USA > Maine > The history of Maine > Part 15
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 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51
The Massachusetts commissioners, who, according to some accounts, "entered the Province in a hostile manner, with horse and foot," replied, -
" All your papers and powers our General Court have too thoroughly considered to require any re-perusal by us. Those under whom you aspire to act, never lawfully possessed the authority which they assumed to exer- cise. His Majesty directed Massachusetts either to resign the Province to Mr. Gorges, or to assign to him our objections. It is well known we have chosen the latter alternative.
"The cause is still under his royal consideration. And when have we been required by our common sovereign, to surrender the administration of justice to your commissioners? By the returns we shall soon ascertain what is the public sentiment; and, according to our ability, we shall discharge the trust committed to us. If we are opposed, we shall advise upon meas- ures which will not be inefficient."
The commissioners repaired to the meeting-house, where they read their commission to the assembled people, and explained
1 Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts, vol. i. p. 212 ; Chalmers' Political An- nals, p. 386.
2 See the letter in full in Thomas Hutchinson's Collection of State Papers, p. 484.
8 The commissioners appointed were Major John Leverett and Mr. Edward Ting, with Mr. Richard Waldron and Major Robert Pike as assistants. - Hub- dard's New England, p. 593.
161
THE HISTORY OF MAINE.
the purposes of their visit. There was some slight opposition manifested by the justices appointed by the royal commission- ers.1 The returns were brought in from five towns. It was said that two towns had been prevented from voting by the jus- tices. The antagonism between the two parties caused great excitement, and several persons were arrested by the Massachu- setts officers ; and at length quite angry feelings were elicited, and the justices, who had become noisy in their opposition, were driven out of the house by an armed force.2
In the afternoon they re-appeared, and again entered into conference with the commissioners. They requested permission to read a letter from the king, dated April 10, 1666, in which the king gave directions to his commissioners as to what they were to do until further commands were received from him. The commissioners replied, -
"We are commissioned to hold a court, and settle the peace and order of the Province. What we have begun, God willing, we shall finish. We are fully aware of the irregularities occasioned throughout these eastern towns and plantations, in 1665, by the king's commissioners, who were so bold as to charge Massachusetts with treachery and rebellion, and to threaten her, before the year's end, with the dreadful retributions of our sovereign's severity. But through the divine assistance, and his Majesty's power, she yet possesses authority, by royal charter, to assert her rights of government; and we fear not to compare her acts of justice and clemency with the words of those who can make words only their boast."
The government was then organized, and the commissioners returned to Massachusetts with their report. They received a vote of thanks, and ample remuneration for their services.3 In May, 1669, three deputies from Maine took their seats in the General Court of Massachusetts, and the restoration of the Province seemed to be permanently settled. Gorges made but slight if any efforts to recover his inheritance. Williamson says that the eastern planters, being generally republican and Puritan in their principles, were well satisfied with the change.4
1 See the details in Hubbard's History of New England, p. 597.
2 Hutchinson's Collection of State Papers, p. 526.
8 The Report will be found in Hubbard's New England, p. 596. 4 Williamson, vol. i. p. 410.
11
-
162
THE HISTORY OF MAINE.
But in this world there is no end to troubles. Scarcely was this question settled, when a new and portentous difficulty arose. The French, being in full possession of Nova Scotia, and the territory now of Maine as far as the Penobscot, laid claim to the region as far west as the Kennebec River. It was suspected that the Duke of York, who was an intense Catholic, and who detested the political and religious principles of the Puritans, favored these claims.1
It was seriously apprehended in Massachusetts, that the crown might sell the entire eastern patent to the French. A new sur- vey was ordered. The most popular measures were adopted to win the cordial support of the inhabitants of the Province. The surveyors reported that a line running due east from the most northern source of the Merrimac, to which, by the patent, three miles still farther north was to be added, would cross the Kennebec or Sagadahoc near where Bath now is, and that it would strike White Island in Penobscot Bay.
But again war was declared between England and Holland. The two angry nations were clutching each other by the throat. The Dutch, in July, 1673, recovered the fort at New York. With renewed activity, and with boldness ever characteristic of Massachusetts, the government re-organized the militia, and endeavored, in all ways, to consolidate the inhabitants of the Province, that they might not be sold to Papal France.
In 1674 a new treaty of peace was signed between England and Holland, and New York was restored to the British crown. Again prosperity seemed to dawn upon the inhabitants of Maine, scattered along the seacoast from Piscataqua to the Penobscot. The French occupied the eastern side of the Pen- obscot Bay. The English, in large numbers, had reared their dwellings, and were improving their lands, upon the western banks of the bay, and westerly to the River Sagadahoc.
Capt. John Jocelyn, in the year 1670, visited the Province of Maine. The next year he published a record of his voyage. It contains by far the most minute account of the condition of the Province at that time, which has descended to us. From this narrative we make the following interesting extracts : 2-
1 Williamson, vol. i. p. 441. 2 See Jocelyn's Voyages, pp. 200-212.
e
------
ยท
163
THE HISTORY OF MAINE.
-
" Towns there are not many in this Province. Kittery, not far from Pas- cataway, is the most populous; next to that, eastward, is Gorgeana (York).1 Farther to the eastward is the town of Wells. Cape Porpus is eastward of that, where there is a town of the same name, the houses scatteringly built .? All these towns have store of salt and fresh marsh, with arable land, and all well stocked with cattle.
" About eight or nine miles to the eastward of Cape Porpus is Winter Harbor, a noted place for fishers.8 Here they have many stages. Saco adjoins to this, and both make one scattering town of large extent, well stored with cattle, arable land and marshes, and a saw-mill. Six miles to the eastward of Saco, and forty miles from Gorgeana, is seated the town of Black Point (Scarborough).4 It consists of about fifty dwelling-houses, and a magazine, scatteringly built. They have store of neat (cattle) and horses ; of sheep near upon seven or eight hundred ; much arable and marsh salt and fresh, and a corn-mill. To the southward of the point, upon which are stages for fishermen, lie two small islands. Beyond the point, north- eastward, runs the River Spurwink.
" Four miles from Black Point, and one mile from Spurwink River, east- ward, lieth Richmond Island. It is three miles in circumference, and hath a passable and gravelly ford on the north side, between the main and the sea at low water. Here are found excellent whetstones, and here, likewise, are stages for fishermen.
" Nine miles eastward of Black Point lieth scatteringly the town of Cas- co,5 upon a large bay. It is stored with cattle, sheep, swine, abundance of marsh and arable land, a corn-mill or two, with stages for fishermen. Far-
1 "Actuated by these generous designs, hie (Gorges) determined now to erect the borough into a city, and accordingly executed another and more perfect char- ter, March 1, 1642, by which he incorporated a territory of twenty-one square miles, and the inhabitants upon it, into a body politic, which he, evidently in com- pliment to his own name, called Gorgeana. The whole lay in the form of a paral- lelogram, on the northern side of the River Agamenticus, extending up seven miles from its month, and one league upon the seashore." - Williamson's History of Maine, vol. i. p. 288.
2 Cape Porpoise, or Porpus as Jocelyn spells it, was but two and a half miles from Wells. - Williamson, vol. i. p. 26.
3 The celebrated place called Winter Harbor, so called after an ancient inhabit- ant there by the name of Winter, is at the head of the tide, six miles below Saco Bridge. See Williamson, vol. i. p. 21.
4 " After passing the plantations of Kittery, York, Wells, and Saco, we come to Scarborough, which has never changed its name since its first incorporation. It extends towards the east, six miles in width on the coast, to the month of Spur- wink River, which seems to cut off, as it bounds, the eastwardly corner of the town. This part is called Black Point." - Williamson, vol. i. p. 29.
5 What is now called Portland was first called Cleeves' Neck, then Munjoy Neck, and sometimes Casco, or Old Casco, from its position on Casco Bay. The first settlement was made by George Cleeves and Richard Tucker, who settled near the mouth of Spurwink River, in the year 1630. - History of New England, by Coolidge and Mansfield, vol. i. p. 267.
164
THE HISTORY OF MAINE.
ther eastward is the town of Kennebec, seated upon the river. Farther yet eastward is Sagadahoc, where there are many houses scattering, and all along stages for fishermen. These, too, are stored with cattle and corn land.
"From Sagadahoc to Nova Scotia, is called the Duke of York's Prov- ince. Here are Pemaquid, Montinecus, Mohegan, Capeanawhagen, where Capt. Smith fished for whales; all are filled with dwelling-houses and stages for fishermen, and have plenty of cattle, and arable land, and marshes.
" The people of the Province of Maine may be divided into magistrates, husbandmen or planters, and fishermen. Of the magistrates, some be royal- ists, the rest perverse spirits. The like are the planters and fishers. They have a custom of taking tobacco, sleeping at noon, sitting long at meals, sometimes four times a day, and now and then drinking a dram. The fisher- men take yearly upon the coast many hundred quintals of cod, hake, had- dock, and pollock." 1
Capt. Jocelyn speaks of the inhabitants as indolent, and many of them as very intemperate. Having earned a little money, they eagerly spent it for strong drink, and could not be again induced to work as hired laborers until their money was ex- pended.
It is estimated that the whole white population scattered along the coast of Maine, between Piscataqua and the Penob- scot, amounted to between five and six thousand souls.2 Chal- mers, in his Political Annals, states that the population of all New England comprised about a hundred and twenty thousand souls. Hutchinson places the number as high as a hundred and fifty thousand. There were, in the year 1675, a hundred and fifty-six families east of the Sagadahoc, and about a hundred fishing vessels.3
In the year 1675, the deplorable war commenced between the Indians under King Philip and the Plymouth Colony, - a war fraught with woes beyond all computation. Through the im-
1 Mr. Williamson spells the name Joscelyn, and says that his account ends in 1673. Mr. William Willis, one of the most accurate of men, spells the name in his History of Portland as we have given it in the text. He says that the period to which Jocelyn's narrative relates is 1670, and that Jocelyn returned to England in 1671. - History of Portland by William Willis, p. 882.
2 Williamson, vol. i. p. 447. He estimates that the whole Province, including the Duke of York's domain, could furnish about a thousand soldiers.
8 Statement to the Massachusetts Assistants in 1675, by Sylvanus Davis. Mr Willis estimates that there were then four hundred families in Falmouth.
-
165
THE HISTORY OF MAINE.
, prudence of well-meaning men, and the wickedness of the reck- less and the vile, the Indians of Maine were soon induced to unite with those of Massachusetts in the attempt to extermi- nate the white man. Before entering upon the details of the dreadful war which ensued, we will give a brief description of the Indians of Maine.
The generic name, given to the several tribes between the Penobscot River and the vicinity of the Piscataqua was Aben- agues.1 The Indians, dwelling in the valley of the Penobscot, are called by most of the ancient historians, Tarratines. Though the Abenagues and the Tarratines had lived on friendly terms until about the year 1615, a deadly war then broke out between them. Each tribe of the Abenagues had its chiefs, though there was one sovereign chief, called the Bashaba, who seemed to wield a sort of imperial authority over the confederate tribes.2
His principal abode was near Pemaquid; his extended do- mains were called Moasham,3 and he could lead to the field several thousand warriors. There were four tribes of the Abenagues : -
1. The Sokokis, dwelling in the valley of the Saco River.
2. The Anasagunticooks,4 a powerful tribe, who claimed the territory and waters of the Androscoggin, from Merrymeeting Bay upwards, and on the west side of the Sagadahoc to the sea. Their headquarters were at Brunswick Falls, called then Pejepscot. This spot became the central rendezvous, where the eastern and western tribes held their councils, and conspired for the extermination of the English. They had a large fort near the falls. By fishing, hunting, and the culture of their fields, they obtained an ample supply of food. But the early injuries they had received from the whites had so exasperated them,
1 There is much diversity with regard to the spelling of these Indian names by the annalists of those days. The Abenagues are called Abenakis, Wabenakies, and Wapanachkis. There is the same diversity in the spelling of the names of nearly all the tribes.
2 See Smith, Purchas, Winthrop, Prince, and Hubbard.
8 Gorges' Description of New England, pp. 17, 54. Belknap calls his domains Mavooshen, Biog. 149. Purchas writes it Maivooshen, p. 939.
4 Hutchinson gives this tribe the name of Aresagunticooks; Douglass, Arouse- gunticooks; Hubbard, Amerascoggan ; Smith, Amarascoyen.
166
THE HISTORY OF MAINE.
that they were never cordially friendly, and at the first sound of war they eagerly grasped both gun and tomahawk.
3. The Canibas. This tribe was found quite numerous upon the Kennebec when the river was first discovered. It seems to have been a conglomerate tribe, consisting of several branches or families. The chief sachem, Kennebis, occupied a delightful situation on Swan Island. The territory claimed by this tribe extended from the sources of the Kennebec River to Merry . meeting Bay, and included the islands on the eastern side of the Sagadahoc River to the sea.1
One of the favorite locations of this tribe was at Norridge- wock, opposite the mouth of the Sandy River. Here the first French missionary, Gabriel Dreuillettes, was stationed. It seems difficult to imagine any motive sufficiently powerful to induce a gentleman of refinement and culture to spend his days in the wigwams of the savages, endeavoring to teach them the religion of Jesus, but a sincere desire to serve God.
4. The Wawenocks 2 possessed the region east of the Sagada- hoc, as far as St. Georges River. Their territory was small in its limits, and the tribe not large. The headquarters of the tribe were on the westerly side of the River Sheepscot, near the falls. Hubbard, in his History of the Indian Wars, speaks of them as the Sheepscot Indians.3 The personal appearance and habits of these Indians are thus described by Capt. Smith : -
" The name of Wawenock signifies fearing nothing. They were of comely proportion, and quite athletic. They would row their canoes faster with five paddles than my own men could their boats with eight oars. They had no beards, and thought ours counterfeits. Their women, though of lower stat- ure, were fleshy and well favored; all habited in skins like the men." 4
There was another powerful tribe, called the Etechemins, occupying the region between the Penobscot and the St. Johns,
1 Williamson, vol. i. p. 466. Drake writes, "Kennebis was a sachem from whom it has been supposed that the Kennebec River derives its name. But whether there were a line of sagamores of this name from whom the river was so called, or whether sachems were so called from their living at a certain place upon it, is uncertain." - Book of the Indians, b. iii. p. 98.
2 This name is also written by different annalists, Waweenecks, Weweenocks, and Wewenocks.
3 Hubbard, p. 301.
4 Journal of Thomas Smith, p. 19.
167
THE HISTORY OF MAINE.
- including the valleys of both those rivers. There is some diver- sity of statement in reference to the definite boundaries of this tribe. Williamson represents them as composed of three tribes, - the Tarratines, the Openangos, and the Marechites. They could bring six thousand warriors into the field. The Abena- gues he estimates could bring five thousand. This would fur- nish them with an army of eleven thousand men.1 Probably all were accustomed to the musket, and were good marksmen. They could obtain ample supplies of ammunition from the French. This was a terrific power to be brought against the settlers scattered through the forests of Maine.
The above estimate of the number of Indian warriors is given for the year 1615, when it is supposed that the whole Indian population of Maine amounted to about thirty-seven thousand.
1 Williamson, vol. i. p. 483.
-
CHAPTER X.
THE FIRST INDIAN WAR.
The Indians -Their Manners and Customs - Fondness for Intoxicating Drinks -Scenes in the Wigwam - The Catholic: Missionaries - Adventures of Rasle - Indian Intelligence - Population - Philip's War -Commencement of Hostilities - Awful Scenes of Blood and Woe -The Truce - Efforts of Mr. Shurte - The War Renewed - The Ambuscades - Folly of the English - Desperation of the Indians.
TT is important to perpetuate a correct idea of the numbers, condition, and character of the native inhabitants of Maine. They have nearly all passed away. The few remnants which remain have lost all resemblance, in character and habits of life, to their ancestors of two centuries ago.
The Indians of Maine were of ordinary stature, very erect, and of great muscular strength. Their hair was long, very black, and coarse. Their complexion was peculiar, with a red- dish tinge, which, at a glance, enabled one to distinguish them from the negro, the mulatto, or the most dark-skinned European. Though, in the South, a corpulent Indian was sometimes found, it is said that none such were seen in Maine, neither was a de- formed Indian, or one dwarfed or cross-eyed, ever met with.1
The men were beardless. But, strange as it may appear, the question is not yet settled whether this were a provision of nature or the effect of art. Smith, in his history, says that they had no beards; others have said that the young men plucked out their beards until the roots were entirely destroyed. Still others say that the Indians anointed their bodies with an unc- tion, as a protection against flies and vermin, which prevented the growth of the beard.
1 Williamson, vol. i. p. 484.
168
169
THE HISTORY OF MAINE.
Trained from infancy to acute perceptions, the Indian could traverse the most dense and intricate forests without the slight- est fear of losing his way. Notwithstanding their hardships, many of them lived to extreme old age.
Both men and women were fond of gay colors in their cloth- ing. Their dress consisted of furs in winter, and in summer of skins from which the fur had been removed. Many were very slightly clad in summer, and not unfrequently one was met entirely naked. They were all exceedingly fond of ornaments, and decorated their persons with gorgeously colored plumes, shells, beads, and wings. An Indian chieftain, in full dress, would outshine any of his brother lords in Windsor or Ver- sailles.
Among themselves the Indians were remarkably honest. They had no locks, bolts, or bars. In trade they were fair, and often expressed astonishment at the mean tricks to which the white trader would resort. They were proverbial for their hos- pitality, being ever ready to share their last morsel of food with the stranger who entered the wigwam. They were grave and taciturn in their ordinary demeanor, and seemed never to forget a kindness or an injury.
With no ambition to acquire property, no stimulus to exertion, with nothing to rouse their energies but the chase and the occa- sional excitements of war, they were generally indolent. With but little thought of the morrow, they were content with the food and clothing of to-day. The atrocities of Weymouth, Harlow, and Smith, in kidnapping the Indians, the cheating practised by unprincipled traders, and the infamous conduct of getting chieftains drunk, and then obtaining a deed of exten- sive territories for mere trifles, were sufficient to rouse the indignation of the most patient people. The Indians have had no historians. But, according to the testimony of white men, their wrongs were unendurable, and their savage natures were goaded, by the crimes of individual white men, to the most dreadful acts of retaliation.
Their thirst for ardent spirits seemed to be an irrepressible appetite. They would drink the strongest rum, unmixed, until roused to the most dreadful degree of frenzy. They then
170
THE HISTORY OF MAINE.
appeared more like demons than men, and were capable of any crime.
The Indians generally lived in small villages. The writer spent many an hour, sixty years ago, in the wigwams of the Penobscot Indians. To his boyish eye, in a cold winter day, the interior often presented an aspect peculiarly attractive. The hut, built of boughs of trees and of bark, was always in the majestic forest. It was sometimes circular, enclosing a space about fifteen feet in diameter. Again, it was oblong in shape, and about thirty feet in length and ten in width.
The floor was always carpeted with the green and fragrant twigs of the hemlock. The walls generally afforded ample pro- tection against both wind and rain. From a bright fire, burn- ing in the centre, the smoke would generally rise through a hole in the roof, leaving the atmosphere within the hut quite pure. The indolent men would be lying around, sleeping or dozing. The women were always busy. They sat easily upon the floor, braiding their baskets, and chatting in low, musical, monotonous tones, with rarely a smile.
As one day I came near sitting down upon an apparent cushion, which proved to be a cradle in which a babe enveloped in furs was sleeping, it excited a general smile from the squaws seated around, but not a sound was heard. I always took with me, as a gift, some tobacco, which insured me a warm welcome. The emotions excited in my young mind during those silent hours, in the wigwam of the friendly Indian, can never be forgotten.
Nothing like what we call furniture was ever seen in the hut. There was neither chair, stool, nor table. They had no regular meals. They ate when hungry. One great and revolting de- fect of the Indians was their utter want of cleanliness. Appar- ently they never washed even their faces or hands, or their clothes and cooking utensils. But, to my eye, the interior of their cabins always appeared neat and alluring. Still in a dark, easterly storm, with drenching rain and moaning wind, filling the cabin with suffocating smoke, the interior must have been extremely dismal.
The young girls were graceful in figure, and often possessed
.
----
171
THE HISTORY OF MAINE.
pleasing countenances. Had they been cleanly, many of them would have been deemed quite beautiful. All domestic and farm labor devolved upon the women. They planted and hoed the corn, gathered in the harvest, took care of the fish and game, and cooked the food.
Christianity was first taught the Indians by the Catholic mis- sionaries from France. As early as 1608, Biard and Masse com- menced their self-denying labors at Mt. Desert.1 Gabriel Dreuillettes was the first missionary who settled upon the banks of the Kennebec. In 1646 he built a chapel at Old Point, Norridgewock, and for many years taught the Indians, win- ning their highest regard. In the French war of 1674, the British laid his station in ashes. Upon the return of peace, the Massachusetts government sent workmen to replace the rude chapel which was destroyed, by another, far better, of hewn timber. Dreuillettes was a highly educated and eloquent man.
Dreuillettes, or Dreuelettes as some spell the name, was suc- ceeded in the mission at Norridgewock by two brothers, Vin- cent and Jaques Bigot. They were of illustrious lineage, being the sons of Baron Bigot of France. These young men, cradled in ancestral halls, and educated in the universities of Europe, forsook all the attractions of cultured society, luxurious homes, and ambitious aspirations, to spend their whole lives in savage wilds, toiling to lift up the ignorant and the degraded to the knowledge of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.
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.