USA > Maine > The history of Maine > Part 23
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It was the month of August. The region was beautiful, and the climate in that latitude, at that season, charming. Ascend- ing a few miles, they passed many spots which the Indians had formerly inhabited, but which were then abandoned. It was the custom to hunt Indians as one would hunt wolves. Often no respect was paid to sex or age. The men succeeded in kill- ing four or five of the natives, and in wounding several. A shattered bone must be a terrible calamity to a poor Indian, who can have no surgical aid.
The adventurers, having inflicted this amount of damage, returned to their vessel, and sailed for the Bay of Fundy. A few French emigrants had their scattered cabins on the northern shores of this bay, where their wives and children lived, in the extreme of poverty. They raised a few bushels of corn, caught a few fishes, and occasionally trapped a beaver, or shot a bird. Their comfortless homes were scarcely a remove above the wig- wam of the savage.
In terror, the inmates of these hovels fled into the wilderness. Capt. Church burned their houses, destroyed their little har- vests, and plundered them of their furs and skins, and of what-
1 "From the re-union of the Penobscot with the Stillwater, at the foot of Marsh Island, the river flows south-westerly three miles to the head of the tide at the Bend, where its usual ebb and flow are two feet." - Williamson, vol. i. p. G8.
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ever else was worth carrying away.1 As he was sailing home- wards with his slender booty, he met, in the waters of Passamaquoddy Bay, an English squadron of three vessels, from Boston. Col. Hawthorne was in command. Capt. Church, thus superseded, was directed to join the fleet, and accompany them to an attack upon St. John. The enterprise was unsuc- cessful, and the vessels returned to Boston.
The inhabitants of Maine, the English, and the savages, were now alike 'wretched. No man could leave his door without danger of being shot. No family could lay down to sleep at night without being liable to hear the horrible war-whoop before the morning, and of being subjected to the awful tragedy of conflagration, scalping, and massacre. Stern Nature seemed in harmony with the cruelty of man. The winter was one of unprecedented cold; and storms of sleet and snow howled through the tree-tops, and swept all the dreary fields. Many, both Indians and English, were starved to death. Nine Indians, who were out hunting, after eating their dogs, were found dead, the victims of famine.2
Major Charles Frost was in command at Kittery. He was peculiarly obnoxious to the Indians, as they accused him of several acts of treachery.3 A plan was formed to kill him. Several Indians hid behind a large log, about five miles from his house, to shoot him on his way to church. It was Sunday morning, June 4, 1697. Apparently, his wife was riding behind him, on a pillion ; and some one was walking by the side of the horse. There was a simultaneous discharge of the guns of the savages ; and all three fell to the ground in the convul- sions of death.
1 " Among the settlements on the north shore of that bay, he made great destruction, and took considerable plunder." - Williamson, vol. i. p. 646.
2 Mather's Magnalia, vol. ii. p. 556.
8 " We have, in narrating the events in the life of Modokawando, noticed the voyage of Major Waldron to the eastern coast of Maine. How much treachery was manifested at that time by the Indians, which caused the English to massa- cre inany of them, we shall not take upon us to declare. Yet this we cannot but bear in mind, that we have only the account of those who performed the tragedy, and not that of those on whom it fell. Capt. Charles Frost of Kittery was with Waldron upon that expedition, and, next to him, a principal actor in it." -- Drake, book iii. p. 109.
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Two young men who were hurrying with the tidings to the garrison at Wells were shot by the lurking Indians. Five sol- diers, who had ventured a little distance from the garrison at York, were found scalped, and with their bodies pierced with bullets. One unhappy man, who had incurred the rage of the savages, was roasted to death at a slow fire. A few men from Wells went upon Cow Island for fuel. A man and his two sons were stationed to keep watch. The lurking savages seized them, and carried them off in a canoe. There were several canoes. Lieut. Larabee was out on a scout. He caught sight of the little fleet, and shot three of the Indians, rescuing one captive. The other two were carried away. Doubtless the Indians, in revenge, tortured them to death.
The French raised an army of fifteen hundred French and Indians to recapture Nova Scotia, and ravage all the coasts of New England. This was a prodigious force for this country, in those days. It created great alarm. At a vast expense of money and labor, all the fortifications were strengthened and supplied. Five hundred soldiers, under Major March, were pushed forward to the forts in Maine. Ranging parties were sent in all directions to intercept the Indians.
Major March cast anchor, with his troops, at Damariscotta.1 A band of Indians had discerned his approach. They knew where he would attempt a landing, and concealed themselves in ambush. Scarcely had the troops placed their feet upon the shore of the silent and apparently solitary wilderness, when there came a loud report of musketry, a volley of bullets swept through their ranks, and their ears were almost deafened by the shrill war-whoop. Nearly thirty were killed or wounded. The English, now well accustomed to Indian warfare, rallied for a vigorous defence. The savages fled, probably with but very slight loss. It was their great aim to strike a blow, and then run before the blow could be returned.2
Two days after this, on the 11th of September, 1697, peace
1 "Damariscotta is navigable for large ships about twelve miles from the sea. It is about half a mile wide. Rutherford's Island, a mile long, is at its mouth." - Williamson, vol. i. p. 56.
2 Mather's Magnalia, vol. ii. p. 553.
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between France and England was concluded by the famous Treaty of Ryswick. Tidings of the happy event did not reach Boston until the 10th of December. The Indians, unaided by the French, could accomplish but little, though there were occasional assassinations and plunderings. Early in the summer of 1698, the savages sent in their flags of truce to our outposts, imploring peace.
A conference was held at Penobscot on the 14th of October, 1698. Two commissioners from Massachusetts met six saga- mores, accompanied by a large retinue of Indians. The Indians were very sad. Mournfully they sang requiems for the dead. War to them had brought famine, and famine had brought pestilence. A terrible disease was sweeping away hundreds of their people. Many of their most illustrious men, the revered Madockawando 1 being of the number, were included among its victims. The English commissioners insisted, that, in addition to the return of all the captives, the Indians should drive all the Catholic missionaries out of their country. It certainly speaks well for the influence which these teachers had exerted upon the minds of the savages, that the sagamores, as with one voice, should have replied, " The white prisoners will be free to go home, or stay with their Indian friends. But the good mission- aries must not be driven away."
Another conference was held at Marepoint, now in the town of Brunswick, in January, 1699. Major Converse and Col. Phillips met the sagamores of most, if not all, the tribes between the Piscataqua and the Penobscot. Here a previous treaty was signed and ratified, with additional articles. The dreadful war had lasted ten years, impoverishing all, enriching none. The woes it had caused, no finite imagination can gauge. It is esti- mated that between five and seven hundred of the English were killed, and two hundred and fifty were carried into captivity, many of whom perished. One Indian warrior, Assacombuit,2
1 "Madockawando and Squando were the most powerful chiefs during this war. They are described by Hubbard as 'a strange kind of inoralized savages, grave and serious in their speech, and not without some show of a kind of religion.'" - Willis's History of Portland, p. 213.
2 "This sachem was known among the French by the name of Nescambiouit; but among the English he was called Assacambuit and Assacombuit. He was as
.
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boasted, and probably truthfully, that he had killed or captured a hundred and fifty men, women, and children.1
It is a remarkable fact, but well authenticated, that, in many cases, young children captured by the savages, and brought up among them, were often very unwilling to leave the wigwam, and return to civilized life. The attachment between them and the members of the Indian families became very strong. Very affecting were the partings which sometimes took place. Even in the present case, Mr. Williamson testifies, that "a few who were captured in their childhood, becoming attached to the society of the savages, chose to remain with them, and never would leave the tribes."
It will be remembered that the royal charter of William and Mary, dated Oct. 7, 1691, included essentially the territory of the present State of Maine, in two great divisions. One of these, extending from Piscataqua to the Kennebec River, was called the Province of Maine; the other, which included the - region between the Kennebec and the St. Croix, was denomi- nated the Province of Sagadahoc.2
Maine became virtually a province of Massachusetts, and so continued for a hundred and thirty years.3 The administration of Sir William Phips continued about two and a half years. He died in London in the year 1694. Mr. Williamson pays the following well-merited tribute to his memory : 4-
" He was a man of benevolent disposition and accredited piety, though sometimes unable to repress the ebullitions of temper. He was not only
faithful to the French as one of their own nation. In 1706 he sailed for France, and was presented to his Majesty Louis XIV., at Versailles. Here, among other eminent personages, he became known to the historian Charlevoix. The king having presented him an elegant sword, he is reported to have said, holding up his hand, -
"'This hand has slain a hundred and forty of your Majesty's enemies in New England.'
" Whereupon the king forthwith knighted him, and ordered that henceforth a pension of eight livres a day (about $1.50) be allowed him for life." -- Drake, book iii. p. 130.
1 See Mather's Magnalia, vol. ii. p. 558; History of New England, by Daniel Neal, vol. ii. p. 544; Williamson, vol. i. p. 650.
2 This region was inserted in the charter, without any specific name, though it was usually called as we have mentioned. - Summary of British Settlements in North America, by William Douglass, vol. i. p. 332.
8 Williamson, vol. ii. p. 10.
4 Williamson, vol. ii. p. 23.
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energetic and exceedingly persevering in his purposes, but he possessed good abilities, unsullied integrity, and strong attachments. His unremitting as- siduities to promote the best interests of Maine, the Province of his nativity, and to enforce measures devised for its defence and relief, are evidences monumental of his patriotism, and his high sense of obligation and duty."
Massachusetts, in assuming the government of Maine, re- signed to the crown of England all jurisdictional rights to Nova Scotia. The community there consisted mainly of. a mixed breed of Canadians and Indians. They had been mostly under French influence, were generally Roman Catholics, and their sympathies were with France. The people of all Maine had become essentially one with the people of Massachusetts in their social habits, their political views, and their religious observances. Massachusetts had ever been to Maine a kind and sympathizing friend.
The impoverishment of the inhabitants of Maine at the close of the war was dreadful, almost beyond comprehension. Houses, barns, and mills, with all the implements of agriculture, had been consumed by the flames.1 The people of York wished for a grist-mill. They were unable to build one. They offered a man in Portsmouth, if he would put up a mill, a lot of land to build it upon, liberty to cut such timber as he needed, and their pledge to carry all their corn to his mill so long as he kept it in order.
The worn and wasted people gradually returned to the deso- lated spots which had once been their homes. Log-cabins again began to arise in the solitudes of Falmouth, Scarborough, and at various other points, over which pitiless war had rolled its billows. In this state of affairs, some malicious persons set the cruel report in circulation, that the colonists were making preparation to fall upon the Indian tribes, and exterminate them. It was said that this rumor originated with the French, who were still anxious to extend their possessions farther west, and to avail themselves of the aid of the savages.2
The Indians, greatly frightened, began to withdraw from the
1 "No mills, no enclosures, no roads, but, on the contrary, dilapidated habita- tions, wide wasted fields, and melancholy ruins." - Williamson, vol. ii. p. 31.
2 Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts, vol. ii. p. 113.
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English settlements. This alarmed the English ; and they com- menced preparations for defence, apprehending that the Indians were again to attack them. These hostile demonstrations con- firmed the Indians in their fears; and in all probability the y began to draw nearer to the French. This confirmed the susp i cions of the English, and led to measures whose tendency w a only to exasperate.
The militia was ordered to be in constant readiness. A York, Wells, and Kittery, well-armed soldiers were posted. 1 proclamation was issued, which, while it cautioned the peop ] against giving any just provocation to the Indians, ordered the n. to be constantly on the watch to guard against treachery. Guards were appointed to patrol the towns every night, from nine till morning. This state of affairs necessarily put an end to all peace of mind and to all friendly intercourse.
It would seem as though man was doomed to make his brother- man miserable. The religion of the Son of God, that is the religion which recognizes God as our common Father, and all men as brethren, and whose fundamental principle is that we should do to others as we would that others should do to us, would have made Maine, from the beginning, almost a paradise. But what an awful tragedy does its history reveal ! And such has been, essentially, the history of all the nations. Such has been life upon this planet from the fall of Adam to the present hour.
To add to these calamities, menaces of war began again to arise between France and England. Unfortunately, by the Treaty of Ryswick, the boundaries between the English and French possessions on this continent had not been clearly de- fined. Both courts still claimed the territory between the Sag- adahoc and the St. Croix. The English said that they had resigned Nova Scotia to France, but nothing more.
In 1699 Lord Bellamont arrived in Boston, appointed by the king as governor of New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine. He was an excellent man, intelligent and cour- teous, with enlarged views of both civil and religious Liberty .?
' Records, Resolves, and Journals of the Massachusetts Government, vol. vi. p. 57.
2 Williamson, vol. ii. p. 32.
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James II. of England, who had been driven from the throne by an indignant people, to give place to his son-in-law, William, died at St. Germain, in France, on the 16th of September, 1701. His son, called the Pretender, a zealous Catholic, claimed to be the legitimate King of England. The Catholic court of France supported his claim. Six months after, on the 8th of March, King William died, deeply lamented. His wife, it will be remembered, was Mary, a daughter of James II. She had a sister Anne. She was declared by the British parliament to be the legitimate successor of William. She ascended the throne on the 4th of May, 1702. War was immediately declared against France, whose court was maintaining a rival for the crown.
The war-cloud instantly threw its shadow upon our shores. The British ministry claimed the whole Province of Sagada- hoc, and the right, in common with France, to the fisheries, on all these northern seas.1 Both of these claims France resisted. Queen Anne appointed Joseph Dudley governor of her New England provinces. "He manfully applied," writes William- son, " his splendid abilities, his courtly manners, and his exten- sive knowledge, to render all the acts of his administration acceptable to every class of people."
The war between France and England assumed very much the aspect of a religious war, a conflict between Protestantism and Catholicism.2
It was generally believed that the Catholic missionaries in Maine were endeavoring to seduce the Indians from their alle-
1 "The English people engaged in the Newfoundland fisheries were making great voyages. About twenty-seven hundred fishermen, and two hundred and twenty vessels, were employed this single year (seventeen hundred and one). They took and cured two hundred thousand quintals of fish, besides four thou sand hogsheads of train and liver oil." - Williamson, vol. ii. p. 32.
2 Gov. Bellamont, in one of his addresses to the General Court of Massachu- setts, said, "Divine providence, in bringing to pass the late happy and wou- derful revolution in England, has been pleased to make King William the glorions instrument of our deliverance from the odious fetters and chains of Popery and despotism, which had been artfully used to enslave our consciences, and subvert all our civil rights. It is too well known what nation that king (James II.) favored, of what religion he died, and no less what must have been the execra- ble treachery of him who parted with Acadia or Nova Scotia, and the noble fishery on that coast."
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giance to the British crown, and to enlist their sympathies in behalf of France. A legislative act was therefore passed, as early as March, 1700, which ordered the Catholic missionaries to leave the State before the tenth day of the next September, under penalty of exemplary punishment.
This was an act of intolerance. But if it were true, as the legislature fully believed, that these missionaries were endeavor- ing to incite the savages to renew their horrible scenes of con- flagration, scalping, and murder, this was the mildest punishment, which, under the circumstances, could have been inflicted upon them.
Gov. Dudley arranged to hold a council personally with the " sagamores of the eastern tribes, that he might learn their disposition and intentions. The assembly met at Falmouth, on the Casco peninsula, the 20th of June, 1703. It was evident that the sagamores did not feel that it was safe for them to rely upon the honor of the English. They came, prepared to defend themselves, if treachery were to be practised upon them.
Eleven sagamores appeared, representing five of the most important tribes in Maine. . Gov. Dudley, aware of the effect of imposing appearances upon the savages, came in almost regal pomp. A numerous retinue of gentlemen from Massachusetts and New Hampshire accompanied him.
But the Indians, in the splendor of the occasion, quite eclipsed their white brethren. The sagamores entered the fine harbor of Portland in the balmy sunshine of a June day, with a fleet of sixty-five canoes, containing two hundred and fifty plumed and painted warriors, in their richest display of embroidered and fringed and gorgeously-colored habiliments. They were all well armed ; and the beholders were much impressed by their martial appearance.1
The governor had brought a large tent, sufficiently capacious to accommodate his suite and the Indian chiefs. When all had assembled, the governor arose, and said, -
"I have come to you commissioned by the great and good Queen of Eng- land. . I would esteem you all as brothers and friends. It is my wish to reconcile every difficulty whatever that has happened since the last treaty."
1 History of the Indian Wars, by Samuel Penhallow; Coll. of N. H. Hist. Soc., vol. i. p. 20.
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A Tarratine chief, called Simmo, rose to reply. With great dignity of manner he said, -
" We thank you, good brother, for coming so far to talk with us. It is a great favor. The clouds gather, and darken the sky. But we still sing with love the songs of peace. Believe my words. So far as the sun is above the earth, so far are our thoughts from war, or from the least desire of a rupture between us."
Presents were then exchanged, and, with some simple yet solemn ceremonials, professions of friendship were ratified. The council continued in session for two or three days. Several subjects were discussed. Bomaseen, of whom we have before spoken, is reported, during the conference, to have said, -
" Although several missionaries have come to us, sent by the French, to break the peace between the English and us, yet their words have made no impression upon us. We are as firm as the mountains, and will so continue as long as the sun and moon endure." 1
Professions of cordial frendship were uttered on both sides Every thing seemed to indicate a settled peace. The fraterniza tion was rather French in its character than English ; for there was feasting, shouting, dancing, and singing, according to the most approved measures of French jollification.
The joyful tidings spread rapidly, and lifted a very heavy bur- den from the hearts of the people, who were appalled in con- templating the horrors of another Indian war. Many were preparing to flee again to the safer regions of Massachusetts. But now they were encouraged to remain. A gentle tide of emigration began also to flow in, influenced by the cheapness of the land, the richness of the soil, the abundance of valuable timber, and the fisheries, which were yielding such valuable returns.2
Some suspected the Indians of having treacherous intentions at this council. And this was simply because, in firing a salute in celebration of the conclusion of peace, their guns were found loaded with balls. But the Indians never thought of loading
1 Drake, book iii. p. 117.
2 Penhallow's History of the Wars of New England, p. 5.
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their guns with powder only. They had often been betrayed. They had many not unreasonable suspicions, that the proposed council was merely a trap, in which the treacherous English were plotting to seize all their principal sagamores. They, therefore, came prepared to defend themselves, should it be necessary to do so.1
" King Philip's War," so called, lasted but three years; but they were years fraught with inconceivable woe. Even civilized men in war gradually lose all humane attributes. The average savage becomes a perfect demon. The second conflict was usually called " King William's War." It originated in dissen- sions between the courts of France and England, which plunged the two nations into hostilities. The French endeavored to weaken her foe by the capture of her New England colonies. The savages were not reluctant to engage in their service as allies ; for they had a chance of thus recovering their country from settlers whom they began to dislike and dread. This dreadful war, in which savage ferocity received a new and terrible impulse from French science and supplies, lasted ten years.
John Bull has never been a favorite in any land where he has placed his foot. The Indians never loved the English. There . were individual exceptions ; but the English, generally, were only tolerated by the natives. An air of melancholy now per- vaded the minds of all the reflecting sagamores. They saw their tribes fast dwindling, while the English were increasing in
numbers and power. Extensive territory, formerly the undis- puted hunting-grounds of the tribes, was now claimed by the invaders, either as theirs by the right of conquest, or by purchase, which both parties knew to be fraudulent. The English were arrogant, domineering, apparently regarding the Indian as one who had no rights which an Englishman was bound to respect. The French had identified themselves with the Indians, married into their families, taught them many arts of war, and abundantly supplied them with the best of arms and ammunition. They
1 " Bomaseen, a sachem of a tribe of the Kennebecs, whose residence was at an ancient seat of the sagamores, called Norridgewock, in 1694, came to the fort at Pemaquid, with a flag of truce. He was treacherously seized by those who com- manded, and sent prisoner to Boston, where he remained some months in a loath- some prison." - Drake, p. 111.
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had very zealously imbued their minds with the principles of the Catholic religion, whose ceremonies were peculiarly calcu- lated to captivate the untutored savage. They had also, in some degree, transferred to their minds the Frenchman's hered- itary hatred of the Englishman. Mr. Williamson, in his admira- ble " History of Maine," fairly represents the prevailing English feeling with regard to the Indians. He writes, -
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