USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Portland > The history of Portland, from 1632 to 1864: with a notice of previous settlements, colonial grants, and changes of government in Maine > Part 23
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 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81
E. Andross
To Mr. Robert Lawrence
att Casco Bay
By his Excellency's command
John West Dy Secy"]
267
PETITION FOR CHANGE OF OFFICERS.
they should be upon the watch every third night and day, which hath been the loss of many of our men, being thin clothed and lying upon the hard floor this long winter nights, and also a great loss of our * both of wheat and peas, watching the third part of our time and then being in our arms as often as they please to call us, sometimes every other day that it hath so disabled us about our employment in provid- ing for our families that it hath very much impoverished our town. We suppose that Col. Tyng can turn his coat when he pleases, when he was with the army he could D- with the worst, but now we hear he can comply and profess like the best and all for profit like Jehew. Capt. Davis did persuade the in- habitants of our town to patent their lands and he drew peti- tions for them near fifty and now he chargeth them six shillings for every petition and said he would make the inhabitants poor, he will not subscribe to pay our minister, since Sir Edmund came ; we have a great many things that we can speak that be of high concern but we shall forbear at present. The humble request of your petitioners is that you would be pleased to grant commissions to such men as we shall name for captain and commissioned officers and your petitioners shall ever pray."! To this was added, "The commissioned officers
1 To this petition were subscribed the following names :- Samuel Pike, John Palmer, Andrew Alger, George C-, Jona. Orris, Anthony Brackett, Francis Nicolle, Joshua Brackett, Henry Crosby, Henry Bailey, Wm. Pearce, Robert Oliver, Joseph Ingersoll, Robert Morrell, Thomas Enow, Eben'r Davenport, Richard Seacomb, John Brown, sen. Ephraim Marston, Joshua Lane, Lewis Tuck- er, John Wallis, Francis Haynes, George Felt, Nath'l Webber, James Webber, Matthew Paulling, Joel Madefor, sen. Josiah Wallis, Joseph Wallis, John Lane, Joel Madefor, Nathl. White, James Wallis, Henry Harwood, Job Runnells, Philip Eeds, Philip Gammon, John Randall, John Jordan, Reuben Haines, (?Robert) Wm. German, (?Jameson,) John Frizell, Samuel Skilling, Richard Thomling, George Adams, John Marshall, John Branford, Henry Langmaid, John Ham, Wm. Mansfield, Thomas Roby, John Flea, Andrew Creach, Robert Shores, James Randall, Thomas Baker, John Brown, jr. Thomas Brown, Gustan John, Robert Greason, John Nicholson, Wm. Rogers, Andrew Shaw, Peter Shaw, Thomas Paine. Although these persons in the petition, style themselves inhabitants of
268
HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
chosen by the consent of the town are these, Anthony Brackett Capt. Mr. Robert Lawrence Left. and Samuel Pike Ensign."*
This memorial produced a letter from President Danforth, exhorting the people to live in peace, to bury their quarrels, and unite in the common defense of the country. To this commu- nication both Davis and his adversaries replied. Davis repelled the charges made against him, said he was absent on public duty when the petition was got up, regretted the divisions in the town, and was willing to leave the service, but did not wish to be driven out .!
* [I annex copies of the signatures of Anthony Brackett and Silvanus Davis.] as witting
this fixtoonthi of may 1685 Authoris Backult
Recelo - enhe
fill Dabis. will
August , 689
1 Davis states in his letter that he had but four men in the fort, with one ser- jeant and one gunner, and that he had supplied it ever since Capt. Lockhart had left.
Falmouth, I have met with the names of many of them on no other occasion ; I have therefore thought that the names of persons who were on service here for a temporary period may have been enlisted in the cause to give a show of strength. It is very evident that we do not find among the subscribers; the names of many persons of known respectability and property in town.
269
LAWRENCE'S LETTER TO PRESIDENT DANFORTH.
Lawrence, on behalf of the town, replied the same day, June 12, 1689, as follows : "Hon'd Sir I am by the whole town de- sired to acquaint you that they received your letter and being met together unanimously resolved to agree to be commanded by all their old officers here present, until further orders from ye hon'd court excepting Capt. Davis, whom they are utterly set against and will by no means be commanded by him for divers reasons, which, if called to, are as they say ready to give, sufficient to exclude him from any publick office and earn- estly desiring ye hon'd court that they may be commanded by such persons as they shall approve of:" "by request of ye peo- ple."
That Davis had a strong party we may infer from the absence of the names of many respectable persons of the town from the petition of his opponents, and also from the fact that he retained the confidence of the government unto the last.1 Davis certainly settled here with the approbation of the town, from which he received large grants of land and extensive privileges ; these undoubtedly excited the envy and jealousy of some who took advantage of the political changes to ruin him in public favor. Lawrence was undoubtedly stimulated in his pursuit of him by motives of private interest and revenge, and was able by his standing and property to rally a party in his service. There is, we think, no good reason to pronounce an unqualified condemnation against such men as Davis and Tyng, whose capital and enterprise for several years promoted the prosperity of the place. It must not however be denied that in the time of Andross, their ambition prompted them to support the cause of arbitrary power against the rights and interests of the peo- ple.
' He was appointed a counselor by the charter of 1691.
CHAPTER X.
POPULATION IN 1689-COMMENCEMENT OF THE SECOND INDIAN WAR-ANDROSS VISITS MAINE-HIS AUTHORITY SUBVERTED-RENEWAL OF HOSTILITIES-ATTACK ON FALMOUTH RESISTED-SECOND ATTACK AND DESTRUCTION OF THE TOWN.
We have now arrived at a period in our history, when all the fair prospects which the prosperity of our town afforded, were suddenly overcast by the hostility of the Indians.
The population had been gradually increasing since 1679, and amounted at this time to at least six or seven hundred.1 We have no means of ascertaining the precise number of inhabitants, but have been able to trace with some degree of certainty over eighty families; and it may be presumed that there were others, which have eluded our research. Of this number about twenty-five families lived upon the Neck; nearly forty at Purpooduck, Stroudwater, and Spurwink ; the remain- der at Capisic, Back Cove, on the Presumpscot, and the bay east of that river. Several persons who lived on the Neck, had farms in more remote parts of the town, which they made their occasional residence during the seasons of planting and harvesting.
1 The whole population of New England was estimated in 1689, to have been 200,000. Massachusetts Historical Collections vol. i. 3d ser. p. 94. . The same year the number of Indians from Massachusetts to Canso was estimated at four thousand three hundred and ten souls. Massachusetts Historical Collections, vol. ix. p. 334.
271
THE SECOND INDIAN WAR.
Several causes have been assigned for the second Indian war; those which the Indians themselves offered, were rather the ostensible than the real foundation of the general rising. They complained that the English refused to pay the yearly tribute of corn as stipulated in the last treaty ; that they stop- ped the fish from ascending the Saco river, by seines and weirs ; that their lands were taken by surveys under patents from the government,' etc. But we must look beyond these motives for the destructive events which ensued. The French missiona- ries and other active men of that nation residing among the Indians in the eastern part of the State, had acquired an abso- lute influence over their minds by addressing them through the terrors and hopes of religion, as well as by appealing to their temporal interests. The French were more bitterly hos- tile to the English, than were the savages themselves, and though they could not impart to their allies the same jealousies and the same motives of action, yet they could stimulate them by the hope of plunder, the love of revenge, and religous prejudices, to stain their tomahawks in the blood of an inof- fensive population.2
Among these active and cruel agents at this period, were the Baron de St. Castin and the missionary Thury, both residing on the Penobscot. Castin who had connected himself by mar- riage with the chief Sachem of the country, was roused to . vengeance by a personal injury committed upon him in the plunder of his property, and a claim of jurisdiction over his estate, by the English. And Thury in his missionary zeal for the Catholic faith, labored to persuade his flock that by exter- minating the whole race from the soil, they would recover their former importance as sole masters of the land and be .doing
1 Mather's Magnalia, vol. ii. p. 505, Hutchinson, vol i. p. 325.
2 Bomazeen, a noted chief, told one of the Boston ministers that the French had taught the Indians "that the Lord Jesus Christ was of the French nation ; that his mother, the Virgin Mary, was a French lady; and that it was the English who had murdered him."-Mather's Magnalia.
272
HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
God service. It is not to be supposed that the Indians them- selves were unwilling hearers of this preaching, or reluctant doers of the work which was recommended ; and they entered upon the task alike ignorant and careless of the consequences.
[Biard, the French missionary, in the "Relation of the Jesuits," 1611, states the number of Indians at that time, from the account of the savages, to have been as follows, viz: "From the great river of the New Lands (St. Lawrence) to Chouacoët (Saco) from nine to ten thousand souls :" thus the Souriquois three thousand to thirty-five hundred ; the Eteminquois to the Penobscot twenty-five hundred ; the Penobscots to Kennebec, and from Kennebec to Chouacoët, three thousand ; La Montag- rets, one thousand.]
They commenced their operations in August, 1688, by kill- ing cattle in the eastern plantations, and threatening the lives of the people ; the promise of assistance from the French in Canada, made them menacing and forward in their deport- ment, and they entered the houses of the inhabitants in an in- solent and offensive manner. "They gave out reports that they would make war upon the English, and that they were animated to do so by the French."' These hostile indications created alarm through the whole line of eastern settlements, and led to some precautionary measures. In September, 1688, Captain Tyng wrote from Falmouth that he was in treaty with the In- dians, but feared that Casco would be the center of trouble. The magistrates in Saco seized between sixteen and twenty of those who had been principal actors in that quarter during the last war, with a view of bringing their followers to a treaty, and preventing the dreaded catastrophe. Among these were Hopehood, the Higuers, and the Doney's, "all being cruel and
.
1 For many facts relating to the commencement of the war and the destruction of the town, we rely upon the account of our townsman, Silvanus Davis, who was a prominent actor in the scenes, which he relates. It is preserved in Hutchinson's papers, published by the Massachusetts Historical Society, and is on file in the office of State, Massachusetts.
273
THE SECOND INDIAN WAR.
murderous rogues," who were sent under guard to Falmouth. This step, which was perhaps incautious, led to reprisals on the part of the Indians, who robbed the English and took some pris- oners. Gov. Andross was at this time in New York, and those who had charge of the government sent some troops to Falmouth accompanied by Mr. Stoughton, one of the council, with a hope of compromising the existing differences without the effusion of blood. He was unsuccessful in his pacific purpose and re- turned to Boston, having left orders that the prisoners should be sent thither, and that the people should secure themselves in garrisons. To accomplish this last order, Captain Gendall proceeded to North Yarmouth with a company of soldiers in September, to construct stockades on each side of Royall's river . for the defense of that place ; while there, he was attacked by seventy or eighty Indians, whom after a severe conflict he suc- ceeded in chasing away, with the loss of several lives on both sides. This was the first blood spilt in the war. In the eve- ning after the skirmish, Capt. Gendall and his servant crossed over the river and were both killed in an ambuscade;1 the same evening, John Royall and another person were taken prisoners, the latter of whom was barbarously killed, but Mr. Royall? was ransomed by Castin.
I The previous incidents in Capt. Gendall's life have been already adverted to. He appears not to have left any male issue, at least we do not meet the name . again, and it is believed to have died with him.
2 Wm. Royall, the first of this family in this country, was settled in Casco bay as early as 1636, and is probably the same person who is mentioned in a letter from the Governor of the New England Company to Endicott (Hazard, vol i. p. 265) as having been sent over to him in 1629. He was "a cooper and cleaver.". In 1644, he purchased of Thomas Gorges the point of land on the east side of the river, which bears his name, and on which he then lived. He was one of the General Associates of the province in 1648. In 1673, he conveyed to his two sons, William and John, his land and buildings on Westcustogo river (Royall's) in consideration of support for himself and his wife Phebe. His son John mar- ried Eliza Dodd, granddaughter of Nicholas Davis of York, and was living there in June, 1680. His son William was born in 1640, and died November 7, 1724, in his eighty-fifth year. The Hon. Isaac Royall, son of the second William,
274
HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
Gov. Andross on his return from New York, hoping by mild measures to avert the pending calamity, released the Indians who had been arrested and restored to them their arms, with- out any condition as to the prisoners and property which had been taken in retaliation. On the 20th of October, he issued a proclamation requiring them to deliver up their captives, and surrender for trial those persons who had been concerned in the murder of Englishmen. The measures of conciliation and the proclamation were alike ineffectual, and early in November the governor raised a force of about seven hundred men and marched through the country as far east as Pemaquid. In the latter place he established a garrison of thirty-six men of the standing forces under command of Capt. Anthony Brockholst and Lieut. Weems, and left two new companies of sixty men each, under the command of Captains Tyng and Minot, for its defense. He also stationed garrisons at each of the settlements on the coast ; that for Falmouth consisted of sixty men under command of Capt. George Lockhart. The whole number of troops disposed of in this manner in Maine and the province east of the Kennebec, was five hundred and sixty-eight ; a force sufficient to have protected the frontier had it been per- mitted to occupy the stations into which it had been distributed. The expedition was fruitless of any other good consequences ; not a single individual of the enemy was met with, and the troops suffered severely on their march by fatigue and expo- sure.
was born 1672, resided in Antiqua, nearly forty years, returned 1737, and died June 7, 1739. The Royall who was taken prisoner, was John, son of the first William; his house was used as a garrison by order of Col. Tyng and Judge Stoughton. [A daughter of the second William, married Amos Stevens of North Yarmouth. Isaac, son of Isaac, was chosen a councilor of Massachusetts, and was long a representative from Medford, where he lived in lordly style. On the breaking out of the revolution, he adhered to the loyal side and went to England where he died in October, 1781. He endowed the "Royal Professorship of Law," in Harvard College by a gift of more than two thousand acres of land in Wor- cester County, Massachusetts.]
275
THE SECOND INDIAN WAR.
In April, 1689, the authority of Andross was subverted by a popular excitement, and was succeeded by an irresolute and inefficient government. The revolution, although it destroyed an oppressive exercise of power, undoubtedly had a prejudicial effect upon the existing war. As soon as information of the movement in Boston reached the garrisons, they revolted from their officers, many of them abandoned their posts, and they all were more or less weakened. Andross in a report upon the disposition of the forces, at the time of the subversion of his gov- ernment, and the influence of it on his defensive preparations, subjoins a note in relation to each garrison. Of Pemaquid he says, "Upon the insurrection, the forces being withdrawn, and only eighteen of the standing company left in garrison, the fort is since taken by the French and Indians and the country destroyed." Of the fort at New castle he says, "Most of the men drawn off, and others debauched, they seized their officer and carried him prisoner to Boston, and thereupon the fort was deserted." Of Falmouth he remarks, "The com- mander seized and forces withdrawn."1
In April, 1689, the Indians renewed their hostilities at Saco, but without doing much injury. In June, Dover was surprised and Major Waldron was cruelly slaughtered, with several other inhabitants. In the course of the summer the Indians on the Penobscot were joined by the French, and systematic opera- tions were commenced on the settlements east of Casco bay ; Pemaquid was taken, and all the inhabitants in that region were driven from their homes and sought protection under the fort at Falmouth.2
Notwithstanding the importance of Casco fort to the lives
1 Hutchinson Papers, 1 Massachusetts Historical Collections, 3d ser. p. 85. Some suspicions had been entertained by government that Capt. Lockhart had communicated with the enemy, but this was repelled by a letter from Fal- mouth, signed by A. Brackett and several others, April 26, 1689, in which they say that he conducted with skill and fidelity while at Falmouth.
2 Mather's Magnalia, vol. ii. p. 512.
276
HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
and property of a large number of people, the government seem thus far to have left its defense almost wholly to the care and resources of private individuals. In June, 1689, Brackett, Lawrence, and Ingersoll wrote to government urging immedi- ate assistance ; they represented that there were but few men in the fort and those almost worn out with watching, that they had on hand but three and a half pounds of powder, twenty- four hand grenades, and two and a half pounds of musket shot, about twenty balls for the great guns, a small quantity of match, about thirty cartridge boxes for small arms ; not one musket belonging to the fort, and no provision. Silvanus Da- vis wrote on the same day that he had supplied the fort from his store ever since Capt Lockhart had left.
The government was roused from its lethargy by these rep- resentations and alarming movements, and in August they sent Major Swain by land with seven or eight companies to protect the eastern towns. In September they procured the services of Major Benjamin Church, of Plymouth colony, who had been a skillful officer in Philip's war; he raised from among his old soldiers, volunteer troops of English and friendly In- dians, and proceeded by water to the headquarters in Fal- mouth. His instructions were signed by President Danforth, who had been restored to his government June 28th, and the commissioners of the United Colonies, September 18, 1689 ; in which were the following directions: "You are with all pos- sible speed to take care that the Plymouth forces both English and Indians be fixed and ready, and the first opportunity of wind and weather, to go on board such vessels as are provided to transport you and them to Casco, where if it shall please God you arrive, you are to take under your care and command the companies of Capt. N. Hall and Capt. S. Willard ;"' and again, "we have ordered two men-of-war sloops, and other small ves-
1 These companies were part of the forces sent under Swain, but it does not appear that Willard's company was here at the time.
277
THE SECOND INDIAN WAR.
sels for transportation to attend you." It was agreed that his soldiers should "have the benefit of the captives, and all lawful plunder and the reward of eight pounds per head for every fighting Indian man slain by them, over and above their stated wages." He was further instructed to consult with Captain Davis, of Falmouth, who they say, "is a prudent man and well acquainted with the affairs of those parts, and is writt unto to advise and inform you all he can." On his arrival at Falmouth, it appeared that the enemy, the day before, had landed in large force upon Peak's Island, at the mouth of the harbor.' He found here Mrs. Lee, a daughter of Major Waldron, of Dover, on board of a Dutch vessel, who had just been ransomed from the enemy ; she informed him that the company she came with had fourscore canoes, and that there were more of them whom she had not seen, which came from other places, and that they told her that when they came altogether, should make up seven hundred men."? The preparations of the place were miserably insufficient to protect the people from such a number of inva- ders ; but Church with his accustomed zeal immediately con- certed with the chief men a plan of operations. From the time he had arrived in sight of the harbor, he had caused his troops to keep concealed, in order to take the enemy by sur- prise ; at nightfall, he ordered them to be landed with as little noise as possible, and to dispose of themselves in the fort and adjacent houses, and be in constant readiness.
Early next morning, an hour before day, he put the troops in motion, and with several of the inhabitants he proceeded "to a thick place of brush, about half a mile from the town."
In the mean time, the enemy had not been idle; in the night they had moved to the upper part of the Neck, either by Fore
1 Joseph Prout wrote from Falmouth, September 17, 1689, that two hundred Indians were then on "Palmer's Island."
2 Church's Expeditions. The number here is overrated probably. Davis in a letter to government of September 23, 1689, states the number to have been be- tween three and four hundred.
278
HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
river or Back Cove, and by dawn of day, September 21, made their appearance upon the farm of Anthony Brackett, whose house stood upon the ground now occupied by the mansion of James Deering, where they were discovered "by virtue of twelve firings." The alarm was immediately given by Brackett's sons; and Capt. Hall's company who were in advance, hastened to the spot. The enemy were in Brackett's orchard, and here the action commenced. Church, on hearing the alarm, pro- ceeded with a reinforcement, and a supply of ammunition, which was transported across Back Cove by one of the friendly Indians. Capt Hall was sustained by the remainder of the English forces stationed on this side of the creek, who galled the enemy by firing over the heads of Hall's soldiers. After maintaining the fight some time in this manner, Church deter- mined to attack the enemy in the rear, and having communi- cated his plan to Capt. Hall, he proceeded up the creek to the bridge which crossed it, in the same place probably where one now stands, on Grove street. The enemy perceiving his object, immediately retreated, and he, supposing that they had made for the bridge or sought some other passage into the town, returned to the bridge and finding no trace of them there, hastened across the Neck to the south side, by Clarke's point, where finding "the cattle feeding quietly in Lt. Clarke's field," and per- ceiving no trace of the enemy, he hastily retraced his steps, and passing over the burnt land and through the brush, formed a junction with Capt. Hall's company, which had borne the brunt of the battle. He now gave orders for his whole army to pursue the enemy, but learning that most of the ammunition which was suitable for the guns was spent, he gave over his design and returned with the dead and wounded to the fort. Church closes his interesting account of this affair as follows :1 "Capt. Hall and his men being first ingaged, did great service
1 "A Narrative of the several expeditions of Col. Benjamin Church against the Indians from 1676 to 1704. Prepared for the press by his son." Col. Church was born A. D. 1639, and died at Little Compton A. D. 1717.
a
279
THE SECOND INDIAN WAR.
and suffered the greatest loss in his men. But Capt. South- worth with his company, and Capt. Numposh with the Seconit Indians, and the most of the men belonging to the town all coming suddenly to his relief, prevented him and his whole company from being cut off. By this time the day was far spent, and marching into Town about sunset, carrying in all their wounded and dead men ; being all sensible of God's good- ness to them, in giving them the Victory, and causing the enemy to fly with shame, who never gave one shout at drawing off."
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.