessels. But, known or unknown, the whole crew were more worthy of monumental re- membrance than the thousands of more modern times whose memory is sanctified in the hearts of their countrymen." - Bourne's History of Wells and Kennebunk, p .. 218.
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.