USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Sheepscot > The history of ancient Sheepscot and Newcastle [Me.] including early Pemaquid, Damariscotta, and other contiguous places, from the earliest discovery to the present time, together with the genealogy of more than four hundred families; > Part 11
USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Newcastle > The history of ancient Sheepscot and Newcastle [Me.] including early Pemaquid, Damariscotta, and other contiguous places, from the earliest discovery to the present time, together with the genealogy of more than four hundred families; > Part 11
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THE FIFTH INDIAN OR SPANISH WAR.
encouraged by the Rev. Mr. Whitefield, who was then in this country, he accepted. Whitefield selected, for him, this motto : " Nil desperandum, Christo duce :" " Never despair, where Christ is leader." This being accepted, gave the expedition the air and popularity of a modern crusade.
The second in command was Samuel Waldo, who was commissioned with the rank of Brigadier General. This man was a native of Boston, and extensively interested in the Mnscongus Patent. His father was Jonathan Waldo, a merchant of that place. The son had charge of the York County Regiment.
Among the colonels from the Province of Maine, was William Vanghan of Damariscotta.
This man had been about 15 years in the country; and besides being largely interested in the business matters of that place, he had been extensively engaged in fishery. He was a man of clear and correct perception, good judg- ment, and of a bold enterprising mind. He shrank from no obstacle, and with erect step would move onward, when others might falter and fall around him.
Being largely concerned in the Eastern fisheries, he had learned something of Louisburg, though he had never seen it. And he it was, that first represented to the Governor of Massachusetts, the practicability of a surprise of the city in the winter time, when the deep snow drifts would admit an easy passage over the walls. But his influence was felt in planning and moving that expedition. He had no particular command assigned him, preferring the trust of such special duties as the Chief Commander might con- sider best suited to his bold and adventurous spirit.
Many of the settlers about George's river went with their families, on this expedition to Louisburg. Some of them remained there for several years; and some never returned. William Burns, of Broadbay, took a commis- sion from the government and raised a company to defend
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THE FIFTH INDIAN OR SPANISH WAR.
the County ; and his brother had command of one of the transports in the siege of Louisburg.
In March 19, 1745, Pepperell received his instructions from Governor Shirley, and put to sea ; and on the fourth of April he arrived at Canseau. On the 23d he was joined by four ships of war from the West Indies, which had been ordered there by the home Government, when the siege of the place was formidably commenced.
The primary objects of the assailants, was to invest the town ; and Colonel Vaughan conducted the first column of 400 men through the woods, May 2, within sight of it, and. gave three cheers. He thence led them in the course of the night to the Northeast part of the Harbor ; where they burned the warehouses containing naval stores, and stored a large quantity of wine and brandy. The smoke driven by the wind three-quarters of a mile, into the grand battery, so alarmed the French, that they abandoned it, spiking their guns and retiring. The next morning Vaughan took possession of it; and having drilled the cannon left by the enemy, which consisted chiefly of 42 pounders, turned them with good effect upon the city, within which, almost every shot lodged, and several fell into the roof of the citadel. While forming a battery on Green Hill-a position 200 yards nearer the town than the grand Battery -within 1,550 yards of the Northwest bastion enclosing the Castle, and another 600 yards nearer, the troops were engaged fourteen nights successively, in drawing cannon from the landing, through a morass, to the proposed encampment. Unable to use wheels, owing to the soft- ness of the ground, the soldiers constructed sledges, and with straps over their shoulders, wading in the mud to their knees, resolutely performed labor beyond the power of oxen. It was work which could be executed only in the night time, or during foggy days-the place being within view of the town and reach of its guns. Ducham- bon, in the mean time, was summoned to surrender ; but
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refusing, the siege was pressed with great vigor. At length, a third battery, planted within 440, and a fourth within 250 yards, of the Western gate, were so far advanced, May 17th, as to do great execution. The next day, the Vigilant, a French 64, being artfully decoyed into the midst of danger, fell in with the frigate Massachusetts, Capt. Tyng, to whom, after exchanging a few shots, she struck her colors. This was an important victory. It gave a thrill to the whole fleet and army ; for she had on board 560 men and was richly laden with military stores intended for the Garrison.
The siege was pressed ; and assistance having arrived by the coming of several war ships, it was determined, on the 18th of June, to make a grand attack upon the Gar- rison, by both the land and naval forces. This being per- ceived by the French Governor, on the 15th, three days before the intended attack, he wrote to the British Com- manders, Pepperell and Warren, proposing terms of peace. The next day he surrendered the Garrison ; possession was taken of it on the 19th, and the soldiers were allowed to move out, with their arms, music and standards.
The news of the capitulation filled Europe with aston- ishment and America with joy. It was celebrated in the principal towns by the ringing of bells, bonfires and other festivities.
The labor and fatigue of the troops was excessive ; but in the capitulation, they received 650 veteran troops, 1,310 Militia men, the crew of the Vigilant, and about 2,000 inhabitants. These were not to bear arms against Eng- land for 12 months. 76 cannon and mortars fell into the hands of the victors, besides property and provisions, to an immense amount.
In this resplendent victory, troops from Maine bore an important part ; and one of the most efficient Colonels there was in that expedition, went from the banks of the Damariscotta.
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CHAPTER XXV. -
FIFTH INDIAN WAR.
SCENES of blood were about to be re-enacted in America, The year 1745 is one of the different shades and colors. The Spanish war which had been commenced in 1839, was participated in by the French, and is now succeeded by, and terminates in, a distressing and bloody Indian war. The clouds for sometime had been lowering, and the storm was about to burst upon them. Savage animosity had once more been incurred, and savage hate and cruelty were now to be experienced. There had been witnessed the wildest joy at the announcement of the fall of Lonis- burg; but the natives of the forest soon laid aside their pipe of peace, and the woods rang with the war shout ; the tomahawk was sharpened ; and savage warriors lie in am- bush by day and prowl around by night. The drama opens at Damariscotta in Newcastle, and at St. George's July 19th, 1745. At Newcastle, outrages were com- mitted, and at St George they attacked the fort, but could make no impression upon it. They then set on fire a house that was garrisoned, and a sawmill ; burnt a few dwelling houses ; killed a great number of cattle, and took captive one of the inhabitants. A party of fighters soon after attacked Fort Frederick, but were unsuccessful. In approaching it, they met a woman, about 300 yards from the walls, upon whom they fired and wounded in the shoulder, and then one of them seized her. The report of the gun and her shrieks alarmed the Garrison ; and amidst the consternation and rising smoke, she broke
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away from them and escaped to the gate. She was res- cued and the fort saved. The same month they killed and scalped a boy at Topsham ; at New Meadows they shot a horse and the man who was on him. At North Yarmouth they also committed depredations of a most revolting kind ; and on the 23d of August the Provincial Government declared war against all the Eastern tribes without excep- tion. They offered for every Indian captive or scalp, taken West of the Passamaquoddy, by a soldier in the public service, £100 ; by a person having provision and not wages, £250 ; and by a volunteer without pay, ammuni- tion or rations, £400 as bounties.
In less than two months after the proclamation of war, every town on the Eastern frontier was visited by the sav- ages, thirsting for blood. The present generation know but little about the sufferings and privation of the fathers. Shut up in their garrison it was at their peril that they ventured out to ent firewood, to milk their cows and attend to other necessary duties. Their fields were untilled, and the hay crop not being always gathered, their cattle and sheep died when the long winter had shut down upon them. Sheepscot and Damariscotta drank of the cup of bitterness equally with the rest. Seventeen hundred and forty-five was a gloomy year for those wan and harrassed settlers.
It was a peculiar characteristic of the Indian to waylay and murder individuals and small companies. Thus the son of Col. Cushing, of St. George, was shot down by par- ticular aim. In the month of Septeml er, of this year, as three men were gathering corn at Sheepscot, two of them were killed, and the other wounded by a party of 13 Indians firing from an ambush .*
The spring of 1746 opened with terrible cruelty on the part of the savages. A large body of them, in the month
* Smith's Journal, page 121.
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of May, attacked the Gilman settlement at Broadbay and reduced it to ashes. Many of the inhabitants were killed and others taken into captivity. The enemy fell upon the cattle at Pemaquid and made great havoc among them. May 27th, as five persons were returning from meeting at Sheepscot,* they were waylaid by fifteen Indains and fired upon ; but through a remarkable Providence, only one was killed. Another, though mortally wounded, by a well directed fire, laid the Indian dead at his feet, who was advancing with his hatchet, to despatch him. The others effected their escape.
At Wiscasset, a number of cattle were killed by the foe ; and Capt. Jonathan Williamson, as he was returning from the pasture with his cattle at evening, was taken prisoner by them and carried to Canada, where he was detained six months. The Indians let two men pass and they said the reason why they had not killed him, was, the Governor of Quebec wished for an intelligent man to give him a correct account of the situation of things in the English Provinces. They had long been watching for Williamson, and they took this way to secure him. Capt. Williamson came from the South of England, a few years previous, and resided on the old Williamson homestead-the farm that inchides the new Cemetery, in the south part of Wiscas- set. He now lies interred there.t
On the 7th of May, 1747, the Indians took a man at Damariscotta and killed his wife and daughter-in-law.#
It was probably about this time that the Garrison near Mr. Daniel Hopkins', in Newcastle, was surprised and taken by the Indians. Many of the inhabitants in it were murdered and scalped. They were going to bury the dead without coffins in one grave. But a young man, by the
* Smith's Journal, page 123.
+ Mrs. Hannah Cushman.
# Smith's Journal, page 179.
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name of William Jones, grandfather to Mr. Daniel Jones, took the first money he ever earned for himself, purchased boards and nails, and had coffins made for them, when they were decently interred .*
In 1730, John Huston came from Boston, with his fam- ily, and settled in Walpole on the banks of the Damaris- cotta river. He had a grandson who was born in Boston in 1748, and was afterwards settled on the farm which his grandfather and father owned and improved. John Hus- ton, the elder, held his title under Dunbar, and though his son was afterwards threatened with a lawsuit by James Noble who claimed under the Brown right, Huston feeling seenre in his claim, replied, "he did not care if he was sued."+ The estate has remained in the Huston name ever since.
Huston the elder was taken captive by the Indians ; and at the same time his wife and sister were brutally mur- dered by them. John Huston, the grandson, was about ten years of age and remembered living in the Garrison, which was the general resort for all the people.
At one time, when the people were in Garrison at Sheep- seot, the men were out to their work, and there were none left behind, but the old men, women and children. Sud- denly as many as twenty Indians appeared between the besieged and Joseph Curtis', driving the cattle before them. They were after booty and killed one of the cattle. The old men shouldered their muskets and resolutely stood in their defence ; which the Indians seeing, took flight and departed, taking the slain creature with them. Had they known how weak the defenders were, they might have pressed on and easily taken the Garrison.
It was felt to be a necessity at this time to drive the French from Nova Scotia. For this purpose Massachu-
* Daniel Jones.
t John Huston's testimony.
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setts raised 500 men, Rhode Island 300, and New Hamp- shire 200. It was in the winter when the expedition was commenced. The troops from Massachusetts and Maine, to the number of 490, besides officers, proceeded to the Bay of Fundy. They were unable to reach Minas, as they desired, by water, which was situated on the South shore, on account of the advanced state of winter. Therefore they all landed on an uninhabited shore, eight or ten leagues to the West of it, on the fourth day of December, with 14 days' provision, which each man carried on his back. After an eight days' march of almost incredible fatigue, they arrived at Grand Pré, or Lower Horton, twelve leagues Northwest of Chebueto, where Ramsey, the French General, was eneamped.
Having no fears of an attack during the rigors of winter,. they encamped in a very unguarded manner. Ramsey, apprized of their situation, soon prepared for a march ; anl after performing a journey of 22 days across the country, at the head of 600 men, including Indians, he arrived in sight of the town. On the 31st day of January, taking advantage of a violent snow storm, he called forth his men, divided them into three parties, and attacked the English about three o'clock in the morning. Aroused from their slumbers, they seized their arms and desper- ately encountered the foe. It was a terrible hour. French fierceness and savage barbarity on the one side, and Amer- ican valor and determined bravery on the other.
Colonel Arthur Noble, brother of James Noble, Esq., of Damariscotta, led the English forces. They fought long and well, but the odds were against them. Surprised as they were-with a blinding snow storm before them and overwhelmed by superior numbers, they at last gave way ; but not till their brave commander, four of his commis- sioned officers and seventy of his soldiers were killed, and sixty wounded. A part of these were butchered in a most barbarous manner.
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As a necessity, capitulation took place. The English were allowed to march off with only six days' provision, their arms, colors, music, a pound of powder and a few in' balls to each man, but agreed not to bear arms in Minas nor Chignecto for the next six months. It was a dear bought victory to the French, as the very terms of capitu- lation show. They then proceeded to Annapolis, encoun- tering incredible hardships. Such, says one writer of this account, was the sequel of this battle, though fought with a valor and obstinatey, that would have covere l the n with glory, had it been successful. It was a wild enterprise and owed its origin principally to Shirley and Mascarene.
The forces of the English were this year greatly strength- ened. Thirty men were assigned to the Garrison at St. George ; 375 were ordered to scout between Berwick and Damariscotta ; General Waldo was ordered to detach from his Regiment enlisted for the Canada expedition, 168 men, to relieve 182 who had been on service at the Eastward ; and 150 were detailed as "minute men" to take the field at the shortest notice.
On the 28th of October, 1749, Commissioners from the Council and House of Representatives, met at Falmouth for the purpose of negotiating a treaty of Peace with the several Indian tribes with whom they had, for the last four years, been at war. Their names were, William Pep- perell and Thomas Hutchinson of the Council ; and John Choate, Israel Williams and James Otis of the House. They tarrie I here till the 14th of October, before the Sig- amores appeared, when a treaty of Peace, having the Dummer treaty ratified 23 years before, as its basis, was agreed upon ; and on the 26th, was signed by both parties, when they all returned joyful to their several homes.
The war, however, only had a reprieve ; its spirit was not as yet thoroughly subdued. The fires were slumber- ing and soon they were to break ont with unexample.l ferocity to lay waste, spread and consume.
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There was a bloody affray which took place at Wiscas- set, in December, only six weeks after signing the treaty in 1749 at Falmouth. A company of Indians of the Cani- bas tribe, got into a quarrel with a party of whites, when one Indian was killed and two others badly wounded. Three of the white men, Obadiah Albee, Richard Hol- brook and Benjamin Holbrook, were apprehended and ear- ried to Falmouth, where they were confined. Here they broke jail ; but after a while they surrendered themselves, when they were tried, but no jury could be found to con- demn them. And it is well known that whenever a white person was tried for killing an Indian, even in times of peace, he would invariably be acquitted ; for a jury could not be impannelled among whom there were not some who had suffered by the Indians, either in person, family or property.
This served to irritate the Indians, and in the next year fierce acts of hostility were committed by them in various places. Sept. 11th, great damage was done at fort Rich- mond. A day or two afterwards, trouble was experienced by them at Swan Island and Frankfort, now Dresden. Sept. 13, a party of them appeared at Wiscasset and Sheepseot, set several houses on fire, took two prisoners, a man and a boy, and would have laid waste the neighbor- ing country, had they succeeded in capturing the Block- house. The alarm was spread to Portland and Pemaquid.
Their disposition and determination manifested itself at other times and places, which filled the country with fear- ful forebodings and the Government with anxiety. To meet the emergency, the Lientenant Governor Phipps ordered 150 men to be detached or drafted and sent to scour the woods from Saco to St. George. Supplies of ammunition and guns were put into the hands of Capt. Williamson, of Wiscasset, and Capt. Nickels, of Sheepscot. These were designed for the common good.
Early in September, 1747, a company of Indians silently
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approached Fort Frederick at Pemaquid. There were sixty of them, and about the break of day, their usual hour of attack, they made their onset upon the stone walls of that fortress. The soldiers within the fort did not number more than thirty ; and the Indians supposing them to be asleep, thought to take the place by surprise. But nnfor- tunately for themselves, they fell in with a party of five, a short distance from the pickets. Firing upon these, they killed three and wounded the other two. This aroused the Garrison, which the Indians furiously assailed for more than two hours; but being unable to make the least impression upon its massive walls, they withdrew in morti- fication and chagrin.
There were two female children * born in this Garrison, one of whom was Abigail Hall the daughter of Samuel and Lydia Blackstone Hall, who afterwards settled on the place now owned and occupied by Mr. Frank Smithwick, Sen. Mr. Elisha Clarke live lin a log house just in the rear of Leishman Clark's barn, which place he owned together with the farms of the late Henry and Benjamin Clarke, making a large tract of land. He and his wife, Patience Blackstone, sister of Mrs. Hall, went over to the Garrison to see the babies, taking with them their youngest son, Ebenezer, and on their return, they asked their son which of the two babies was the prettiest ; and he replied, Abbie Hall of course. After they grew up he married Abbie Hall, with whom he lived happily to a good old age. They were never divorced, for they loved each other too well to be separated, and a divorce was a thing almost unknown in those days. In this age of light and boasted know- ledge, when we are confidently told that the world is growing better, divorces are so common that but little notice is taken of them and little is said about them. As we are drifting along, where will the end be? Time will tell.
* Ephraim Clark.
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Ebenezer occupied the homestead during life, and left it to his three sons, Benjamin, Ephraim and Henry Clark. There was also a death in the Garrison of a man by the name of Linscot.
There was a Garrison # about a quarter of a mile to the North of Damariscotta village, the remains of which can be seen to this day. During the Indian war, one morn- ing, a woman wanted to go outside of the Garrison to milk her cow. She looked carefully around, but seeing no signs of an Indian, she went forward, but had hardly com- meneed milking when she was shot dead by an Indian lying in ambush.
An old Indian woman was going to inform some of the whites of a plot the Indians had formed against them, but was shot by a man who did not know who the woman was or for what purpose she had come.
At one time there was a man in the woods splitting a log when four Indians came up to him as he was driving in the wedge ; and suspecting their plot of infamy, invited them to put in their fingers and help him pull the log apart. They did so ; but the man knocking out the wedge, the two sides of the log came together, caught their fingers fast, and they could not escape. Then he went and got his gun, which he took with him to the woods, and shot them all.
* Mrs. M. Hitchcock.
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INFLUENTIAL MEN.
CHAPTER XXVI.
INFLUENTIAL MEN.
CAPT. DAVID CARGILL came to Newcastle about 1730 or 31. He was of Scotch descent and emigrated from Ire- land. He was employed by Tappan to survey his lands. On the twenty-third of Dee. 1741, he purchased of Mary Mulford, the wife of Elias Mulford, who was the grand- daughter of John Mason, all her right, title and interest, which she had in the tract of land that Mason purchased of the Indians in 1652. The price paid was ninety-nine pounds. His residence was near Weare Island, where Col. James Cargill, his son, afterwards lived. He was a man of ability and influence among the settlers, and was the father of a numerous family and posterity. In the Spanish war, he was Captain of a company of Militia. called out in defence of his country, and against the incur- sions of the savages. In Dec. 2, 1745, he was at Sheep- scot in command of the Garrison, and in addressing Gov. Phipps on military matters, among other things, he very sensibly suggests that "if any of my company are dis- missed, I pray I may have the liberty to dismiss some that are not fit for duty."
Col. James Cargill was the second son of David Cargill, Esq., and was fitted by nature to perform an important part in the history of the colony. He was small of stature, quick and energetic in his movements ; at times hasty, but decided in his disposition, and prompt in the execution of every duty assigned him. In his disposition he manifested his Scotch origin, and often carried his partialities and prejudices much farther than prudence and discretion
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would warrant. Yet he was a reliable citizen, and did much to give tone and character to the town and to pro- mote its interests, both at home and abroad. Whether as tything man-one of a committee to select a minister-a military officer-or a Representative to the Legislature, he showed the same decided, prompt, business-like qualities, as when at home teaching his children the Catechism and performing other necessary duties. In his religion he was a Presbyterian, but in his politics he was an American, and no one ever had occasion to question his loyalty and love of country.
Unfortunately, but growing out of the state of things, and we may say necessarily, there was a strong aversion on the part of the whites toward the savages. Every one partook of it, particularly in war, and Cargill, in common with others, had his full share of it. And this state of feeling will account for much of what has been deeme l cruelty and harshness, on his part toward the enemy. Others have felt as bitter and been as severe towards them as Cargill was ; but his position made his acts more open and glaring than theirs ; and then we are to remember that the savages were cruel towards the whites, to the last degree. Major Moxy, an Indian chief, said he had killed nineteen white people and he wanted to live to kill the twentieth. And he showed Major John Farley the stone, in his field, where he had dashed out the brains of Mrs. Gray and her nine children.
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