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" It was in this manner: the master of the house, and part of the com- pany with him, were come with their vessel to the westward, to fetch a supply of goods, which was brought over for them. In the mean time comes a small French ship into the harbor, and amongst the company was a false Scot. They pretended that they were newly come from the sea, and knew not where they were, and that their vessel was very leaky, and desired that they might haul her ashore, and stop her leaks; and many French compli- ments they used, and conges they made.
1 Williamson, vol. ii. p. 243.
2 Some spell this Biguyduce, deriving the name from a Frenchman who once resided there.
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. "In the end, seeing but three or four simple men that were servants, and . by this Scotchman understanding that the master and the rest of the com- pany were gone from home, they fell of commending their guns and muskets that lay upon racks by the wall-side. They took them down to look at them, asking if they were charged. And, when they were possessed of them, one presents a piece ready charged against the servants, and another a pis- tol, and bid them not stir, but quietly deliver up their goods. They carried some of the men aboard, and made the others help to carry away the goods. And, when they had taken what they pleased, they set them at liberty, and went their way with this mockery, bidding them tell their master, when he came, that some of the Isle of Rye gentlemen had been there."
It would seem that such acts of piracy were not infrequent in those lawless days. A miscreant, by the name of Dixy Bull, gathered a piratie gang, and, raising the black flag, ravaged the coast of Maine, capturing several vessels, and plundering the unprotected plantations. The freebooters attacked Pemaquid. Though one of the gang was shot from the palisades, still they succeeded in rifling the port.
For several months Bull continued his ravages along the east- ern coast. Four vessels, with forty armed men, were sent out in search of him. Bull, thus pursued, fled from those waters, and continued his piracies farther south. At length his gang dispersed, and he returned to England quite enriched. But there he was arrested, tried, and executed.1
Another very serious difficulty occurred this year, on the Ken- nebec River, between the " Plantation of Piscataqua " and the " Plymouth Colony." This latter colony claimed the Kennebec River, and the exclusive right to trade with the Indians, for a distance of fifteen miles on each side. A man by the name of Hocking, or as some spell it Hoskins, from Piscataqua, entered the Kennebec with a boat-load of goods to exchange for furs. Sailing directly by the two trading ports of the Plymouth peo- ple, one of which was at the mouth of the river, near the ancient Popham fort, and the other, as we have mentioned, probably just above Merrymeeting Bay, he ascended the river to Cushnoc, or Cushenoc, as it is sometimes spelled.2 This was
1 Williamson, vol. i. p. 252; Ancient Dominions, p. 118; Varney's History of Maine, p. 63.
2 See Williamson, p. 253.
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where Augusta now stands. The importance of the trade of this region may be inferred, from the fact that forty hogsheads of beaver-skins were taken from the river during this year. There is some discrepancy in the details which are given of this transaction, but none whatever in the general facts. A boat with armed men was sent up the river, to expostulate with Hocking upon his illegal act. We cannot give the result more accurately than in the language of Gov. Bradford : -
" But all in vain. He could get nothing of him but ill words. So he considered, that now was the season for trade to come down, and that, if he should suffer Hocking to take it from them, all their former charge would be lost, and they had better throw all up. So consulting with his men, who were willing thereto, he resolved to put him from his anchors, and let him drift down the river with the stream; but commanded the men, that none should shoot a shot upon any occasion, except he commanded them.
" He spoke to him again, but all in vain. Then he sent a couple in a canoe to cut his cable, the which one of them performs. But Hocking takes up a piece which he had laid ready, and, as the bark sheered by the canoe, he shot him close under her side, in the head, so that he fell down dead instantly. One of his fellows, who loved him well, could not hold, but with a musket shot Hocking, who fell down dead, and never spake a word." 1
This event caused a great deal of trouble. It was finally set- tled without the clash of arms. Lords Say and Brook wrote to the governor of New Plymouth : -
" We could, for the death of Hoskins,2 have despatched a man-of-war, and beat down your houses at Kennebec about your ears. But we have thought another course preferable. Let some of the Massachusetts magis- trates, and Capt. Wiggin, our agent in Piscataqua, review the whole case, and do justice in the premises." 8
The case was brought before the Court of Colonial Assistants in Boston. It was decided that the Plymouth Colonists had the exclusive right of sale within their patent. It was adjudged that the act of shooting Hocking, though in some degree a vio- lation of the sixth commandment, was, on the whole, excusable homicide. 4
1 History of Plymouth Plantation; also Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. v. p. 169, 2d series.
2 They so spelled it, while Bradford spelled it Hockins.
8 Winthrop's Journal, p. 64; Hubbard's N. E., p. 168.
៛ Williamson, vol. i. p. 253.
CHAPTER VI.
PROGRESS OF SETTLEMENTS.
Capture at Machias -The Career of Bagnall - The Two Retaliations - Men- acing Aspect of Affairs -The Twelve Provinces - Ferdinando Gorges Gov- ernor of all New England-Expedition of D' Aulney - Energy of Miles Standish - The Administration of William Gorges - Agamenticus - Popu- lation of Maine -The New Grant to Gorges -The Province of Maine - Thomas Gorges - The Constitution - Religious and Political Principles- Woman's Rights.
TN the year 1633 the English established a trading-post east of the Penobscot, near where Machias now stands. The station was on the west bank of the river, a little above Cross Island. Mr. Vines of Saco was one of the principal owners of the merchandise collected there. The property was placed under the guard of five or six well-armed men. In establishing this post, it was doubtless one of the objects of the colonial proprietors to hold possession of the country.
Claude de la Tour, the French commandant at Port Royal, considered this movement as a trespass upon territory which had been granted to him by the king of France. He made a descent upon the place, and captured it after a slight defence, in which two of the English were killed. With his prisoners, and booty amounting to about twenty-five hundred dollars, he returned to Port Royal. The Plymouth Colony sent an agent, Mr. Allerton, to that place, to endeavor to recover the prisoners and the property, and to ascertain whether La Tour acted under the authority of the French Government. He defiantly replied, -
"I have taken them as lawful prize. My authority is from the king of France, who claims the coast from Cape Sable to Cape Cod. I wish the
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English to understand, that, if they trade to the eastward of Pemnaquid, I shall seize them. My sword is all the commission I shall show. When I want help I will produce my authority. Take your men, and be gone."
Whether the prisoners were released, or were sent to France, is uncertain."1 Many of the traders were very worthless char- acters, who deemed it no sin to cheat an Indian. There is, in Casco Bay, but a short distance from Cape Elizabeth, an island called Richmonds, sometimes spelled Richman's Island. It is about three miles in circumference, and contains about two hundred acres of pretty good land. In the year 1628 an Eng- lish emigrant, by the name of Walter Bagnall, took possession of this island without any title. His sole object seems to have been to trade with the Indians. " Bagnall," writes Winthrop, " was a wicked fellow, and had much wronged the Indians." 2
He had several boon companions with him, and became quite notorious, under the nickname of "Great Walt." In a three- years' trade he had amassed what was then considered a large amount of property. The Indians became much enraged by the wrongs inflicted upon them by this unscrupulous gang. In the year 1631 a chief, by the name of Squidrayset, or as some call the name Scitterygusset, with a few warriors, went to the island, killed the Englishmen, plundered the house, and, apply- ing the torch, left behind them but smouldering ruins. The savages, who had committed this crime, or, as they considered it, performed this act of justice, retired with their booty.
Walter Neal was the agent of the London proprietors, Gor- ges, Mason, & Co. He had two residences. One was at Kit- tery Point, and the other at Portsmouth, then called Strawberry Bank. Five men were associated with him. They carried on quite extensively the business of trade, fishing, salt-making, and farming.
As soon as Neal heard of the assassination of Bagnall and his gang, he sent a party to the island in pursuit of the murderers. They found a solitary Indian there, whom they seized, and hung by the neck till he was dead; with no evidence that he had any thing whatever to do with the murders. The perpetrators
1 Hubbard's New England, p. 163; Winthrop's Journal, p. 57.
2 Winthrop's Journal, p. 30.
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of the crime were probably then far away on the mainland. It is not strange that the unenlightened Indians should, soon after, have seized upon an innocent English traveller, wandering upon the banks of the Saco, and, in retaliation, have put him to death.1 But these outrages, far more excusable on the part of the ignorant Indians than on the part of enlightened Europeans, were rapidly engendering a bitter hostility between the two.
The following is the account which Drake gives of this trans- action. It illustrates the difficulty of ascertaining the minute details of many of these events, where the general facts are undisputed. We give the narrative slightly abbreviated : -
" Manatahqua, called also Black William, was a sachem. and proprietor of Nahant. Out of his generosity this Indian duke gave this place to the plantation of Saugus. He was a great friend of the whites. There was a man by the name of Walter Bagnall, a wicked fellow who had much wronged the Indians, who was killed near the mouth of Saco River, probably by some of those whom he had defrauded. This was in October, 1631. As some vessels were upon the eastern coast, in search of pirates, in January, 1633, they put in at Richmand's Island, where they fell in with Manatahqua. This was the place where Bagnall was killed about two years before. But whether Manatahqua had any thing to do with it does not appear, nor do I find that any one, even his murderers, pretended that he was in any way implicated. But, out of revenge for Bagnall's death, these private hunters hanged Manatahqua. On the contrary, it was particularly mentioned that Bagnall was killed by Squidrayset and his men, some Indians belonging to that part of the country. This Squidrayset, or Scittergusset, for whose act Manatahqua suffered, was the first sachem who deeded land in Falmouth, Me." 2
The tribes, in the extreme eastern part of the State were intimately associated with the French, and shared with them their hatred of the English. They were much enraged with those in the vicinity of Piscataqua, accusing them of acts of hostility, and of sheltering themselves in a cowardly manner under the protection of the English. At one time they fitted out a fleet of forty war canoes to attack the Piscataqua Indians. This was in the year 1632. There were several conflicts. Af- fairs were daily becoming more and more complicated, and war-
1 Williamson's History, vol. i. p. 251; Hubbard's History of New England, p. 142; Winthrop's Journal, p. 30.
2 Drake's History of the Indians, book ii. p. 53.
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clouds were rising in all directions. Thoughtful men among the settlers, were filled with anxiety in view of the increasing perils. The Indians were becoming more and more unfriendly. The French were exerting all their influence to drive the English out of Maine.
English pirates were sweeping the coast. Robbery and vio- lence were everywhere. Gorges became greatly disheartened. His long-continued enterprises had brought him no returns. He testified before the Commons of England in the following terms : -
" I have spent twenty thousand pounds of my estate, and thirty years, the whole flower of my life, in new discoveries and settlements upon a remote continent, in the enlargement of my country's commerce and domin- ions, and in carrying civilization and Christianity into regions of savages."
In the year 1635 the vast territory of the Plymouth Council was divided into twelve provinces. The first four of these were within the territory of the present State of Maine. The first division embraced the country between the St. Croix River and Pemaquid. From the head of Pemaquid, the shortest line was to be struck to the Kennebec, and thence to follow up that river to its source. The second was a small division, extending only from Pemaquid to the Sagadahoc River. The third embraced the region between the Kennebec and the Androscoggin Rivers. We suppose that both these rivers were then considered as ter- minating at Merrymeeting Bay. The Sagadahoc connected that bay with the ocean. The fourth extended from the Sagada- hoc River to the Piscataqua. It embraced the previous dis- tricts of Lygonia, Saco, and Agamenticus. Thus the whole territory of what is now the State of Maine was districted from the St. Croix, its north-eastern boundary, to the Piscat- aqua at its south-western terminus.1
On the 25th of April, 1635, the Plymouth Council held its last meeting. In surrendering its charter to the king, it entered upon its books the following melancholy record : -
" We have been bereaved of friends, oppressed with losses, expenses, and troubles; assailed before the privy council with groundless charges, and
1 Chalmers' Political Annals, p. 472; Hubbard's Narrative, p. 294; William- son's History, vol. i. p. 246
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weakened by the French and other foes without and within the realm. What remains is only a breathless carcass. We now therefore resign the patent to the king, first reserving all grants by us made, and all vested rights ; a patent we have holden about fifteen years."1
The king appointed a new company to superintend colonial affairs. It consisted of eleven of his privy councillors, and they were entitled " Lords Commissioners of all His American Plantations." This new company appointed Ferdinando Gor- ges governor of the whole of New England. There were eight divisions, extending south-west along the coast to near the fortieth degree of north latitude. Thus, according to this arrangement, New England began near the Raritan River, in the present State of New Jersey, and was bounded on the north-east by the River St. Croix. Its northern boundaries were quite indeterminate.
Sir Ferdinando Gorges was a vigorous, energetic man of sixty years. He decided to take up his abode in the extended realms over which he was appointed to rule. A man-of-war was in preparation to convey him to his domains. By an accident in launching, the ship fell upon the stocks, and was badly broken. This delayed the voyage, and the feet of Gorges never pressed the soil of that new world which had absorbed so many of the energies of his long life.
It is said that Gorges never took much interest in New Eng- land affairs, save in the four districts in the State of Maine ; two of the most important of which he could almost regard as his own personal property. In his interesting " Brief Narration of the Advancement of Plantations in America," he writes very sensibly and somewhat sadly, in view of past mistakes, -
' We have been endeavoring to found plantations in a wilderness region, where men, bred up in villages and farms and plenty, could hardly be hired to stay; or, if they were induced to become residents, they must be fed in idleness from their master's crib, yet with few or no returns. We have made the discoveries, and opened the fields for others to take the harvest. Trade, fishery, lumber, - these have been phantoms of pursuit; while there has been a criminal neglect of husbandry, the guide to good habits, the true source of wealth, and the almoner of human life." 2
1 This document is given in full in Hazard's Historical Collections. See also Hutchinson's Collections of State Papers.
2 Gorges' Narrative, pp. 48, 49.
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The French possessions in North America were called by the general name of New France. Acadia, or Nova Scotia, was under the military command of Gen. Razilla, or Rosillon, as the name is sometimes given. In the summer of 1635 he sent a man-of-war, under Capt. d'Aulney, to take possession of the Penobscot region, and to drive out the English.1 This man seemed anxious to redeem his character from the imputation of piracy, and to have it distinctly understood that he was acting as the agent of his home government. He broke up the set- tlement, and drove away the settlers, giving them a schedule of the property he had seized. It would seem that he claimed for France the whole New England coast. As he dismissed the plundered traders, he said to them, -
" Go and tell all the plantations southward to the fortieth degree, that a fleet of eight ships will be sent against them, within a year, to displace the whole of them. And know that my commission is from the king of France." 2
Razilla established a garrison here of eighteen men. The colonists at New Plymouth sent a large ship and a bark to drive out these invaders. Capt. Girling, who was intrusted with the command, was promised a sum amounting to about two thou- · sand dollars, if he should succeed in the enterprise. But he found the French firmly intrenched. After an unavailing bom- bardment, in which he expended all his ammunition, he retired discomfited.3
There is considerable diversity in the details of many of these events which occurred two hundred years ago, when there were
1 " In 1626 the Plymouth Colonists erected a trading-house at a place called by them Penobscot, by the French Pentagoït, and by us Bagaduce and Castine. In 1635 they were dispossessed by the French, under D'Auley de Charnisray, com- monly called D'Aulnay by the English, -a lieutenant under the Acadian gov- ernor Razilla." - The Centennial Celebration of Bangor, p. 23.
2 Hubbard's New England, p. 162.
8 "The reason, undoubtedly, why France at this time extended her claims no farther south than the fortieth parallel, was a fear of exciting the jealousy and hostility of the Spaniards. Spain, at that time, was the great military and naval power of Europe. There can be no doubt that the limiting of De Mont's charter to the fortieth parallel of latitude, seven degrees short of all her previous claims, was induced by a dread of Spanish interference."- Memorial Volume of Popham's Celebration, p. 78.
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but few scholars in the land, and when the narratives were vague and hastily written. In the annals of New Plymouth we find it stated, that the ship of about three hundred tons was called the " Great Hope." The name of the commander is given as Golding. Capt. Miles Standish, with twenty men, was in command of the Plymouth bark. He was to render all the aid he could in the recovery of the post, and was intrusted with seven hundred pounds of beaver-skins to be delivered to Gold- ing, or Girling, as soon as he should have accomplished his task. If Girling failed he was to receive nothing.
Capt. Standish led the way into the harbor. He was one of the most impetuous of brave men. Had he held the supreme command, he would have made short work of it. . But Girling, without any summons to surrender, much to the indignation of Standish, kept at a great distance, and unavailingly bombarded the earthworks of the French, until he had not another shot to throw. He then would have seized upon the beaver-skins which he had not earned, but Standish spread his sails, and returned to Plymouth. The French kept the port, and Plym- outh kept its beaver-skins.1
It is difficult to reconcile the somewhat contradictory accounts which are given of this transaction. From some narratives we should infer that Girling's vessels remained impotently moored for a considerable length of time, before the French ramparts. At length a very polite official communication was sent by the French officers to the Plymouth colonists, stating that they would claim no territory west of Pemaquid. For many years the Penobscot remained the tacitly admitted boundary between the French and English possessions.2
The following is the account which Gov. Bradford gives of the attempt of the New Plymouth colonists to regain the port at Castine : -
" Girling would take no advice; would neither summon the enemy, nor permit Capt. Standish to do so ; neither would he have patience to bring his ship where she might do execution, but began to shoot at a distance like a madman, and did them no hurt at all. The which, when those of the plan-
1 Hubbard's New England, p. 162.
2 Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts, vol. ii. p. 164.
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tation saw, they were much grieved, and went to him, and told him he would do no good, if he did not lay his ship better to pass, for she might lie within pistol-shot of the house. At last, when he saw his own folly, he was per- suaded, and laid her well, and bestowed a few shot to good purpose.
" But now, when he was in a way to do some good, his powder was gone. So he could do no good, but was fain to draw off again; by which means the enterprise was made frustrate, and the French encouraged. For, all the while he shot so unadvisedly, they lay close under a work of earth, and let him consume himself. He advised with Capt. Standish how he might be sup- phed with powder, for he had not to carry him home. So Capt. Standish told him he would go to the next plantation, and do his endeavor to procure him some; and so he did. But understanding by intelligence that Girling intended to seize on the bark, and surprise the beaver, he sent him the pow- der, and brought the bark and beaver home. But Girling never assaulted the place more, but went his way. And this was the end of this business." 1
Sir Ferdinando Gorges had obtained what was considered an absolute property in the territory between Piscataqua and the Sagadahoc, called New Somersetshire. He sent his nephew, William Gorges, over as governor of this province. He was an intelligent, upright man, of much executive ability.
Saco was then the most flourishing settlement in the province ; and Gov. Gorges selected it as his residence. It is estimated that at that time the population of the place amounted to about one hundred and sixty. The first court was opened the 28th of March, 1636. It was held in a dwelling-house near the shore on the east side of the river. Six commissioners aided in the administration of justice. This court continued its sessions for about three years.2
There were then five settlements embraced in the province of New Somersetshire. The first was Agamenticus, or, as some- times called, Accomenticus. About eight miles north-west from the present harbor of York, there was a commanding eminence thus called by the Indians. It was a noted landmark for sea- men, as it was the first height caught sight of in approaching
1 Gov. Bradford's New Plymouth, p. 208. "The government of Massachusetts Bay had given Plymouth some encouragement that it would assist them to regain their trading-house; but when called upon it had various excuses for declining. Plymouth was in the wrong: the French had merely taken possession of their own territory." - Centennial Celebration of the Settlement of Bangor, p. 24.
2 Chalmers' Political Annals, p. 472; Folsom's Saco and Biddeford, p. 49.
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that region from the sea. It was a majestic swell of land, covered with a dense forest. From its summit one commanded a view of the Atlantic coast from Cape Ann to Cape Elizabeth.1
There was a short salt-water river here, affording at its mouth a safe harbor. Gorges, pleased with the description of the place, had obtained, about the year 1624, a grant of twenty- four thousand acres of land extending on both sides of the river. Here a small agricultural colony commenced its labors. The precise time of this settlement is not known.2
At Kittery Point there was another rambling settlement, called the Piscataqua Plantation. The inhabitants were scat- tered along the shore, and were mainly engaged in fishing and in the lumber business.
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