USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Wiscasset > Wiscasset in Pownalborough; a history of the shire town and the salient historical features of the territory between the Sheepscot and Kennebec rivers > Part 9
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General Dearborn, at that time Captain Dearborn, was at Fort Western with Arnold and Burr.
Here at Pownalborough Col. Benedict Arnold was supplied with plans and charts by Maj. Samuel Goodwin as appears in the following letter:
Pownalborough, (Maine)
October 17, 1775.
To His Excellency George Washington, Esq. Sir :
According to your Excellency's verbal orders, by Col. Benedict Arnold, I supplied him with a plan of the sea-coast, from Cape Elizabeth to Penobscot, and the river Ken- nebec to the several heads thereof and the several carrying places to Ammeguntick Pond5 and the Chaudiere River (which Ammeguntick empties into said Chaudiere River, which Chaudiere empties into the River St. Lawrence, about four miles above Quebeck), and the passes and carrying places to Quebeck; and also made several small plans for each department, for their guide; and also gave him a copy of a journal which represented all the quick water and carrying places to and from Quebeck, both ways, viz., east and west; the west is the way to go, and the east the way to come . . .
I think it would be for the general interest for you to have a copy of said plan, etc., and then you would be a judge of what would best be done. It hath been a great cost and labour to me to obtain those plans, etc., and make them. Sir, if you think it worth your notice, and will give orders therefor, I will copy one for you, and wait on you with it, and give you the best intelligence I can, as I think I know as much of this country as anyone, as I have been travelling, surveying and settling this part ever since the year 1750. . ..
SAMUEL GOODWIN
N. B. Mr. Reuben Colburn informed me you wanted a plan. I thus began it about 3 weeks before Col. Arnold arrived.
Two Indian scouts joined the army at Fort Western-Sabattis, a Penob- scot Indian, and a St. Francis (possibly a Wawenock) Indian-also a guide named Frederick Jaquin (called Jakins) who then lived at Ticonic Falls6
5. Lake Megantic.
6. Maine Historical Society Collections, I, 510.
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(Waterville) and undoubtedly belonged to the Huguenot family of Jaquin living in Pownalborough. Jeremiah Getchell was another local guide on the Arnold expedition.
The batteaux for the expedition were furnished by Maj. Reuben Col- burn whose house at Pittston is near Agry's Point where the shipyard was located.
The Arnold expedition has been commemorated by a bronze tablet on a boulder in front of Major Colburn's house bearing the following inscription :
This tablet
marks the headquarters of Colonel Benedict Arnold Sept. 21-23 1775
when he was the guest of
Major Reuben Colburn
During the transfer of his army of
I 100 men and supplies from
The transports to the 220 batteaux
built by Major Colburn
For the Expedition to Quebec.
To commemorate this event this tablet
is placed by Samuel Grant Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution 1913.
The account of the expedition written by Rev. Jacob Bailey of Pownal- borough is as follows:
The governing powers of America having determined to invade the royal province of Quebeck provided an armament for that important design. An embarkation was ap- pointed at Newbury, and towards the latter end of September, 1775, about 1200 pro- vincial forces arrived in the river Kennebeck under the command of one Arnold, a jockey7 of immortal fame. Several companies of riflemen were in this detachment, and with the remainder appeared to be rude and undisciplined. They scrupled not to rob and plunder the inhabitants in their progress, whilst several women were debauched by their pernicious address.
At fort Western a turbulent insurrection happened among them, which all the au- thority of their officers was unable to compose. Before the quarrel subsided a number of guns were discharged, and one man killed on the spot. The principal commanders, not daring to inflict any capital punishment, sent back the offender to Cambridge, but whether he received any correction or not I am uncertain. Two hundred bateaux were
7. Lossing in Field Book of the Revolution, says that Arnold was a dealer in horses.
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built at Colburn's, seven miles above Pownalborough, but both the workmanship and materials were found upon trial to be insufficient for the purpose.
The season was now far advanced, the nights cold and foggy, storms and piercing winds from the north very frequent, and besides which rendered the attempt more in- supportable, the soldiers were chiefly natives of a milder climate. Arnold, however, de- termined to surmount all these obstacles, and to force a passage through almost im- penetrable forests, to ascend the rapid torrents, and climb over those rugged moun- tains which rose to intercept his progress. On the first of October he began his march from Cushnoc, but before he had reached the height of land (by which we understand that mountainous country which lies between New England and the province of Cana- da) above 100 men had deserted, being reduced by constant fatigues, colds, and unac- customed hardships to mere skeletons.
At length, provisions beginning to fail, Col. Innis,8 the second in command, abandoned the enterprise, and returned with his whole division of 250 men. Arnold proceeded with the remainder through incredible difficulties and dangers which occurred to hin- der his progression. The men were frequently constrained to wade as deep as their middles and to haul their batteaus up the rapids and cataracts; and to increase their labour and distress the waters were beginning to congeal and the snows to descend, and frequently when they had dragged a boat with all this extreme difficulty to reach the summit of the falls, it would suddenly break away and dash in pieces against the rocks. By such unfortunate accidents they lost great quantities of provision, which added greatly to their affliction and anxiety. When Arnold approached the lake of Ama- guntacook he persuaded one Frederick Jacqueen and two Indians to advance forwards with letters to the inhabitants of Canada, inviting them to rebel against his Majesty, and to unite in the glorious cause of liberty. Nothing could be more impudent and absurd than these proposals to the Canadians, since a principal pretence of the present quarrel was the indulgence which Great Britain had given to this country. The Indians insisted upon carrying the letters, and when they arrived at the upper settlements on the Chaudière, instead of communicating them to the people they delivered them into the hands of Mr. Louiere who enjoyed a pension from the king. This gentleman, in- fluenced by a principle of gratitude to his sovereign, carried both the letters and In- dians into Quebeck, whilst Jacqueen was obliged to flee with precipitation back to his commander.
Arnold, inflamed with ambition, was not discouraged at these disappointments, but boldly pursued his fortune through the wilds of the forest-for men when deeply en- gaged in a wicked and unjust cause are more resolute than those who appear in de- fence of truth and virtue. At length this army, oppressed with nakedness, hunger, cold, nastiness, disease, and vermin, reached the confines of Canada and began to descend the rapid and dangerous river of Chaudière, which empties itself into the St. Laurence a little above Quebeck. But these miserable wretches, having exhausted their provisions, were quickly reduced to all the terrors of famine. They had, besides, worn out their shoes, torn their garments to pieces, and were almost devoured with lice. In this ragged,
8. Col. Roger Enos who had a battalion of musketmen.
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loathsome, and starving condition they were constrained to abandon the river, having lost all their bateaus) and to ramble through impervious thickets, dismal swamps, and half-frozen bogs. In this alarming and distressful situation they selected a party of the stoutest fellows and sent them forward to the French settlements in order to procure a supply of provisions. The feeble multitude followed, after daily leaving some of their companions to perish, and to lie unburied on the ground, a prey to the savage inhabi- tants of the wilderness. As they advanced along the gloomy woods, to increase their astonishment, and if possible to render their misery more acute, they overtook those persons from whom they expected relief lying dead in large companies in the way. No venison or any kind of refreshment could be procured, and the whole army had no other subsistence for several days except the flesh and broth of a dog.
Having suffered every calamity which human nature was able to sustain, they ar- rived, 600 in number, before the city of Quebeck, after losing by sickness, famine and other accidents no less than 300 souls. Had these soldiers been engaged in the cause of justice, no person could refrain from tears at their unhappy situation. But as the matter stood, though every honest and virtuous man must detest the principles upon which they proceeded, yet no person of real tenderness and humanity can forbear to com- miserate and lament the sufferings of his fellow creatures so unhappily deluded to their own destruction.
But to pursue the history of these daring adventurers a little farther. It was on the 14th of November they made their appearance before the city, and gave notice of their arrival by three huzzas, which was answered by a discharge of cannon from the walls. This unexpected salutation inspired some disagreeable sensations, and induced them to scamper away with all possible hurry and expedition. They retreated several miles up the river, and tarried eight or ten days for the arrival of Montgomery, being constrained to travel barefoot either upon frozen ground, or to wander through new fallen snow, Montgomery, elevated with success at Montreal, expected to carry the city without the formality of a siege, and sent a message to demand it, conceived in very haughty and imperious terms, but General Carleton denied admittance to the flag unless they in- tended to implore the king's clemency. Having received this repulse, the two Generals continued pelting the city with very little effect from the 9th of December to the 31st, when they attempted to storm the lower town. It is sufficiently known that Montgomery fell in this attempt, and his forces, amounting to 700, repulsed by the bravery of 50 men, under the conduct of Mr. John Coffin, a native of Boston. Arnold about the same time made another attack with between six and seven hundred at the north end of the lower town. He was wounded upon his first approach and carried off by six of his at- tendants, while the remainder of his party entered the barrier, which was defended by two pieces of cannon, without any further opposition than the firing of a single gun. The Captain who commanded the post, and his whole company, were taken prisoners. But General Carleton perceiving the situation of affairs, sent two detachments to op- pose their progress, whilst a third party marched round upon their backs and assaulted them with undaunted resolution. The rebels finding themselves between two fires quickly surrendered themselves prisoners to the number of 532, after having above
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Wiscasset in Pownalborough
100 killed on the spot, while the royal party lost only the brave Lieut. Anderson and five or six privates. Some of those men who were conducted by Arnold through the wilderness happened to be absent upon the island of Orleans, and escaped at present only to suffer if possible still greater calamities. For after enduring all the severities of this rigorous climate, and losing their companions by sickness and cruel fatigue, the remain- der, a very small number, were driven with other rebel forces from the Plains of Abraham on the 6th of May, 1776. They were obliged to retreat with the utmost terror and precipitation and threw away their arms that they might run the faster. But in their flight they were first obstructed and then insulted by the inhabitants, and finally over- taken by the royal troops, who killed some and took others prisoners, so that an in- considerable remnant escaped to relate the woeful history of their misfortunes.
The Definition of Wiscasset
Wiscasset, originally the east precinct of Pownalborough, and the last of the four sister towns to part with the sonorous name of the mother settle- ment, received, in 1802, the name it has since borne. Although regarded by most authorities as an Indian locative word, or place-name, its origin, as well as its import has long been a puzzle to philologists, and so diverse have been the attempts to define its etymology and interpretation that a few of the hypothetical arguments advanced will be given in the hope of assist- ing future students to discover its true meaning and root.
The first attempt at its solution appears to have been made during the first year of the nineteenth century-Indian days then were not as far off as now-when Rev. Alden Bradford gave as its meaning: the "confluence of three rivers," or "the meeting of the waters"-a name peculiarly apt as applied to the Sheepscot River with its tidal idiosyncrasy at the narrows, where three rivers join, but rejected on the grounds that it lacked Indian roots.
Rev. Edward Ballard, in Geographical Names on the Coast of Maine, says of the import of Wiscasset:
Wiscasset, called by the Indians Wichcasset, has been thought to mean "the con- fluence of three waters" but there is nothing in the composition of the word to sustain the definition. The same may be said of "The place of Springs." Its origin, like that of the last word, (i.e. Wichacowick) Witsch kowass, plural of koe', -et, locative; Wich- kwass-et, Place of Pine-tree Cones, or Pine-cones-place.
J. Hammond Trumbull of Hartford, considered an eminent authority on Indian names, defined the word Wiscasset as "A place of yellow pines," but
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when we recall the fact that the yellow pine is now seldom, if ever, found north of Virginia, this definition cannot be accepted, unless it be found that they once grew here.
Joseph Wood, the erstwhile editor of the Seaside Oracle, and an historian and antiquary of no mean ability, thought the word was of Saxon origin; à propos of which he cited two early forms, "Wichcassick" and "Wichcassel," which appear in documents and records; "wich" meaning a town or bend in the river, a harbor; and "cassel," a camp or fortress; "Wichcassel" a town or military post, or a settlement in a bay, bend of a river or harbor, i. e., harbor-town.
Professor Henry L. Masta of Ottawa writes:
While I am not positive that my explanation is perfect, I am quite sure that Wis- casset has no reference whatever to land, as meadow, forest, field; to water, as sea, lake, river; to mountain, rock, nor to any material thing. . . . It is no wonder that you could not find its root.
It must be a nickname given to an Indian. That is not strange. It is done up to this day. Sometimes the father and sons, each has his own name. The names so given have a meaning but sometimes are so altered, that it is hard after hundreds of years to find their meaning. The only alteration in Wiscasset is the "s" instead of "c" in the first syllable. It should be Wiccasset. The last syllable, "et" has never been changed but it is not grammatical ; it should be id instead of et.
Wiccassid means: He is building a house.
I imagine he was the first Indian who owned a house there and it was a great sur- prise to the whites and other Indians.
Professor William F. Ganong, one of the best authorities on Indian place names analyzes Wiscasset as follows:
I find early recorded forms of the word given as Whiscasick in 1750 and 1758. This root Wis- or Whis- is identical with forms of Wes-, Oues-, etc. found in the prefix of many place-names in Maine (Weskeag, or Whiskeag, near Bath, Wessawaskeag at Thomaston; Acicac, Wechecak, &c, occuring several times in the Maritime Provinces), in all cases applied to tidal creeks, usually if not always bordered with salt-marshes. The tidal idea involves, apparently, the idea of the tide running out, as in the 8si'kkat, (=wheshikat) of Rasle's Abnaki Dictionary, p. 493, though it may involve the root esk, the stem for many words meaning, hay, grass &c. In any case this idea of a creek that runs dry (or nearly) with low tide, and is commonly if not always bordered with salt-marsh, offers a consistent interpretation of the main root in Wiscasset. The second root -ass- or -ess- seems clearly the diminutive, meaning little, and the terminal -t- is as clearly the locative termination, caught by the English either as -k or -t, and usually
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Wiscasset in Pownalborough
familiarized in time to -t. The word would thus mean, "the little tidal creek," the idea of a marsh border being more or less implied. Wesecakchich-k, (= Wesekashish-k) meaning little marsh creek, occurs in the Maritime Provinces.
As confirmation, I find that Williamson's History of Maine, 1832, I, p. 54 speaks of a salt marsh of 1000 acres near Wiscasset, as if important in the early settlement; but my local knowledge is wanting to follow it farther.
The following comprehensive analysis of the definition of the word Wis- casset was submitted by Mrs. Fannie Hardy Eckstorm, a recognized author- ity on Maine Indians.
Wiscasset is located about thirteen miles up the salt Sheepscot River, whose waters continue to be brackish for five miles above the large basin which forms its harbor. With the single exception, Marsh River, a tidal stream which enters it on the east and drains extensive salt marshes, no important streams come into the Sheepscot River below Sheepscot Falls, but several small ones, of fresh water, enter it from the surrounding hills.
This harbor which is wide and deep and almost entirely landlocked can be approached by ships straight from the ocean, the lower Sheepscot having in it, just below the harbor, a sharp double bend, with narrows where the unobstructed tide runs deep and strong. Its banks are high and ledgy, reach- ing in some places the height of palisades, and its channel of sufficient depth to make the harbor accessible to deep draught vessels. It has one of the finest harbors on the coast and its importance to shipping in the early days made the town the county seat of all eastern Maine. The harbor has another outlet, called Back River, running to the ocean through Montsweag Bay, which is of secondary importance and does not affect the Indian name of the place.
History of the Indian word Wiscasset.
An Indian deed to George Davie dated December 15, 1664 and recorded August, 1666, (York Deeds, Vol. II, folio 8) conveys land "on ye North West side of Whichacasecke Bay & Mountsweck bay," thus locating (in part) the present town of Wiscasset and giving as a bound the harbor to the eastward. Therefore the name Wis- casset originally applied to the water before the town, and explanations involving land- meanings are more or less, though perhaps not entirely, ruled out.
Another conveyance, dated December 21, 1663 (York Deeds, Vol. XVI, page -) speaks of Wichcaseege and Montswege Bays. Later forms of the word are:
1719. Wichcasseck Bay (York Deeds, IX: 89, 188)
1758. Whiscassick, Whisacasick (James Cargill's petition in Me. Hist. Colls., Docu- mentary Series, XXIV : 92, 93)
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Form for study.
Whichacasecke, 1664, seems the best form for use. It contains the full number of sylla- bles. The ch in the first syllable is sharp and well defined. The ending is a clean loca- tive. In Cargill's late form (1758) the sharp tch sound is broken down to an s and the root is blurred.
In Whichacasecke, the last syllable is a locative equal to ek, "at the".
Of the remainder of the word, whichacas, the middle syllable so often disappears that it makes possible that whicha is one root and cas another. These we will examine duly.
The form Wiscasset seems to be a softened form, broken down by the whites through confusion with Whiskeag to the westward, near Bath, and Wessaweskeag to the east, near Thomaston, which both come from a different root. The original ap- pears to have been Whicha-cas-ek. We would translate "at the outlet", river understood.
Explanations proposed.
It is unnecessary to examine in detail most of the explanations in print. Where there is entire disagreement among students of the language, the suggestions of amateurs, like Dr. Ballard and others, are hardly worth discussing. Even the Indians do not at all agree as to the meaning of this work. Everything depends upon what roots are chosen, and if there is variance here, the meanings given by experts must differ widely; the test of the right one will depend very largely upon how well it fits the place, as well as upon how closely it follows Indian ways of compounding words.
The following are several interpretations :
I. By Rev. Alden Bradford before 1800, "the meeting of three waters." Prof. W. F. Ganong wrote in a letter, July 5, 1932, "There seem to be no roots in the word. Presumably the letters ass have been mistaken for nass, meaning three; but such an in- terpretation is impossible for the n is indispensable in the root and would not be omitted from a place-name. Moreover, it is very unusual, if not unprecedented, for a numeral to occur in the middle of a word."
II. Prof. W. F. Ganong's own suggestion, made in the same letter, "the little tidal creek" is equally untenable because it does not fit the place. He had only the late weak forms to work upon and took "the root Wis- or Whis-, identical with forms of Wes-, Ques-, etc. found in the prefix of many place-names in Maine," "in all cases applied to tidal creeks, usually if not always bordered by salt-marshes." This is a perfect descrip- tion of the tributary coming into Wiscasset Harbor from the eastward, but the old Indian deed, unknown to Prof. Ganong, is proof that the original word meant some- thing else; for Whichacaseake Bay of the deed is no small tidal creek. The locality was unknown to Prof. Ganong and with only Cargill's weak forms to work with, he had no clue to the older forms of the word.
III. Chief Joseph Laurent, of the St. Francis tribe near Quebec, wrote: "Wiscassut is said to mean, at the yellow pines." (New Familiar Abenakis and English Dialogues, 1884, p. 222.) The objection to this is that the roots he used, wizôwi, yellow and kôa, a pine tree, do not combine; for koa, or kowa is the white pine and only that, and
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no Indian would ever speak of a yellow (or pitch) pine as a "yellow white pine"; he would have an entirely distinct word.
IV. Mr. William B. Cabot, who shares with Professor Ganong the reputation of being one of our finest Indian experts, gave no interpretation of his own, but wrote, Oct. 28, 1932, that Newell Lyon, a Penobscot Indian, had given him the form Whet- chakasika, and the meaning assigned was "wearing banks." Mr. Cabot cited as parallels, the Massachusetts Indian Wessaguscus, "where the worn banks are high and striking" and Saugus, or Saugust, which "seems to be the same, judging from the much used living sites there"; also the possiblity that Royall's River, or Westcustogo, might be a third instance nearer Wiscasset. The objection to this is that in 1663, the name Whicha- casecke was applied to a large basin of water where "the coast is sheer in most places" and the rocky banks could not be "worn away." The form given by Lyon is identical with the earliest recorded name of the place (the difference in spelling not mattering at all), but his interpretation is either a guess or from some root which does not describe the place.
V. My own offering is based upon the three forms:
1664. Whichacasecke Bay (Indian deed) 1900. Whetchakasika (Newell Lyon) Wichigaskitaywek (Prof. J. Dyneley Prince in Am. Anthro- pologist, New Series, XII: 206)
This last word Professor Prince definies as the "outlet of a river"; from wechi, "from, out"; kask, a root meaning "go out"; tegwe, "a river", and the locative k, signifying "at", or some particular place. Where that place is Professor Prince does not say; but the word, except for including "river", suppressed in the other two is the same word that goes back to 1664. He defines it as "the outlet of a river"; if the others added an ending meaning "the outlet of the bay", the word would still be the same; or it may be simply "the outlet".
The word sauk, or sank, or sahk (all pronounced the same) is the ordinary word for an outlet, or mouth of a river. The word wetchi, or wechi or wetci is comparatively rare. It is found in Rev. M. C. O'Brien's manuscript notes, as meaning "form." It seems to be involved in certain tide-words, as Rasle's Sai'khat (equal to wheshikat) the ebbing tide; and in wich-car-wan-gar-wessin, ebb tide; wichikankut, "it comes in", flood tide. There seems to be a reference to the very strong tide which flows through the narrows at the mouth of the harbor. It is more than the ordinary "discharge" of a river at the outlet; it "comes out."
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