USA > Maine > The history of the state of Maine; from its first discovery, A. D. 1602, to the separation, A. D. 1820, inclusive, Vol. I > Part 63
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tidings 10 Boston.
638
THE HISTORY
[VOL. 1.
A.D. 1692.
Fort Wil- liam Hen- ry.
Late in the autumn, Iberville, arriving at Penobscot, was join- ed by Villebon and a great body of Indians ; and all pro- ceeded to attempt the reduction of Fort William Henry. Struck with its apparent strength, and finding an English vessel riding at anchor under the guns of the fort, the commanders concluded to abandon the enterprize ; the Indians stamping the ground in dis- appointment.
A.D. 1693. Major Con- verse builds Saco Fort.
The next spring, the intrepid Converse was commissioned Major and Commander-in-Chief of the eastern forces, including the garrison soldiers and 350 new levies. He ranged the country in quest of the enemy ; was at Piscataqua, at Wells, at Sheepscot, at Pemaquid, at Teconnet, and on the west side of the Saco, near the falls, he, with the aid of Major Hook and Capt. Hill, erected a very strong stone-fort .* The Indians were in distress and despair. They felt themselves hunted to the mountains by the terrifying Converse ; they feared an attack from the Mo- hawks ; the French had left them to feed on empty promises ; several of their principal men were detained among the English, as prisoners, who were extremely impatient to be released ; and August 11. on the 11th of August, thirteen Sagamorest representing all the A treaty. tribes from Passamaquoddy to Saco, inclusive, came into the new garrison, at Pemaquid, and negotiated a treaty with the English commissioners John Wing, Nicholas Manning, and Benjamin Jackson.
The terms of it.
In this the Sagamores conceded more than in former treaties. They declared their hearty subjection and obedience to the crown of England ; and said they had been instigated by the French to make war, whose interest they had determined to abandon forever. They agreed to release all captives without ransom ; to resign unto the English inhabitants all their possessions and im- provements, and leave them unmolested and free of all Indian claims ; to traffic with the English at the trading houses, which
* The remains are still visible. It was a fortress of great strength ; in which several soldiers were stationed, under Capt. George Turfrey and Lieut, P. Fletcher.
t Among those who signed the treaty were Egeremet of Machias; Ma- dockawando and Abenquid of Penobscot ; Wassambomet and Ketterramo- gis of Norridgewock ; Bomaseen, Wenobson " of Teconnet, in behalf of Moxus;" Nitamemet or Nitombomet, and Robin Doney of Saco; and others.
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CHAP. XXIII.]
should be established by government and regulated by law ; and A. D. 1693. have every controversy between the English and Indians decided in due course of justice. It was a treaty of perpetual peace and friendship, sanctioned by the most solemn asseverations of the parties, in faith of which the Sagamores delivered to the English five hostages,* who were to be exchanged at any time, on re- quest, for others of equal rank.t
A respite from war and returns from captivity without ransom must be themes and causes of uncommon joy, to a people war- worn, bleeding, scattered and sinking in ruins. This peace, had the Indians been left to themselves, might have been permanent and lasting. For constant as they were in nothing but change, they were soon tired with uniformity and perseverance, especially, if attended with anxious toils or dangers. Prisoners had not been taken by them of late without great difficulty, and plunder could not be easily obtained.
Count Frontenac, now engaged in a most bloody, though un- The French- successful war with the Mohawks, or ' Five Nations,' was under disturb the peace. the necessity of calling home to his assistance every Frenchman able to bear arms. He was troubled on every side, and must even have stood the siege of Quebec, this season, had not the mortal sickness on board the royal English fleet, under Sir Francis Wheeler, prevented an attack. To suffer the Abena- ques and Tarratine tribes to be at peace with their neighbors, would in effect, as the Count perceived, greatly serve to embold- en the English in their projects against Quebec; and therefore he employed his emissaries to dissuade the Indians from restoring their prisoners or fulfilling the treaty. Hostages, he told them, were no great security or pledge, so long as the Indians had in their custody a greater number of captives.
Fit instruments to effect his purpose were the French mis- Jesuit mis- sionaries. The four or five who were preeminent in his service, among the sionaries were M. Thury, Vincent and Jaques Bigot and Sebastian Ral- Indians. le ; į-all of whom were ardent and bold enthusiasts, always ready, with tearful eye, to preach from a text in their creed,-that "it is no sin to break faith with heretics." Thury and Vincent
* One was Sheepscot John ; another was the cousin of Madockawando; and a third the brother of Egeremet.
t See this treaty entire .- 2 Math. Mag. p. 542-3.
# There was one at Androscoggin .- 2 Math. Mag. p. 537.
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THE HISTORY
[VOL. 1.
A. D. 1693. Bigot had been a long time among the Tarratines, and were well acquainted with their dispositions, language and habits. Ralle,* sent from France into the French colonies by the society of Jes- uits, passed about four years among the tribes in the vicinity of Canada ; and in 1693 chose Norridgewock for his abode, where he dwelt 26 years. His entire devotion to the religious interests of the Indians, gave him an unlimited ascendancy over them. Another select agent of Frontenac, was Sieur de Villieu, who was now appointed resident commander at Penobscot. He was an officer who had acquired some merit at Quebec, when it was attacked by Phips ; and, what was an additional qualification for his post, he cherished an inveterate hatred of the puritans.
Villieu at Penobscot.
Indians de. stroy Dover.
Other at- tacks.
Determined to open anew the sluices of war, he collected a body. of 250 Indians, under Madockawando, Bomaseen, and Toxus, who, on the 18th of July, again destroyed Dover, in New-Hampshire ; and, after plundering places further westward, August 20. returned to Piscataqua, August 20th, when a large party of them crossed over into Kittery, with intent, manifestly, to complete the ruin of Maine. At Spruce-creek they killed three, and at August 24. York one, where they also took a lad prisoner. On the fifth day of their visit, they made a bold attack upon Kittery, slew eight persons, and scalped in a barbarous manner a little girl ; who, though left bleeding and apparently dying, was found alive the next morning, and ultimately recovered, notwithstanding her skull was badly fractured.
Seven In- dians seiz- ed.
This sudden outrageous violation of the treaty and every prin- ciple of plighted faith, rendered any retaliatory act warrantable, in the opinion of an abused people, however severe such act might be. When, therefore, Robin Doney and three of his companions sauntered into the new fort at Saco, pretending great regret for the late rupture, they being known criminals, were detained in custody. In the same manner, Bomaseen and two other Indians, November 19th, visited the garrison at Pemaquid, then under the command of Capt. March, feigning themselves to be travellers immediately from Canada, and strangers to the recent massacre. But they, being known, were seized, and Bomaseen was soon sent to Boston. These acts were not censured by government, though serious minds have animadverted upon them with some severity.
Nov. 19.
* 8 Coll. Mass. Hist. Soc. p. 250-2, 2d. series.
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CHAP. XXIII.]
To show what arts and deceptions were practised by the A. D. 1694. French fanatics, upon the ignorance and superstition of the Jesuit natives ; a few facts may be allowed here to be stated. In con- priestcraft. versing with a clergyman of Boston, Bomaseen said, the Indians understand the Virgin Mary was a French lady, and her son, Jesus Christ, the blessed, was murdered by the English ; but has since risen and gone to heaven, and all who would gain his favor must avenge his blood .- The divine, taking a tankard, said to him, Jesus Christ gives us good religion, like the good wine in this cup ; God's book is the Bible, which holds this good drink ; the French put poison in it, and then give it to the In- dians ;- Englishmen give it to them pure ;- that is, we present the holy Book to you, in your own language. French priests hear you confess sins, and take beaver for it. Englishmen never sell pardons ; they are free and come from God only .- Then, said Bomaseen, Indians will spit up all French poison ;- En- glishmen's God the best God.
Bomaseen and his accomplices were continued in confinement, A. D. 1695. and the hostages remained with the English, through the winter. the Indians. Miseries of Being persons of distinction, their liberation would have com- manded almost any ransom, had the Indians any thing to pay. But such were their uncommon miseries, that humanity weeps over them. Besides famine, in which their English prisoners were the most wretched sharers,-a mortal sickness was raging among them. Pushed forward by hunger and revenge, some of them were able occasionally to take life, or a little plunder. In March, one of the soldiers was killed and another taken near March. Saco fort ;- other acts of mischief were also committed,-acts which were the height of folly : For, if they would turn a deaf ear to the deceptive French, and consult their own interest, it must be the wisest measure practicable, for them to cease depre- dations and to restore their captives according to the treaty, as the return of them was filling relations and even the community itself with extreme anxiety ;- and then they might hope for relief.
To mediate an exchange, Sheepscot John, one of the host- A truce. ages, was sent to the eastern tribes ; through whose influence a body of Indians in a flotilla of fifty canoes, May 20, met some May 20. of our men, belonging to Fort William Henry, at Rutherford's Island, situated a league from the garrison. Here the Saga- VOL. I. 68
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THE HISTORY
[VOL. I.
A. D. 1695. mores confessed their wrongs, released eight captives, and en- tered into a truce for thirty days ; promising to meet commis- sioners in the garrison at the end of a month, and ratify the treaty.
June 19. A parley. A conference was subsequently had according to appointment ; but the Commissioners, Col. Phillips, Lieut. Col. Hawthorn and Major Converse, refused to treat, till the English prisoners were produced. This pre-requisite was thought by the Sagamores unfair ; for, said they, you have not brought Bomaseen, Robin Doney, and our friends :- We'll talk no more; and rising ab- ruptly, departed. The parley was thus fraught with danger ; for after this, the forts and frontiers were infested by prowling savages through the summer. Major Hammond, who belonged to Kit- tery was seized, July 6, near Saco-fort, and carried to Canada ; and within three months, about 40 were killed or taken captive, Sept. 9. Soldiers killed at in the northern parts of New-England. Among them, a soldier was shot at Saco, and four were killed and six wounded, at Pemaquid. Pemaquid, Sept. 9, as they were rowing a gondola around a high rocky point, above the barbacan opposite to the garrison.
A. D. 1696. Feb. 16. Chubb kills and seizes Indians at Pemaquid under a flag.
Five months after this, Egeremet, Toxus, Abenquid, and a party of their associates, came into the same garrison, Feb. 16, [1696], for the purpose, as they said, of effecting an exchange of prisoners. The commander at this time was Capt. Chubb, whose men were not yet fully healed of the wounds, they had late- ly received. Their resentments were also inflamed by the recol- lection of those, who were actually slain at the same time ; and in the midst of the parley, they suddenly fell upon the Indians, killed Egeremet, Abenquid, and two others, and took some of them prisoners ;* Toxus and a few of his more athletic comrades effecting their escape, to tell the awful story, and add new fuel to the flames of war. It was a shameful breach of good faith- nowise justifiable by the perfidy of the Indians, though they had previously violated the treaty they had signed. To kill emissaries in the midst of negotiations, for their fellows' crimes, is an act unknown even to the worst of savages; for they never murder during a parley. If the conduct of Captain March, 15 months before, was blameworthy ; Chubb richly deserved all the
* Charlevoix [ 3 vol. N. F. p. 233.] says, three were sent to Boston .- He complains of this act.
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CHAP. XXIII.]
OF MAINE.
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censure, a sensitive public was disposed so liberally to reflect A. D. 1696. upon him.
There was nothing to cheer this spring, except the late return June. of Major Hammond and about thirty captives from Canada. In returned- Captives June, upwards of twenty people were slain or taken about Ports- mouth-several houses were burned-also three men and their wives who were sisters, in passing from York to Wells were as- sailed ;- Thomas Cole and his wife, two of the six, being shot down, the others barely escaping a second discharge.
people slain.
design upon liam Henry.
Fort William Henry had now become a noted public garrison. The French The French conceived it controlled all the western parts of Ac- Fort Wil. adia, and resolved to reduce it. For this purpose, Iberville was despatched from Quebec, with two men of war and two com- panies of soldiers,-directed to form a junction with Villebon and a company of 50 Mickmaks, at St. John or Port Royal, also with Castine and his Indians at Penobscot, and drive the English from the garrison. It was as unfortunate as it was accidental, that about the same time, two British ships, the Sorlings, Captain Eames, and the Newport, Captain Paxen, also the Province ten- der, sailed from Boston for the bay of Fundy, to intercept the stores supposed to be on their passage from Quebec to Villebon. For, as the two squadrons met and encountered each other in the bay, the Newport, in the engagement, lost her topmast and sur- rendered and the other two were, under the cover of a fog, only able to effect their escape.
Reenforced by this prize, which Iberville repaired at St. John, he and Villebon, with his Mickmaks, proceeded to Pemaquid ; taking on board at Penobscot, Baron de Castine, who was fol- lowed by 200 Indians* in canoes. The whole force invested the garrison, July 14th, when Iberville sent Capt. Chubb a sum- July 14. mons to surrender. But as he had 15 guns well mounted, 95 men double armed, and abundance of ammunition and provisions, and was able to stand a long siege against treble his number of soldiers ;- he promptly replied, I shall not give up the fort, though the sea be covered with French vessels, and the land with
* Charlevoix, (3 vol. N. F. p. 260-2,) says Castine was with 200 savages . and Iberville distributed presents to them. In the assault the French lost two men, killed by pistols ; and two others, whose lives cost the English " tens of two."
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THE HISTORY
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A. D. 1696. wild Indians. Hence a few discharges of musquetry and cannon closed the first day.
July 15. Chubb sur- garrison.
Before the next morning, the French landed their cannon and renders the mortars ; and by three in the afternoon, had so far raised their batteries, as to be able to throw five or six bombs into the fort. Amidst the consternation these occasioned, Castine found means to convey a letter to Capt. Chubb, telling him 'if he delayed a ' surrender till an assault was made, he would have to deal with ' Savages, and must expect no quarter, for Iberville, according " to the king's order, was to give none.' This menacing address effected all that was desired ; the chamade was beat, and the terms of capitulation stipulated, by which all within the garrison were to be conveyed to Boston, and as many French and In- dians returned ; and till their removal, they were to be protected from all injury and insult. The gates were then opened, when the Indians, finding one of their people in irons, were so ex- asperated by the story of his sufferings and of Chubb's baseness to the others of his companions, that they actually massa- cred at once, several of the English soldiery. To preserve the rest of the prisoners from falling victims to wild, ungoverna- ble resentments, Iberville removed them to an Island and placed around them a strong guard.
Chubb Cashiered.
The French supposed that the garrison, through cowardice, compelled Chubb to capitulate against his will. But he was him- self censured with great severity,-and afterwards put under ar- rest, tried and cashiered .* The French thought this a great achievement .- The fortification, which had cost Massachusetts an immense sum of money, in the estimation of that day-to build it and garrison it 4 years, was now plundered by the captors, and then for the most part demolished. They set sail on the 18th, for Penobscot, where they continued till September 3d ; inciting the Indians to a renewal of hostilities.
July 18.
Major Church with 500 men proceeds eastward.
When the news of this disaster arrived at Boston, it was ap- prehended, the French and Indians might proceed as far west- ward as Piscataqua, and take or destroy all that might fall in their way. To resist or encounter them, therefore, Massachusetts im- mediately raised 500 men ; and Lieut. Gov. Stoughton, Com-
* The revenge of the Indians was satiated upon Chubb, in Feb. 1698, by killing him at his residence in Andover.
ti 66 t
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CHAP. XXIII.]
mander-in-Chief, since the recal and subsequent death of Gov. A. D. 1696. Phips, gave Benjamin Church, August 3d, a commission by August 3. which he was appointed Major-commandant of the expedition .* At Piscataqua, his place of rendezvous, he concentrated his forces ; assigning to his Captains, Graham, Brackett, Hunnewell, and Larkin, their rank and duty, and despatched to Col. Ged- ney, at York, a reenforcement of his Indian soldiers, for the de- fence of that town and the vicinity. Several days elapsed ere Major Church heard a lisp of the enemy; and consequently concluded he had gone eastward.t
A squadron of three British men of war, the Arundel, the A squadron Orford, and the Sorlings, furnished with militia men to serve as enemy. pursues the marines, and attended by a merchant ship of 20 guns, and a fire- ship, proceeding to sea, was only able to reach Penobscot in time to see the enemy set sail. The pursuit was pressed till dark ; and the next morning the squadron in a thick fog, lost sight of the Frenchmen, and returned, bringing to Boston a shallop taken, which had on board Villeau and 23 French soldiers. The French ships visited St. John and the southerly ports of the great peninsula, also Cape Breton, and finally reduced New- foundland to the dominion of the crown.}
Major Church, the last week in August, embarked at Piscata- Church as- qua ; and after ranging the eastern coast, came to anchor at the Penobscot. cends the Island Monhegan. From this place he proceeded into Penob- scot bay, and when abreast " Mathebestuck Hills" [or Camden heights], he took in John York, to pilot him through these waters and up the river. York informed him, that when he was a pris- oner with the Indians, four years before, they had a fort built upon a little Island 50 or 60 miles up the river at the falls, which was a place of general resort, [probably the Island Lett, § or Old Town] ; || and in the vicinity they " planted a great quan- tity of corn." Church and his men ascended the river to the " Bend,"T then leaving their boats travelled on the western side two or three miles, passing places where the Indians had dwelt.
* Church's 4th Eastern Expedition, p. 138-157.
+ Church's 4th Eastern Expedition, p. 141-2.
# 2 Hutch. Hist. p. 86-90.
§ Penhallow's Indian Wars.
[] For the pilot told Church " there was no getting to it, but in canoes, " or on ice in the winter time ;" and " there was no getting further with " large boats." T At Eddington.
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A. D. 1696. In this excursion, they killed and wounded four or five Indians, and took another, who told Major Church, the men of the tribe had gone to Canada, and the French were about fortifying them- selves, at the mouth of the river St. John. On his return, he found, in different places, abandoned habitations, fields of corn, and patches of turnips and pumpkins, particularly on the Isle of Penobscot [now Orphan Island] ; below which he reembarked and sailed for the bay of Fundy.
Church visits bay of is super- seded. Sept. 28
Among the settlements on the north shore of that bay, he made Fundy, and great destruction and took considerable plunder ; yet, while under sail homeward, he was met in the waters of the Passamaquoddy, Sept. 28, by a squadron from Boston, the Arundel, Capt. Hig- gins, the Province galley, Capt. Southwick, and a transport ; the command of the whole expedition, including the forces under Major Church, being given to Col. Hawthorn, one of the Council. Church, though superseded, was submissive to orders, and joined the squadron, which proceeded with intent to drive Vil- lebon from the garrison at St. John. But the enterprize was attended with no success, and the fleet returned.
October 13, 5 killed at Saco. Wherever there were any remaining people in Maine, they were constantly liable to lose their lives, or be made captives by the hands of lurking savages. At Saco, five of the soldiers, A.'D. 1697. October 13th, were killed ;* and the winter of 1696-7 was a most trying one, as well to savages as to their unransomed pris- oners ;f it never having been more intensely cold in New-Eng- land, nor the scarcity and price of provisions greater, since the arrival of the first colonists.
A suffering winter.
July 4. Major Frost and wife killed.
The Indians having entertained a great antipathy towards Maj. Frost of Kittery, ever since the 400 were arrested at Coche- co; and determined to imbrue their hands in his blood ; a party secreted themselves on the way side, five miles from his house, by hiding under a large log, in which they had stuck a row of green boughs. It was the Lord's day, July 4, 1697. They per- mitted his two sons, returning from meeting, to pass unhurt ; and aiming their guns at him, his wife and an attending footman, they
* 2 Mather's Magnalia, p. 550 .- 2 Hutchinson's History, p. 95.
t In the winter of 1697-8, likewise, " many, both Indians and English prisoners were starved to death."-2 Math. Mag. p. 556 .- " Nine Indians," hunting, ' ate their dogs and cats, and then' " died horribly famished."
CHAP. XXIII.]
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killed all three at the first shot. He was a man of piety and A. D. 1697. public spirit. Several years, he had represented his town in the legislature, and been Major-commandant of the Yorkshire regi- ment. He was one of the Provincial Council under Danforth's administration ; and at the election preceding his death, he was, for the fourth time, chosen into the Council of Massachusetts and Maine, united under the late charter.
Two young men, going with the tidings to Wells garrison, were Mischief at waylaid and killed on their return ; also a man was taken cap- York, Ber- Wells, tive in York. Four men, who were mowing in Newichawannock Saco. wick, and meadows, were next attacked with the tomahawk, three were cut down, and the fourth, in a personal encounter with a savage, slew him. A man standing sentry, while his neighbors were get- ting hay in the marshes of Wells, was shot down, and another, carried away half a league, was roasted to death. Saco-fort, so much the object of savage vengeance, seemed to lie almost per- petually under the eye of lurking spies. Lieut. Fletcher and a small party went upon Cow Island to procure fuel, where three of his men, while cutting wood, were killed, and he and his two sons, acting as sentinels, were seized and carried down the river in one of the Indians' canoes. Discovered by Lieut. Larrabee and a few soldiers, on a scout, three of the Indians in the fore- most canoe, were shot and fell into the water, others being killed or wounded, and one prisoner rescued .*
It was now rumored, that the French were determined to im- Projects of prove their good fortune of the last year, which gave them Pem- fruitless. the French aquid, the Island of Newfoundland, and the repossession of Nova Scotia ; and therefore, were about to send a large fleet to Amer- ica, with orders to make a general sweep upon the waters and coasts as far as Boston; and to employ 1500 French and In- dians in the work of universal destruction upon the New-England frontiers. These were prodigious enterprizes, and excited fear- ful apprehensions. Massachusetts adopted the earliest and best possible measures for defence. All fortifications were strength- ened and supplied ; the militia were put upon the rolls of minute men ; and a force of 500 soldiers was placed under the com- mand of Major March, a popular and prudent officer, who was
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