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The third was called the Black Point settlement. It was a very feeble colony, consisting of but few families in the present town of Scarborough. Capt. Thomas Commock, or as some- times spelled Cammock, with Henry Joscelyn, had obtained a grant here of about fifteen hundred acres. The settlers, too poor to purchase lands, were generally their tenants.
The Lygonian Plantation, so called, embraced Richmand's Island, and a considerable extent of territory on the mainland. The population consisted principally of fishermen, hunters, and traders.3
There were, at the same time, on the Androscoggin, on both sides of the falls, a few scattered hamlets called the Pejepscot settlement.
The Pemaquid Plantation had been quite flourishing for five or six years ; and in various other parts of the territory now called Maine, settlers were scattered.4
The colonies of Massachusetts, New Plymouth, Connecticut, and even of New Hampshire, were in a more flourishing condi-
1 Williamson's Maine, vol. i. p. 96.
2 Gorges' New England, p. 16; Belknap's Biography, vol. ii. p. 378.
8 Sullivan's History, p. 305; Hubbard's Narrative, p. 294.
4 Williamson gives the following estimate of the probable population of Maine at that time : --
Piscataqua settlement, 200; Agamenticus, 150: Saco, including Black Point, 175; Casco, or Lygonia Patent, and Pejepscot, 75; Kennebec Patent, 100; Sagadahoc, Pemaquid, Sheepscot, St. Gorges, and islands, 500: Isles of Shoals and other places, 290: total, 1,400.
Possibly the whole number might have been fifteen hundred. - Vol. i. p. 267.
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· tion than the Province of Maine. Gorges was anxious to induce gentlemen of wealth and influence to emigrate to his domains.
In July, 1637, he made a grant of eight thousand acres of land in the present town of Bowdoinham, to Sir Richard Edge- combe. The troubles then existing in England, in both Church and State, caused many to seek civil and religious freedom by emigrating to the New World. It is estimated that during ten years, more than twenty-one thousand had sought a retreat on these shores. Even Oliver Cromwell had formed the resolve to take refuge in New England from the tyranny of king and court. The king became alarmed at the amount of emigration, and issued a decree that no one should leave his realms without taking the oath of allegiance to him, and of obedience to the decrees of the English Church.
On the 3d of April, 1639, King Charles I. issued a provin- cial charter to Sir Ferdinando Gorges, conferring upon him still more extensive territory in what is now Maine, with extraordi- nary powers and privileges. The region embraced in this char- ter commenced with the mouth of the Piscataqua River, and ran north-easterly along the Atlantic coast to the mouth of the Sagadahoc ; it then ascended through that river and the Ken- nebec, in a north-westerly direction, a distance of a hundred and twenty miles, which would make its northern boundary near the mouth of Dead River; it then ran south-westerly across the country to near a point on Umbagog Lake; there it met a line running north from Salmon Falls River, a tributary of the Pis- cataqua, a distance of a hundred and twenty miles. Such were the limits of this province, so far as we can now ascertain from the descriptions of the charter. It also included the islands on the coast within five leagues of the main.2
The region was designated the Province or County of Maine. It contained about one-sixth of the present area of the State. Sir Ferdinando Gorges and his heirs were lord proprietors of the province. They were bound to take the oath of allegiance to the crown, and a few unimportant claims were reserved by the king.
1 Holmes' Annals, vol. i. p. 299.
2 This charter is given in full in Hazard's Collections, vol. i. p. 442.
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" The articles of faith and forms of ecclesiastical government, used by the Church of England, were established; and to the proprietary was given the patronage of all churches and chapels, and the right of dedicating them according to Episcopal usages." 1
There are two reasons assigned for the name of Maine, which was given to this Province. The queen of England had inher- ited a province of that name in France ; and, again, there were so many islands in that region, that it was common to speak of the main land, or the Maine.2
Thomas Gorges was deputy governor. He was a young man of accomplished education and of great social and moral worth. He was assisted by seven councillors ; the state officers, properly so called, consisted, in addition to the governor, of a chancellor, .. or chief justice ; a marshal, who commanded the militia; a treas- urer; an admiral, who had charge of the naval force ; a master of ordnance, to whom military stores were intrusted; and a secretary. The latter office the governor took upon himself. He, with his six councillors, constituted a supreme court of judicature, and also, with eight deputies chosen by the several counties, formed a legislative assembly. Such, in brief, was the constitution adopted under the charter of the Province of Maine.3
The Kennebunk River divided the Province into two dis- tricts, - the east and the west. The first " general court " was opened at Saco on the 25th of June, 1640. But four council- lors were present. It is worthy of notice, that one John Win- ter, a trader, was indicted for charging a profit of more than five per cent upon the cost of the goods he sold.
Packs of wolves were howling through the forest. A tax (f twelve pence was assessed upon every family between Piscata- qua and Kennebunk, to be paid in bounties for each wolf killed. All parents in the western district were also ordered to have their children baptized under penalty of being summoned to appear before the court, and answer for the neglect.4
1 Williamson's History of Maine, vol. i. p. 273.
2 Williamson's History of Maine, vol. i. p. 277.
8 See this Constitution more minutely developed by Williamson, vol. i. p. 281, and in Sullivan's History of Maine.
4 " Wolves then abounded all along the coast. The town of Wells was infested with them. Their hideous howlings made 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, L.L.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. 465.
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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ـلغ الحـ
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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.
3 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 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.
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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.
3 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, -
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