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 5
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
Two happy hours were passed in the interchange of cordial greetings, and the reception by the strangers of such hospitali- ties as the Indians could furnish. The boat's crew then returned to the ship, and all hearts were serene and joyous.
The next day was the sabbath. It was the 9th of August, 1607. It was a memorable day ; for it was probably the first time since the world's creation that God, as revealed to us in the person of Jesus Christ his Son, was worshipped upon that
51
THE HISTORY OF MAINE.
portion of the globe's surface now called Maine. Gloriously that sabbath morning's sun rose over the magnificent expanse of islands, promontories, and bays of a yet unexplored world.
Boats were manned from both of the ships, conveying a party of fifty men to the shore. They were all well armed. The point of land to which they directed their boats is supposed to have been what is now called Parker's Island ; though they soon after disembarked on Stage Island, but a short distance to the east.1 At this point Weymouth had raised one of his crosses.
When the natives saw so formidable an armed force approach- ing, their fears were very naturally again aroused. But two years had passed since Weymouth, with protestations of friend- ship and the foulest treachery, had torn five of their countrymen from their homes. Two only had returned. To what fate the other three had been doomed they knew not.
Nahanada had also learned, during his residence in London, that nominal Christians might be the greatest villains in the world. His apprehensions were excited in seeing the boats approaching the shore, manned with bands so formidable in numbers and so thoroughly armed. It is intimated that Wey- mouth's crew outraged the wives and daughters of the Indians most infamously. In this hamlet of one hundred natives, there might have been twenty men, with bows and arrows only for their weapons, which were powerless against the bullets of the white men. The remainder were women, with little boys and young girls.
Well might the Indians, after the experience they had passed through, recoil from such an irruption of British sailors into their wigwams. The boats were steered directly towards the little village. It appears that either the suspicions of Nahanada were excited, or that he wished to persuade the strangers to pursue a course less menacing in its aspect to his friends. He could speak and understand English perfectly well.
Capts. Popham and Gilbert were both in the boats. As they neared the land, Nahanada came down upon the beach, and, hail- ing them, begged them not to come on shore in such strong
1 Williamson, vol i. p. 198.
52
THE HISTORY OF MAINE.
military array, for the natives were greatly alarmed. The two captains seem to have been very judicious and excellent men. They were visiting the shore for divine worship. The crews were weary of the long voyage. The land, with its green mounds and cool springs and shady groves, seemed like an Eden in their view, as it was illumined with all the splendors of the early autumnal sun. It would have been a great and cruel disappointment to them to have been forbidden to land.
The boatmen rested upon their oars, and an hour was spent in negotiations. Then it was agreed that the crew might land, but all the Indians prudently withdrew into the forest. Even Skitwarroes went with them. He might have feared that the sailors would be guilty of outrages which their captains could not restrain. Or it might have been his object to assure his friends that their alarm was groundless, and that these white men could be safely trusted. It would seem that Capt. Pop- ham's suspicions were now aroused. He knew not how 'numer- ous the Indians might be in that vicinity. The distrust shown by the natives, and their entire withdrawal, led him to fear that they might have gone for re-enforcements, and that a band of hundreds of warriors might come rushing upon him. He, however, ventured to land. Religious services were held beneath the cross which Weymouth had reared. Rev. Richard Seymour, the chaplain, preached the sermon. " Thus it was an Episcopal clergyman from the shores of England, who first preached the gospel of the Son of God upon the shores of Maine. It was an occasion to have raised a man's soul. Deep must have been the emotions excited, as the melody of their hymns blended with the soft voice of the wavelets rippling upon the beach, and the pensive whisperings of the breeze through the fibrous-leaved pines.
After this service Popham re-embarked his crews, and rowed to the other side of the water, where he encamped. Sewall thinks that this was probably the Boothbay shore, near Hodg- don's Mills.1 But it is impossible to extricate the details which are given, from some entanglement. This might have been a
1 Ancient Dominions of Maine, p. 10.
53
THE HISTORY OF MAINE.
prudential movement to guard against attack. It is, however, more probable that it was intended to relieve the natives from their painful apprehensions. Popham might have made the compromise with Nahanada, that he would land his crew for religious service only, beneath the cross of Weymouth, and that then they would retire.
The whole of the 10th and 11th was spent at this encamp- ment, while a party explored the Damariscotta River in search of a suitable location for the establishment of their colony. In the evening of the 11th, the boats returned to the ships, which were still riding at anchor under what they called St. George's Island.
The morning of the 12th, the ships weighed anchor, and set sail to enter the mouth of the Sagadahock. The next morning found them south of Seguin, at the distance of but three miles. There was a dead calm, and they could move in no direction. At midnight a fierce storm arose. " Off Seguin " is notoriously a rough point. The gale was blowing directly upon the shore. In the darkness of the night, amidst the roaring of the tempest and the dashing of the waves, they were in imminent peril of shipwreck. There was no anchorage there, and no harbor into which they could run. During the hours of this tempestuous night they stood off and on, momentarily fearing that they might be driven upon the rocks. The morning of the 14th dawned luridly upon a storm-tossed sea. With its earliest rays they looked for some spot where they could thrust in the ships to save their lives.
Putting up the helm, they stood in for the shore, where they soon saw two small islands. Under the shelter of one of them, perhaps at George's Island Harbor, they found good anchorage. The St. George's Islands consisted of a group of about twenty, many of them mere rocks. The storm ere long ceased, and the wind came in fair. A party took a boat, and cruised around among these islands. All were very rocky, and on most of them there was a dense growth of hemlock, spruce, firs, and pines. Upon one they found four natives, one of them being a woman.
The next morning, the 15th, though the wind was rather
54
THE HISTORY OF MAINE.
unfavorable, " The Gift" worked its way into the mouth of the Sagadahock. A calm ensued. Capt. Popham sent his boats, and, aided by the tide, towed in "The Mary and John," and anchored her by the side of " The Gift." This occupied the day.
The autumnal sun rose bright and clear the next morning, the 16th. Capt. Popham took thirty men in his pinnace, and Capt. Gilbert eighteen in his long-boat, and commenced row- ing up the stream, between the banks of the silent, solitary, beautiful Sagadahock. They ascended the deep and " gallant " river, as they termed it, far into the interior. They passed many goodly islands and branches of inlets and mouths of streams or bays opening into the river. In the evening the boats returned, having found no place for the establishment of the colony which they deemed more favorable than the one before them.
Accordingly the next morning, the 18th of August, 1607, all went on shore to select a spot for their plantation, and to com- mence their works. The point chosen seems to have been near the mouth of Sagadahock, at the south-western extremity of the peninsula called Phipsburg. Williamson says -
" The Indians called this promontory Sabino, from the chief whose authority was recognized there. They selected a pleasant and convenient site on the south-east side of a creek, near what is now called Atkins Bay; which stretches west into the land half a league, and forms a peninsula at the southerly corner of the present town of Phipsburg." 1
The critical reader will perceive that the date of the landing here given differs from the dates in some other histories. The cause of this discrepancy probably is, that the landing at the dif- ferent points, to which we have already alluded, has been con- founded with this final landing. The recently discovered man-
1 Coolidge and Mansfield say, in their valuable History of New England, that some suppose that the landing was made at Parker's Island, others at Arrowsic, and others at Georgetown, but that the recent discovery of the MS. of William Strackey leaves scarcely room for doubt that they landed on the Phipsburg Peninsula.
The narrative given in the text is doubtless the correct one. There were sev- eral landings, and the final one was on the peninsula.
55
THE HISTORY OF MAINE.
uscript of William Strackey seems to render it almost certain that the chronology here given is correct.1
The settlement took the name of the Sagadahock Colony. The inauguration of the colony was solemnized by religious ser- vices. Rev. Richard Seymour, of whom we have before spoken, preached on the occasion. The promontory contained one or two hundred acres. The Plymouth Company had given sealed directions containing the general laws they wished to have established, and a list of the rulers they had appointed to exe- cute them. This colony was organized under the influence of the British nobility. They were fully satisfied with the mon- archy of their native land. The idea of establishing a repub- lican government they had not even remotely cherished. The company represented the crown; and all the laws were enacted, and the officers selected, by the company. Capt. George Pop- ham was appointed governor ; and seven men were designated as his assistants, with the several titles of admiral, master of ordnance, commander of the militia, marshal, commander of the fort, secretary of the colony, and searcher.
While thus laying the foundations of their little settlement far away in the solitudes of a world as yet but little known and slightly explored, three canoes full of natives were seen on the distant waters. Cautiously the Indians gazed upon the strange spectacle thus opening before them, but they did not venture to draw nigh. They soon vigorously plied their pad- dles, and were lost to sight beyond the reaches of the river.
All hands were now summoned to work. They commenced operations about the same time upon a fort, a large storehouse, several log-cabins, and a small vessel to cruise along the coast, and explore the rivers. The name of " Virginia " was given to this first vessel built upon the shores of Maine. Her size was thirty tons. The governor was invested with almost absolute power, and he superintended all the works. They called the fort St. George. The settlement also was frequently called by the same name.
1 Messrs. Coolidge and Mansfield date the landing on the 8th; Williamson places it on the 11th ; Varney, in his pleasant History of Maine for young people, places it on the 29th. But to my mind the evidence is conclusive that the land- ing was on the 18th, as given by Sewall in his very accurate "Ancient Domin- ions of Maine."
56
THE HISTORY OF MAINE.
On the 28th of the month Capt. Gilbert took a boat's crew, and set out on a voyage of discovery towards the west. He sailed through Casco Bay, admiring, as well he might, its cluster of beautiful islands, and anchored his shallop at night under a headland which the Indians called Semiamis, but which is now known as Cape Elizabeth. He inferred that the land must be very fertile, from the gigantic growth of trees which sprung from the soil.
During the day several native canoes were seen; but the Indians carefully avoided approaching the shallop. They had doubtless heard of the treachery of Weymouth, and regarded the white man as a fiend, to be avoided and resisted at every hazard. After an uneventful cruise of three days, the shallop returned to Fort George, again traversing the beautiful Bay of Casco, and sailing by " many goodly and gallant islands."
Had it not been for the crime of Weymouth, any number of Indians might have been hired to work upon the fort, to draw timber from the forest, and to aid with spade and hoe in break- ing up the ground for seed. A hatchet or a knife would repay an Indian amply for many days' labor. The French in Canada treated the Indians as brothers ; and they found no difficulty in securing their services to bear burdens, and to toil in the field and the ship-yard. But Weymouth's crime so appalled the Indians of Maine, that not one was willing to lift his hand to aid the white men. No smiles, no kind words, no hospitality, could efface the impression which the kidnapper had cut deep into their hearts.
About noon of the 30th of August nine canoes, filled with forty Indians, were seen approaching the fort from Pemaquid, which was distant but a few leagues on the east. Several of these natives were women and children. Without any hesi- tancy, they paddled to the beach, and all landed. The mystery of this apparent boldness was soon explained. The little fleet was led by the Pemaquid chief Nahanada. He had also with him Skitwarroes, and another subordinate chief, Sasanoa.
Gov. Popham received them with the greatest hospitality, and did every thing in his power to dispel their suspicions. The Indians remained for three hours ; but nothing could in-
57
THE HISTORY OF MAINE.
duce them to leave themselves in the power of such dangerous visitors through the night. As the sun was sinking behind the pine-crowned islands of Casco Bay, they nearly all entered their canoes, and paddled across the water to the eastern bank of the Sagadahock. Here they reared their frail shelters, built their fires, and encamped.
Skitwarroes, and one or two other Indians, remained in the fort. Capt. Gilbert, to show the Indians that he reposed con- fidence in them, and perhaps emboldened by the conviction that there were two or three Indians in the fort, who would be held as hostages for his safe return, took a boat, and with two others of the governor's council, Robert Davis, commander of the militia, and Ellis Bert, marshal, rowed across the river, and passed the night in the native encampment.
It was, however, very evident that the cautious Indians did not deem it safe to enter into any very intimate relations of friendship with the Englishmen. Early the next morning they all took to their canoes, and returned to Pemaquid.
A week of energetic labor upon fort and dwellings passed away; and on the 8th of September Capt. Gilbert again took the shallop, and, with twenty-two men, set out on another exploring tour, toward the east in search of the Penobscot River. It would seem, so far as we can judge at this distance of time, that the affairs of this colony were conducted with a great want of wisdom. The location was on a sandbank, bleak and bar- ren, with no surrounding region of fertility. The experience of one winter led them to report, that " the country is intolerably cold and sterile, unhealthy, and not habitable by our English nation."1 It is difficult to imagine what object they could have had in sending off these exploring expeditions, when, having selected the location of their colony, they needed the energies of every man in rearing their buildings, cutting and housing wood for the winter, and in breaking the hard soil in preparation for putting in seed in the spring.
The explorers in the shallop were retarded by calms and head winds, and did not reach Pemaquid until early in the
1 Prince's Annals, p. 35.
58
THE HISTORY OF MAINE.
morning of the 11th of September. They found the Indian village entirely deserted, and nothing remained but silence and solitude. It is probable that the natives who had visited Fort George were alarmed by the fortifications which were rising there, so massive in their eyes, and by the other indications of a strong and permanent settlement. They deemed it safe to retire back into the country, that they might be at a greater remove from neighbors whom they deemed so dangerous.
For several days the voyagers cruised along, exploring many bays and inlets of this wonderfully indented coast, but search- ing in vain for the mouth of the Penobscot. They did not return from their fruitless expedition until about the 20th. On the 23d Capt. Gilbert again embarked in the shallop, tak- ing with him nineteen men to ascend the Sagadahock to Merry- meeting Bay, and thence to explore the Kennebec to its navigable source.
The party reached the bay on the 24th, and turning to the left, instead of the right, entered the Androscoggin River, instead of the Kennebec. Early the next morning they reached the falls at Brunswick. Their description of the country, and of the low flat island about a quarter of a mile below the falls, can- not be mistaken. The falls then consisted mainly of a series of rapids, through which, by aid of a strong rope, they with difficulty drew their boat. Rowing up the river about three miles beyond these rapids, they landed, and camped for the night.
As they were constructing their camp, and kindling their fire, they heard the shouts of Indians on the opposite bank of the river. The Englishmen responded ; but the shouts on both sides were alike unintelligible. The next morning a canoe crossed the river, bearing an Indian chief by the name of Sebenoa, and four natives. The chief was a friendly, cour- teous man, but deemed it necessary to guard against treachery. He would not land, and thus place himself in the power of the strangers, until they placed one of their men in his canoe as a hostage.
The report which is given of the subsequent conduct of the Indians, if we credit it precisely as given, is utterly incompre-
59
THE HISTORY OF MAINE.
hensible. It would seem that there must have been some great misunderstanding on the part of the English in their interpreta- tion of facts which are unquestionable. If the report of the historian is to be accepted as accurate in all its bearings, it would prove that the Indians behaved like idiots, -a character which they never developed before.
As soon as the hostage was received into the canoe, and Sebenoa the chief, had by invitation taken a seat in the shallop, where, it will be remembered, he was surrounded by nineteen white men, the four Indians began to paddle very rapidly up the river. The annalist assumes that they treacherously were mak- ing an effort to run away with the hostage as their captive.
The supposition is absurd. The Indians surely would not surrender their chief in exchange for a common man. The chief himself would not consent to so silly a sacrifice. Neither could four men hope to escape from the pursuit of nineteen, whose guns could throw the death-dealing bullet so great a distance. The tidings of the power of the white man's musket had spread far and wide among the tribes.
Unquestionably the chief had invited the white men to visit his encampment. As they could converse only by signs, his invitation had not been understood by Capt. Gilbert. But the Indians supposed that it was understood and accepted. Imme- diately upon the friendly exchange having been made, the white man being in the canoe, and the chief in the shallop, the In- dians commenced paddling up the river toward their village. The birch canoe, light as a bubble, was driven with great rapid- ity over the waters. It was with difficulty that the heavily laden shallop could keep up with it.
We are informed that great care was taken that the hostage chief should not leap overboard ; but there is no intimation that he made any such senseless attempt. What could one poor man do, struggling in the water, with nineteen men at hand to brain him with their oars? Escape under those circumstances was impossible.
Apparently Sebenoa sat in the shallop with tranquil mind, entirely unconscious of the alarm which his hospitable invita- tion had given. The canoe led the way. A few rods behind
60
THE HISTORY OF MAINE.
came the shallop. Having ascended the river about three miles, the canoe landed. The four Indians, with their one white companion, entered a trail which led back to their village.
Capt. Gilbert hurriedly ran his boat upon the shore. Leav- ing nine men to guard the shallop, he took the other nine with him, and followed rapidly along the trail to rescue the man whom he supposed the Indians had kidnapped. Sebanoa min- gled with them, giving no sign that he suspected that he was watched, or that he was thought to be practising treachery. The well-trodden, narrow path led picturesquely around the forest-crowned hills of the Androscoggin, for a distance of about a league. Here they came upon the little hamlet of the chief. The white hostage was there unharmed. The whole village was, of course, thrown into great commotion by so sin- gular an event. The historian writes: -
" Here we found near fifty able men, very strong and tall : such as their like before we had not seen. All were newly painted, and armed with bows arrows."
As there were fifty warriors, the village must have contained about two hundred and fifty inhabitants. They could not have been armed in anticipation of this visit; for they had no more reason to expect it, than they had to think that angels would descend among them from heaven. They had made no collec- tion of furs for trade; for the idea of such a chance for trade had not entered their minds.
But here were nine men, three miles from their boat, surrounded by fifty well-armed and very powerful warriors. If treachery had been intended, nothing could have been more easy than to cut them off. They had no longer any hostage ; for Sebenoa was in his own home, and at the head of his band. There were many opportunities for lying in ambush among the rocks and forest- trees and thickets which fringed the narrow trail. Thus every white man could have been pierced with arrows, with scarcely the opportunity to make any resistance. And yet not one of these " very strong, tall savages " gave the slightest indication of hostility. There was not a frown seen, not a menacing word hard, not an arrow was placed upon the bowstring.
61
THE HISTORY OF MAINE.
On the contrary, the reception was hospitable in all respects. We are told that "peaceful overtures prevailed, and proposals for trade were made." After a brief visit, the whole party returned to the boat. Not the slightest attempt was discovered to molest the strangers, as in single file they threaded the narrow pass, where the Indians, outnumbering them five to one, could so easily in ambush, with one volley of their arrows, have struck every man down.
A few moments after reaching the shallop, sixteen of the natives appeared, apparently lured by curiosity to see them off. We are simply informed that they were " natives ; " and it is rea- sonable to infer that they were men, women, and children. It is very certain, that, if there had been any hostile intent, fifty warriors would never have deputed sixteen of their num- ber to attack a band of nine white men, while the remainder lounged indolently in their wigwams within half an hour's distance of the scene of conflict.
The treachery of the white man had become proverbial. The crime of Weymouth had infused suspicion into the mind of every Indian. Fire-arms had then been but recently in- vented. The musket which the white man bore was the an- cient matchlock. It was a clumsy weapon, and rested upon a support. It could only be discharged by applying a match or torch to the touchhole. Just as the boat was leaving the shore where the camp-fire was burning, one of the men lighted a torch to fire the guns.
An Indian standing by, undoubtedly feared that it was the intention of the boatmen, as soon as they were at a little dis- tance from the shore, to fire upon the group left behind. The lighting of the match, under those circumstances, was a men- ace, a hostile act. What other possible motive could there be for thus making ready to fire their guns? Upon the impulse of the moment, he sprang towards the shallop, seized the lighted match, and thew it into the water. The crew instantly grasped their guns ; and a man, at the command of Gilbert, leaped on shore to get more fire. Thus suddenly did a war tempest seem to burst upon the band. The terrified Indians, now convinced that hostilities were threatened, seized the rope
62
THE HISTORY OF MAINE.
of the boat, and tried to prevent its putting off. But as the men presented their muskets, ready to apply the glowing torch, they dropped the rope, and the whole company fled precipitately into the forest. As they fled, not a single arrow was thrown back.
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.