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Andros, it will be remembered, had been the appointed gov- ernor of the Duke of York, now James II., over the colonies at the mouths of the Manhattan and the Sagadahoc Rivers. He was the fitting servant of his master, imperious and tyrannical. He turned his special attention to his Sagadahoc province. He took formal possession of the country, and made preparations to defend it against any enemy, whether Indians, French, or Dutch. Nothing of especial interest marked his administration. He was arrogant and tyrannical, and was very unpopular.
In 1683 Andros was succeeded by Col. Thomas Dungan. He was a much better man, and cherished far more elevated views of human rights, and still he was at a very considerable remove from the Massachusett's principles of republican equality. In New York he convoked a legislative assembly; but, at Sag- adahoc, he appointed two commissioners, John Palmer and John West, whom he invested with plenary powers.
In 1686 they repaired to Pemaquid. Many of the inhabitants, who had been driven from their homes by the horrors of the war, had returned. The region was at that time called the County of Cornwall. The commissioners proved to be despotic men, " arbitrary as the Grand Turk." 2 They contrived, in vari- ous ways, to extort enormous taxes from the impoverished and war-stricken people. They took especial care of themselves and friends, appropriating from six to ten thousand acres of land to each.3 It is enough to make one's blood boil with
1 History of Portland. By William Willis, p. 258.
2 Mather's Magnalia, vol. ii. p. 510.
8 Hutchinson's Collection, p. 547.
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indignation to contemplate the leaseholds they forced from the people, and the rents they imposed upon them for the occupa- tion of their own homesteads. Thus they wrested from these settlers nearly three thousand dollars a year.
Mr. Sullivan gives us a copy of one of these leaseholds, in- flicted upon poor John Dalling of Monhegan, who had returned penniless to his burnt cabin and wild lands. It is drawn up with much legal formality, in the name of " Our most gracious sove- reign lord, James II., by the grace of God King of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland." After a ludicrously detailed account of the premises, John Dalling is authorized to plant his corn there, upon condition of -
" Yielding and paying therefor yearly, and every year, unto our sove- reign lord the king, his heirs or successors, or to such governor or other officer as from time to time shall be by him or them appointed to receive the same, on every twenty-fifth day of March forever, as a quit rent, or acknowl- edgment for the said land, one bushel of merchantable wheat, or the value thereof in money." 1
Dungan claimed the country as far east as the River St. Croix.2 A shipmaster from Piscataqua, not aware of this claim, and supposing that the region beyond the Penobscot belonged to the French, sent a cargo of wines there. As they were landed, without having paid duties at Pemaquid, Palmer and West seized and confiscated the cargo. This roused, not only the indignation of the French, but that, also, of the Massachusetts people. The clamor rose so loud, that the wines were restored.
Dungan's administration lasted five years. He influenced several Dutch families to emigrate to the Sagadahoc. In 1688 Sir Edmund Andros was appointed captain-general and vice- admiral of New England, New York, and the Jerseys. He formed a council of twenty-five members, five of whom consti- tuted a quorum. All legislative, judicial, and executive func- tions were blended in this department. There were no consti- tutional limits. The governor and his council did as they pleased.3
1 Sullivan's History of Maine, p. 163. 2 Hutchinson's Collections, p. 548.
8 " But a few months before, he had been appointed governor of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Maine, Plymouth, Pemaquid, and Narragansett, or Rhode Island." - Summary of British Settlements in North America, by William Douglass, p. 374.
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The governor soon developed all the execrable traits of a despot. He seldom convened more than seven or eight of his council, and they were all the pliant instruments of his will.
The Church of England was recognized as the only legal form of worship ; and all who assembled for congregational religious service were threatened with the confiscation of their meeting- houses. Freedom of the press was restrained. The land-titles, generally, were declared to be invalid; and it was proclaimed that new title-deeds must be obtained. The annoyances to which the people were exposed were innumerab e, and vexatious in the extreme.
Andros was alike greedy of wealth and of despotic power. The king, James II., from whom he derived all his authority, was an avowed Papist. But the people of England were not in sympathy with their monarch. Desiring to take military pos- session of the Penobscot and the St. Croix, Andros repaired to Pemaquid, where he had ordered the frigate " Rose " to be pre- pared for his expedition. The frigate, having sailed, cast anchor near the habitation of Baron Castine, at Biguyduce.1
The baron, with his family, fled into the woods, abandoning every thing. The ignoble governor plundered his house of all its valuables ; but he left untouched the Catholic chapel, with all its rich adornments.
Andros returned to Pemaquid, where he had invited the neighboring sagamores to meet him. They met in council. Andros, addressing the most prominent chief, a Tarratine2 sag- amore, said, -
"I warn you never to follow the French, or to fear them. Be quiet, live in peace, and we will protect you. Tell your friend Castine, that, if he will render loyal obedience to the King of England, every article takeu from him shall be restored."
Andros was delighted with Pemaquid and its surroundings. He took an excursion among the islands, and ascended the Kennebec several leagues. He thought that Pemaquid was destined to be the chief mart for all the eastern country, and
1 Hutchinson's Collection of State Papers, p. 562.
2 It will be remembered that the Tarratines occupied the valley of the Penob- scot.
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made an effort to have an account taken of all the white in- habitants between the Penobscot and the St. Croix. They amounted to less than fifty, counting men, women, and chil- dren.1
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Andros returned to New York in 1688, having appointed Nicholas Manning chief magistrate in the " Province of the Duke of York, called Sagadahoc, or the County of Cornwall." - Baron Castine was a man of great influence, not only with his countrymen, the French, but with all the neighboring Indian · tribes, with whom he had so thoroughly identified himself. His indignation was, of course, aroused, and that of all his friends, by the wanton plunder of his estate. He appealed to the Indians. War-clouds soon began to darken the sky. Castine declared that he would never submit to the domination of the English.
Andros began to enlist soldiers, and to erect forts at many important points between Piscataqua and Penobscot. Hostilities were commenced in August. It is impossible to follow, with chronological accuracy, the details. The Indians killed the cattle in the eastern settlements, and insulted and threatened the inhabitants. At Saco, the magistrates unjustly seized fifteen or twenty unoffending Indians, and held them as hostages for the good behavior of the rest. The Indians retaliated by seiz- ing some Englishmen.
Andros, then in New York, wishing to try the effect of con- ciliatory measures, ordered the Indian prisoners to be set at liberty. He issued a pacific proclamation. But all was in vain. The inhabitants of Maine generally took refuge in garrison houses. Stockades were constructed in North Yarmouth, on each side of Royall River. A party engaged in constructing these works under Capt. Gendall. A band of seventy or eighty Indians attacked him. He repelled them, after a severe con- flict, in which several were slain on each side. This was the first blood which was spilled in what was called the second war. In the evening, after the skirmish, Capt. Gendall and his servant fell into an ambuscade, and were both killed. John Royall was taken captive; but he was kindly ransomed by Baron Castine.2
1 Collections of Massachusetts Historical Society, vol. i. p. 82, 3d sor.
2 History of Portland, by William Willis, p. 273.
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Early in November, seven hundred English soldiers were sent to Pemaquid.1 About one hundred and fifty-six men were left here to garrison the fort. Garrisons were also established at several other places along the coast. Five hundred and sixty soldiers were east of the Kennebec. The troops suffered severely on this campaign, while they encountered not a single Indian.2
Gov. Andros became increasingly unpopular ; and his author- ity in the distant Province of Maine was subverted by a popu- lar uprising in April, 1689, in Boston, which threw the governor and thirty of his most obnoxious partisans into prison. The troops revolted from their officers, and many abandoned their posts. The consequence was, that the French and Indians cap- tured the fort, and almost depopulated the country. The same disaster took place at New Castle and Falmouth.3
At Saco the Indians were repelled ; but they took Dover by surprise, and cruelly slaughtered many of the inhabitants. We have no reason to doubt the accuracy of the following account of this disaster, given by Samuel G. Drake : -
" The Indians rushed into Waldron's house in great numbers; and, while some guarded the door, others commenced the slaughter of all who resisted. Waldron was now eighty years of age; yet, seizing his sword, he defended himself with great resolution, and at first drove the Indians before him, from room to room, until one, getting behind him, knocked him down with his hatchet. They now seized upon him, and, dragging him into the great room, placed him in an armed chair, upon a table.
" While they were thus dealing with the master of the house, they obliged the family to provide them with a supper, which when they had eaten, they took off his clothes, and proceeded to torture him in the most dreadful man- ner. Some gashed his breast with knives, saying, 'I cross out my account.' Others cut off joints of his fingers, saying, 'Now will your fist weigh a pound ? ' "' 4
1 Willis, following Belknap, says seven hundred ; Holmes, Am. Ann. p. 474, says eight hundred ; Eliot states the number at a thousand.
2 " All this was merely a military movement, or display, neither the result of wisdom, experience, nor sound judgment. Had he been in the least acquainted with the habits of the Indians, or listened even to the statements of hunters, he would have known that these tenants of the forest retire in the autumn from the seaboard, and pass the winter upon their hunting-berths in the interior of the wilderness." - Williamson, vol. i. p. 596.
Williamson gives a list of eleven settlements along the coast, at which these troops were distributed.
8 Massachusetts Historical Collections, 3d ser. p. 85.
4 Drake's Book of the Indians, book iii. p. 108.
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After continuing this torture for some time, they let him fall upon his own sword, and thus put an end to his misery. Wal- dron had the reputation of being one of the most perfidious and unscrupulous cheats in his treatment of the Indians. When they paid him what was due, he would neglect to cross out their- accounts. In buying beaver-skins by weight, he insulted the intelligent Indians by insisting that his fist weighed just one pound. The day of retribution came; and the savages wreaked their utmost vengeance upon their victim. They held the place till morning. Then, with twenty-nine captives and all the plunder they could carry away, they set out for Canada. The French ransomed the prisoners ; and they were eventually re- turned to their friends.1
Upon the overthrow of Andros, the assembled people ap- pointed a council of thirty-seven men to secure the public safe- ty. A few weeks after this great revolution, the joyful tidings reached Boston, that the tyrant James II. had been driven from his throne and his kingdom, and had been succeeded by William, Prince of Orange.
Maine was in a deplorable condition. Her people were with- out any settled government, and were involved in a war from which they could reap nothing but disasters; for victory could bring them no gains. The Council of Safety, apparently with the cordial assent of the people of Maine, assumed the super- vision of the Ducal Province.
The illustrious chieftain Madockawando, whose daughter, it will be remembered, married Baron Castine, visited Boston, ac- companied by several sachems, in the endeavor to secure peace. Their bearing was not that of savages, but that of uneducated men of strong common sense, who thoroughly understood the true posture of affairs. The chief, Madockawando, was the principal speaker. The substance of his communication was as follows : -
1 "The seizure at that place (Dover), of four hundred Indians, more than twelve years before, was a transaction never to be forgotten, never to be forgiven, by savages. Lapse of time had only wrought their resentment into animosities, malice, and rege and an opportunity now offered to satiate their revenge." - Williamson, vo' > p. 610.
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" Baron Castine was deeply offended by the unprovoked attack upon his house, and the plunder of his premises. The French, his countrymen re- garded it as a national insult and a proclamation of war. The Indians who had adopted Baron Castine into their tribe, and made him a chief, considered it no less an act of hostility against them. Thus a terrible war must rage, unless terms of peace can be agreed upon."
The government treated the distinguished Indian envoys with great courtesy, assuring them of its entire disapproval of the conduct of Andros, whom the people had ejected from office. They loaded the chiefs with presents, and conveyed them home in a colony sloop. They sent, also, a very conciliatory letter to Baron Castine. But storms of war were rising in Europe, which dashed angry billows upon the shores of the New World.
The Papist, James II., had fled to Catholic France, where he was received with open arms. War was the consequence, imbittered not only by the hereditary hatred between English- men and Frenchmen, but by the still more virulent antagonism which arose between Protestantism and Catholicism. France and England entered with equal alacrity upon the deadly strug- gle.1 The patriotic pride, and the religious fanaticism, of the French in Canada, were aroused to drive the heretical English out of Maine. It was not difficult for them to rally the majority of the Indians around their standards. French privateers were promptly upon the coast, capturing the colonial vessels. It is said, we know not upon what authority, that the French mis- sionaries exerted all their powerful influence to rouse the Indi- ans to drive the English out of Maine. It is estimated that the French in New France then numbered over eleven thousand.
The General Court, which had received the cordial sanction of the new king, William of Orange, promptly prepared an expedition to regain Nova Scotia, and capture Quebec. Seven vessels, manned by seven hundred men, sailed from Boston in the spring of 1690. Sir William Phips took the command.
This remarkable man was a native of Maine, being one of the youngest of his mother's family of twenty-six children, twenty-
1 " War was declared by England against France on the 7th of May, 1689; but tidings of the proclamation did not reach Boston until Dec. 7." -- Universal History, vol. xli. p. 47.
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one of whom were sons. He was born upon the Sheepscot, in the town of Woolwich, on the 2d of February, 1650. His father died when he was young; and he remained with his mother, in the homestead, until he was eighteen years of age.
Favored with but a limited education, he learned the trade of a ship-carpenter. The ravages of the Indians drove him from home ; and he entered upon the roving life of a sailor. Ac- cidentally he heard that a Spanish ship, richly laden with bars of silver from the mines, had been wrecked upon one of the Bahamas. He succeeded in communicating this intelligence to the Duke of Albemarle. An expedition was fitted out to re- cover the treasure. After sundry disappointments, extraordinary success crowned the endeavor. Thirty-four tons of silver, be- sides gold, pearls, and jewels, were raised from a depth of nearly fifty feet. The estimated value was one million, three hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
The share of William Phips amounted to seventy thousand dollars. The Duke of Albemarle presented Mrs. Phips a golden cup worth four thousand dollars. The King of England con- ferred upon the successful adventurer the honor of knighthood, and appointed him high sheriff of New England. James II. was then king of England; and Sir Edmund Andros was in power.1
The fleet sailed from Boston on the 29th of April. It con- sisted of a frigate of forty guns, two sloops-of-war (one carry- ing sixteen, and the other eight guns), and four ketches, which were small vessels, schooner rigged, of about two hundred tons' burden.2 The squadron proceeded first to Port Royal. The garrison there was in no condition to resist so powerful a force, and surrendered at discretion.3
Sir William took, as prisoners-of-war, the military governor,
1 Mather's Magnalia, vol. ii. pp. 151-208. Collection of State Papers. By Thomas Hutchinson, p. 353.
2 Universal History, vol. xl. p. 62.
8 "Du Mont, having received a commission as lieutenant-general of France, fitted out an expedition, with which he sailed along the coast of Maine, formed a temporary settlement at the month of the River St. Croix, where his company spent one winter, and then established a colony on the other side of the Bay of Fundy, at a place which they named Port Royal, and now called Annapolis. This was in the year 1604." - History of Portland, by William Willis, p. 10.
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M. Maneval, and thirty-eight soldiers. He then ran back, south-westerly along the coast of Maine toward the Penobscot, capturing all the French posts on the way, and taking possession of the islands. He. appointed a governor over the province so easily conquered, and returned to Boston with his prisoners, and with sufficient plunder, as he judged, to defray all the expenses of the expedition.1
The French population of the subjugated province was sup- posed to be between two and three thousand souls.' They hated the English ; and the tribes under their influence sympathized with them in these hostile feelings.
Flushed with victory, New England and New York combined to root out all the French colonies in Nova Scotia and Canada. Four thousand men were easily enlisted to enter upon the pop- ular enterprise. Sir William Phips, promoted to the rank of commodore, commanded the fleet, containing two thousand men. Quebec was its point of destination. The other half of the army, under Major-Gen. John Winthrop of Connecticut, marched across the country to attack Montreal.
The fleet sailed on the 19th of August, 1690. It was not until the 5th of October, that the vessels cast anchor before Quebec. Count Frontenac, a haughty but able French nobleman, was governor. To a summons to surrender, he returned the singular reply, --
" You and your countrymen are heretics and traitors. New England and Canada would be one, had not the friendship been destroyed by your revolu- tion." 8
1
In this he referred to the revolution in England, which had driven the Papist, James II., into France, and had placed the Protestant, William of Orange, on the throne, and had thus inaugurated the war. A landing was effected about four miles below the town. Both the naval and the land forces commenced a furious cannonade. But the French fought with courage and
1 Mather's Magnalia, p. 522.
2 Hutchinson's Historical Collections, vol. ii. p. 13. Holmes, in his American Annals, vol. i. p. 474, estimates the number at between three and four thousand.
8 Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts, vol i. p. 356.
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skill, and were greatly aided in their attack upon the land-force - by their Indian allies.
The troops were defeated, and were driven precipitately on board the ships. Quebec was found far better armed with heavy guns than had been supposed. The fleet suffered more than the French works from the cannonade. A general feeling of depression spread through the English troops. The enter- prise was abandoned ; and the vessels spread their sails to return. To add to their disasters, the elements seemed to combine against them. A violent tempest struck the fleet. Several vessels, as they were emerging from the mouth of the St. Law- rence, were sunk, and others blown out to sea.
It was not until the 19th of November, that the residue of the shattered squadron reached Boston. Between two and three hundred men were lost by the casualties of war during this unfortunate expedition.1
Gen. Winthrop was equally unsuccessful. Led by forty Mo- hawk warriors, he struggled through the forest to the shores of Lake Champlain. Here, finding himself unable to transport his army across the lake, he also abandoned the enterprise, and, with his humiliated army, returned, having accomplished noth. ing.2
In the mean time, the war with the Indians and French com- bined was raging throughout Maine; and the land was filled with lamentation and mourning.
1 According to Mather's Magnalia, vol. ii. p. 522, the fleet consisted of thirty- two sail.
2 Trumbull's History of Connecticut, vol. ii. p. 383.
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CHAPTER XIII.
CAMPAIGNS IN THE WILDERNESS.
Character of Indian Warfare - Expedition of Capt. Church - Battle at Fal- . mouth - The Sack of Berwick- The Massacre at Falmouth - Church at Pejepscot - Incidents of the Campaign -Indian Gratitude - The Truce - Deplorable Condition of Maine -The Disaster at York - Heroic Defence of Wells - Church's Third Expedition - New Efforts for Peace.
TT will be remembered, that, in the year 1678, Massachusetts had purchased of Mr. Gorges the Province of Maine, for the sum of twelve hundred and fifty pounds sterling. King James II. protested against this sale. It was, however, ratified, in the year 1691, by King William, in a charter which included not only what had been called the Province of Maine, but also the more easterly provinces of Sagadahoc and Nova Scotia.1
We must now retrace the time for a few months. There were many intelligent men among the Indians; and they saga- ciously succeeded in forming a very remarkable union of the several tribes.
The Indians always proved to be a prowling, skulking foe, never venturing to meet their adversaries in the open field. They hid behind fences, stumps, rocks, and, waylaying the Eng- lish, would shoot them down, strip off their scalps, and dis- appear in the forest. They would watch all night to shoot a settler as he came from his cabin in the dawn of the morning. Four young men went out together; and the invisible Indians shot them all down at a single fire. A well-armed party of twenty-four went out to bury them. The Indians rose from ambush ; and after a severe conflict, having shot down six, the
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2 Willis's History of Portland, p. 222
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savages fled into the woods. The activity of these people was so great, and their depredations so incessant and terrible, that nearly all the settlements, and even garrisons, east of Falmouth, were abandoned; and many of the inhabitants sought refuge in the stronger fortresses upon the Piscataqua.
For the protection of the despairing people of Maine, Massa- chusetts sent to their aid an army of six hundred men. The troops were rendezvoused at Berwick, then called Newichawan- nock. There were ninety Natick Indians in the party. Major Benjamin Church, a man who subsequently gained great renown in those wars, joined a detachment of these troops at Falmouth, with two hundred and fifty volunteers, a part of whom were friendly Indians.
The report came, that seven hundred Indians,1 with many Frenchmen associated with them, were on the march to attack Falmouth. Major Church, who was well acquainted with the Indian mode of fighting, landed his troops secretly, in the night, and concealed them in a thick growth of bushes, about half a mile from the town. A severe battle soon took place, after the Indian fashion, in which both parties displayed great skill and bravery. The Indians finally retreated, after having killed or wounded twenty-one of their assailants,2 six of whom were In- dians in alliance with the English. The loss sustained by the Indians is not known. Major Church wrote to the governor of Massachusetts, under date of Sept. 27, 1689,3 __
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