COLLECTIONS
OF THE
MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
THIRD SERIES, VOL. I
PORTLAND
PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY
1904
LEFAVOR-TOWER COMPANY
PORTLAND, MAINE
CONTENTS
In Commemoration of the Millenary Anniversary of the Death of
King Alfred the Great,
Opening Address. By Hon. James Phinney Baiter, . . 1
The Life and Character of King Alfred. By Prof. J. William
Black, Ph.D., 5
Alfred a Writer and a Patron of Learning. By Prof. Henry L.
Chapman, 29
The Anglo-Saxon Constitution and Laws in the Time of Alfred
the Great. By Hon. Albert R. Savage, 42
Alfred the Great as a Christian. By Asa Dalton, D.D., . 62
Richmond's Island. By Hon. James Phinney Baxter, . . 66
Rev. Josiah Winship. By Rev. Henry O. Thayer, ... 88
The Plymouth Colonists in Maine. By Henry S. Burrage, D.D., 116
The Proposed Province of New Ireland. By Hon. Joseph
Williamson, .......... 147
James W. Bradbury. By Hon. George F. Emery, ... 158
Major-General Hiram G. Berry. By Gen. Charles P. Mattocks, 162
Presentation of Rufus Mclntire's Sword. By Philip W. Mclntyre, 187
The Capture of the " Caleb Gushing." By Hon. Clarence Hale, 191
Rev. Freeman Parker and the Church in Dresden. By Charles K.
Allen, 212
Church and State in New England. By Hon. Augustus F.
Moulton, 221
The Occasion of the Expulsion of the Acadians in 1755. By
Henry S. Burrage, D.D., 252
Rev. Thomas Smith, D.D., and His First Parish of Falmouth,
Now Portland. By Rev. John Carroll Perkins, . . 288
Windham's Colored Patriot. By Samuel T. Dole, . . .316
James Sullivan. By Horace H. Burbank, Esq., . . . 322
A Proposed New Arrangement of New England in 1764. Com-
municated by Hon. Joseph Williamson, ..... 339
Paul Little, Esq. By Samuel T. Dole, 344
The Attitude of Maine in the Northeastern Boundary Contro-
versy. By Henry S. Burrage, D.D., 353
Public Career of Thomas B. Reed. By Richard Webb, Esq., 369
IV CONTENTS
PAGE
Extracts from the Early Records of the First Church in New
Marblehead (now Windham, Maine). By Samuel T. Dole, 390
Early Recollections of the Cumberland and Oxford Canal. By
S. B. Cloudman, 397
The Last Tragedy of the Indian Wars : the Preble Massacre at
the Kennebec. By Rev. Henry O. Thayer, ... 406
General Samuel Thompson of Brunswick and Topsham, Maine.
By Nathan Goold, 423
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Major-General Hiram G. Berry, 162
Major-General Berry's Monument, ...... 185
First Parish Meeting-house, 1740 to 1826, 307
Hon. Thomas B. Reed, 369
IN COMMEMORATION OF THE MILLENARY
ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEATH OF
KING ALFRED THE GREAT.
NOVEMBER 1, 1901.
MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS
OPENING ADDRESS
BY HON. JAMES PHINNEY BAXTER, PRESIDENT OF THE SOCIETY
It has been the practice from the earliest times for
civilized peoples to publicly commemorate important
episodes in the lives of those who have made them-
selves conspicuous by great achievements, not alone
for the purpose of showing reverence for the mighty
dead, but for the loftier one of keeping bright the
memory of virtues worthy to be emulated by the
living.
It is in accordance with this practice that we have
assembled to celebrate the nativity of a man so grand,
that the memory of what he wrought for a great race
from whose loins we sprang, has survived the mirk
and moil of a thousand years. A thousand years !
How fared the world in that remote day when Alfred,
the anniversary of whose death we commemorate,
opened his eyes upon it? Surely it was not the
world upon which we look to-day. Then, the activi-
ties of men were universally devoted to war, and an
able warrior stood for the highest type of manhood.
Race strove with race and tribe with tribe marring
the face of nature with carnage and desolation. To
wrest their dearest possessions from alien peoples and
devote them to servitude and sorrow, was a meritorious
VOL. IX. 2
2 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
achievement worthy the meed of poetic eulogy, and
the precious crown of heroic virtue. At the time
of Alfred's birth, the little island of England was
divided into petty principalities governed by rulers,
who were jealous of each other, and who acted together
against the common enemy, the Danes, only as their
selfish interests dictated. These fierce sea rovers
made annual incursions into the country, first despoil-
ing the sea coast towns and then ascending the water
ways into the interior, ravaging and slaying as they
went. There was no part of England which was not
kept in continual alarm by these raids of a cruel and
implacable enemy, whose sudden appearance in unex-
pected places, prevented the people from making com-
mon cause against them, as they dared not leave their
own settlements unprotected. Emboldened by suc-
cess, these marauders swarmed together and estab-
lished themselves permanently on the soil, which
enabled them more successfully to prosecute their
designs. Continual warfare and slaughter was the
result, and for a long time it seemed that the English
people were doomed to destruction. In this condition
of affairs the childhood and youth of Alfred were
passed. Brave, prudent and sincere, he was the
favorite of all.
Says Asser, his friend and biographer, " Beloved
was he by both father and mother alike with a great
affection beyond all his brothers ; yea, the very darling
of all. It was in the king's court that he was brought
up. As he grew both in childhood and boyhood, so
showed he ever fairer than his brethren, and, in looks
KING ALFRED THE GREAT 3
and words and ways, the lovesomest. Above all, from
his very cradle and through all the distractions of
this present life, his own noble temper and his high
birth absorbed in him a longing after wisdom."
When his father and three brothers had died after
enjoying brief reigns, the last having been slain in
battle, the advent of Alfred to the throne revived in
the hearts of the English people a hope of deliverance
from their pitiless oppressors. Though often reduced
to almost hopeless conditions, his confidence in achiev-
ing success never waned, and overcoming all obstacles
he finally conquered the Danes, established order and
placed England in a position of security not hitherto
enjoyed. This alone would have entitled him to the
term great, but it satisfied only a part of the worthy
ambition which he cherished. Long continued war-
fare had seriously interfered with the proper admin-
istration of law, and education, and literature. As
soon as peace was won the great warrior became a
law-giver, and reconstructed the legal code of his
realm, at the same time devoting himself to educa-
tion and literature. As a man of letters Jusserand
calls him, " The chief promoter of the art of prose, "
and another French writer, Guizot, says that "He
opened to the Anglo-Saxon tongue itself a new era by
impenetrating it with strong thoughts and precise
notions, which it was not yet accustomed to bear.
Therein is the original work of Alfred, the seal of his
genius." Well has Alfred been called a Miltiades for
military genius, a Themistocles for statesmanship, and
a Pericles for humanity and wisdom.
4 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
We to-day honor Alfred not because he was a king,
or a successful ruler of a great people, but as a wise
and noble man, worthy of universal honor in any age ;
in fact, a man whom every American, however high
his ideal, may imitate with profit.
KING ALFRED THE GREAT
THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF KING ALFRED
BY PROFESSOR J. WILLIAM BLACK, PH.D., COLBY COLLEGE
In September of this year there gathered in Win-
chester, England, distinguished people from all parts
of the English-speaking world, bent upon one object,
that of doing honor to the memory of a great man.
Just one thousand years ago death put an end to the
reign of King Alffed, a reign so full of fruitage and
marked by many achievements so important for the
future of England and the Anglo-Saxon race. Men of
letters, representatives of the great universities, were
there from Great Britain and Ireland ; Canada, Aus-
tralia, New Zealand, India, America joined with the
British Empire in paying homage to the memory of
this man and in taking part in the unveiling of
Thornycroft's majestic bronze statue of King Alfred.
Our own country is comparatively young and is not
so enriched with historic traditions as the countries of
the old world. But our people belong to a race that
is as old as Europe itself. The ancestors of Alfred
are our ancestors. Their institutions are our institu-
tions. And community of interests and historic tra-
ditions demand that we remember in this fitting
celebration the best type of our race.
The Saxon conquest of Britain in the fifth century
was a first step in the westward migration of the
English from the shores of Germany. The English
conquest of North America in the sixteenth and
6 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
seventeenth centuries was a second step in this move-
ment, and in America find the English in their third
home. We still have much to learn from the past and
about the past. It is a strong incentive to historical
research to know that the records of the past have
not all been revealed. We are learning more to-day of
the ancients than they knew of themselves. Egypt,
Assyria, Rome are arising anew in the clearer light
of historical truth and revealing facts that the world
has not hitherto known. It is the same with our own
history. It is safe to say that Alfred and his work
are better understood to-day than they ever were
before. The real Alfred is a different thing from the
mythical Alfred. The pioneer efforts of the Saxon
are better understood in the light of to-day than by
the contemporaries of the Saxon king himself. Let
us, therefore, endeavor to put before our minds the
true Alfred and profit by his example to the race.
Prior to the time of Alfred, England lacked national
unity. Before the migration of the English to
Britain they had only a tribal organization. They
had not the conception of a nation, nor did they know
even the name of king. It was this government that
the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes brought with
them from Germany at the time of the English con-
quest in the fifth century. Crowding back the native
population ( the Britons ), they occupied the land and
established many independent kingdoms. Their con-
quest was complete.
In time there were three of these English kingdoms
that acquired especial prominence : Northumbria in
KING ALFRED THE GREAT 7
the north ; Mercia occupying the center of England,
and Wessex in the south. A struggle for supremacy
was inevitable, and the work of national consolidation
began. A powerful ally in this effort was the English
church, which was firmly established as a part of the
great continental church of Rome at the Council of
Whitby, 664.
The Gewissas, who settled in southern England
and founded Wessex, the kingdom of the West Saxons,
had chosen their home wisely, a country compact in
area, well fortified* by nature, studded with woodland
and stream, easily protected against the invader ;
withal a good foundation for the work of national
consolidation. Winchester, occupying the geograph-
ical center of this region, and easily accessible from all
parts of Wessex, was likewise its logical capital. The
river Thames was a barrier on the north which
fortified the West Saxons against their Mercian and
Northumbrian kinsmen of that region.
By the time of Egbert, or in any event before his
death in 839, the king of Wessex became the over-
lord of all the various English kingdoms in Britain.
He was the last of the so-called " Bretwaldas " l before
the coming of the Danes. Though Egbert has some-
times been called the king of all England, he never
deserved such a title. The national federation of the
English kingdoms Kent, Essex, Sussex, Wessex,
Mercia, East Anglia and Northumberland was of the
loosest sort, each having its own ruler, Egbert being
merely recognized as an over-lord. Egbert, however,
i See Stubbs' Constitutional History of England, vol. 1, 180, 181
MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
was a vigorous ruler and was fortunate in his success-
ors of the West Saxon line. They gave the country
good government and hastened the establishment of a
national kingdom. In this they were aided and
encouraged by the clergy, who saw in national unity,
under a powerful sovereign, likewise a national church
protected and sustained by the state.
But let us remember that Egbert, though his over-
lordship was generally recognized, had not become
king of England. It was reserved for Alfred to
become the first king of the English, but he was not
the ruler of all England at that. Nevertheless, the
work that Alfred did made it possible for his descend-
ant, Eadred, in 954, to assume the crown of all
England and to become the first national king.
While the over-lordship of Egbert was the first
step in the progress toward national unity, pressure
from the outside completed, in a measure, the work
already begun within. The Northmen, or Danes,
furnished this pressure. The sea rovers of the north
began to infest the shores of Britain before the time
of Egbert, as early as 787. However, it was in the
time of this king (802-839), the grandfather of
Alfred, that their attacks became persistent, and the
attention and energy of Wessex must be turned from
the problem of national consolidation to that of the
defence of their kingdom against a foreign foe.
Northumbria, East Anglia and Mercia had been
overthrown by the Danes and all with comparative
ease. Of all the old English kingdoms, Wessex alone
retained her independence. Upon her now fell the
KING ALFRED THE GREAT 9
brunt of preserving England for the Anglo-Saxon.
Was she equal to the task? Let us see.
In the church the Saxon found an able ally.
Indeed, the work of national consolidation was really
begun by the church. As early as the seventh cen-
tury Archbishop Theodore of Tarsus, introduced an
ecclesiastical administrative system that covered the
whole of England and assembled, in 673, at Hertford,
the first general English church council. His work
on behalf of unity in the church prepared the way
for a united Englfsh nation. Just as the church on
the continent furnished a powerful agent in overcom-
ing the decentralizing tendencies of feudalism, so did
the Roman church in Great Britain solidify the peo-
ple. The state profited by the organization and the
example of the church.
Now the Dane came as a foe to both, aiming on the
one hand to overthrow the political power ; on the
other hand, offering his heathen gods Wodan and
Thor in the place of Christ. The Dane exacted
tribute of the people of Northumbria and Mercia, and
the tribute was paid. The over-lordship, established
by Egbert, was undone. The Dane now approached
the Thames. He looked for an easy conquest of the
south. It seemed now as if nothing could prevent a
change of leadership and of nationality.
In the year 871, the Danes appeared upon the
Thames under a new leader, Guthrum. They went
up the river west of London and placed their camp
at Reading. In the region of Berkshire, and to the
northwest of the Danish camp, lies the town of
10 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Wantage ( just a few miles southwest of Oxford). It
was one of the little sparsely settled village commu-
nities of the Saxons and was designated by Alfred's
biographer, Asser, as the "royal village of Wanating." 1
Here Alfred was born in 849. He was the fifth and
youngest son of Ethelwulf and Osburh. Very little is
known of his early years, and much of what is known
is obscured in the veil of myth. His biographer traces
his descent in direct line from Adam and Wodan.
Doubtless Alfred came of a staunch family of noble
blood. We know little more than this of his ancestry.
We are told that in his fifth year he went to Rome,
where he was " anointed for king " by Pope Leo IV
and "adopted as his spiritual son"; further, that at
the age of six he was taken by his father from Rome
to the court of Charles the Bald at Verberie, northern
France, where he spent three months and then re-
turned to England. It is said that his experiences at
Rome and at the Frankish court made upon the boy
a great and permanent impression, which profoundly
affected his subsequent life. It is a strain upon the
imagination to accept this statement, though, without
a doubt, Alfred was a precocious youth.
Nevertheless, this boyhood experience is said to
account for the cosmopolitan and international spirit
of King Alfred, his freedom from insular narrowness,
and his deep interest in the brotherhood of man and
of nations.
As a manifestation of an early love of letters, his
biographer gives us this story. His mother one day
1 Asset's Life of Alfred, in Giles' Six Old English Chronicles ( Bohn), p. 43.
KING ALFRED THE GREAT 11
was showing an illuminated Saxon book of poems to
her boys, and remarked " Whichever of you shall the
soonest learn this volume, shall have it for his own." 1
The beauty of its letters pleased the eye of Alfred.
He took the book to his master, learned to recite it
promptly, then came to his mother, repeated the
poems, and won the coveted prize. While this story
is improbable, for we know that Alfred could not have
been over four years of age at the time of this inci-
dent, and from other evidence that we have, the
story is found to Be inconsistent with the facts, never-
theless it may be true in spirit in that it signalized in
the young man an ardent love of learning and an
enmity for ignorance which had such important con-
sequences in his later years.
Alfred married at the early age of nineteen. He
seems to have been afflicted with some mysterious
disease which burdened him to the end of his days,
but as to its real nature we are left, to conjecture.
Alfred's rearing was amid stormy times in the history
of his people. Evidence enough of this we find in the
fact that, though he was the fifth son, and his father
and three of his brothers had preceded him on the
throne, the crown was placed upon his head when he
was but twenty-two years of age. He had already
served several years in the army and had learned
the art of war under his brother, King Ethelred.
That the Saxons were aiming at national unity is
further evident from the fact that marriage alliances
were negotiated with that end in view. Alfred's sister
1 Awer, 61.
12 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
had married one of the Gainas of the kingdom of
Mercia, and by and by he marries his own daughter
to a Mercian, Ethelred, whom he placed as alderman
( chieftain ) over the Mercians.
We return to the Danes at their camp at Reading,
on the upper Thames, where they were now preparing
for the subjugation of the last of the English king-
doms. The West Saxons attacked the Danish camp,
but were defeated and forced to retire up the valley
of the Thames to the heart of their country. Again the
Saxons met the pagans, as they preferred to call the
Danes, at Ashdown, and here the pagans had the
advantage of higher ground and the better position.
While King Ethelred and his brother Alfred were
arrayed against them, the brunt of the battle fell
upon Alfred. He assumed the offensive and charged
the Danes. Ethelred delayed his forward movement
until he had finished the mass. He refused to " aban-
don the divine protection for that of men." God was
on the side of the Saxons and they won the day. The
Danes fell back upon their rallying point at Reading.
Ethelred, having been mortally wounded in this con-
flict, " went the way of all flesh," and was succeeded
at once by Alfred ( 871 ).*
Meanwhile fresh swarms of the Danes were coming
up the Thames to reinforce their comrades, and a
portion of them penetrated into the heart of the West
Saxon territory and camped at Wilton. Alfred was
now outnumbered and was compelled to resort to the
disgraceful proceeding of buying peace from the
1 Asser, 66.
KING ALFRED THE GREAT 13
invaders. This hour of humiliation was a dark one for
Alfred and his people. The Danes let Wessex alone for
a while, but Alfred well knew that a peace secured on
such terms could not be a lasting one. He was right.
The Danes were simply gathering their forces for
another and final struggle. They now organized in
two sections. One of these was sent against the north
of England and the other and most important, under
their leader Guthrum, was preparing at Cambridge
for an assault upon Wessex. In 876, Guthrum began
his expedition. He embarked in a number of vessels
and sailed around to the southern coast of Wessex to
Dorsetshire. They landed at Wareham. Alfred, too
weak to meet them in battle, again purchased peace,
and the Danes swore by all the relics that they would
at once leave his kingdom.
Again the pagans proved faithless to their vows,
and we next find a number of them coming down
from the north and occupying Exeter, on the extreme
western border of Essex. But the Saxons, rallying
their forces, compelled the Danes to surrender at
Exeter and again to agree to leave the country.
The latter retired to the north, up the valley of the
Severn, but only for a brief respite. After a few
months spent at Gloucester, they swooped down upon
the Saxons again, occupying the heart of their king-
dom, in the region of Chippenham, and terrorizing
the whole country. The efforts of their land forces
were ably seconded by a Danish fleet of twenty-three
ships, which operated in the British channel upon the
coast of Devonshire.
14 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Alfred's courage did not desert him. With a few
faithful followers he now sought a quiet retreat, and
as Green suggests, "waited for brighter days." 1
His retreat was at Athelney, a small island in the
river Parret, a branch of the Severn, surrounded by
swamps and woodland, which made it well-nigh inac-
cessible. Here he constructed a fortress, and in three
short months made ready for the defence of his
country.
Alfred was " in great tribulation/' 2 This was his
Valley Forge. He " spent an unquiet life among the
woodlands," suffering even for the necessaries of life ;
part of the time in disguise we are told, and it was
during these days that Alfred staid at the home of a
cowherd or swineherd of his who knew him, though
Alfred was unknown to the peasant's wife. One day
the woman was baking some cakes and ordered
Alfred, who sat by the hearth, mending his bow and
arrows, to watch them. Alfred, unmindful of his trust,
allowed the cakes to burn ; whereon the good house-
wife coming in rebuked him in the following terms :
" Ca'sn the mind the Ke-aks, man, an'
doossen zee 'em burn ?
I'm boun thee's eat 'em vast enough, az
zoon az 'tiz the turn." 3
or, as it is paraphrased by Freeman,
u There, don't you see the cakes on fire ? Then
wherefore turn them not ?
You're glad enough to eat them when they are
pi ping hot." 4
1 Green's Conquest of England, 105 ; Anglo-Saxon Chronicle ( Ed. Giles), $56.
2 Asser, 60.
3 Asser, 60.
4 Frelman's Old English History, 121, 122.
KING ALFRED THE GREAT 15
This and other improbable stories were the product
of this disquieting and mysterious part of Alfred's
career.
The men of Somersetshire, Wiltshire, and Hamp-
shire were gathered together by their aldermen, and
in the seventh week after Easter, 878, Alfred met his
host at the " Stone of Egbert," on the east of the great
forest Selwood. This great wood, in the extreme
southwestern quarter of England, had covered the
gathering of Alfred's army and " when they saw the
king alive after such great tribulation," says Asser,
" they received him as he deserved, with joy and
acclamations." 1
Moving now upon Edington or Ethandun, Alfred
met and " with divine help " defeated the enemy,
compelled them to retreat to their camp at Chippen-
harn hard by, and after a siege of fourteen days, to
make a complete surrender. The surrender was
unconditional and the victory a decisive one. The
consequences of it were most important, for a peace,
known to history as the Peace of Wedmore, was
negotiated between Alfred and Guthrum. The Danes
agreed, first, to leave the territory of Wessex ; sec-
ondly, to embrace Christianity and receive baptism
from the hands of Alfred ; thirdly, to give hostages as
a guarantee of good faith. Guthrum and his nobles
this time fulfilled their promises, their baptism taking
place a few days later at Aller, near Athelney, and
the " chrism-loosing " at Wedmore. 2
1 Aeser, 63.
2 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 359.
16 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
By the terms of this treaty, England was divided
between the English and the Danes, the line of divi-
sion being Watling street, the ancient and irregular
Roman road connecting London and the southeast
with Chester and the northwest of England. The
valleys of the upper Thames and of the Severn,
together with all southern England, remained in the
hands of the English. The north and east became
the Danelaw, so-called, because it was under Danish
law and rule and was governed by Guthrum.
Territorially this Peace of Wedmore meant a defeat,
because the English were obliged to accept the Danish
occupation of considerable English territory ; but the
peace had a greater significance ; the country was
saved for the English and the moral victory was
really Alfred's. As Charles the Hammerer had turned
aside at Tours, in western France, the tide of Sara-
cenic invasion a century and a half before and had
saved Europe from an Asiatic foe and an Oriental
faith, so had Alfred at this moment turned the tide of
Danish invasion and had saved England from becom-
ing pagan and the country from becoming Scandina-
via. Besides, he had united his people. He had
even added the western half of Mercia to his kingdom
and increased its territorial base. The Mercian pre-
ferred a Saxon to a Danish rule. Moreover, Alfred
had not only saved England for Christianity but had
enforced the Christian religion upon the Danelaw.
Further, he had broken the power of the Danes and
they were obliged to give up their dream of a great
Scandinavian kingdom, either in western Europe or
KING ALFRED THE GREAT. 17
in Great Britain. Alfred was the instrument of the
Danes' undoing.
Another fortunate result of Wedmore was the fact
that the Danes, many of them, now settled down in
northern and eastern England and gave up the imple-
ments of war for the implements of the farm. Those
of a more adventurous turn of mind went to Iceland
or to the Mediterranean, seeking new fields to con-
quer. Alfred, however, did not know his work was
done. The sword of the invader and of the pirate
still hung over his head. He did not yet believe the
peace of his country secured. But Alfred was a phil-
osopher. " Oh, what a happy man was he," he says,
" that always had a naked sword hanging over his
head from a small thread ! " Adding, significantly,
"So as to me it always yet did." " How ! dost thou
think now that wealth and power are pleasing, when
they are never without fear, and difficulties, and sor-
rows ? What ! thou knowest that every king would
wish to be without these, and yet have power, if he
might ; but I know that he cannot." 1
But the constant fear of a renewal of hostilities by
the Danes was the making of Alfred and his kingdom.
It kept him on the alert. He now prepared for future
emergencies, and the results were a permanent gain
for England. No one better understood the signifi-
cance of the maxim " In time of peace prepare for
war " than Alfred himself. Fortunate for him and
his people was it that he now had a long interval of
peace. He instituted reforms and put Wessex upon
Turner's History of the Anglo-Saxons ( Alfred's Boethius ), II, 46.
VOL. IX. 3
18 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
a sound war footing. The country had been laid waste ;
buildings, churches, monasteries, destroyed. These
must be renewed, confidence restored, hope revived.
To replenish a depleted treasury, the time-worn expe-
dient of debasing the currency had been resorted to,
and it is to Alfred's credit and fame that he saw the
necessity of a sound currency, and before the end of
his reign restored the currency to a better standard.
The army, known as the fyrd, was a general levy of
the male population and made up of all free land
owners ; in other words, a levy of the whole folk,
summoned by order of the National Assembly. They
came poorly equipped with staves and clubs, for arms
were expensive ; they could not remain in service
long because they were needed at home to till the
fields and gather the crops. Custom had fixed the
length of service at two months. In consequence,
the king had no permanent army ; his force would
melt away oftentimes at the moment when they were
most needed.
Alfred now introduced an important innovation.
The fyrd or national rnilitia was divided into two
parts, and each portion took its turn in the field,
while the other, acting as a reserve force, remained at
home to look after the farms and defend the boroughs.
Further, the country was divided into military dis-
tricts, and each five hides ( 500 acres ) of land were
required to furnish an armed man and provide him
with victuals and pay.
These, together with other reforms leading to
an increase in the number of thanes or wealthy
KING ALFRED THE GREAT 19
landholders, who were dependent upon the king and
bound to serve him in arms when summoned, gave
the king a large and permanent force for his military
enterprises.
Another reform of Alfred's was the creation of a
navy. Alfred saw the necessity of sea power, if he
hoped permanently to defend his kingdom. He might
be ever so strong on land, but until he acquired the
mastery of the sea he could not protect his coast from
invasion. The Saxons had no navy whatever, and
among them navigation had well-nigh become a lost
art. Alfred now built larger vessels than the Danes,
and at first was obliged to have them manned by for-
eigners imported from Friesland on the continent,
as there were no natives with the requisite experi-
ence. His new navy was serviceable in his own reign,
in checking the raids of the Northmen, and so rapid
was the naval expansion that in the time of his son
and successor, Edward the Elder, the English con-
trolled the channel. The significance of all this is
that Alfred may be said to have laid the foundations
of England's naval supremacy.
There is still another reform to be credited to
Alfred, and that was his preparation of a common
" doom-book " or code of laws. There was nothing
new, however, in Alfred's laws, for they were compiled
from the old laws of Kent, of Mercia, and from the
laws of his Saxon ancestor, Ina. But the significant
fact about it all was the creation of a national code
of laws, a code no longer circumscribed by the bounds
of the tribe, but valid for all the English.
20 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Another advantage which accrued to the West
Saxons as a result of Alfred's victory was this : the
Danish war had put an end to the royal lines of the
kingdoms of Northumbria, East Anglia, and Mercia.
It was, therefore, now the business of Alfred to become
king of the Mercians as well as of the Saxons. But
right here we have an exhibition of tact on the part
of Alfred which was characteristic of the man. He
allowed the Mercians to retain their national assem-
bly, called in Anglo-Saxon phraseology, the Witen-
agemot ( assembly of the wise men ), and he
placed over them a ruler of their own kin, Ethelred,
his own son-in-law, and gave him the title of
alderman. Kent and Sussex had already lost their
identity in Wessex, and in this tactful manner Mercia
is likewise absorbed. Alfred is king of the English
(of Jute, Saxon, and Angle). Alfred's is a real
authority ; Egbert's had been only a titular author-
ity a mere over-lordship. The signs now point to
the time when the king of the English shall
likewise become king of England ; an event which
was accomplished half a century later in the reign of
Eadred(954).
If we would recall in this connection that there was
a change of dynasty from English to Danish in the
time of King Canute ( 1016-1035 ), and again, in 1066,
from English to Norman rule, let us remember that
these changes were mere changes of sovereign and had
little or no effect on the unity of the kingdom or the
character of the race. Indeed, the solid inheritance
that Alfred left his son Edward was transmitted
KING ALFRED THE GREAT 21
ultimately to the Great Edward 1 who reigned at the
close of the thirteenth century and was the first typical
English king after the Norman conquest.
In the interval of peace which Alfred enjoyed
between 878 and 884, and during which he was mak-
ing the preparations and instituting the reforms just
described, the Northmen had turned their attention
to France, but with little success. Once more they
bore down upon England, but Alfred's new fleet drove
them off. Again they came, in larger number, up
the Thames as far as Rochester, but again they were
defeated, and Guthrum was punished for his co-oper-
ation in this effort. Alfred made another advance as
a result of this brief struggle, for Guthrum by the
terms of the " Frith " or Peace of 886 was obliged to
surrender London and the western half of Essex north
of the Thames. The Peace of Wedmore had left Lon-
don in the hands of the Danes. Its return now to
Alfred was the making of that city. The results of
the " Frith " were three-fold : First, Alfred recon-
structed London, and became the real founder of that
city ; secondly, he had secured control of the river
Thames, which hitherto had been the entering wedge
of the Danes ; thirdly, Alfred's military activity had
passed from the stage of defense to the stage of
aggressiveness another important step in the work
of national consolidation.
It was the beginning of the end of the Danelaw.
Henceforth the Danes are thrown upon the defensive.
Green points to the year 886 as the year of the
1 Edward 1, 1272-1807.
22 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
" foundation of a national monarchy." 1 Provincial
jealousies were quieted. Wessex was the only English
kingdom, and Wessex had successfully withstood the
Danes. Alfred was the national hope. Patriotism knit
together all parts of Alfred's dominion and gave prom-
ise of greater things. Alfred had saved the English
civilization. The Dane came as a destroyer; culture,
art, religion, almost disappeared in the wake of his
raids. Alfred came as a restorer, and right nobly did
he assume the responsibility, and fulfill his mission.
Alfred's contribution to learning and letters consti-
tutes, perhaps, his greatest monument. His efforts in
this direction attest the breadth of his character and
generosity of his soul, for he could appreciate a good
thing, though he found it in the possession of an
enemy. He gathered scholars to his court from all
lands and all nationalities. He knew that to com-
mand learning, he must go abroad for it, so he invited
the Franks from the continent to preside over the new
monasteries that he established. Further, he drew
upon his Mercian kinsmen for service in the cause of
learning and education. His own biographer and
court companion, Asser, was a Welshman, the arch-
enemy of the English ; but this circumstance in no
wise prejudiced the mind of Alfred nor affected his
regard for Asser.
It was Alfred's solicitude that the youth of his land
should know their own tongue, and " let those," he
says, " be afterwards taught in the Latin tongue who
are to continue learning and be promoted to a higher
1 Green'g Conquest of England, 147.
KING ALFRED THE GREAT 23
rank." 1 To that end text books in the vernacular
must be produced. Giving himself to this task, Alfred
changed the tide from Latin to English and became
the founder of an English prose literature the first
of all modern literatures. As author and transla-
tor Alfred himself became the leader and pioneer in
this movement. Moreover, Alfred the author was not
a slavish translator, but an editor and a philosopher,
for he enriched his narrative with his own thought.
He mastered the Latin, that he might translate him-
self, but was alwa/s modest as to his abilities and his
learning. 2 Unlike Charles the Great, he was not only
a patron of scholars, but a scholar himself. And to
this extent Alfred had an advantage over his kinsmen
on the continent in that it made him a leader in his
own literary court.
The " stillness " of Alfred's reign was again broken,
in 893, when a Danish fleet of 250 vessels assembled
at Boulogne for an attack upon the English coast.
They succeeded in landing and occupying a portion
of Kent. For the next four years Alfred, with the
assistance of his son Edward and his son-in-law Eth-
elred, was kept busy pursuing them from east to west
and west to east again. But in 897 their fleet was
bottled up in the river Lea, not far from London, and
the Danish force rapidly went to pieces. This marked
the conclusion of Alfred's wars.
1 Alfred's Preface to Gregory's Pastoral Care, in Green, Conquest of England, 153.
2 " But now he begs of those who may please to read the book, In God's name, to
pray for him, and not to blame him if they should understand it better than he was
able to do. For every man must, according to the ability of his intellect, say what
he says, and do what he does." Preface to Alfred's Translation of Boethius' Conso-
lations of Philosophy, in Pauli'a Alfred the Great, 174.
24 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
His was no "soft" life. Alfred frequently revealed
himself in his literary work, as he does in the passage
from his translation of Boethius, in which he remarks,
" No wise man should desire a soft life, if he careth
for any virtues or any worship here from the world,
or for eternal life after this world. But every wise
man should struggle both against hard fortune and
against a pleasant one : lest he should presume upon
his good fortune, or despair of his bad one." 1 The
man who could utter such sentiments was no common
man.
ALFRED'S CHARACTER.
Though removed by a thousand years, the lessons
of Alfred's reign are as pertinent to-day as they were
for the Saxons. That such wisdom and perfection of
character, combined with the vigor of youth, should
reside in one man is one of the marvels of history.
Freeman calls Alfred " the most perfect character in
history" 2 and confesses his inability to represent ade-
quately and with justice the virtues of this man.
His reign continued for thirty years, but in that
time was accomplished what took centuries of effort
on the continent of Europe. It is noteworthy that
Alfred, of all the Saxon kings, his predecessors and
successors, many of whom were able men and strong
rulers, is the only one that stands out with distinct-
ness in early English history.
Frederic Harrison pays him this tribute : " Of all
the names in history there is only our English Alfred
1 Turner's Anglo-Saxons, II, 48. 49.
2 Freeman's Norman Conquest, I, 33.
KING ALFRED THE GREAT 25
whose record is without stain and without weakness
who is equally amongst the greatest of men in genius,
in magnanimity, in valour, in moral purity, in intel-
lectual force, in practical wisdom, and in beauty of
soul." 1
The virtues of Alfred are many. They would make
a long roll. First of all was his simplicity of charac-
ter, his interest in the common people, his desire for
their education. Like our Washington, he was con-
tent to do his plain duty. There was not a selfish
streak anywhere in Alfred. The welfare of his peo-
ple was his constant care. He was forgiving of his
enemies and treated them always with the utmost
fairness. Moreover, he was not ambitious of personal
glory. He aimed at results and not at self-glorifica-
tion. In his numerous translations there was much
that was his own thought. Nevertheless, he was con-
tent that others might have the full credit of author-
ship, himself satisfied if by precept and suggestion
he could lift the moral level of his people.
Alfred was modest and he had the rare statesman-
like quality of being able to estimate his own limita-
tions. When Alfred got the upper hand of the Danes,
he was content to consolidate and solidify what he had
acquired. He did not make the mistake of his conti-
nental predecessor of the same race, Charles the Great,
and continue the work of territorial expansion without
nationalization, leaving to his successors an empire
that should fall asunder. That Alfred knew his
bounds and kept within them, is a tribute to his
1 Harrison's Alfred as King, in Bowker'i Alfred the Great, eh. 2, p. 41.
26 MALNE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
political sagacity. Without Alfred there could have
been no Eadred, king of all England.
Alfred was not a believer in national isolation. He
continued the allegiance of England to the papal
court at Rome ; he sent out expeditions to explore
the Baltic and lands that were unknown to him, and
established commercial relations with the countries
of the continent. Further, Alfred was free from petty
and provincial jealousies. His large-mindedness led
him to recognize ability in others, and no matter of
what nationality, the learned always stood upon an
equal footing at his court. His example of toleration
was really unparallelled and in advance of his age.
Alfred was methodical, prudent, systematic. There
was no limit to his energy and no field of activity for
which his talents did not seem to fit him. He was as
fond of sport as of work. He followed the chase, pat-
ronized the crafts. His love of justice was proverbial,
and he kept his finger constantly upon his judges ;
he allowed nothing to escape him. Busy man that he
was, he found time to hear many appeals to his jus-
tice. His biographer says of those who sought the
king they " knew that in the king's presence no part
of their wrong would be hidden ; and no wonder, for
the king was a most acute investigator in passing
sentence, as he was in all other things."
He possessed a genius for organization and admin-
istration, an energy that was tireless, a readiness of
mind and hand that grasped many of the practical
arts in all their details ; a versatility that enabled him
i A&ser, 85.
KING ALFRED THE GREAT 27
to turn his activity from war to literature, from litera-
ture to finance, from finance to law, from law to the
church, and in all showing the same aggressive inter-
est and serving all with equal ability.
These are virtues enough to entitle their possessor
to the name of Great. But with all these, Alfred
possessed a fortitude, a courage in adversity that ena-
bled him to turn defeat into victory, to ignore disease
and physical comfort. He never ran away, as many
of his contemporaries did, to escape the rigors of war
and the odium of defeat. Unlike other great warriors,
Alfred fought only for the defence of his country. He
fought no wars of aggression ; he wanted territorial
expansion as rapid only as the national consciousness
warranted. He was in no sense a destroyer of nations
like Napoleon, but a maker of a nation ; or, perhaps, to
be more exact, I should say, the restorer of a nation.
Alfred's effort to place England upon a national
basis and his conception of national character and
national greatness constitute his highest claim to
fame.
Of his personal appearance we have no record.
Will this not enable us the better to remember
Alfred the ideal man, the perfect ruler ! Alfred
says of himself, "This I can now most truly say, that
I have desired to live worthily while I lived, and after
my life to leave to the men that should be after me a
remembrance in good works." 1 What more fitting
epitaph could be pronounced upon his work than his
own words ?
1 Alfred's Boethius, in Turner's Anglo-Saxons, II, 31.
28 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
THE SPOTLESS KING.
I.
Some lights there be within the Heavenly Spheres
Yet unrevealed, the interspace so vast ;
So through the distance of a thousand years
Alfred's full radiance shines on us at last.
II.
Star of the spotless fame, from far-off skies
Teaching this truth, too long not understood,
That only they are worthy who are wise,
And none are truly great that are not good.
III.
Of valour, virtue, letters, learning, law,
Pattern and prince, His name will now abide,
Long as of conscience Rulers live in awe,
And love of country is their only pride.
IV.
But with His name four other names attune,
Which from oblivion guardian Song may save ;
Lone Athelney, victorious Ethandune,
Wantage his cradle, Winchester his grave.
The tribute of Alfred Austin, Poet Laureate of England.
KING ALFRED THE GREAT 29
ALFRED A WRITER AND A PATRON OF
LEARNING
BY PROFESSOR HENRY L. CHAPMAN, BOWDOIN COLLEGE
" Ever must the Sovereign of Mankind be fitly
entitled King," says Carlyle. Alfred's claim to a
sovereignty of mankind, and hence to kingship, rests
not more upon his valor as a soldier, his skill and
pertinacity as a commander, his practical wisdom as
a legislator and ruler, than upon the spiritual ele-
ments of his nature which made him the teacher of
his people, and their exemplar in intellectual and
moral and religious character. He was nearly forty
years of age, and had been king for at least fifteen
years, before the distracted condition of his kingdom
allowed him to turn his energies to the promotion of
learning among his subjects, and to the preparation
of books by his own hand for their enlightenment.
Seven or eight of those years had been passed in con-
tinual and sometimes disheartening struggles against
the fierce Danish invaders, and the other seven or
eight years had been ceaselessly occupied in the res-
toration of his desolated kingdom, in reorganizing
his army, in building a navy, in re-establishing ruined
monasteries and founding new ones, in rebuilding and
fortifying towns, in repairing the devastation of every
kind that had been wrought by the Northern barba-
rians. Then, with a far-sighted wisdom which justi-
fies his title of " the Great," and with a singleness
30 MAIM HISTORICAL SOCIETY
and tenacity of purpose probably unexampled, he set
himself to lay the foundations of a beneficent and
stable sovereignty in the institutions of law, justice,
education and religion.
"His noble nature," says the good bishop Asser,
" implanted in him from his cradle a love of wisdom
above all things ; " and there is little doubt that,
even from childhood, Alfred felt a profound and
absorbing interest in letters. "He listened," says
Asser, " with serious attention to the Saxon poems
which (as a boy) he often heard recited, and easily
retained them in his docile memory." And then the
loyal Welsh bishop, who was the bosom friend of his
royal master, and who reverenced him as much as he
loved him, tells this engaging story of his childhood
days : " On a certain day his mother was showing
him and his brothers a Saxon book of poetry, which
she held in her hand, and said, ( Whichever of you
shall the soonest learn this volume shall have it for
his own.' Stimulated by these words, or rather by
the Divine inspiration, and allured by the beautifully
illuminated letter at the beginning of the volume, he
spoke before all his brothers, who, though his seniors
in age, were not so in grace, and answered, * Will you
really give that book to one of us, that is to say, to
him who can first understand and repeat it to you ? '
At this his mother smiled with satisfaction, and con-
firmed what she had before said. Upon which the
boy took the book out of her hand, and went to his
master to read it, and in due time brought it to his
mother and recited it."
KING ALFRED THE GREAT 31
It is true that some difficulties have been raised
about the dates associated with this story, and men
have debated whether it was Alfred's mother Osburh
or his step-mother Judith to whom Asser refers, and
objections have been found in either case, yet the
story is far more specific than are the dates connected
with it, and it is so consistent with Alfred's feeling
for books, both in his youth and in his maturity, and
the authority for it is so good, that it is accepted as
substantially true, in spite of the difficulties I have
mentioned.
Alfred's early interest in poetry and in books may
have been quickened by his two journeys to Rome,
where it is not unlikely that his boyish mind, sedate
beyond his years, was impressed by what he saw and
heard in the sacred city which was then the home of
literature and art, as well as of religion. But in his
father's kingdom of Wessex there was no opportunity
for him to cultivate the love of learning which seems
always to have distinguished him. By the time he
had reached the age of eighteen Northumbria, which
for two hundred years had been the home of English
poetry and learning, was so completely ravaged and
desolated by the heathen Danes that no religious
houses or libraries remained undestroyed. Two years
later East Anglia was similarly devastated, and the
ruthless barbarians were directing their march toward
his own land of Wessex ; and they had penetrated to
its heart, and seemed to be its masters, seven years
after Alfred had become its king. During his boy-
hood, his youth, and the early years of his kingship,
32 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
no conditions could have been more unfavorable for
even the rudimentary study of books. He confessed
to his bishop Asser, " with many lamentations and
sighs " that this was " one of his greatest difficulties
and impediments in this life, namely, that when he
was young and had the capacity for learning, he could
not find teachers ; but when he was more advanced
in life he was harrassed by so many diseases unknown
to all the physicians of this island, as well as by inter-
nal and external anxieties of sovereignty, and by con-
tinual invasions of the pagans, and had his teachers
and writers also so much disturbed, that there was no
time for reading. But yet," continues Asser, " among
the impediments of this present life, from infancy up
to the present time, and, as I believe, even until his
death, he continued to feel the same insatiable desire
of knowledge."
As soon, therefore, as the improved condition of his
kingdom afforded him even a little respite from the
" anxieties of sovereignty " and the " continual inva-
sions of the pagans," he set himself to the serious,
and thereafter unintermitted, purpose of gaining
knowledge and wisdom for himself, and of providing
instruction for his subjects. Nay, he went farther,
and, so far as possible, he enforced the claims of
learning upon his people ; and it is probable, as Mr..
Stopford Brooke suggests, that "the English warriors
and courtiers of a mature age were sorely troubled
when the king compelled them to learn to read and
write, or if they could not learn, to hire a freeman or
slave to recite before them at fixed times the books
KING ALFRED THE GREAT. 33
needful for their duties." It was not easy to put to
school men who had reached and even passed middle
life in utter ignorance of letters, and whose lives had
been lived under the hard conditions that had blotted
out the monasteries, the only seats of learning, and had
made a soldier or a fugitive of every Englishman.
What cannot be done with the old, however, may be
done with the young ; and hence arose Alfred's
scheme of universal, if not compulsory, education of
the young, an elementary education, to be sure, but
valuable as a foundation of character and of intelli-
gent citizenship. But it was nearly a thousand
years not until the nineteenth century before his
ideal of an universal primary education was even
approximately reached in his own land, the England
of boasted intelligence and freedom. When Alfred
found that it was not practicable, and not even possi-
ble to incite the older men to a love of learning like
his own, he sent the sons of the nobility, and of some
who were not noble, to the schools in which his own
children were taught, that they might learn to read
both English and Latin books, and to translate the
one into the other. "And this I would have you do,"
he wrote to the bishop of Worcester, "if we can pre-
serve peace, to set all the youth now in England of
free men, whose circumstances enable them to devote
themselves to it, to learn as long as they are not old
enough for other occupations, until they are well able
to read English writing, and let those be afterward
taught in the Latin language who are to continue
learning and be promoted to a higher rank."
VOL. IX. 4
34 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
These simple and serious words of Alfred disclose
a policy worthy of the wise and far-sighted ruler, who
felt profoundly that the strength and stability of the
state depended upon the character and intelligence of
its citizens, a truth that was far from being as
obvious in the England of the ninth century as it was
in the England of the nineteenth. But in order to
carry out his scheme it was essential to have com-
petent and consecrated helpers, and these he had
already sought. " He would avail himself," says
Asser, in one of the few passages in which his plain
narrative rises into the fervor of poetical phrase and
similitude, " he would avail himself of every oppor-
tunity to procure coadjutors in his good designs, to
aid him in his strivings after wisdom, that he might
attain to what he aimed at ; and, like a prudent bird,
which rising in summer with the early morning from
her beloved nest, steers her rapid flight through the
uncertain tracks of ether, and descends on the mani-
fold and varied flowers of grasses, herbs, and shrubs,
essaying that which pleases most, that she may bear
it to her home, so did he direct his eyes afar, and
seek without, that which he had not within, namely in
his own kingdom."
In the way thus figuratively described, Alfred
sought out and drew into his kingdom, and to his
help, men of piety and learning from every side, to
be, first, his own teachers, and afterwards to assist
him in teaching his people, in the English language,
what, in his judgment, it was requisite for them to
learn both of secular and of sacred knowledge. The
KING ALFRED THE GREAT 35
names of those whom he thus summoned to his aid
constitute, in view of the service to which they were
called, a veritable roll of honor, which it is grateful
to repeat, albeit some of them seem strange to our
ears, and form themselves but shyly on our lips :
Werfrith, bishop of Worcester, Plegmund, of Mer-
cia, who was made Archbishop of Canterbury,
Athelstan and Werwulf, two Mercian priests, who
became Alfred's chaplains and constant companions
and teachers, Grimbald, who came across the water
from Flanders, and was put over the new abbey at
Winchester, John, the old Saxon, transferred from
a monastery in Westphalia to Alfred's new monastery
in Athelney, and, finally, from the far borders of
Wales, Asser, the bishop of St. David's, came to be
the bosom-friend and the reverent biographer of the
good king.
In this choice company of priests and scholars
Alfred found, at once, the sympathy and the instruc-
tion which he craved, and it was not long before he
became so much the master of the Latin language
that he was prepared not only to co-operate with
them, but to lead them in the education of his people.
His ardent and energetic nature would not suffer
either himself or his co-laborers to be languid in the
great task to which he had set himself. He stimu-
lated them, by the example of his own unwearied
application and by his fervent and repeated exhorta-
tions, to constant diligence. And then he presented
the unique spectacle of a king preparing with his own
hands the books which his people needed to fit them
36 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
for their civic and religious duties, to acquaint them
with the history of their own land and of lands beyond
the sea, to fortify them against the ills of life, and to
build them up in the practice of an unselfish and
undismayed adherence to rectitude of character and
of conduct. It was a new exhibition of kingliness,
and as noble as it was new. The distractions and
dangers to which he was still subject in the govern-
ment of his kingdom, the physical suffering and dis-
ease from which he was never free, these neither
quenched nor interrupted the ardor with which he
wrought at the difficult and self-imposed task. In
doing this he changed, to use the words of the histo-
rian Green, " the whole front of English literature."
Northumbria had been the home of English poetry,
and the scriptural poems of Caedmon chanted upon
the consecrated cliffs of Whitby, the tale of heroism
and fate in the fine old epic of Beowulf, the Christian
verses of Gynewulf and other Northumbrian singers,
the riddles, and battle-songs and lyrics which are
prized all the more because they are the survivors,
doubtless, of many others that are lost, these are the
still-remaining proof of the vigorous life to which
English poetry had attained before the disastrous
invasion of the Danes. But English prose hardly
existed at all. It was from Alfred's day that this tide
of literary fashion suddenly turned, and English prose
started vigorously into life. Theology, history, the
lives of saints, and even the rudimentary science of
the time were clothed for the first time in an English
dress. A national literature, in fact, sprang suddenly
KING ALFRED THE GREAT 37
into existence which was without parallel in the west-
ern world. "English, therefore," to quote again from
Mr. Green, " was not only the first Teutonic litera-
ture it was the earliest prose literature of the mod-
ern world. And at the outset of English literature
stands the figure of Alfred. The mighty roll of books
that fill our libraries opens with the translations of
the king."
These are translations into English from the Latin
language which was, of course, an unknown tongue
to the people generally, and far too often to the priests
themselves who shared in the prevailing illiteracy,
and whose conduct of the prescribed services of the
church was unintelligent and parrot-like. It was
necessary, as Alfred clearly saw, to communicate
knowledge to the people in their own language or
they must still remain illiterate, and even the priests
must be incited to higher learning by appeals
addressed to them in their mother-tongue. The
spirit in which he entered upon this work, and the
good sense which prompted it, and the manner in
which he expressed himself and set up the earliest
standard of English prose, are all well exhibited in
the preface to what was probably the first book he
translated, the Cura Pastoralis of Pope Gregory.
The Preface was addressed to the bishop of Worces-
ter, and runs, in part, as follows :
"King Alfred biddeth greet Bishop Waerferth with loving and
friendly words, and I let it be known to thee that it has come very
often into my mind what wise men there formerly were both among
the clergy and the laymen, and what happy times there were then
throughout England; and how the kings who had rule over the people
38 MAINE HISTOKICAL SOCIETY
obeyed God and his ministers, and they kept peace, law, and order at
home, and also spread their lands abroad; and how it was well with
them both in war and in wisdom; and also how keen were the clergy
about both teaching and learning and all the services they owed to God,
and how men from abroad sought wisdom and teaching hither in our
land, and how we must now get them from without if we would have
them. So utterly had learning fallen away in England that there were
very few on this side of the Humber who could understand their
service-books in English, or even put a letter from Latin into English;
and I think there were not many beyond the Humber. So few there
were of them that I cannot think of even one when I came to the
throne. Thanks be to God Almighty that we now have any supply of
teachers. And therefore I bid thee do, as I believe thou art willing to
do, free thyself from the things of this world as often as thou canst,
that thou mayst put to work the wisdom that God has given thee
wherever thou canst. * * * * *
"When I considered all this I remembered also how I saw, before it
had been all ravaged and burnt, how the churches throughout the
whole of England stood filled with treasures and books, and there was
also a great multitude of God's servants, but they had very little knowl-
edge of the books, for they could not understand anything of them
because they were not written in their own language.
*********
"When I remembered all this I wondered extremely that the good
and wise men who were formerly all over England, and had perfectly
learned all the books, did not wish to translate them into their own
language. But again I soon answered myself and said, ' They did not
think that men would ever be so careless, and that learning would so
decay.'
"Then I remembered how the Law was first given in the Hebrew
tongue, and again, how when the Greeks learned it they turned it all
into their own tongue, and also all other books. And again how the
Romans did the same ; when they had learned it, they turned all of it
by wise translators into their own tongue. And also all other Christian
peoples turned some part of the old books into their own tongue.
Therefore it seemeth better to me, if it seemeth so to you, that we also
turn some books those which are most needful for men to know
into the tongue which we can all understand.
* ********
"When I remembered how the knowledge of the Latin tongue had
before this fallen away throughout England, and yet that many could
read English writing then I began amidst other divers and manifold
KING ALFRED THE GREAT 39
occupations of this kingdom to turn into English the book which in
Latin is named Pastoralis, and in English Shepherd's Book ; sometimes
word for word, sometimes meaning for meaning, as I had learned it
from Plegmund, my archbishop, and Asser, my bishop, and from
Grimbald, my mass-priest, and from John, my mass-priest. When I
had learned it so that I understood it, and so that I could quite clearly
give its meaning, I turned it into English," etc.
In this preface, the nobility of which one feels is
somehow heightened by its touch of pathos, we have
an exhibition, beyond any power of description, of
Alfred's serious and beautiful concern for the spirit-
ual welfare of his subjects, and for the true greatness
of his realm ; an exhibition also of his practical wis-
dom and sound judgment in seeing, from the history
of other nations, that his own people could be enriched
with the treasures of wisdom and knowledge only as
these were brought to them in their native speech.
It is, moreover, an engaging picture of the king's
modesty, and of his eagerness to enlist the service
and co-operation of his chosen friends in the great
work to which his own heart was committed. And
finally it is a good example of the simple and affect-
ing power with which he handled the resources of the
common speech, and in clearness, dignity, and indi-
viduality of tone, furnished a model for the prose-
writers of his time and for those who should come
after him. It is hard to see why it does not substan-
tially conform to the famous definition of style which
Matthew Arnold carefully formulated a thousand
years later, as "a peculiar recasting and heightening,
under a certain condition of spiritual excitement, of
what a man has to say, in such a manner as to add
dignity and distinction to it."
40 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
The books which Alfred unquestionably wrote, as
translator and editor, handling freely the original
material by addition, omission, and re-arrangement,
are four in number. They are the Cura Pastoralis,
of Pope Gregory, a manual of training for the priestly
office, and of the duties of the clergy, setting forth
the great Pope's ideal of a Christian priest ; the Eccle-
siastical History of Britain, by the Venerable Bede,
a history not merely of the church but of the English
people from the point of view of a Christian ecclesi-
astic and a monk; a History of the World, by Orosius,
a Spanish monk and disciple of St. Augustine ; and
the Consolations of Philosophy, by Boethius, written
in the prison where he lay awaiting execution on the
charge of conspiracy and treason.
It would be instructive, if time permitted, to dwell
upon the characteristics of these four books, and upon
Alfred's way of dealing with each of them. The book
of the Consolations has a peculiar interest because it
contains so much that is not translation but the per-
sonal contribution of the king. It is the fullest reve-
lation of the charm of his style and of the nobility
of his spirit, and the two seem to be inseparably
combined.
" The whole range of ancient and modern litera-
ture," says Mr. Frederic Harrison, " contains nothing
more genuine, more natural, more pellucid. He is
not composing a book to be studied, admired, or crit-
icised. He is baring his whole soul to us. He speaks
as one on his knees, in the silence of his own cham-
ber, in the presence of his God, who is pouring forth
KING ALFRED THE GREAT
41
his inmost thoughts, hopes, and sorrows to the all-
seeing eye, which knoweth the secrets of every heart,
from whom nothing is hidden or unknown. And as
he opens to us his own soul, as freely as he would
bare it to his Maker, we look down into one of the
purest, truest, bravest hearts that ever beat within a
human frame."
42 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
THE ANGLO-SAXON CONSTITUTION AND LAWS
IN THE TIME OF ALFRED THE GREAT
BY HON. ALBERT R. SAVAGE, AUBURN
It is not without some degree of premeditation that
I have chosen to call the constitution and laws in the
time of King Alfred, Anglo-Saxon, rather than English,
for there was really no England at that time, no united
government of that territory now known as England.
The amalgamating process begun by Egbert a century
before Alfred was not complete. Alfred himself, in
the preface to the laws or dooms published by him,
calls himself, " I Alfred, King of the West Saxons. "
It is not easy to ascertain with exactness what was
the Anglo-Saxon constitution and what were their
laws in the time of King Alfred. It was a period of
transition in manners and customs. It was also such
a period, in some respects, so far as relates to the
laws. There was no written code of general law, nor
was there any written constitution. Indeed, there
were few written laws of any kind, and those were
directed mostly to wrongs against the king, or injuries
to private persons, what we should call criminal or
tortious. Such were the laws or dooms of ^Ethelbehrt
and Wihtraed of Kent and Ine of Wessex. Such were
the laws promulgated by Alfred himself. Of funda-
mental, organic law, there are few records, and our
information is fragmentary and obscure. Our knowl-
edge of the dress and dialect of our ancestors is more
KING ALFRED THE GREAT 43
definite than that of their laws. The most profound
commentators upon the laws of that period are con-
stantly obliged to have recourse to such words and
phrases as "perhaps," "probably," "possibly," "may
have been," and "might have been."
It has not been much more difficult to reconstruct
ancient customs and laws from ruins and hieroglyphs,
than it has been to ascertain what was Anglo-Saxon
law of any particular period, from the faint traces
that have come down to us. Some things, of course,
are certain. Many*. others are entirely uncertain, if
we seek to refer them to any definite period. Occa-
sional landmarks may be found which direct the
inquirer with more or less certainty. But, generally
speaking, one who enters the domain of constitutional
law in the time of Alfred is venturing into a wilder-
ness in which the paths trodden by generations of
men before him have become obliterated by the lapse
of time.
Using the term constitution as meaning a perma-
nent system of government, a system enduring from
generation to generation, and not changeable by the
will of the monarch, or by any other means except
the silent process of the ages, or by revolution,
such a constitution has been the fundamental law of
England from the earliest conquests of the Saxons to
the present time. Such a constitution was the out-
growth of the character of the people themselves and
of their environment, both in the fatherland from
which they came and in the confines of Britain, rather
than the work of any one man or body of men. No
44 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
king made it ; no king can unmake it. The genius
of Alfred the Great, monarch, legislator, statesman,
victorious general, left no trace upon it. He left it as
he found it. I mean, of course, he left no trace upon
the organic system. There is no doubt, however, that
the influence of his life, which is the precious heritage
of all English-speaking people, had much to do with
the development of English constitutional principles.
Upon his monument at Wantage is a single line,
which tells truly what his relations were to the con-
stitution and laws of his time : -
" The laws were powerless, and he gave them force."
Using the term " laws " as meaning those enforce-
able rules of conduct which govern the relations of
men among themselves, and their relations to the
governing power, there were in Alfred's time both
written and unwritten laws. The great body of the
law was unwritten, and consisted of immemorial cus-
toms and usages, which had the force of law and were
recognized as such.
Besides these, there were the written laws, the
statutes or dooms of different monarchs, who promul-
gated them with the consent of their councils of wise
men, or witenagemots. It is probable that these stat-
utes were for the most part the written expression of
customs already existing.
The Anglo-Saxon conquerors of Britain brought
with them the body of their law, the customs which
ripened into law, and which have become familiar to
us through the writings of Tacitus and Caesar. The
conquered Britons were practically destroyed as a
KING ALFRED THE GREAT 45
race. They left scarcely a trace of law or language.
The Romans who had been lords of the land for more
than four and one-half centuries, were equally unfor-
tunate. Not a Roman law or institution survived the
invasion of the Jutes. The Jutes and Saxons invaded
Britain to stay. The entire tribe of the Angles immi-
grated to Britain. They took their wives and children
and household gods with them. They transplanted
their laws and institutions, and began a new Ger-
many in Britain.
It is certain that the early Saxon in England dwelt
under the same customs as his father and grandfather
had dwelt under across the the North Sea. For sev-
eral centuries progress was slight and development
was slow. The dooms of /Ethelbehrt of Kent, which
were published about the end of the sixth century,
and which are said to have been the first written Ger-
man laws, in a pure German tongue, seem to assume
the existence of general customs, but do not modify
them.
Five centuries later, at the end of the Saxon period,
it is found that only traces remain of some ancient
customs, while new customs, unknown to the Ger-
mans, are firmly entrenched. To point out the time
of most of these changes, within the period of a cen-
tury, is now practically impossible.
It follows, therefore, that when one attempts to
write or speak about the laws in the time of Alfred,
he must be understood as referring to that period of
a century or two which ends with the reign of
Alfred.
46 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
The England of Alfred, like the England of to-day,
was a limited, constitutional monarchy. By " consti-
tutional " is meant that the government was estab-
lished and maintained according to certain established
customs or laws, not written, but understood, to break
which was revolution.
The Saxons in the fatherland had no king. The
valiant dux who led them in war laid aside his
power when peace returned. But in those troublous
times, when turbulent invaders were in constant
conflict with the native Britons, or with other turbu-
lent tribes of invaders, whose territory adjoined
their own, it was an easy and necessary step to
make their bravest, strongest military leader their
king. The king was not absolute, nor was the king-
ship strictly hereditary. Theoretically, the kingship
was elective. No English king until long after the
Norman conquest ever mounted the throne without
an election by the witenagemot, that is to say, with-
out their expressed assent. Even William the
Norman Conqueror bowed his neck to the Saxon
constitution, and called together the witenagemot to
confirm his right to the throne. It may be that the
wise men who voted that he be king had much
regard for their own necks ; at the same time, it is
clear that William thought that the crown would be
steadier on his head if he followed the custom of
Saxon-England .
And the witenagemot which elected had also the
power to depose the king, a power which was some-
times exercised.
KING ALFRED THE GREAT 47
I have said that the kingship was not strictly hered-
itary. But it usually happened, even in the earlier
days, that a powerful king, who had a son grown up
and competent, could secure his succession to the
throne. Sometimes he admitted the son to a share of
royal power in his own lifetime. More frequently he
left his son in possession of so much power that none
cared to dispute it. Out of a maze of darkness there
finally comes to be established this constitutional
principle that the succession is to be restricted to one
family, a rule not departed from except in case of
great emergency or revolution. The choice seems to
have been limited, as Stubbs says, to the best qualified
person standing in close relationship to the last king.
Generally a son, or brother, or other near kinsman
was chosen. And as I have already said, when a king
of mature years died, his eldest son usually was
regarded as the best qualified to succeed. But as a
matter of fact, the cases of succession of son to father
in the heptarchic kingdoms were few indeed. In
Wessex there was not one instance from 685 to 836. It
was almost equally so in the other kingdoms. Their
reigns were generally short ; the kings died young ;
their sons were only children. After the death of
Egbert, the founder of that West Saxon dynasty which
has endured to the present day, the hereditary princi-
ple was maintained, but only as a principle, for the
crown rarely descended from father to son. Alfred
himself was the fourth son of Ethelwulf, son of
Egbert, and succeeded his elder brother ^Ethelred,
being chosen by the witenagemot, in preference to
48 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
the minor son of .ZEthelred. So it appears that the
kingship was not only elective in theory, but selective
in fact. This selection belonged to the witenagemot,
or assembly of wise men, both when it was merely a
formal election and when there was a selection by free
choice, as sometimes happened.
The election itself was exercised by the witan in
general assemblies of the whole nation ; that is to
say, in general assemblies of so many of the people as
lived near enough to the place of election to attend it.
The popular concourse took no part in the election,
but expressed their approval of it by the shaking of
spears and the clanging of shields. This popular
approval was deemed an additional security to the
stability of the incoming monarch's reign.
The witenagemot was composed of the bishops, the
ealdormen or magistrates of the shires or provinces,
and a number of the king's friends and retainers,
members of the comitatus ; and as these latter were
appointed by the king, it was easily possible for him,
by appointments, to secure favorable action from that
body. Sometimes, however, the witenagemot was
stronger than a weak king, and sometimes, too, it was
the scene of factional contests between powerful
retainers, while the king is little more than a puppet
tossed between the two, as in the case of Godwin and
Leofric in the reign of Edward the Confessor.
But in other respects than the royal succession the
witan was a limitation upon the power of the monarch,
for the part taken by the witan was real and seemingly
authoritative. How much real authority it possessed,
KING ALFRED THE GREAT 49
however, may be a matter of conjecture. In the early
days and under the weak kings, no doubt the decision
of the council was arrived at by independent voting.
It is probable, however, in later times, when the power
of royalty became more firmly established, that the
will of the king was seldom thwarted by adverse
determinations of the witenagemot.
It is to be noted that although the various codes of
Anglo-Saxon laws were originated or drafted by the
kings whose names they bear, in no instance did a
king assume the authority to promulgate a code with-
out the counsel and consent of his witenagemot. The
witan, therefore, seems to have possessed the theoret-
ical power of veto upon legislation. This power was
of little consequence, however, for it was rarely or
never exercised, and also for the reason that there
was but little constructive legislation. The dooms of
Ine and Alfred are supposed to have been but little
more than the re-enactment of existing customs, or
putting them into written form.
Again, the advice and consent of the witenagemot
seem to have been essential to the validity of royal
grants of the public demesne. It was customary that
transfers of land should be made with certain partic-
ularities, and before witnesses. Many charters to
religious houses were passed under the hands of the
witenagemot, though the grantor was some powerful
person other than the king. But " when a grant was
made by which the land given was released from
special obligations and made alodial and heritable
forever, the consent of the nation, the owner, as must
VOL. IX. 6
50 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
be supposed, of the land so released, was imperatively
necessary."
The community from of old had possessed and
exercised the power to regulate all changes of owner-
ship which affected their own body, and in consenting
to royal grants, the witenagemot were the representa-
tives of the community.
The witenagemot was also a court of justice of last
resort. It heard causes and decided suits. To its
judgments the king himself was amenable. By it he
might be compelled to restore that which he had
unjustly taken from others. By it, kings might be
imprisoned or outlawed or deposed. It is said that
the criminal jurisdiction of the witenagemot had not
varied much from the days of which Tacitus wrote to
the time of Edward the Confessor.
The reader of later English history, as well as the
student of Anglo-Saxon character, may not be sur-
prised he certainly will be gratified to know that
even in those remote ages, the witenagemot possessed
in some degree the power of the purse and the sword.
That the witenagemot was consulted in the deter-
mination of war and peace, and also in the conduct of
warlike measures, is beyond dispute. So in the case
of extraordinary taxation. This was levied only with
the consent and counsel of the witan. General taxa-
tion as we understand it was unknown. The ordinary
royal needs were supplied by the income of the royal
farms and the public lands, and " all local require-
ments were met by the alodial obligations discharged
by personal services."
KING ALFRED THE GREAT 51
The English king, therefore, was a limited mon-
arch, in theory and in practice. To what degree he
was limited in practice depended, however, upon the
character of the king himself, and of the time in which
he reigned. Although he was surrounded by consti-
tutional limitations, a strong king was not much
restrained by them. They were easy to break
through. The witenagemot was the sole organized
official restraint upon the king. It was originally the
council of the nation. But as the king possessed the
power of appointment, and by enlarging the number
of his retainers could secure a majority in favor of his
policy, it became the council of the king.
Mr. Stubbs very happily epitomizes the constitu-
tional character of royalty as follows : " The king is
neither a mere ornamental appendage nor a ruler after
the imperial model. He is not the supreme land-
owner, for he cannot without consent of the witan
add a portion of the public land to his own demesne.
He requires their consent for legislation or taxation,
for the exercise of jurisdiction, for the determination
of war or peace. He is elected by them, and liable
to be deposed by them. He cannot settle the succes-
sion to the throne without their sanction. He is not
the fountain of justice which has always been admin-
istered in the local courts ; he is the defender of the
public peace, not the autocratic maintainer of the
rights of subjects who derive all their rights from
him. But notwithstanding, he is the representative
of the unity and dignity, and of the historical career
of the race ; the unquestioned leader of the host ; the
52 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
supreme judge of ultimate resort. The national offi-
cers are his officers, the sheriffs are his stewards, the
bishops, ealdormen and witan are his bishops, ealdor-
men and witan. The public peace is his peace ; the
sanction which makes him inviolable and secure is
not the simple toleration of his people, but the char-
acter impressed upon him by unction and coronation,
and acknowledged by himself in the promises he has
made to govern well and maintain religion, peace and
justice."
As a part of the organic system of government,
some notice must be paid to the courts of justice,
which in the time of Alfred had assumed some per-
manent form. Originally, Saxon freeholders met
armed, from time to time, with more or less regular-
ity, and their meeting was at once a parliament, a
muster and a court. All meetings or moots were
held upon the open moor, and usually in places dedi-
cated to that purpose by some ceremonies and long
use. Below the witan, which was in some sense a
court of appeal, there was first the folk moot, or
county court. Theoretically, at this court, before
which all greater civil and criminal cases within the
shire or county were tried, the king sat as president.
And if he were not personally present, the ealdorman
of the shire presided in his stead. He was a local
magistrate, named by the king. From his title comes
the English earl, which the Normans call count. With
the king or ealdorman as present, sat the grand jury
of a certain number of freeholders. The procedure in
criminal and civil trials was the same. The functions
KING ALFRED THE GREAT 53
of the grand jury, or the jury for the distinc-
tion between grand jury and petit or traverse jury
was unknown in the time of Alfred are not clearly
known. The same jury which indicted the accused
afterwards tried him. It was not until the fourteenth
century that men who had as members of the grand
jury indicted a person were forbidden by law from
afterwards sitting upon the petit jury which tried
him. The indictment itself was a presentment to the
king's justices, in most cases oral merely, of such
persons as were reputed to be guilty of crimes. It is
not known that they heard evidence, certainly not in
all cases. The accused were presented on suspicion
or reputation, rather than upon prima facie proof, as
with us. If the accused, after indictment, pleaded
" not guilty," unless he had been caught red-handed
in the act, he was allowed to attempt to prove his
innocence by customary rules, by ordeal or the oaths
of compurgators. If he failed, he was sentenced to
the customary or fixed penalty by the king, which
was generally a bot or compensation to be paid to the
injured party, or, if he had been slain, to his family,
and usually there was also a fine to be paid to the
king. A few offences, like secret murder, murder of
kin, arson, witchcraft and treason, were bootless, and
were punished by death or exile. Christian men
offending against church law also were subject to
heavy penances from the church, which were settled
at church councils by the archbishop's authority.
It seems strange to us, in speaking of our Anglo-
Saxon forefathers even a thousand years ago, that
54 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
reputation or suspicion was taken for proof, that one
suspected of crime and so presented by the grand
jury, should be presumed to be guilty unless he
proved himself innocent, the exact reverse of our
present safeguard that the citizen is presumed to be
innocent until he is proved to be guilty.
Again, what grotesque forms of justice, when the
accused was permitted to prove his innocence, in the
early days, by his own oath of denial alone, and
when that was seen to be productive of perjury
and unsafe to the public, by the oaths of compur-
gators, that is, by oaths of a certain number of his
neighbors, who were freeholders. The number varied
according :to the character of the offence and the
social standing of the accused. The oath was sim-
ply that they believed that the accused had sworn
truly.
If it was not the first offence, or if the compurgators
did not agree to make the oath, or sometimes at his
own option, the accused was put to the ordeal. The
trial by ordeal was either by fire or by water. In the
ordeal by fire, the accused was caused to pass blind-
folded and barefoot over nine hot, glowing plough-
shares, or to carry burning irons in his hands, and
according as he escaped burning or not, he was
acquitted or condemned.
The water ordeal was performed either in hot or
cold water. In the cold water ordeal, the accused
was thrown into a body of water. If he sank, he was
deemed innocent ; if he floated, he was undoubtedly
guilty. So if after putting his bare arms or legs into
KING ALFRED THE GREAT. 55
scalding water, he came out unhurt, he was taken to
be innocent ; otherwise, guilty.
These devices seem to us to be particularly calcu-
lated to condemn the innocent ; that only crafty,
subtle knaves would know how to avoid the conse-
quences of the ordeal. But the theory of our fathers
was that God would by the mere contrivance of man,
exercise His power in favor of the innocent.
Beneath the folk-moot or shire-moot or county court,
were the hundred-moots and the hall-moots. The
hundred in the days before Tacitus probably signified
such a compact body of the population as could fur-
nish one hundred men for military service ; but
though the name remained, it is probably true that it
never signified any exact number of men in England,
but it came rather to be applied to a subdivision of
the community, smaller than the shire or county, and
larger than the borough or township. We may call
it a district. The hundred-moot had original civil
and criminal jurisdiction within the district. It had
a grand jury, and could enforce the attendance of
persons from each vill or township in the district. It
met regularly, probably quarterly, and did the kind
of work which was afterwards, in the reign of Edward
the Third, transferred to his justices of the peace,
and very likely the same general work that justices
of the peace and trial justices do in our State to-day.
Then there were the hall-moots, held under the
lord of the township or his deputy, which had juris-
diction of small civil cases and misdemeanors. They
correspond to the Norman courts baron. Traces of
56 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
hall-moots still exist in England, where the lord of
the estate, in some cases hereditary, has territorial
jurisdiction over petty offences and minor civil com-
plaints. The local tenure of land and local agricul-
tural customs and rents chiefly gave rise to the
business of hall-moots.
In this connection, it may be noticed that there was
another officer in the shire connected with the admin-
istration of justice besides the ealdorman, a local free-
holder, elected by his fellows, but no doubt at the
nomination of the king usually. He was called the
scir-gerefa, that is the shire-reave, or sheriff. It was
his duty to look after the king's estates in the shire,
and the king's rights, dues and fines. He was the
king's representative in the matters of finance and
the execution of justice.
Of the laws of land tenure in the time of Alfred, I
do not propose to speak at length. The relation of
the subject to the land upon which he dwelt furnishes
matter for many volumes of black-letter law. The
rights acquired by the various grades of ownership
of land and the duties imposed upon him who culti-
vated it were customary. They depended upon cus-
toms, the origin of which is uncertain, but which
reach back to the time beyond which the memory of
man runneth not to the contrary. These customs had
the force of law. Time will not permit, nor would it
serve any good purpose to resurrect this body of law
from the dust in which it has long lain buried, and
in which it has been disturbed in recent centuries
only by schoolmen, whose writings are as dry and
KING ALFRED THE GREAT 57
dusty as the law itself. It is of interest only to anti-
quaries.
I will give you briefly, as an illustration, the condi-
tion of the various landed classes, as stated in an old
law tract of the tenth century :
41 Of the gentleman or thane (thegen). It is his law that he is wor-
thy of the right of book or charter (i. e., to convey or devise his land
according to his charter), and that he must do these things for his
land, war-service, fortress help, and bridge-work. Also on many lands
more land-right (rent-duty) ariseth at the king's ban or summons, such
as maintaining of a deer-fence for the king's vill, and clothing for war,
and guarding of the sea, and head-ward, and army-guard, alms-fee and
church-scot, and many other divers things.
44 The geneat's or peasant's right is divers, according to the custom
of the land. On some lands he must pay rent (land gavel) and a grass-
hog a year, and ride and carry and take loads, work and maintain his
lord, and reap and mow, hew deer-fences and keep up hedges, build
and make enclosures, bring new fare to town, pay church-scot and alms-
fee, keep head-ward and horse- ward, do errands far or near, whitherso-
ever he be told,
44 The cottar's right, according to the custom on the land. On some
he must work all Monday the year through for his lord, and three days
every week in harvest ; and on some lands all days throughout August,
and must mow an acre of oats a day, and he shall have his sheaf, which
the reeve or lord's bailiff shall give him. He need not pay rent (land-
gavel) . He ought to have five acres more if it be the custom of the
land and it is too little if it be less, for his work is often used. He
pays hearth-penny on Holy Thursday, as every freeman is bound to do,
and he must ward his lord's inland or demesne, if he be summoned so
to do, making sea-defence or king's deer-fence and such things as his
measure may be, and he pays his church-scot at Martinmass.
44 The gebur's or small farmer's rights are divers; in some places
they are heavy, in some middling or light. On some land it is so that
he must work two days week-work, whatever work he is told off to,
the first of each week, the year through, and at harvest three days
week-work, and at Candlemass and Easter three. If his horse is being
used (for his lord's service), he need not work while his horse is out.
He must pay at Michaelmas Day ten pence rent, and at Martinmass Day
twenty-three pence and a bushel of barley and two hen-fowls ; at Easter
a young sheep or two pence, and he shall from Martinmass to Easter lie
58 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
at his lord's fold as often as he is required. And from the time when
men first plow up to Martimnass he must each week plow one acre,
and clean the seed himself in the lord's barn ; moreover, three acres of
corn work and two of grass-plowing ; if he need more grass, he must
plow according as he is permitted. Of his rent-plowing he must plow
two acres and sow it out of his own barn, and pay his hearth-penny ;
he must feed a hound in equal share with his fellow, and every small
farmer must pay six loaves to the swain or swine-herd when he drives
his herd to mast. On the same land whereon this custom holds the
small farmer must be given, for stocking his land, two oxen and one
cow and six sheep, and seven acres sown on his yardland. But, the
first year over, he must pay all the dues that he is bound to. And he
is given tools for his work and furniture for his house ; and when he
dies, what he leaves goes back to his lord. * * * * In some lands
the small farmer must pay honey-rent, on some meat-rent, on some
ale-rent."
I can only briefly notice the character of the Anglo-
Saxon statutes. The only substantive rules that are
at all fully set forth in the dooms of the Saxon kings
have to do with offences and wrongs, mostly of a vio-
lent kind, and with theft, mostly cattle stealing.
Except so far as involved in the law of theft, the law
of property is almost entirely left to the region of
unwritten custom and local usage.
The law of contract is rudimentary only. Preser-
vation of the peace and punishment of offences was
the chief business of the magistrates and the courts.
Inasmuch as ownership was usually accompanied by
possession, practically possession was or seemed to be
of more consequence than title. It was the right of
possession that had to be defended ; and undisputed
possession was the foundation of title.
There was little trade ; no demand for credit. Our
ancestors did all their business in person, and execu-
tory contracts were little known. On the other hand,
KING ALFRED THE GREAT 59
man-slaying and feuds were constant. A man's life
had its price. Full scales of composition or tariffs were
established. A freeman's life had a regular value
placed upon it, called wergeld, or man payment ; and
so for injuries less than death. And composition, if
offered, had to be accepted. Private war was lawful
only when an adversary refused to do right. The
king or the earl might interfere if an adversary was
contumacious. Punishments, besides death or ban-
ishment, were pecuniary. Imprisonment was only
used as a means of temporary security. Some dis-
tinctions in the grade of homicide appear even in that
early day. It was aggravated if committed in the
presence of the king or in breach of the king's peace.
It was punishable by larger fine if committed
secretly than if done openly. Murder, or " mordh,"
the word from which we get murder, at one time
meant only killing by poison or witchcraft. An out-
law might be slain without risk, and so might a thief
flying from justice. So might an adulterer taken in
flagrante delicto by the woman's husband, father,
brother or son.
I close with a word concerning the statutes which
were promulgated by Alfred himself. One cannot
read them without being reminded of the laws of
Moses. In fact, Alfred's book of laws contains large
extracts taken almost literally from the Jewish law.
Offences are defined with the utmost particularity.
Compensation, or bot, is provided for all possible
injuries which one man might receive from another.
It is one bot to strike out another's eye, but less if it
60 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
remain in the head, although he cannot Bee with it.
There is a hot for striking off a nose, or a tooth ; and
if a front tooth, the bot is 8s, a canine tooth 4s, a
grinder is worth 15s. There is so much for smiting
a cheek or cleaving a chin bone, or piercing a wind-
pipe, or doing a tongue out of another's head, or for
wounding the shoulder so that the joint oil will flow
out, or breaking both arm shanks, or striking off a
thumb or a nail, or shooting finger, or its nail ;
another bot for the middlemost finger or its nail, still
another for the gold or ring finger or its nail,
still another for the little finger or its nail, the bot
for which latter is Is. There is a bot provided for
wounds to the lower limbs, the ribs, sinews or ten-
dons. Injuries by dogs are dealt with elaborately,
the compensation increasing after the first bite. So
injuries by other animals. And so forth.
I quote one doom, because it is peculiarly expres-
sive, showing the minute care which the statutes of
the day had of the conduct of men :
" If a man have a spear over his shoulder, and another man stake
himself upon it, the law was that he pay the wer, that is, the man's
price, without the wite or fine. If he stake himself before his face, let
him pay the man ' wer ' payment. If he be accused of wilf ulness in the
deed, let him clear himself according to the wite ; and with that, let
the wite abate. And let this be, if the point be three fingers higher
than the hindmost part of the shaft. If they be both on a level, the
point and the hindmost part of the shaft, be that without danger."
Our Anglo-Saxon fathers in the time of Alfred were
governed very much as the children of Israel had
been governed several thousand years before, by line
upon line, precept upon precept. The Anglo-Saxon
KING ALFRED THE GREAT 61
world was still in social infancy. The great princi-
ples which now regulate men in their relations with
one another were little known or understood. The law
undertook to govern men as we govern children, not
by general rules, but by specific commands and spe-
cific prohibitions. It was " Do this"; "do that";
"you mustn't do this"; "you mustn't touch that."
Such was law in England then. But out of that
England, inspired probably by no one more than by
the genius of Alfred the Great have arisen those great
and far-reaching principles of government known as
the Common Law, upon which rests the best civiliza-
tion the world has ever known.
62 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
ALFRED THE GREAT AS A CHRISTIAN
BY ASA DALTON, D.D.
We have been told what King Alfred was as a
statesman and scholar, and it only remains to say a
few words of him as a Christian.
Popular accounts describe him as eminently good
throughout his life. The truth is, however, that a
beautiful boy, the darling of his parents, and very
bright, he afterwards regretted that his youth was
one of frivolity, in which he failed to improve the
opportunities allotted him by his rank. He was not,
indeed, the heir apparent, and did not become king
till after the death of his brothers.
After this event, he awoke to a sense of the- situa-
tion and its responsibilities, but not fully even then,
till a painful illness chastened his youthful spirits,
and was the occasion of turning his thoughts to
higher things. Returns of his disorder were fre-
quent, and doubtless had an influence in shaping the
seriousness of his aims, and the loftiness of his char-
acter. Henceforth till his death, he " strove to live
worthily" and so that he would be remembered grate-
fully by later generations.
Owing to the inroads of the Danes and other causes,
the country was in great confusion, and had sunk so
low as to learning that south of the Thames there was
scarcely a priest who could translate the Latin service
books into English. Churches and monasteries had
KING ALFRED THE GREAT 63
been destroyed by the Danes, and many of the clergy
slain. Consequently, Alfred had to undo the evil, as
well as to do the good which was required by this sad
state of affairs. He first invited scholars from the
Continent, established schools, founded monasteries
aud convents, which were as natural and fitting in
that generation as our institutions now are to us.
The education he planned was for all freemen and
their children.
When nearly forty years old, he occupied himself
with the study of Latin and the translation of Gregory
the Great's "Pastoral Rule," Bede's English and
Grotius' General History, also the " Consolations of
Philosophy " by Boethius.
Thus he laid as broad a foundation for the uplifting
of his people as was possible in that age. A high
sense of the duty he owed them, seemed to have con-
strained him to devote all his time, resources, and
talents to their improvement. His time he divided
into three parts of eight hours each, eight for sleep,
eight given to public offices, and eight to works of
charity and piety. He distributed his money, on the
same principle, in four parts. One quarter he gave
to the support of schools, one quarter to the churches,
one quarter to the poor, and one quarter to the found-
ing of churches and religious houses.
The institutions of that age differed in many
respects from those to which we are accustomed, and
King Alfred not only conformed to them, but believed
in them. Yet Christian piety was the same in him as
in the saints of all ages, and shone as brightly as it
64 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
has in any subsequent time. Alfred was great as a
soldier and as a statesman, as a scholar not so great,
but as a Christian he was the greatest of all, and
ought to be called Alfred the Good.
All accounts agree in representing Alfred as wholly
devoted to his duties as soldier, statesman, and edu-
cator. The real question, however, is, what was the
secret of this spirit of service, the mainspring of his
constant activity, and consecration to his mission as
he saw it. This mission was first to repel invasion,
and then to arrange such a settlement of the country
as would insure peace and prosperity. He lamented
the decline of learning, and consequent prevailing
ignorance of all classes, including the heads of church
and state. To secure his ends, he made reasonable,
even magnanimous conditions for all the vanquished
Danes, as well as his own kith and kin. Religion was
the wide basis of all and the governing principle. By
religion, I mean his personal piety, a hearty recogni-
tion and reception of the Christian religion as a guide
of life equally for himself and his people.
His was not the coldly calculating policy usually
ascribed to kings and their counsellors, but a personal
conviction and faith that pure religion is the key of
all progress for princes and peoples alike. What he
professed he performed, living up to his professions,
and so still presenting the highest type of a ruler
which our race has known.
He is to the whole race what Washington is to us,
more than Charlemagne was to the Franks, very much
more than Peter the Great to Russia. The contrast
KING ALFRED THE GREAT 65
between Alfred and Peter as men is even greater than
the contrast between the civilization of Russia and
that of the English-speaking race.
But over Alfred and behind him was a Divine Prov-
idence which guided the orderly development of indi-
vidual men and of the race, a Providence whose pur-
poses ripened with the ages, with whom a thousand
years are as one day, and one day as a thousand
years.
11 For all the saints^ who from their labors rest,
Who Thee by faith before the world confess'd
Thy name, O Jesus, be forever bless'd.
Thou wast their rock, their fortress, and their might,
Thou, Lord, their Captain in the well-fought fight,
Thou, in the darkness drear, the Light of light.
O may thy soldiers, faithful, true, and bold,
Fight as the saints who nobly fought of old,
And win, with them, the victor's crown of gold.
O blest communion, fellowship divine !
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine ;
Yet all are one in Thee, for all are Thine.
And when the strife is fierce, the warfare long,
Steals on the ear the distant triumph-song,
And hearts are brave again, and arms are strong.
The golden evening brightens in the west ;
Soon, soon to faithful warriors comes the rest ;
Sweet is the calm of Paradise the bless'd,
Alleluia."
VOL. IX.
MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
RICHMOND'S ISLAND
BY HON. JAMES PHINNBY BAXTER
Read at a Field Day Meeting of the Maine Historical Society at
Richmond Island, September 12, 1884
On the 9th day of July, 1605, a little bark was
making its way southwardly across Casco Bay. It
bore that brave Christian gentleman, Samuel de
Champlain, and his friend, the Sieur de Monts, with
other gentlemen of France, two Indians and twenty
sailors. They had passed a winter of great suffering
at the mouth of the St. Croix, and were seeking a
suitable place for a settlement. Keeping in their
course, they passed several wooded islands which
concealed from their western view a harbor which,
had they discovered it, would have satisfied all their
requirements, and repaid them for all their toil, but
which was reserved by Providence for an adventurer
of a rival race and of an unfriendly faith to take pos-
session of and occupy. The harbor which the French
adventurers passed unperceived was Portland harbor,
and the man who was to lay upon its shores the cor-
ner stone of a nourishing city, was George Cleeve,
then living unknown in Old England, and undis-
turbed by any dream of a future life in the then
almost unknown New World on the other side of the
misty Atlantic.
Still sailing, but in a more westerly course, the little
bark skirted the wooded shores of Cape Elizabeth,
RICHMOND'S ISLAND 67
and coming in sight of the broad level beaches of Old
Orchard, then uncovered by the tide, and gleaming
as white as snow to their admiring gaze, they dropped
anchor to await the rising of the tide, which should
float them over the bar which lay between them and
the mouth of the river which they saw pouring its
waters into the bay beyond. The strange sight of
the white-winged craft, so unlike their own frail
canoes, attracted the natives as she sailed along, and
they quickly gathered along the shores, building fires,
gesticulating, and dancing to attract the attention of
the pale faces. Not far away was a large wooded
island, which the Sieur de Monts wished to explore,
and taking one of the ship's boats, he directed his
course thitherward. Standing upon its sloping shores,
the eyes of the strange visitors were delighted by the
luxuriant groves of oak and nut trees which covered
it, and whose broad spreading arms were burdened
with the vines of the wild grape heavy with their
immature fruitage ; indeed, so abundant was the
growth of the vine beloved by gods and men, that
de Monts at once aptly bestowed upon it the name of
" Bacchus " Island. Here, also, were plots of waving
maize, of beans, pumpkins and squashes, then in
blossom, all of which were cultivated successfully by
the Indians living in the neighborhood.
When the tide served the voyagers crossed the bar,
and, soon after, sailed away, leaving the red men in
undisturbed possession of their pleasant domains.
Year succeeded year, and although the nations of
Europe were looking across the Atlantic, and each
68 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
was emulous of establishing its rule on the soil of the
New World, the shores of Casco Bay were neglected.
True, the ships of Smith, and occasional vessels fitted
out by adventurous merchants to fish in the teeming
waters with which they were washed, or to trade with
the natives by whom they were peopled, visited them,
but no attempt at a settlement was made until eight-
een years after the visit of Champlain, when Christo-
pher Levett, a native of York, sailed upon the coast,
first touching upon the Isles of Shoals from whence
he sailed to the mouth of the Saco, which he describes
as issuing from a great hill lying to the west called
by the Indians the " Crystal Hill," which could be
seen when approaching the coast from any point
between Cape Cod and Monhegan Island. It was
towards this wonderful hill, which we recognize as
the most prominent peak of the White Mountain
range, behind which they nightly beheld with admir-
ing awe the sun withdraw itself, that the red men
were wont to point when Levett asked them where
their heaven was.
About the mouth of the Saco, were cleared grounds,
fine groves of timber and abundance of game. From
here Levett pushed eastward, coming to a place about
two leagues from Cape Elizabeth called by the Indians
" Quack." This, he tells us, is a bay or sound between
the main land and certain islands lying about a mile
and a half from the shore. The harbor he describes
as formed by four islands ; the land in the vicinity
excellent, and the fish and game abundant. This is
the first description which we have of Portland
RICHMOND'S ISLAND 69
harbor, where, had not Champlain missed it eighteen
years before, Levett would have probably found a
French colony in possession. As it was, however, he
sailed up the harbor and entered a river to which
he gave his own name, and which abounded with
salmon and other fish. Shortly after this he obtained
permission to settle a plantation at "Quack," from the
sagamore of Saco, "who," he says, " as I conceive,
hath a natural right of inheritance." He continues :
" I sailed to Quack or York with the king, queen and
prince, bows and arrows, dog and kettle, in my boat,
his noble attendance rowing by us in their canoes."
Here he found several English ships from Weymouth,
engaged in fishing, and being asked by the wife of
the sagamore if their crews were his friends, Levett
told her they were, when she welcomed them to her
country, and drank to them ; "and," continues Levett,
" she drank also to her husband and bid him welcome
to her country too ; for you must understand that her
father was the sagamore of this place and left it to
her at his death, having no more children. And thus
after many dangers, much labor and great change, I
have obtained a place of habitation in New England ;
where I have built a house and fortified it in a rea-
sonable and good fashion, strong enough against such
enemies as are these savage people."
Leaving ten men in possession of his plantation, to
guard his house and probably to clear and till the
land, Levett set sail for England in 1624, intending
to transport his family to a new and permanent home
in Casco Bay. That this was his intention we may
70 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
properly infer, not only from his own statements and
the fact of his having obtained a grant of six thousand
acres of land in New England, but as well from his
wise and conciliatory policy towards the natives in
recognizing their rights in the soil, and purchasing
of them the territory upon which he proposed to
establish himself. But his project never came to
fruition owing to the unpropitious condition of affairs
in England. Levett had relied upon royal aid to
establish himself in the New World, as King James
was well known to be warmly interested in all schemes
of colonization, and reached home at a period, when
his royal master was distracted by troubles growing
out of the rapture with Spain on account of the
intrigues of Buckingham in breaking off the long
projected marriage of Prince Charles and the Spanish
Infanta, and in the midst of preparations to reconquer
the Palatinate.
War, the death of James, the plague, and the excit-
ing political dissensions which ushered in the reign
of Charles the First, all conspired to prevent Levett
from speeding his undertaking to a successful issue.
Royal protection had become necessary, as grave dif-
ferences existed between England and France relative
to the ownership of the soil upon which he had built,
and for three years Levett doubtless labored to obtain
the needed aid from Charles, for we find him in 1627
though "deterred and discouraged" in proceeding with
what he had begun, at last successful in attracting the
attention of the king, who in that year ordered by
proclamation a special contribution to be taken in
RICHMOND'S ISLAND 71
the churches of York, to aid him in his project of
building a city in New England, which was to bear
the name of York after the builder's native city.
This was an extraordinary act, and Levett must have
had powerful influence to bring it about, especially
as Charles was distracted with troubles at home and
abroad. How successful this proclamation was in
leading churchmen to contribute to Levett's scheme
we know not, but we may properly infer that it was
fortified by warm appeals of the clergy to the friends
of Episcopacy, to aid in establishing in Maine a col-
ony friendly to Episcopal interests, a project persist-
ently kept in view for many years Massachusetts
being almost hopelessly given over to Puritanism.
But whether successful or not in obtaining pecuni-
ary help, Levett does not appear to have prosecuted
his projects farther, for after 1628 he disappears from
view. From a statement of Cleeve, we learn that
he conveyed his property in Casco Bay to " one
Wright," of whom Cleeve purchased it in order to
strengthen his own title ; nor do we know what
became of the men whom he left in possession. Four
of these, he informs us, were from Weston's unfortu-
nate company, which had settled at Wessagusset, or
Weymouth, in the summer of 1622. This company
had broken up before the arrival of Levett, who had
been sent out by the Council for New England as one
of a commission " for the ordering and governing of
New England," and their habitations were taken
possession of by the commissioners. Some of Wes-
ton's company probably remained in the vicinity, and
72 MAINE HI8TOKICAL SOCIETY
it is quite probable that Walter Bagnall, who had
been regarded as an associate of Thomas Morton of
Merry Mount fame, and who was one of Weston's
company, was one of them. According to Winthrop,
he was living in 1627, on Richmond's Island the
Isle de Bacchus of Champlain which now for the
first time comes plainly into historic view. Nor do
we know at what time between this date and that of
the visit of Champlain in 1605, it acquired its name
of Richman's or Richmond's Island. Dim and uncer-
tain are the glimpses we get of this period. We have
the names of several men who were living " in the
house at Casko," in 1630, and for a brief moment the
shadowy curtain of the past is lifted, revealing to us
one George Richmond of Bandon Bridge in Ireland,
the cradle of Puritanism in that unfortunate land ;
but he suddenly disappears leaving us perplexed and
disappointed. Certain however, it is, that George
Richmond was at the head of some enterprise employ-
ing men, and which required the building of a vessel
and the possession of a considerable stock of mer-
chandise, and there seems to be reason to believe
that he gave his name to this island, which was soon
to become an important station for trade, and a goal
to which ships coming upon the coast directed their
course.
But now other actors appear upon the scene which
comes clearly into view. Early in the seventeenth
century English merchants, who have ever been dar-
ing and successful pioneers in opening new countries
to civilization, began to turn their attention to the
RICHMOND'S ISLAND 73
New World, which afforded to adventurous spirits an
attractive field for enterprise. Trade with the natives,
who were eager to exchange furs rich enough to
enhance the luxury of royalty for almost worthless
gew-gaws, had long been extolled by enthusiastic
penman, and Smith had asserted and practically dem-
onstrated the great value of the New England fish-
eries. The Council for New England, which held a
royal grant of the entire portion of the continent lying
between the fortieth and forty-eighth parallels of lat-
itude, anxious to develop its property, had encouraged
schemes of colonization and trade, but with little suc-
cess. Private adventurers, jealous of the powerful
monopolists, preferred to act independently of them,
but the more prudent recognized their rights, which
really required but little if any pecuniary sacrifice,
for the Council seemed ready at all times to grant
important privileges for a merely nominal recognition
of its rights. The leading spirit of the Council,
indeed the one who shaped and managed nearly all
of its affairs, was Sir Ferdinando Gorges, a zealous
churchman, who was warmly interested in coloniza-
tion, not alone for private gain, but as well for the
advancement of the interests of the church he loved.
He was a man of popular qualities, at this time in
the zenith of his power, and was sought by those who
were looking towards New England, for information
and counsel. Among those who had sent ships to
New England, were Robert Trelawny, Senior, and
Abraham Jennens, both noted merchants of Plym-
outh, whose ships had doubtless fished and traded
74 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
about the shores of Richmond 's Island and Cape
Elizabeth, before and during the occupation by Bag-
nail.
The death of the senior Trelawny took place near
the close of 1627, and he was succeeded by his son
Robert, who, in company with Moses Goodyear, the
son-in-law of Jennens, inherited the spirit and tradi-
tions, as well as the business of the two pioneers in
the New England trade. John Winter, probably a
son of the early navigator of that name, was in the
employ of Trelawny and Goodyear, and was familiar
with Richmond's Island and Casco Bay. The new
partners were well fitted to continue the enterprise of
their predecessors ; especially Robert Trelawny, who
had inherited the ability and ambition of his father,
a man not only succesful as a merchant, but of con-
siderable political prominence ; indeed the spirit of
foreign adventure had long been potent in his family,
stimulated, perhaps, ab origine by its connection
through marriage with the Hawkins family, to which
belonged that famous navigator, Sir John Hawkins,
and the junior Trelawny grasped the helm which his
father had relinquished, with a strong hand.
The Trelawnys, whose family was among the most
ancient and honorable in Cornwall, were favorably
known to Gorges, and were encouraged by him in
their New England adventures ; but up to the date
of the death of the elder Trelawny, no grant of terri-
tory had been taken by them ; indeed, their business
had been of a transient and experimental nature.
The new firm, however, contemplated more permanent
75
relations with the new country on the other side
of the Atlantic, and the acquisition of a planta-
tion there was discussed between them and Sir Fer-
dinando Gorges, probably not long after the death of
the elder Trelawny, certainly prior to 1630.
At the same time George Cleeve was turning his
attention towards the New World which was then
attracting increased attention from the subjects of
Charles, among whom, almost without distinction of
party, discontent was rife. Voyages were made to
New England for the purpose of exploring the coun-
try and selecting desirable places for settlement, and
these voyages were often made under the promise of
a grant of the territory selected. Under such a
promise from Gorges, Cleeve, who it would seem was
cognizant of the negotiations between Gorges and
Trelawny, and who was probably well known to both,
as well as to Winter, crossed the ocean in the year
1630, with his wife and daughter and came to the
vicinity of Richmond's Island where Bagnall was
then living. Here, on the mainland, he found a suit-
able spot for planting and trade. This land was in
the possession of Richard Bradshaw, who some time
before had made a voyage to New England, and had
subsequently secured a grant of land described as
lying on the " Pashippscot," but, changing his mind,
had taken delivery of land under his grant on the
Cape Elizabeth shore east of the Spurwink, and
opposite Richmond's Island. This delivery by " turf
and twig," which was necessary to complete a title
to land already granted by deed, was made by Captain
76 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Walter Neale, who had been sent out by Gorges
and Mason in the spring of 1630 as the governor
of the Piscataqua company, a band of colonists, which
had settled at the mouth of the Piscataqua River.
The delivery was doubtless considered by all con-
cerned as constituting a sufficiently valid title to the
land ; indeed, a great deal of the territory of New
England was held, and the title thereto never ques-
tioned, under less perfect conveyances than this.
The whole country was a wilderness which had
been parcelled out among the favorites of the crown,
and concerning which little was definitely known. It
was all opened to adventurers, to whom great induce-
ments to settle were offered, and it made but little
difference at this time where a grant was located,
providing it did not interfere with a previous one ;
nor, indeed, was this proviso observed where suffi-
cient reasons existed for ignoring it, as we know by
the experience of John Stratton and others. What
wonder then, that Richard Bradshaw considered his
title to land delivered him by the official representa-
tive of Gorges on the banks of the Spurwink to be as
valid as if it had been delivered him on the the banks
of the " Pashippscot."
And now Richard Tucker first appears upon the
scene, who, purchasing the grant of Bradshaw, formed
a co-partnership with George Cleeve. In this co-part-
nership Cleeve says that he "joined" his "right"
with Tucker's ; that is, his promise of a grant of land
to be selected by him, with the land already in pos-
session of Tucker under the Bradshaw grant. He
BICHMOND'S ISLAND 77
evidently thought this " right " was an important fac-
tor in strengthening their title to the coveted territory,
upon which they at once began to build and enclose
ground for planting.
We will leave them for a brief space, to take a
glance at the condition of affairs in the vicinity during
the year of grace 1631. The nearest neighbor to
Cleeve and Tucker on the Spurwink and Bagnall on
Richmond's Island was John Stratton, who was living,
probably alone, on the little island which still bears
his name, a little west of Richmond's Island and
opposite Black Point. Farther west, upon the east-
ern bank of the Saco, Richard Bonython and Thomas
Lewis, men of energy and character, and opposite on
the western bank, Richard Vines, the trusted friend
of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, with a few hardy men as
brave as themselves, were clearing the forests and
trying to create a home in the wilderness. Eastward
their nearest neighbor was Alexander Mackworth, who,
at this time, had doubtless seated himself on the point
beyond Portland Neck which still bears his name, but
which was called by the Indians Menikoe, and by him
Newton. Within the radius of a dozen miles or more,
these were their only neighbors, so far as we know,
unless a few straggling fishermen were carrying on
their toilsome employment at House Island and one
or two other points still favorite haunts for fisher-folk
along the shore.
Far and near all was an unbroken wilderness, save
tracts of land here and there which had been burnt
over by Indians, and had grown up to grass, presenting
78 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
charming openings in the summer time, bright
and fragrant with wild flowers, and musical with the
songs of countless birds. The streams abounded with
trout and salmon, which the " gentle angler " like
Tom Morton, Cammock or Milton could lure to his
basket with a scrap of red cloth if he possessed no
more succulent morsel to offer them. The woods, too,
were full of game of every sort, from the wild pigeons,
which, at sunset, settled down upon the great pines in
immense flocks, to the clumsy bears which fished for
lobsters in the pools left shallow by the ebbing tide.
Nor was the sea less populous than the forest. Her-
ring, mackerel, cod, and the much prized bass
crowded the waters adjacent to Richmond's Island
and the Spurwink, and along the margin of the sea
hovered numberless wild fowl acceptable for food.
Never had the newcomers from the Old World, where
game protected with jealous care was the peculiar
privilege of the rich, beheld such abundance, and they
wrote home extolling the country as a new found par-
adise. Such was the condition of things in 1631 while
Cleeve and Tucker were establishing themselves in
their new home, and looking forward to a profitable
trade with the roving bands of Indians which camped
about them ready to exchange the valuable furs of
the otter and beaver for gaudy trinkets, and above all
else for the deadly fire-water of the pale faces.
During the summer the ship Plough arrived with a
band of adventurers called the Company of Husband-
men. This company had obtained a grant, the year
before, from the Council, of a tract of land forty miles
BICHMOND'S ISLAND 79
square, lying between Cape Porpoise and Gape Eliz-
abeth. The arrival of colonists at this time was an
event of importance, not only on account of the inter-
est, social and patriotic, which emigrants in a new
country instinctively take in the advent of newcomers
of their own race and religion, but quite as much on
account of the rival interests which must necessarily
arise, and Cleeve and Tucker, without doubt, not only
acquainted themselves with the new colonists, but
with their patent ; such documents being of especial
interest to those wno were now rapidly possessing
themselves of all the valuable coast-line of New Eng-
land. This patent, we shall see, was destined to play
an important part in the controversies which were to
arise later.
While these events were taking place, Bagnall, who
was living merely as a squatter upon Richmond's
Island, being anxious to obtain a title to his dwelling
place, applied to the Council for New England, prob-
ably through Thomas Morton, who was then in
England and in favor with Gorges, for a grant of
Richmond's Island and other territory, and on the 2d
of December a patent was granted to him for this
island and fifteen hundred acres on the mainland.
But when the grant was made the unfortunate
Bagnall had ceased to live, for not being satisfied
with the ordinary, or rather extraordinary advan-
tages in trade which he possessed over the red
man, he had resorted to fraud, and being discov-
ered in it, had been slain by one whom he had
wronged.
80 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
A month previous to the grant to Bagnall, namely,
on November 1st, another grant had been made to
Captain Thomas Cammock, who was a nephew to
Robert Earl of Warwick, and had been employed by
the Council for New England of which his noble
uncle was an influential member. Cammock had
been in New England with Mason's or rather Neale's
company, which had settled on the Piscataqua, and
had probably built there, but afterwards had explored
the country farther east, had been attracted by the
beautiful point of land opposite Richmond's Island,
now known as Front's Neck, and had determined to
make it his future home. Returning to England he
had procured, through the influence of his uncle, a
grant of the coveted territory then known as Black
Point on account of the dense evergreen growth with
which it was 'covered, and which gives, as is well
known, an almost black appearance to a coast line,
especially when contrasted with gray rocks or the
lighter foliage of deciduous trees in the vicinity.
While in England he had visited Robert Trelawny at
Ham, the Trelawny family seat, and New England,
from which Cammock had lately come, was a fruitful
topic of conversation. Cammock had a practical
knowledge of the country and his selection of Black
Point probably determined Trelawny in his choice of
the adjoining territory, where Cleeve and Tucker were
located. A patent of Richmond's Island, we may
reasonably infer, had been applied for by Bagnall,
and a promise of it obtained from Gorges, whose
word once given would be adhered to before
RICHMOND'S ISLAND 81
Trelawny and Goodyear applied for their patent, or
this most important adjunct to their grant would have
been included in the patent to them, since they pos-
sessed a personal influence which Bagnall did not
enjoy. This is evident from their patent, which dis-
closes a design to nullify as far as possible, nearly
every advantage granted to Bagnall; indeed, his pat-
ent, had he ever received it, would have proved almost
valueless to him, for by what was doubtless a well
arranged piece of finesse, the Trelawny patent pre-
ceded his in date cfne day and practically covered
Richmond Island as well as the adjoining mainland,
although the Bagnall patent apparently conveyed to
the grantee the island and fifteen hundred acres of
the adjoining main. True, Bagnall was to have the
fee of Richmond's Island, but so encumbered as to be
almost worthless, since the day before the conveyance
of it to him, the right to fowl, fish and erect stages
and wharves for the prosecution of business was
granted to another. This right was without limit,
and could have been made to absorb every privilege
of value which the island possessed, while the
mainland opposite to it, east and west, where he un-
doubtedly expected to have his additional fifteen
hundred acres, had also been granted to others. Had
Bagnall lived, the grant to Trelawny would have
proved a fruitful source of trouble in which the weaker
party would have been forced to the wall. As it was,
they held the island under their grant of privileges and
never sought to fortify it by any subsequent instru-
ment. The season of 1632 opened upon the lonely
VOL. IX. 7
82 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
settlers on the Spurwink, who, it would seem, main-
tained peaceful relations with the red men about
them, and preparations were being made for planting,
by enclosing ground near their habitation, when, on
the 17th of April, they saw the sails of a ship bearing
in from the open sea, and soon had the joy of seeing
her come to anchor near the island. It was surely a
welcome sight to behold a ship from home, bearing
at her masthead the glorious flag of Old England,
and they doubtless hastened to meet the new comers.
But their happiness was shortlived, for they soon
learned that the chief of the party was John Winter,
probably an old acquaintance of Cleeve, and that he
came over as governor of Trelawny's plantation, which
included the territory then in their possession. We
may well imagine the bitter disappointment which
possessed George Gleeve and his partner when they
learned from Winter that Trelawny possessed a valid
patent from the Council of the entire shore of Cape
Elizabeth east of the Spurwink.
Winter was a harsh, overbearing man and prob-
ably did not attempt to mitigate their disappointment,
regarding them as interlopers, who must either serve
his powerful master or be driven out ; indeed, he
afterwards, in adverting to his forbearance on this
occasion towards Cleeve naively says, that he told
him that he might become a tenant to Trelawny some-
where else, after warning him from the place where he
had built and planted. To this proposal, which we may
properly imagine to have been made with the offen-
sive manner so natural to one acting subordinately
RICHMOND'S ISLAND 83
to a powerful employer, Cleeve, who had seen
enough of the oppression of the tenancy system
in Old England, with that manly spirit of independ-
ence which less than a century and a half later
transformed a province into a nation, replied that " he
would be tenant to never a man in New England."
Five days after the arrival of Winter, Cammock,
who had sailed before Winter, reached Richmond's
Island, after a long and stormy passage. From him,
Cleeve and Tucker could of course obtain no comfort,
and their position nrust have been unpleasant in the
extreme. Winter at once took steps to eject them
from their new home, and applied to Captain Walter
Neale for his official aid. This was promptly granted,
and Cleeve and Tucker were served with a formal no-
tice to quit. But Cleeve was not a man to regard
mere paper notices, and Winter was not in a position
to employ force, as he had come here only to make
arrangements for a future settlement and was to re-
turn immediately to England for men and materials
necessary to carry on the enterprise.
Needing men to leave in possession of the island,
he engaged three men whom he found " in the house
at Casko," namely, John Badiver and Thomas and
Andrew Alger, who it seems probable were some of
the men left there by Levett, presuming that " the
house at Casko " was the one erected there by him in
1623-4. Leaving these men at the island, Winter set
sail for Plymouth in the month of July, leaving
Cleeve and Tucker to harvest the crops which they
had planted that year. They well knew, however,
84 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
that he would return again before long, unless pre-
vented by the elements, when they would be obliged
to depart or to become his tenants, the latter alterna-
tive being one not to be entertained, and they began
casting about for a new place where they could erect
another house. A neck of land in Casco Bay, several
miles northerly from their present habitation, prom-
ised favorably, and when John Winter returned on
March 2, 1633, they were ready to strike out again
for a new spot of earth from which they might wring
a meagre support, and borrowing a boat to aid them
in transporting the family of Cleeve and their scanty
household goods, they departed, leaving Winter in
sole possession of Richmond's Island and their dwell-
ing place on the Cape Elizabeth shore. But his
position was far from being secure. Not only had
ships from Barnstable, England, been at the island
during his absence and regardless of his employer's
proprietary rights and the protests of those left in
charge, taken possession of the fishing stages he
had built, but threats from one who had been pil-
laging settlers farther east reached his ears. For the
protection of the people and property in his charge,
he at once set about the task of putting the island in
a proper state of defence, and, ere long, he could defy
attack from any ordinary enemy.
For the next twelve years, or until the death of
John Winter, which took place in 1645, this island
was a noted station for fishing and trade. Ships
coming to New England dropped anchor in its har-
bor, which was often crowded with vessels, some
BICHMOND'S ISLAND 85
being from England on private fishing enterprises ;
some on voyages for trade with the settlers and Indi-
ans along the coast, and others from Spain and the
West Indies with liquors and wines to be exchanged
for fish. Some of these ships which bore firewater
to work ruin among the red man and the hardy
toilers of the sea scattered along the coast, bore
striking names, as the ship Holy Ghost, the Angel
Gabriel, the White Angel of Bristol, and others of
similar nomenclature, for this was an age when
pious phrases were more common than practical
piety.
The shores of this island are now unpeopled. The
memorials of those who lived here have perished.
The dust of John Winter and of his associates is
beneath our feet, and the waves sing the same incom-
prehensible song which they sang when de Monts
landed here, or when the treacherous Indian pulled
his birchen canoe upon the beach, intent upon the
murder of Bagnall. Yet here came Richard Mather,
fleeing from oppression ; William Wood, the quaint
author of New England's Prospect; Tom Morton, who
wrote the New English Canaan; Thomas Josselyn,
Gent., made immortal by his Two Voyages ; the old
knight, his father ; Richard Vines, the trusted friend
of Gorges and the founder of Biddeford ; Richard
Gibson, the first clergyman of the Church of England
who established himself on the soil of Maine ; Robert
Jordan, his successor, who began preaching here in
1641 ; and many others as well known. Here, nearly
two and a half centuries ago, Robert Jordan, the
86 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
ancestor of the thousands of Jordans in this coun-
try, preached to Winter's little colony.
We can see with the mind's eye, the grave and dis-
creet John Winter in his suit of " kersey of a sad
colour;" his energetic and capable wife Jane and
daughter Sarah, in smart scarlet petticoats and "shoes
of the number eight size," going to hear the young
minister not long from Old England, and in the mot-
ley company gathered with them, we note the Algers,
ancestors of so many well known men ; John Libby,
the father of a multitude ; Ambrose Boaden, John
Burrage, Nicholas Edgecomb, and many others. Nor
must we overlook the fair Wilmot Randall. You will
find by the Trelawny papers that she came to this
island probably with Robert Jordan and bound her-
self to service with the Winters for a stated time.
Edgecomb, whom Sullivan supposes to be a connec-
tion of the famous English family of that name, saw
and won her, but Mrs. Winter was not of a romantic
turn of mind and would not cancel her bond. But
while it is true that " the course of true love never
did run smooth," it is equally true that " Love laughs
at locksmiths," and the lover
With a silver key
He set her free,
or in other words, he paid Mrs Winter a sufficient
sum to secure her release from her engagement, and
bore her away in triumph to the new settlement on
the Saco, where they became the ancestors of all the
Edgecombs hereabout. All these figures and many
more pass before our view, and we would fain remain
87
with them and dwell upon the events connected with
the history of this island during the seventeenth
century ; the many conflicts between Winter, his son-
in-law, and successor Jordan and George Cleeve,
their life long antagonist ; the Indian war which
raged here, and other interesting events ; but time
will not permit, and if it did I could but faintly pre-
sent them, for but an echo of them remains:
A slumberous sound, a sound that brings
The feelings of a dream,
As of innumerable wings,
As when a bell no longer swings,
Faint the hollow murmur rings,
O'er meadow, lake and stream.
88 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
REV. JOSIAH WINSHIP
BY REV. HENRY O. THAYER
Read before the Maine Historical Society, January 26, 1899
Events and men of all times, and for us of New
England's formative years, are ever worthy of
study ; ministerial life of two or one century ago can
instruct, reprove, suggest, force comparisons, incite
thankfulness, have value to the ministry and all
others of to-day.
Changes of environment many and marvellous have
indeed come ; human nature has not so changed ;
churches and parishes are not yet perfect, nor the
man in the pulpit or chief pew. Men and women in
them have still likes and dislikes ; are not wholly void
of selfishness or ill-will ; have opinions and beliefs -
some of them are strenuous for or reject creeds or
call them useless ; nor is charity always a free and
healing balm.
Old problems reappear, the factors slightly changed;
the old equation is constant, minister plus people
equal 1 or 0, i. e., success or failure.
I glean from some pages of local history in order
to present " A Harvard Graduate in the Maine Wilder-
ness."
A wilderness truly, though the woodsman's or set-
tler's axe had driven back a little in inviting spots,
" the forest primeval, the pines and the hemlocks,"
KEV. JOSIAH WIN8HIP 89
from the river floods or salt sea tides ; a wilderness
though one and a quarter centuries had passed since
Englishmen had bartered with the Wawenoc saga-
more Mohotiwormet for land ; a century of alternate
entrance and expulsion, houses and mills built and
burnt, land cultivated or devastated, hope turned to
ashes, again hope and enterprise rebuilding and cul-
tivating ; hardship and toil not empty of reward ;
anxiety, terror, flight, and the dead or dying left
behind ; then confidence, caution, risk, energy, seem-
ing necessity, making new trial, all the vicissitudes
of pioneer life, the ruin and regaining, from Philip's
War on till Louisburg fell and Quebec yielded to
English valor, bringing the end of French dominion
in North America and its accompanying savage wars
and atrocities.
This wilderness, the scene of this narration, lay
between the Kennebec and Sheepscot rivers, having
also on its south margin the estuary Sasanoa, with its
turbulent hell-gate, the mystery of whose rioting
tides the explorer Champlain in 1605 failed to under-
stand, and also frowning, precipitous Hockamock,
the ancient shrine of the Indian's fear and faith.
Within these water-bounds the native name was
Ne-qua-seag, euphonized by English ear and tongue
to Nequasset. Of this tract the sachem Robinhood's
deed of sale was given in 1639, the second of legal
form and record for Maine, perhaps for New England.
For one hundred and twenty years this district shared
with other parts of Maine the common history, toil
and trial, advance and repiilse, Indian envy or hate
90 MAINE HIBTOfclCAL SOCIETY
dogging the heels of hard though gainful labor, yet
growth and increase of settlers till in 1759 when the
long, bloody struggle of two nations for supremacy
was closing in the fall of Quebec, it became in full a
town, Woolwich.
When invested with town rights, Nequasset, as its
name should have been, sought its minister as cus-
tom, conscience, law required. The people had
anticipated and prepared for incorporation by erect-
ing the necessary meeting house. Voting money for
support of the ministry and selecting committees to
" procure a gospel minister " were first town acts.
Records show that " Rev. Mr. Wellman," James
Baker, John Miller, were acceptable candidates, who
did not respond favorably to the town's invitation.
The season of 1764 brought to the wilderness par-
ish Josiah Winship, to examine, and of course to be
examined. It seems the people found greater attrac-
tions in him than he did in them. Formally invited,
he hesitated. Perhaps no misanthropic twinges had
led him to cry out with the poet,
" for a lodge in some vast wilderness,
Some boundless contiguity of shade."
He was disinclined to choose that Kennebec wilder-
ness for his home and life-work. Ere a year had gone
he yielded, perhaps because other doors were shut
and he must take the open one, be it to his liking or
not.
His letter of acceptance, by no means a model, if
styled a model or not, was a very brief business
document, direct to the point, and hardly showing
REV. JO8IAH WINSHIP 91
that lie was treating of a matter of deep religious
importance, thus : -
Woolwich, May 1, 1765.
To the Inhabitants of Woolwich: My Answer is in the Affirma-
tive on these conditions ; [viz. additional salary according to increase
of population ; quarterly payments ; vacation to visit friends ; his
wood to be found.] This is my answer, wishing that best of heaven's
blessings both temporal and spiritual.
Your friend and humble servant,
Josiah Winship.l
Mr. Winship was a native of Cambridge, Mass., was
great-grandson of Lieut. Edward Winship made free-
man in 1635. His parents were John and Elizabeth
[Wyat] Winship, living in the district known as
" Menotomy," now Arlington, and prominent, worthy
members of the church of that precinct, in which
John Winship was deacon and wherein was baptized
their seventh child Josiah, May 28, 1738.
It is inferred that he had the ordinary training and
opportunities of the then farmer's boy, but added col-
lege studies and graduation at Harvard in 1762, when
twenty-four years of age. Of his theological studies
and some service in teaching, no particulars are
known.
A notable event then for a young town was the
ordination of its minister who cast in his lot with the
people for the better or worse of future years. Wool-
wich doubtless properly honored and enjoyed the
occasion and the services, which occurred June 12,
1765.
i In a brief notice of the man printed in our Collections Vol. VI, 1895, p. 807, mis-
hap of copyist or printer made his name Jonah.
92 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
The churches invited to sit in council were those in
Cambridge, Bolton, Weymouth, Mass., and Bruns-
wick, Hallowell, North Yarmouth, Falmouth. First,
by the agency of the summoned council a church was
constituted. In those olden times men equipped with
Bible truths for every case, read " Wisdom hath
hewed out her seven pillars," and thereby opinion
obtained that seven was the proper number to consti-
tute a church. So six men and this young minister
made the required seven for constructing this new
house of God. In the ordination services, prayers
were offered by the Revs. John Miller, of Brunswick,
and Samuel Deane, of Portland ; the sermon was
preached by Rev. Edward Brooks, of Yarmouth, text
Isa. 35:1, " The desert shall rejoice and blossom as
the rose "; ordaining prayer and charge were by Rev.
Thomas Goss, of Bolton, Mass.; and right hand of
fellowship by Rev. Samuel Eaton, of Harpswell.
This church was the first Congregational church, and
Mr. Winship the first ordained minister of the denom-
ination in the Kennebec valley.
It is a common regret how frequently corrupt are
popular or floating materials of history. In Green-
leaf's Ecclesiastical Sketches (p. 82) it is written that
when Mr. Winship came as a candidate, " there were
only twenty families in the town, and no more than
two framed houses," Now we know that ten years
before forty-four settlers solicited favor of the Plym-
outh Company ; that five years before thirty-eight
principal men, land-owners and heads of families
united in the petition for incorporation, while the
REV. JOSIAH WINSHIP 93
census taken that year credits the town with sixty-
three families. I will not delay with evidences showing
equal error in respect to the framed houses, for surely
not all but two of the sixty-four houses in town were
log-huts. This astonishingly wild statement was
transferred to Williamson's History, and thence to
many works, and not two years ago appeared in our
Collections, Vol. 6, (1895) p. 307.
For the ordination party, victuals and drink drew
on the town's exchequer, but some one's misdirection
carried part of the expense into a law-suit. There
was presented to the town in March meeting, 1767, a
bill for 11 12s 2d 9-15 f. Haec fabula docet that
then as now in charging corporations trifling items
were not rejected ; that accuracy in book-keeping was
then observed ; yet this ridiculous fraction properly
arose by reducing ordinary currency to lawful money,
the ratio then being 15 to 1. The town voted pay-
ment, and a year later 2 14s more legal fees.
Meanwhile the young minister had regularly entered
his pulpit, or the rude substitute for the fine one
yet unbuilt, had made beginnings on his allotted
farm, had taken a maiden to wife, and was bearing
the duties and cares of his public position. A new
though humble cottage was built about that time, and
the two entered there, nor do we know that occurred
any ceremonious hanging of the crane. Yet may we
say
" O fortunate, O happy day,
When a new household finds its place
Among the myriad homes of earth,
Like a new star just sprung to birth
94 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
And rolled on its harmonious way,
Into the boundless realms of space.
So said the guests in speech and song,
As in the chimney burning bright
We hung the iron crane to-night,
And merry was the feast and long."
But far otherwise than as our Longfellow contin-
ued the scenes, must I write, for truly
" The stream of Time that lingereth
In level places, and so dull appears,
Runs with a swifter current as it nears
The gloomy mills of Death."
For looking back does it not seem excessive, heartless
speed with which that joyous current of marriage life
ran on two brief years, and then the bridegroom was
left alone, save with a little one to wear its mother's
name and image.
And thus only a few words of fact suggest the
events and experiences of his first years of ministry.
But he went forward bearing its duties. What was
in his heart, what the spirit in which he walked
among his people then or stood in his pulpit, none
now truly can assert.
Mr. Winship has gained commendation for no ordi-
nary abilities, yet rather as a man of affairs than a
scholar. He had but few books ; no evidence of
scholarly tastes appears ; the little remaining from
his pen reveals no high line of classical English,
rather the ordinary. Such estimate as can now be
made of his pulpit work commends its resources and
its vigor. One has said that with better manner and
delivery he would have made an able and popular
REV. JO8IAH WINSHIP 95
preacher. This is a fairer opinion than came from
the hasty lips of one harrassing opponent. This man
borrowed some corn and returned what might justly
be rated " pig corn." Mr. Winship had reason to
complain of the poor quality. " No poorer than your
preaching," was the brusque retort. Much overdrawn,
doubtless, was the statement by Judge Groton, of Bath,
for his pen was wild and lawless :
He was governed by time in the length of his sermons, which was
an hour and a quarter. These sermons were dry and metaphysical and
read over by him to an attentive and silent congregation in the old
meeting-house at Nequasse*t.l
His preaching was fairly representative of the pulpits
of his day, in which thought not form was foremost ;
the clear statement of truth not oratory was sought
and prized. Nothing now remains to testify to the
quality or form of his preaching.
Mr. Winship was an able, prudent, shrewd, business
manager. He had tact and keenness for dealings with
his fellow men ; could meet the smartest and seldom
fail to be master of the situation. Yet an innate
scrupulous integrity controlled him, an uprightness
not only unblemished but unquestioned. He was
straightforward, open-hearted, despising deceit and
trickery, yet could he conceal a matter if desirable,
and the man who would venture far would suffer.
Kind-hearted and benevolent, the poor had reasons
to bless him. In all manly and secular relations he
was trusted and honored, though as a minister he
gained frowns and hostility from a class that differed
with him. After the old standard, he claimed the
i Bath Mirror, October 13, 1854.
96 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
respect due the town's minister. It has been told that
not only must boys on the roads doff hats and bow to
him, but in passing his house must take off their hats
whether anyone was in sight or not.
In person he was tall and well-proportioned, having
a fine presence ; wore the old time dress, only dis-
carded late in life, but retained the cocked hat to the
last. This he always hung on a certain nail in a post
behind the pulpit. In advancing age he preached on
cold days in the cold church in his old white overcoat
and shag mittens.
Mr. W in his person was above the middling height, stiff and
formal in his address and manners. At the ordination of Rev. Mr.
Winter, Bath, Mr. Winship sat in a front seat, head covered with large
white wig, his heavy cocked hat in his hand. 1
The first years of his ministry brought him hard-
ships, and he endured privations not unusual in new
settlements. He told that once he kept for months
one last piece of pork in the barrel lest friends or
visitors should come in their journey and he have
nothing to set before them. As years went on, his
business energy and prudent management enlarged
his income ; he gained independence, even wealth.
He became able to be a money-lender and the list of
his notes and mortgages increased ; yet was he no
Shylock in exacting interest, but made an inflexible
principle to take but the legal rate. It is said, from
persons soliciting a loan and offering larger consid-
eration, he coolly turned away, saying, " I don't know
you, sir." Rev. Paul Coffin, in his tour, rode from
1 Judge Groton, Bath Mirror, 1854.
REV. JOSIAH WINSHIP 97
Wiscasset to Woolwich, on Sunday, August 21, 1796,
a year midway between the Nequasset pastor's ordi-
nation and death. The entry in his journal states:
" Mr. Winship is wealthy, owning a farm of 250 acres,
good house and barn, with nine fine cows, &C." 1 His
property increased in the next score of years.
In a year after his ordination, or July, 1766, he
married Judith, daughter of Rev. Thomas Goss, of
Bolton, Mass., a member of the council from a remote
church who offered the ordaining prayer, suggestive
then of prospective family relations. A most amiable,
estimable woman, winsome in person and character,
is the report respecting her, gleaned after a century.
In less than two years, 1768, May 26, her light and
joy departed from the minister's home ; an infant
daughter remained, soon committed to the care of his
sister Thankful, who came from Cambridge to fill a
while a mother's and a home-keeper's place. After
twelve years of widowerhood, in 1780, he married
Elizabeth Ford, of Wilmington, Mass., one very unlike
his former wife. She had manifest force of character,
but less of grace and gentleness ; was a stirring,
efficient house-wife, a thrifty, hard-working, close
manager, even inclining to penuriousness ; was large
in frame, robust, masculine. It is said she would
stand at two well-filled churns and work both with
strong right and left hands. She was a most valuable
business companion for the minister in husbanding
resources and storing up wealth. She had, however,
slight interest in his ministerial work, rather hindered
1 Maine Historical Collections, Vol. 4, p. 331.
VOL. IK. 8
98 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
and annoyed him in it, than aided. It is told, though
I would doubt it, that once in the last moment of put-
ting on his great-coat to go to meeting, the minister
laid his hard-wrought sermon on the table. This wife
in a cross-grained moment snatched it up and cast it
into the blazing fire-place. She had no excess of
respect for ministers and had moods when she would
scarcely honor them or her husband. The story goes
from good authority, that once a ministerial party
was entertained at the Woolwich parsonage. As the
company rose from the dinner table, which had been
bountifully laden with the best products of the farm,
the stall, and culinary art, appropriated with full
appreciation of their toothsomeness, the host remarked
to his wife that in view of such a dinner they should
need only a light supper. At evening the guests
were invited out to the table which revealed a snowy
cloth and upon it all the candles the house could set
forth, and no more ; a light supper indeed. Doubt-
less something more substantial was set forth later.
Respecting Rev. Mr. Winship's theological position,
materials are insufficient for an accurate judgment.
Incidents, traditions, true or distorted views, of the
generation following contribute somewhat to an opin-
ion. His sermons, valuable witnesses, have all dis-
appeared, save simply one, curiously the first he wrote.
After his death, they were given away singly or in
handfuls ; were lent, which is usually "lost "; a son
had a boxful stored in the attic, which the mice ate ;
an appraiser of the estate carried away, as his son
told me, a quantity in an incapacitated churn, and
REV. JOSIAH WIN8HIP 99
these went one by one. The rest, stored in a
chest in the homestead, were drawn upon by an
unappreciative, vandal-like housekeeper, to make
a quick blaze on the kitchen hearth for singeing
the frequent goose useful at the last, the cynic
will say.
The sermon now extant comports with views suffi-
ciently evangelical and Pauline to meet the vigorous
demands of those times. But from the theology early
imbibed I think he developed towards a religious sys-
tem whose main features were morality and attend-
ance on ordinances, "do and live," " do what you
can and God will do the rest,"- but seeming to belittle
the doctrines of grace. His divergence from the stern,
unbending Calvinists about him was marked. Such
doubted him or cast him out of their charity or be-
lieved him destitute of Christian experience. It is
certain that the best Christian men and women in
moderately orthodox circles in the generation suc-
ceeding, were uncertain of his position in respect to
beliefs esteemed evangelical. Evidently he had close
affinities with the Arminian clergy of the last century
but was strongly influenced by the drift to Pelagian
views, and by the separating and constructive agencies
of the new Unitarian movement.
Resistless forces were bringing on the American
Revolution when Josiah Winship began his ministry ;
but the period it embraced saw change and upheaval
as notable in religious as in civil affairs. In his par-
ish, agencies of disruption were active and constructed
for him a rough path, nor free from thorns and vipers.
100 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Only five years go by wlien some urge a council
" to settle matters in the church.'' This difficulty
removed, new friction is revealed, alleged dissatis-
faction of many voiced by one, who demands the min-
ister to change his ways or to be removed, and admits
attendance at meetings " only to get catches on the
pastor." When these grievances, of unknown nature,
seem to be so healed, as " no more in this life to be
brought into remembrance," they still do reappear,
and this divisive church member gains two public
admonitions, on the second of which, kind and Chris-
tian truly, he turns his back on the minister and
church, and leaves the meeting-house, furnishing no
further trouble.
In such ways did disquiet years lead on to 1775,
and when the guns of Lexington startle the colonies,
heralding momentous events, already at Nequasset a
conflict is on in another form as real as when armed
men range lines of battle, as severe as intense feeling,
blind prejudice, ill-will and self-will can create. It
is a pathetic and suggestive record in October,
" Not to call a council because of the troubles that
are now so grievous upon the whole land." Still
contention and alienation do not pale and sink, but
rather grow into a widening breach. In the autumn
of 1776, when the campaigning forces about New
York and the Hudson need recruiting, here per-
turbed conflicting parish affairs require aid and wis-
dom to be sought abroad. Two councils convene :
one in September seems rather a meeting for consul-
tation. A second council was summoned to meet
REV. JOSIAH WINSHIP 101
October 9, to consist of churches in Harpswell, Yar-
mouth, Cape Elizabeth, the three in Falmouth, and
those in Wells, Buxton, and Pepperelboro. It was a
strong council, comprising able men. In the order of
towns above given, were Samuel Eaton, Tristram Oil-
man, Ephraim Clark, Samuel Deane, Thomas Browne,
Ebenezer Williams, Moses Hemmenway, Paul Coffin,
Samuel Langton. Dr. Deane's diary furnishes our
only information of the doings. He shows that cer-
tainly seven ministers were present, and perhaps
Coffin and Eaton afso, though not mentioned. Names
of lay delegates given are but three, Mr. Bradbury,
Captain Souther, Mr. Parsons ; this last undoubtedly
Theophilus, afterwards Chief Justice, then a rising
lawyer in Portland. The session opened on Thurs-
day ; was adjourned Saturday that pulpits might be
supplied, and reassembled Tuesday. Facts, the main
ground of contention, had been elicited ; now the real
work begins, examining sermons. Think of it : -
Mr. Winship must bring forth his stock, those on
which the keen-eyed, cawing crows had seen spots of
heresy. In examining and consultation nearly three
days were employed. What a job did the preacher fur-
nish, to read poor writing, to discern and divide,
to probe, weigh, strain, and learn how this young
preacher at Nequasset was indoctrinating his people.
What anxiety for him, what gossip, discussion,
restrained excitement, aching curiosity, among the
people for three days while there in Deacon Ford's
mill-house close by Nequasset Falls, those wise men,
led by Dr. Moses Hemmenway, reputed the ablest
102 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
theologian in New England, held those sermons under
microscope and in crucible, to determine if gold or
base metal was chief in the composition. On Friday
afternoon, those solemn men, weighted with responsi-
bilities, went up to the near meeting-house. Fever-
ish expectation throbbed in the assembly as the
partisan and the indifferent, the timid, the pitying,
the belligerent, the hopeful, waited the issue. A
hymn, a prayer, then Mr. Browne stood up to preach.
His text revealed the trend of the decision : "Blessed
are the peacemakers." But that Result of Council,
never put on record, went perhaps to the mice or to
the goose, and has no voice for us. Evidently they
could not adj udge the man a heretic ; he held his
pulpit and drew his salary.
It had been a war of theologies. In town were a
few staunch Scotch-Irish Presbyterians. Others held
as stalwart a Calvinism. Opponents of those views
held eqiially pronounced beliefs. Truths on either
hand seemed to be in jeopardy. Hence men and
women wearing stiff and bristling armor of positive
convictions must fight. Fight, they did ; the conflict
went on for years, almost belittling for them the
struggle of the colonies. One campaign ended as
the council dispersed on that October day after hoist-
ing a flag of peace. Alas ! in fact it became scarcely
more than a flag of truce.
New tactics were employed a year later by this mal-
content minority, secession. An attempt was made
to establish a Presbyterian church by the Calvinistic
party, numbering thirty-two by their petition, led by
REV. JOSIAH WINSHIP 103
Elder Thomas Stinson, an officer of the extinct George-
town church who had never joined Mr. Winship's.
But legislative sanction was denied ; they were forced
still to pay rates to the minister they disliked.
Then a portion, scorning his ministrations, betook
themselves to Arrowsic to Parson Emerson's meeting,
a man honored, loved, evangelical. In the number
was Grandma Trott, so called afterwards by her
descendants, nee Mehitabel Sewall, wearing something
of the strength of the Sewall name and race, a strong-
framed, energetic woman, ingrained with a strain of
insanity which has terribly cursed some of her pos-
terity, mentally virile, thoroughly versed in the doc-
trines, inclined to theological disputation, equipped
for and enjoying a tilt on dogmas with skilled divines,
and no mean champion. This woman also was able
to set three pairs of twin olive plants among fourteen
at her husband's table. Nurturing them in her best
known way of the Lord, she would set a little boy on
each hip and with the mein of a devoted mother-in-
Israel, set out for Arrowsic. Another, Samuel Stin-
son, son of the Presbyterian elder, a stiff Calvinist, a
keen watch-dog scenting out error in every sermon,
aiding the revolt against Mr. Winship, zealous for
truth as he viewed it ; in his inward religious con-
flicts, by his own confession, having no comfort of
mind only while opposing his doctrines and his con-
duct, this man turned away for edification to Mr.
Emerson. But there, reasons on both sides prevented
membership, Mr. Emerson privately remarking, "Got
troublesome members enough now." The stray sheep
104 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
from Woolwich, though nurtured on the Westminster
catechism, was now disturbed and wounded that the
Arrowsic church baptized infidels, i. e., infants ; he
turned from it, and at home churchly homeless con-
tinued Mr. Winship's active and disputatious adver-
sary, till the new Baptist movement offered scope for
his powers and quieted his contentions by the zeal of
leadership, as by teaching and exhorting he aided to
gather sympathetic believers, segregating Calvinist
from Arminian elements, and so became the effective
agent in establishing the Calvinist Baptist church of
Woolwich, to which later he ministered.
The sentiments of the sincerest seceders may have
been expressed by the Scotchman, William Chalmers,
who in turning away from Mr. Winship, kindly and
sincerely we hope, did not cease to pray for him, and
in assemblies of recusant brethren would offer in his
broad accents his best prayer, " that the Lord would
con-y-vict him, and would con-y-vart him, or that He
would con-y-demn him and send him out of town."
The Baptist defection furnished further irritation
and trial which this shepherd in the wilderness
endured.
" For toleration had its griefs
And charity its trial."
In 1781, Benjamin Randall, the apostle of free salva-
tion, as he claimed, and founder of the Free Baptist
denomination, began his evangelism in towns east of
the Kennebec. His third day's meeting was held in
Woolwich. His preaching created a sensation. There
is no need in this paper to consider the methods or
REV. JO8IAH WIN SHIP 105
spirit of his work. Great numbers flocked to his
meetings ; religious truth in new forms and pungency
moved many ; converts to his views multiplied ; a
church organization was effected, making that Wool-
wich branch the fifth of Randall's gathering, and the
second of the order in this state. It was located,
however, on the east side of the town near five miles
from the Nequasset church.
This religious upheaval was opportune for the mal-
contents, who, since the councils, had been more rest-
less or determined than before. Those who disliked
the town's minister, those not relishing his preaching,
or in thorough disagreement, those who loved novel-
ties, as well as converts to the new way, had easy
excuse to abandon his services.
To him the new movement was utterly repugnant.
He held pronounced views regarding an educated
ministry. The province laws required the curriculum
of the schools, and he was in full accord making high
claims for a learned ministry. It was an offense for
others to take on them the high office. He so taught
his people, further fastening the truth by his public
prayers as one attests : " Thou knowest, Lord,
that we deprecate an ignorant as we do a vicious
ministry."
He likewise stood firmly by the parish minister's
territorial rights. No others could properly gather
audiences within those bounds. Such were obnoxious
and criminal intruders.
But also he held high views of the ministerial office.
He believed in a divine call to it, proper preparation
106 MAINE HISTOKICAL SOCIETY
for it ; formal and authorized induction into it.
Indeed he seems to have believed in a true apostolic
succession. In a charge at an ordination he affirmed
to the candidate : " We, therefore, the ministers of
Christ present, as we came into office in a direct line
from the apostles, ordain thee." Sturdy principles as
well as personal feeling and parish interests put him
into hostile attitude to Randall's evangelism. Such
men were regarded interlopers, unfitted in learning,
lacking slightest authority for ministerial functions,
and were violators of the divine order and of personal
rights. He could but visit on them his condemnation.
Elder Randall's biographer writes of opposition,
even mobs encountered in the first stages of his work
in New Hampshire. He introduces an incident, a
specimen of the general attitude of the clergy towards
him. In condensed form it runs thus :
Invited to preach, on arriving at a certain meeting-house, he found a
large congregation gathered before it. The parson of the parish
stepped up, demanding his authority to appoint meetings in parishes
not his own. Randall replied that he was called of God and authorized
to preach in all the world to every creature. The parson, in a passion,
demanded a miracle confirmatory of this divine call, that the whip in
Randall's hand be made a serpent. " You'll be the first man to run,"
said an insolent bystander. Now a general uproar ; some wished him
to enter the house, some would keep him out. Randall stepped upon
a grave and said, U I will have this grave for my pulpit and the
heavens for my sounding-board," and began to preach. The parson
and others retired disgusted ; many remained to the refreshing of
their souls.
We may recall that forty years previously the
best pulpits in New England were closed by good
men against the devoted and eloquent Whitefield.
l Buzzell's Life of Randall, p. 102.
KEV. JOSIAH WINS HIP 107
Without names, place, date, the story was written
for the latitude of Woolwich ; the parson was Mr.
Winship. The story of the transaction has been well
preserved in town, but traverses the published account
in one important point, preaching in the graveyard.
As detailed in the last generation it tells that the two
men met before the meeting-house. The question of
authority was raised. Mr. Winship said there were
two kinds of ministers, those called of God and regu-
larly inducted into office ; those who set themselves
up for ministers, flandall avowed his divine com-
mission to preach the gospel as the apostles of old.
"Then," was the reply, "let the whip and serpent
confirmation show and prove it." The discussion
went on, evidently in no deferential tone on the pas-
tor's part, no concessions of rights on the itinerant's
part. The latter claimed a minister's authority, also
proper permission to use the house ; the former
scouted that authority and denied the entrance of
such persons to his pulpit. Now as the story goes,
the wordy encounter was abruptly broken off by a
dash for the meeting-house and the pulpit. The par-
son came in ahead, scaled the high stairs, entered his
pulpit and buttoned the door.
There may have been accretions and omissions in
both accounts, favorable to either side. The biogra-
pher writes as if Randall avoided discussion, with-
drew to a near grave and began to preach. The
town's tradition holds that he avowed the right and
did his utmost to gain the pulpit. The race is the
item most likely to be distorted or ignored. But did
108 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Randall enter the house and preach ? Tradition and
testimony are ample and clear that he did. Mr. Win-
ship's colleague (Rev. Jonathan Adams) conversed
with eye witnesses and verified the common story.
A prominent member of the Free Baptist church in
late years supported that account though adverse to
the accuracy of denominational literature, and further-
more told that his great-uncle owned a corner pew,
had little regard for either party but only to see fair
play, and declared Randall should preach in it in
spite of any or all. But my friend, the aged deacon
of the Congregational church, John Stinson, who
entered on fifty-six years of official service previous
to Mr. Winship's death, gave full verification derived
from his grandfather, David Gilmore, who brought
him up. This prominent townsman was a selectman
and gave permission for Randall to occupy the house,
and furthermore averred that he read Buzzell's Life
of Randall after its publication, and could distinctly
testify that those things as written " were not so."
Nor is it difficult to account for the biographer's error.
He wrote from memory this affair as " told him by
Randall and others." It was evidently a stock story,
often repeated at fireside gatherings for the delecta-
tion of new brethren and proof of narrow intolerance
in the standing order. This bit of bombastic gush
respecting the grave-sodded pulpit and the celestial
sounding-board was the piquant, forcible point of the
story. That fixed itself in memory ; subsequent
details fell into the background by frequent repeti-
tion and slipped away as unimportant, leaving the
REV. JO SI AH WINSHTP 109
presumption, however, that Randall did as he pro-
posed. If I may judge, it was altogether natural for
the itinerant in his discomfiture in strife for a pulpit,
to speak as averred : " The Most High dwelleth not
in temples made with hands ;" "I will go yonder and
take a grave for my pulpit and have the heavens for
a sounding-board." Those very words are testimony
that he was then, as the town account declares, within
the meeting-house and those objects before his eyes
gave shape to his utterance. Were there still some
parley of partisans the opposition would be slight.
The parson was now out of the contest, safe within
impregnable battlements above. What occurred down
there was of slight concern ; he held his own, his pul-
pit, and would hold it. Surely Randall would need
little persuasion to remain and preach. He would
not forego the chance to address such an audience
with all the pungency and power the occasion sup-
plied, and especially when he could as at no other
time shoot a few arrows up over the battlements at
the victorious watchman in his citadel.
The course of events detailed roughening Mr. Win-
ship's path in the wilderness seems the more pitiful
that it joins so closely with the town's share in the
Revolutionary War. Compare them : recruits for the
army, the quota of beef, the required clothing, sol-
dier's bounty, Tory sympathy and arrests, bands hunt-
ing out Loyalists and forcing the League and Covenant,
home guards for Cox's Head or the Sheepscot, reports
of deaths in the army or the battle, famine at Valley
Forge, and Abner Wade, brave man, in his hunger
110 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
chasing a dog and failing to seize it, sitting down in
weakness to cry : but at home, clashing of opinions,
dissension, ill-will; in '76, councils to try the minister;
in 77, thirty-two men seceding to Presbyterianism
and the town legally resisting; in '78, protest of thir-
teen men " against paying any more salary to Rev.
Josiah Winship, having improved him for a number
of years past and having received no benefit by him
nor from him;" problem of salary payment pushed
into town meeting, plans of the dissatisfied to be free
from ministerial rates; in '81, Elder Randall's invasion
making sharper rift of parties, while Cornwallis was
in the toils of the last campaign.
Surely not with calmness nor indifference did the
shepherd at Nequasset see the resistless current sweep
away a part of his flock. It was a period of transition
which through hardship, debate, resistance of the old
against the new, a growing sense of justice, the com-
pulsion of numbers, brought the era of full voluntary
support of the institutions of religion.
Baptist churches were formed, persons signed off,
and had transfer of ministerial rates, the old parish
was weakened. As Whittier also wrote,
" Grave pastors grieving their flocks to lose,
Prophesied to empty pews."
Still Mr. Winship with or without pity, a square busi-
ness man, expected the town to meet its engagements,
and it did. In 1794, he refuses taxes on certain lands.
The town without pity proceed legally to collect, but
learn on conference his tactics to show that agreement
at ordination had not been kept by increasing salary
REV. JOSIAH WINSHIP 111
when one hundred families are in town. Now various
questions respecting salary, arrearages due, abatement
on account of diminished ability by the Baptist with-
drawal, continued for ten years. In 1809, two years
before the Religious Toleration Act, as the attendants
on his ministry avow their unwillingness to part with
him but cannot bear his whole salary, he offers to
excuse all the law excuses and to yield his whole sal-
ary when the town will settle a colleague. He was
now past seventy and a man of wealth, but so long as
he performed the duties of his office he required stip-
ulated payment.
Slight basis exists for conclusions in what spirit
the man endured fault-finding and animosities of the
vexing years. Still a majority of the people were
loyal to him, kindly sustained him, fought his battles,
appreciated his services, honored his business tact
and manly integrity, and gave him due respect. How
far self-poised and unruffled under ill-will of adver-
saries cannot be affirmed, but in large measure I think
he went straight forward as if those things did not
exist, as if he knew nothing of the tempest or the
dust. Certainly the records subsequent to the coun-
cil disclose no troubles in the church, do not show
that any members left it for Arrowsic or the rival
home churches, though several did ; the word Baptist
doesn't appear nor a trace that such persons or
churches existed. One might say that upright in all
else, in these records his integrity is impeached, but
none can tell his principle in keeping them, and he
was king and would do as he pleased ; yet they are
112 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
certainly scanty and imperfect in exhibiting the church
life. But it is one main blemish on the man's life that
he maintained such an attitude toward the new relig-
ious movements and churches of his time. That he
did no worse than many others does not excuse him.
The men, the methods, the beliefs, the types of piety
were all distasteful. In the ordination charge men-
tioned, he adverts to the scattering and divisions of
the people " into sects and parties by means of
unprincipled and unlearned men who come not in by
the door but climb up some other way." He was at
times harsh and censorious, allowed to these other
workers in the vineyard neither respect nor charity.
He saw, he felt the secession and the undermining
going on in his own parish, that there was personal
hostility as well as adverse beliefs. Had there never
been a bitter word nor an ungracious act, then might
he have been crowned among the perfect. He did
not attain that honor. One incident is in point,
though I wish to regard it as apocryphal.
One Sunday's service had just begun with the read-
ing of the hymn ; it runs thus i 1
"I hate the tempter and his charms,
I hate his flatt'ring breath;
The serpent takes a thousand forms,
To cheat our souls to death."
As the last line was on his lips, Mr. Winship saw step
within the door his thorn in the flesh, the hyper-
Calvinistic leader of the opposition, the agitator of
heresies. He turned his eye to the opposite page to
1 Watts' Hymns, Book 2, No. 156.
REV. JOSIAH WINSHIP 113
the next hymn, and calmly read on as his harrassing
adversary walked up the aisle :
" Now Satan comes with dreadful roar,
And threatens to destroy;
He worries whom he can't devour,
With a malicious joy."
My informant reported no breach of cimrchly deco-
rum, no interruption. The sermon beyond doubt was
preached that day as usual.
His public utterance was free and bold. He would
speak what he believed if it were wise ; if not, he
could be silent. I think him sincere, never shaping
his words to curry favor, nor bending his views to
personal ends. He would not have saved his pulpit
by being untrue to himself. Yet in his official work,
he was politic, tactful, cautious, could deal wisely with
difficult matters. But the climbing up some other
way, the movements of the "New Lights," as often
then the itinerant evangelistic workers were contempt-
uously called, drew him out in free and pointed
speech.
There came into town a representative "new
woman " for that time, a voluble, effective Free Bap-
tist exhorter, Judy Prescott, who created no small
stir.
On the next Sunday his congregation learned, if not
before, his opinions on such doings, by a sermon as
pointed and vigorous as was the text he employed :
E< I have a few things against thee because thou suf-
ferest that woman Jezebel which calleth herself a
prophetess to teach and to seduce my servants."
VOL. IX. 9
114 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
The town's plans to provide a colleague for the aged
pastor went forward slowly. In 1816, he addressed a
letter to those under his ministerial care, in which he
adverts to his advanced age and infirmities, and the
present supply of the pulpit, and proposes, " so long
as you supply with a learned, pious, orthodox Con-
gregational minister, I shall be highly gratified and
will relinquish my salary towards his support." Jon-
athan Adams was then under engagement, and was
ordained February 1, 1817. The aged pastor retired
from public duty, added eight more quiet years, com-
pleting sixty years of ministry in the town, and died
September 29, 1824, aged eighty-six years and four
months. His ashes rest where almost may the morn-
ing sun cast the shadow of the meeting-house of his
long labors athwart his grave. Sound and strong,
though modernized, it still [1904] serves well its
purpose in its one hundred and forty-seventh year
(built 1757) among the oldest churches in the state.
He left none to perpetuate the family name, an
infant son by the second marriage bearing it but a
few days. The motherless daughter, Mary Ford Win-
ship, when not yet seventeen, married Gapt. Samuel
Reed. Through her four sons a numerous posterity
trace their lines back to the Woolwich minister. His
capacious house built in 1769 remains with the farm
in the possession of a great-grandson.
This word more : No question concerning the hon-
orable and valued place this minister held in the town;
nor of fraternal acceptance by his brethren in the min-
istry. There may be question of his exemplification
REV. JOSIAH W1N8HIP 115
of the deeper evangelical truth and the degree of his
general helpfulness to spiritual religion. Of the fur-
nishing of his own heart, none then had right to
assert, surely none now can decide. The Lord who
knoweth His own, knew him, this servant in His
church and judged aright.
116 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
THE PLYMOUTH COLONISTS IN MAINE
BY REV. HENRY S. BURRAGE, D.D.
Read before the Maine Historical Society, November 16, 1899
A new interest has been awakened in the Pilgrim
Plantation at Plymouth by the recent publication of
Bradford's History, from the original manuscript, now
in the possession of the Commonwealth of Massachu-
setts. In its main features this story of heroic endur-
ance and sublime faith is well known to all who have
given any attention whatever to our early New Eng-
land history ; yet he has missed much who has not
traced the fortunes of the Pilgrim Fathers in the
quaint narrative of their first governor. To us, living
in Maine, however, the story as told by Bradford has
a peculiar interest from his frequent allusions to
places and events within our own borders ; and in
reading the narrative one is soon impressed by the
fact that a closer relation existed between the Plym-
outh Colony and what is now the state of Maine than
has hitherto been indicated.
When the Pilgrims, during their residence in Hol-
land, were considering the question of a removal to
some part of the new world, there were those in their
number who expressed a very decided preference for
Guiana, in South America, concerning which such
glowing accounts had been written by Sir Walter
Raleigh. Others favored a settlement within the
THE PLYMOUTH COLONISTS IN MAINE 11 7
limits of the Virginia Company, but not in connec-
tion with the colony already established on the banks
of the James River, where again they might be brought
into conflict with the English church. New England
had no attractions for them on account of the severity
of its climate, reports concerning which had been
preserved in the records of the Popham Colony and
in the relations of various voyagers. All things con-
sidered the country about the Delaware River seemed
to offer the most favorable opportunity for the success-
ful establishment of a permanent colony. The Vir-
ginia Company, whose territory extended from Cape
Fear to Long Island Sound, was willing to co-operate
with the Pilgrims, and offered to grant them a tract
of land with all the rights of self government which
the Company itself possessed. Such a grant accord-
ingly was secured, not in the name of the Pilgrims,
however, but of Mr. John Wincob, an English gen tie-
man who was interested in the movement and pro-
posed to throw in his fortunes with theirs. " But
God so disposed," says Bradford, " as he never went
nor they ever made use of this patente." 1 Some
Dutchmen at Manhattan, also, made "faire offers,"
proposing to transport the entire company to that
trading post at the mouth of the Hudson River and
conceding to them the right of self government in
their internal affairs. In response to this offer, early
in 1620, a statement was made to the stadtholder giv-
ing the conditions on which the Pilgrims would con-
sent to establish their colony at Manhattan. These
* Bradford's History, p. 51.
118 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
conditions were at length rejected, but before the
reply was received negotiations with the Dutch on
the part of the Pilgrims had been broken off by the
advice of Mr. Thomas Weston, a London merchant,
who visited Leyden and persuaded the Pilgrims "not
to medle with y e Dutch, or too much to depend on
y e Virginia Company ; for if that failed, if they came
to resolution, he and such marchants as were his
freinds (togeather with their owne means) would sett
them forth; .... Aboute this time also," adds
Bradford, " they had heard, both by Mr. Weston and
others, y* sundrie Hon bl : Lords had obtained a large
grante from y e king, for y e more northerly parts of
that countrie, derived out of y e Virginia patente, and
wholy secluded from their Govermente, and to be
called by another name, viz. New England." 1 The
reference is to what is now known as the New
England charter.
It was not the purpose of the Pilgrims in following
the advice of Weston and others to settle in that part
of New England to which they came in December,
1620. This is made clear by Bradford. Referring
to the voyage of the Mayflower, he says : "After large
beating at sea they fell with that land which is called
Cape Cod ; the which being made & certainly knowne
to be it, they were not a little joyfull. After some
deliberation had amongst themselves & with y e m r of
y e ship, they tacked aboute and resolved to stande
for y e southward (y e wind & weather being faire) to
finde some place aboute Hudsons river for their hab-
i Bradford's History, pp. 64, 55.
THE PLYMOUTH COLONISTS IN MAINE 119
itation." l But the Pilgrims soon found themselves
among the "deangerous shoulds and roring breakers"
off the southerly part of the Cape and perceiving
their peril they bore " up againe " for the Cape
and the next day anchored in " y e Cape-harbor."
The settlement at Plymouth followed. The May-
flower voyagers had long enough braved the wintry
Atlantic, and were glad to find a resting place even
if it were on the bleak, inhospitable shores of New
England.
About two months after the Pilgrims landed at
Plymouth, an Indian walked down the street on which
they had built the log-huts of their little settlement.
To the surprise of the colonists who met him he
addressed them in broken English. His name was
Samoset, and he told them that he had obtained his
use of their language from the captains and sailors of
English fishing vessels that came each year to "y e
east erne parts " to fish. From him the Pilgrims
derived much valuable information. He told them
about the Indians in their vicinity, their names and
number. Later he made them acquainted with
Squanto, or Tisquantum, to whom they were so much
indebted subsequently ; also with the great chief,
Massasoit. Samoset also told them "many things
concerning y e state of y e country in y e east-parts
wher he lived, which was afterwards profitable unto
them" -how profitable Bradford makes known in
the further unfolding of his narrative. Doubtless the
1 Bradford's History, p. 93.
2 Bradford's History, p. 114.
120 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Indian's story was not fully intelligible, but from his
imperfect use of the English language the Pilgrims
learned enough to give them some acquaintance with
a region not very remote to which their own country-
men had made more or less profitable voyages for
fishing or trading purposes since the days of the Pop-
ham Colony ; and what they thus learned, as Brad-
ford intimates, was not forgotten.
The merchant adventurers in London, who fur-
nished the capital for the Pilgrim enterprise, expected
large returns for their venture. Very naturally the
colonists desired to meet their just expectations.
But the early years of Bradford and his associates at
Plymouth were spent almost wholly in the eager
struggle for existence. Squanto taught them how to
raise Indian corn, but from their scanty harvests it
was difficult at first to procure subsistence sufficient
for their own necessities. The Mayflower returned
to England without lading. But the Fortune, in 1621,
on her return voyage carried " good clapbord as full
as she could stowe," manufactured by the hard labor
of the Pilgrims during the preceding winter doubtless.
She also carried two hogsheads of beaver and other
skins, which for a few trifling articles they had pur-
chased of the Indians. The Fortune unfortunately
was captured on the voyage by Frenchmen and taken
to a French port, where before the release of the ves-
sel everything of value on board was confiscated.
The loss of the cargo was a grievous disappointment
to the Pilgrims as well as to the merchant adven-
turers impatiently awaiting the arrival of such
THE PLYMOUTH COLONISTS IN MAINE 121
products of the new world as the colonists could
send to repay the money and goods they had
advanced.
About the end of May, 1622, when the provisions
of the Pilgrims were nearly exhausted, they discov-
ered a boat at sea which at first they thought to con-
tain Frenchmen, but which proved to be a shallop
from a fishing vessel at Damariscove. The shallop
had seven passengers who had crossed the Atlantic
in this vessel. With this addition to the colony, how-
ever, there came no* supplies to the hungry colonists.
Among other letters which the shallop brought, how-
ever, was one from the master of a fishing vessel at
Damariscove, one John Huddlestone. Huddlestone
was a stranger to the Pilgrims, but from some one of
the vessels that had come from Virginia he had heard
of the massacre of the colonists there by the Indians,
and his letter was intended to put the Pilgrims on
their guard lest a like fate should befall them. Brad-
ford wrote a letter of grateful acknowledgement in
response, and Mr. Winslow, in a boat belonging to
the colony, accompanied the shallop to Damariscove
on its return, with instructions to procure for the
colonists " what provisions he could of y e ships."
Huddlestone not only furnished Mr. Winslow with
such supplies as he could spare from his own
stores, but he gave him letters to the captains of
other fishing vessels in the vicinity, who treated him
in a like generous way, by which, says Bradford,
" y* plantation had a double benefite, first, a present
refreshing by y e food brought, and secondly they
122 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
knew y e way to those parts for their benefite here-
after." l
By the supplies received from the fishing vessels at
and near Damariscove the Pilgrims were enabled to
subsist, though most frugally, until the welcome time
of harvest arrived. But the corn they then obtained
did not furnish the colonists with a full year's supply,
and there would have been hunger in their log-cabins,
if they had not obtained subsistence from the neigh-
boring Indians. No attempt to add to their stock
from the " eastward," however, was made until early
in March, 1624, when the pinnace was newly fitted
out and despatched thitherward on a fishing cruise.
She arrived safely at a place near Damariscove "and,"
as Bradford says, " was there well harbored in a place
wher ships used to ride, ther being also some ships
allready arrived out of England. But shortly after
ther arose such a violent & extraordinarie storme, as
y e seas broak over such places in y e harbor as was
never seene before, and drive her against great roks,
which beat such a hole in her hulke, as a horse and
carte might have gone in, and after drive her into
deep water, wher she lay sunke." 2 The master of the
1 Edward Winslow's own account of this trip to Damariscove is more complete
than that of Bradford's and is found in the Collections of the Massachusetts His-
torical Society, First Series, Vol. 8, p. 245. R. K. Sewall, in his Ancient Dominions
of Maine, refers to Winslow's account of this affair, and calls attention to it as
indicating " that the inhabitants of Damariscove were a thrifty and generous peo-
ple." The intimation is that Winslow received his supplies from the inhabitants of
Damariscove that there was a settlement there which, to use Mr. Sewall's own
words, had become the " granary of the embryo settlements of New England."
Both Winslow and Bradford, however, make it abundantly evident that the supplies
were obtained from the fishing vessels at Damariscove and vicinity. They were
"such victuals as the ships could spare."
2 Bradford's History, pp. 187, 188.
THE PLYMOUTH COLONISTS IN MAINE 123
pinnace and one of the men were drowned, while the
rest rescued themselves with the greatest difficulty,
and at length made their way back to Plymouth and
reported the disaster. Later in the season, some of
the masters of the fishing vessels at Damariscove sent
word to the Plymouth colonists that it was a pity so
fine a vessel should be lost and they offered, provided
the Pilgrims would defray the cost, to raise the wreck,
and provide ship carpenters " to mend her." The
Pilgrims thanked the captains for their kindly offer,
and sent men to Damariscove and also beaver to pro-
vide for the expense. A large number of empty casks
were fastened to the wreck at low water, and when
the tide rose and the wreck was lifted, they drew it
to the shore " in a conveniente place wher she might
be wrought upon ; and then hired sundrie carpenters
to work upon her, and others to saw planks, and at
last fitted her & got her home." 1 But the venture as
a whole proved a very unremunerative one.
Meanwhile Bradford and his associates at Plymouth
were not only exerting themselves to the utmost to
provide subsistence for the members of the colony,
but at the same time they were earnestly endeavoring
to pay their indebtedness to the merchant adventurers
in London. In 1625, after harvest, which was the
most abundant they had gathered since the establish-
ment of the colony, they dispatched a boat's load of
corn to " y e eastward, up a river called Kenibeck."
This is Bradford's first mention of the Kennebec, but
i Bradford's History, p. 228.
a Bradford's History, p. 246.
124 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
the name must have been a familiar one to him from
the time of their acquaintance with Samoset. The
boat in which the corn was carried for this venture
was one of two which the carpenter of the Pilgrims
had built during the preceding year. " They had a
little deck over her midships to keepe y e corne drie,"
says Bradford, " but y e men were faine to stand it out
all weathers without shelter ; and y* time of y e year
begins to growe tempestuous." Mr. Edward Wins-
low was in charge of this Kennebec venture. Pro-
ceeding up the river, he found the Indians exceedingly
well disposed, and had no difficulty in exchanging his
store of corn for beaver, of which he obtained seven
hundred pounds. When Winslow at length dropped
down the river on his return homeward, he had laid
the foundations of an exceedingly profitable trade,
and he made his way back to Plymouth with high
hopes that from this trade the colony would be able
to discharge ere long its financial obligations in Lon-
don. These hopes were not doomed to disappoint-
ment. The sight of the beaver, as Winslow and his
boat's crew landed at Plymouth the proceeds of this
Kennebec venture, was one with which the Pilgrims
became more and more familiar as the years went by.
Little time was spent by the Plymouth men in fish-
ing, but the colonists devoted themselves to " trading
and planting," and this with " y e best industrie they
could." They had now learned the value of corn for
trading purposes, and the amount planted was con-
siderably increased, the governor and those who were
associated with him in managing the traffic for the
THE PLYMOUTH COLONISTS IN MAINE 125
benefit of the colony using all diligence in promoting
the general welfare.
But in their traffic with the Indians other commod-
ities than corn were desirable, and learning that the
plantation at Monhegan belonging to certain mer-
chants in Plymouth, England, was to be broken up
and that " diverse useful! goods " brought there by
these parties were to be sold, Governor Bradford and
Mr. Winslow, with some other of the colonists, pro-
ceeded thither in a boat. Evidently they made their
way along the coast,* and when they reached Piscata-
qua, Mr. David Thompson, who resided there, " took
opportunitie to goe with them," an unfortunate deci-
sion for the Plymouth men. For when they came into
the harbor at Monhegan, the traders there had two
bidders for their goods instead of one. They made a
profitable use of their advantage, and the visitors at
length, in order that they might not further work to
each other's injury, bought the goods in common and
then divided them equally. Various commodities
obtained from the wreck of a French vessel had fallen
into the hands of the traders at Monhegan and Dam-
ariscove. These, also, were bought in partnership,
and the amount paid by the Pilgrim colonists was
upward of 500. This payment was met by the
beaver and other furs which they secured from the
Indians of the Kennebec. The Plymouth men were
now well supplied with articles for their traffic on
that river. " With these goods," says Bradford, "and
their corne after harvest, they gott good store of trade,
so as they were enabled to pay their ingagements
126 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
against y e time & to get some cloathing for y e people,
and had some comodities beforehand." l
Meanwhile the relations of the Pilgrims to the Lon-
don merchant adventurers became more and more
unsatisfactory. The adventurers had failed to secure
the large returns they had expected from their ven-
ture, and in 1625 the majority of them deserted the
colony. At the same time the Plymouth men, who
better understood the difficulties encountered, were
not pleased with the reproaches heaped upon them by
their English promoters. In order to a better mutual
understanding, the Pilgrims in 1625 sent Capt. Miles
Standish to England. They desired also better terms
in purchasing goods and lower rates of interest.
" But he came in a very bad time," says Bradford,
" for y e Stat was full of trouble, and y e plague very
hote in London, so as no business could be done."
Standish spoke with some of the Council, however,
who promised helpfulness according to their ability,
but little money was in circulation on account of the
plague. With much "adooe" says Bradford, he bor-
rowed "150 at 50 per cent," which, after paying
his expenses he laid out in goods and returned to
New England in a fishing vessel. In the following
year Mr. Allerton continued the negotiations with the
creditors in London, and an agreement was at length
reached by which the Plymouth colonists were to pay
the London adventurers 1800, of which 200 were
to be paid annually until the whole debt was provided
for, the first payment to be made in 1628. " This
1 Bradford's History, p. 252.
THE PLYMOUTH COLONISTS IN MAINE 12 7
agreemente," says Bradford, " was very well liked of,
& approved by all y e plantation, and consented unto :
though they knew not well how to raise y e payment,
and discharge their other ingagements, and supply
the yearly wants of y e plantation, seeing they were
forced for their necessities to take up money or goods
at so high interests." 1 But the trade with the Indians
on the Kennebec inspired hopefulness in the colonists.
They needed for this trade, however, a larger boat
than they now possessed. They ran a great hazard
in their trips along the coast in a small craft, espec-
ially in the winter season. In their perplexity the
house carpenter of the colony was consulted. He was
an " ingenius man," according to Bradford, and had
wrought with the ship carpenter, now dead, when he
built the boats they had used hitherto. So he was
asked to make trial of his skill in the same art. This
he did. Selecting one of the largest of the boats he
sawed it "in y e mi die and so lenthened her some 5
or 6 foote, and strengthened her with timbers, and so
built her up and laid a deck on her." 2 The result
was a convenient and serviceable vessel, which the
colony used for trading purposes on the Maine coast
seven years.
But the Pilgrims needed not only a larger vessel
for their increased Indian traffic on the Kennebec,
but such a foothold there as vested rights alone would
secure. This very soon became evident. There were
those who let it be known that they desired to obtain
1 Bradford's History, p. 257.
2 Bradford's History ,lp. 263.
128 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
at least a share of this profitable traffic. Among
others, the traders at Piscataqua had their eyes
directed thitherward, and there were parties also far-
ther to the eastward who were eager to extend their
trade in that direction. Then, too, there were the
masters of fishing vessels on the coast, who very nat-
urally wished to add to their profits by traffic with
the Indians. Indeed the threat was made of procur-
ing in England a land grant of the region and of
excluding the Plymouth men from the Kennebec by
means of such a grant. The Pilgrims, therefore, as
Bradford says, "thought it needfull to prevent such a
thing." Only a hint with reference to this proposed
action was necesary to move them promptly in the
same direction. Mr. Allerton was about to go to
England for the purpose of adjusting financial matters
with the merchant adventurers. They now directed
him to secure for the Plymouth colonists a patent for
such a tract of land on the Kennebec as would enable
them to control the Indian traffic of the river. Mr.
Allerton was successful in his undertaking so far as
the financial affairs of the colony were concerned.
He also secured " a patente for Kenebeck," but its
terms were unsatisfactory to the Pilgrims. " It was
so straite & ill bounded," says Bradford, " as they
were faine to renew & inlarge it the next year."
This was done and the patent was issued January
13, 1629, " for and in consideracon, that William
Bradford and his Associates, have for these nine years
lived in New Englande aforesaid, and have there
1 Bradford's History, p. 280.
THE PLYMOUTH COLONISTS IN MAINE 129
inhabited and planted a Towne, called by the name
of New Plymouth, att their owne proper Costs and
Charges ; and now seeinge that by the spetiall Provi-
dence of God, and their extraordinary Care and Indus-
try, they have encreased their Plantacon to neere
three hundred People, and are vppon all Occasions
able to releive any new Planters, or other his Majes-
tie's Subjects, whoe may fall vppon that coaste." l
The first part of the patent confirmed to the colonists
at New Plymouth the tract of land on Massachusetts
Bay on which their colony was planted. But to this
grant was added another in these words : "And for-
asmuch as they have noe convenient Place, either of
Tradinge or Fishinge within their own precincts,
whereby (after soe longe Travell and great Paines)
soe hopefull a Plantacon may subsiste, as alsoe that
they may bee incouraged the better to proceed in soe
pious a Worke, which may especially tend to the
Propagation of Religion, and the great Increase of
Trade to his Majestie's Realmes and Advancements
of the publique Plantacon," the Council also granted
to William Bradford for the Plymouth Colonists, " all
that Tracte of Lande or Parte of New Englande in
America aforesaid, which lyeth within or betweene,
and extendeth itself from the vtmost Limitts of Cob-
biseconte alias Comuseeconte, which adioneth to the
River of Kenebeke, alias Kenebekike, towards the
western Ocean, and a Place called the Falls att
Nequamkike, in America aforesaid, and the space of
fifteen Englishe miles on each side of the said River
l Hazard, Historical Collections, Vol. I, p. 300.
VOL. IX. 9
130 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
commonly called Kenebek River, and all the said
River called Kenebek, that lies within the said Lim-
itts and bounds eastward, westward, northward, or
southward laste aboue menconed .... together with
free Ingresse, Egresse and Regresse with Shipps,
Boats, Shallops and other vessels from the Sea com-
monly called the Westerne Ocean, to the said River
called Kennebek, and from the said River to the said
Westerne Ocean."
It should be noticed that the patent makes promi-
nent the fact that the Kennebec afforded facilities for
trading with the Indians which Plymouth and the
neighboring localities did not furnish. It should also
be noticed that while this grant to the Pilgrims did
not extend to the mouth of the Kennebec river, it
secured to them the right to pass in and out, and they
could easily hold the trade of the river, having the
first chance of meeting the Indians as they descended
the stream in their fur-laden canoes. Not any too
soon, however, had the Plymouth colonists obtained
this advantage. Without it, as subsequent events
showed, they would have found it much more difficult
to keep back their eager and troublesome rivals.
On the banks of the Kennebec, upon this tract of
land thus secured, the Pilgrims erected a fort and
trading house. Concerning the location upon which
these stood there have been various opinions. Sulli-
van in his History of the District of Maine, 2 says with
some hesitancy that " it was on what is now called
1 Hazard, Historical Collections, Vol. I, pp. 300, 301.
2 p. 174.
THE PLYMOUTH COLONISTS IN MAINE 131
Small Point ; on the west side of the river, and near
the sea. Tradition," he adds, " assures us that Pop-
ham's party made their landing on the island now
called Stage Island ; and as there are the remains of
an ancient fort on Small Point, and wells of water
of long standing, with remains of ancient dwelling
houses there ... it may be concluded that the
Plymouth Fort was at that place." By Small Point
Sullivan plainly has in mind the whole tract of land
between the Kennebec and Gasco Bay, and the Pil-
grim's fort and trading house in his view therefore
was located on the eastern part of this tract bordering
on the river and not far from its mouth. Williamson,
in his History of Maine, 1 however, says that the Pil-
grims in prosecuting the trade of the river had three
stations for local traffic, one at Popham's fort, one at
Richmond's landing and one at Cushnoc. In another
place 2 he says that the Pilgrims had two trading sta-
tions on the river, " one at Fort Popham and one at
Cushnoc." There is no evidence, however, that the
Pilgrims established a trading post at the mouth of
the river. This was not within the limits of their
patent. Moreover the early Pilgrim writers make
mention of only a single trading house on the river.
Bradford, writing of events that occurred in 1631,
mentions "y e house ther." 3 Again, writing of events
that occurred in 1634, he refers to some who "would
needs goe up y e river aboue their house (towards
1 Vol. I, p. 837.
Vol. I, p. 252.
3 Bradford's History, p. 348.
132 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
y e fall of the river) and intercept the trade that
should come to them," * i. e. the Pilgrims. If the
Plymouth Colony had more than one trading house
on the Kennebec Bradford could hardly have failed
to mention the fact. It is accordingly the accepted
view at the present time that the Pilgrims had a
single trading post only on the Kennebec, and
that this was at Cushnoc, the present Augusta.
After they had thus firmly established them-
selves on the Kennebec, Bradford and his associates
came into possession of a trading house on the
Penobscot. In 1629, some of the English merchant
adventurers, who were interested in the Pilgrim
enterprise, entered into business relations with one
Edward Ashley and furnished him with goods for
trading purposes. Bradford describes Ashley as
"a very profane younge man," who had " for some
time lived amonge y e Indians as a savage."
Though he had " wite and abillitie enough to
menage y e busines," Bradford " feared he might
still rune into evill courses (though he promised
better)," and that " God would not prosper his
ways." 2 Ashley opened a trading post " at Penob-
scot." 3 While the Pilgrims had no confidence
in the man, they foresaw that a trading post on the
Penobscot in unfriendly hands would be prejudicial
to their Kennebec interests. So "to prevente a worse
1 Bradford's History, p. 377.
2 Bradford's History, p. 309.
3 It is the general opinion that the trading house at Penohscot was at Castine.
For the difficulties connected with its location, however, see S. A. Drake's " The
Plymouth Trading House at Penobscot," Maine Historical Society's Collections,
Second Series, Vol. Ill, p. 409.
THE PLYMOUTH COLONISTS IN MAINE 133
mischeefe," as Bradford 1 puts it, they " resolved to
joyne in y e bussines " and furnished Ashley with sup-
plies. But Ashley soon exhibited his true character
and having been detected in selling powder and shot
to the Indians (which he was under bonds not to do)
he was arrested by parties not mentioned and taken
to England where he was imprisoned in the Fleet.
Ashley, however, had influential friends, who at
length secured his release, and he was planning to
return to New England when he received an offer
from certain London merchants to go to Russia in
their interest. This offer he accepted, but on his
return he "was cast away at sea ; this," adds Brad-
ford, " was his end." The trading post at Penobscot
meanwhile had been maintained by the Pilgrims and
it passed in this way into their hands, so that although
Mr. William Pierce " had a parte ther" it was "wholy
now at their disposing."
This trading post at the Penobscot was not alto-
gether a source of profit to the Pilgrims. In 1631,
the house was robbed by some Frenchmen, who
secured beaver and goods to the value of from four
hundred to five hundred pounds. Bradford's account
of the affair is as follows : " The M r of ye e house, and
parte of y e company with him, were come with their
vessell to y e westward to fecth a supply of goods
which was brought over for them. In y e mean time
comes a smale French ship into y e harbore (and
amongst y e company was a false Scott) ; they pre-
tended they were newly come from y e sea, and knew
i Bradford's History, p. 328.
134 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
not wher they were, and that their vesell was very
leake, and desired they might hale her a shore and
stop their leaks. And many French complements
they used, and congees they made ; and in y e ende,
seeing but 3 or 4 simple men, y* were servants, and
by this Scoth-man understanding that y e maister &
y e rest of y e company were gone from home, they fell
of comending their gunes and muskets, that lay upon
racks by y e wall side, and tooke them downe to looke
on them, asking if they were charged. And when
they were possesst of them, one presents a peece
ready charged against y e servants, and another a
pistoll ; and bid them not sturr, but quietly deliver
them their goods, and carries some of y e men aborde,
& made y e other help to carry away y e goods. And
when they had tooke what they pleased, they sett
them at liberty, and went their way, with this mocke,
biding them tell their M r , when he came, that some of
y e He of Rey gentlemen had been ther." l
Of course the Plymouth colonists could not expect
reparation for their loss, and Bradford closes his
account of the affair without comment, but evidently
not without a groan.
The trading house on the Kennebec was a larger
source of revenue to the Pilgrims than the trading
house at Penobscot, but it was not an unmixed bless-
ing. From the first other parties desired to secure at
least a part of the traffic with the Indians whose vil-
lages were on the Kennebec or who made the river a
thoroughfare. In 1634, one John Hocking, who lived
I Bradford History, p. 361.
THE PLYMOUTH COLONISTS IN MAINE 135
at Piscataqua, agent for Lords Say and Brooke and
other Englishmen interested in the settlement there,
made his way to the Kennebec, purposing to proceed
in his vessel up the river beyond the Pilgrim trading
house, and so to secure trade with the Indians that
otherwise would fall into the hands of the Plymouth
colonists. John Howland, who was in command of
the Pilgrim trading post, protested against this effort
on the part of Hocking, insisting that it was an
infringement of rights secured to the Pilgrims by
their patent. The appeal was to that clause in the
grant which authorized Bradford and his associates
" to take, apprehend, seize and make prize of all such
persons, there Shipps and Goods, as shall attempt to
inhabit or trade with the savage People of that Coun-
try within the several Precincts and Liniitts of his
and their several Plantacon." But Hocking refused
to heed the protest made by Howland. He said, as
Bradford puts it, that he " would goe up and trade
ther in despite of them and lye ther as long as he
pleased," and in the effort to make good his words he
sailed past the Pilgrim fort and anchored. Howland
then went to Hocking, and having again called his
attention to his unjustifiable action he urged him to
take his vessel down the river ; but Hocking still
refused. He was in a position to have the first chance
for trade with the Indians as they descended the river
in their canoes, and he intended to make the most
of it. Howland accordingly proceeded to action.
Instructing his men not to fire their guns upon any
provocation, he sent two of them to cut the cable of
136 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Hocking's vessel. This they succeeded in doing, and
as the vessel started down the stream, Hocking seized
a musket and killed one of the Plymouth men, Moses
Talbot. His companion in the canoe, who "loved
him well," as Bradford says, could not restrain him-
self, and levelling his musket at Hocking he shot him
in retaliation. The vessel continued on its course
down the river, and Hocking's men, on their return
to the Piscataqua, carried the tidings of the affair
thither.
This report in due time reached Lords Say and
Brooke in England. In it the fact was withheld that
Hocking, who was infringing on the rights of the Pil-
grims, had killed one of the Plymouth men ; and
Lords Say and Brooke were indignant at the treat-
ment Hocking had received on the Kennebec. The
same version of the affair, either from the Piscataqua
or from England, was carried to the colonists of Mas-
sachusetts Bay. When, not long after, the Plymouth
colonists sent their vessel to Boston, the authorities
there arrested John Alden, who was at the Kennebec
trading post when Hocking was killed, though not a
participant in the affair. The Plymouth colonists
regarded Alden's arrest as. an unfriendly proceeding
on the part of the Massachusetts officials, and sent
Capt. Miles Standish to Boston with letters from
Bradford and others to secure Mr. Alden's release.
This was effected, but at the same time Capt. Stan-
dish was put under bonds to appear at the next court,
June 3, 1634, with a certified copy of the patent show-
ing the rights of the Plymouth colonists on the
THE PLYMOUTH COLONISTS IN MAINE 137
Kennebec. At this meeting of the court the Massachu-
setts Bay authorities made it evident that they did not
wish to give offence to the Plymouth colonists, but it
was equally evident that they desired to make in
England a favorable impression in their own behalf, as
if they were the special guardians of law and order
in New England. Governor Dudley in a private letter
counselled patience on the part of the authorities at
Plymouth. After a while Mr. Winthrop suggested a
conference in which the Plymouth colonists, the colo-
nists at the Piscataqua, and those of Massachusetts
Bay should be requested " to consult and determine
in this matter, so as y e parties meeting might have
full power to order and bind," " and that nothing
should be done to y e infringing or prejudice of y e
liberties of any place." Such a conference was held
in Boston, but only the Plymouth and Massachusetts
Bay colonists -were represented. The matter, how-
ever, was fully discussed, and an opinion of each
representative, both magistrates and ministers, was
requested. The result was that while " they all
wished these things had never been, yet they could
not but lay y e blame & guilt on Hockins owne head."
At the same time " grave and godly exhortations"
were made to the Plymouth men, which they
" imbraced with love & thankfullnes, promising to
indeavor to follow y e same," 2 and there was no fur-
ther agitation of the matter. Mr. Winslow was sent
to England not long after in order to see that no harm
1 Bradford's History, p. 383.
2 Bradford's Hittory, p. 385.
138 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
should come to the colony in consequence of this
affair, but he found that the agitation had ceased
there also.
The extent of the Pilgrim trade on the Kennebec
at this time may be inferred from the fact that Mr.
Winslow took with him to England 3,738 pounds of
beaver, " a great part of it being coat-beaver sould at
20 s p r pound " the proceeds of the sale of which went
into the hands of the London merchants to whom the
colonists were indebted. According to Bradford,
between November, 1631, and June, 24, 1636, the
Pilgrims sent to England 12,530 pounds of beaver,
the most of which was obtained from the Indians on
the Kennebec. It was from the sale of this beaver in
a great measure that they were able at length to
extricate themselves from the financial difficulties in
which they had become involved through their Lon-
don agents.
But their troubles at Penobscot were not ended.,
At the trading house there they suffered a still
greater loss from the French in 1635. Chevalier
Charles de Menou, or as he is usually styled
D' Aulnay Charnisay, appeared one day in the har-
bor, sent thither by Sir Isaac de Razilli, who had
command of the French forces in Canada. His
orders were to expel the English as far as Pemaquid.
D'Aulnay at first was lavish in compliments, but he
soon revealed his true character and purpose by
taking possession of the trading house. Declining to
make payment for the goods with which the house
was stored, although he said he would settle with the
THE PLYMOUTH COLONISTS IK MAINE 139
Pilgrims when convenient, D'Aulnay bestowed upon
the Pilgrim party at the post some provisions and
sent them back to Plymouth in their shallop. On
their arrival at Plymouth they rehearsed these facts.
The Pilgrim spirit was stirred, and at once the Plym-
outh men proceeded to consult their brethren of Mas-
sachusetts Bay. The affair was one in which they
were interested as well as the Plymouth colonists, as
it was not desirable for English interests that the
French should obtain a permanent foothold at Penob-
scot. When, therefore, the Pilgrims proposed to hire
a vessel for the purpose of retaking the trading post
at Penobscot, the Bay colonists gave their approval
to the project. The vessel secured for this purpose
was commanded by one Girling, who agreed to drive
off the French and deliver the trading post again into
the hands of the Plymouth men for seven hundred
pounds of beaver, which was to be delivered to him
there when he had accomplished the undertaking. If
he failed Girling was " to lose his labor and have
nothing."
Capt. Miles Standish with twenty men accompanied
Girling in a Pilgrim vessel on which was the promised
beaver. Standish piloted Girling to the harbor on
the shore of which the Pilgrim trading house was
located. Before the trading house was within reach
of his guns, however, Girling began to blaze away.
Miles Standish was indignant and remonstrated with
Girling at this display of folly. But Girling had
already exhausted his supply of powder, and could
do nothing else but retire. When he made known
140 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
this state of things to Capt. Standish, the latter, in
order that the expedition might not prove a failure,
offered to get a supply of powder at the nearest plan-
tation. The offer was accepted and Standish bore
away ; but subsequently, learning that Girling
intended to seize the Pilgrim vessel on his return
and so secure the beaver, Standish sent to Girling
the promised powder supply, but took the beaver
home. Girling made no further attempt to recover
the trading house at Penobscot and went his way.
The Plymouth men now laid the matter again
before the authorities of the Massachusetts Bay col-
ony, believing that the French would at once endeavor
to strengthen their position at Penobscot. At first
the Massachusetts men were inclined to furnish the
needed assistance in driving away the French. Soon,
however, they not only declared their inability to do
anything, but began to trade with the French at that
point, furnishing them with provisions and ammuni-
tion ; and so, as Bradford asserts, became " the
cheefest supporters of these French." The colonists
at Pemaquid also furnished the French both sup-
plies and information, adding guns and ammunition
for the Indians, to the great amazement of Bradford
and his associates, who made no further attempt
to regain possession of their trading house at
Penobscot. 1
After the Pilgrims had settled their accounts in
London so that they were no longer indebted to the
1 For Hon. J. E. Godfrey's reference to this affair see his " Pilgrims at Penoh-
scot," Maine Historical Society's Collections, First Series, Vol. VII, pp 33-37.
THE PLYMOUTH COLONISTS IN MAINE 141
merchants there for both outfit and subsequent
advances of money and goods, but had become inde-
pendent, each member of the colony working for his
own interest, the trade with the Indians on the Ken-
nebec was leased to parties interested in its mainte-
nance. In 1640, Bradford surrendered the patent of
the lands occupied by the colony to the free men of
the colony, the patent, including the Kennebec grant
having been issued to him, his heirs and associates
and assigns. At a General Court held at Plymouth
June 8, 1649, a committee was appointed to treat of
and let the trade at the Kennebec, which accordingly
on the 4th of July following they did for the term of
three years, the colony retaining only civil jurisdic-
tion there. June 29, 1652, it was agreed to sell the
trade at Kennebec to those who formerly had it, on
the same terms as before and for the same number of
years. But to the Pilgrims it. seemed more and more
desirable as the colonists upon the New England
coast multiplied to secure an extension of their grant
on the Kennebec so that it should include lands on
both sides of the river to the mouth of the river. In
the Calendar of State Papers l occurs the following
record : " March 8, 1652, an order of the Council of
State was passed for a report to be presented to Par-
liament upon petition of Edward Winslow, on behalf
of William Bradford, Governor of New Plymouth in
New England, and his associates, wherein he sets
forth that for many years the plantation has had a
grant for a trading place in the river Kennebec, but
1 Vol. I, p. 376.
142 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
not having the whole of the river under their grant
and government, many excesses and wickednesses
have been committed, and the benefit of the trade for
furs, one of the greatest supports of their plantation,
has been taken from the inhabitants of New Plym-
outh, and prays for a grant of the whole river of
Kennebec : recommending the desire of the peti-
tioners be granted, with a saving in the grant of the
rights of any of the people of the Commonwealth, the
grant to pass under the Great Seal, if Parliament
think fit."
An added record, under date of April 29, 1652, 1
shows that the petition of Mr. Winslow was referred
to the Commitee for Foreign Affairs to report upon
what had been done in cases of like nature. March
16, 1653, the committee made a report recommending
to the Council of State " that the government of the
whole river of Kennebec in America be granted to
the town of New Plymouth, in New England, for
seven years, by way of probation/' The committee's
report was evidently adopted. 2 In other words the
grant of land was not extended, but the jurisdiction
of the Pilgrim authorities was extended over the terri-
tory to the mouth of the Kennebec for a limited period.
In accordance with this order, at a General Court
held at Plymouth March 7, 1653, Mr. Thomas Prence,
one of the magistrates of Plymouth, was authorized
to summon all the inhabitants dwelling on the
1 Calendar of State Papers, Vol. I, p. 378.
2 Plymouth Colony Records, Vol. Ill, p. 68. " Whereas it hath now pleased the
right honble counsell of State, by authoritie vf Parliament, to confer the gove-
ment of the afors'd inhabitants vpon the jurisdiction of New Plymouth," &c.
THE PLYMOUTH COLONISTS IN MAINE 143
Kennebec to some convenient place " to receive from
him such instructions and orders " as he had received
from the General Court. 1 The records of the Plym-
outh colonists make it abundantly evident that it was
only " the goument of the aforsd inhabitants," living
on either side of the Kennebec from its mouth to the
southern limit of the Pilgrim patent, that was con-
ferred upon the Plymouth men by the mother coun-
try. This governmental authority was exercised by
the Pilgrims and in 1648 and again in 1653 they pro-
tected and extended their land interests to the north-
ward by deeds of land from the Indians.
But things grew worse instead of better on the
Kennebec. At a General Court held at Plymouth
June 7, 1659, the following action was taken : " For-
asmuch as we have good information that Things are
in such a Posture at Kennebec, in Reference to some
Troubles among the Indians, some of whom being
slain, some carried away and thereby also discour-
aged, that there is a present desisting from their
Hunting, and so a cessation of the Trade, whereby
such as have rented the Trade of the Country, are so
far discouraged, that they see, and it probably appear-
eth, that they will not only be disabled for paying
the expected Rent, but will be likely to suffer great
Losses ; and do also fear they may be forced wholly to
desist and to call Home their Estate there ; whereby
the Trade may be indangered to be lost for the future,
if some Course be not taken about it. The Court do
i The instructions to Mr. Prence are given in the Plymouth Colony Records, Vol.
Ill, p. 44, and also the form of the oath which was to be administered to the settlers
on the Kennebec.
144 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
therefore recommend to the several Townships Con-
sideration, and desire they would depute some men
whom they can betrust, to signify their minds at the
Sitting of the General Court in October next ; and to
impower them to act in the Premises." l
At this meeting of the Court the rent of the Ken-
nebec trade for the year 1659 was remitted, and it
was agreed that the " Farmers of the Trade " should
pay ten pounds to the colony for the year next ensu-
ing ; and at the end of said term, viz. November 1,
1660, the said Farmers should leave the Kennebec
trade to the disposal of the colony, the Farmers agree-
ing also not to have any trade with the Indians on the
Kennebec later than November 1, 1660.
When the General Court met at Plymouth June 6,
1660, it was voted that if 500 could be obtained for
the colony's interest on the Kennebec, it should be
sold. In accordance with this vote, the Pilgrims in
1661 sold all their lands on either side of the Kenne-
bec, secured by their patent, also by deeds from the
Indians, to Antipas Boies, Edward Tyng, Thomas
Brattle and John Winslow. These persons and their
heirs held their Jvennebec lands nearly a century,
making no endeavor to colonize them, but holding
them for trading purposes only. In September, 1749,
a meeting of the proprietors was held with a view to
the introduction of settlers. Other proprietors were
admitted, and in June, 1753, in accordance with an
act passed by the General Court of Massachusetts
permitting persons holding lands in common and
L Defense of the Remarks of the Plymouth Company [published 1753] pp. 40, 41.
THE PLYMOUTH COLONISTS IN MAINE 145
undivided to act as a corporation, a corporation was
formed under the title of "The Proprietors of the Ken-
nebec Purchase from the late colony of New Plymouth,"
although the usual designation was the Plymouth Com-
pany. The land claim under this purchase greatly
exceeded the claim of the Pilgrims and extended from
Casco Bay to Pemaquid, and from the ocean to Carra-
tunk Falls. But there were rival claims for a part of
this territory. In 1758, it was decided that Clarke and
Lake's north line on the east side of the Kennebec as
claimed by Indian cTeeds should be that of the north
line of the present town of Woolwich. The claim of
the Wiscasset Company, also based on Indian deeds,
was settled in 1762, and the dividing line between
the two was fixed at half way between the Sheepscot
and Kennebec rivers. In 1758, but finally consum-
mated in 1766, the Pejepscot proprietors released to
the Plymouth Company the lands between the Ken-
nebec and New Meadows, including Bath and Phipps-
burg, the west line to be fifteen miles from the
Kennebec. The fourth settlement was with the
Pemaquid proprietors in 1763. The Kennebec ter-
ritory, as thus determined, extended from the ocean
on the west bank of the river to Norridgewock, and
was about thirty-one miles in width, with the river in
the center.
I have no need to notice even briefly the steps that
were taken by the proprietors of the Kennebec Pur-
chase to people this large territory. This was done
years ago by Robert H. Gardiner, Esq. 1 I have
i Maine Historical Society's Collections, First Series, Vol. II, pp. 269-294.
VOL. DL 10
146 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
accomplished my own purpose by showing how this
territory came under the control of the Pilgrims, and
how by its occupation they derived those revenues
by which they succeeded at length in relieving them-
selves of the oppressive financial obligations incurred
in establishing their colony at Plymouth.
PROPOSED PROVINCE OF NEW IRELAND 147
THE PROPOSED PROVINCE OF NEW IRELAND
BY HON. JOSEPH WILLIAMSON
Bead before the Maine Historical Society May 18, 1900
The design of the British government during the
Revolution, of severing a portion of Maine from Mas-
sachusetts, and of erecting it into a province to be col-
onized by Loyalists, under the name of New Ireland,
has received little attention from historians. The
earliest published account of it appeared in the
seventh volume of our Proceedings, and it has since
been briefly noticed by Bancroft, in the closing vol-
ume of his history of the United States. Through
the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, I
have obtained copies of several documents which
illustrate the origin and progress of the project.
These were found in the private collections of the
Marquis of Lansdowne, the present Secretary of State
for War, and of Earl Dartmouth, whose ancestor was
Secretary for American Affairs during the Revolu-
tion. The first, an order approved in Cabinet August
10, 1780, and by the King on the following day, is as
follows :
It being judged proper and necessary to separate the Country
lying to the North East of the Piscataway River from the Prov-
ince of Massachusetts Bay, it is proposed to erect so much of it as
lies between Sawkno River and the St. Croix (which is the South
West boundary of Nova Scotia) and to extend from the Sea
148 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
between two North Lines drawn from the Heads of those Rivers
to the Boundary of Canada, into a New Province, which from its
situation between the New England Provinces and Nova Scotia,
may with great propriety be called New Ireland, especially as the
^Era of its establishment is coeval with that of opening the trade
of Ireland with the American Provinces. The remainder of the
Country lying between the Sawkno River and the Piscatway it is
proposed to throw into New Hampshire in order to give that
Province a greater Front on the Sea than it now has, and for
reasons of deeper policy.
It is proposed that the Constitution of the New Province should
be similar to that of East Florida at the outset, consisting of only
a Governor and Council, a Chief Justice, and other Civil Officers,
provided for by Estimate granted by Parliament, but that a dec-
laration be made of the King's Intention to give it a complete
local Legislative whenever the Circumstances of the Province will
admit of it ; and it may be proper to declare what that Legislative
will be, as a Model of the Constitution wished to take place
throughout America.
It has been found by sad experience that the Democratic power
is predominant in all parts of British America. It is in vain to
expect the Governor to possess the Shadow even of the Influence
of the Crown to balance it, and the Council in the Royal Govern-
ments holding their Seats at the pleasure of the Governor, Men
of personal weight prefer being Members of the Assembly to
seats at that Board, and therefore the Members of it being chiefly
Officers of the Crown without property and but little of the Aris-
tocratick Influence to the Regal Authority of the Governor, altho
they form a sort of Middle Branch of the Legislature. To com-
bat the prevailing disposition of the People to Republicanism,
and to balance the Democratic Power of the Assembly, It is pro-
posed to form a distinct Middle Branch of Legislature. The
Members to be appointed by the Crown and to hold their Seats
during Life unless removed by His Majesty in Council upon a
charge exhibited by a Majority of the Assembly or by the Gov-
ernor and a Majority of the Privy Council. To preserve the
PROPOSED PROVINCE OP NEW IRELAND 149
Influence of the Governor in this Upper House it is proposed that
the Privy Council should all be Members of it, and to compose a
Major part of the whole, and that in case of vacancies in the Privy
Council they should be filled up out of the Members of the Upper
House. It is also proposed that the Seats in the Privy Council
should have Titles of Honor annexed to them or some Emolu-
ments in the place of them to make them desired, at the same time
the Governor to have the same power over them, all the King's Gov-
ernors now have of suspending them from their Seats and thereby
from their Honors or Emoluments, and if any distinction in Eng-
land could be given them it would have a most powerful effect.
No Quit Rents have, been reserved to the Crown in any grants
within the Charter of the Massachusetts Bay, but it is proposed
that the Lands in New Ireland shall be granted subject to a Quit
Rent, tho' it might be proper to declare that when the Legislature
shall make a grant of a permanent Revenue for the Support of
the Government the produce of the Quit Rents will be given to
be disposed of by them. An exemption from the payment of
Quit Rent for a certain Term would however be proper to be
granted to distinguished Loyalists. To prevent the admission of
the disaffected and to continue the Inhabitants in their Principles
of Loyalty and Attachment to Great Britain, and perpetuate those
Principles in their Descendants, it is proposed that a Declaration
be required to be made by every Grantee before the Governor
and Council in the following Words. I do promise and declare
that I will maintain and defend the Authority of the King, in His
Parliament as the Supreme Legislature of this Province, and that
a Condition be inserted in the Grant obliging all persons who
shall come to the possession of any part of the Lands contained
in it, either by Inheritance or purchase, to make and subscribe
the same Declaration before a Magistrate within Twelve Months
after fuming into possession, and to have it Registered in the
Secretary's Office of the Province on pain of Forfeiture of the
Lands to the Crown.
The Province to be divided into Counties or Circuits, and sub-
divided into Parishes, in each Parish a Glebe Land to be laid out
150 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
and vested in Trustees for the Minister. The Church of England
to be declared the Established Church, but the Governor to be the
Ordinary and have the presentation to all Benefices. A Salary to
be granted to each Minister payable out of the general Fund, and
issued by Warrant of the Governor and Council. The King to
appoint one oi the Clergy His Vicar General to Superintend the
rest, to hold Visitations and report to the Governor their behaviour,
who may suspend or dismiss any Minister the Vicar General and
his Clergy in Convocation shall represent against. Application
to be made to the Bishops to superadd to the Vicar General a
Power to Ordain. This has been done of necessity, hi certain
cases and if it be done here the Church will have the Advantage
of a Bishop and no Alarm excited by the Name, and when the
Function is become familiar the Title may easily be assumed.
The Ordination of the Unitas Fratrum Society is allowed as valid
as ours, and yet their Ordainers are neither called Bishops nor
Lords The Vicar General however to have a handsome
Allowance.
To reward or Indemnify the Loyal Sufferers from the other
Province, and at the same time lay the ground of an Aristocratic
Power, the Lands to be granted in large Tracts to the most Mer-
itorious and to be by them leased to the lower People in manner
as has been practiced in New York, which is the only Province
in which there is a Tenantry, and was the least inclined to Rebel-
lion. The poorest Loyal Sufferers should however have Grants
from the Crown.
The Attorney and Solicitor General of England should be
directed to report what of the Laws of England will of their own
Authority take place hi the New Province, and what Acts of
Parliament The King may by His Proclamation introduce
and give effect to therein, tho' they are not extended by
express Words, to the Colonies This has never been done,
and much confusion has arisen in the New Colonies from the
want of it.
These are the Things necessary to be done in the New Prov-
ince at the outset, but if the present be judged a proper time to
PROPOSED PROVINCE OF HEW IRELAND
151
digest a System of Government for all America the occasion may
be used for declaring the purpose of the Crown.
Estimate of the Civil Establishment of
the Province of New Ireland.
Salary to the Governor in Chief Oliver
Chief Justice Leonard
Attorney General
Secretary and Register
Clerk of the Council Dr. Califf
Receiver General of Quit Rents & Casual Revenue
Surveyor of Lands
Provost Marshal or Sheriff
Agent
4 Ministers of the Church of England
A Vicar General in addition
Contingent Expenses
Salaries to the 12 Counsellors
1200
400
100
100
50
100
100
100
Nothing
400
200
1000
3750
1200
4950
The project had received attention from the Gov-
ernment during the preceding year, and was commu-
nicated to Governor Hutchinson, then in England.
His diary, under date of September 3, 1778, recounts
an interview with Mr. Knox, an official of the War
department, who stated that the Penobscot district
was "to be erected into a new province, and to be
given to the refugees, .... as a recompense for their
sufferings, and to ease Government of the expense it
is now at for their support. It put me in mind of Mr.
Locke's story of Lord Shaftesbury's friend, who, after
he was privately married, sent for his Lordship and
another friend, to ask their advice ; and I observed
152 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
the same rule so far as to find no fault with the most
preposterous measure, because already carrying into
execution." 1 Probably the attachment which the Gov-
ernor always retained for his native province of the
Massachusetts Bay disinclined him to any plan of its
dismemberment.
A later entry says : " Called at Lord George's
[ Germain ] office. Mr. Knox said I was the only man
to go Governor of a new Colony at Penobscot, and that
Dr. Caner should be the Bishop. I showed him a
letter I had received from Mr. Weeks, which speaks
in pompous terms of the benefits from the possession
of this country. He was much pleased, as it is his
own scheme, and few people here think well of it. I
said to him I thought we had better stay until we
heard more of D' Etaigne, before we thought any fur-
ther on measures for restoring peace to America."
After slumbering for nearly two years after the
royal approval, the plan was revived by memorials
from Dr. John Calef, agent for the Loyalists on the
Penobscot and others. The following is a copy of
one of these documents and also of another, giving
an account of the inhabitants whom he represented :
To the Kings most Excellent Majesty in Council.
The Memorial and Petition of John Calef Esquire
Agent for the Inhabitants of the territory of
Penobscot most Humbly Sheweth
That your Majesty's Memorialist did in the year 1773, petition
your Majesty in Council for & on behalf of James Duncan Benja.
Hawod and the several other Grantees named in Grants. A Copy
of which petition is hereunto annexed.
iDiary and Letters of his Excellency, Thomas Hutchinson, Esq., Vol. II, p. 218.
PROPOSED PROVINCE OF NEW IRELAND 153
That before anything was done on the matter, the people of the
Province of Massachusetts-bay committed such Enormitys, as that
nothing has been done in this business to the present day.
Your Majestys Memorialist begs leave further to observe That,
Although your Majestys subjects in the Province of Massachusetts
bay, have not returned to their allegiance to your Majesty, yet
the people of the territory aforesaid, have, from the beginning of
the Rebellion proved themselves firmly attached to your Majestys
Government, and several of them took the Oath of Fidelity to
your Majesty in April 1779, and when General McLean arrived
at Penobscot with your Majestys forces in June following many
hundreds of them took tixe same Oath, and it would seem, that by
far the greater part of those Inhabitants are firmly attached to
the Laws & Government of Great Britain, That there are upwards
of Sixteen Thousand Souls within said territory, destitute of Law
& Gospel, and having lived so long without either, and population
increasing with amazing rapidity, many disputes have arisen and
are still increasing, and their Children are growing up as Ignorant
as the Heathen who dwell among them.
That the said Inhabitants have no desire of continuing a part
& parcel of Massachusetts-Bay, and would think themselves
happy should your Majesty be graciously pleased to sever this
District from the Province of Massachusetts- Bay, and erect it into
a Government under your Majestys own Authority. And should
your Majesty be most graciously pleased to send over a number
of faithfull ministers of the Established Church well affected to
Government, it would have a tendency to lead the people to a
more firm attachment to your Majestys Government, and bring
the Indians also to a love of it, being fond of Ministers & forms
of Divine Worship A post Road to be opened from Halifax
to Boston by way of Penobscot and travilled in summer in twelve
days Also a Road from Quebec to Boston, and travilled in
about the same time & way. If a small and well appointed sea
force was sent to protect this Infant settlement, they would then
be secure in their Cod & River fisherys & procure Masts for the
Royal Navy, Lumber of all sorts, & in plenty, for other parts of
154 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
your Majestys Dominion, and of great annoyance to your Majesty s
Enemies.
Therefore your Majestys petitioner humbly hopes your Majesty
will see this District in such light, and so usefull to the Crown of
England as to sever it from the Massachusetts Province and to
erect it into a government under your Majestys own authority.
And Confirm the Settlers in their possessions. Thereby they will
take Courage, become usefull Subjects. Raise Oscen, Grain,
Sheep &c to haul Masts for the Royal Navy, and provisions for
your Majestys Inhabitants in other parts of the Dominion, and
security to a most valuable part of your Majestys territory in
America.
And your Majesty's petitioner as in duty bound will pray
John Calef Agent for the
territory of Penobscot
Copy given to Lord George Germain
July 12 1780
The state of the Inhabitants of
the District of the Penobscot
March 1782
By the Charter granted by the late King William and Queen
Mary to the Province of Massachusetts-Bay, among other things
it is expressed. That all Lands lying to the Eastward of Sagada-
hock Granted by our said General Assembly, shall not be valid
without the Royal Approbation. The said Assembly in 1763, did
grant thirteen Townships of said District to thirteen sett of Pro-
prietors, who laid out a plan of each, and returned the same to
the Assembly, which was approved, and accepted, and have laid
out the Townships into lotts, and settled more than sixty families
on each township, and made great Improvements, at the expense
of all they are worth. In 1764, & again in 1773. they sent
Agents to Great Britain to pray for the Royall confirmation of
the Grants, but hitherto without effect, except that of Mount
Desert to Governor Bernard.
PROPOSED PROVINCE OP NEW IRELAND 155
John Perkins, Joseph Perkins, & Mark Hatch purchased of the
first settlers, the greatest part of the Peninsula of Majabigwaduce
lying in one of the said 13 Townships These three men were
always esteemed friends to Government, a proof whereof they
gave to General Gage when shut up in Boston, by carrying Pick-
etts, Lumber, Wood &c, several times in vessels of their own, for
which, and to prevent their doing the like in future, a large Mob
headed by a Colonel Cargill, seized their vessels and carried them
away, and robed them of their Cattle They, were also first in
sending to his Majestys Officers at Annapolis in Nova Scotia, to
Invite them in the Kings name to take post at Penobscot as it is
set forth in a Proclamation issued by General Mac Lean dated
June 15th 1779, inserted in pamphalet entitled The Siege of
Penobscot, page 26, 27, 34 & 35. They did everything in their
power to assist the General in erecting the fort, by their own
Labour, and that of Oxen, and supplying the Troops with Provi-
sions to a considerable amount, for part of which they received
prompt payment, a considerable sum remains due to them to this
day, in the hands of the D, Qr. Mr., after the seige was raised,
They, their wives and children, were grossly insulted by the more
unthinking part of the Army, too grateing to every human feel-
ing They, thereupon went to Old York, the Town where
they had been borne, hoping there to find an Asylum ; no sooner
was their arrival known, but they were ordered to joyn the
American Army or they should be hanged up without favour, or
delay, They resolved not to joyn them, but to return to Penob-
scot, which they did ; When, they found that their absence had
been construed a Desertion, their property all taken from them,
and their persons confined in jail, untill they should under hand
and Seal, give up all right, title and Interest, they have to the
Lands at Penobscot, which they refused to do, and they are still
held under confinement By the Proclamation signed by Sir
George Collier & General MacLean August 1779, Sixteen persons
belonging to Penobscot were proscribed, the most of whom, were
ever esteemed equally attached to Government as the aforemen-
tioned, all of them with their numerous familys are from a state
156 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
of Affluence, driven to a state of Extreme poverty, & want, except
one person who sets quiet.
Last Summer, Shubal Williams a man of sober life and Manners,
near 70 years of age, an Inhabitant of Long Island, having a wife
and large number of Children, frequently carryed fresh Provisions
to the Troops, was sentenced to, & did receive, five hundred
lashes on the Oath of an intoxicated Soldier, (as it is said) the
neighboring Inhabitants were ordered to be Spectators of the
punishment, the Bostonians published this affair in their Newspa-
pers with additions, many of the old Settlers have left their pos-
sessions fearing the like treatment however Innocent, Several
persons now in England can attest to the truth hereof, when
called.
These, and things of the like nature have done infinite prejudice
to his Majesty's cause, Should his Majesty be graciously pleased
to Confirm the Grants aforesaid, to the Settlers, reinstate the three
Men aforesaid, in their possessions, and order their property which
has been taken from them, to be restored ; it would remove the
prejudices many have entertained of hisMajestys intentions; give
them satisfaction, and attach them more firmly to the Kings cause
than ever before.
In Knox's Extra Official State Papers, it is stated
that the proposed colony received its death-blow from
an opinion rendered by the Attorney General of Eng-
land, afterwards Lord Loughborough, who entertained
scruples about violating the sacredness of the char-
tered rights of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay,
arguing that these rights extended its limits to the
river St. Croix, and that the eastern boundaries were
not terminated at either the Saco, the Kennebec or
the Penobscot. Up to this time Dr. Calef, who had
remained in England two years, had been hopeful of
success, but one morning, entering the office of Lord
PROPOSED PROVINCE OF NEW IRELAND 157
North, these hopes were ended by his Lordship's say-
ing, " Doctor, we cannot make the Penobscot the
boundary ; the pressure is too strong." Yet long
afterwards the British claimed that Massachusetts
had no title west of that river, and in 1814 took pos-
session of all theJand between it and the St. Croix,
not as conquered territory, but as rightfully belong-
ing to the crown.
158 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
JAMES W. BRADBURY
BY HON. GEORGE F. EMERY
Read before the Maine Historical Society January 25, 1901
In contemplating the life, character and career of
the late Mr. Bradbury, it would be difficult to find
among the distinguished sons of Maine any one who
in all respects was his equal. Some of them have
exhibited special brilliancy in one or more particulars,
but he was eminent in all. Happily endowed with
a vigorous physical constitution, " a sound mind in a
sound body," supplemented by high moral qualities
which in all the relations of life were both a guide
and adornment, he has left an example which enriches
our history, and which may well be held up for
imitation.
His early advantages for acquiring a liberal educa-
tion were well improved, and prepared him to take a
front rank in the legal profession which for a long
period he maintained, and in which he exemplified
the wisdom of a judicious counselor, eminent ability
as an advocate, combined with the uniform deport-
ment of a gentleman, and a character for integrity
which commanded public confidence and secured for
him large and deserved success.
As a statesman he was true to his convictions of
right and to what in his judgment the good of his
country required. Loyalty to the Constitution was
JAMES W. BRADBUBY 159
not with him a mere sentiment or abstraction, but an
abiding guide and force throughout his life prolonged
for nearly one hundred years.
He was almost if not quite the last Democratic states-
man left of the strict construction school, and never
swerved from the faith adopted in his youth and illus-
trated throughout his life.
To have been an observer of the changes and
developments of nearly a century gave Mr. Bradbury
an experience remarkable and exceptional. To enu-
merate them would require volumes. Suffice it to
say, in the realm of national life at home and abroad,
in the departments of art and invention, in manners
and customs, in law, legislation and literature, in
modes of living and pursuits, in science, religion and
ethics, in short, in all that concerns individual and
national life, he was an attentive observer, and in our
own State and country an active participant. He was
a witness to the struggle and excitement attending
the separation of the District of Maine from Massa-
chusetts, knew all our governors, judges and con-
gressmen, was familiar with all our legislation, was a
contemporaneous observer of all industrial progress
and achievement, an active participant in promoting
our modern facilities for transportation, and in all
things else that have contributed to make Maine the
noble State she is and her people prosperous and
happy.
In affairs of our nation he was a voter at the elec-
tion of nearly every president, and witnessed the
introduction of a majority of the stars which have
160 MAINE HTSTOKICAL SOCIETY
added beauty and prestige to our national flag. In
Congress lie was a companion of the giants of the
nation, listened to the most interesting and exciting
debates and speeches in the most crucial period of
the republic, and to a considerable extent when in
Congress participated in them. Time will not permit
reference to particulars, but pardonable it may be, if
not pertinent, to recur for a moment to the part he
took in endeavoring to avert the threatened catas-
trophe of a dissolution of the Union.
During the troublous times of the heated anti-
slavery excitement and discussions, he felt constrained
to exhibit the same spirit exercised by the framers of
the Constitution in the formation of the Union, and
consequently voted for the compromise measures of
1850 to preserve and perpetuate it. The majority of
our people did not concur with him on that momen-
tous occasion, but he never changed his views nor
regretted his action. At the expiration of his term
of six years in the Senate, from 1847 to 1853, he is
said to have declined a re-election. If so, it must
have been in obedience to the old doctrine of the
Democratic party that it is the duty of a con-
gressman to obey the will of his constituents or
resign.
Mr. Bradbury loved his native State, and ceased not
his efforts to promote its highest interests in all lines
of material, intellectual, social and moral develop-
ment. His judicious views and wise counsel were
often sought, and commanded wide influence among
all parties.
JAMBS W. BRADBURY 161
As a man and citizen he was eminently intelligent,
always faithful, and enjoyed universal respect. As a
Christian he was steadfast but of a catholic spirit, his
life was pure, his conduct exemplary, and his pleasing
manners and lustrous virtues were admirably set off
by a genial and lovable disposition which rendered
his presence a charm in all circles.
Few men reach their highest ideal, but only an
approach thereto. Whether or not Mr. Bradbury
attained his, his life was a grand success, and were a
Temple of Fame to be erected on his native soil of
Maine, his name would justly, and I think confessedly,
be found enrolled upon its shining tablet.
VOL. IX. 11
162 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
MAJOR-GENERAL HIRAM G. BERRY
BY GENERAL CHARLES P. MATTOCKS
Bead before the Maine Historical Society February 14, 1901
Maine has to her credit in the Civil War the
astounding number of 70,000 enlistments in the army
and navy, or more than forty per cent, of its military
population. Our ears have recently been filled with
the report of losses in battle in the Spanish-American
war and the resultant conflict in the Philippine
Islands. The total deaths by the bullet in Cuba were
255 men out of a force of 16,000, while the deaths
from a similar cause in a single Maine regiment the
1st Maine Heavy Artillery in the Civil War was
423, and all those deaths occurred within a period of
ten months. In deaths in battles in the Civil War the
1st Maine Cavalry stands at the head of all cavalry ;
the 1st Maine Heavy Artillery, at the head of all
heavy artillery ; the 5th Maine Battery, fifth of all
light artillery, and the 17th Maine Infantry, twentieth
out of two thousand regiments. The charge of the
"Gallant Six Hundred" at Balaklava the result of a
military blunder and accomplishing nothing resulted
in a loss of less than forty per cent, in killed and
wounded of the men engaged. The highest loss sus-
tained by any single regiment in the Franco-Prussian
war was less than fifty per cent., and yet in our Civil
War there were sixty-two Union and forty-one
- v
MAJOR-GENERAL HIRAM G. BERRY.
MAJOR-GENBBAL HIKAM G. BBBBY 163
Confederate regiments which lost more than fifty per
cent, in single engagements. One Confederate regi-
ment the 1st Texas lost eighty-two per cent, in
killed and wounded at Antietam, and the 2d North
Carolina Battalion had 200 men killed and wounded
out of 240 engaged at Gettysburg. The German
losses in killed and mortally wounded in the Franco-
Prussian war were but little over three per cent. The
allied forces in the Crimean war lost four per cent.
The Union losses in the Civil War were nearly five
per cent, in killed arid mortally wounded, and the Con-
federate losses were twice our own. Wellington and
Napoleon lost at Waterloo in killed and wounded only
fourteen per cent, of the men engaged, while the
losses of Meade and Lee at Gettysburg reached thirty-
four per cent., and the losses at Chickamauga exceeded
those of Waterloo.
Considering the fact that the armies of the Northern
and Southern States participated in the hardest fought
battles of the nineteenth century, and the additional
fact that Maine is the only State which has placed two
regiments of different arms of the service at the head
of the list in each of these arms, it seems but fitting
that, as we proudly look back upon Maine's record in
the great struggle for national life, we should be
reminded of the career of a Maine soldier, who did
much to render famous in the war the name of his
native State. Our state furnished but four major-
generals. They were Erasmus D. Keyes, a native of
Maine, who served on General Scott's staff during the
Mexican War, and at the breaking out of the Civil
164 MAINE HISTOBICAL SOCIETY
War was a colonel in the regular army, finally
being made a full major-general ; Oliver 0. Howard,
a graduate of Bowdoin College and West Point,
who resigned a professorship at the Military Academy
to accept the colonelcy of the 4th Maine Volunteer
Infantry, now a retired major-general of the regular
army, whose empty sleeve is a lasting reminder of
his gallantry ; Francis Fessenden, appointed a captain
in the regular army at the outbreak of the Rebellion,
who is still living and bears honorable wounds ; and
Hiram G. Berry, of Rockland, the subject of this
sketch.
In passing it may not be amiss to remark that the
record of the Maine general officers in the Civil War
is something of which Maine should be proud. The
terrible wounds sustained by some of the Maine gen-
eral officers, while leading their commands in battle,
attest their valor, as also a slight disregard of the rule
that the tactical position of a general officer in action
is well in rear of his troops, where he can be com-
municated with from all points of the line of battle.
The critical examination of any subject shows how
incorrect prevalent opinions are liable to be. Because
Napoleon and Alexander the Great achieved military
fame at an early age, we are led to conclude that young
men only can be distinguished chieftains in war. At
the end of our Civil War this idea possessed nearly
every one. We did not stop to think that out of a
million of men at one time in the field there were of
necessity but few officers who had been long in ser-
vice, and of course but few who had at that time
MAJOR-GENERAL HIRAM G. BERRY 165
reached even middle age. We must remember that
in this large army the only officers who had reached
the age of forty years or upwards were such as had
served in the regular army or had received high
appointments from civil life. The officers of the
volunteers, like the volunteers themselves, were gen-
erally very young men, and from these, with the small
percentage of regular officers, were to be selected the
men who should afterwards distinguish themselves.
Besides this, many young officers of the regular army
were selected to command volunteer regiments, and
from these positions afterwards reached higher com-
mands. Thus from necessity the greater part of the
distinguished officers of the Civil War were young.
Later the results of the Franco-Prussian war revealed
to the world that mature years were no disqualifica-
tion in the case of an officer who had spent his life in
the practice of his profession. Almost from necessity,
or, at least, from the practice of promoting somewhat
according to rank, many volunteer general officers, in
our Civil War, were appointed with but little natural
aptitude for the duties of a soldier and without early
training in the profession of arms, and became dismal
failures, while, as a rule, the graduates of West Point
acquitted themselves creditably when entrusted with
high commands. From these facts many concluded
that none but West Pointers would ever succeed in
high positions in the American armies in times of
war. These two conclusions as to the age of gen-
eral officers and the advantages of an academic mili-
tary training have, since the Spanish-American war
166 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
began, received quite a shock. While we can recall
the names of but few officers then above the age of
forty who were distinguished in the Civil War, we
are reminded that, in the Spanish-American war,
nearly every distinguished officer had reached the
age of fifty-eight before that war began. We find
further that many years of service, including the four
years of incessant warfare from 1861 to 1865, had
given a large number of officers quite as good an
education for their duties in active service as the
training of West Point. When war was declared
with Spain every colonel of infantry in the regular
army, every lieutenant-colonel and seventy majors
were officers of the Civil War. In the artillery all
the colonels, all the lieutenant-colonels and all but
four of the majors had seen service in the War of the
Rebellion. Almost without exception the general
officers of volunteers appointed for the Spanish-
American war had commanded troops in our pre-
ceding war. So, from necessity, the distinguished
officers of the Civil War were young men, while those
distinguished in the late war were men of mature
years.
General Berry, who died at the age of thirty-eight,
was old for the Civil War, but would have been young
for the war with Spain.
Another prevalent idea is contradicted in the life
of General Berry. His career proves an exception to
a very general and ordinarily a very correct rule,
namely, that a soldier in poor health can seldom
achieve distinction ; and yet we find that while he
MAJOR-GENERAL HIRAM G. BERRY 167
was making some of his most brilliant movements,
and doing acts which would appear to be almost
impossible upon the part of a man not in full physi-
cal vigor, he was waging a persistent struggle against
constant attacks of malaria which he had contracted
in his campaigns in front of Richmond early in his
service.
While we dwell with pride upon the military career
of General Berry we must not forget that he owed a
great deal of his success, as he himself often declared,
to the fact that his military experience began as the
commander of one of the best regiments which Maine
sent out the 4th Regiment of infantry.
Lest I may be misunderstood, I wish here to say
that my remarks in regard to a West Point training
are made with no intent to belittle the advantages of
an education at that great military school. I am not
generally a believer in mere civilian soldiers for high
command, yet I do believe that some men, like Gen-
eral Berry, have a genius for military command far
superior to the training of the schools. No military
academy ever made a Napoleon. No law school ever
made a Chief Justice Marshall. Providence had
something to do with such products.
Experience has convinced me that the instruction
and influences of West Point are, in a military point
of view, most valuable. I have never served under
more impartial and accomplished officers than gradu-
ates of West Point, and I have never had under me
more loyal and devoted subordinates, including the
officers of the 2d U. S. Infantry, which was attached
168 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
to one of the brigades commanded by me in the war
with Spain. I simply wish to impress and make
clear the fact that our success in Cuba and the Phil-
ippines has been due in great measure to the circum-
stance that nearly all the officers in high command
received their early training as officers of volunteers
during the Civil War and were, after that war,
although but few of them were graduates of West
Point, appointed in the regular army.
There are to-day in the regular army one lieutenant-
general, three major-generals and eight brigadier-
generals, in all twelve general officers, of whom but
one, General Merritt, is a graduate of West Point.
Under our plan of maintaining a small regular army
we are obliged to depend mainly upon the volunteers
in time of war.
My purpose in reviewing the military career of
General Berry is partly to keep fresh the memory of
a noble man and gallant soldier, who did much to put
Maine high up in the list of patriotic States and, at
the same time, to show by what means and through
what experiences his success was achieved.
Hiram Gregory Berry was the son of Jeremiah and
Frances Gregory Berry, of Rockland, Maine. He was
born August 27, 1824. General Berry's ancestors
were of hardy New England stock. His grandfather
was an officer of the Revolution, while his father did
honorable service in the War of 1812. General
Berry's education was obtained in the public schools
of Rockland. In his school days his favorite study
was mathematics. He became an ardent student of
MAJOE-GENEEAL HIEAM G. BBEEY 169
military history, and it was with great reluctance that
he, at the request of his fond mother, refused a cadet-
ship at West Point which was offered to him. In
later years he always regretted that he had not had
the advantages of a military education. Such was
his fondness of military affairs that, soon after coming
out of school, he enrolled himself as a private in an
artillery company composed of young men of Rock-
land and vicinity, and from that time until his entry
into active service in 1861, was at times in the militia
service of the State* at one time holding the rank of
inspector of a division of the Maine militia with the
rank of lieutenant-colonel. In 1854 he, with others,
organized the Rock] and City Guards, a company
which was mustered into the Maine Volunteer Militia
as Company B of the 1st Regiment, Second Brigade,
Fourth Division.
Young Berry's military aspirations had not inter-
fered with or impaired his ambitions as a man of
business. After leaving school he learned the trade
of a carpenter and began business as a partner of
Elijah Walker, who succeeded him as commander of
the 4th Maine Infantry as we shall see later. Young
Berry soon became a contractor on his own account,
and some of the finest structures in Rockland to-day
bear witness to his care and skill as a master
mechanic. Later on he was one of the incorporators
of the Rockland Steam Manufacturing Company,
which, in the fifties, was one of the large and suc-
cessful concerns of the day. In 1853, he became a
director in the Limerock Bank, and in 1857, was
170 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
made president of that institution, which position he
held at the time he offered his services for the war.
In 1845, he was married to Almira M. Brown, of
Thomaston. This union was blest with the birth of
a daughter, Lucy F. Berry, who afterwards married
Albert D. Snow, of New York. This daughter was
devotedly attached to her father and, at the time of her
death in 1895, she was engaged in the preparation of
a sketch of her father's life, which work was later on
taken up by Mr. Edward K. Gould, of Rockland, who
has given to the public a well-digested and pleasing
volume upon the life and services of General Berry,
from which work many important facts were gathered
for this sketch.
General, or rather at the time Captain, Berry was
an ardent Democratic politician, beloved by his party
associates and feared but respected by his political
opponents. In 1852, he became a member of the Leg-
islature as a representative from Rockland, and in
1856, after three ballots, triumphed over his oppo-
nents in a contest for the mayoralty of Rockland.
His management of the city's affairs was eminently
successful and creditable.
Sumter had fallen and Berry was one of the first
men in Maine to offer his services to his country. An
ex-mayor, a bank president, a man of affairs,
owner and occupant of a beautiful home, with a fond
wife and daughter, with brilliant hopes as a civil-
ian, this noble man tendered his services and was
authorized to recruit a regiment which was afterwards
known as the 4th Maine Volunteer Infantry. He was
MAJOR-GENERAL HIRAM G. BERRY 171
elected the first colonel of the regiment. His volun-
teering had great influence upon those who, like him-
self, had opposed the election of President Lincoln.
Like Stephen A. Douglas, he declared " I know no
politics while this conflict lasts."
The regiment went into camp at Rockland May 8,
1861, and left for Washington on the 17th of June,
and on the 21st of July faced the enemy at the battle
of Bull Run. The short period between the regi-
ment's enlistment and its first battle had been so well
improved by drill and discipline that its conduct
under fire was exceedingly creditable. At this point
it may be well to say that, long before the regiment
reached the scene of hostilities, military critics had
predicted for it and for its commander a brilliant
future. The New York Herald, in commenting upon
the passing of the regiment through New York City,
said of it : - " The men were all strong and sturdy
specimens of Maine's true nobility, reminding one of
the old northern warriors of Gustavus Adolphus."
At Washington the bearing of the men was highly
complimented by General Heintzelman, who com-
manded the division to which the regiment was
attached.
The battle of Bull Run is not an inspiring topic for
a Northern man, yet, amid the disasters of that day,
the true worth of many a man was tested. An officer
who can fight bravely and well amidst panic and con-
fusion, can be trusted upon a line of battle engaged
without panic or confusion, but the converse is not
always true. The Army of the Potomac, under
172 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
McDowell, had reached the scene of battle where the
enemy was found already in position and well posted
for defence. The Confederate leader, Beauregard,
had in his front the stream called " Bull Run,"
and to reach this position it was necessary for the
Federal troops to ford the stream. McDowell had
hoped that, by a front and flank attack, he could force
his opponents back upon Manassas. Two attacking
columns were formed. The advance was at first suc-
cessful and the morning's fighting augured well for
the success of the Federals. The 4th Maine, until
early in the afternoon, had been held in reserve, when
suddenly it was ordered forward at the " double
quick." Pressing on in the intense heat, the men of
the regiment were well nigh exhausted before their
active fighting began. At three o'clock they found
themselves on the brow of a hill whence they opened
fire upon the enemy well sheltered by a growth of
wood. Later the regiment was ordered to support a
battery supposed to be on a hill, but when this regi-
ment, in connection with the 2d Vermont, reached
the hill the battery had disappeared and the 4th met
a heavy battery fire. The regiment here sustained a
loss of twenty-one killed and mortally wounded. The
color bearer being among the killed, Colonel Berry
seized his colors and, mounted upon his horse, became
a target for bullets, but his bravery prevented panic
in the ranks. It should be stated that before Berry's
men had arrived the tide of battle had already turned
against the Union troops. Colonel Berry, having had
his horse shot under him, his clothing pierced by
MAJOR-GENERAL HIRAM Q. BERRY 173
bullets, calmly, under the orders of his superiors, led
his regiment in retreat to conform to the general
movements of the Federal troops. It is claimed, and
with apparent justice, that the 4th Maine was the last
to leave the field. The battle of Bull Run was a
Federal disaster, yet it was a most important event
in Berry's military career, for it was there that he
first attracted the attention of his superiors and dis-
played a coolness and courage in panic and disaster
which mark the military genius. For his good con-
duct in this engagement he was complimented in
general orders by his brigade commander, Colonel
Oliver 0. Howard, and the gallant General Phil
Kearny declared that he had "nearly saved the day,"
and that he had " a genius for war and a pertinacity
in a fight which proved him fit for high command."
Two qualities are absolutely essential to the suc-
cess of a commander of troops. One is the rare fac-
ulty of taking good care of men in camp and thus
preserving their health and strength for the day of
battle, and the other is coolness and the accompany-
ing power of quick decision in panic and confusion,
which are liable to occur among the best of troops.
Our marines sustained themselves in Cuba, in the
Spanish war, in the sickly season, with a sick list
barely above normal, while our volunteers at Chicka-
mauga, in the Spanish war, had a larger percentage
of deaths by disease in less than six months, than our
volunteers had in their first year's service in the Phil-
ippine Islands, results which are accounted for in a
great measure by the fact that the Chickamauga
174 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
troops were gathered together in comparative idle-
ness, while the Philippine troops were constantly in
motion. General Berry at Bull Run, had, by a day's
experience in a most trying position in panic and
confusion, laid the foundation for the reputation
which he afterwards achieved as one of the coolest
and bravest of generals in action.
During the remainder of the year 1861, after the
battle of Bull Run, Colonel Berry and his regiment
had but little real service except upon a few recon-
noissances which were generally successful, but the
time was well employed by drill and camp duties
generally, so that, at the end of the year, the regiment
then nine hundred strong was in a condition to meet
any demands which might be made upon it. Colonel
Berry's conduct and soldierly qualities had not
escaped the notice of his superior officers, and on the
20th of March, 1862, he was recommended for and
received the appointment of brigadier-general of
volunteers. Upon his relinquishing command of his
regiment he was presented by the sergeants with an
elegant sword ; the officers of the regiment, at the
same time, presenting him with an elegant service of
silver plate, purchased at a cost of a thousand dollars.
On the 9th of March the Confederate army began a
retreat. Colonel Berry was the first officer to dis-
cover this movement, and, ascending 2,000 feet at
midnight in a balloon, took an observation, and then
descending, captured a few of the retreating Confed-
erates. General Berry was succeeded in command of
the 4th Maine by his former business partner, Colonel
MAJOR-GENERAL HIRAM G. BERRY 175
Elijah Walker, of Rockland, who gallantly led the
regiment until its muster out, and is now living, full
of years and of honors.
General Berry's first assignment was that of com-
mander of the Third Brigade, First Division, Third
Army Corps. This brigade had already become
famous under General Phil Kearny, who lost his
life at Chantilly, At the time of General Berry's
assignment this brigade was composed of the 2d,
3d and 5th Michigan and the 37th New York Reg-
iments. Directly upon assuming command General
Berry began the march toward Yorktown, which,
naturally well situated for defence, had been strongly
fortified. McClellan had sent forward two strong
columns to strike Yorktown, one under Keyes, while
the other, under Heintzelman, was to penetrate
between Yorktown and Williamsburg. Delays were
caused by the bad condition of the roads and the
impossibility of getting the artillery promptly for-
ward and thus the plan failed, and the Federal troops
were delayed a full month in laying regular siege to
Yorktown. Just as our artillery was ready to open
fire with heavy guns, and the infantry had prepared
to follow up the fire by an assaulting force, the Con-
federates evacuated under cover of night. An almost
bloodless victory was achieved, although at the loss of
many men disabled by disease. General Berry, during
the month, was busily employed in clearing away
trees, building ditches and mounting batteries. Here
his home experiences became of great value. Under
his immediate supervision two old steam mills, left
176 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
nearly destroyed by the enemy, were repaired and
furnished the greater part of the lumber used by the
Federals in their operations.
Upon the evacuation of Yorktown the pursuit of the
Confederates began and soon resulted in the battle of
Williamsburg, which, for a one day's affair, was a
most bloody battle. Sumner was in command of the
Federals, and ordered Hooker towards Fort Magruder,
an earth-work flanked on each side by numerous
redoubts extending on the one side to the York and
on the other to the James river. Early in the day
the fort was silenced by the Federal artillery. Long-
street commanded the Confederates and at once
opposed Hooker with overpowering numbers. For
five hours the latter had manfully faced heavy odds,
his ammunition was disappearing and his men were
rapidly becoming exhausted. Relief must soon arrive
or defeat for the Federals was inevitable. Berry, far
in the rear, had heard the firing, but with the true
instinct of a soldier, was pressing forward to the
front where the guns spoke most loudly. Disregard-
ing orders to keep a certain road, which was already
blocked by troops in his front but not yet engaged,
he took another route and then, finding that he was
going too far to one side, he threw away knapsacks
and cumbersome articles, and struck squarely into the
forest with his Maine woodsmen. He soon emerged
to find himself face to face with an exultant foe.
Many of Hooker's men had not a round of ammuni-
tion left. Hooker was wild at seeing his old friend
advance and the grizzled Heintzelman wept with joy
MAJOR-GENERAL HIRAM G. BERRY 17 7
as Berry's men formed line at the double quick and
pressed the enemy back, capturing a large number of
prisoners and rifle pits and actually recapturing sev-
eral pieces of artillery. Temporary success was not
enough for the men of Berry's brigade. They pressed
on, and, making charge after charge, were soon fol-
lowed by other troops, and before nightfall the enemy
was in full retreat. The timely arrival of General
Berry and his subsequent brilliant handling of his
troops not only made his own reputation, but saved
that of Hooker, and cemented a friendship between
these two generals which was not severed until a year
later when Hooker wept over the dead body of his
gallant comrade upon the bloody field of Chancellors-
ville. In the battle of Williamsburg, Brigadier-
General Jameson, of Maine, with his brigade, con-
tributed largely to the success of the Federal army.
The severity of the fighting at this battle can be
understood when we learn that Berry lost in killed
and wounded two hundred and ninety-nine officers
and men, or twenty-five per cent, of the whole number
engaged. For his conduct in this engagement Gen-
eral Berry was highly commended by Generals Heint-
zelman and Kearny. After the battle General Berry
received the personal thanks of General McClellan.
The bad condition of the roads prevented a rapid
pursuit of the enemy after the battle of Williamsburg.
Late in May the Army of the Potomac had pushed for-
ward to within ten miles of Richmond in fact to a
point nearer than that with a part of the line, but
the Confederates had already concentrated in large
VOL. IX. 12
178 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
force. The Federal army at this time numbered more
than 125,000 men. Just as the Federals were forti-
fying in front of " Seven Pines," but before they had
made much progress, a desperate attack was made by
the enemy on the Federal right. Berry's brigade, as
a part of Kearny's division, was in front of Savage's
Station ; Couch's Federal division was pressed back
by a fierce attack of the enemy, as was also Casey with
his division, which had been placed in front of Couch.
Berry, six miles in the rear, was ordered forward to
support and reinforce the wavering lines, and, push-
ing on through disordered and broken troops, not only
checked the advance of the enemy but actually recap-
tured the ground upon which Casey had begun his
fight. In this battle, known as the battle of Fair
Oaks, General Berry's conduct was the same as at
Williamsburg and Bull Run. In all these engage-
ments he remained mounted and was a conspicuous
target for the sharpshooters of the enemy, but escaped
as if by a miracle. For his gallantry in this last
affair General Berry was complimented in the official
reports of Generals McClellan, Heintzelman, Kearny
and Hooker. Berry's loss in this engagement was
463 out of 2,500 men ; at this time Berry's brigade
had by disease and the bullet been reduced from 3,400
to 1,500 effective men.
Soon after the affair at Fair Oaks came on the series
of engagements known as the " Seven Days Battles,"
in which Berry's brigade participated but with small
loss. After the battle of Games' Mill, in which Gen-
eral Berry's brigade did not take part, the retreat of
MAJOR-GENERAL HIRAM G. BERRY 179
the Army of the Potomac began, and General Berry's
brigade was repeatedly called upon to protect the rear
as far as the battlefield of Malvern Hill. At one time
he actually saved Thompson's battery from capture.
At the battle of Malvern Hill, Berry's brigade was
held in reserve, but even in this position lost fifty
men. In the so-called " Seven Days Battles " this bri-
gade, which had been reinforced by the 1st New York
Regiment with a thousand men, lost in killed and
wounded four hundred and twenty-nine officers and
men.
Arrived at Harrison's Landing as a new base, Gen-
eral Berry found his health very much impaired.
Incessant labor, anxiety and want of sleep, and a
severe attack of malaria contracted in the swamps of
the Chickahominy, had done their work and the gal-
lant soldier reluctantly consented, for the first time,
to take a leave of absence. He had received a slight
wound in the arm from a piece of shell and had been
rendered lame by a fall when his horse was shot under
him. Out of 4,400 men which he had had under his
command, he had at this time less than 1,500, such
had been the ravages of disease and the battlefield.
At about this time the General wrote home and, in
speaking of the losses he had sustained in his com-
mand and the great dangers he had escaped, said, "I
am spared, for what purpose God only knows. My
cap has been twice shot from my head ; my clothes
are riddled with bullets, still I am here. I shall never
be killed by cannon or musket shot, I sincerely think,
as I face the deadliest fire for hours where all have
180 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
been hit but myself. Keep the dear old home in
good order. I hope to visit it soon." In less than a
year General Berry had fallen a victim to the unerr-
ing aim of a Confederate sharpshooter, and was borne
by loving hands from that dear old home to his final
resting place.
A temporary rest from active duty did not bring
the desired result and early in August, 1862, General
Berry started for his home in Rockland, where an
enthusiastic reception awaited him. A month in
Maine had, if not the desired effect of restoring Gen-
eral Berry fully to health and strength, much to do
with improving his physical condition, so much so
that he reported for duty early in September. Dur-
ing his absence he had lost an opportunity to take
part in the second Bull Run and the Federal success
at Antietam, so that, upon his return, he was eager
for new opportunities for distinction. Berry's com-
mand remained inactive until November 21, when it
took position in front of Fredericksburg with the other
troops of the corps to which it was attached, and here
occurred another delay, at that time so common with
the Army of the Potomac, this time under Burnside
who had relieved McClellan. General Sumner begged
permission to lead his corps across the river before
the main body of the Confederate army should arrive,
but this request was refused by Burnside, so that,
when the order to advance was given, it was found
that the heights in rear of the city had been occupied
by the enemy. Under what difficulties and with what
gallantry the pontoons were finally placed is a matter
MA JOB-GENERAL HIRAM G. BERRY 181
of history. Berry's brigade crossed with the other
troops and was assigned position in the left subdivi-
sion of the army. The 17th Maine had been assigned
to Berry's brigade and at Fredericksburg received its
baptism of fire. Drawn up in line of battle in an
open field and exposed to severe fire from the enemy's
batteries the brigade was ordered forward at the
double quick and finally took position under the pro-
tection of a ridge, but still exposed to a severe shell-
ing, having already received a goodly fire from the
enemy's musketry. At this point General Berry rode
along and shouted, " Steady, 17th Maine. The State
of Maine is looking at you to-day." Of this touch-
ing scene the author was a witness. This regiment
never forgot, during its three years of arduous ser-
vice, that the State of Maine was still looking at it,
as its long lists of killed and wounded attest. An
assault of the enemy upon Berry's line was promptly
repulsed, and, the next day, during a cessation of the
firing under flag of truce, General A. P. Hill, the Con-
federate commander, sent his compliments to General
Berry and requested an aid to say to him that his was
" the best behaved brigade he $ver saw under fire."
The retreat across the Rappahannock is remembered
with sorrow by those who participated in it, but none
who served under the gallant Berry on that occasion
could see anything in his conduct which they did not
admire. Again the brigade of Berry had a consider-
able list of casualties, the loss being one hundred and
sixty-five in killed, wounded and missing. The 4th
Maine lost heavily, and the next morning after the
182 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
battle General Berry, resting his head upon the
shoulder of the gallant Colonel Walker, wept bitter
tears for the killed and wounded of his old regiment.
Brave as a lion in battle, General Berry had the ten-
derness of a child. It was always thus,
14 For the tenderest are the bravest,
The loving are the daring."
It seemed but fitting that the sterling qualities and
brave conduct of this officer should receive recogni-
tion, and he was in March, 1863, made a major-
general of volunteers, to take rank from November
29, 1962, having been heartily recommended by his
superior officers, foremost among whom was General
Hooker, to whose aid this gallant Maine soldier had
come on many a trying occasion. In speaking of
General Berry in his recommendation for his pro-
motion, General Hooker said, "I regard him as an
accomplished officer. He is practical, intelligent,
enterprising, intrepid and devoted. In my own mind
I have classed him among the promising officers who
have grown up during the Rebellion, and from whom
I have learned to expect great deeds before it is
ended. Of this class I know no superior to General
Berry, and but few, if any, equals."
General Berry was honored by being assigned to
the command of the famous divison formerly com-
manded by General Hooker. In the spring of 1863
General Berry was obliged to renew his struggle
against ill health, but his spirit never wavered, and
finally, but a few weeks before the battle of Chancel-
MAJOR-GENERAL HIRAM G. BERRY 183
lorsville, he began to be himself again. In fact the
prospect of immediate fighting seemed to revive him.
Under date of April 24, only a few days before his
untimely death, he wrote home, " I have a fine pros-
pect of good health. I shall go into the field pre-
pared to live more comfortably than last year; besides
I have more help and no more work, if as much."
The battle of Chancellorsville has gone down into
history and, with it, bitter antagonisms and criticisms.
Brilliantly conceived and boldly begun on the part of
Hooker, who was ill command, the causes of Hooker's
defeat are recorded as it were in a closed book. Dis-
astrous as was the battle, no one who then served under
Sickles or Berry can fail to remember with pride the
cool and daring conduct and skilful maneuvering of
these two volunteer generals. Both armies were in
fine condition, the Federals greatly outnumbering the
Confederates, the latter, however, having decidedly
the advantage in position, with a river in their front,
which the Federals were obliged to cross to give
battle. Berry's division formed a part of the Third
Corps, which was commanded by Sickles. This corps
was in reserve. The Eleventh Corps under Howard
was on the right with no natural support. Stonewall
Jackson was not slow to discover this point of weak-
ness, nor was he long in making one of his character-
istic assaults upon this flank. As the lines of the
Eleventh Corps were broken and the troops came
rushing back pell-mell, Hooker rode forward and,
meeting Berry, ordered him to stem the tide of disaster
by forming line to receive the enemy. Berry at once
184 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
formed in line with the greater part of his division,
putting a portion of two brigades in the rear as
a support, and, at the same time, placing two batteries
in position in the rear, from which point they could
fire over the heads of the infantry. Scouts were sent
out and reported the enemy coming over in full force.
The condition was critical. The proper disposition of
his forces was now to General Berry the turning point
in the battle so far as this part of the line was
concerned. Berry's new line was formed in the early
evening and remained in position to receive the attack
of the enemy, which was made at sunset, and continued
until 9.30 at night, and in fact later. Next morning
the Confederate attack was renewed. During a
temporary lull in the firing, General Berry dismounted
and crossed the plank road, upon each side of which
his line was deployed, at right angles with the road,
to communicate with General Mott, one of his brigade
commanders. As General Berry recrossed the road
to rejoin his staff he was struck by a ball from the
rifle of a Confederate sharpshooter, who was evidently
watching his movements. The brave general fell
exclaiming, " My wife and child," and, in the arms of
one of his devoted staff officers, breathed his last.
Thus, at the early age of thirty-eight, this gallant son
of Maine fell with his face to the foe, a willing sacri-
fice to his own ideas of patriotism and devotion to a
cause for which he had offered his life. General
Hooker, riding up, saw his old friend and companion-
in-arms lying prostrate, and at once dismounted,
and, leaning over the form of the dead general,
MAJOR-GENERAL BERRY'S MONUMENT.
MAJOR-GENERAL HIRAM Q. BERRY 185
exclaimed, "My God, Berry, why was this to happen ?
Why was the man on whom I relied so much to be
taken away in this manner ? " Berry's life had not
been given up in vain, for he had prevented what
would have been greater disaster even than that
which followed, and had set an example of skill,
courage and devotion which bore fruits in the sub-
sequent achievements of the famous " Hooker
Division."
The ceremonies at Rockland, at General Berry's
funeral, were sad and impressive. They were attended
by the highest officials of the State, but saddest of all
the mourners were the life-time friends of the dead
hero, who had loved and respected him as one of the
foremost citizens of the city of his birth.
I quote the following from the requiem written by
Z. Pope Vose, editor of the Rockland Gazette :
" Bravely, his ranks beside
He stemmed the battle's tide :
Nobly he fought and well,
But in the strife he fell :
Stricken, he fell and died.
City that gave him, weep
Claiming this mournful trust,
Take back his lifeless dust,
Safely to guard and keep. 11
Had General Berry's life been longer spared it is
difficult to say what further honors might have awaited
him. Hooker declared that he would have made him
a corps commander, and Stanton, Secretary of War,
had declared that he was destined to have command
of the Army of the Potomac. The massive marble
186 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
statue now standing in the cemetery at Rockland
bears witness to the great skill of a Maine sculptor,
Franklin Simmons, and will in years to come remind
the visitors of the gallant record of one of the noblest
sacrifices made by the State of Maine in the Civil
War.
PRESENTATION OF RUFUS MCINTIRE'S SWORD 187
PRESENTATION OF RUFUS MclNTIRE'S SWORD
BY PHILIP W. MCINTYRE
Read before the Matye Historical Society February 14, 1901
This sword was worn by Rufus Mclntire, captain
in the 3d United States Artillery during the War of
1812 a regiment renowned in the service and not-
able to this day on the muster rolls of the regular
army.
In the War of 1812, the regiment served on the
New York frontier under General Alexander McComb,
participating in the Plattsburg campaign. Captain
Mclntire's company, numbering over a hundred men,
was recruited from York County, mostly from the
western towns. On the muster rolls copied by the
late Z. K. Harmon, to whose indefatigable industry
Maine is so much indebted for preservation of the
records of her soldiery, can be found the names of
the men composing the company.
With the sword is Mclntire's letter to his mother,
Rhoda Allen Mclntire, written just before he went to
the wars. It is a letter that an affectionate son would
naturally write to the loving mother in whose bosom
he had been nurtured ; and only of public interest as
188 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
reflecting the feelings of the youth who girded sword
on thigh or carried musket on shoulder in those days.
This is the letter :
CHARLESTOWN, April 11, 1813.
My dear mother :
Being anxious to have my conduct meet your approval, I
will endeavor to explain my motives for entering the army and for
leaving home without informing you that I had orders to join the west-
ern army. I did not engage in this service by the advice or contrivance
or at the instigation of anybody as you suspect ; nor did I engage with-
out due consideration or because I could not get a living by my profes-
sion. In fact I know I sacrifice my time, my earnings and my ease,
and expose my morals to be corrupted by the licentiousness of a camp,
my health to be impaired by fatiguing marches and the chilling cold of
a more northern climate, and my life to danger. But I am sensible that
I was not born for myself alone or for my particular connexions ; and
being in a state of civil society I am under other obligations than those
of nature and have other duties to perform than those which contribute
to my particular benefit. Among the most important of these duties is
that of supporting the government that protects me and to which I owe
allegiance. It is this duty which at this time impels me to devote my
personal services to the defence of the rights of my country. I am sat-
isfied that the essential rights of my country have been trampled on
and are at stake and that the war in consequence thereof is a righteous
and necessary war, and that it ought to be spiritedly supported by
every man in America. I have nothing to offer but my personal ser-
vices. To them my country is entitled and be the consequences what
they may, these I cannot conscientiously withhold. When once engaged
I was determined to make it as little distressing as possible to myself
and connections. For this reason I was willing to save myself and you
the pain of a formal parting under the doubtful circumstances of the
time and uncertainty of my return. Perhaps I did wrong to deceive
you forgive me, for the motive was good. I shall march hence in a
few days for Canada, and may the God of Armies grant that this war
be short and glorious for our arms, and that you and your children
may never be ashamed to own that you and they have a son and
brother.
RUFUS MdNTIBE.
A few words, explanatory of this letter, are added.
Captain Mclntire was the descendant of a Jacobite
PRESENTATION OF RUFUS MCIHTIRE'S SWORD 189
refugee sent over seas by Cromwell after the battle
of Dunbar who settled in York. It is matter of
history that the sons of these exiled Highlanders who
swore by the Stuart king did by some strange confu-
sion of thought transfer their allegiance to the British
crown, despite the "Guelph usurpation " as witness
the sons of kilted men in North Carolina. The tra-
dition of loyalty to the crown survived with the
women long after it died out with the men. So we
may fancy that Rhoda Mclntire did not relish her
son's going to war with the British ; for whom in her
breast was a lingering love.
Sarah Orne Jewett in her " Tory Lover " touches
upon topics like these with rare delicacy, and with
consummate fidelity to truth.
At the time the letter submitted was written, Rufus
Mclntire was twenty-three years old ; and four years
out of Dartmouth College. As he was a Phi Beta
Kappa it is safe to assume that his rank in scholar-
ship was high. On graduation he purposed to pursue
the profession of law, but interrupted his studies at
the outbreak of hostilities, subsequently resuming
them with John Holmes.
Upon the after history of Rufus Mclntire it is not
the province of this paper to dwell long and honor-
able as it was. At the time of his death in 1866, he
had long been an "old public functionary,"- to quote
James Buchanan's memorable phrase. He served the
town of Parsonsfield where he lived for more than
half a century, as its first representative in the Maine
Legislature. He served the First District of Maine
190 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
then comprising the County of York, for four terms
in Congress. He was land agent under Governor
Fairfield, during the Madawaska trouble. Under
Polk he was United States marshal ; and under
Pierce, surveyor of the port of Falmouth and Port-
land. The duties of these offices, appointive or elect-
ive, he discharged with dignity and with efficiency.
So much, in mere justice, may be said of a man
who grew gray-haired in the service of nation and
state ; and, dying, left a sweet memory.
THE CAPTURE OF THE "CALEB GUSHING" 191
THE CAPTURE OF THE "CALEB GUSHING"
BT HON. CLARENCE HALE
Bead before the Maine Historical Society March 14, 1901
I am going to tell the story of the capture and
destruction of the revenue cutter, Caleb Gushing,
by the Confederates in the harbor of Portland, Maine,
in June, 1863. It .is a story of audacity and adven-
ture that is not surpassed in dramatic interest, I
think, by any event which occurred outside the dis-
tinctive field of warfare, during the War of the
Rebellion. I had my attention called to it, and
obtained all the papers bearing upon it, during the
sitting of the Court of Alabama Claims at Washing-
ton, in a case in which 1 was counsel and in which
the capture of this vessel was involved. My imagi-
nation was so impressed by the incident that it
seems to me worth while to bring it before a new
generation, forty years after it happened ; especially
as in that great year of battles it escaped the
nation's notice, and has now almost escaped the
nation's memory.
On the morning of June 26, 1863, two fishermen
of Falmouth, Albert T. Bibber and Elbridge Titcomb,
were in their fishing sloop, The Village, about eight
miles to the southeast of Damariscove Island, off the
coast of Maine. At about ten o'clock on that morn-
ing they were out in their dory, some distance from
192 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
their little sloop, hauling in their trawls, when they
saw what they thought to be a fishing schooner run-
ning down upon them, and were hailed " Boat ahoy !
Come alongside." The schooner which hailed them
then hove to, put out a boat with five men in it and
took the two fishmermen in custody, telling them they
were prisoners of a Confederate privateer. They
were taken aboard a fishing schooner of about ninety
tons called the Archer, on which they found about
eight or nine men, all roughly dressed in fishermen's
clothes, except the captain who wore a blue frock
coat and blue trousers. Bibber, one of the captured
men, in a deposition given afterwards, says that there
was nothing about the schooner which indicated that
it was a war vessel, and that he thought it was a craft
with a merry crew of drunken fishermen on a frolic ;
he attached no importance to the fact that he had
been told in the dory, as he thought playfully, that
he was the prize of a Confederate privateer.
The captain soon drew from the fishermen all they
knew about the war news, the fisheries, the steam-
boats plying in and out of Portland, the cutter and
gunboats building in the harbor, and said that he
wanted them to take the vessel in and out of Portland.
The schooner came to anchor after sunset near Pome-
roy's Rock, off Fish Point, in Portland Harbor, Bibber
and his companion remaining on deck until about
nine o'clock, when they noticed that ten or twelve
bags of clothing were passed out of the cabin, and
that the men began to appear with belts, pistols and
cutlasses ; then they saw that they were in the hands
THE CAPTURE OF THE "CALEB GUSHING" 193
of an armed crew of the Confederate navy. They
were then ordered below and fastened into the cabin,
where one of the officers came and said to them,
" Men, don't attempt to come up on deck to-night;
make no noise or resistance and it will be all the
better for you."
Soon they heard a sound of hoisting and stirring
overhead, which continued until after midnight, when
they were ordered on deck. They found the schooner
in the position where she had anchored the night
before, but were put into their own dory and rowed
alongside the revenue cutter Caleb Gushing, which
they found with all sails set and with two boats tow-
ing her.
Leaving the narrative of the captured fishermen,
let us see how the Confederates came to this coast
and precisely what had happened.
-Up to May, 1863, Lieutenant C. W. Read of the
Confederate navy had been a second lieutenant of the
cruiser Florida under the command of the celebrated
Maffit. On May 6th, Maffit captured the brig Clar-
ence and put Read aboard of her with a crew of
twenty men, one howitzer and a full complement of
small arms. Lieutenant Read soon proceeded to the
coast of New England, taking and burning many ves-
sels. He reports to his navy department that from
June 12 to June 24 he captured and burned or bonded
nineteen sail. On the 12th of June, about seventy-five
miles from the shore of Washington County a little
eastward of Mount Desert Rock, he captured the bark
Tacony, a larger and better vessel than the Clarence.
VOL. IX. 13
194 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
He accordingly burned the brig, made a cruiser of the
bark and in her continued his cruising. June 25 he
captured the fishing schooner Archer, at Southport,
Maine, and destroyed the Tacony, the schooner being
a staunch craft and better adapted to his purposes.
What those purposes were appears clearly from a
letter of Maffit to Read of May 6, in which he tells
him, " This is the time when our best exertions should
be made to harm the common enemy and confuse
them with attacks from all unexpected quarters. Act
for the best, and God speed you. If s access attends
the effort you will deserve the fullest consideration of
the department."
It appears from the record of the Confederate navy
that Captain Read was ordered first to go into defense-
less cities like Baltimore, burn shipping, destroy ves-
sels which were building and do all the work of this
kind he could. Acting under this remarkable char-
ter, Captain Read soon discovered that his clearest
field was the New England coast, and here he set
about his work.
After capturing the Archer he continued his course
to the westward towards Portland. Later he thus
reports to the Confederate naval department :
" I planned to destroy the Tacony and with the schooner Archer
to proceed along the coast with a view of burning the shipping in some
exposed harbor or to cutting out a steamer. Accordingly on the 25th
of June we set fire to the Tacony and with the Archer stood in for the
coast. Near Portland I picked up two fishermen, who taking us for a
pleasure party willingly consented to pilot us into Portland. From the
fishermen I learned that the revenue cutter Caleb Gushing was in the
harbor of Portland, and that the passenger steamer to New York, a
staunch, swift propeller, would remain in Portland during the night. I
THE CAPTURE OF THE "CALEB GUSHING " 195
at once determined to enter the harbor and at night to quietly seize the
cutter and the steamer."
He thus proceeds with his report :
u At sunset we entered the harbor and anchored in full view of the
shipping. I explained to my officers what I expected to do after dark.
My engineer, Mr. Brown, expressed his doubts as to his ability to start
the engines of the steamer proposed to be captured, without the assist-
ance of another engineer. I felt confident that Mr. Brown would do
his utmost to perform the duty required of him, but as the nights were
very short it was evident that if he failed to get the steamer under way
after waiting to get up steam, we could not get clear of the forts before
we were discovered. As^the wind was blowing moderately out of the
harbor I then decided to capture the cutter, and after getting from
under the forts, to return and fire the shipping. At 1.30 we boarded
the cutter Caleb Gushing and captured her without noise or resistance.
As the cable could not be slipped it was two o'clock before we could
get under way. The wind was now very light the tide was running in
and, before we could get from under the guns of the fort, day dawned."
Chance aided the Confederates in accomplishing
their night's work. The commander of the cutter
had just died. Many of the crew were ashore in
Portland for the night, leaving Lieutenant Davenport
upon the cutter with a crew of about twenty men.
Read and his crew seized these men and imprisoned
them in the hold. When day dawned, Read, having
liberated the captured fishermen, compelled them to
pilot the vessel out by the way of Hussey's Sound.
Let Titcomb, one of our two fishermen, now describe
his part of the scene :
u There was no wind we kept on until we got abreast the passage
between Cow Island and Hog Island. I was then asked if the cutter
would not go through that passage. I told the commander, Read, that
it was a very bad passage. He said he should go through and told the
man at the wheel to keep her off. She was kept off and taken through
that passage. No questions were asked me about the course and we
196 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
went through it very quick, as a breeze sprung up just as we entered
the passage. I gave no directions as to the course and was not asked
to give any. After getting through there the cutter was in an open
sea-way and kept right out to sea. Before we got to the Green Islands
I asked the captain if he would let me go. He said that he should not.
I saw two men that looked like the cutter's crew with irons on.
Besides these I saw no other persons aboard except those I had seen
the day previous in the schooner. After getting three miles beyond the
Green Islands I asked again to be let go. He told me No, he would
stand off a little further, and then would heave to and wait for the
schooner, the Archer, to come up. When out past Cod Ledge we saw
steamers coming and when they were within about two miles I asked
again to be let go. He told me he did not care, I might take either of
the little boats alongside. I got into the boat as soon as the word was
given, and rowed off. One of the men said I had better row a little
quartering as they should soon fire. I finally reached the steamer
Forest City and was taken aboard and related all the circumstances to
the officers."
At half past seven in the morning the cutter's cap-
ture was discovered from the Observatory. The news
soon spread over the town. The Argus account after
the day of the event gives the scene very vividly :
u The city was thrown into a state of excitement bordering on con-
sternation. The first rumors were that the Caleb Gushing had left in
the night without orders, with only one officer aboard, and it was not
until later that the report gained circulation that she had been captured
by a crew from the Florida or Tacony. Our citizens, at first, thought
that the lieutenant on board had betrayed his trust and that he had run
away with the cutter with the intention of joining the Tacony."
Fortunately for the city, two men of force and
character were in high official station : Captain Jacob
McLellan was mayor, Jedediah Jewett was collector
of the port. The steamer Forest City was soon fitted
up with an armament and with a detachment of the
17th U. S. Infantry from Fort Preble under the com-
mand of Lieutenant Merriman, who had just arrived
THE CAPTURE OF THE "CALEB CUSHING " 197
that morning to take command of the cutter, her late
captain having died a few days before. The troops
were under the command of Captain Andrews, in
charge at Fort Preble.
Collector Jewett thus reported to the Secretary of
the Treasury :
41 1 was advised at my house at ten minutes past eight A. M., that
the cutter had gone to sea, and regret that my suspicions, as I now
think unjustly, fell upon First Lieutenant Davenport as the party who
had run off with her. I at once came to the conclusion that this was
an exigency when I ought not to wait for orders from you but assume
the responsibility of her recapture for the Government.
" I at once sent messengers to Fort Preble for guns and men of the
17th Regulars to be ready for a steamer that I would have at the wharf;
also sent a messenger to Camp Lincoln to Colonel Mason of the 7th
Maine Volunteers for men. To both of these requests the responses
were promptly made and in less than one hour Colonel Mason had all
of the men at Camp Lincoln, including his band, in the city and on
board of steamers.
"I at once chartered the Forest City, a 700 ton side wheel steamer
of the Boston line and also the small steamer Casco as a transport to
take the guns and men from Fort Preble wharf, the steamer Forest
City drawing too much water to lie at it. I also chartered a steam tug
propeller and sent her to the upper bridge in our harbor to take on
board the men of the 7th, and as evidence of the prompt response to
my calls I would state that in fifty minutes after I had learned of the
capture of the cutter three steamers had left the wharf to overhaul her.
"Finding that at the suggestion of the mayor, the steamer Chesa-
peake, propeller of the New York line, was getting up steam, I put
Colonel Mason and the largest portion of his command on board of her,
she having obtained two brass six-pounders from the State Arsenal.
She also had about fifty volunteers of all ages and colors who armed
themselves and repaired on board."
He then further describes the sailing of the
steamers, the overhauling of the cutter and the cap-
ture of the men.
The steamer Chesapeake, as indicated by the report
of Collector Jewett, was chartered by the Mayor and
198. MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
put in fighting trim with bales of cotton to protect
her sides and engines. In addition to the citizen
volunteers " of all ages and colors," as described by
the Collector, there were twenty-seven men from the
7th Maine Regiment on board.
While the preparations on the Chesapeake were
being made, the agent of the steamer, realizing the
doubtful position he was in with his owners, made
some objection to proceeding, saying that if he took
the responsibility to withdraw this steamer from her
route and put her into the public service, he might
be severely disciplined and ruined, in case of loss of
the steamer. The Mayor, Captain McLellan, treated
this objection as purely technical and dilatory, and
promptly pledged the city's property and all his own
private estate to stand between the agent and all pos-
sible harm. Just as the steamer sailed, the Captain
further asked the Mayor for his instructions. I have
heard some of Captain McLellan 's old neighbors
describe his reply, delivered in his sharp staccato
tones : " Catch the damned scoundrels and hang
every one of them."
Now read the Argus account, the crisp narrative
of an eye witness :
THE CHASE.
"When the cutter was first discovered, she was bearing S. S. E.
from Portland Light. The Forest City was in hot pursuit followed by
the tug Tiger. Another steamer was to be seen in the dim distance,
supposed from Bath. We were then about six miles from Portland
Light, and seven miles from the cutter. A consultation was held as to
what course to pursue and it was determined to sail up and speak the
cutter, and see what were her intentions. All doubt as to that point
was at once dispelled, for before the consultation is ended, she rounds
THE CAPTURE OF THE "CALEB GUSHING" 199
to, a flash is seen, and the sound of the first gun comes booming over
the water. * That means business,' says Captain Leighton, who with
Colonel Mason and others were watching her from the top of the pilot
house. 'Hurra,' says a private of the 7th Maine who had evidently
listened to the music before. ' Steer for her,' says Captain Leighton to
the pilot, 'and we'll run her down or go to the bottom.'
EXCHANGE OF SHOTS.
41 It was now evident that there was to be some lively work ; but
every man was resolved to do his duty. The brass piece was shotted
and those on board assigned their positions. A few seconds and
another shot comes from the cutter. Steadily we steam on, when bang
comes a third shot. At this the Forest City laid to and appeared to be
waiting for us to come up. Another gun from the cutter, as we kept
on, and this time the shot is intended for us. It is a richochet shot,
and the ball comes skfpping along the water directly towards us, but
falls short, and the men indulge in a laugh, at the same time they admit
that the shot is a good one. This was followed by another with no
better results, when the order was given to try our larboard gun.
"An interval of silence, one of the most intense interest, when bang
she went, and up jumped one of our gunners upon the carriage, slapping
his hands with delight. The gun was fired merely as an experiment. It
was a splendid line shot, however, and had we been nearer would have
been likely to have done mischief. The Forest City now steamed up and
appeared to be wearing around to get astern of the cutter, but the move-
ment, it seemed, was only to get in position for us to hail her. We come
up alongside the Forest City, the Chesapeake slackens her speed
we are now within range, and a well-directed shot from the cutter
might result disastrously to both vessels. Why do they not fire ?
'"Ship ahoy,' says Captain Leighton, and the answer comes back
from the Forest City. * What course do you intend to take ? '
'"We have not decided.'
" ' Can't you attack one side, while we attack the other ? '
" ' We think the best course is to run her down, as she has superior
armament. 1
" ' Will you take the lead f '
" 'No ; you had better go ahead ; we are not prepared.'
"'All right,' says Captain Leighton, 'we shall steer straight for
her and run into her any way we can, and you can take what's left 1 '
WOBK FOB THE CHESAPEAKE.
" Colonel Mason then turned to the men and said, ' Now, boys, you
have got to fight ; let every man keep cool and await orders, and we
200 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
will take the cutter.' Three cheers, loud, spontaneous, is the answer,
and three more echo hack from the deck of the Forest City. ' Stand hy
your flag,' cried our men to those of the Forest City and three more
cheers sounded across the water, wafted on the breeze to the ears of
rebels on board the cutter telling them plainer than words of the patri-
otism and determination of those on board our vessels. The order is
given to put on all steam, and run her down by striking her amidships,
or else run alongside and board.
" The cutter was about two miles distant. She displayed no colors.
The brass field piece on her bow gleamed like gold in the sunlight, and
her deck appeared covered with armed men. Her course was to the
eastward. As we neared her it was noticed that a boat was being
lowered at her side ; which, in another moment, pushed off to meet us.
Here the cutter again fired at us, but the ball fell short. The eyes of
our men are now directed to the small boat which is seen full of men
and rowing towards us.
PREPARATION TO 'TAKE BOARDERS.'
"It is the opinion that her intention is to board us, and preparations
are accordingly made to * welcome them with bloody hands to hospit-
able graves.' The voice of Colonel Mason is heard, and ' stand ready,
men,' is the watchword. The boat nears us she is filled bang and
the grape come whistling forward, aft and over us, but no one is hit,
the smoke clears up, two more boats put off from the cutter filled with
men, ' they intend to board us, stand ready, men, no, they steer
away from us, see smoke curls up from the cutter amidships, they
have set her on fire, sink the devils !' 'Hold,' says Captain Leigh-
ton, who sees a white handkerchief elevated in the small boat. l The
first man that fires shall be shot ; I am not a pirate to fire on a flag of
truce.' The boat is alongside, Lieutenant Davenport is among them,
and he is violently agitated as we help pull him on board. He turns to
us and says, 4 It is hard, after a man has been taken prisoner, ironed,
and his life threatened by pirates, to be shot by his own friends ! '
The men, one by one, nineteen in all, come up the side, some of them
with the irons still on their wrists. Colonel Mason orders them below,
and we move on towards the cutter which is now in flames aft. ' Let's
go and save her.' * No,' say the men just taken on board. * They have
made preparations to blow her up. '
** The Chesapeake stands off and lies by within a mile. The Forest
City has taken on board the rebels in the small boats and she comes
toward us. There were grave apprehensions of danger of the explo-
sion of the cutter's magazine ; and after a consultation finding that it
201
was impossible to save her, it was determined to wait a while and see
her blow up. 4 Give us a small boat, Captain, and some buckets and
we will board and save her,' says one. 'You must not go she has
four hundred pounds of powder on board and the experiment is hazard-
ous foolhardy.' But one more eager, more daring, nothing daunted,
gets permission of Mr. Fox, agent of the Chesapeake, for the use of a
boat and it is at once lowered. Mr. Ilaile was first in the boat, followed
by Captain Warren of the 7th, and Messrs. Fickett and Harris and two
others, whose names we did not learn, The Chesapeake put on steam
and ran within half a mile of the cutter, but instead of going directly
toward her, stood off and sailed toward the city. The man in the small
boat called for volunteers, for buckets in vain ; none were offered.
After sailing about three miles she turned and again went in the direc-
tion of the cutter, which had now been burning about an hour. The
Forest City was lying to within three-quarters of a mile of her and the
tug still further off. The Chesapeake approached within half a mile
and stopped.
THE FIRE.
44 The cutter was on fire, fore and aft. Several schooners and fishing
smacks were lying to at different distances, and a number of small boats
were rowing around but none dared approach near the vessel. The
men in the small boat of the Chesapeake saw the boat tied to the stern
of the cutter and determined to save her. Word was given to those on
board the Chesapeake to cast us off, but they refused. Mr. Harris and
the two men left the small boat and went on board the Chesapeake,
leaving only Captain Warren, Mr. Fickett and Mr. Haile. We then left
the Chesapeake and started directly for the cutter. The distance is
about half a mile, and not one-quarter of it is made before we are called
upon to return, from the deck of the vessel. 4 You need not order us
for we shall not come until we bring the cutter's boat,' was the only
reply, and on we go. 4 Pull for her, one moment more and we will save
her.' We come alongside the cutter, the flames extending from stem
to stern, mounting the masts and spreading to the sails ; one jumps into
the small boat now two-thirds full of water, he has no knife to cut her
loose, it seems an age to wait while the fire is raging and crackling
over us, and the cinders and rigging are falling around us, and the
magazines. We cut her loose and are off, and pulling away get half
the distance between the cutter and the Chesapeake when a terrific
explosion shakes the very heavens. The smoke rolls up in vast columns,
fragments of shells, masts and spars and blackened timbers are seen
hundreds of feet in the air, falling all around, the cutter begins to sink,
her stem disappears, the guns fall off the deck into the fathomless deep,
202 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
she careens, she gives one lurch and the Caleb Gushing sinks beneath
the waves. The only remaining mast disappears, but soon rises some
fifteen or twenty feet above the water, then sinks to rise no more.
" It was a quarter past two o'clock when the magazine exploded.
The sight was one grand in the extreme. As soon as her fate was
decided, a lot of boats visited the scene and commenced picking up the
debris of the wreck.
u The Forest City then stood for the town, and saw a suspicious
schooner which one of the boat's crew she had captured said was a
Southport fisherman, captured by the privateer Florida and which had
been used by the rebels to assist in cutting out the Caleb Gushing.
Chase was given, and on her being captured there were found several
suspicious characters on board.
" The Chesapeake, after waiting a while and finding that the Forest
City needed no assistance, then returned in company with her, arriving
at this city at four o'clock.
" As we passed the forts in the harbor guns were fired, bells rung
and other lively demonstrations were made. The wharves and all avail-
able points were alive with people, who cheered again and again, and
they were responded to from the decks of the Chesapeake by cheers
and the firing of guns. ' '
An interesting statement of Lieutenant Davenport
has been found, the substance of which was in the
daily papers. He said that between twelve and one
o'clock Saturday evening, the cutter was visited by
men dressed in the garb of fishermen. He was lying
in his berth at the time, when, hearing an unusual
noise over his head, he got up and went upon deck
when he was seized by five of the men, who said he
was their prisoner, and that they belonged to the
Confederate navy. Pistols were pointed at his head
by four or five of the crew. Lieutenant Davenport,
seeing it was useless to offer any resistance, gave
himself up and was ironed. He was told that no
harm would befall any of the crew if they surren-
dered peaceably, but if they did not the orders were
THE CAPTURE OF THE " CALEB CUSHTNG " 203
to blow every man's brains out who showed any fight.
The crew was then arrested and every man ironed
and placed in the berth deck. Then the cutter pro-
ceeded down the harbor.
At breakfast about eight o'clock, Read said to
Davenport, "I'm sorry, Lieutenant, to meet you under
these circumstances, but this is one of the fortunes of
war. You being a Southern man ought to be ashamed
of yourself." Lieutenant Davenport in reply to this,
said, " You have acted humanely, sir, and in case we
are taken I will represent your case favorably to the
United States authorities." Captain Read also made
some further conversation with the Lieutenant, as did
the second Confederate officer in command Mr.
Eugene H. Brown.
Lieutenant Davenport says that when the steamers
sent in pursuit hove in sight, his men refused to tell
the rebels where the ammunition was, nor could they
find but a small quantity of the four hundred pounds
of powder that was on board and the thirty-five
rounds of thirty-two-pound cartridges.
I have been informed by some of the cutter's crew
that this ammunition had been placed aboard the
cutter within forty-eight hours before the capture.
Captain Read, in one of his reports to his depart-
ment, says that if he could have found the locker
which had about ninety thirty-two-pound shot, he
would have fought it out, and that the result would
have been that he would have been run down, with
the probable loss of the cutter's crew who were below
in irons.
204 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Whatever may have been the effect, this failure to
find the ammunition, together with the lack of wind,
prevented a serious conflict and probably prevented
the Confederate escape.
I have been much interested within the last twenty
years, in talking with many of the crew of the Caleb
Gushing, the list of whom now living is fast growing
small. I have heard an interesting account of the
whole affair from Captain Benjamin Jones, who sailed
out that morning with the steamers, and was lying off
near by the scene of the conflict in the sloop yacht
Clarence; which has so long been well known to Port-
land people and has become almost historic.
While in prison the Confederate officers gave very
graphic accounts of the affair from their standpoint.
They describe, with great vividness, their approach
to the city at nightfall, with their twelve-pounder and
their arms concealed, thus enabling them to pass the
forts without being hailed. Had they been hailed
they would have replied that they were fishermen
and going in after bait. They proceeded up the har-
bor and anchored below Victoria wharf, where they
busied themselves with their glasses in taking a sur-
vey of the harbor, its defences, the city and every-
thing which came within range. They did not leave
the schooner, as reported, but remained there, making
calculations and plans for the night's business. They
ascertained with their glasses the position of affairs
and determined to lie low until midnight, then seize
the cutter, run down to the Archer and transfer all
the guns, ammunition and stores from the Archer to
THE CAPTURE OF THE "CALEB GUSHING" 205
the cutter, set fire to the gunboats Agawam and Pon-
toosac, lying at Franklin wharf, and to the elevator
and the shipping, then run past the forts and take
the Boston boat on her way in, thus preventing pur-
suit, there being no vessel left to pursue them. If
the forts attacked them, they intended to run back
into the harbor and shell the town. This statement
was made by Mr. Brown and also some of the men
who said that they were all determined to risk their
lives freely in the service of their commander, to whom
they were attached to an almost romantic degree.
Captain Read is described by all who saw him as
little more than a boy, bright faced, alert, twenty-
three years of age, rather slight, with brown mus-
tache and whiskers and a thin, sharp face ; he was
dressed in naval uniform. He was born in Missis-
sippi and was a graduate of the Naval School at
Annapolis. He had already won distinction in the
naval battles near New Orleans. In his report to the
Confederate department he describes in an almost
boyish way the dramatic incidents of his capture and
of his imprisonment, and sends for some money to
buy clothing, saying that a great deal of his cloth-
ing had been taken by the citizens of Portland as
souvenirs. I have been interested to follow the career
of Captain Read, and I find that he continued in the
Confederate navy as long as there was a Confederacy,
and afterwards entered some peaceful pursuit and
died in 1891 at Meridian, Mississippi.
Mr. Brown, the second in command, was also a
very young man, slightly built, a native of Norfolk,
206 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Virginia, and of an agreeable presence. He had been
an officer on the cruiser Florida.
Most of the men were natives or residents of the
South but some appeared to be foreigners and adven-
turers.
Captain Andrews of Fort Preble, as late as the
29th, the Monday after the Saturday of the incident,
reports to the War Department : " You can form
but faint idea of the excitement now existing among
the citizens of Portland and vicinity. Rumor
follows rumor in rapid succession and just before
daylight this morning some one from the vicinity of
the post went to the city with a fresh rumor which
set the whole city in a ferment. Bells were rung
and men, women and children soon filled the streets
and were rushing hither and thither in aimless
fright." He further suggests that the prisoners be
sent from here as quietly as possible. The Collector
also, in his communication with the Treasurer of
the Department, asked for instructions, whether or
not the prisoners should be treated as pirates and
sent to Portland jail or as prisoners of war and sent
to Fort Preble. It is interesting to see further that
most Portland citizens regarded them as pirates.
Captain McLellan, June 30, reports to the Navy
Department that he has all the crew of the Tacony
and that so far as he knows there are no other pir-ates
on the coast. In less official communications he
generally referred to them as pirates, and stated
with emphasis just what kind of pirates he thought
they were.
THE CAPTURE OF THE "CALEB CUSHING " 207
It is difficult to imagine the effect which this inci-
dent of the Caleb Gushing had upon a peaceful com-
munity. It was one of the most daring acts of the
Confederate government in its desperation. The
event itself is as picturesque in its setting and in its
detail as a battle. I do not know where to find a
story of more reckless audacity. That a band of
adventurers should have been able to come in under
the guns of our forts, capture the only armed vessel
in the harbor, cut it out without any interference and
should finally be overhauled and captured outside the
harbor far beyond the islands, is almost as strange
and dramatic as the fight of Paul Jones on the Bon
Homme Richard against the Serapis, in which he wins
his battle with a sinking ship, and in which the con-
quered vessel remains afloat and the victorious vessel
sinks. But in time of war this Portland incident was
little noted. It was dwarfed by greater events ; on
that day Lee's army was within a few miles of Har-
risburg ; that city as well as Philadelphia and Wash-
ington and even New York were threatened. The
wires were trembling with the news ; the people
were trembling with excitement and apprehension
for the nation's life. Gettysburg followed in a few
days ; and the Confederate cause began to totter to
its fall. Moreover no calamity attended this New
England incident. The French proverb says, " It is
the unfortunate that is remembered." We remember
battles and slaughters, things that are picturesquely
terrible. If success had not attended the energy of
these prompt and plucky New Englanders who fitted
208 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
out and manned the steamers which won the victory
and which brought back the Confederate crew, then
that day of bright adventure would have become
sadly historic. If the Confederates had found the
powder, the goodly fellowship of citizens that bright
June morning might have become a noble army of
martyrs. Both steamers would probably have been
sunk and the day would have always been celebrated
as one of the most terrible in all New England's his-
tory ; but the physical, tangible result was merely
the loss of a small and not over valuable revenue cut-
ter. Nobody was hurt, and with all the bold and
picturesque features of attack and pursuit, the result
was mere commonplace success.
Since then, history has been too busy with the great
annals of war to pay much heed to a local adventure
in a New England harbor. Portland has had the
good fortune to have historians of great ability ; but
Mr. Willis and Mr. Goold gave their attention to the
recounting of the old, and even Mr. Baxter, with a
very great talent for research and the writing of his-
tory, has dwelt upon distinctly historic scenes in the
great past of New England, but none of them have
ever brought a picture of this incident before the
people of this generation. It seems to me that the
event must always be memorable in the history of
Portland and of especial interest in the history of
New England. It is the second time that an armed
vessel with a hostile force has ever anchored in the
harbor of Portland. I know of no other time except
when Mowatt, in 1775, laid his fleet before the city in
THE CAPTURE OF THE "CALEB GUSHING" 209
almost the exact spot where eighty years after the
"converted" fishing schooner anchored.
Mr. Reed, in his splendid Portland Centennial
address in 1886, says of Mowatt's bombardment and
burning: "A more wanton, indefensible assault upon
an undefended city has not disgraced the annals of
modern warfare." Those words were not perhaps too
strong to describe the wantonness of Mowatt's act.
This intended assault in 1863, upon a sleeping city far
removed from the field of war, was in its inception
just as wanton and might have proved as fatal as
Mowatt's. It was not the act of pirates, although in
common speech often referred to as such. It was
the act of a Confederate naval commander authorized
by the Confederate government. It involved not only
the attempt to burn Portland shipping and Portland
wharves but the probability of burning the city itself
in the night, with its unwarned and undefended
women and children ; and this is shown by the Con-
federate records and the admission of the desperate
men entrusted to the enterprise. But it is to be
borne in mind that this event is not to be looked
upon in the light of a transaction in a time of peace.
We were at war, and as General Sherman said, "War
is hell." Things done in war are not to be judged
by the weights and measures of peaceful times. My
purpose is simply to tell this story and not to stir up
feelings of prejudice long since buried.
Perhaps history will not stop to inquire what the
Confederate intention was nor what were the dread
possibilities ; it certainly will give its just praise to
VOL. IX. 14
210 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
the dash and daring of the little band of Southern
seamen who cut the Caleb Gushing out of a strongly
defended harbor in the North without striking a blow
or firing a gun, and who were finally kept from suc-
cess by what we in our narrow vision call chance.
History will certainly give its full measure of praise
to Portland men for their resolute promptness in see-
ing and seizing the situation and bringing victory out
of disaster.
At the risk of repetition, I have told this story
from the standpoint of the different participants in
the affair and have quoted as largely as I could from
current accounts, because I think this method brings
the whole affair to our minds with more vividness.
It is left to the historian of the future to fitly record
these scenes. I have chronicled them now because
as I have already said they were long ago called to
my attention in searching Confederate records in a
case in court and because they have ever since made
their appeal to my memory and my imagination.
When I look at the beautiful inland sea which lies
between Diamond Island and Mackworth's, I think of
that stealthy craft creeping at nightfall on the unsus-
pecting city, of the cutter piloted by the scared fish-
ermen out by Diamond Cove, through Hussey's Sound,
in the providential calm of that summer morning. I
can seem to hear that explosion which rent the peace-
ful air and see the blackened timbers and the guns
rolling from the deck and sinking in the bay. And
when I see the waters about the Green Islands gleam-
ing in the sunlight I think of that fight upon the sea,
THE CAPTURE OF THE "CALEB GUSHING " 211
the only sea fight ever fought so near Portland homes,
and I am glad to remember that the result was a
tribute to the pluck, energy and courage of Portland
people.
212 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
REV. FREEMAN PARKER AND THE CHURCH IN
DRESDEN
BY CHAKLES E. ALLEX
Read before the Maine Historical Society March 14, 1901
After the departure of Rev. Jacob Bailey in 1779,
Dresden was for twenty-one years without any regu-
lar clergyman of any persuasion, although ministers
were employed for a Sabbath at a time, or in a few
cases for longer periods. In 1796, two years after
Pownalboro was divided and Dresden incorporated,
the town refused to take the Episcopal church lot for
a Congregational church. The following year, how-
ever, it was voted to build a meeting-house. There
was some delay, and the edifice was not completed
until the year 1800, when it was voted to give Rev.
Freeman Parker a call to preach, at a salary of $500
a year, and Obadiah Call, Jonathan Bowman and
Edmund Bridge were chosen a committee to wait
upon Mr. Parker and receive his reply. The town
meeting on this occasion was held at the new meeting-
house.
The land upon which the edifice was erected was
conveyed to the town by Abiel Lovejoy, who then had
removed from Pownalboro to Sidney, and the consid-
eration was one dollar for one acre of land, the same
to be for a church lot forever. The edifice was
removed in 1862, and in 1867 Pownalboro Hall,
REV. FREEMAN PARKER 213
owned by an association of ladies, was erected upon
its site. In this the Congregational society of to-day
holds its services.
At a town meeting May 25, 1801, the inhabitants
heard Mr. Parker's letter of acceptance, and they
chose committees to send letters missive to the pas-
tors of other churches to assist at the ordination, and
to provide for an ordination council.
Mr. Parker's letter of acceptance was dated May 9,
1801, and it is characterized by warmth of expression,
although there appears to be a little gush pardonable
in a young man just out of Harvard Divinity School.
The first Wednesday in September was chosen for
the ordination. The clergymen who were invited to
be present, and the churches with which they were
connected, were : 1. Rev. Oakes Shaw, West church
in Barnstable. He was father of Lemuel Shaw, a
well-known jurist and for many years Chief Justice
of Massachusetts. His term included the exciting
fugitive slave times in Boston. Rev. Mr. Shaw had
fitted Mr. Parker for Harvard, and he came on horse-
back from Barnstable, about two hundred and fifty
miles, to Dresden, accompanied by his wife, he being
then sixty-five years of age, and preached the ordina-
tion sermon. 2. First church in Plymouth, Rev.
James Kendall, pastor. This was and is the Pilgrim
church. 3. Second church in Hingham, Rev. Nicho-
las B. Whitney, pastor. 4. Church in Quincy, Rev.
Peter Whitney, pastor. 5. West church in Boston,
Rev. Simeon Howard, D. D., pastor. This became in
later years the church of the late Rev. Cyrus A.
214 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Bartol. It is on Cambridge street, and the building
is now used as a branch of the Boston public library.
6. Second church in Wells, Rev. Nathaniel D. Fletcher,
pastor. 7. Rev. David Tappan, professor of divinity
at Cambridge. He had been Mr. Parker's instructor
in theology. 8. The church in Pownalboro, Rev.
Alden Bradford, pastor. This was what is now Wis-
casset, that section of Pownalboro retaining the old
name until 1802. 9. The church in Woolwich, Rev.
Josiah Winship, pastor. 10. The church in Augusta,
Rev. l)aniel Stone, pastor. 11. The church in War-
ren, Rev. Jonathan Huse, pastor. 12. The church in
Brunswick, Rev. Ebenezer Coffin, pastor. 13. The
church in Harpswell, Rev. Samuel Eaton, pastor.
I do not find that any of the above from a distance
attended except Mr. Shaw. It is probable that Mr.
Stone and others in the vicinity were present. Jona-
than Bowman and Edmund Bridge paid the expenses
of the council.
Mr. Parker was born in Barnstable, July 9, 1776,
and said that he was named Freeman because of an
event of interest to Americans which occurred on the
4th of the same month in which he was born. His
father, Robert Parker, became an officer in the Revo-
lutionary army and died there. Whether he was of
the family of John Parker, who was at Lexington, I
know not, nor does it matter at present. Much of
the property left by Freeman's father was in Conti-
nental currency, and its depreciation left the widow
in poor circumstances. Freeman entered college in
1793, and graduated in 1797, having among his
REV. FREEMAN PARKER 215
classmates Dr. John C. Warren, who for thirty-three
years was professor of anatomy in Harvard. After
studying theology he was licensed to preach by the
Andover Association, and after preaching three
months in Dresden, received the call already noted.
His salary was, I think, the largest paid at that time
east of Portland.
On the day of his ordination Mr. Parker met Miss
Rebecca Rice, daughter of Judge Thomas Rice, of
Wiscasset, who in 1804 became his wife. She died
in 1843, and he died in 1854. In 1814 he became
blind, and was afterwards known as the "blind
preacher of Dresden." He spoke extemporaneously,
and if he wished to preserve a sermon dictated to his
daughter, who wrote it out. He ceased to be the legal
minister of Dresden in 1816, although he was hired
by the Congregational society which was organized
soon afterward. In 1829, Mr. Parker removed to Wis-
casset, where he died. He preached there for the last
time in 1846. In 1851, fifty years from the time of
his ordination, he preached in his old church at
Dresden for the last time, from Psalms 37:25, "I
have been young and now am old." That eloquent
sermon should be preserved. I read it not long ago,
and many elderly people in Dresden still speak with
pleasure of having heard it. It was largely remi-
niscent. He remembered the inauguration of Wash-
ington, though but thirteen years old at the time;
and he also remembered John Hancock, first Governor
of Massachusetts after Independence. As a member
of the University he followed to the grave the remains
216 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
of Samuel Adams. A single quotation from this dis-
course must suffice. He said : " My friends, 1 am not
going to preach politics. . . . But remembering
now I am old you will bear with me." Then, after
alluding to the slavery agitation, he said, " As much
as I hate slavery, and as earnestly as I long and pray
for its utter extermination, I would stand by the Con-
stitution with its slavery provision, bad as it is, for
fifty years to come, rather than dissolve the Union,
with its fearful consequences of civil war, anarchy
and bloodshed." There had already been some
threats of disunion, and in ten years from the time
when he uttered these words, there came an attempt
at dissolution, and a bloody civil war followed that
attempt. Were his words prophetic ?
Mr. Parker was a Republican, or Jeffersonian Demo-
crat, and Dresden was inclined to Federalism. Party
feeling was strong. In 1807, the Republicans had a
Fourth of July celebration, at which they listened to
a " fervent and pathetic prayer " by Mr. Parker, and
an oration by Rev. Mr. Merrit, of Bowdoinham, both
of these being in the church. Toasts also endorsed
Jefferson, condemned the Federalists, and commended
the Squatters of Maine, and their Governor, James
Sullivan. I fancy the seeds of discord were sown thus
early, and as Mr. Parker often alluded to political ques-
tions in his sermons, the trouble soon reached a climax.
Governor Brooks signed the charter of the Methodist
society in 1816 ; and a law was passed that released
those who united with the other sects from paying
their ministerial tax, and Mr. Parker's parishioners
BEV. FREEMAN PARKER 217
left him in squads, not, however, because they
loved Methodism. Mr. Parker signed the legal docu-
ment releasing the town from its contract with him
December 3, 1816. A society was formed which hired
him to preach occasionally until the year 1835. After
this the old meeting-house became a sort of union
church, where Sylvanus Cobb, Rev. W. C. George,
John L. Stevens and others officiated at various times.
All that now remains of the old church, so far as I
know, is a panel from one of the pews, which is in
my possession. As before stated, Pownalboro Hall
occupies its site, and here was organized, January 31,
1893, the "Pownalboro Church of Christ," under the
ministrations of Rev. Arthur Patten, now of Holyoke,
Massachusetts.
Something should be said about Mr. Parker's work
in Dresden. Peter Pochard, the Huguenot, was first
sexton. In 1802, the town tried to take some action
to keep dogs out of the church on Sunday. Samuel
Tubbs, who was major in the Revolutionary army,
was first deacon. The names of those who assented
to the first covenant in 1801 were, many of them, dis-
tinguished, or became so in after years, as Jonathan
Bowman, cousin to John Hancock, and son of Rev.
Jonathan Bowman, of Dorchester ; Edmund Bridge
and John Hawthorne ; also Theobald, Patterson,
Dumaresque, Harward, White, Tupper, Johnson and
many others. The list of baptisms is a formidable
one. Among the marriages are Barzilla White and
Cordelia Tupper, Alfred G. Lithgow and Martha
Theobald, Warren Prescott and Rebecca Johnson,
218 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Edward E. Houdlette and Elizabeth Patterson, John
Hubbard, M. D., and Sarah Barrett. I have not time
to mention others. Of those mentioned, Barzilla White
was associated with Israel Washburn, father of a
most illustrious American family, in the settlement of
White's Landing, now Richmond village. His wife
was daughter of Dr. James Tupper, who in 1792 built
the timber ship. A slate headstone, in what was the
burying ground purchased by the town a few years
after the old church was built, still marks the grave
of Israel Washburn's brother Sidney. Alfred G.
Lithgow was descended from John Gardiner of the
famous Gardiner family, and his wife, Martha, was a
daughter of the Dr. Theobald who was chaplain in
General Burgoyne's army, which surrendered at Sara-
toga in 1777. Edward E. Houdlette was of a large
and respectable family descended from the French
Calvinist, Charles Stephen Houdlette, one of the set-
tlers of 1752. His son Henry is master of the Oceanic
Steamship Company's steamer Sierra, plying between
San Francisco and Sydney, Australia. The wife was
of a respectable family of Pattersons well known in
Dresden, Wiscasset, Augusta, and elsewhere. Dr.
John Hubbard was of Hallowell, and was Governor
of Maine from 1849 to 1852. His wife was a daugh-
ter of Oliver Barrett, who lived on Blenn's Hill, in
Dresden. Barrett was a carpenter and farmer, but in
1828 he attained the dignity of being one of thirteen
persons in Dresden who were taxed as owners of
chaises. One of his sons, Benjamin F., was a Swe-
denborgian clergyman, who died in Philadelphia a
BEV. FKEEMAN PARKER 219
few years ago. It is well to add, perhaps, that a son
of Dr. John and Sarah Barrett Hubbard is the gentle-
man who recently gave $150,000 for a library build-
ing for Bowdoin College.
I should give some description of the old meeting-
house. One Edward Austin, who came from York,
Maine, to Dresden, via Hallowell, was its master
builder. It bore a strong resemblance to many of
the meeting-houses erected in New England at and
prior to the beginning of the nineteenth century.
The old church till standing in Alna is a type ;
although old Dresden people affirm that the Dresden
edifice was handsome. It was oblong in shape, two
stories in height, and faced the south, with vestibules
or porches on the eastern and western ends. I have
no record of its dimensions. It was unpainted, inside
and out. The second story windows lighted the gal-
leries. Inside, a broad aisle led from the southern
entrance to the pulpit, which was on the northern
side, and very high. Above it was an enormous
sounding-board, which children sometimes feared
might fall upon the preacher's head. Galleries were
on three sides, and we have a hint as to the architect-
ure of the structure in a vote of the town to abate
taxes to those in whose pews the pillars were which
supported the galleries. The pews were boxes with
doors. Once within them, and children found them
to be quite like prison cells, for they could hardly
look over their tops. The building had no steeple
and no bell. At first it was unwarmed, but in
later years, town meetings and other entertainments
220 MAINE HISTOKICAL SOCIETY
were held there, and a stove was set up for warming
it.
The Legislature passed an act authorizing its sale,
and in 1862 it was sold to Jefferson Hathorn, of Rich-
mond, for a trifle, and removed. I believe that part
of its material was used in the construction of a sta-
ble which is still standing in Richmond. Old people
mourned, and those who are now living still mourn
over its destruction, declaring that it was a desecra-
tion consummated by deception and trickery. Of
this I know nothing, but can sympathize with them
in their regrets, for the old church was for many
years their sanctuary, their holy place. For more
than half a century had they with their parents and
grandparents gathered within its walls, regularly at
first, intermittently in later years. Here they met in
town meeting and indorsed Jefferson's embargo and
the war of 1812. Here they cast their votes for Jef-
ferson and for the Squatters' Governor, James Sulli-
van. From this church and from the dwellings in its
neighborhood went forth the sons and daughters of
old Dresden to become famous in other states and in
other lands, from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast,
until to-day the population of the town is about half
that of the palmy days of the old church. Can we
wonder that the older people who still survive in
Dresden occasionally sigh for "the good old times,"
for not only are the old-time industries gone, but the
churches themselves barely exist with an ever declin-
ing population.
CHUBCH AND STATE IN NEW ENGLAND 221
CHURCH AND STATE IN NEW ENGLAND
BY HON. AUGUSTUS F. MOULTON
Read before the Maine Historical Society April 17, 1901
Both, the Pilgrim and the Puritan were first of all
religionists. There seems to be no question that the
reason which actuated the Pilgrims in making their
settlement at Plymouth in 1620, and which likewise
supremely influenced the Puritans who subsequently
established themselves on the shores of Massachusetts
Bay, was that they desired to enjoy in peace their
religious beliefs. Both settlements were made by
men and women who had come up out of great tribu-
lation. They had evolved a faith and a creed which
were to them sufficient for life and death, and they
cheerfully exchanged their old home, their friends
and native land for a new abode in the wilderness.
This abode, though bleak and lonely, was neverthe-
less hallowed by the associations of the austere relig-
ion which they regarded more highly than all the
comforts and pleasures of the world. They also
expected and desired to establish and perpetuate a new
commonwealth, whose corner-stone should be right-
eousness, where they and their descendants might
forever dwell, free from the hateful influence of ritual-
ists upon the one hand and of infidels upon the other.
It is not uncommon to hear the Pilgrims and Puri-
tans spoken of as if they were the same. They were
222 MAINE HISTOKICAL SOCIETY
indeed of similar origin. Both were products of the
reformation begun by Luther in the early part of
the sixteenth century. Perhaps it may be more exact
to look farther back and say that they were a product
of the heresies of those independents whose most
conspicuous example was stout John Wyckliffe, the
man who translated the Bible and preached the word
in England nearly a hundred and fifty years before
the German monk began his controversy with Rome.
Those Lollards, or Babblers as they were called, who
chose to discuss religious matters and criticise the
creed and the doings of the church, continued to
increase after the time of Wyckliffe. Their discussions
loosened the bond which connected England with the
Papacy. It is by no means true that the English
people deserted Roman Catholicism merely because
Henry VIII. so commanded, when he had been thwarted
in his matrimonial ventures by the Pope. Ten years
before Henry annulled the Papal authority in England
in 1534, Tyndall had set his printing press at work
and was scattering his version of the Bible and his
tracts among the people. For some years before that
date, Hugh Latimer had been preaching and teaching
the doctrines of the Reformation with the same zeal
which he displayed twenty years later, when in Bloody
Mary's reign, he cried out at the stake " We shall this
day light such a candle, by God's grace, in England,
as I trust shall never be put out." Not only was
England more than half Protestant when King and
Pope fell out, but there were many who were far too
radical to be kept within the limits of the English
CHUBCH AND STATE IN NEW ENGLAND 223
Church. It was a time when the discussion of relig-
ion was engrossing the attention of all the world.
The Bible was in the broadest sense a revelation. Its
literature, its history and its teachings were recited
and argued in every home.
It was natural that theological controversy should
produce a variety of beliefs. In the long reign of
Queen Elizabeth, the greater part of the English peo-
ple were members of the Anglican Church. Most of
them claimed it to be the original apostolic church,
redeemed from the errors of Rome and the Papacy.
A considerable number, however, desired to have the
church conformed in doctrine and policy to the
reformed churches of the continent. The latter some-
times called themselves root and branch men, but
their opponents named them in derision Puritans ;
and this name, Puritan or Church Puritan, they
adopted and by it they are commonly known. The
Puritans were not in fact outside of the church, but
were restless members within it. They desired the
apostolic way, but they objected to the dictation of
the king. The Apostles, they declared, asked no con-
sent of Caesar in formulating their creed, and no
authority could be found in the Scriptures for making
the determination of faith and morals a part of the
royal prerogative.
The Independents or Separatists on the other hand
were a sect, not large in point of numbers, who fol-
lowed so much of the teachings of Robert Browne as
declared the Puritans to be mistaken in adhering to
the church. The Independents placed their religion
224 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
upon an individual basis. They considered that a
church should be an organization of holy men inde-
pendent of any state control. But Queen Elizabeth
was head of the church, and such doctrine implied a
denial of the royal supremacy. It was practically the
preaching of treason, and so every inveterate Sepa-
ratist was liable to the penalty of death.
The Pilgrims who came to New England were for
the most part Separatists who had withdrawn from
the Anglican Church, and had been organized as an
independent congregation in the drawing-room of
William Brewster, at Scrooby Manor, in Nottingham-
shire. Brewster was a Cambridge graduate, and John
Robinson, the minister of the society, was likewise a
Cambridge University man. John Carver, the first
Governor of Plymouth, and William Bradford, who
followed him in the Governorship, were active mem-
bers of this church. Their meetings were held in
secret, but the officers of the law were soon after
them. At that time, Holland, following the policy
inaugurated by William the Silent, granted religious
toleration to all, and in 1608 the Scrooby congrega-
tion, leaving stealthily in detachments, emigrated to
Holland. There they remained twelve years, eleven
of which were spent in'Leyden, where additional emi-
grants increased their number to about a thousand.
It soon became apparent that in a foreign land the
rising generation must lose their English speech and
English manners, and, more than that, amid such
surroundings their religion could not be expected to
retain its austere purity. And so it came to pass that
CHURCH AND STATE IN NEW ENGLAND 225
after negotiation with the London Company, the May-
flower crossed the ocean and landed her precious
freight of one hundred passengers at Plymouth. The
passengers which the Mayflower carried were an
ordinary ship-load, plainly to be seen of men ; but that
fateful vessel bore also, as another cargo which no
man saw nor comprehended, ideas of expansive power
that were to influence a continent.
It is apparent that those enthusiasts did not come to
Plymouth to establish religious toleration. They came
rather to escape from the baneful effect of such a thing.
Although Holland had afforded them a refuge, they
regarded it, from a theological point of view, as a
nest of unclean birds. In those times there were few
who did not regard it a sin to admit that different
forms of belief might be acceptable to God. One
could not allow that another might be right without
at the same time conceding that he himself might be
wrong. The question of the relation of church and
state had little opportunity to arise during the early
years of the Plymouth Colony, because they were all
religionists of one school. The town meeting and rep-
resentative government had never suggested them-
selves to any one. The settlers were too few in num-
bers for them to need representatives. At the end of
ten years there were but three hundred of the colonists,
and the same meeting-house where the congregation
assembled on Sundays for worship was used on week
days for arranging the public business. It was the
irregular meeting of the Pilgrim congregation that later
became with them the systematized town meeting.
Voi* IX. 15
226 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
The exodus of tlie Puritans to Massachusetts Bay
began about ten years after the Pilgrims landed at
Plymouth. Charles the First came to the throne in
1625. He assumed to rule by right divine. After
four years of wrangling he dismissed his Parliament
and asserted his own autocratic rule. Strafford and
Laud began their thorough work in the Church to
banish dissent and compel obedience to the Episcopal
creed. A heavy hand was laid especially upon the
Puritans. Both civil and religious liberty then
seemed lost in England and the Puritans began a
look about for some avenue for escape. Before 1630
there had been a few feeble attempts to form settle-
ments outside of the Plymouth Colony. In that year
the general movement upon the part of the Puritans
began. By the end of December seventeen ships,
with more than a thousand emigrants, had come to
New England. More and more the volume of the
exodus increased until in the year 1640, when the
Long Parliament met to begin the struggle for
freedom on English soil, there were above twenty-
three thousand representatives of the best blood of
England settled upon the lands adjacent to Mas-
sachusetts Bay. They had been Church Puritans
at home, but, having been driven from the Church,
they soon became Separatists in fact and sound
haters of Episcopalianism. The settlements were
large, and the need of civil government became
at once imperative, and the town meeting devel-
oped itself spontaneously from the necessities of
the situation.
CHURCH AND STATE IN NEW ENGLAND 227
The exodus was almost wholly of a religious nature
and an ecclesiastical polity was straightway adopted.
They had no bishops to consecrate the clergy by lay-
ing on of hands, but a church covenant and confession
of faith were drawn up by Francis Higginson, and a
committee, authorized by the church, ordained the
ministers. The government of the colonies, ( except
that of Rhode Island,) as they were severally estab-
lished, became ecclesiastical in character and in that
form was handed down to subsequent generations.
The gradual relmquishment of church control over
civil government in New England forms an inter-
esting subject for consideration.
The charter of the Massachusetts Bay Colony was
granted by King Charles in the fourth year of his
reign, namely, March 4, 1628. It declared in verbose
r phraseology that Sir Henry Rosewell and twenty-five
associates by name " and all such others as shall here-
after be admitted and made free of the company and
society hereinafter mentioned, shall from time to time
and at all times forever hereafter be, by virtue of
these presents, one body corporate and politick in fact
and name by the name of the Governor and Company
of the Mattachusetts Bay in New England." It was
provided, " that from henceforth forever there shall
be one Governor, one Deputy Governor and eighteen
Assistants of the same company to be from time to
time constituted, elected and chosen out of the free-
men of the said company for the time being." These
Assistants were to be called together by the Gov-
ernor as occasion might require "to consult and
228 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
advise of the business and affairs of the said com-
pany." They should hold " upon every last Wednes-
day in Hilary, Easter, Trinity and Michas terms
respectively forever, one great, general and solemn
assembly, which four general assemblies shall be
styled and called the four Great and General Courts
of the said Company." It was further provided that
they " shall have full power and authority to choose,
nominate and appoint such and so many others as
they shall think fit and that shall be willing to accept
the same, to be free of the said Company and body,
and them into the same to admit." It will be
observed that the original government of the Massa-
chusetts Bay Colony was by no means a popular one.
It was restricted to those who should be admitted as
"freemen." The "freemen" were entirely distinct from
the "freeholders," who were land owners, and from the
" inhabitants," who might or might not be property
holders. Before being admitted as a freeman the
inhabitants took the formidable freeman's oath, to be
faithful to the government, to maintain its liberties,
and to act conscientiously in all things. Only the
freemen so admitted were entitled to vote generally,
although later, when townships were organized, the
freeholders and sometimes all the inhabitants were
allowed to vote upon choice of town officers and
money raised by way of rate. Accordingly, we find
in the same book records of " meeting of the free-
men," "meeting of the freeholders" and "generall
towne meeting." Under the charter, no particular
test was required for admission to the office of
CHTJKCH AND STATE US NEW ENGLAND 229
freeman. The Assistants and the freemen selected by
them could add to their number whomsoever they
might choose. One of the very first laws passed by
the Puritan Colony, however, provided " To the end
that the body of the freemen may be preserved of
honest and good men : It is ordered that henceforth
no man shall be admitted to the freedom of this Com-
monwealth but such as are members of some of the
Churches within the limits of this jurisdiction." This
was followed by the further provision, "It is the
intent and order of the Court that no person shall
henceforth be chosen to any office in the Common-
wealth but such as is a freeman."
The orthodoxy of the churches was determined in
a summary manner. There were a few who were not
willing to give up the Anglican forms of worship,
and in Salem it was attempted to establish an Epis-
copal church. Governor Endicott immediately had
the leaders put on board ship and sent back to
England. If the Episcopalians in the old country
chose to insist that the Puritans could not be in their
communion, the New England settlers who had been
driven out were ready to take them at their word.
The separation had become an established fact
and there was no disposition to revive old contro-
versies. The Episcopalians were welcome to worship
as they pleased, provided they did so in the old
country or up in Maine where Gorges, Cammock
and the rest boasted of their loyalty to Church
and King, but Massachusetts would have none
of it.
230 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
It appears that office-seeking was not so prevalent
in the early days as it has become in later times, and
accordingly the Great and General Court felt con-
strained to legislate as follows : " Whereas many
members of churches to exempt themselves from pub-
lick service will not come in to be made freemen, it is
ordered, &c., if any person, shall refuse to serve &c.,
being legally chosen thereunto, he shall pay for every
such refusal such fine as the town shall impose, not
exceeding twenty shillings for one offence. "
That the theocratic form of government was of
rigid character appears throughout the Colony laws.
In 1663 it was " ordered by this Court and the
authority thereof that all persons, quaker or others,
who refuse to attend upon the public worship of God
here established ; that all such persons, whether free-
men or others acting as aforesaid, shall, and hereby
are, made uncapable of voting in all civil assemblies
during their obstinate persisting in such wicked ways
and courses. "
Early provisions was made for the proper support
of both government and churches. It was enacted
that the Court " doth order that every inhabitant shall
contribute to all charges both in church and common-
wealth whereof he doth or may receive benefit ; and
every such inhabitant who shall not contribute pro-
portionably to his ability to all common charges, both
civil and ecclesiastical, shall be compelled thereunto
by assessment and distress to be levied by the Con-
stable or other officer of the town." But " the minis-
ters of God's word, regularly ordained over any Church
CHURCH AND STATE IN NEW ENGLAND 231
of Christ, orderly gathered and constituted, shall be
freed from all rates for the Country, County and
Church. "
The laws enacted by the early colonists have, at
different times, been collected and printed. They
may be found in an official volume which is now quite
rare, but which is often referred to by the courts, for
those laws and regulations were the foundation of a
large part of our present statute law, and form the
basis of many vested rights. The somewhat formal
title of the book*is " The Charters and General Laws
of the Colony and Province of Massachusetts Bay,
carefully collected from the Publick Records and
Ancient Printed Books : to which is added An Appen-
dix tending to explain the spirit, progress and his-
tory of the Jurisprudence of the State, especially in a
Moral and Political View. "
Among the sound and practical laws in this compi-
lation there appear many curious provisions. The
acts respecting capital crimes make reference in each
case to the chapter and verse of Scripture relating to
the same. It is provided that " for the yearly choos-
ing of assistants, the freemen shall use indian corn
and beans, the indian corn to manifest election and
the beans contrary ; and if any freeman shall put in
more than one indian corn or bean for the choice or
refusal of any publick officer, he shall forfeit for every
such offence ten pounds. "
In most cases the reason for the enactment of the
law is set out with quaint directness. The common
school was one of the first objects to receive attention
232 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
and there is a world of meaning in the beginning of
the act respecting schools. " It being one chief pro-
ject of Satan to keep men from the knowledge of
the Scripture, as in former times keeping them in
unknown tongues ... to the end that learning may
not be buried in the graves of our forefathers in
church and commonwealth, the Lord assisting our
endeavors, it is therefore ordered,' 7 &c. Six years after
the Puritans came there was an act respecting " the
College " which began " Whereas, through the good
hand of God upon us, there is a College founded
in Cambridge, in the County of Middlesex, called
Harvard College "... and to it they gave four
hundred pounds and the revenue of the ferry betwixt
Charlestown and Boston. Moreover, it was considered
that the youth should be educated not only in good
literature, but in sound doctrine, consequently the
selectmen must see to it that none should be teachers
that have manifested themselves unsound in the faith
or scandalous in their lives.
The duellist and the suicide were to be denied a
Christian burial, the former to be buried without a
coffin, with a stake drove through the body, and the
latter to be buried in the common highway and a cart-
load of stones laid upon the grave.
There is little reference to Parliament or King, but
the recollection of the Star Chamber is recalled when
they rose to a lofty plane and ordered that " no man's
life shall be taken away, no man's honor or good name
shall be stained, no man's person shall be arrested,
restrained, banished nor any way punished, no man's
CHTJECH AND STATE IN NEW ENGLAND 233
goods or estate shall be taken away, unless it be by
virtue or equity of some express law of the country
warranting the same, or in case of the defect of a law,
by the word of God. "
One is reminded that the Puritan in the new world
was of the same school as the Puritan of old, by laws
similar to those enacted by the English Common-
wealth a dozen years or so later, during the pro-
tectorate of Cromwell. Dancing and card playing
were forbidden, the observance of Christmas was not
allowed, the morals of the people were guarded with
jealous care in regard to church attendance and in
many ways. These Puritans were not altogether intol-
erant. They allowed other sects to worship in their
own way, provided they first obtained permission from
the magistrates and were quiet and orderly. But
they were positive in disallowing any attempts to
undermine the orthodox faith or to disseminate heter-
odox doctrines. These privileges of worship were
extended only to Protestants. Papists were consid-
ered as having no rights and to be entitled to no
consideration.
The compilation of laws referred to were those of
the Province and Colony of Massachusetts Bay. The
same rigor was not found in all the colonies. The
laws of New Haven, before it was annexed to Con-
necticut in 1661, were the most straight laced of all,
and gave some basis for the well known caricature
upon them by Samuel Peters, called the Blue Laws.
The Pilgrim Colony of Plymouth never restricted the
suffrage to church members, and it was liberal in
234 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
regard to religious beliefs. The act which terminated
its separate existence in 1692 also abolished the
requirement of church membership for voting in
Massachusetts.
The people of Connecticut guarded well the morals
of her people but did not make a religious test for
voting. New Hampshire was largely settled by het-
erodox people, Episcopalians and Antinomians, but
in 1641 it came under the dominion and laws of the
stronger colony of Massachusetts Bay, though a con-
siderable part of its inhabitants had little regard for
Massachusetts or her laws. Maine, under the domin-
ion of Gorges and his friends, Jocelyn, Macworth and
Jordan, was hopelessly given over to Episcopalianism
and had little, if any, idea of suffrage of any kind.
The statutes of the stronger colony prevailed there
after 1658 when Massachusetts, with the help of
Cromwell, benevolently assimilated, and later bought
it of the heirs of Gorges, and so continued until the
separation in 1820. The Province of Maine rendered
unwilling obedience to Massachusetts laws until it was
resettled after King Philip's War, and even then it
was a resort for those who had small regard for creeds
or churches. Consequently, up to 1692, when the
new charter granted by William and Mary abolished
the religious test for voting, the greater part of New
England was governed by Massachusetts laws and
statutes. The one great and conspicuous exception
was the Colony of Rhode Island. There Roger
Williams and his followers allowed perfect liberty of
conscience in all matters of church and state. The
CHURCH AND STATE IN NEW ENGLAND 235
hospitality of the noble little colony was tested to the
limit of endurance by the fanatics and pestilent relig-
ious cranks who made it their refuge, but it never
faltered in its devotion to the principles of toleration.
In spite of all protests and in spite of being excluded
from the union of the New England colonies, Williams
declared and maintained that " the freedom of differ-
ent consciences shall be respected."
While we may condemn the bigotry of the Puritans
of Massachusetts Bay, we cannot fairly call them
inconsistent or hypocritical. There is more to be
offered in defence of their position than can be said
in favor of their brethren who remained at home and
endeavored to make England under the Protectorate
a nation of saints. The New England Puritans were
doubtless fanatical to a considerable extent, but their
honesty was beyond question. This world to them
was but a place of preparation for the real life beyond.
The pomps and vanities of earth were, according to
their creed, as nothing when compared with eternity.
Amid all trials and disasters they were able to say
with earnestness, impressive because it was sincere,
" These light afflictions which are but for a moment
shall work out for us a far more exceeding and eter-
nal weight of glory." It lay at the foundation of the
Puritan faith to make all the actions and doings of
this brief life, so far as in them lay, acceptable in the
light of Him to whom a thousand years are as yester-
day when it is past and as a watch in the night.
They had removed themselves to an unexplored and
dangerous wilderness for the purpose of establishing
236 MA IKE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
a Commonwealth which, should be in accord with their
high ideal. For this purpose they had come far,
regardless of dangers by sea and land. For this
ideal, they had sacrificed property, friends, connec-
tions, native land everything that was dear to a
home-loving people. The place which they occupied
was their own. They intruded upon no one, they
molested no one outside of their own bounds, they
only asked that they likewise should not be molested.
They felt that they had a right to keep the seeds of
evil away from the soil of their new state and to pro-
tect the wheat field of their faith against those who
would sow tares therein.
This was their intention, and it is curious to observe
how their energy, intelligence and study of the Bible
gradually widened their mental and spiritual horizon.
With their preaching and their schools, they were all
the time building better than they knew. They would
of themselves in time have worked the problem out,
but they were not allowed to do so without interfer-
ence. Their plans for building and maintaining a
state of highest quality, united with a church having
a creed correct and unalloyed, were soon disrupted in
spite of all their care. The immediate causes of dis-
turbance were : first, the Quakers ; second, the Epis-
copalians, who, after Cromwell, asserted themselves ;
and third, the Baptists, with their pleas for soul
liberty and hatred of state interference with religion.
Governor John Winthrop died in 1640, too early to
know anything of the Quaker sect. He had managed
the affairs of the colony with great discretion. Under
CHUBCH AND STATE IN NEW ENGLAND 237
his firm and judicious policy it had prospered in
church and state. Those who would stir up theolog-
ical strife were quietly sent away. "The settlers had
come to New England," he said, " in order to make a
society after their own model ; all who agreed with
them might come and join that society ; those who
disagreed with them might go elsewhere." In order
to understand how people so inoffensive as the
Quakers could stir up trouble in the Province of
Massachusetts Bay, one should consider the origin of
that sect. They, like the Puritans, were a product of
the religious tendencies of the times.
George Fox, the founder of the Society of Friends,
began to preach in England in 1648. He came, as he
declared, to announce " the appearance of the Lord's
everlasting truth and breaking forth again in His
eternal power in this our day and age in England."
His doctrines speedily attracted wide attention and
he and his followers travelled about preaching to vast
congregations, like Wesley and Whitefield in later
years. From the trembling and excitement at their
meetings they received the name of Quakers. They
claimed to be governed by no particular creed, but by
the inward light of the spirit. Doctrines of this kind,
however well presented, were calculated to attract
the enthusiastic and eccentric, and the new sect had
many of that sort. There were some among the
fanatical disciples of the inner light who sought for
striking and original ordeals by which to prove their
zeal. They went far to invite persecution and
indulged in strange and even gross performances.
238 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Mary Fisher, " a religious maiden," and Ann Austin,
having visited other lands with missionary fervor
arrived in July, 1656, in Boston and there began to
preach. In this steady-going and well-ordered com-
munity their radical doctrines excited horror and
disgust. There was no law against Quakers as such
but the general statute provided : "Although no
human power be Lord over the faith and consciences
of men, yet because such as bring in damnable
heresies, tending to the subversion of the Christian
faith and destruction of the soiils of men, ought duly
to be restrained from such notorious impieties ....
it is therefore ordered that every such person contin-
uing obstinate therein after due means of conviction,
shall be sentenced to banishment." Accordingly, the
books of the religious maiden and her coadjutor were
burned by the hangman. They were searched for
signs of witchcraft, and, after being confined in jail
for five weeks, they were placed on board ship and
sent away. Thereupon the Quakers, as it has been
said, " rushed to Massachusetts as if invited." Those
who .thus intruded their unwelcome presence upon a
staid and sanctimonious community were not of the
excellent and dignified class who settled Pennsyl-
vania, but were mainly freaks and cranks who longed,
with intemperate zeal, for martyrdom of some sort.
They were representatives of the fanatics who trav-
elled to Rome to denounce the Pope, and who visited
Jerusalem to testify against the superstition of the
monks. Mary Fisher, after leaving Boston, went to
Turkey to preach against Mohammed IV. in his
CHUBCH AND STATE IN NEW ENGLAND 239
capital. Some of those who came to Massachusetts
made themselves offensive by travelling about in sack-
cloth, like the ancient prophets. Others would rail at
the Governor as he walked in dignified state along the
street. They would go into the churches on Sunday
with their hats on and interrupt and contradict the
preacher. John Fiske relates that Lydia Wardwell
and Deborah Wilson considered it their duty to travel
about the streets of Boston entirely naked and called
their conduct "testifying before the Lord." The
Puritans had set .themselves up to criticize other
religionists, and nothing could be more exasperating
than to be denounced by these Quaker critics as the
children of Baal and the enemies of God.
The same season that the Quakers first came, the
General Court passed an act with this preamble :
" Whereas there is a cursed set of here ticks lately
risen up in the world which are commonly called
Quakers, who take upon them to be immediately sent
of God and infallibly assisted by the spirit to speak
and write blasphemous opinions, despising govern-
ment and the order of God and Commonwealth,
speaking evil of dignities, reproaching and reviling
Magistrates and Ministers, seeking to turn people
from the faith and gain proselytes by their pernicious
ways." It was therefore ordered that no shipmaster
should bring them within the jurisdiction under
heavy penalties and if he should do so must carry
them back.
Nevertheless the Quakers continued to appear and
it was next ordered that no person should harbor or
240 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
conceal them under a penalty of forty shillings for
every hour's entertainment. A year later, 1658, it
was enacted because " divers of our inhabitants
have been infected and seduced notwithstanding
all former laws made" and because "they have
not been deterred from their impetuous attempts to
undermine our peace and hasten our ruin," that
every person of the cursed sect should be appre-
hended and sentenced to banishment upon pain of
death. Three years later, the General Court again
took up the case of Quakers who " do like rogues
and vagabonds come in upon us, and have not
been restrained by the laws already provided." It
was ordered that one adjudged to be "a wandering
quaker, to wit, one that hath not any dwelling
and not giving civil respect," should be tied to a
cart's tail and whipped from town to town till he
be conveyed " to the outwardmost towns of our juris-
diction." If such wandering Quaker, having been
thrice sent away, should, for the fourth time, return,
he should be branded with the letter R upon his
shoulder and whipped and sent away again. If after
this the wandering Quaker should come back once
more, he should then be deemed an incorrigible rogue
and an enemy of the common peace and be liable to
the punishment of death.
Connecticut, New Haven and Plymouth, as well as
Massachusetts, passed laws against the Quakers. In
Rhode Island, it was declared that any breach of the
civil law should be punished, but she adhered to her
declaration that the " freedom of different consciences
CHUBCH AND STATE IN NEW ENGLAND 241
shall be respected"; and to Rhode Island, it was said,
they did least of all desire to come.
The death penalty was four times inflicted upon
Quakers who defiantly and persistently returned from
banishment. The most conspicuous victim was Mary
Dyer, wife of the Secretary of Rhode Island. Hers
was a pathetic case. She was of excellent family, but
felt it her duty to leave husband and child and go to
Boston to testify, in express defiance of the law.
Again and again she was sent home. The Governor
himself begged her not to return. Her family and
friends entreated her to desist. On the gallows she
refused to accept permission to depart, saying, " In
obedience to the will of the Lord, I come and in His
will I abide faithful unto death." Mary Dyer, living,
defied Massachusetts. By her death, she conquered
Massachusetts, for her example more than anything
else stirred up the feeling which, at the next session,
caused the law to be suspended. Two years after-
ward, in 1662, the Legislative Record reads, " This
Court heretofore, for some reason inducing, did judge
meet to suspend the execution of the laws against
Quakers " and it ordered that the law " be henceforth
in force in all respects." It was of no avail. Mary
Dyer and her fellow martyrs had won. The exclusive
rule of the Puritan church in Massachusetts was
broken forever. The Puritan Commonwealth in
England reached its end the same year that Mary
Dyer died, but, independently of that fact, public
sentiment forbade the executions. The vagabond
Quaker and the resident Quaker and other heterodox
VOL. I. 16
242 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
persons were thenceforth suffered to live and to
preach.
In the early history of New England, the Episco-
palians had little influence. The Puritans at home
were members of the mother church, but they con-
tended for its reformation by eliminating from it
prelacy and vain ceremonies. The Virginia Charter
established the Church of England there, but at the
time of the Endicott settlement at Salem the use of
the prayer book was prohibited, and thereafter those
who used it were sent away. Such Episcopalians as
were among them could not partake with them of the
Lord's Supper, and consequently were not allowed to
vote or hold office. This was a constant source of
irritation and complaint, especially in New Hamp-
shire and in Maine after they came under the domin-
ion of Massachusetts. After the restoration in 1660,
Charles II. had little regard for the provinces which
gave him no respect as head of the Church and little
respect in any way. It was then suggested that the
Church of England should be established as a state
church in Massachusetts and that none but its
ordained clergy should solemnize marriages. This
proposition aroused instant defiance and its enforce-
ment was not attempted, but it was ordered that the
laws prohibiting the Episcopal form of worship and
restricting the right of suffrage to church members
should be abolished. The Colonists took the royal
order under consideration, but did nothing about it.
The feeling of irritation increased and it ended in a
writ of quo ivarranto under which writ a decree in
CHURCH AND STATE IN NEW ENGLAND 243
chancery, June 21, 1684, was issued, annulling the
Charter of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. That of
Connecticut was also taken away. Plymouth had
none to lose. The next year Charles died and James
II. succeeded him. The dull tyranny of James soon
made trouble in England and America. Sir Edmund
Andros was sent over as royal governor, and by
authority of the King Old South Meeting-house was
taken possession of for the use of the Church of
England. The right of the Colonists to govern them-
selves was pretty, nearly abrogated. Massachusetts
was upon the verge of rebellion when the revolution
of 1688 deposed James and placed William and Mary
upon the throne. Andros was arrested and impris-
oned, and government was again set up in accordance
with the old forms. The new sovereigns allowed
Connecticut to keep her charter as not having been
regularly cancelled, but to Massachusetts, in 1691,
was granted one entirely new.
This charter recited the grant to the Council of
Plymouth, the conveyance made to the Colonists
of Massachusetts Bay, and the writ of quo war-
ranto under which the said letters patent had
been cancelled, vacated and annihilated. Its terms
differed in important particulars from those of the old
charter.
The Province of Massachusetts Bay was made to
include the colony of New Plymouth, the Province of
Maine, the territory of Accada or Nova Scotia and all
that tract of land lying between the said territories of
Nova Scotia and the said Province of Maine. John
244 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Mason's New Hampshire grant, however, was not to
be interfered with. The governor was to be appointed
by the king instead of being elected. Furthermore,
no discrimination against Episcopalians or others in
matters of government was allowed, for it said " for-
evermore hereafter there shall be a liberty of con-
science allowed in the worship of God to all Christians
except papists," and the General Court should consist
of freeholders elected by the freeholders and other
inhabitants owning property in the respective towns.
The Episcopalians had supplemented the work of the
Quakers and theocratic government, all over New
England, no longer existed. The new charter of
1662, which united Connecticut and New Haven,
allowed no religious discrimination. New Hamp-
shire, made a royal province in 1679, had no relig-
ious test for voting. Rhode Island, by her charter of
1662, maintained, as she had always done, perfect
liberty of conscience.
It was fully time for such a change. A new gen-
eration had come upon the stage of action. The chil-
dren were not walking in the straight paths of the
fathers. Twelve years before the new charter was
granted, it was reported that the religious test in
Massachusetts excluded four-fifths of the grown men
from voting or holding office.
Although church membership was no longer a
requisite for suffrage or for holding office, the con-
nection of church and state still continued.
It had long been declared to be the duty of the
Christian magistrate to take care that the people be
CHURCH AND STATE IN NEW ENGLAND 245
fed with, wholesome and sound doctrine, and the stat-
ute provided that in each town an honorable allow-
ance should be made to the minister, respecting the
ability of the place ; that there should be convenient
habitations for the ministers of the word, and later
that there should be public meeting-houses for the
worship of God, and that the expense of all this
should be assessed upon each person and collected
and levied as other town rates. It goes without say-
ing that only that was considered to be wholesome
and sound doctrine which was preached by the ortho-
dox ministers, and that the money raised by church
rates was applied exclusively for the benefit of the
standing order. Against this injustice there was
waged a contest arduous and long, and the credit of
bringing it to a successful issue belongs, most of all,
to the Baptists, or, as they were called, the advocates
of " soul liberty."
The origin of the Baptists is less clearly defined
than that of some other denominations. Their beliefs
were not derived from any one teacher, but were
developed during the great awakening in religious
thought which characterized the beginning of the
sixteenth century. The principal point of difference
between them and other denominations was not so
much the manner of performing the baptismal rite
as in their opposition to the baptism of infants.
Baptism, they held, should be given only to those
who have been taught repentance and change of life,
and the baptism of an unconscious infant is in reality
making a farce of what should be a most solemn and
246 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
seriously considered covenant of the individual with
God. To those holding this belief, infant baptism is
little better than sacrilege, and is, as it was expressed,
" one of the great abominations of the Roman pontiff."
Anabaptists, as they were called, were early found
among the settlers, and in 1646 the General Court
decreed their banishment. Ten years earlier, in 1635,
Roger Williams had been obliged to go beyond the
jurisdiction to escape being deported. Although the
charter of' 1691 granted toleration to the oppressed
Baptists, they, with others, were compelled to pay
their full proportion toward the support of the ortho-
dox churches notwithstanding the fact that they
neither believed their creed nor desired to attend
their services. Naturally the Baptists, as well as the
Episcopalians, Quakers and non-churchmen, made
strenuous objection to paying parish rates. A very
comprehensive account of the long and systematic
contest waged by the Baptists against these oppres-
sive taxes and restrictions is found in the History of
the Baptists in New England by Rev. H. S. Burrage,
D. D. It was not until 1728 that any relief, even of
partial and temporary nature, was allowed. Then an
act was passed exempting from payment for support
of orthodox churches those who usually attended the
meetings of their respective societies and lived within
five miles of the place of such meeting. This exemp-
tion was only temporary, and expired in 1733. The
Baptists had become strong in numbers and in deter-
mination, and from this time they urged a persistent
and uncompromising warfare for soul liberty. Rather
CHURCH AND STATE IN NEW ENGLAND 247
than pay taxes, which they believed were wicked and
unjust, members of the denomination suffered them-
selves to be distrained of goods and property, and
many, refusing to pay, went to prison for conscience
sake. All New England, outside of Rhode Island,
compelled the payment of parish taxes, and in all
New England the Baptists made resistance by peace-
able and lawful means. Court and legislative records,
of course, give only those cases where legal contest
was made or petition presented. We find that Joseph
Moody, of Gorham, Maine, having had his horse taken
away, carried his case by petition to the General Court
at Boston, but without avail. John Emery, of York,
was distrained of his family pewter, but failed to have
it restored. In New Hampshire for a while the same
course was taken by the authorities, as appears by
an occasional case where the party appealed to the
courts from an irregular distraint. The most vigor-
ous enforcement of the law obtained, as might be
supposed, in Massachusetts and in Connecticut. The
Warren Association in Massachusetts as early as 1769
took these matters into consideration, and from that
time carried on an organized and determined effort
for a change of these laws which they considered to
be particularly oppressive. A committee was formed
to collect grievances, and they gathered a great many
accounts, still upon record, of cases of hardship and
confiscation imposed upon the poor brethren for the
support of the Standing Order. The General Court
of Massachusetts and the Legislature of Connecticut
were besieged with reports of wrongs inflicted in
248 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
behalf of the Orthodox Church and with petition for
redress.
Down to the Revolutionary times the agitation was
kept up with increasing force. When Samuel Adams
was declaiming that taxation without representation
is tyranny, Rev. Mr. Backus, chairman of the Baptist
Committee on Grievances, wrote to him with charac-
teristic keenness, "I fully concur with your grand
maxim," and further, " I am bold in it, that taxes laid
by the British Parliament upon America are not more
contrary to civil freedom than these taxes are to the
very nature of liberty of conscience/'
During the Revolutionary War the agitation for
religious liberty went on as occasion permitted. The
laws, however, remained, although the rigor of their
enforcement was largely abated. It had become a
contest for a principle, not merely for the saving of
money, and they were determined not to cease their
efforts until the obnoxious laws were expunged from
the statutes. Their field of influence widened and
they had a great following. When the Constitution
of the United States was under discussion they urged
that the principle of soul liberty be inserted in that
instrument. As it was originally adopted it contained
only the provision, " No religious test shall ever be
required as a qualification for any office of public
trust under the United States." The vote in the con-
vention was close and they had pretty nearly enough
members of their way of thinking to turn the scale.
The Constitution was finally adopted, but almost
immediately twelve amendments were added, and
CHURCH AND STATE IN NEW ENGLAND 249
the first of these contained the desired provision,
" Congress shall make no law respecting an estab-
lishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof."
The question of any union of church and state
under the general government was thus eliminated
by the provision in the fundamental law, but New
England still held to the ancient custom. Indeed it
seemed even to some of the radical advocates of free
institutions that it was a question of morals, and its
abandonment a cpncession to the spirit of infidelity
engendered by the French Revolution. The support
of churches by taxation had been a part of English
law from times long prior to the Reformation and to
deprive them of such support seemed equivalent to
the overthrow of religion. The payment of church
rates came with none too much of good will and it
did not seem possible that voluntary contribution
could be obtained sumcient to keep churches alive.
The agitation was kept up and gained ground con-
tinually. New Hampshire had been a royal province
and after the Revolution adopted a constitution. In
this it was provided that no one should be taxed for
the support of any other denomination than his own.
This provision was so awkward to enforce that after a
short time it became practically a dead letter and
New Hampshire churches were obliged to learn that
they could live and prosper without compulsory
contributions.
Vermont was admitted to the Union in 1791, and
in spite of opposition her constitution allowed taxation
250 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
for the support of churches. The tide of public
sentiment, however, had set the other way and in
1807 all such statutes were repealed Church and
state in Vermont were thus divorced, no more to be
united.
Connecticut still adhered to the old ways, but
the Baptists took the lead and others followed in
an increasing warfare of resolutions, petitions and
remonstrances. In spite of most strenuous opposi-
tion from the favored churches the new constitution
adopted in 1818 contained a provision, drafted by a
Baptist minister, which terminated the legal right of
anyone to compel contributions for religious purposes.
Massachusetts then stood alone in maintaining the
system of supporting religion by law, and her opposi-
tion to what she considered modern degeneracy -was
steadfast. Concessions were made to those who pro-
tested against church rates, but the statute was
upheld. In 1820 a convention met for the purpose
of revising the State Constitution. Daniel Webster
was a member. A determined effort was made to
eradicate the clauses which authorized assessments
for religious purposes. Mr. Webster opposed. " He
was content," he declared, "with the Constitution of
Massachusetts as it was." The amendment failed,
but a change of four votes would have given it a
passage. Though defeated, the friends of the meas-
ure were not disheartened, and year after year the
contest was continued.
The District of Maine became a separate state in
1820 and her constitution provided that all religious
CHUBCH AND STATE IN NEW ENGLAND 251
societies " shall at all times have the exclusive right
of electing their public teachers and contracting with
them for their support and maintenance."
In 1833 the Massachusetts Legislature was induced
to submit to popular vote a constitutional amendment
of the form desired. It was ratified at the polls. The
long warfare for full religious liberty was ended.
The last stronghold had fallen. The old order had
changed and had given place to new. Church and
state were separate in New England. The Puritan
idea of a commonwealth established and maintained
in righteousness by inexorable law had vanished and
in its place there stood the church in its various forms
untrammelled, and with all the glorious possibilities
of time and eternity before it, and a secular and
separate state whose duty it should be to keep secure
for all its people life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness.
252 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
THE OCCASION OF THE EXPULSION OF THE
ACADIANS IN 1755
BY HENRY S. BUBBAQB, D.D.
Bead before the Maine Historical Society December 19, 1901
Longfellow's Evangeline has awakened sympathetic
interest in behalf of the French peasantry who were
expelled from their homes in Nova Scotia in 1755.
The poem was commenced late in 1846, and finished
and published in 1847. How Longfellow became
interested in this story is told by his brother in his
biography of the poet. Hawthorne called one day at
the Cragie House in Cambridge, and with him came
a former rector of a church in South Boston, Mr.,H.
L. Conolly, who at dinner remarked that he had
vainly endeavored to induce Hawthorne to write a
story founded upon an incident in Nova Scotia his-
tory narrated to him by one of his parishioners, Mrs.
Haliburton. " It was the story of a young Acadian
maiden, who at the dispersion of her people by the
English troops had been separated from her betrothed
lover ; they sought each other for years in their exile ;
and at last they met in a hospital where the lover lay
dying." Mr. Longfellow was deeply impressed by
the recital, and he said to Hawthorne, " If you really
do not want this incident for a tale, let me have it for
a poem." Hawthorne very readily, though secretly
with regret it has been intimated, gave his consent,
EXPULSION OF THE ACADIANS 253
and Longfellow, making himself familiar with such
books concerning the expulsion of the Acadians as
were at his command, entered at once upon the pleas-
ing task of writing this " tale of love in Arcadie." In
his reading, he seems to have made no inquiry with
reference to the right or wrong of the expulsion of
the Acadians. That task he left to the historian. He
did not even visit Grand Pre and the scenes which he
so beautifully and truthfully describes in his charm-
ing poem. Accepting unquestioned the story of the
expulsion as he found it in the books he had gathered
about him in his library, he busied himself only with
his task, using his art like those painters who " soften
the features and clean the faces of the Italian peasant
boys they put on their canvas."
Ten years after the publication of Evangeline, how-
ever, the House of Assembly of Nova Scotia adopted
measures for making a collection of the ancient rec-
ords and documents illustrative of the history and
progress of society in that province. In 1864, the
work had so far advanced that upwards of two hun-
dred volumes of manuscripts had been arranged,
bound and catalogued. From this collection all the
documents that could in any way throw light on the
history and conduct of the Acadians of Nova Scotia
from their first coming under British rule until their
final removal from the country were brought together
and published in 1869. Since that time the materials
for an intelligent judgment with reference to the
expulsion of the Acadians have been accessible, and
it is the purpose of this paper to review the facts
254 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
contained in these documents, giving them their
proper historical setting.
De Mont, with a party of Frenchmen including a
few Jesuits, commenced the settlement of Nova Scotia
in 1604 ; but not long after, the colonists in Virginia,
claiming the country, drove the French away. In
1621, Sir William Alexander of Scotland received
from James I. a grant of the peninsula, which in the
patent is designated Nova Scotia. His attempts to
settle the country were not successful, and at length
he disposed of all his rights and interests to the
French, who held the country until 1654, when by a
force sent by Cromwell, they were again compelled
to relinquish their hold upon the country. By the
treaty of Breda, in 1667, Nova Scotia was ceded to
France. From time to time, however, the English
returned, and in 1710 an expedition was organized
for the capture of Port Royal, now Annapolis, the
chief stronghold of the French in Nova Scotia. This
was successful, and the French commander at Port
Royal, Subercase, surrendered the post October 2, to
Colonel Francis Nicholson, who in the following year
organized an unsuccessful expedition against Canada,
the attack on Port Royal evidently being a part of a
general plan for the destruction of French power in
North America. By the fifth article of the capitula-
tion of Port Royal it was declared that " the inhabi-
tants within a cannon shot of Port Royal should
remain upon their estates, with their corn, cattle, and
furniture, during two years, in case they should not be
desirous to go before, they taking the oath of allegiance
EXPULSION OF THE ACADIANS 255
and fidelity to her sacred majesty of Great Britain."
This limit of a cannon shot was declared by Colonel
Nicholson to extend three English miles around the
fort. By the treaty of Utrecht, which was concluded
in 1713, the whole of Nova Scotia was ceded to Great
Britain. The fourteenth article of the treaty provided
" that in all the said places and colonies to be yielded
and restored by the most Christian King in pursuance
of this treaty, the subjects of the said king may have
liberty to remove themselves within a year to any
other place, as they shall think fit, together with all
their movable effects. But those who are willing to
remain there, and to be subject to the kingdom of
Great Britain, are to enjoy the free exercise of their
religion according to the usage of the church of Rome
as far as the laws of Great Britain do allow the same."
The name of Port Royal was changed to Annapolis in
honor of Anne, the English queen, and a letter of
Queen Anne's extended the rights guaranteed to the
French by the capitulation of 1710 to all the inhabi-
tants of Nova Scotia without limitation of time in
accordance with the provisions of the treaty.
But, in surrendering Nova Scotia to Great Britain,
France did not yield her purposes with reference to
this continent. She was in control of the valley of
the St. Lawrence, with strongholds at Quebec and
Montreal, and by a series of trading posts and forts
beyond, her troops and subjects held the country along
the water ways from Lake Erie to the mouth of the
Mississippi. Moreover, she was in harmonious rela-
tions with the Indians in this wide extent of country
256 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
and had made them her firm allies. The territory
occupied by Great Britain, on the other hand, was
the narrow strip of country east of the Alleghany
mountains ; and though the British claimed territory
west of that range, the fact remains that when the
treaty of Utrecht was concluded, and for some time
afterward, Great Britain had not a single settlement
beyond the Atlantic slope.
In relinquishing Nova Scotia, France withdrew no
farther than the island of Cape Breton, which became
a French province and received the name Isle Royale.
Louisburg, on the south side of the island and at one
of its best harbors, was made the capital of the prov-
ince, and with its fortress, which was erected at great
expense, became a standing menace and a source of
irritation to the British colonists along the whole
Atlantic seaboard.
The removal of the Acadians to Cape Breton, when
Nova Scotia became British soil, was encouraged by
the French king for obvious reasons. In the summer
of 1714, the French governor at Isle Royale sent com-
missioners to Annapolis to make arrangements for
the removal of such of the Acadians as wished to
remain subjects of France. On their arrival, the
British commander called the people on the river
together in order to ascertain whether they wished to
remain in the province or to leave. When they were
assembled the commissioners made known to them
the proposal of the King of France in case they
decided to settle on French territory, viz., that he
would furnish transportation for them, their families
EXPULSION OF THE ACADIANB 257
and their goods, give them lands on which to settle,
furnish them with a year's provision and exempt
them from duties of any kind for a period of ten
years. These liberal provisions were accepted, and
they signed this declaration : " On this day, the fete
of St. Louis, in the year 1714, we with all the joy and
satisfaction of which we are capable, give, by this
writing, signed by us, everlasting proof that we wish
to live and die faithful subjects of his Most Christian
Majesty, and we pledge ourselves to go to Isle Royale
and settle there, ourselves and our offspring." The
inhabitants of Minas and Cobequid signed a similar
paper. The number of signers at the three settle-
ments was more than three hundred, all heads of
families, and with insignificant exceptions included
all the settlers, amounting to fifteen hundred souls,
counting five to a family.
The provision of the treaty of Utrecht that the
inhabitants of Acadia, who chose to remain subjects
of the French king, should have a year in which to
remove was construed to mean a year from the time
the decision was made, and in this the governor at
Annapolis agreed. A few of the Acadians accom-
panied the commissioners on their return to Louis-
burg, and in the following summer a few others
removed to Isle Royale. But when the year of grace
closed, the greater number of the Acadians were still
on their Nova Scotian farms, the French king having
failed in his promise to send transports for their
removal.
Voi* I. 17
258 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Meanwhile Queen Anne in 1714 had died, and King
George I. had come to the throne. All the inhabi-
tants of Nova Scotia, English and French alike, were
now required to take the oath of allegiance to the
new monarch. The Acadians expressed a willingness
to take an oath to this effect, that they would do
nothing averse to the king's interests, and would
engage in no service with the king's enemies, sav-
ages or others, so long as they remained in the
province, and such an oath was taken by them
January 13, 1715.
But the Acadians did not leave the province, and it
soon became evident that they intended to remain.
In 1717, John Doucette, who had succeeded Thomas
Caulfield as lieutenant-governor at Annapolis, again
summoned the inhabitants to take the oath of alle-
giance to the British king. In their reply, the Aca-
dians at Annapolis requested the lieutenant-governor
to assemble the deputies of Minas, Beaubassin and
Cobequid, as well as themselves. Meanwhile, they
said, they were ready to carry into effect the demand
laid upon them as soon as some means should be
provided of defending them from the Indians, of
whom as they claimed they stood in constant dread.
"Unless we are protected from these savages," they
said, " we cannot take the oath demanded of us with-
out exposing ourselves to have our throats cut in our
houses at any time which they have already threat-
ened to do. In case other means cannot be found,
we are ready to take an oath that we will take
up arms neither against his Britanic Majesty, nor
EXPULSION OF THE ACADIANS 259
against France, nor against any of their subjects or
allies."
Doucette, in his report to the Secretary of State in
London, said that this fear of the Indians on the part
of the Acadians was mere pretence, inasmuch as the
Indians were " entirely ruled by the French, and are
used by them in no other manner but like slaves,"
and he attributed this statement of their attitude in
this matter to the priests among them, who, he says,
have inculcated "a notion amongst the French inhab-
itants, that the Pretender will be soon settled in
England and that this country will again fall into the
hands of the French king." In this view Doucette is
sustained by a letter written to the French governor
at Placentia, Newfoundland, by Father Felix Pain at
Minas, the same year the treaty of Utrecht was signed :
"We shall answer for ourselves and for the absent,"
he said, " that we will never take the oath of fidelity
to the queen of Great Britain, to the prejudice of
what we owe to our king, to our country and to our
religion, and that if any attempt were made against
one or other of these two articles of our fidelity, that
is to say, as to our king or to our law, that in that
case we are ready to quit all rather than violate in
the least one or other of these articles."
But while the Acadians declared their inability to
take the oath demanded of them, without incurring
the hatred of the savages, they at the same time made
known their willingness to take a modified oath of
neutrality. But Doucette seems to have allowed
1 Selections from the Public Documents of the Province of Nova Scotia, p. 18.
260 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
matters to rest without additional pressure on his
part.
August 17, 1717, Richard Philipps was made gov-
ernor of Nova Scotia. While at Boston, January 3,
1719, and before proceeding to Annapolis it would
seem, he wrote to the Board of Trade in London
expressing his satisfaction with the efforts which
some of its members had made at the court of France
to settle existing differences ; but so far as Nova
Scotia was concerned, he said, things would not be
any better in his opinion so long as the priests and
Jesuits remained in the country. "It is not to be
imagined," he added, "with what application they
encourage the French and Indians against submitting
to his Majesty's government, and even their sermons
are constant invectives against the English nation, to
render it odious to the natives. Amongst this tribe
are Pere Vincent and Felix, who distinguished them-
selves for most inveterate enemies to the British
interest, and preside in the quality of governors over
Minas and Chignecto, two most considerable settle-
ments in Nova Scotia. The people pay them a will-
ing obedience and are grown so insolent as to say
they will neither swear allegiance nor leave the
country."
After his arrival at Annapolis, Governor Philipps
issued an address to the inhabitants of Minas, Chig-
necto and Annapolis River, directing them to send
representatives to confer with him in reference to
taking the oath of allegiance. He also wrote a letter
1 Selections from the Public Documents of the Province of Nova Scotia, pp. 16, 17.
EXPULSION OF THE ACADIANS 261
to Father Justinian, the priest at Annapolis River,
ordering him to read the address to his congregation
and afterward to affix it to the chapel door that all
might have knowledge of its contents. Father Jus-
tinian, in his reply to the governor, said, "the people
were not at liberty to swear allegiance because that
in General Nicholson's time they had set their hands
unanimously to an obligation of continuing subjects
of France and retiring to Cape Breton, and for
another reason, that they were sure of having their
throats cut by the Indians whenever they became
Englishmen." 1
The letter of General Philipps to Father Justinian
was dated April 20, 1720. Father Justinian hastened
to Louisburg bearing a letter dated May 6, 1720,
addressed to M. St. Ovide, governor of Isle Royale,
requesting his advice and assistance in the matter of
the summons from General Philipps requiring them
to take the oath of allegiance to the king of England.
There can be little doubt, it is believed, but that this
letter was written by Father Justinian himself. In
it there was not a hint of any dread of Indians on the
part of the Acadians in case they should take the oath
of allegiance. The Acadians were only anxious to
find in some way an opportunity for remaining in the
country without renouncing their allegiance to the
French king. " We have up to the present time,"
says this letter, " preserved the purest sentiment of
fidelity to our invincible monarch. The time has
arrived when we need his royal protection and
1 Selections from the Public Documents of the Province of Nova Scotia, p. 81.
262 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
assistance." Asserting a purpose to be " faithful to
our prince and our religion," the writers signed
themselves "most faithful subjects of his majesty and
of yourself in particular."
Governor Philipps soon heard of the departure of
Father Justinian for Isle Royale, and May 14, he
addressed a letter to the governor of Cape Breton,
charging the Acadians with inciting the Indians to
assert their native rights to the country, and refusing
quiet submission to the British government, regarding
themselves under the instruction of their priests, as
subjects of France ; and he asks M. St. Ovide to use
his influence to secure the peace and tranquil! ty of
the two countries.
While this correspondence was in progress, the
Acadians still declined to take the required oath.
Writing to one of the principal secretaries of state
in London, July 20, Governor Philipps said the
French seemed undetermined to which party to give
their allegiance, but he thought that if they were left
to themselves they would become subjects of Great
Britain. The neighboring French governors, how-
ever, were making use of all possible means to retain
their hold upon them. Especially, he says, was use
made of the priests, who told the people that " the
promise made them of enjoying their religion is but
a chimera, and what they must not depend on, for
they will quickly be reduced to the same state with
his Majesty's popish subjects in Ireland and their
priests denied them." Governor Philipps said he
endeavored to undeceive them, but he scarcely hoped
EXPULSION OF THE ACADIANS 263
to find more credit with them than did their priests.
Writing to Secretary Craggs September 26, 1720, the
governor said : " The inhabitants seemed determined
not to sware allegiance," but were continuing " their
tillage and building as if they had no thoughts of
leaving their habitations.'* On the following day
the governor and members of the council, assembled
to consult with reference to the condition of affairs in
the province, and to propose some method of estab-
lishing the authority of the king, called attention to
the fact " that the French inhabitants do persist in
refusing to take the oath of allegiance to the crown
of Great Britain, and look upon themselves as the
indispensable liege subjects of France by the engage-
ments they have laid themselves under, and from
which their priests tell them they cannot be
absolved." In the opinion of the governor and
council the Acadians had no thought of leaving the
country, and in their view added troops were needed
to keep them in order if they remained or to compel
them to depart on the terms prescribed.
Governor Philipps returned to England in 1724,
and was succeeded in the government of the province
by Lieutenant-Governor Armstrong, who was equally
unsuccessful in obtaining from the Acadians a sub-
scription to the oath of allegiance. " They are
resolved to quit the province rather than take it," he
wrote to the Secretary of State, July 27, 1726. He
succeeded, however, in obtaining that year from some
of the inhabitants of Annapolis River a modified form
of the oath, releasing them from any obligation to
264 MAINE HISTOKICAL SOCIETY
serve in the English army in case of war ; but the
Acadians in the other settlements remained firm in
their determination not to take the oath, though the
lieutenant-governor warned them of the conse-
quences of such disrespect and disobedience that
would be likely to follow.
George I. died June 10, 1727. When the tidings
reached Annapolis, Lieutenant-Governor Armstrong,
as duty required, summoned the people to take the
oath of allegiance to the new monarch, George II.
But the whole body of the people, " almost to a man"
is the language of the lieutenant-governor, refused
to subscribe to the oath which was tendered to them.
Governor Philipps returned to Annapolis in 1729,
and at once entered upon the work of securing the
submission of the Acadians to British rule and
authority. In a letter addressed to the Duke of New-
castle January 3, 1729, he reported that he had suc-
ceeded in obtaining subscription to the oath from
every inhabitant of Annapolis River " to a man from
sixteen years of age and upwards. . . I have had no
occasion," he added, " to make use of threats or com-
pulsion, nor have I prostituted the king's honor in
making a scandalous capitulation in his name and
contrary to his Majesty's express orders as has been
done by one Ensign Wroth of my regiment." The
reference to Ensign Wroth has this significance.
When tidings of the death of George I. were received,
Wroth was sent to various parts of the province to
proclaim the new sovereign and to administer the
1 Selections from the Public Documents of the Province of Nova Scotia, p. 88.
EXPULSION OF THE ACADIAN8 265
usual oath of allegiance. The Acadians to whom he
was sent, however, refused to take the oath unless a
provision should be coupled with it that they should
not be compelled to bear arms against any one.
Wroth acceded to this demand, and allowed the peo-
ple to take this modified oath. When, however, he
reported to the lieutenant-governor what he had
done, he was informed by the council that he had
exceeded his instructions and his action in the
proceedings was cancelled.
After obtaining^ the subscription of the people of
Annapolis River, Governor Philipps proceeded up
the Bay of Fundy, and received the submission of the
rest of the people, also of the Indians, securing as he
believed the peace of the country, with a prospect of
its continuance as long as the union between the
British and French subsisted. 1 But the Lords of
Trade were not pleased with this action of Governor
Philipps. The oath to which he had secured sub-
scription was as follows :
Je promets et je jure sincrement, en foi de Chretien que je serai
entier^ment fiddle, et obeirai vraiment Sa Majest Le Roi, Geo. II., &c.
I promise and I swear sincerely, on the faith of a Christian, that I
will be entirely faithful, and will truly obey his Majesty, King George
II., &c.
But the Lords of Trade seem to have been more
familiar with the French language than Gover-
nor Philipps. The oath as administered seemed
" intended," wrote the secretary, " to have been a
translation of the English oath of allegiance, but the
1 See his letter to the Duke of Newcastle dated September 2, 1730. Selections from
the Public Documents of the Province of Nova Scotia, p. 87.
266 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
different idiom of the two languages has given it
another turn, for the particle ' to ' in the English
oath being omitted in the French translation, it
stands a simple promise of fidelity without saying to
whom, for as the word ' fidele ' can only refer to a
dative case and * obeirai ' governs an accusative,
King George has not a proper security given to him
by the first part of the oath, and it is to be feared
that the French Jesuits may explain this ambiguity
so as to convince the people upon occasion that they
are not under any obligation to be faithful to his
Majesty." 1
Governor Philipps was recalled not long after, and
was succeeded by Lieutenant-Governor Armstrong,
lieutenant-colonel of Philipps' regiment, who con-
ducted the affairs of the province until his death in
1739, Governor Philipps being in England.
Paul Mascarene, major of Philipps' regiment, who
had been a member of the board of councillors, was
made lieutenant-governor of Annapolis in 1740, and
became administrator of the government, holding the
office until the arrival of Governor Cornwallis in
1749. Mascarene, a son of a French Huguenot but
educated in England, entered upon his duties with a
purpose to administer impartial justice to the French
inhabitants of the province, treating them with lenity
and humanity, while never losing sight of the gov-
ernment which he sought to serve. Writing at
Annapolis, November 15, 1740, to the Secretary
of State, he said : " The increase of the French
1 Selections from tbe Public Documents of the Province of Nova Scotia, pp. 84, 85.
EXPULSION OF THE ACADIANS 267
inhabitants calls for some fresh instructions how to
dispose of them. They have divided and sub-divided
amongst their children, the lands they were in pos-
session of, and which his Majesty was graciously
pleased to allow to them on their taking the oaths of
allegiance, and now they apply for new grants, which
the governor and late lieutenant-governor did not
think themselves authorized to favor them with, as
his Majesty's instructions on that head prescribe the
grant of unappropriated lands to Protestant subjects
only. This delay has occasioned several of these
inhabitants to settle themselves on some of the skirts
of this province, pretty far distant from this place,
notwithstanding proclamations and orders to the con-
trary have been often repeated, and it has not been
thought advisable hitherto to dispossess them by
force, for the reason, I presume, set down in the
above article. If they are debarred from new pos-
sessions, they must live here miserably and conse-
quently be troublesome, or else they will continue to
possess themselves of new tracts contrary to orders,
or they must be made to withdraw to the neighbor-
ing French colonies of Cape Breton or Canada." 1
Like his predecessors, Mascarene found it neces-
sary to keep a watchful eye upon the French priests.
He informed them that so long as they showed a
proper respect for the government they would not be
hindered in any way in the administration of their
spiritual functions ; but they were made to understand
1 Selections from the Public Documents of the Province of Nova Scotia, pp. 108,
109.
268 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
just as plainly that any endeavors on their part
to set at nought the authority of the king of Great
Britain would incur the just displeasure of the gov-
ernment and bring irretrievable ruin on the French
colonists. Writing to the bishop of Quebec, Decem-
ber 2, 1742, Governor Mascarene said : " Some of the
missionaries of the Romish church who have come
into this government have caused a great deal of
trouble by endeavoring to establish a power which is
not recognized in the dominions of the king of Great
Britain and which is repugnant to our laws ; " and
he proceeds to mention certain regulations that have
been adopted with reference to such missionary
priests, and he notifies the bishop that those priests
who fail to observe the requirements of these regula-
tions, and so fail of giving an example of obedience
to the government, will be ordered to leave the prov-
ince. These regulations were as follows :
"Whereas the said priests have of their own accord resorted hither
without acknowledging his Majesty's sovereignty and jurisdiction in
and over this his said province or paying the least respect or obedience
to this his Majesty's government and have been guilty of sedition and
treachery as in particular Charlemaine, Ignace, &c., preferring the
authority by which they pretend to be sent to that of his Britanic
Majesty which they have so frequently despised, Ordered that no
priest shall be permitted into this his Majesty's province but by and
with the advice, consent and approbation first asked and obtained from
his Majesty's government. That if at any time the inhabitants belong-
ing to any of the parishes shall want a priest on account of a vacancy
they shall be obliged first to petition this his Majesty's government for
leave to have one and upon such leave obtained to apply where they
please for a priest. That upon the priest's coming into this province
by virtue of the leave obtained by the inhabitants, he shall before he
exercise any part of his priestly function present himself to the Gover-
nor or Commander-in-Chief and his Majesty's Council for admittance
EXPULSION OF THE ACADIANS 269
or approbation. That in any case any of them thus admitted shall at
any time behave themselves irregularly and with contempt and disre-
spect to the rules and orders of this his Majesty's province while they
are in it, they may expect to be dismissed the same." 1
Early in 1744, France declared war against Great
Britain and Great Britain responded with a like dec-
laration. The French at Isle Royale, who received
early tidings of the outbreak of the war, at once
dispatched a force into Nova Scotia, destroyed the
fort at Canseau and sent the garrison to Louisburg.
As soon as Governor Mascarene was made aware
of the new concrition of affairs, he commenced to
strengthen the fort at Annapolis. French settlers in
the vicinity of the fort were employed in this work,
but in July, on the approach of a party of French and
Indians to the number of about three hundred, they
left their tasks and would render no further assist-
ance. Mascarene had made application for reinforce-
ments to the governor of Massachusetts, and on their
arrival the French and Indians retired to Minas.
Receiving reinforcements, however, they returned.
But meanwhile Mascarene had been still further
reinforced from Massachusetts, and writing to the
Lords of Trade September 20, 1744, he said : " We
live in hopes we shall have the seasonable protection
of some of his Majesty's ships of war with a reinforce-
ment of troops of a superior force, which is herewith
recommended."
The purpose of the French in this movement is set
forth in an order issued by the commander of the
1 Selections from the Public Documents of tbe Province of Nova Scotia, pp. 124,
126.
270 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
invading force. The order is dated Grand Pre,
August 27, 1744, and is as follows :
" The inhabitants of Minas, comprising the parishes of Grand Pr,
River Canard, Piziquid and Cobequid are ordered to acknowledge the
obedience they owe to the King of France, and in consequence the said
parishes are called upon for the following supplies : that of Grand
Pr, eight horses and two men to drive them ; that of the River Canard,
eight horses and two men to drive them ; and that of Piziquid, twelve
horses and three men to drive them ; as also the powder horns pos
sessed by the said inhabitants, one only being reserved for each house.
The whole of the above must be brought to me at ten o'clock on Satur-
day morning at the French flag which I have had hoisted, and under
which the deputies from each of the said parishes shall be assembled,
to pledge fidelity for themselves and all the inhabitants of the neigh-
borhood who shall not be called away from the labors of the harvest.
All those for whom the pledge of fidelity shall be given will be held
fully responsible for said pledge, and those who contravene the present
order shall be punished as rebellious subjects, and delivered into the
hands of the savages as enemies of the state, as we cannot refuse the
demand which the savages make for all those who will not submit
themselves." l
Notwithstanding this appeal, the Acadians for the
most part decided to remain neutral, and after their
attempts to take the fort at Annapolis, the French
commander in December withdrew his force and
returned to Louisburg. But it was evident that the
French would not cease their efforts because of their
lack of success thus far ; and the New England colo-
nists, filled with alarm on account of their exposed
position, determined to carry the war into the enemy's
territory and assail its stronghold at Louisburg.
William Pepperrell of Kittery was placed in com-
mand of the expedition. Men flocked to his standard
with great enthusiasm. Whitefield, the great revival
1 Selections from the Public Documents of the Province of Nova Scotia, p. 134.
EXPULSION OF THE ACADIANS 271
preacher, then in New England, furnished the motto
for the expedition, Nil desperandum Christo duce.
The result is well known. The merchant commander
with his farmers and fishermen, his artisans and store-
keepers, proved more than a match for the trained
veterans of France, and compelled the surrender of
what was regarded as an impregnable fortress, upon
the construction of which more than six millions of
dollars had been expended.
Instead of being a menace to the New England
colonists, Louisbuig now became an important out-
post in their defence against French encroachments.
But in 1748, in the arrangement of articles of peace
between the two countries, the British king
restored Cape Breton and its stronghold at Louis-
burg to the French. The disgust of the colonists,
and especially of those who had brought about the
capture of Louisburg, can easily be imagined. But
the deed had been done. How could the dangers
that now again threatened the colonists be averted ?
The British ministry turned its attention to this
problem. Half-way between Canseau and Cape
Sable was the fine harbor of Chebuctou. Into it
in July, 1749, sailed Edward Cornwallis, captain-
general and governor-in-chief of Acadia, with over
four thousand people, whom he had brought from
England to establish at this point a British strong-
hold, since known as Halifax. Work upon the
fortifications was commenced at once. A road
also was constructed from Halifax to the Basin
of Minas, connecting this British stronghold
272 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
on the coast with the French settlements in the
interior.
July 14, 1749, shortly after his arrival, Cornwallis
addressed a communication to the Acadians inform-
ing them of the purpose of the government to intro-
duce English settlers into the province, reminding
them that some of their number had not been loyal to
British interests, and offering them a continuance of
the free exercise of their religion and peaceable pos-
session of their lands, provided that within three
months from the date of this declaration they take
the oaths of allegiance appointed to be taken by the
laws of Great Britain and submit to such rules and
orders as may hereafter be thought proper for the
maintenance and support of his Majesty's govern-
ment. 1
The Acadians, a thousand of them signing the doc-
ument, replied through their deputies that the pro-
posed oath, a form of which had been submitted to
them, would expose their lives to great peril from the
Indians, but that they were willing to take the oath
administered by Governor Philipps, with the under-
standing that they would be exempt from taking up
arms against the French. If this could not be
granted, they said, they were resolved, every one, to
leave the country.
Governor Cornwallis replied that the Acadians
seemed to think themselves independent of any gov-
ernment, while the fact was that from the end of the
year stipulated in the treaty of Utrecht for the
1 Selections from the Public Documents of the Province of Nova Scotia, p. 164.
EXPULSION OF THE ACADIANS 273
evacuation of the country they had been subjects of
the king of Great Britain. The treaty declared them
such, and it would be contrary to common sense to
suppose that one could remain in a province and
possess houses and lands there, without being subject
to the sovereign of that province. It only remained
for them, therefore, to take the oath of allegiance
without any reservation. "You tell me," said the
governor, "that General Philipps granted you the
reservation which you demand ; and I tell you gen-
tlemen, that the general who granted you such reser-
vations, did not do his duty. I tell you further,
gentlemen, that this oath has never in the slightest
degree lessened your obligations to act always and in
all circumstances, as a subject ought to act, according
to the laws of God and of your King."
Especially active in opposition to British interests
in Nova Scotia was Louis Joseph De la Loutre, a
Jesuit missionary, who came to Canada in 1737.
Making his way to Acadia, he became the correspond-
ent of the French governor at Quebec, and was
furnished with arms and money by the French gov-
ernment for distribution among the Indians and
Acadian French. He held the office of vicar general
of Acadia, under the bishop of Quebec, but a copv of
a letter has been preserved in which the bishop
remonstrates with Le Loutre, 1 on his departure from
his clerical functions. On the establishment of the
British at Halifax Le Loutre busied himself actively
1 His name in full was Louis Joseph De la Loutre, but in the Public Documents
of the Province of Nova Scotia he is called Le Loutre.
Vol. 1 18
274 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
in inciting the Indians to hostility, and early in 1749
Governor Cornwallis ordered his arrest and also the
arrest of the inhabitants at Chignecto as hostages.
But the governor's plans miscarried. Writing to the
Duke of Bedford, March 19, 1749, Governor Corn-
wallis, after a full statement of what he had done,
closed his letter in these words :
" If the French inhabitants remain in this province, I shall desire
above all things, that some method may be found of supplying them
with priests from Germany or Italy. The French missionaries, paid by
France, will do everything in their power to alienate the minds of the
people." 1
Petitions came in from Acadians in some of the
districts asking leave to withdraw from the province.
To these the governor made reply that as soon as
tranquility was restored he would give passports to
all who asked for them. How strongly the British
government desired to retain the Acadians in the
country, however, appears in a letter of the Lords of
Trade to Governor Cornwallis dated March 22, 1750,
approving of his action with reference to the petition
for withdrawal. " We are extremely glad to hear,"
say the Lords, " that so few of the better sort of those
inhabitants have withdrawn themselves, and have no
doubt but that if you shall be able to prevent their
abandoning their settlements just at this time, when
the French are particularly industrious to draw them
off from their allegiance to the crown of Great Britain,
and the province is contending against all the disad-
vantages to which a new and disputed settlement can
be exposed, you will be able hereafter by a good
1 Selections from the Public Documents of the Province of Nova Scotia, p. 184.
EXPULSION OF THE ACADIANS 275
correspondence with them and making them feel the
advantages of the settlement to remove their preju-
dices and firmly unite them to the British interest." l
Governor Cornwallis returned to England in the
summer of 1752, and was succeeded by Peregrine
Thomas Hopson, who in August of that year, and in
a letter from Halifax, December 10, 1752, addressed
to the home government, expressed in the strongest
terms the desirability of retaining the Acadians in
the country. He said :
44 Mr. Cornwallis can iaform your Lordships how useful and neces-
sary these people are to us, how impossible it is to do without them,
or to replace them even if we had other settlers to put in their places,
and at the same time will acquaint you how obstinate they have always
been when the oaths have been offered."
And he gave the following order to his officers at
Minas and Piziquid :
44 You are to look on the French inhabitants in the same light with
the rest of his Majesty's subjects, as to the protection of the laws and
government, for which reason nothing is to be taken from them by
force, or any price set upon their goods but what they themselves agree
to; and if at any time the inhabitants should obstinately refuse to com-
ply with what his majesty's service may require of them, you are not
to redress yourselves by military force, or in any unlawful manner, but
to lay the case before the governor and await his orders thereon." 2
But Governor Hopson found the same difficulties
in his way that his predecessors had found. French
priests, especially the Abbe Le Loutre, were active
in prejudicing the Acadians against the English gov-
ernment, saying 3 that the province would within a
1 Selections from the Public Documents of the Province of Nova Scotia, p. 196.
2 Selections from the Public Documents of the Province of Nova Scotia, pp. 197,
196.
3 Selections from the Public Documents of the Province of Nova Scotia, p. 199.
276 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
short time fall into the hands of the French by nego-
tiation or force of arms. In this, the governor affirmed
that the priests were openly abetted and " supported
by the governors of Canada and Louisburg."
About this time some of the Acadians who had
withdrawn from their lands at Chignecto returned,
and offered to take the following oath : "I sincerely
promise and swear that I will be faithful to his
majesty, King George II. and to his successors. So
help me God." But certain " articles " were added,
first that they should be exempt from taking up arms
against the " English, French, savages or people of
any other nation " ; second that they should be -free
to withdraw whenever they pleased and to carry away
or sell their property ; third that they should have
the full enjoyment of their religion and as many
priests as shall be thought necessary, " without any
oath of allegiance being" required of them " ; and
fourth that the lands occupied by the English should
be restored to those to whom they formerly belonged.
The council substituted its own form of an oath and
offered those who proposed to return " peaceable and
quiet possession of their lands at Chignecto with a
reservation for military purposes, together with the
free exercise of their religion and a sufficient number
of priests, with all the privileges granted by the
treaty of Utrecht." 1
Governor Hopson returned to England and Lieu-
tenant-Colonel Charles Lawrence was appointed
1 Selections from the Public Documents of the Province of Nova Scotia, pp. 204,
205.
EXPULSION OP THE ACADIANS 277
lieutenant-governor of the province in the summer of
1754. He had been in the country quite a number of
years, and was familiar with the problems with which
his predecessors had been compelled to busy them-
selves. When Louisburg was captured by Pepper-
rell in 1745, it was Lawrence with his regiment who
occupied the place. When Louisburg was restored
to the French in 1748, Lawrence withdrew to Halifax.
In 1750, he was sent by Cornwallis to Beaubassin to
quell some disturbances there. He had seen the
French under the. inspiration of Le Loutre build a
new fort on the shore at Bay Verte and strengthen
the fort at Beau Sejour. He had seen assembling at
these places such Acadians as Le Loutre, by appeals
he knew well how to make, could induce to leave their
homes and take up arms in the interest of New France.
August 1, 1754, Colonel Lawrence addressed a letter
to the home government in which referring to the atti-
tude of the Acadians toward the British he said :
*' They have not for a long time brought anything to our markets;
but on the other hand they have carried everything to the French and
Indians whom they have always assisted with provisions, quarters and
intelligence, and indeed while they remain without taking the oaths to
his Majesty (which they never will do till they are forced) and have
incendiary French priests among them, there are no hopes of their
amendment. As they possess the best and largest tracts of land in this
province, it cannot be settled with any effect while they remain in this
situation, and though I would be very far from attempting such a step
without your Lordship's approbation, yet I cannot help being of the
opinion that it would be much better, if they refuse the oaths, that
they were away." 1
This is the first clear, unmistakable word in
the documents concerning the banishment of the
1 Selections from the Public Documents of the Province of Nova Scotia, p. 218.
278 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Acadians. Manifestly among the English officers in
the province, and among the civil and military officers
in New England, especially in Massachusetts, opinion
had been shaping itself in this direction for some
time. A decisive blow, it was held, must be struck.
With the aid of the mother country, the colonists had
already commenced a determined effort to check, if
not to destroy, French dominion on this continent.
War, it is true, had not been formally declared against
France ; but four expeditions, in 1755, were organ-
ized with this end in view. General Braddock, with
a force of regulars and provincials, had Fort
Duquesne on the Ohio as his objective ; Governor
Shirley of Massachusetts was to lead an expedition
against Niagara and Frontenac on Lake Ontario ; Sir
William Johnson, with a large force of New England
troops, was to assail the French at Crown Point ;
while Colonel Winslow, with Massachusetts troops
and in connection with British troops in Nova Scotia,
was to give attention to the French menacing colonial
interests along the northeastern frontier. It was a
grievous disappointment to the New England colo-
nists that in the treaty of Aix la Chapelle Louisburg
had been restored to the French. In the movement
now contemplated that error was to be retrieved.
Governor Shirley of Massachusetts was active in its
preparation. Governor Lawrence wrote to Governor
Shirley, November 5, 1754 : " Being well informed
that the French have designs of encroaching still
further upon his Majesty's rights in this province,
and that they purpose the moment they have repaired
EXPULSION OF THE ACADIANS 279
the fortifications of Louisburg to attack our fort at
Chignecto, I think it high time to make some effort
to drive them from the north side of the Bay of
Fundy " ; and he asked Governor Shirley for two
thousand men. In a lengthy letter to the British
ministry, dated November 11, 1754, Governor Shirley
wrote :
" If Nova Scotia should be lost by any sudden blow, the eastern
parts of the province of Massachusetts Bay, and the whole province of
New Hampshire (within which tracts of territory are included the
woods from whence the Royal Navy is now supplied with masts, yards
and bowsprits) togetherwith the rivers of St. John's, Pentagoet and
Kennebec, and all the seacoast as far as Merrimac river with the whole
fishery to the westward of Newfoundland must soon fall into the pos-
session of the French most likely in the same spring and if they should
hold these acquisitions together with Canada and Louisburg that they
would then have it in their power to assemble and support a very large
body of regular troops in these parts (which they cannot possibly do
long at present) and by the situation of their new seacoast abounding
with most commodious harbors for the largest ships of war, perhaps be
able to dispute the mastery of the eastern part of the Atlantic Ocean
with the British navy." l
In this statement Governor Shirley reflected the
general opinion in New England. The Massachusetts
troops raised for service in Nova Scotia were placed
under the command of Colonel John Winslow, a great-
grandson of Governor Edward Winslow of Plymouth.
In the previous year he had commanded the expedi-
tion having in charge the construction of Fort Hali-
fax at the junction of the Kennebec and Sebasticook
rivers, designed to prevent French encroachments
from the north. With the two thousand troops
enlisted for the present movement, Colonel Winslow
1 Selections from the Public Documents of the Province of Nova Scotia, p. 387.
280 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
sailing from Boston May 23, 1755, reached Fort Law-
rence early in June with a detachment of regulars
from Halifax under Colonel Monckton, and began the
siege of Beau Sejour. The contest was a short one. 1
The fort was surrendered June 16, and among the
prisoners were more than three hundred French
Acadians, who were thus found in arms against the
British king. Le Loutre was in the fort when the
assault was made, but he succeeded in making his
escape during the siege, and while on his way to
France was captured and taken as a prisoner to
England where he remained eight years in a castle
on the Isle of Jersey.
The victory at Beau Sejour was followed by tidings
of Braddock's defeat. Governor Shirley had inter-
ested himself in the movement against the French
beyond the Alleghanies and had visited General
Braddock at Alexandria before he set out on his ill-
fated expedition. In a letter to Governor Lawrence,
written the latter part of July, Lieutenant-Governor
Phips of Massachusetts, in the absence of Governor
Shirley, 2 referred to Braddock's defeat as a " heavier
stroke than ever the English upon this continent have
met before," and he raised the question "whether the
danger with which his majesty's interest is now
threatened will not remove any scruples which may
heretofore have subsisted with regard to the French
1 Among the wounded in the assault on the fort was " Major Preble of the irreg-
ulars." This was Major Jedediah Preble of Falmouth, and with him doubtless were
Maine volunteers.
2 Governor Shirley at this time was leading an expedition against the French at
Niagara.
EXPULSION OP THE ACADIAN8 281
neutrals, as they are termed, and render it both just
and necessary that they should be removed unless
some more effectual security can be given for their
fidelity than the common obligation of an oath, for by
the principles of their religion this may easily be
dispensed with." l
June 10, 1755, just before the surrender of Beau
Sejour, the deputies and a number of the French
inhabitants of Minas, Canard and Piziquid addressed
Governor Lawrence in a communication complaining
of certain restrictions imposed upon them to prevent
them from sending their corn and other provisions
out of the province to the neighboring French, and
of otherwise rendering assistance to them. To this
communication, the council, having summoned the
signers to appear before them, made a sharp reply,
informing them that if they were sincere in their pro-
fessions they could prove it by immediately taking
the oath of allegiance in the usual form. They asked
for time in which to consult the body of the people.
When they were told that they must make the dec-
laration for themselves then and there, they retired
for consultation in private. After a while they
returned, saying they could not consent to take the
oath as prescribed without consulting the general
body, but that they were ready to take it as they had
done before. They were then given until the next
morning in which to make answer. When, the next
morning, they declared their adherence to their deci-
sion of the day before, they were told that the council
1 Selections from the Public Document* of the Province of Nova Scotia, p. 410.
282 MAINE HISTOKICAL SOCIETY
could no longer regard them as British subjects,
but as subjects of the king of France, and that meas-
ures would be taken to send " all such recusants out
of the province." At this announcement they declared
their willingness to take the oath, but they were
informed that an act of Parliament did not allow
persons who had once refused to take the oath to do
so afterward.
The French inhabitants of Annapolis River sent a
memorial to the council a few days later, and sub-
sequently deputies appeared. When they were
informed " that affairs in America were now at such
a crisis " that they could not be allowed to remain in
the country without becoming British subjects to all
intents and purposes, they declared their purpose to
quit their lands rather than take any other oath than
that which they had taken.
A British fleet was now on the coast, and Governor
Lawrence had been instructed by the King to consult
with the commander-in-chief of the fleet in any emer-
gency that might arise. The situation was such that
Governor Lawrence deemed it wise to seek counsel,
and Admiral Boscawen and Rear-Admiral Mostyn met
the council. Both of the admirals approved of the
course the council had taken in regard to the Acad-
ians, and gave it as their opinion " that it was now
the properest time to oblige the said inhabitants to
take the oath of allegiance to his Majesty, or to quit
the country."
At a meeting of the council held at the governor's
1 Selection! from the Public Documents of the Province of Nova Scotia, p. 258.
EXPULSION OP THE ACADIANS 283
house in Halifax, July 28, 1755, " after mature consid-
eration, it was unanimously agreed that to prevent as
much as possible " the Acadians from " attempting to
return and molest the settlers that may be set down
on their lands, it would be most proper to send them
to be distributed amongst the several colonies on the
continent, and that a sufficient number of vessels
should be hired with all possible expedition for that
purpose."
To Colonel Winslow, with his Massachusetts troops,
was assigned the duty of removing the Acadians at
s
Grand Pre and the neighboring settlements. He
received his instructions August 11, four days after
the confirmation of the tidings of Braddock's defeat
reached Halifax ; and on the 16th he embarked his
force at Chignecto for Grand Pre. He was informed
that the people of this region were to be sent to Mary-
land, Virginia and North Carolina. In the removal
he was to use fair means if possible, but " if you find
that fair means will not do with them," were his
instructions, " you must proceed by the most vigorous
measures possible not only in compelling them to
embark but in depriving those who shall escape of all
means of shelter or support by burning their houses
and destroying everything that may afford them the
means of subsistence in the country." l Attention to
these instructions was " disagreeable business " to
Colonel Winslow. " Things are now very heavy on
my heart and hands," he wrote to a brother officer
1 Journal of Colonel John Winslow, in Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical
Society, Vol. III., p. 80.
284 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
r
while he was at Grand Pre. 1 In another letter he
made reference to this " troublesome affair, which is
more grievous to me than any service I was ever
employed in." 2 Plainly the task assigned to him was
not a pleasing one. His words to the imprisoned
Acadians in the church at Grand Pre, which Long-
fellow, in his " Evangeline, " puts into his lips are in
harmony with what we know of his feelings at the
time as recorded in his journal :
" You are convened this day," he said, " by his Majesty's orders.
Clement and kind has he been, but how you have answered his kind-
ness
Let your own hearts reply. To my natural make and my temper
Painful the task is I do, which to you I know must be grievous.
Yet must I bow and obey, and deliver the will of our monarch :
Namely, that all your lands, and dwellings, and cattle of all kinds
Forfeited be to the crown ; and that you yourselves from this province
Be transported to other lands."
But while the duty assigned to Colonel Winslow
was a very disagreeable one, he not only did not
shrink from it, but gave it his approval, regarding it
as a military necessity. The removal of the Acadians
in his view, and in the view of his associates, was a
war measure. Such measures oftentimes are neces-
sarily severe. Indeed not unfrequently they are more
severe than they would be if all the facts were known,
or if the end could clearly be seen from the beginning.
It was so in the deportation of the Acadians, which
took place almost at the opening of the French and
Indian War ; at a time when Braddock's defeat had
greatly embittered the English colonists in North
1 Journal of Colonel John Winslow, p. 97.
2 Journal of Colonel John Winslow, p. 134.
EXPULSION OF THE ACADIANS 285
America. At a later period in the struggle, when the
French had been driven from one stronghold after
another, the danger from the presence of the Acad-
ians in Nova Scotia, even though they declined to
take the oath of allegiance to the British king, would
hardly have seemed worthy of consideration.
But we must look at this action of our fathers as
they looked at it at the time. They believed, and
that too most intensely, in the importance of English
supremacy on this continent, and they had entered
upon a heroic struggle in accordance with this belief.
It is not enough to say that subsequent events make
it plain that they were unnecessarily alarmed. Those
subsequent events were not foreseen. Terrible dis-
aster at one point had already befallen their arms,
and they knew not what added disasters might follow.
One dominant purpose moved them, and that was the
utter overthrow of French power on this continent.
The blow must be a sharp and a heavy one, and it
was made with all the force at their command.
In his communication to the governors of the colo-
nies on the Atlantic seaboard, Governor Lawrence
referred to the attitude which the Acadians had taken
toward the British government from the beginning of
English occupation in Nova Scotia in 1710. Of his
own efforts concerning them he said :
" Notwithstanding all their former bad behavior, as his Majesty was
pleased to allow me to extend still further his royal grace to such as
would return to their duty, I offered such of them as had not been
openly in arms against us, a continuance of the possession of their
lands, if they would take the oath of allegiance unqualified with any
reservation whatsoever : but this they have most audaciously as well
286 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
as unanimously refused ; and if they would presume to do this when
there is a large fleet of ships of war in the harbor, and a considerable
land force in the province, what might not we expect from them when
the approaching winter deprives us of the former and when the troops
which are only hired from New England occasionally and for a small
time have returned home ... As their numbers amount to near
seven thousand persons the driving them off with leave to go whither
they pleased would doubtless have strengthened Canada with so con-
siderable a number of inhabitants ; and as they have no cleared land to
give them at present, such as are able to bear arms must have been
immediately employed in annoying this and the neighboring colonies.
To prevent such an inconvenience it was judged a necessary and the
only practical measure to divide them among the colonies where they
may be of some use, as most of them are healthy, strong people ; and
as they cannot easily collect themselves together again it will be out of
their power to do any mischief and they may become profitable, and it
is possible in time, faithful subjects. As this step was indispensably
necessary to the security of this colony upon whose preservation from
French encroachments the prosperity of North America is esteemed in
a great measure dependent, I have not the least reason to doubt of your
excellency's concurrence and that you will receive the inhabitants I
now send and dispose of them in such manner as may best answer our
design in preventing their reunion." x
But the Acadians were not wanted anywhere.
Virginia sent about six hundred of her quota to
England, where for a while they were clothed and
fed, and later sent across the channel to France. Of
those sent to Louisiana, a large number remained and
their descendants to-day constitute more than two-
thirds of the French-speaking people of the state.
They have given two governors to Louisiana, both
typical Americans it is said. But many from the
various Atlantic ports found their way back to the
land they had so reluctantly left. Their old allot-
ments were not restored to them, but they received
1 Selections from the Public Documents of the Province of Nova Scotia, pp. 277,
278.
EXPULSION OF THE ACADIANS 287
grants of land elsewhere, and on the same terms as
other settlers. It is said that at the present time
there are about one hundred thousand descendants
of the Acadians living in Nova Scotia and New
Brunswick. They still hold fast to their race and
religious attachments, but since their return they
have not hesitated to take the oath of allegiance, and
throughout the nearly a century and a half that have
followed, they have been loyal, peaceable subjects of
Great Britain.
288 MAINE HISTOKICAL SOCIETY
REV. THOMAS SMITH, D.D., AND HIS FIRST
PARISH OF FALMOUTH, NOW PORTLAND
BY REV. JOHN CARROLL PERKINS
Read before the Maine Historical Society, December 19, 1901
Thomas Smith died on Monday, May 25, 1795, after
having been connected with the First Parish of Fal-
mouth, later Portland, almost seventy years. Since
his formal settlement, sixty-eight years, two months
and seventeen days had passed, but he had preached
for the people of the little tentative, struggling com-
munity almost two years before his settlement. After
Mr. Smith had been preaching thirty-seven years, in
the year 1764, he had the assistance of a colleague,
but he preached in his turn for twenty years longer.
He records in his journal under date of August 13,
1783, " It was perfect pleasure in speaking." His
last recorded sermon was on October 21, 1792, three
years before his death at the advanced age of ninety-
three. At the time of his death, his colleague, Dr.
Samuel Deane, said, " Not more than one instance is
recollected of a ministry in this country, so long
protracted."
This life was the religious standard of life in Fal-
mouth during practically the whole of the eighteenth
century. What Mr. Smith was in his personality
became the guide, the interpreter, the pastor for that
body of people, whose descendants now comprise
REV. THOMAS SMITH, D.D. 289
Portland. Two generations knew no other religious
instruction than his. A third shared his august time-
honored influence with a younger, but sympathetic
colleague. A fourth came to manhood just as his
patriarchal presence yielded to an almost unique
memory.
The sources of our knowledge of Parson Smith are
first of all his remarkable journal, which he kept in
part in cipher, from 1719-1788. This manuscript
passed into the hands of Honorable Samuel Freeman,
at whose discretion, it was published in 1821. 1 After
the publication of this journal, the manuscript was
destroyed. This was doubtless in the spirit of Par-
son Smith's desire, and at the request of the family
who entrusted it to Mr. Freeman. All that might be
of value for general history is probably left, for Mr.
Freeman was a wise man. But there passed away
with the destruction of the papers many keen judg-
ments of the various personalities of the period ; also
the free expression of many a private opinion of the
Parson on local affairs. Mr. Freeman had known him,
and was himself closely bound up in the public life
of the time. For this reason he would have been
more sensitive to the immediate acceptance of such
details and less considerate of the curiosity of our
day. When Governor Sullivan wrote the history of
Maine, he sought access to the journal of Parson
1 Mr. Freeman writes, "The matters I here present the public are 1. Notices of
such Foreign Events as came to the knowledge of Mr. Smith during that period.
2. Domestic occurrences; or such as took place in the town of Falmouth and its
vicinity, from the time of his coming there in 1725. with marginal notes as to the
particulars of some of the events which are but slightly mentioned. 3. A view of
the life and character of the deceased. Also a separate account of the seasons.
VoL 1 19
290 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Smith, for data regarding the Indian wars. The Par-
son refused on the ground that the journal contained
a mixture of private matters not proper to be exposed
to public view. We may be thankful that Mr. Free-
man gave us so much, far more than the Parson him-
self would have allowed. Of like value with the
journal of Parson Smith, after the year 1764, is
the journal of his colleague, Rev. Samuel Deane. This
journal covers the most of the manhood of Mr. Deane.
It was published together with a revision of Mr. Free-
man's Journal of Parson Smith in 1849, by William
Willis, the historian of Portland. These two journals
are a priceless treasure for the history of the parish
of Falmouth. A few of Parson Smith's sermons are
still in existence, written in so fine a hand as to be
almost illegible. Very few have ever been published.
The town records, letters of the time, local histories,
preserving incidents and traits, and not least the
strong men and women of the early and later history
of Falmouth and Portland, complete our knowledge of
the personality of Parson Smith.
Mr. Smith was the son of Thomas Smith and Mary
Corwin, who were married in Boston, by Rev. Samuel
Willard, of the Old South Church, May 9, 1701. He
was born March 10, 1702, the first of a large family
of children. His grandfather was Thomas Smith, and
a merchant in Boston. His father was for many years
a trader with the Indians east of Boston, and as Indian
agent and truck master was in the service of the
government of Massachusetts. He entered Harvard
College in 1716, taking his first degree four years
REV. THOMAS SMITH, D.D. 291
later at the age of eighteen. He continued special
theological preparations at once, and after two years
we find that he has recorded of himself, " I began to
preach April 19, 1722." Among other places this
year he preached at Maiden and Sandwich, in Massa-
chusetts. On January 7 of the next year he preached
to the people of Bellingham. The next day, so he
says, " The committee of Bellingham was with me to
acquaint me of their call." He deliberated until March
21, and gave his answer in the negative. June 27,
1725, he came to J^almouth. Here he preached sev-
enteen Sabbaths, though not continuously, and spent
his time among the people, making their acquaint-
ance. He diverted himself, also, with gunning and
fishing at Purpooduck, that is, Cape Elizabeth, and
the back country. This sojourn in Falmouth may or
may not have been with a view to settlement. He
acted in the double capacity of chaplain to the garri-
son and public preacher. He apparently spent the
winter in Falmouth, for he records that " It has been
all along a close and hard winter as has been remem-
bered. There has been good sledding all winter.
Never one thaw. There has been the best gunning
here this winter than has been for some years past."
It is hardly probable that he brought the people
together much on the Sabbaths during the winter,
because the meeting-house was hardly finished on the
outside at this time and the windows were unglazed.
Such was the impression he made upon them, how-
ever, that on April 26 he could say, " This day the
Committee acquainted me with the call of the people
292 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
generally planting here." His answer came the fol-
lowing January, he having meanwhile spent most of
his time among the people. It is as follows :
U FALMOUTH, January 22, 1726-7.
"Gentlemen : Some time since, as a Committee of this town, you
acquainted me with the choice the inhabitants had made of me to settle
among them as their minister. Since which, I have had time to take
the great affair into the most deliberate and serious consideration, and
after solemn address to Heaven for counsel and direction, and the best
advice of my friends, am determined to accept of this call and invita-
tion, and do accordingly with the most humble reliance on free grace,
devote myself to the service of Christ in the ministry of the gospel
among them, depending on such a suitable and honorable provision for
my support and maintenance, as by their free and generous proposals
they have left no room to doubt of.
"THOMAS SMITH.
"To Major Samuel Moody, Esq., and Mr. Benj. York, to be com-
municated."
The next day after this letter was sent, the town
held a meeting, and in the words of Parson Smith,
" They passed several votes in my favor." These
votes as found at present in the town records are as
follows :
"For Mr. Smith's encouragement, Voted, 1. That the town will
supply him with fire-wood. 2. Pay his salary every six months. 3.
That the lot between Thomas Thomes' and Samuel Cobb's, being No.
15, be given him on his settlement, for his house lot. 4. That the
town will clear and fence the three-acre lot given Mr. Smith, and also
the three-acre lot adjoining, given for the ministry, to be fit for his
improvement. 5. That the town accept Mr. Smith's answer to settle
with them with all thankfulness, being universally satisfied there-
withal. (A committee was chosen to communicate it to him and take
his advice about ordination, &c. ) 6. Voted, That the second Wednes-
day or Thursday, being the eighth or ninth day of March next, be
appointed and set apart for Mr. T. Smith's ordination among us, and
that Major Moody, Mr. Peter Walton and Mr. Thomas Haskell, be a
committee to write to the several churches in the county, to afford
REV. THOMAS SMITH, D.D. 293
their assistance in that great work, by their ministers and messengers.
7. That ministers and messengers meet at Major Moody's as a coun-
cil. 8. Major Moody desired to entertain the ministers and messengers,
upon ordination day, the charge to be defrayed by the town."
It were of course impossible to trace the influences
that led Mr. Smith to settle in Falmouth. His home
was Boston, then perhaps the largest town in the col-
onies. He was in the best society, at a time when
social position meant far more than it has meant
since. His name stands forth in the lists of his class
at college, lists arranged according to social position.
Falmouth was a frontier town. It meant hardship
for its minister. Indians had already destroyed the
settlements in Casco Bay repeatedly. Their pres-
ence suggested attack, poverty, perhaps loss of life.
Neither his journal nor any record lets us into the
inner springs of his action. If he had a spirit of
missionary heroism, we are not told of it. That he
was a serious consecrated soul we do know. Twelve
days before his favorable answer to the inhabitants
of Falmouth he has written in cipher in his journal,
" Separated this day for fasting and prayer." Cer-
tain external influences, however, there are, that made
his decision easier. His father was a government
official for intercourse with the Indians. He was
often in Casco Bay. Under date of October 8, 1725,
we read, " My father and brother came in from St.
Georges without the Indians." His father died after-
wards at Saco, where he had a truck house. His
brother or uncle John was deeply interested, as was
also Mr. Smith himself, in the controversy between
the Old and New Proprietors of Falmouth Neck. It
294 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
is therefore perhaps not unnatural that in a time of
colonization, or the development of the eastern lands
under the encouragement of the government at
Boston, Mr. Smith should have chosen this place in
which certain family interests had given him acquaint-
ance. At any rate we find the young man of twenty-
five casting in his lot with the new community,
settling among them for life, for such was the parish
relation in those days.
The Falmouth to which Mr. Smith came was prac-
tically a new settlement. The first Christian preach-
ing in the limits of what afterwards became the town
of Falmouth was probably by the chaplain of Gov-
ernor Robert Gorges, who spent the winter of 1623-4
at Great Diamond Island in Portland Harbor, with
Christopher Levett. This was Rev. William Morrell,
a minister of the Established Church of England.
This attempt at a settlement in the harbor by Chris-
topher Levett was not permanent. In 1636, Rev.
Richard Gibson is with John Winter at Richmond's
Island, in Spurwink. Winter, perhaps at his daugh-
ter Sarah's solicitation, desires Gibson as his son-in-
law. Gibson is not reciprocally inclined, and is
therefore " entertained very coarsely, and with much
discourtesy," so that "I am obliged to remove to
Piscataqua for maintenance/' he writes. Mary
Lewis, of Saco, whom Gibson soon after married, was
probably the immediate cause of his recalcitrance.
Sarah Winter still set her heart on a minister, how-
ever, and when, in 1641, Rev. Robert Jordan came to
the little settlement at Richmond's Island, she
REV. THOMAS SMITH, D.D. 295
married him and became the mother of all the
Jordans about Falmouth.
Some time before this, in the year 1632, George
Cleeve and Richard Tucker, driven from Spurwink
by Winter, had settled on Falmouth Neck, now Port-
land, and from their occupation a flourishing colony
resulted. These inhabitants were chiefly from Mas-
sachusetts, were Puritans, not of the Church of
England, as the Gorges people were. This fact led
to various difficulties concerning the jurisdiction of
Falmouth, whose bounds were first stated in the com-
pact with Massachusetts in 1658. These difficulties
did not end until the final purchase of Maine by
Massachusetts from the heirs of Gorges in 1678.
Rev. George Burroughs was the Puritan minister
over this little settlement. He came some time before
King Philip's War. His meeting-house was on the
high land above what is now the Portland Company's
works. In 1692, he was executed at Salem for
witchcraft, that terrible religious fanaticism of Eng-
land and America at the end of the eighteenth
century.
But this settlement of Falmouth, with its records,
was totally destroyed in King Philip's War and the
subsequent Indian wars, which destroyed in whole or
in part more than half the towns of Massachusetts,
and subjected the people to the wildest of Indian
cruelties and torture. For brief periods from 1675
to 1718, inhabitants tried to find homes again, but
for the most part Falmouth during this period was
rarely more than a military garrison. Fort Loyal, on
296 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Falmouth Neck, was destroyed by the French and
Indians in 1690. In 1700, New Casco Fort, on Fal-
mouth Foreside, was built and occupied, but was dis-
mantled a few years later and the garrison came to
the Neck. With these soldiers others became asso-
ciated, old inhabitants and new. In 1718 they were
incorporated under Massachusetts laws as The Town
of Falmouth, and have since maintained a continuous
history.
The first town meeting was held May 7, 1719. At
the third meeting in May, the 28th, it was voted,
" That a minister be procured as soon as possible,
and that the charge of his transportation hither, if
any can be obtained, shall be at the town charge.
Samuel Moody, Esq., was appointed by the town to
looke out for some suitable person for that service."
This Samuel Moody seems to have been the most
important man among them at the time. He had
been major and commander of the garrison at New
Casco that moved over to the Neck. Soon after-
wards, September 7, 1719, it was voted, "That there
be sixty-five pounds raised out of the subscription for
the support of the minister the year ensuing, to which
was added the stranger's contribution, and deliver it
to the minister weekly or monthly as should be
thought proper." The next year, February 1, 1720,
it was voted that there be a meeting-house built as
soon as possible, " thirty-six feet in length, and
twenty-eight in breadth and twenty foot stud."
Suitable committees were also appointed for these
purposes. But affairs moved slowly in the little
REV. THOMAS SMITH, D.D. 297
settlement. On August 15, 1720, they voted again,
" That the selectmen should look out for a minister,
by writing to the President of the College, or by any
other means they should think proper." That winter
Mr. " ParePojnt " apparently came among them, for
in July, 1721, they decided to " treet " with him for
another six months; and on April 2, 1722, they voted
u to agree with Capt. Samuel Moodey, Esq., for the
half year's board that is behind and is not yet satis-
fied." This minister, Rev. John Pierrepont, appar-
ently stayed in or ^near Falmouth for several years.
Mr. Smith writes in the Church Book of Records, "In
the year 1725, in June ( the war ending the summer )
I ( Thomas Smith ) came here and found one Mr.
Pierrepont, (who was chaplain to the army, whose
headquarters were on this Neck) preaching to the
people." February 11, 1724, the town voted, " That
the select men be empowered and desired to write to
some minister in or about Boston to pray their assist-
ance in procuring a suitable minister for the town."
The result of this last vote was the coming of
Thomas Smith. What the town was when he came
cannot be better told than in his own words, written
in 1726 :
44 In the year '17, a number of men, about thirty, petitioned the
General Court for this tract of land, in order to make a settlement of ;
. . . the town filled but slowly. When I first came down here,
which was the 23d of June (1725), there were but fifty-six families,
such as they were, most of them very poor, by reason of the Indians
that kept the people from their farms . . . and confined them to
garrisons, and some that were soldiers, that had found wives on the
place, and were mean animals ; and I have been creditably informed
that the men they engaged to come to them, were as bad as themselves,
298 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
having a design of building up the town with any that came and offered;
but the war coming on purged the place of many of them, and in their
room came others, and some very good. . . . This fall came down
I. Riggs, with his family, and about the same time J. Sawyer with his,
both from Cape Ann, both very good sort of men, errors excepted.
When I came down, the meeting-house frame was only covered ; but
this summer it was handsomely finished outside, Governor Wentworth
giving the glass.
1 * This spring came into town one Savage, and also one Stimson and
his family, . . . whom the selectmen immediately warned out of
town, as they did several others, just about the making of peace. This
summer ( peace being concluded ) there came from Cape Ann one Davis,
a pretty troublesome spark, with his family. Also one of his wife's
brothers, no better than he and a little after, another family who was
also warned out of town. Also one Haskell, a sober sort of man, with
his family. John Sawyer brought here to live. This fall came Isaac
Savage and Mr. Pride, with their families ; also Mr. White's eldest son,
who were sober and forehanded men. . . This month I reckoned up
the families in town, and found there were sixty-four, such as they
were, accounting a man and a wife a family. There are likewise thir-
teen or fourteen young men marriageable, that have land in the town
and are inhabitants ; and above thirty-eight fighting men."
Such was the parish in which young Mr. Smith,
after his many months of deliberation, finally decided
to settle. March 8, 1727, was set apart for his ordi-
nation. On the first page of the church record book,
in his own handwriting, we read,
*' This day the Church was gathered in this place and Thomas Smith
ordained pastor. Present and assisting at the solemnity were the pas-
tors and delegates of the church at Wells ; the church at York ; the
church at Berwick ; and the church at Kittery. The Rev. Mr. Moodey
began with prayer ; the Rev. Mr. Wise preached and gave the Right
Hand of Fellowship ; the Rev. Mr. Newmarch gave the charge ; and
the Rev. Mr. Rogers closed with prayer. The whole affair was carried
on and finished much to the satisfaction and joy of every one con-
cerned ; thanks be to God. We are the first church that ever was set-
tled to the eastward of Wells. May the gates of Hell be never able to
prevail against us. Amen.
REV. THOMAS SMITH, D.D. 299
The type of religious worship and thought that Mr.
Smith brought to Falmouth and planted was of course
the Puritan type of Massachusetts. But Puritanism
had had a development of its own on American soil.
And likewise the conditions of colonial life had greatly
changed. The two most important epochs of religious
life in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, are
the early colonial " church-state " in Massachusetts,
and the " Great Awakening " in the middle of the
eighteenth century. Mr. Smith was born, grew into
manhood and was. settled in a time of comparative
religious peace, especially marked as the era immedi-
ately following the frantic and wicked witchcraft per-
secutions. The only church problems in America
before Mr. Smith's time, were problems of church
polity and church authority and control. All doc-
trinal discussions in New England, which we are so
often likely to think of as characteristic of all Ameri-
can life, came later than the time of Mr. Smith's ordi-
nation. That is, they belong to the period just before
and following the " Great Awakening " under White-
field and Jonathan Edwards. Cotton Mather, of
Boston, in his book " Ratio Disciplinse," published in
1726, the year before Mr. Smith was ordained, could
write thus :
"There is no need of reporting what is the Faith professed by the
churches in New England ; for everyone knows that they perfectly
adhere to the Confession of Faith, published by the Assemby of Divines
at Westminster, and afterwards renewed by the synod of Savoy ; and
received by the renowned Kirk of Scotland. The doctrinal articles of
the Church of England, also, are more universally held and preached
in the churches of New England, than in any nation ; and far more than
300 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
our own. I cannot learn that among all the pastors of two hundred
churches, there is one Arminian ; much less an Arian or a Gentilist."
The Pilgrims who came to Plymouth were not sim-
ply Puritans. They were Separatists, that is, abso-
lutely independent Congregationalists. This was not
the case at first with the Puritans who settled at
Salem and Charlestown and Boston and the vicinity
of Massachusetts Bay. When they came from Eng-
land they still considered themselves a part and an
organic part of the Church of England. Only they
were opposed to the priesthood and omitted the use
of the prayer book. In 1631, Roger Williams refused
to preach in the First Church of Boston, because that
church still considered itself unseparated from the
Church of England. The change came quickly, how-
ever, to the churches of Massachusetts Bay, though
just how is not wholly clear. Perhaps it was influ-
ence from Plymouth that sent the Massachusetts
churches on their career of consistent Separatists and
Congregationalists .
" But neither Pilgrims nor Puritans had any thought of establishing
liberty for men to do as they please ; nor would any general toleration,
such as we now justly value, have furnished motives definite enough to
have led our ancestors to the New World. The Puritans who settled
Massachusetts had little if any disposition to tolerate dissent from what
they believed to be the right path in church and state." l
They founded a theocracy, a God ruled state, in
which church and state should be one. Only church
members could vote or hold any civil office from the
time of their first legislation until the abrogation of
their charter by Charles II. in 1684. All religious
1 Congregationalists, Walker, p. 99.
REV. THOMAS SMITH, D.D. 301
problems were submitted to the General Court. All
respectable people were of the church, had made pub-
lic profession of faith and entered upon civil and
religious life at the same time and by the same act.
Each church ordained its officers, who were theoret-
ically at least, pastor, teacher, elders, deacons,
widows. And such were ordained not to a " sacred
office," but simply to the ministry over the church
that called them. So that another ordination was
required if relations were changed. The smallness
of the churches at first probably forbade the full
quota of officers in many. At the time Mr. Smith
was ordained, the only officers were pastor and dea-
cons. This was so in many other places. The pastor
was required to teach, that is expound the Scripture,
as well as preach and perform his pastoral labors.
The magistrates relieved him in much of his labor.
It was not the habit, for instance, for pastors to per-
form the marriage service or pray at funerals. The
first record of a marriage performed by a pastor in
Massachusetts was in the year 1686, only sixteen
years before Mr. Smith was born. The first instance
of a prayer at a funeral was at Roxbury in 1685.
The Bible was not read in churches, as is now our
habit. But verses were read and expounded as read.
All other reading was " dumb reading " and savored
of liturgy, which was hated. It was as late as 1750
when the church at Newburyport authorized the
regular use of Scripture in the church. The preach-
ing was almost exclusively memoriter or from brief
notes. But by the beginning of .the eighteenth
302 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
century, preaching from notes had " become extremely
fashionable."
The life of this colonial church-state came to an
end in 1684. Seven years later Massachusetts had a
new charter. Congregationalism was no longer the
only recognized body of Christians in New England.
All ecclesiastical tests for franchise were abolished.
Freedom of worship was granted to all Protestants.
Church and state were separated in theory. . But
since the old town governments were still maintained
in most of their ancient privileges, that form of
church polity that predominated in New England,
naturally maintained itself, often by arbitrary meth-
ods. All these things had taken place in the relig-
ious life of Massachusetts before Parson Smith's
settlement. His parish was not the early Puritan
church, but yet its offspring, with many of the
ancient traditions. The word " parish " was not
applied with special religious signification during
the colonial period. But it was so applied increas-
ingly after the last year of the seventeenth century.
The town of Falmouth, in town meeting, voted all
matters relating to the financial life of the parish
until the year 1733, when Falmouth was divided
ecclesiastically. In that year begins the First Parish
Record Book, which is kept subsequently by special
parish officers. In 1727, Mr. Smith records, "This
day the church was gathered in this place." In that
year the church book was begun. This separation
between church and parish belongs in New England
to the period between the Puritan church-state and
REV. THOMAS SMITH, D.D. 303
Parson Smith's day. It came about after the year
1684 because not all people were aware of the relig-
ious experience that constituted entrance into full
communion and therefore the right to vote in relig-
ious matters ; and yet as inhabitants of the town they
were compelled to support the ministry. They there-
fore claimed the right in at least the selection of the
pastor. Hence arose the dual organization that has
come down to our day. The Massachusetts laws of
1692-3 directed that the church should choose a min-
ister and the inhalutants or parish might then concur
or non-concur. Mr. Smith's church was always very
small. The names of ten men only are signed to the
covenant. No women's names are preserved. At the
first communion service only thirty were present, out
of a possible one hundred and seventy-five to two
hundred. We do not know the method of Parson
Smith's ordination. Perhaps it was performed by the
town officers, possibly Major Moody. Mr. Smith sim-
ply says he was ordained, but does not attribute the
act to any one of his church or to either of the visit-
ing ministers. Probably the occasion itself signified
to him his ordination. It is interesting also to notice
that he does not speak of a reading of Scripture on
that occasion. It is quite probable that the Scripture
was not read and that he himself did not in the early
part of his ministry read the Scripture for any purpose
than for exposition. Mr. Smith records no marriage,
so far as appears, before the year 1750. This was of
course before the period of Sunday-schools. But he
often speaks of preaching to young men, once in the
304 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
" Old Meeting House." In 1743, June 15, he records,
" I catechised the children on the Neck, about sev-
enty." The first vote of the church, at a meeting
July 10, 1727, is as follows :
41 Voted, That in the admission of members into our communion, it
be not expected that there be formal relations made, as has been the
custom of many churches in this country, unless upon some particular
occasions it may be thought proper."
The leniency of this vote is probably in interpreta-
tion of the somewhat lax spirit of the time, when it
was no longer thought necessary to make public con-
fession of religious experience in order for good and
full religious standing. It may also, as seems quite
probable, be the expression of a sympathy that Par-
son Smith had with so-called Stoddardeanism. Rev.
Solomon Stoddard was minister of the church at
Northampton from 1699-1729. He published a book
in 1700, called " Instituted Churches. This book
held that the Lord's Supper was designed "for all
adult members of the church who were not scan-
dalous." It was to be applied, he said, to "visible
saints," though " unconverted," therefore "it is for
their saving good, and consequently for their con-
version." These "visible saints," though "uncon-
verted," were such people as were by birth members
of a church, through the fact that their parents were
fully converted. Such persons had been recognized
as of the church by the so-called Half-Way covenant of
1657. Parson Smith was probably in sympathy with
Stoddard, whom he quotes approvingly regarding the
matter in a sermon some years later in his ministry.
REV. THOMAS SMITH, D.D. 305
In Parson Smith's records in the church book is a
phrase, often recurring, " Acknowledged the cove-
nant." This had to do with the same Half-Way
covenant of the year 1657 already referred to. There
were people, who believed easily enough the sub-
stance of doctrine then taught, but who were not con-
scious of having had a definite and vivid religious
experience. Such persons were allowed to be mem-
bers of the church, in good standing, only not admitted
to full communion.
Such are some of the religious conditions that met
and occupied Parson Smith at the beginning of his
ministry in Falmouth. But far more necessary doubt-
less in his mind were the immediately pressing
problems of the daily life of this frontier pioneer
town. March 10, 1728, one year after his settle-
ment, he makes the significant record, " I preached
on the sins of the town." Many were "mean
animals," he had said. There is reason to think
that in Falmouth was not less immorality and low
drunkenness than in similar wilderness towns. Mary
Rideout is dismissed from the church for drunkenness
in 1638.
Yet there were also men and women of the finest
type of life. Major Samuel Moody and his son
Joshua were both graduates of the college at Cam-
bridge, perhaps the only college-bred men with Mr.
Smith at the time of his coming. Samuel Cobb, the
man to build the second house on the Neck, and the
first deacon of the church, was a ship-carpenter and
of the very finest type of manhood.
VoL 1 20
306 MAINE HISTOBICAL SOCIETY
One of the severest obstacles to the early growth
of Falmouth was the legal conflict between the Old
and New Proprietors of the land. The people who
settled in 1718 had no title. The actual owners of
the property before the Indian wars had lost all
records. This condition was the occasion of long and
bitter disputes, necessarily very trying to the Parson.
The proprietors of North Yarmouth on this account
petitioned the Court to have their records copied and
preserved lest any casualty happen, which as the
account says, " was the unhappy case of Falmouth in
Oasco Bay, whose records were lost, the loss of which
has run them into great confusion, and has almost
proved their utter ruin and confusion." Mr. Smith's
brother or uncle John was an officer in the town of
North Yarmouth and quite likely got this order
passed. He was also one of the Old Proprietors in
Falmouth. Parson Smith himself was another, hav-
ing purchased an old claim. But the New Proprie-
tors were in the majority. There is therefore some
bitterness in the record that Parson Smith makes in
1728, March 26, " Annual town meeting. The cabal-
ling party carried all before them, and got all the
officers of their party." Perhaps something of exul-
tation when in the following May he writes, " A
mighty stir and unwearied endeavors to overturn the
caballing crew." These differences were not finally
settled until 1732, when under date of September 22
the Parson writes, " They finished the meeting to-day
entirely to the satisfaction of everybody. The New
Proprietors took in the old ones by vote, all signed
FIRST PARISH MEETING-HOUSE,
1740 to 1826.
REV. THOMAS SMITH, D.D. 307
the Articles of Agreement. This was the happiest
meeting Falmouth ever had. Thanks to God."
From this time down to the Revolution the town of
Falmouth, and thus the parish, had a natural, health-
ful growth. There was constant fear of the Indians
down to the treaty of Paris in 1763. Hardly a year
of Parson Smith's journal fails to give record of some
fright or some murder of an outlying settler. The
men were continually summoned to arms. The town
discussed building Parson Smith a garrison in 1734.
One East opposed and prevented it, says the Parson.
But volunteers went to work. He says, " I had about
fifty persons assisting in raising my garrison, and had
a magnificent supper for them." It is no wonder that
we of this generation can hardly throw off the inborn
superstitious fear of that copper-colored race, whose
presence is always possible in lonely woods and
valleys to the youthful imagination.
The parish was divided in 1733 with the setting
off of Cape Elizabeth ; again in 1753, by the
setting off of the present parish of Falmouth. The
building of a new meeting-house in 1740 stirred the
parish to its foundations. The project was voted
down in parish meeting. But certain enterprising
ones purchased land, built the house and offered it to
the parish. The Parson prayed in the new house,
and the congregation moved from its first structure
on the corner of Middle and India streets to the pres-
ent location. The year 1764 was a crucial year. The
parish divided again. The division divided, one part
to become the Stroud water parish, the other to adopt
308 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
the worship of the Church of England. It was at
this time that the Parson's wit saved him from utter
despair. Several members of the Waite family for-
sook the old parish for the Episcopalian enterprise.
On this occasion he said, " The First Parish is like a
clock. When the Waites are off it will stop." But
the parish did not stop. A colleague was engaged
for the Parson, who had then been preaching thirty-
seven years, and together they carried the parish on
till the year 1795. Two years after this arrangement,
we find the following entry in Mr. Deane's journal :
"I taught Mr. Smith this day the play with battledore and shuttle-
cock, with which he seems much pleased. I found it advantageous to
play before dinner, but being tempted to engage after dinner also, I
soon found myself excessively worried, which I did not recover that
day."
Parson Smith was a typical minister of his time.
He was not a man of great learning apparently, nor
of unusual intellectual power. Though in compari-
son he was a leader in his parish. Neither was he a
man of the deeper, finer spiritual insight, such as
certain periods of religious activity produce. The
age was a transition age. The consciousness of
religious experience was far less definite and sharp
than in the early days of colonization or the later days
of the " Great Awakening." Theological dogma was
as firmly fixed and practically beyond discussion as
in the Roman Church to-day. Religious fervor was
rarely found. Ministers preached from notes, so
closely written that the eye could never leave the
page. It seems to one reading the sermons of Mr.
REV. THOMAS SMITH, D.D. 309
Smith as they have been preserved to us, that he
must have read with magnifying glass. The minister
of this period was not marked by the finer prophetic
vision. He was rather a man of affairs. He held a
place similar, it seems, though he himself would have
repudiated the judgment, doubtless, to that of a secu-
lar, city bishop in the Middle Ages. He not only
administered religion. He administered many other
conditions also. The supreme example of this pastor
of the period is the Rev. Increase Mather of Boston,
pastor of the Second Church. But beyond this office,
he is also president of Harvard College from 1685-
1701. He guided the religious administration of
New England. But he alone of all citizens in Mas-
sachusetts could represent that colony in politics in
England, before James II., and win anything like
what his people desired. No bishop ever had more
power comparatively than he. Mather died only four
years before Mr. Smith was ordained, the most con-
spicuous man of his time. His character and influ-
ence was upon every life.
Parson Smith, however, was ever a man of broad,
strong sympathies, a real human being. As he
advanced in life he was considerably affected by the
revivals of Whitefield. He had little of the character
of the ascetic. But he set apart special days for fast-
ing and prayer and contemplation. He apparently
never spared himself when there was work to be done
among his people. He was not only the curer of
souls, but of the body as well. For many years he
practiced the art of medicine among his parishioners,
310 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
not as a disciple of any school, but in the light of the
common knowledge of the day. In all periods of
famine or sickness as well as prosperity, for his
long intercourse with his people brought him with
them through every experience that flesh is heir to,
his simple records in his journal show such a genuine
spirit of sympathy, such touches of kindness, such
words of pity or of joy, that the real inner temper of
the man is plain. At one time we find him working
hard on his sermons, as when he writes, " The week
I spent very closely in preparation for the Sabbath."
Again we find him spending all his time with the
sick. In 1748 he writes, " I am hurried perpetually
with the sick ; the whole practice rests on me."
Again in 1751, "It is a time of health and therefore
a time of leisure with me."
But his pastoral labors and his interpretation of his
religious duties, did not keep him from his place as a
citizen. One of the best educated men of the town,
he took his place naturally as intellectual and social
leader. He went to Boston several times in the year,
by sloop or horseback, or in his chaise with his wife.
In 1744 he writes, " This day I am forty-two years
old. I took a religious note of it. I have rode in
thirteen months past, more than three thousand
miles. I have been to Boston four times." He
received fine entertainment on his journeys, and he
made adequate return in his home in Falmouth. His
house was for many years the best and most costly
house in town. Men of note were his guests. At one
time he says, " I had a great company drinking tea,
REV. THOMAS SMITH, D.D. 311
among them Col. Powell and his sisters." Again, " I
dined with the Governor. The Governor drank tea
with me." Again, " About forty gentlemen, mostly
young men, dined at my house." Mr. Smith was a
man of careful and provident habits. He did not
hesitate to engage in land and other speculations.
An inventory of his estate, written by himself in
1742, would indicate that few men in the town could
be richer than he. The relics from his household,
furniture and clothing still preserved, indicate a
home of affluence. But in his medical practice he
took no money from his people, regarding that ser-
vice as a part of his pastoral duties. And in times
of great stress, such as the burning of the town by
Mo watt in 1775, he received no salary for several
years.
Mr. Smith was married three times, and found
great happiness in each experience. He is described
as short, but full in stature, and very erect. No por-
trait of him is in existence, except an oil painting
made when he was a child. Of his work in the pul-
pit, he always took great concern. " At his first exhi-
bition," one who knew him writes, "in the sacred
desk, though he was not more than twenty-two years
of age, his performances, both in free prayer and
preaching, were much approved by the ablest judges,
and his popularity was remarkable." As we read in
his journal, he seems to have suffered the most
extreme periods of depression and exultation. Thus,
" I was much carried out, and the people seemed
mightily affected." Again, " A very full meeting. I
312 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
was as much, enlarged, and had the most extraordi-
nary assistances, that ever (I think) I found." Again,
" I had extraordinary assistance. Was an hour and
a half in prayer, A. M. ; and above an hour P. M."
But on the other hand, " I preached P. M., but was
in such a clouded, dark frame as ( I think ) I never
was at any other time." Again, " I could not speak
in morning sermon. I told the people they were con-
vinced of the necessity of looking out for another
minister." Again, " I was earnest and blundered in
reading my notes, and was perhaps vapory, and
thought the people slighted me much, though my
wife does not think so." Once it was so cold he
could " preach bat fifteen minutes." And again, in
1766, it was so cold the water froze in the baptismal
bowl.
Mr. Smith was greatly stirred and affected by the
revivals under Whitefield's preaching. In this he
stood against his parish. Whitefield came to Fal-
mouth and preached in his pulpit in 1745. The
record is as follows :
" I have been in great concern about Mr. Whitefield's coming among
us, there having been such a violent opposition to him among all our
leading men except Mr. Frost, and such unwearied pains taken to prej-
udice the people against him, so that I feared nothing but such a quar-
rel as would be fatal to me ; but now he has come, stand still and see
the providence of God. The wonderful providence of God is to be
observed with respect to Mr. Whitefield, that ... he should come
as he did, when Messrs. Pearson, Waite, Wheeler, Moodey, Freeman
and others were all gone out of town, so that there was no uneasiness
but all went well, and general reception. Thanks to God."
The effect upon himself is very interesting.
KEV. THOMAS SMITH, D.D. 313
" For several Sabbaths and the lecture, I have been all in a blaze ;
never in such a flame, and what I would attend to is that it was not
only involuntary, but actually determined against. I went to meeting
resolving to be calm and moderate, lest people should think it was wild-
ness, and affectation to ape Mr. Whitefield ; but God ( I see ) makes
what use of me he pleases, and I am only a machine in his hands.
Tibi Jesu."
Mr. Smith was in general, however, of that quieter,
cooler type of a religious mind that was not
carried far beyond certain fixed limits. He was a
consistent, though mild, Calvinist all his life. He
told his colleague, Mr. Deane, " that he had often
experienced the greatest comfort in these seasons of
extraordinary communion with God ; and often wished
he could have continued in such frames, as when in
the Mount with God. But he had never experienced
such ineffable joys of assurance as some Christians
are said to have enjoyed.
His ideal of what a pastor should be is in the fol-
lowing quaint sentences taken from a sermon :
u As the foundation and chief article of all, it intends the personal
holiness and exemplary pious conversation of such pastors, or that they
are men of truthfulness, substantial, unaffected piety, and of an
exemplary conversation in the presence of all goodness and virtue.
. . And indeed this is so necessary a qualification for a Gospel minis-
ter that without it all other qualifications are of little significance in
the esteem of God. Though he could speak with the tongues of men
and of angels and have not this, he is but as sounding brass or tinkling
cymbal in the ears of heaven. . . It is gross absurdity to imagine
the contrary, a graceless man to be the delight of God whom he chooses
and desires and sets his heart upon ! Such an one, a pastor according
to God's heart ? No ! He may stand right in the church, and in a
considerable degree comply with the purposes of his office, and be a
very useful and serviceable man, but he can never be according to God's
heart, . . such as he would accept and own and reward as he will
his faithful ones in that day when he will make up his jewels. . . .
314 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Thus when pastors openly contradict in their lives what they teach with
their mouths, they thereby unteach their own doctrines, and in effect
tell their people that there is nothing at all in it . . . Those are
pastors after God's own heart who are capable of and make it their
business to feed the flock, ( not to feed themselves and fleece the flock)
but feed them with wisdom and understanding . It is not every good
man that is fit to be a minister of the gospel . . a weak, silly, inju-
dicious man is far from being so. . . For which end it is necessary
that they should be instructed not only in the art of reasoning, but also
in natural and revealed theology, and in moral philosophy, so that they
may be able to explain the popular offices of rich and divine worship,
and the natures of the popular virtues and vices, they exhort to and
dehort from . . they should be well acquainted with the Holy Scrip-
tures . . they should be skilled in the original languages, in the his-
tory and rights and customs of the ages in which they were writ. . .
I do not say that all these things are absolutely necessary to render
men pastors after God's own heart. For I make no doubt that a good
man that thoroughly understands religion, may, with a little learning,
do a great deal of good. . . But certainly to render a man a pastor
accomplished, complete at all points, and for all parts of his office,
requires a very large, comprehensive knowledge."
When Mr. Smith died, the day of the funeral, May
26, 1795, was a day of public mourning. All busi-
ness was stopped. Many came from other towns. A
solemn procession was formed. The program of the
procession was printed and is as follows :
Male members of the Churches in Portland.
Officers of the Churches.
Ministers of Portland.
The Corpse.
Relatives of the Deceased.
Ministers of other towns.
Judges and officers of the Court.
Male citizens.
Females.
Carriages.
KEV. THOMAS SMITH, D.D. 315
Funeral exercises were held in the church. The
funeral address was made by Rev. Elijah Kellogg, of
the Second Parish of Portland, a close friend of Dr.
Smith. I will close this paper with a few words from
Mr. Kellogg's address :
"A life of more than ninety-three years, how replete with incident !
What changes must the possessor have seen ! On the record of Har-
vard's sons, we find his solitary name ; to all around is prefixed the
signature of death. The wilderness where he first pitched his tent, is
now the place of vineyards and of gardens. Not a soul that first com-
posed his flock is now in the land of the living. He beheld a wide
destruction in his own family, which came in upon him like a breach
of waters. He lived und%r the reigns of four different sovereigns. He
saw death take one governor after another from the head of the prov-
ince ; judges from the bench and ministers of God from His temple.
What changes, what vicissitudes are here ! They conduct us through
a long tract of lapsed time. We are walking among the tombs of our
fathers. Venerable pilgrim ! Thy long journey is happily closed.
Thy wayworn body hath at length found its rest."
316 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
WINDHAM'S COLORED PATRIOT
BY SAMUEL T. DOLE
Read before the Maine Historical Society, January 30, 1902
Traditions of negro slavery in Windham are still to
be found among the descendants of a few of the early
settlers, but if these traditions are true, any positive
verification has hitherto eluded the most careful
research I have been able to make. I have traced
these different stories to their origin, and have arrived
at the conclusion that historically they are without
foundation, and we consider it extremely doubtful if
such a condition of things ever existed in the town-
ship, save in one instance. William Mayberry, the
emigrant ancestor of all bearing that surname in this
vicinity, had two negro slaves, a man and a woman,
named Lonnon Rhode and Chloe. Where he obtained
them, how, or by what means, or at what time he
brought them here, I have no means of knowing.
But here they were beyond all question as the records
go to show. In my boyhood there were several peo-
ple living who well remembered these negroes, and
according to their statements Lonnon was a tall,
finely formed man, possessed of great muscular
power, with a skin black as midnight, somewhat
inclined to laziness but good natured and obliging in
the extreme. He was greatly respected by the May-
berry family to whom he in turn was devotedly
WTNDHAM'S COLORED PATRIOT 317
attached ; he was also a prime favorite with all the
children in the neighborhood. On the other hand,
Chloe was short, fat and several shades lighter than
her fellow chattel ; in fact, her complexion was said
to be of a deep russet brown slightly tinged with yel-
low, and one gentleman of Irish proclivities, who hap-
pened to be domiciled near by, invariably called her
" a leather-skinned hay then." She was a great
worker, had a terrible temper and an exceedingly
sharp tongue, and many were the battles royal waged
between herself and Lonnon on account of what she
called his " shiftlessness." However, it appears that
she had no objections to him in the role of a lover, as
the first public notice I find of them is the following
entry still to be seen on the old town records :
u 1763, ( no month or day given ) This is to Certify that there is a
purpose of Marriag between Lonnon & Cloey, both negroes of this town
of Windham with the Consent of their Master Mr. William Maybury
of s d Town
THOMAS CHUTE, Town Clerk.' 11
Their next appearance on the public stage is duly
entered on the town records as follows :
" Dec. 8, 1763. Lonnon and Chloe, both of Windham, was married
in Windham in the County of Cumberland, By the Rev. Peter Thacher
Smith.
MIOAH WALKER, Town Clerk."
It used to be related by the Smith family that when
this dusky couple came before the parson, their gro-
tesque appearance excited his mirth in a marked
degree, especially, as the groom with a haughty bear-
ing requested him to make " dis twain one flesh."
318 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Mr. Smith was at this time unmarried, and it so hap-
pened that the only persons then at his boarding
place were two young ladies. It being necessary to
have witnesses present, he invited these ladies into
the room where the expectant couple were in waiting.
By dint of strong effort he managed to preserve the
dignity due the occasion and performed the cere-
mony, at the close of which he said to the groom, as
was customary, " Salute your bride." Drawing him-
self to his full height, and swelling his chest to its
utmost, at the same time giving his bride a vigorous
push in the parson's direction, the groom replied,
" After you is manners, sar." This was too much for
the good minister's mirth to withstand ; he exploded
with laughter, and although strongly urged by the
young ladies present to accept the proffered invita-
tion, beat a hasty retreat, leaving the colored man
undoubted master of the situation.
It is said that Mr. Smith used to relate this incident
with a great deal of relish at the old-time conferences
and other public gatherings, and once when a brother
minister inquired, " And what did you say to such a
challenge, Brother Smith ? " he replied, " What could
I say ? The poor fellow was only acting in imitation
of his betters, and doubtless thought he was doing me
a real act of kindness."
The newly married couple resided with Mr. May-
berry until his death, which took place March 15,
1765. On the settlement of his estate Lonnon became
the property of Thomas Mayberry, and Chloe fell to
his brother Richard, afterward a captain in the
319
Continental army, and so late as 1773 we find them
as the property of these brothers. In that year
Thomas paid a tax of twelve shillings three pence for
Lonnon, and Richard paid eight shillings six pence
for Chloe. Thomas Mayberry died previous to 1777,
and his wife settled his estate, and she sold Lonnon
his freedom, as appears from the following entry on
the town records :
" Cumberland S.S. Windham, January 22, 1777. This may certify
that I Margaret Mayberry, administratrix, hath received twenty pounds
of my negro man named ^Lonnon, it being the sum of his appraisal of
Mr. Thomas Mayberry's estate, and I hereby certify that the above
named Lonnon is free and his own man.
Witness, Richard Dole, MARGARET MAYBERRY.
Joseph Weeks. "
He enlisted in the Continental army for three years,
but just at what time 1 have not ascertained. The
army returns state that he died at Valley Forge,
December 9, 1777. If these dates are correct, then he
was a freeman less than one year from the time Mrs.
Mayberry signed the foregoing document. I am
inclined to believe, however, that the date on the bill
of sale is incorrect from the fact that Richard Dole,
one of the witnesses, was known to be serving in the
army at the time mentioned, so I have no doubt that
the date should be at least one year earlier.
Although Lonnon's condition in life was humble
we have every reason to believe that he performed
his duty as a soldier faithfully, and endured without
complaint the sufferings and privations of the early
part of that terrible winter in the huts of Valley
Forge. And here death claimed him as its victim,
320 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
and with, many of his fellow patriots who gave their
lives for their country's independence he sleeps his
last sleep in the soil where they suffered and died,
while the sacred memories of a great and free people
cluster like a benediction around their low sepulchers.
" The muffled drum's sad roll has beat
The soldier's last tattoo;
No more on life's parade shall meet
The brave and daring few.
On fame's eternal camping ground
Their silent tents are spread,
And glory guards with solemn round
The bivouac of the dead."
Chloe outlived her husband several years and died
at the home of Captain Mayberry, but the time of her
death and place of burial are both unknown to the
present generation. According to the records of the
First Church, Lonnon and Chloe had four children,
all born in Windham and all baptized* by Rev. Peter
T. Smith. These children were as follows :
" Harry, baptized October, 1766.
" Robin, baptized March, 1768.
" Lucy, baptized April 19, 1772.
u Hagar, baptized January, 1775."
Three of these children died young, but Lucy grew
to be a strong, healthy woman, and was quite a char-
acter in her way. She was very ignorant. Like her
mother, she was a smart, capable housemaid, and like
her she had a sharp tongue, a ready wit, and usually
came off victorious in a war of words, no matter who
her antagonist might be. She used to work in the
different families in the neighborhood, but always
WINDHAM'S COLORED PATRIOT. 321
claimed a home with, the Mayberry family ; in fact,
she called herself Lucy Mayberry. In after life she
became exceedingly corpulent and unwieldy, which
incapacitated her for labor and she became a town
charge. At that time Windham had no fixed place
for the town's poor and the custom was at the annual
town meetings to put such unfortunate ones up at
auction, and whoever offered the lowest figures
obtained the care of paupers for the ensuing year,
for which sum the town was held responsible.
Among such records I find on the town books the
following :
" April 7, 1817, Voted that Luce a negro girl be put up to vendue to
be struck off to the lowest bidder, and was struck off to Dr. James
Merrill he being the lowest bidder for thirty-six dollars."
At the adjournment of the annual meeting held on
May 4, 1818,
" Voted that Luce a negro woman be put up to vandue and struck off
to the lowest bidder, and was struck off to Reuben Robinson for forty-
nine dollars, he being the lowest bidder.*"
At length the town's people, becoming ashamed of
these annual auctions, purchased a farm near Wind-
ham Center on which their unfortunate poor have
since been comfortably cared for. " Black Luce," as
she was always called, spent the last years of her life
on this farm. She died about the year 1838-9,
and the writer well remembers the little procession
which followed her remains to their last resting-place
in the cemetery near my native village at South
Windham. With her death became extinct the line
of Windham's colored patriot, Lonnon Rhode.
VoL I 21
322 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
JAMES SULLIVAN
BY HORACE H. BURBANK, ESQ.
Read before the Maine Historical Society, March 27, 1902
The lives and character, the successes and defeats
of the great men who have become distinguished in
nation, state or community, largely contribute to the
history of local, state and national affairs. Govern-
ment is instituted, promoted and secured by men,
however small or large be the limitations which cir-
cumscribe their field of operations.
The historian of town, state or republic, or of mon-
archies or kingdoms ancient or modern, who is true
to his subject, and would faithfully record the tri-
umphs or the failures of his chosen pen-path, neces-
sarily weaves into his work, more or less, the
biography of those leaders who have contributed to
shaping the philosophy and principles which underlie
all true government.
Recall the history of Sparta, Rome, Greece, Eng-
land, Germany, and these United States, with all
their glory, strike from the record the inspiring char-
acters of Leonidas, Caesar, Pericles, Cromwell, Bis-
marck, Washington, Lincoln, and a host of other
heroes, who in the march of civilization have cleared
the rugged way to the mountains of purer atmosphere
and broader vision, and there would be little left to
impress the reader with the grandeur of the work.
JAMES SULLIVAN 323
The history of her patriotic and eminent sons is an
important part of a nation's inheritance. The biog-
raphy of distinguished soldiers, civilians and scholars
is at once the most interesting and effective. It is
not the grand outlines of history that make upon the
mind the most definite and lively impression. It is
its minuter details. Individuals, rather than the
masses, arouse our emotions and excite our admira-
tion. The life of a single hero may do more to illus-
trate the elements of character and the principles of
patriotism than would the outline history of a whole
campaign or an entire epoch. The general historian
frames the skeleton ; the biographer furnishes the
flesh and blood and vitality. The same truth is
found imbedded in the minor annals of state, county
and town.
This thought has suggested as my theme, a brief
outline of the life of one who laid the foundation
of his successful career on the banks of the Saco
River, but whose subsequent fame overspread the
District of Maine, the Commonwealth of Massachu-
setts and the Republic, and he who wrought that
career was
JAMES SULLIVAN.
John Sullivan, the father of our local hero, was a
native of Limerick, in Ireland, who in 1723 came to
York, Maine, and was there held under bonds to the
master of the vessel for his passage money. Parson
Moody, a familiar personage in that town, a clergy-
man of eccentricity, ability and generosity, loaned
324 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Mr. Sullivan money to discharge this obligation,
having speedily enlisted in the young man's welfare.
The latter soon evinced an ambition to be a teacher,
and to prove his qualifications for such a vocation he
wrote a letter ( tradition has it ) in seven different lan-
guages, and again aided by his clerical friend, he
opened a school in Berwick in this county.
Among the passengers who voyaged with Sullivan
from Ireland was a little girl of nine years, by name
of Margery. John had had a love affair in the " old
country," which aroused the persistent opposition of
his widowed mother, who peremptorily forbade the
marriage, and his independent, rebellious spirit led
him to America. The girl passenger Margery, with
her childish prattle and winning ways, unconsciously
contributed much consolation to his disappointed
heart. In his turn he became responsible for the
girl's passage money, she became his ward and a
member of his household, and shared his instruction.
It is recorded that she grew to be a handsome young
woman of unusual energy of character.
A suitor for her hand appeared, and the interviews
which resulted between the suitor and her guardian,
and between guardian and ward, developed a mutual
attachment existing in the hearts of John and Mar-
gery, and their marriage soon followed. This event
occurred in 1735, when the groom was forty-three
years old ( and for a groom he was old ), and his bride
was but twenty-one, but to each it was the beginning
of a happy life. James Sullivan was the fourth child
of this romantic union, born in Berwick, April 22,
JAMES SULLIVAN 325
1744. As he grew into youth, his parents marked
out for him the military profession, his father having
inherited soldierly instincts or qualities, but when
about sixteen years old, while cutting down a tree,
James received a serious and permanent injury to his
foot and leg, which debarred him from a soldier's life.
He became the student of the family, a home student,
as were the other children.
John, an older brother, became a lawyer and prac-
ticed successfully in Durham, N. H., and Ebenezer,
another brother, entered upon the same profession in
South Berwick, Me., and proved brilliant and elo-
quent, but an excessive use of liquors reduced his
practice, he left the State, and soon after died in New
York City.
James read law with his brother John in Durham,
which was a region of fertile farms, peace and
plenty, whose inhabitants cherished a strong preju-
dice against lawyers. Some of the younger and
more fiery citizens, upon John's advent into their
community, served him with notice to quit the town,
and accompanied this notice with a threat of physical
force in case of non-compliance. He retorted that he
should not leave, and that if resort was made to force,
he would be found ready. Great excitement fol-
lowed, and many people were soon arrayed on either
side of this unique contest. Collisions between the
factions resulted, and one man was severely wounded
by an over-zealous adherent of Sullivan. The matter
had assumed a very serious aspect, a truce was called,
a conference held, whereat it was agreed that a
326 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
combat between the young lawyer and a champion
chosen from his enemies should decide whether the
young lawyer should remain in this chosen field or
seek another, whose environments might prove more
congenial.
John Sullivan was a man of great physical strength
and large stature, and his opponents' immediate
friends objected that it was an unequal and unfair
match. At this point of the controversy, James, of
smaller physique and with a lame leg, volunteered as
a substitute for his " big brother " in defense of the
rights of man, and of the legal profession in particu-
lar. James came out of the combat victorious, and
the historian adds " curiously, the people of the town
ever after had the greatest confidence in John." This
same John Sullivan was subsequently governor of the
Province of New Hampshire, and a major-general of
volunteers in the War of the Revolution. If such a
test were applied to the aspirations of the young law-
yers of our time, doubtless the fond dreams of many
would be prematurely dissolved and the bar corre-
spondingly thinned of its votaries.
Those were fighting days, however, and much
must be pardoned to the habits and spirit of men
who were preparing for the mighty conflict soon to
arise between the giants of the wilderness and the
monarch of England.
We read of no other special episodes or diversions
that met James during his legal studies, and in 1767
he was admitted to the bar, and we soon find him
opening an office in Georgetown in the Province of
JAMES SULLIVAN 327
Maine. Indian raids upon the town had ceased, and
the people had resumed their customary civil pur-
suits. Sullivan was subsequently asked the question,
which occurs to us, why he began his professional
life in so remote a region, and he promptly answered,
" I knew I must make a break into the world some-
where, and I sought the thinnest place." He remained
in Georgetown, however, but two years, and in 1769
came to Biddeford, and was the first resident lawyer
we find on Saco River. Since this paper was written
I have been shown .the original order (which I copy)
found among the papers of Colonel Thomas Cutts 1
formerly of Saco, namely :
"MB. CUTTS,
Sir please to let Wm Perkins have one gall n of molasses and charge
the same to your humble ser*
August y* llth 1768." JAMES SULLIVAN
This paper proves that Mr. Sullivan's advent to
Biddeford was the year prior to that fixed by Folsom
in his history of Saco and Biddeford.
Probably the absence of the record of his work in
Georgetown may be accounted for in the want of
clients and causes which await all beginners in the
profession, but in Biddeford he promptly entered
upon that unbroken career of legal and political
accomplishments, which for thirty years accumulated
in his honor, and ceased only at death. Prior to his
'Colonel Thomas Cutts was in his day one of the most eminent merchants; in
Maine. His stately mansion, built in 1781-2 on Cutt's Island, overlooks the Saco
River and its extensive manufactories. He was the successor of Mr. Sullivan in
the Provincial Congress. He came from Kittery to Saco ( then a part of Biddeford )
in about 1768 and died in Saco, January 10, 1821, aged 85 years. Many of his descend-
ants reside in Saco.
328 MAINE HISTORIC AL SOCIETY
advent to this locality, litigated business had been
wholly conducted by lawyers from distant towns in
the District, Portland, York, Kittery, and even from
Boston, Salem, Newburyport and Portsmouth, when
the custom of " riding the circuit " of the courts was
in vogue.
These lawyers, on horseback, equipped with saddle-
bags of books and briefs, rode through the wilderness
from court to court, consulted with clients, tried their
causes before judges and juries, and then beguiled
the evening hours with anecdotes, wit and repar-
tee, or with the weightier discussion of the political
problems, then absorbing in large measure public
attention (these evening relaxations being usually
moistened with liberal potations of flip and punch )
and when courts had adjourned, rode back to their
homes.
This condition of limited opportunities for business
men on Saco River to employ lawyers in emergency,
opened the door of success to young Sullivan, who
was favored with natural energy, varied acquire-
ments, patience, ambition, and popular manners, and
he speedily secured a large and lucrative practice.
Moreover, Indian depredations had practically
ceased, the struggles of the Revolution were but
dimly foreseen, ship-building, lumber business and
West India trade had developed into activity the men
and resources of this community, and commerce and
trade flourished. Timber lands on the banks of the
Little Ossipee River, a tributary of Saco River, run-
ning through the town of Newfield, and dividing the
JAMES SULLIVAN 329
towns of Limerick and Waterborough, offered temp-
tations to speculators to which our ancestors yielded.
In 1772, James Sullivan and thirteen other residents
of Biddeford and Pepperellboro (Saco) by a legal
fiction, laid claim to the tract of land which they
named Limerick, in honor of Sullivan's father, a
native of Limerick in Ireland.
The legal fiction was on this wise : Upon this piece
of lead ( which I show you ) about eight by ten inches
in size, on the obverse side, they cut in coarse letters
the fourteen names of the claimants, and the date,
"Anno, 1772, May 15," and on the reverse side,
" Daniel Ridlon cum animo possessidendi, Witness
D. King, J. Wingate Limbrick." ( a common way of
spelling the name of the town then ). This was their
token or evidence of possession taken, but their title
deed came from the heirs of Francis Small, who had
bought the lands between the Ossipee Rivers of an
Indian, Captain Sunday or Sandy, for " two blankets,
2 gallons of rum, 2 pounds of powder, four pounds of
musket balls and 20 strings of beads," the considera-
tion given for a tract of land supposed to be twenty
miles square which tract included the plantations of
Francistown ( Cornish ), Parsonstown ( Parsonsfield ),
Washington ( Newfield ), Limerick, Little Ossipee
( Limington ), and Hubbardston ( Shapleigh ).
Francis Small deeded to Nicholas Shapleigh what
is now Shapleigh, Limerick and Waterboro. The
Limerick settlers or " squatters," if you please, came
into possession by occupation, but in 1773 an agree-
ment was made with the heirs of Francis Small and
330 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
heirs of Nicholas Shapleigh and in this writing it was
" like wise agreed that Mr. James Sullivan with his
company shall have the one-half of thirteen thousand
acres where he has laid out called by the name of
Limbrick Town provided said Sullivan oblige himself
to defend our title against other claims : this we agree
to provided said Shapleigh heirs give him the said
Sullivan the other half of the said thirteen thousand
acres."
The names of these claimants, " Mr. James Sullivan
with his company," are found on this piece of lead in
the following order : T. Gilpartk, B. Nason, S. Win-
gate, E. Allen, 0. Emery, J. Bradbury, W. Cole, J.
Stimpson, J. Staple, J. Cole, J. Gilpatrick, J. Morrell,
and ( lastly and modestly ) J. Sullivan.
This token or evidence of ownership, or perhaps
only possession, was deposited upon or in the ground
on the north bank of the Little Ossipee River by the
agents of the claimants, and was presumed to be
notice to all comers that said claimants had legal title
and had taken actual possession. Fiction, indeed,
for I find no evidence that any one but these three
men ( Daniel Ridlon, D. King and J. Wingate ) ever
after saw this token until 1845, it was found
imbedded in the earth about eighteen inches below
the surface near the remains of an old pine stump.
It was found upon the farm of George Ford, whose
widow gave it to me as a New Year's gift in 1881.
I think I may well claim ownership to this deposit
not only as the grantee of the finder, but also
because I am a descendant in direct line from that
JAMES SULLIVAN 331
" Thomas Gilpartk," whose name first appears upon
its face.
But I will return from my digression. In 1774,
writes Folsom, historian of Saco and Biddeford, " liti-
gation had ceased, courts were suspended," and to
most men prospects were gloomy in the extreme.
Sullivan again " took to de woods " and with his axe,
blanket and week's provision went with other settlers
to Limerick, and began felling trees to reduce his
lands to a state of cultivation and to support his fam-
ily. On Saturday evenings he returned ( a distance
of more than twenty miles ) as black and as cheerful
as the natives on their return from a successful
hunt. Necessity in early life had acquainted him
with almost every kind of labor. He handled the
axe and saw, the shovel and plow equally with any
one and superior to many, with cheerful resolution
and forceful energy. Nobler work, however, awaited
his aroused mental activities, and his avowed patriot-
ism. The fires of the Revolutionary conflict were
being kindled throughout New England and along
the Atlantic coast, the blood of liberty-loving Ameri-
cans was approaching the boiling point, and men of
Sullivan's calibre were summoned to the legislative
halls. In the spring of 1774, a few weeks after his
winter's wood-chopping, Sullivan was sent as Repre-
sentative of his town ( Biddeford ) to the General
Court which that year convened at Salem. He was
found among the most active members of that body
promoting the independence of the Colonies and was
prominent in the preparation of addresses to the
332 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
people, as well as in the establishment of laws adapted
to the new order of civil affairs. At home he was
equally fearless and conspicuous, for Folsorn ascribes
to him the authorship of certain Resolutions adopted
July 30, 1774, endorsing the cutting off all inter-
course with Great Britain, namely :
" At a Meeting of the Inhabitants of the Town of Biddeford the 30th
Day of July, 1774 Resolved,
" 1st. Whereas the Parliament of Great Britain has for the Express
purpose of raising a Revenue, and an Unconstitutional Tax, on the
English American Colonies, made Several Acts highly Distressing to
said Colonies in General and this Province in Particular ; hy which
Acts the Metropolis of this Province is Blocked up and distressed : the
Civil Government of the Province Altered ( as far as by said Act it can
be ) in the most Material and priviledged Points thereof : and particu-
larly the Invaluable Right of a Trial by an uncorrupted Jury Intirely
Destroyed :
"2nd. Therefore Resolved, that the Inhabitants of this Town now
Assembled will in a Resolute, Manly and determined manner, pursue
all Legal and Constitutional methods as shall by the other Towns in
this Province be thought Conducive to the restoration of our Natural
Rights as Men and our Political Rights as Englishmen, and that no
Inconvenience however Injurious to the private Interest of any of us,
shall be a Sufficient cause to break this Resolution : And whereas the
Committee of Correspondence for the Town of Boston has Transmitted
to us Papers to be Signed by the Inhabitants of this Town, Which
Papers contain certain Covenant Oaths and Agreements that the Sub-
scribers thereto Shall break off all Commercial Intercourse with the
Island of Great Britain until the Oppressive Acts aforesaid are totally
Repealed : and the Inhabitants of this Town being very Sensible that
there is no Method yet Pointed out which tends so much to the advanc-
ing the Opulence of this Country and happy Extrication of it from its
present difficulties and Distresses as the Universal Coming into and the
Religious Observation of those Covenant Oaths and Agreements, or
Others Somewhat Similar thereto :
" 3rd. It is Therefore Resolved that if the Committee appointed
by the late Honorable House of Representatives of this Province to
meet the Delegates of the Colonies in General Congress at Philadelphia
or Elsewhere, And the other Members of said Congress, shall Advise to
JAMES SULLIVAN 333
a Universal Withdrawment of our Commerce with the Island of Great
Britain until the aforesaid Oppressive Acts of Parliament shall be
Repealed, we will strictly Adhere thereto, And as our Dependence under
God is chiefly placed in the Steady pursuance of such wise Measures
as Shall be Recommended by the Congress.
"We Therefore Resolve that whatever Measure shall be by said
Congress Advised to and Complied with by the Majority of the other
towns in this Province, shall be Literally and Strictly adhered to by us.
41 And we further Resolve that if any Person among us shall Demean
himself Contrary to any Plan that shall be Laid for our Deliverance by
the Congress and agreed to by this and the Majority of the other Towns
in the Province, we will have no Society, Trade or Commerce with such
Person, But will Esteem and Treat him as an Enemy to his Country.
Attest, RISHWOBTH JORDAN, Town Clerk. 1 '
These resolutions were adopted and spread upon
the town records. The people on both sides of our
river were almost unanimous in matters of difference
with the mother country : their leaders were unflinch-
ing Whigs ( as patriots were then called ) who sup-
ported and defended in earnest determination the
action of the Provincial Congress. At a town meet-
ing, December 22, 1774, Rishworth Jordan, Esq.,
James Sullivan, Esq., Captain Benjamin Hooper,
Thomas Gilpatrick (father of the Limerick settler,
heretofore named ) and Captain James P. Hill were
chosen a " committee of safety and inspection."
" Mr. Sullivan was chosen, at the same time, Delegate to the Pro-
vincial Congress, and empowered to correspond with the neighboring
towns. It was also voted ' that the Delegate inform the Congress that
his Constituents think best to keep their own money to form a maga-
zine of their own for their own defence. Resolved, that R. Jordan, J.
Sullivan, B. Hooper, James Carlisle, Thomas Gillpatrick, Benj. Staples,
Allison Smith, Josiah Stimpson, Jere. Hill jr. Simon Wingate, James
Staples, Aaron Porter, Jeremiah Cole, be a committee to provide a
town stock of six half barrels of Powder, 5 cwt. of lead, and a suffic-
iency of flints, according to the number of persons in the Train band
334 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
and Alarm list in said town, four barrels of which powder, and the
whole of the lead and flints are to be kept entire until the Town shall
otherwise order, or it shall become necessary to deliver the same to the
said persons in the Train band or Alarm list.
" Also, Resolved, that the said committee dispose of the other two
half barrels of powder at a reasonable price to such of the inhabitants
of the town as have a mind to purchase the same with ready cash, to
use it in defence of their Country. Voted unanimously. Attest,
JAMES SULLIVAN, Moderator."
At the same meeting Mr. Sullivan was chosen a Del-
egate to the Provincial Congress, where he remained
until 1776.
Soon after that time he removed his family to
Groton, Mass. A profound respect was ever enter-
tained by our inhabitants for the character and tal-
ents of Mr. Sullivan from the period of his first
settlement among them as a young attorney. He was
himself ready to acknowledge, at a late date, when
holding a high and enviable rank among his contem-
poraries, the obligations which their favor had
imposed on him. " I have a grateful remembrance,"
he says in a letter to Colonel Tristram Jordan, " of
the marks of confidence, and the acts of kindness
done me by the people on your river, and wherever I
can reciprocate their goodness, I shall cheerfully do
it." The patriotic views of Mr. Sullivan, ably and
eloquently expressed, on the commencement of hos-
tilities with Great Britain materially assisted in
securing a united support of the war, and a harmony
and concert of action in both towns.
During this period his talent for military service
was not forgotten nor ignored by his fellow citizens.
November 4, 1775, the leading patriots from several
JAMES SULLIVAN 335
towns met at Falmouth and the record shows that
" Mr. James Sullivan was chosen commander-in-chief
over the militia and other companies now in the pay
of the Province."
His three brothers were already engaged in the
Revolutionary campaigns but James' lameness ren-
dered him unfitted for such service ; so another line
of advancement opened for him. In the summer of
1775, he was selected by the Provincial Congress one
of a committee of three to investigate the military
conditions of Lake Champlain and Arnold's conduct
of the campaign, and to direct further proceedings.
While in the legislative halls he had proved espec-
ially useful in framing laws for the new Common-
wealth, and partly in recognition of such experience
in November, 1777, he was appointed judge of
admiralty for the Eastern District, which embraced
the present State of Maine. He resigned this office
in the year following that he might accept an appoint-
ment as one of the justices of the Supreme Judicial
Court. At the time of this accession he was but
thirty-two years of age, a notable recognition of his
ability, in view of so many distinguished lawyers in
the District.
In 1782 he vacated this bench and was elected a
Delegate to the Continental Congress. In 1788 he
was appointed judge of Probate Court for Suffolk
County, an office then, as now, demanding excellent
qualities and large experience.
Eight years later (1796) he was appointed attorney-
general of the Commonwealth, and ably discharged
336 MAESTE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
the duties of this station until 1804, in which year
his canvass for the gubernatorial chair opened. He
did not succeed at first attempt but became governor
in 1807, was re-elected in 1808, and died December
10, 1808, while serving his second term, at the age of
sixty-four years.
Other public recognition of his varied abilities are
found in the following data : In 1770, two years after
his advent to Biddeford, he received the appointment
of king's attorney for York County ; in 1779-80 he
was a member of the Massachusetts Constitutional
Convention ; in 1787 he was of the Executive Council ;
he was the United States agent appointed by Washing-
ton in the settlement of the boundary line between this
country and the British North American Provinces ;
he was the projector of the Middlesex Canal, the
building of which was under the supervision of his
son, John L. Sullivan ; James Sullivan was a Fellow
of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and
one of the principal founders of the Massachusetts
Historical Society and for many years its president ;
in 1780 he received the degree of Master of Arts at
Harvard, and in 1799 the degree of LL.D. from
Brown University.
This brief summary of his official and public life
was the result and is the evidence of unceasing per-
severance, irrepressible activity, indomitable energy
and abundant qualifications and capacity to meet the
requirements of any field of public usefulness.
Nor was his busy brain content with professional,
political and judicial work. He wielded the literary
JAMES SULLIVAN 337
pen as well. He was the author of " Observations on
the Government of the United States," " The Path to
Riches, or Dissertation on Banks," "Impartial Re view
of the Causes, etc., of the French Revolution," " His-
tory of Land Titles in Massachusetts " (in which he
must have had in memory his Limerick experiences ),
a " Dissertation on the Constitutional Liberty of the
Press," "History of the Penobscot Indians," "His-
tory of Maine." These works evince the versatility
of his thought and his mental facility.
The persuasive powers of his eloquence were often
recognized and were fully appreciated by the public
demand. Washington was once heard to say that
" when his soldiers were restless, turbulent, or dis-
couraged, he had but to send to them one of the elo-
quent Sullivans, when they quickly forgot their trials
and complaints, and resolved to persevere in the
contest."
James Sullivan stood in the front rank as a public
speaker, prompt, fluent, vigorous, popular and capti-
vating in his appeals. He seemed endowed with
executive genius and was an intrepid worker. His
unflagging resolution, his rare capacity for work, his
endurance, his prompt mastery of the subject in hand,
his eloquence, his facility in literary composition, all
these combined, prove him to have been a marvel of
brain power, a man worthy to rank with the best and
the busiest of any epoch, ancient or modern. His life
was a noteworthy contribution to that glorious list of
patriots and statesmen who founded this free govern-
ment. He was a self-made man like many other
VoL 1 22
338 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
conspicuous figures of our Revolutionary period.
Whatever lie won was his because of his talent and
energy and by dint of toil.
It is said that three forces enter into and determine
the character of every man, the force of heredity, the
force of environment and the force of will. Sullivan
combined these forces in wonderful measure, for he
had worthy ancestry, he lived in times when circum-
stances developed the best powers in men, and he had
the will-power which could and did utilize the forces
of his brain and his opportunities.
To such noble characters the nation is indebted for
the establishment of this republic. From the fields
of conflict they saw truth ripen into principles, and
these principles into constitutional law. Living in
an epoch when Washington, Hamilton, Jefferson,
Franklin, Adams, Hancock and many other liberators
graced the earth, Sullivan belongs to that galaxy of
heroes who made possible this free republic, building
it upon enduring foundations.
We rightfully inherit the accumulated glory of the
past, and are proud of the record made by these
fathers of liberty. We may well rejoice in the price-
less heritage of all their toil and struggle, their sacri-
fice, their patriotism and devotion.
As we stand upon the threshold of a new century,
mindful of the magnificent achievements of the past,
in vivid imagination peering into the possibilities of
the opening future, let us all unite in one grand,
united, sincere acclaim, " The United States of
America, Great Empire of Liberty, forward."
PROPOSED NEW ARRANGEMENT OF NEW ENGLAND 339
A PROPOSED NEW ARRANGEMENT OF NEW
ENGLAND IN 1764
COMMUNICATED BY HON. JOSEPH WILLIAMSON
Bead before the Maine Historical Society, May 16, 1902
[Sir Francis Bernard, Governor of Massachusetts, to the Earl of
Halifax, English Secretary of State, Extracts.]
BOSTON, NOVEM. 9, 1764.
MY LORD :
Being apprehensive that very soon, if it is not at present, a
new arrangement of New England may be taken into considera-
tion, I think it is my duty to make your Lordship acquainted with
my sentiments upon this subject. I have long had it in my
thoughts, having been convinced that the present Distribution of
the lands between New York and Nova Scotia must, sooner or
later, be put under new Establishments. This business seems
only to have waited for a proper time, and probably that time is
now come.
The Country Westward of Boston is sufficiently well known,
and so is that to the Eastward as far as Casco Bay, and also in some
degree to Kennebeck River, and beyond it to the West side of
Penobscot Bay. But further, it is but late that the land has been
explored, only since the reduction of Quebec, and the submission
of the Indians in consequence thereof has made it safe for Eng-
lishmen to visit it. And all the surveys by actual measure of the
Country between Penobscot and St. Croix, that I know of, have
been taken by my directions, and some of them under my own
eye.
The Division of New England into Governments of suitable
size and with proper boundaries, is by no means a difficult task, if
it was unembarrassed with the politicks, prejudices and humours of
340 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
the People. These create some apparent difficulties, but in my
opinion no more than what conduct, perseverance and authority
will easily get the better of. At present I will waive the consid-
eration of these, & only regard the topographical state of the
Country and from thence conclude what would be the most con-
venient Division of it into separate Governments if the people in
general were indifferent about it.
And first, I will suppose that the two Republicks of Connecti-
cut and Rhode Island are to be dissolved. Without that a new
arrangement of New England would be impracticable at least
very imperfect.
The next Province should consist of the Province of Maine
and such part of Acadie as the Territory of Sagadahock as lies
Westward of the River Penobscot, that is, all the country between
Piscataqua and Penobscot. The length of this in a right line
along the Coast is about 150 miles, tho' by a geographical paral-
lel between the Divisional line at the head of Nychioraunock
and the River Penobscot it would be considerably less, not above
miles. The Town of Falmouth in Casco Bay here offers
itself as a very proper Capital, being 60 miles from Piscataqua,
and 90 from Penobscot Bay. This town is now growing with
great rapidity, it has a large trade in shipbuilding, & is becoming
a principal sea port for masts ; and if it was made the seat of a
Government it would soon become worthy of being one. This
would make a good Province, and would show at present state
of one, between infancy & maturity.
The third Province would contain the remainder of the Terri-
tory of Sagadahock, with so much of the Continent of Nova
Scotia as shall be thought proper to add to it ; for instance from
the River Penobscot to the River St. Johns. This would be not
less than 180 miles in a strait line, due West and East, which
is the course of a great part of the coast. This would truly be
an infant Province, and a very helpless one too. The whole of
this Tract would at this time have been an uninhabited waste, if
PROPOSED NEW ARRANGEMENT OF NEW ENGLAND 341
it had not been for the efforts of the Province of Massachusetts
Bay about 3 years ago, to settle 13 Townships on the East side of
Penobscot ; the grants of which still want His Majesty's Confir-
mation, upon account of the Province title to make such grants
being questioned. In some of these towns .there are several set-
tlers at a considerable expense, at one particularly, where money
& spirit have not been wanted, 60 families, the whole required by
the terms of the grant, are settled at the expense of L1000 ster-
ling out of the pocket of two or three persons only. Neverthe-
less I don't believe there are above 150 families in all these
Townships ( including the Island of Mount Desert where there
are at present about 20 families ) which together with about 30
families in the Bay of Ma*chias, who are settled under no author-
ity at all, make in the whole 180 families. All these except 1,
2, or 3 leading men in each Township, are extremely poor and
worth nothing but their lot of land, and the miserable dwelling,
with the little clearances they have made upon it. This is a true
state of the Country between Penobscot & St. Croix, the whole
length of which I have reconnoitred in person.
It seems therefore too early to make a separate Government of
this Country at present, tho' it may be very proper even now to
make a designation of it, and even to form the plan, to be exe-
cuted when it has a sufficient population. In the mean time it
may be best to let the parts which are to compose this Govern-
ment, be divided by the bounds of Nova Scotia, that is, that
Country which lies on the East of St. Croix to remain to the
Government of Nova Scotia, and that Country which lies on the
West of St. Croix to remain to the Government of Maine and
Sagadahock ; and let them be settled under these respective Gov-
ernments, untill they have acquired a sufficient number of people
to make one of their own. As for a Capital, it would be too
early to determine upon that now, it would be perhaps the best
way to let the several Towns advance themselves as they can,
and then pick and choose among them. At present for the situ-
ation of a Capital we should balance between the Bay of St.
Croix ( or more properly the Bay of Passamaquoddy ) and the
342 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Bay of Machias. The former I know very well, having lived
there at Anchor 4 days, and having had' the whole of it to the
Westward of the River St. Croix surveyed and planned. The
Bay of Machias I know only by report and a Sea view of it, not
being able to go in for want of a pilot who knew it.
Having gone through the Topography of the Country I must
return to the Westward, to take notice of the difficulties which
the politicks, prejudices & humours of the people may create
there. And these seem all to arise from the bad policy of estab-
lishing forms of Government in the British Dominions. It was
a strange oversight in Charles the Second, when Monarchy was
restored in Great Britain, to confirm the Republicks in America.
Hence has arisen a notion that the people on one side of a River
have a right to a greater degree and a different mode of liberty
than their fellow subjects on the other side. Hence it will prob-
ably will be that the Western parts of Connecticut will be unwil-
ing to be united to New York, and the Province of Maine will
be unwilling to be separated from the Massachusetts. But if the
form of the Massachusetts Government should be so far altered
as to remove the little remains of its republican cast, the distinc-
tion between that and the adjoining Governments would be less
regarded. As for the Religious Divisions, they are become so
entirely subservient to politicks that if the state of the Govern-
ments is reformed and a perfect toleration secured, Religion will
never give any trouble.
Your Lordship knows perhaps that it is my opinion that the
most perfect form of Government for a mature American Prov-
ince remains still to be designed.
The Desideratum is a Third Legislative Power, which shall be,
or at least appear to be, independent of the King & People.
Without this the Constitution of an American Government is not
made so similar to that of the Mother Country as it is capable of
being, and therefore hath not received its greater possible perfec-
tion. To effect this, the Functions of the present Council should
be separated & that Body divided into a Legislative Council & a
Privy Council the former to be appointed by His Majesty for life
PROPOSED NEW ARRANGEMENT OF NEW ENGLAND 343
removeable only for misdemeanours by the Judgement of their
own body ; the latter to be appointed by His Majesty during his
pleasure, and to be composed of the Members of either House or
of persons belonging to neither as there shall be occasion.
344 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
PAUL LITTLE, ESQ.
BY SAMUEL T. DOLE
Bead before the Maine Historical Society, November 20, 1902
Without doubt one of the most valuable and influ-
ential citizens Windham had in its early history was
Paul Little, Esq. He was born in Newbury, Mass.,
April 1, 1740, grew to manhood in that town, and in
early life learned the goldsmith's trade. After the
time of his apprenticeship had expired he came to
Falmouth ( now Portland ) and took up his residence
there, locating himself on King Street, where he had
a house and shop. This was in the autumn of 1761.
May 20, 1762, he married his first wife, Miss Hannah,
daughter of Stephen Emery, of Newbury.
In addition to his trade as a goldsmith, he appears
to have carried on quite an extensive business as
a grocer and general dealer. This I infer from his
old account book, which came into my possession
several years ago, and is a veritable literary curiosity.
It was purchased by a friend of mine from the admin-
istrator of the estate of one of Mr. Little's great-
granddaughters. The book measures sixteen inches
in length, and six and one-half in width, and contains
three hundred and twenty-five pages firmly bound in
parchment. It was evidently one of a series kept by
Mr. Little, as the fly-leaf bears the following legend
written in a fine, symmetrical hand : " Paul Little,
PAUL LITTLE, ESQ. 345
His Book, Ledger B." The first thirty or forty pages
bear the names of many well-known and prominent
citizens of Portland, who flourished in that faraway
time. In order to give some insight into Mr. Little's
business, I will copy verbatim the first account that
occurs in the book.
" 1771. John Waite, Dr. . s. d.
January 11, To mending 1 buckle, 0. 7. 6.
June 24, To 1 Pare of Brass Dogs, 1. 5. 0.
August 5, To 1 Pare of flooks, delivered to
Ichabod Davis, 0. 10. 0.
August 20, To Tipping 1 Litening Rod, 2. 5. 0.
1774.
July 22, To one-half m. 20<i nailes, 2. 0. 0.
1775.
January 25, To 245 wate of Pork @ 2s 6d, 30. 10. 6.
" " To order from James Brackett, 3. 10. 3.
40 10 3.
1775.
May 1, To 1 Barril of Pork, 29. 6. 0.
Mr. Waite's credit appears as follows :
1771. . s. d.
August, By 1 Gallon ? 1. 8. 0.
By Rum, 2. 10. 0.
1775.
January 30, By Cash in full, 36. 12. 6.
40. 10. 3.
July 10, By Cash, 29. 5. 10.
In 1774 and 1775 he sold to Enoch Moody " nailes,
cheese, candles, vinegar, West India Rum and gim-
blets." On Moses Shattuck's account appear the fol-
lowing items, viz.: "Brandy, lofe sugar, lard, pork
and lemons." The name of Peason Jones appears
several times and his account, among other things,
contains " one Iron Pot, weight 40 Ibs," then follow
346 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
such items as brandy, sugar, candles and earthen
pans. In November, 1772, he mended a watch and
buckle for Robert Pagan, and sold him goods amount-
ing to sixty-five pounds three shillings and sixpence,
among which we find "pork, silver buckles, limes
and W. India Rum." Thomas Scales' account con-
sists of " tobacco, snakeroot, aniseed water," four one-
gallon " Caggs " and " chockolate." Moses Plummer
bought of Mr. Little, among other articles, " pepper,
alspice, sugar, eggs, a pare of knee buckles, copperas,
W. I Rum and wine." On November 25, 1774,
Jeremiah Coffin is charged with one-half pint of
" sperrets " and "2^ cakes of Gingerbread," which
is the only time his name appears in the book. Mr.
Coffin's bill amounted to four shillings seven pence,
old tenor, and the credit side of the ledger shows that
he paid it in full.
The foregoing selected at random from the old
book gives a slight idea of Mr. Little's somewhat
miscellaneous business, which appears to have been
prosperous, and constantly increasing until the latter
part of July, 1775, when, probably, on account of
troubles with the mother country, there is a marked
falling off in his charges. However, he appears to
have kept open shop until the town was on the point
of being destroyed by Mowat, as I find that October
17, 1775, or on the day before the bombardment, he
charges Captain Richard Mayberry, of Windham,
with quite a large bill of " sperrets." Captain May-
berry, according to a tradition of the family, had
been quite active with his company, in what is
PAUL LITTLE, ESQ. 347
known as " Thompson's war " in May, 1775, but at
the time of which I write was lieutenant of Cap-
tain Samuel Knight's company of Windham soldiers,
who were acting as coast guards during the closing
months of 1775. He afterwards commanded a com-
pany in the Continental army and served three years.
Quite likely the liquor he purchased of Mr. Little was
used to treat his soldiers. Mr. Little's buildings
were burned, and his loss estimated by the committee
chosen to examine and liquidate the accounts of the
sufferers, at six hundred and eighty-three pounds, of
which five hundred and ten was the loss on buildings,
and the remainder on his personal estate.
At just what time he came to Windham I am unable
to say positively, but I find his name on the list of
tax-payers of Windham for the year 1776. He pur-
chased a large tract of land about one and one-half
miles north-easterly from the present village of Little
Falls, on which he erected a large and commodious
set of farm buildings, of which the dwelling-house,
but slightly modernized, is still standing, and soon
became an active and highly honored member of the
community. After he settled in Windham, Mr. Little
evidently carried on a business similar to that he had
formerly conducted in Portland, excepting that I find
no account of his work as a goldsmith, as, in all prob-
ability, the work of clearing and improving his farm
and building his house occupied most of his time, to
say nothing of the fact that his neighbors were too
poor to indulge in any of the superfluities of life at
that period of Windham's history. He evidently kept
348 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
a full line of groceries and the old account book is
filled with the names of prominent Windham men
who dealt more or less with him through a long term
of years. Thus we find that in 1776, he sold to Elijah
Hanson " Rum, Sugar, Tobacco and a Pare of Gar-
ters," to Eli Webb "Rum, Syder, Chocolate and a
Pare of knitting needles." Among other things, he
charges Captain David Barker with " one Quart of
Rum, two Pare of Hinges, Two Pare of Worsted
Stockings and two hundred four penny Nales."
Thomas Millions bought of Mr. Little, " Potaters,
Peas, flax sead, Lamb, Veal, Pork and Rum." The
redoubtable Stephen Manchester of Indian fame has
a long account, commencing in April, 1779, and clos-
ing in July, 1789, from which it appears that Mr.
Manchester must have been the original temperance
man of that day and generation, as among the numer-
ous items that appear on his account no charge for
any kind of ardent spirits can be found, a rare cir-
cumstance, considering the fact that almost every
page of the old book is full of such charges. The
well-known Colonel Timothy Pike was one of Mr.
Little's regular customers for several years and we
find him charged with " Tobacco, Corn, Bords, Beef,
Pork, Rie and Rum." While to the writer's great-
grandfather, Deacon Richard Dole, he appears to
have sold everything that had a marketable value,
from a yard of pig tail tobacco to a barn-frame.
The first notice I find of Mr. Little in public life
was in 1778, during the dark days of the war for
independence, at which time he was one of the
PAUL LITTLE, ESQ. 349
Committee of Safety and Inspection. At the annual
meeting held in the old Province fort in March, 1779,
he, with Colonel Timothy Pike and Captain Caleb
Graffam, were chosen selectmen, and at the same
meeting Mr. Little was chosen town treasurer. The
next year he was one of the committee of safety, in
which capacity he was very active in promoting the
welfare of those townsmen who were serving in the
Continental army. He was selectman in 1781, town
treasurer in 1782 and 1783. In 1789 and 1790 he
served on the board of selectmen, and again in 1802,
1803 and 1804. In addition to his other business,
Mr. Little was for many years the principal justice of
the peace in town, and numerous charges in the old
account book testify to the fact that he was popular
as a magistrate, also that he did a large amount of
legal work for the citizens of Windham, as well as for
those of Gorham, Gray, Westbrook and Raymond.
At just what time he was appointed a justice I have
not been able to ascertain ; the first mention I find of
his serving in that office appears on the town records
as follows :
14 May 30, 1791, Mr. Joseph Swett & Miss Deborah Sinnet, both of
Windham was married by Paul Little, Esq.
Caleb Rea, Town Clerk."
On his account book are to be found the following
entries :
"Nov. 6, 1791, Samuel Lord, Dr. to Giving you your oath to your
faithful Discharging the trust Reposed in you as Clark of this Com-
pany."
What sort of company this was I have no means of
350 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
knowing. Mr. Little's fee for the above service was
" one shilling," which, judged by the present stand-
ard of official costs and fees, certainly does not appear
exorbitant. November 24, 1701, he charges William
Elder as follows :
" To writing a Letter to David Hawkes for abusing your wife."
For this the charge was one shilling. December 5, of
the same year, he charged Mr. Elder for " a sute
between you and Hugh Woodbury," his fees being
seven shillings and five pence. From this time until
near the close of his life, we find him busy with busi-
ness relating to his duties as a magistrate, and his
account book contains charges against many well-
known citizens for administering oaths, filling out
writs, attending court, writing and acknowledging
deeds, settling estates or acting as a referee in some
dispute between his neighbors. His last charge for
legal service that 1 find was as follows :
"Jan. 28, 1806, Ellis Standish to Paul Little, Dr. to filling and
renewing one Execution against Samuel Estes in favor of Butterfield,"
for which service he received somewhat later the
magnificent fee of twenty-five cents.
On the town records can be seen a list of marriages
performed by " Squire Little," which, by actual count,
number one hundred and ninety-four, the most of
whom were residents of Gorham and Windham. I
have already noticed the first marriage solemnized by
him on May 30, 1791. The last couple he united was
Joseph Estes Dolley and Esther Manchester. The
record of this marriage bears date of January 16,
PAUL LITTLE, ESQ. 351
1813, and the contracting parties were both of
Windham, where they settled and where several of
their descendants still reside. It has been said
that Esquire Little performed more marriage
ceremonies than any other justice before or since
his time, and I believe the statement is true ; at
least, I have been unable to find anything to the
contrary.
Mr. Little was married three times. His first wife,
as previously stated, was Miss Hannah Emery, of his
native town of Newbury, to whom he was married
May 20, 1762. They had two children : First, Han-
nah, born May, 1763, died August 24, 1839. She
married Stephen Emery, of West Newbury. Second,
Paul, born August 8, 1767, married, April 22, 1792,
Mary Osgood. Settled in Windham, where he died
January 5, 1849. She died September 16, 1819.
Mrs. Hannah Emery Little died September 4, 1771.
August 30, 1772, he married Mrs. Sarah Norton,
widow of Timothy Souther or Southern. She died
September 26, 1797, leaving four children, viz.:
Mary, born September, 1775, died November 10,
1786 ; Timothy, born October 27, 1776, afterwards a
noted physician and surgeon of Portland, where he
died November 27, 1849 ; Moses, born January 7,
1782, settled at Windham Hill, where he died
July 31, 1866 ; Thomas, born November 27, 1787,
was at one time a grocer at Windham, said to have
been the best informed man on general matters in
town. He died, I think, in Portland, June 19,
1857. Esquire Little's third wife was Mrs. Sarah
352 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Emerson. On the Windham records we find the fol-
lowing :
" Paul Little, Esq., of Windham and Mrs. Sarah Emerson of Poland,
Intends Marriage.
Windham, July 20, 1799. Richard Dole, Town Clerk."
As no record of the marriage can be found in this
town, it is presumable that it took place at Poland.
They had one child, a daughter named Sarah, born
March 20, 1802, who married Oliver Gerrish, the
well-known watchmaker and jeweler of Portland.
The following is a true copy of the record as it
appears on the town book of marriages :
" State of Maine. Be it remembered that at Windham, in the County
of Cumberland, on the 6th day of January in the year of our Lord,
1825, Oliver Gerrish of Portland and Sarah Little of Windham were
duly joined in marriage by me. Gardiner Kellogg, Minister.
A true copy, attest. Gardiner Kellogg."
Mrs. Sarah Emerson Little died May 23, 1817, and
Mr. Little closed a long and honorable life February
11, 1818, aged seventy-eight years. He was a man
of marked ability, kind and cordial in his intercourse
with his fellow men, and left many friends to mourn
his departure. He came to Windham at a most inter-
esting and critical period of the town's history, and
at once entered with zealous honesty upon a course
that rendered him a valuable and trusted public ser-
vant. " Truly there were giants in those days."
THE NORTHEASTERN BOUNDARY CONTROVERSY 353
THE ATTITUDE OF MAINE IN THE NORTH-
EASTERN BOUNDARY CONTROVERSY.
BT HENBY 8. BUBBAQB, D.D.
Read before the Maine Historical Society, January 2, 1903
In an extended monograph recently published by
the Royal Society of Canada, Professor William F.
Ganong, of Smith College, has called attention anew
to the questions ^ pertaining to the Northeastern
Boundary of the United States. Professor Ganong is
a native of New Brunswick, but in his work he has
divested himself of partisanship to such an extent as
to give us impartial judgments with reference to the
various controverted points which for so many years
not only disturbed the relations existing between
Maine and New Brunswick, but also the relations
existing between the United States and Great Britain.
In this Professor Ganong is worthy of commendation,
for, as he says :
" Unreasoning partisanship is the natural condition of the human
mind; it is the condition of least resistance, the condition of relaxation
to which the mind always reverts when occupied with other matters.
The judicial, non-partisan condition is the unnatural condition, the
condition of tension which can be maintained only by constant effort.
It is so much easier, and therefore more agreeable, to believe one's
enemy wholly wrong and one's self wholly right, than to try to deter-
mine whether the enemy may not in something be right and one's self
in something wrong that most people, fully occupied with other mat-
ters, naturally assume that attitude in most controversial questions
coming within range of their interests." *
A Monograph of the Evolution of the Boundaries of the Province of New Bruns-
wick, pp. 141, 142.
VoL I 23
354 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
But while Professor Ganong has succeeded so
admirably in divesting himself of unreasoning parti-
sanship in his study of the history of the controversy
concerning the northeastern boundary of our State
and Nation, he allows himself, in a criticism of the
attitude of the State of Maine, to do a very great
injustice to one of the parties in the dispute to which
the boundary question gave rise. The legal claim
made by Maine with reference to the northeastern
boundary, Professor Ganong says was a rightful one.
The following is his summary of the facts :
" (1) The original charters, documents, maps, etc., when calmly
examined by themselves ( not as quoted and commented upon hy the
partisan advocates of either side ) seem to me to point irresistibly to
this conclusion.
" (2) The principal men of New Brunswick, those whose duty
made them examine minutely into all the documents of the case,
namely, Governor Carleton, Ward Chipman and Edward Winslow, all
admitted without the least question the full American claim; they
realized fully the disadvantages of the boundary thus allowed, but
hoped to remove them by some special arrangement.
" (3) The New Brunswick Legislature in 1814 admitted the Amer-
ican claim, and petitioned the British Government to have an alteration
made in the line at the pending Treaty of Peace; the British Govern-
ment in the same year admitted the American claim, at least in part,
in asking for a cession of territory, to preserve the communication from
Quebec to New Brunswick (page 314).
41 (4) The British claim to the Mars Hill Highlands as a boundary
did not make its appearance until after 1814; it was tentatively
advanced in 1815, had not been elaborated in 1817, and made its first
formal appearance in the controversy in 1821 in the argument of Ward
Chipman, who, in one of his private letters, speaks of it in such a way
as to imply that it was being formulated by himself. Why, if this was
the true boundary, did not Great Britain advance it earlier in the
controversy ?
" (5) As will be shown later in this paper as soon as the treaty of
1842 was signed, an active dispute arose between New Brunswick and
THE NORTHEASTERN BOUNDARY CONTROVERSY 355
Quebec as to their interprovincial boundary, and New Brunswick
claimed as her northern boundary the highlands south of the St. Law-
rence; but since, by the treaty of 1783, the western boundary of New
Brunswick was the eastern boundary of Maine, this was granting the
Maine claim. Quebec, on the other hand, claimed as a boundary the
Mars Hill Highlands; if Great Britain's claim to an international boun-
dary on those highlands was correct, then Quebec's claim was correct,
but Great Britain never admitted it. During the controversy the
agents of both sides more or less distinctly admitted the justice of the
American claim. The provinces could not agree, and a commission
was appointed by the British Government consisting of two English-
men and a Nova Scotian, and in 1848 they rendered their decisions, in
which they asserted that the disputed territory belonged legally to
neither party, but was a part of the ancient province of Sagadahock
[and therefore of Maine] (Blue Book of 1851, 93), and they proposed to
divide it between the two provinces. The same opinion was reasserted
by Travers Twiss, an eminent Englishman, on the final arbitration
which settled this boundary in 1851 (Blue Book, 76), when he said that
the country south of the St. Lawrence watershed, and west of the north
line belonged to neither province, but to the British crown. This ter-
ritory was divided between Quebec and New Brunswick." *
Maine's loss in being deprived of the legal right
thus accorded to her by Professor Ganong was by no
means inconsiderable and is indicated in his further
statement ( p. 304 ) :
u Had Mitchell's map proven to be accurate, or had the commis-
sioners had an accurate modern map before them so they could have
made their description accurate, or had they annexed a marked copy
of Mitchell's map to the treaty, the controversies over the question
could not have arisen, and Maine would, I believe, include the Mada-
waska region and would extend to the highlands south of the St.
Lawrence."
But while conceding the rightfulness of the legal
claim advanced by the State of Maine throughout the
1 Evolution of the Boundaries of the Province of New Brunswick, pp. 860, 861.
This fact was brought to light by Professor John Bassett Moore, of Columbia Uni-
versity, in the discovery of a report of the Royal Commission on the controversy
between New Brunswick and Canada, a report, which in spite of its reservation of
opinion with reference to the Maine boundary, is a practical demonstration of the
correctness of Maine's contention.
356 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
northeastern boundary controversy, Professor Ganong
severely criticises her conduct as a party in the con-
troversy. He says :
11 But while I think Maine's legal right to her claim is clear, I can
by no means justify the conduct of Maine in endeavoring to force these
extreme rights. Her right to the territory in dispute was not due to
her discovery, exploration or settlement of it; it was purely accidental.
Moreover, the territory was of comparatively slight value to her; she
had not a settler upon it nor a road to it for half a century after the
treaty was signed. On the other hand, it was settled in good faith by
British subjects, and was not simply valuable, it was invaluable to
Great Britain. That under these circumstances Maine insisted upon
the uttermost letter of her rights, refusing all accommodation until any
other settlement was hopeless, is by no means to her credit. If Great
Britain appears to disadvantage in employing diplomacy to save what
she legally had lost, in another way Maine appears to at least equal
disadvantage in her Shylockian even though legal policy." *
This is a serious reflection upon the conduct of
the State of Maine in the northeastern boundary con-
troversy. The character of Shylock as it is made to
manifest itself so clearly in Shakespeare's " Merchant
of Venice " is that of a cold, selfish, heartless, grasp-
ing Jew. He is the depository of the calculating,
unrelenting vengeance of all his race a good hater,
stung to madness by repeated undeserved provoca-
tions, and laboring by one desperate act of lawful
revenge to throw off the load of obloquy and oppres-
sion heaped upon him and all his tribe. His religion,
his avarice, his affection, all concur to stimulate his
hatred. The pound of flesh he will have, and the
only reason he will give for taking it is " if it will
feed nothing else, it will feed my revenge." It is the
spirit of such a man, according to Professor Ganong,
1 Evolution of the Boundaries of the Province of New Brunswick, p. 363.
THE NORTHEASTERN BOUNDARY CONTROVERSY 357
that characterized Maine's participation in the con-
troversy which the northeastern boundary question
awakened.
But is this a just characterization of the spirit man-
ifested by the State of Maine in this controversy ?
The men who had a part in the discussion of the
questions connected with the boundary dispute are
no longer with us, and they cannot defend themselves
against this reflection upon their conduct in a great
international contention. But the good name of the
State is dear to us all, and it is certainly worth our
while to inquire whether the facts justify the charge
which is now brought against the State in a work of
such permanent value as that which Professor Ganong
has produced in his u Evolution of the Boundaries of
the Province of New Brunswick."
The position which Professor Ganong takes is this :
that Maine by treaty came into the possession of a
piece of territory which had an immense northerly
prolongation extending into the British dominions.
The possession of this tongue of land was an incidental
fact consequent on the way boundary lines happened
to run in earlier documents. The territory to which
Maine laid claim was not discovered, bought or other-
wise acquired by any action on the part of the State,
nor had any one of her citizens a residence or other
interests there. In other words, it was a windfall, so
to speak. Inasmuch, therefore, as Maine refused to
part with the territory thus secured territory which
was invaluable to Great Britain as affording a means
of communication between two of its provinces, Maine
358 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
acted a Shylockian part ; that is, in a cold, selfish,
heartless, grasping way she insisted upon the utmost
limit of her claims, demanding, as did Shylock, the
pound of flesh.
But is this a fair statement of the case? For
example, does not Professor Ganong in minimizing
Maine's interest in the disputed territory overlook
important considerations ? It is at once granted that
the territory covered by Maine's claim did not come
to her by right of discovery, exploration or settle-
ment. Nevertheless, from the time of the treaty of
1783, Maine had a deep and abiding interest in that
territory. Indeed her interest antedates the Revolu-
tionary period. The colonists in the District of
Maine, as well as in other parts of New England, had
very decided opinions with reference to the presence
of the French in Canada and the maritime provinces.
They participated in the capture of Louisburg in
1744, in the expulsion of the Acadians in 1755, and
in the War of the Revolution to which the French war
led up and made inevitable. If there was any one
thing that was uppermost in the minds of the men of
Maine throughout the colonial period it was that Great
Britain, not France, was to exercise dominion on this
western continent. Indeed, it was the one great hope
of our fathers in the Revolutionary struggle that Can-
ada and the maritime provinces would form a part of
the new nation. When the war closed leaving British
possessions to the northward and eastward of the
District of Maine the boundary line was not a matter
of slight importance on this side of the border.
THE NORTHEASTERN BOUNDARY CONTROVERSY 359
Though Maine had not a single settler within the
limits of the disputed territory for many years after
the treaty of 1783, she understood clearly the value
and importance of the territory which treaty
rights secured to her. Her strenuous maintenance
of the rightfulness of her claim is a witness to this
fact.
We need not linger long over Professor Ganong's
statement that there were British subjects in the ter-
ritory claimed by Maine and that on this account also
Great Britain had " rights " which should have been
recognized by us. These British subjects were of
French descent largely if not wholly. They were
Acadians who after exile had found their way back to
places with which they were familiar in their earlier
communications with Quebec. In the very begin-
nings of the boundary controversy, long before Maine
became a State, it was conceded by the British that
these settlers were on American soil. Indeed Profes-
sor Ganong himself cites a letter written in 1799 by
Edward Winslow, secretary of the St. Croix Commis-
sion, and whom Professor Ganong calls " one of the
best informed men of the time in New Brunswick,"
in which, referring to the award of the Commission,
Winslow says : "As it is we lose not a single British
settlement. A few miserable Frenchmen at Mada-
waska on the route to Canada fall within their terri-
tory." Indeed, up to the time of the treaty of Ghent,
in 1814, the British admitted that these French settlers
were living on American soil, and held it to be of no
importance that they were there. In fact they were
360 MAINE HISTOKICAL SOCIETY
settlers who Lad proved themselves so undesirable
that they had been banished for disloyalty. With
what show of reason, therefore, is the statement now
made that Maine acted a Shylockian part in not rec-
ognizing certain "rights " of Great Britain based on
the presence of these French settlers on the fertile
lands of the Madawaska !
*
But the weight of Professor Ganong's charge
against the State of Maine in failing to recognize
" any other kinds of rights " than legal rights in the
northeastern boundary controversy is to be found in
his statement that the territory claimed by Maine
" was not simply valuable, it was invaluable to Great
Britain." The rightfulness of Maine's legal claim to
this territory is fully admitted by Professor Ganong
as we have seen. It was conceded by the British
themselves long after the value of the territory within
the northeastern angle of the boundary of Maine was
discovered by Great Britain. For example, when the
War of 1812 came to a close, the House of Assembly
of New Brunswick, under date of February 15, 1814,
took the following action :
" Resolved that the Council be requested to appoint a committee to
meet a committee of this House for the purpose of preparing an humble
petition to His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, praying that when
a negotiation for peace shall take place between Great Britain and the
United States of America His Royal Highness will be graciously pleased
to direct such measures to be adopted as he may think proper to alter
the boundaries between those States and this Province, so as that the
important line of communication between this and the neighboring
Province of Lower Canada, by the River St. John, may not be inter-
rupted." 1
1 Evolution of the Boundaries of the Province of New Brunswick, p. 314.
THE NORTHEASTERN BOUNDARY CONTROVERSY 361
There could not be any better evidence than is
afforded by this resolution in proof of the statement
that at that time in New Brunswick it was generally
understood that according to the treaty of 1783 and
the decision of the St. Croix Commission in 1798, the
legal claim of Maine with reference to her northeast-
ern boundary, because of the terms of the treaty of
1783, was indisputable.
But, says Professor Ganong, this claim covered ter-
ritory that was " not simply valuable, but invaluable
to Great Britain," and so though Maine had a legal
right to this territory other " rights " came into view,
and these should have been recognized by the State
of Maine.
The value of this territory to Great Britain is con-
ceded. The land in dispute afforded a natural line
of communication between Canada and Nova Scotia
by way of the St. John River, the Madawaska and
Lake Temiscouata, thence by a road, following an
ancient Indian trail, to the St. Lawrence, and its
possession by the United States could not but be
regarded as a serious matter. Professor Ganong
says :
" This route had been used in the earliest times by the Indians, was
extensively used later by the French, was adopted by the English at
the time of the Revolution, and soon after was partially settled by them.
Not only is it the most direct and much the easiest route, but it was
positively the only one available except the very long roundabout diffi-
cult and well nigh impracticable route by the Bay of Chaleur and the
Metapedia valley, now followed by the Intercolonial Railway, but then
so distant and through such a savage country as to be practically out of
the question. The importance of the communication along the St.
John and Madawaska, however, consisted not simply in its being by far
362 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
the shortest and most direct route from Quebec to Nova Scotia, but also
in the fact that it was the only possible route in winter when the navi-
gation of the St. Lawrence was closed by ice; and therefore all through
the winter it was not only the route to Nova Scotia but the only possi-
ble route through British territory to England. In times of peace the
mails could be sent to England by courtesy of the United States
through American ports, but military men foresaw that in time of war
this would be impossible, and as a military measure the communication
with England by way of the Madawaska and St. John must be kept
open at all hazards." *
But this territory, likewise from a military point of
view, was valuable also to Maine and to the United
States. In two wars with Great Britain, we had
already tested our strength with the mother country,
and the possibility of another conflict could not be
overlooked. George Evans, in a speech in the
National House of Representatives, February 7 and
8, 1838, well said :
" This subject in all its bearings is one interesting and important to
the whole Union. It is not a matter of light interest, where the line
which separates it from a foreign Power a rival now, and hereafter,
possibly as heretofore, an enemy should be fixed. We have seen
with what tenacity Great Britain clings to the object of obtaining a
' small portion of waste country ,' only as a means of communication
between the Provinces doubtless a measure to her of great impor-
tance and strength; and just in the same proportion, a measure to us,
if yielded to, of insecurity and weakness." 2
This was the view which had again and again
found expression on the part of the people of Maine.
It was a view which could not but be impressed most
forcibly upon the attention of our citizens in any con-
sideration of the questions arising in the boundary
controversy.
1 Evolution of the Boundaries of the Province of New Brunswick, pp. 805, 306.
2 Speech upon the Subject of the Northeastern Boundary, Washington, 1838, p. 34.
THE NORTHEASTERN BOUNDARY CONTROVERSY
But though Maine from time to time in the progress
of the boundary controversy stoutly asserted her rights
in accordance with the provisions of the treaty of 1783,
there are facts which make it abundantly clear that
this assertion of rights was not made in a Shylockian
spirit. Thus an attempt to settle the boundary ques-
tions by arbitration in accordance with the provisions
of the treaty of Ghent was commenced by the gov-
ernment in 1826, a convention was completed in the
following year, and this was formally ratified in
1828. Yet Maine, though opposed to arbitration,
believing that as in such cases generally the decision
would be made not in accordance with the principles
of law, but from an endeavor to find some middle
ground between the contending parties, acquiesced
in the action taken by the national government.
The arbitrator was the King of the Netherlands, and
his decision, as was expected, was in the nature of a
compromise ; but though his award was acceptable
neither to Maine nor to Massachusetts which also had
rights in the questions at issue, it proved not to be
acceptable to the Senate of the United States, which
by a vote of thirty-five to eight resolved that the
award was not obligatory, and advised the President
to open a new negotiation with Great Britain for the
settlement of the boundary controversy. The atti-
tude of Maine in this matter seems not to have been
different from that of most of her sister States.
When again in 1832 in a new attempt to settle the
boundary question, the government of the United
States sought to obtain from Maine a free hand in the
364 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
matter, the response of the State was both prompt
and cordial. The following is the resolve which was
passed by the Legislature and approved March 3,
1832:
11 Whereas information has been communicated by the Agent of the
state at Washington, that it is proposed that Maine should cede to the
United States her claim and jurisdiction over that portion of territory
which lies Northerly and Easterly of the line recommended by the
Arbiter, for an angle indemnity, in order that the United States may be
enabled to make such an arrangement with Great Britain as may best
comport with the interests and honor of the United States:
" And whereas, the Government of Maine has repeatedly declared
that the right of soil and jurisdiction in said territory according to the
provisions of the treaty of 1783, is in the State of Maine, as a sovereign
and independent State, and has denied, and continues to deny, the right
of the General Government to cede the same to any foreign power
without the consent of Maine, and has communicated Resolutions to
that effect to the General Government, and has claimed of that Gov-
ernment the protection guaranteed to every state by the Constitution
of the United States:
" And whereas the Legislature of Maine is disposed to regard the
proposition aforesaid, as emanating from a disposition on the part of
the General Government, to promote the interests and to preserve the
peace of the nation, without violating the rights of Maine, or disregard-
ing the obligation resting upon the whole Union to protect each State
in the full enjoyment of all its territory and right of jurisdiction, and
willing to meet the proposition in a like spirit in which it is believed to
have been made:
" Therefore, Resolved, That upon the appointment by the President
of the United States, of a person or persons to enter into negotiation
with this State for the relinquishment, by this State to the United
States, of her claim to said territory and for the cession of the jurisdic-
tion thereof, on the one part, and for an angle indemnity therefor, on
the other part, and notice thereof being communicated to the Governor,
the Governor, with advice of Council, be and he is hereby authorized
and requested to appoint three commissioners on the part and in behalf
of this State, to treat with such person or persons, so appointed by
the President, on the subjects aforesaid, and any agreement or treaty,
to be made in pursuance of this Resolve, is to be submitted to the Legis-
lature of Maine for approval or rejection, and until such agreement or
THE NORTHEASTERN BOUNDARY CONTROVERSY 365
treaty be so submitted to and approved by the Legislature of Maine,
nothing herein contained shall be construed, in any way, as implying
the assent of this State to the line of boundary recommended by the
Arbiter, or to the right of the General Government to adopt or sanction
that line instead of the line described in the treaty of 1783.
** Resolved, That the Governor be requested forthwith to communi-
cate the foregoing Preamble and Resolution, confidentially, to the
Agent of this State, at Washington, and also to the Executive of the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, to afford to that Commonwealth
the opportunity of adopting such means as she may consider expedient
in relation to her interest in said territory." 1
Professor John Bassett Moore, of Columbia Univer-
sity, in his great work on " International Arbitra-
tions," 2 published b the government of the United
States, says :
" It was proposed that the legislature of Maine should provisionally
surrender to the United States all territory claimed by the State north
of the St. John and east of the River St. Francis, Maine to be indemni-
fied by adjoining territory for the ultimate loss of any part of the terri-
tory thus surrendered, and, so far as the adjoining territory should
prove inadequate, by Michigan lands, at the rate of a million acres of
such lands for the whole of the territory surrendered, the lands thus
appropriated to be sold by the United States and the proceeds paid into
the treasury of Maine. 1 '
And Mr. Moore adds :
"An agreement or 'treaty' to this effect was actually signed in 1832
by Edward Livingston, Secretary of State, Louis McLane and Levi
Woodbury, on the part of the United States, and by William Pitt
Preble, Ruel Williams and Nicholas Emery, on the part of Maine. It
never was ratified. Nor did the fact that it was concluded become
public till long after the transaction had failed." ( 3 )
There is nothing, so far as I am aware, to show
that Maine was responsible for this failure, while the
1 Document 27, Eighteenth Legislature, pp. 35, 36.
1 Vol. I, p. 138.
' See Senate Ex. Doc. 431, Twenty-fifth Congress, Second Session.
366 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
action of the Legislature of the State is an unimpeach-
able witness to the fact that Maine as early as 1832,
while insisting upon her rights under the treaty of
1783, was willing to consider a proposition for the relin-
quishment of her claim to the territory in dispute on the
ground of a suitable indemnification. This of itself is
sufficient to show that in this boundary controversy
Maine was not actuated by a " Shylockian " spirit.
In 1839, in his message to the Legislature of Maine,
Governor Kent said : "I have no doubt that the mode
proposed to Great Britain of establishing the treaty
line upon the face of the earth by a commission com-
posed of impartial scientific men, to be selected by a
friendly power, would be satisfactory and acquiesced
in by this State." There is certainly no indication of
a " Shylockian " spirit in these words.
Nor do I find any evidence of the manifestation of
such a spirit on the part of Maine in the final negotia-
tions between the United States and Great Britain in
reference to the northeastern boundary question.
Pending these negotiations, notwithstanding warlike
preparations along the border, General Scott had no
difficulty in bringing about an arrangement between
the authorities of Maine and New Brunswick, for the
preservation of peace until the question of jurisdiction
should be settled. In the spring of 1842, Lord Ash-
burton arrived in Washington with full powers, as a
special minister, to settle the boundary and all other
questions in controversy between the two govern-
ments. Maine was represented during these negotia-
tions by the following commissioners : William Pitt
THE NORTHEASTERN BOUNDARY CONTROVERSY 367
Preble, Edward Kavanagh, Edward Kent and John
Otis. Maine was still opposed to any compromise of
her territorial claims, but she was not unwilling to
listen to terms of settlement recognizing her right to
indemnification. During the negotiations the idea
of territorial exchanges, which had been brought for-
ward, was abandoned, and another mode of compensat-
ing Maine and Massachusetts was adopted. When the
line as finally drawn was made known to the commis-
sioners of Maine and Massachusetts Mr. Webster said
" he was authorized \p say that, if the commissioners
of Maine and Massachusetts would assent to the line
proposed, the United States would undertake to pay
these states the sum of $250,000, to be divided
between them in equal moieties, and also to under-
take the settlement and payment of the expenses
incurred by them in maintaining the civil posse and
in prosecuting a survey which they had found it nec-
essary to make. On these terms, with the addition
of $50,000 to the compensation offered to Maine and
Massachusetts, a settlement was finally effected with
the assent of the commissioners of those states."
I do not forget that Professor Ganong, in charging
Maine with adopting a " Shylockian " policy in the
northeastern boundary controversy, admits that Maine
assented to accommodation finally, but he tells us
that this was only when " any other settlement was
hopeless." 1 This statement, 1 claim, receives no jus-
tification from the facts. Indeed, Professor Ganong
1 Moore, International Arbitration!, Vol. I, p. 161.
1 Evolution of the Boundaries of New Brunswick, p. 863.
368 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
himself, in his reference to the final decision, says :
" Maine was in part compensated by a large sum paid
her by the United States, though it must by no means
be inferred that this prompted her decision, for her
stand in the matter had unquestionably been taken
upon principle, and her consent was given for the
good of the Union." l
In all probability some things were learned by
Maine in the progress of the controversy, but a review
of all the facts, I think, justifies the opinion that her
stand in the matter was upon principle throughout
the boundary discussion. She had good reasons for
her conviction that she was right in her contention.
But she was as ready to listen to suggestions of
indemnification in 1832 as in 1842 ; and the mes-
sages of her governors, and the speeches of her sen-
ators and representatives in Congress, bear witness
to the fact that the welfare of the State and Nation
was the object she had in view first, last and always.
At no period of the controversy did she act the part
of a Shylock. Neither selfishness nor avarice charac-
terized her actions. At critical periods of the contro-
versy she declared her willingness to make concessions
which were deemed desirable for the sake of the larger
interests of the Nation, and in the decisive hour she
made these concessions. But her course was consis-
tent and patriotic from the beginning of the contro-
versy to its close, and it was because of her firm and
intelligent action that the British claim was not
pushed to a successful termination.
1 Evolution of the Boundaries of New Brunswick, pp. 346, 347.
HON. THOMAS B. REED.
PUBLIC CAREER OF THOMAS B. REED 369
PUBLIC CAREER OF THOMAS B. REED
BY RICHARD WEBB, ESQ.
Read before the Maine Historical Society, March 26, 1903
Thomas B. Reed was possessed of a personality so
strongly marked that an impartial discussion thereof
at this time is very difficult, for it inevitably exerted
a decided influence upon all who ever came in contact
with him, and especially upon all who were his friends.
But as a public man, and as a figure in recent Amer-
ican history, one may be better able to speak of him
without prejudice, and to discuss the principal events
of his career with a degree of impartiality which one
could hardly hope to attain in discussing his personal
qualities.
My subject, then, is his public career, what he
did, what he thought, and how he was regarded by
those who knew him only as a public man. Of what
he was to those who knew him best, to those admitted
to his intimacy, to those whom he loved and to those
who loved him, it is not my province to speak.
No man had truer friends, and he was worthy of them
all. His private life was spotless, his moral princi-
ples were of the strictest sort, and he constantly lived
up to them. He was a worthy representative of the
Puritanism of his ancestors, with nothing in his make-
up of Puritanical bigotry or narrowness. Reed in his
private relations as a man and as a friend is another
Vol. 1 24
370 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
subject, more interesting perhaps than the subject I
have chosen, but one upon which I hardly feel
qualified to enter.
Reed was the hero in an episode of epoch-making
character in American history. His ruling as Speaker
in the Fifty-first Congress revolutionized the House
of Representatives. It put an end forever to the
minority's power of veto, and brought the House
under the control of the majority. It restored the
House to its constitutional place as a co-ordinate
branch of the legislature, and endowed it with power
to act. It marked the end of an old order of things
and the beginning of a new.
The great importance of this ruling was recognized
at the time it was made, and its far-reaching conse-
quences were clearly foreseen. Perhaps it was better
appreciated then than now, for later events have some-
what obscured it, and the current which Reed turned
into the new channel has since flowed so smoothly
and so naturally that the obstructions in the old
course have been almost forgotten ; but posterity,
looking back through the years yet to come, will
give the event its true value, and will, I believe,
regard it as one of the great historic episodes of the
generation.
Up to the time of the meeting of the Fifty-first
Congress in December, 1889, Mr. Reed can hardly be
said to have acquired a national reputation. He had
served six terms as a member of the House, and was
just entering upon his seventh. His first nomination
had been won after a bitter contest. He had
PUBLIC CAREER OF THOMAS B. REED 371
succeeded in displacing the sitting member for his
district, but in doing so he had aroused against him-
self local animosities and jealousies which it took years
to heal. He had been a successful politician in his
native city of Portland, having been three years a
member of the Legislature and three years attorney-
general for the State, but he had not up to that time
established himself in a leading position at the bar,
and he had not impressed himself upon the people at
large as a man of commanding ability, although all
who came in contact with him realized that he was
not a man of common mould, and some among his
friends early foresaw his brilliant future. Such a
one, I believe, was Judge Webb, who when county
attorney was attracted to Reed, then a young man of
twenty-six, just admitted to the bar, and who sug-
gested him as a candidate for the Legislature, and
exerted himself to aid in securing his nomination and
election. But it is safe to say that most of Reed's
constituents never dreamed that he would achieve
greatness.
In later years Mr. Reed often alluded to the handi-
cap under which a young man labors who seeks pub-
lic position in the place of his birth, or where he has
spent his early years, since many of his would-be con-
stituents are likely to have very vivid recollections of
his boyhood days and of his callow youth. They
remember his failures at school, his boyish pranks,
his youthful indiscretions and his exhibitions of
immaturity of judgment, and forget that as a general
rule such faults are cured by time. In Reed's case
372 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
there were no youthful escapades the recollection of
which would harm him, there were no glaring sins
for him to live down. There was simply the fact that
as man and boy for over thirty years he had gone in
and out among the people of a small community, and
their judgment of his ability and capacity was neces-
sarily, to a certain extent, formed upon what he had
accomplished long before his powers had reached
maturity. Portland people knew Reed as the son of
a man of humble position and circumstances, who for
many years had been a night watchman at Brown's
sugar house, a faithful, reliable and respected
employee, but unable to give his family many advan-
tages. Reed's college days at Bowdoin had been
much like those of hundreds of other New England
boys. He had loafed some, had studied some, and
had graduated in good standing. His mind seems to
have had a serious turn in those days, and it is said
that he contemplated studying for the ministry. It
has also been said that his college expenses were paid
by one of the Portland churches upon the understand-
ing that he should become a minister. But this latter
story is untrue, although it is very probable that he
may have had during his college days some idea of
studying divinity, for theological questions greatly
interested him as long as he lived, and he was always
a deep student of the Bible, and would frequently
make use of scriptural quotations or allusions in dis-
cussions or argument. But such intention, if it ever
existed, was given up before his graduation, for as
soon as possible after leaving college he entered upon
PUBLIC CAREER OF THOMAS B. REED 373
the study of law, and five years later, in 1865, was
admitted to the bar, having in the meantime taught
school in Maine and California, and having served
for about a year as acting assistant paymaster in the
navy.
Reed entered the domain of national politics as an
untried man, and in the twelve years that elapsed
before he was chosen to the Speakership his growth
to a position of influence and leadership was not
marked by pyrotechnics. His native State was dom-
inated by the personality of Elaine who in 1876, the
year of Reed's first election to Congress, had nar-
rowly missed the Presidential nomination, and Reed
was not inclined to humbly bow the knee to this
favorite son of Maine. The wounds inflicted in the
contest for his Congressional nomination refused to
heal, rivals in his own party coveted his seat, and
friends of Elaine often seemed inclined to connive at
his discomfiture. Nevertheless his district was true
to him, although on more than one occasion the vote
at the polls was close. He held his seat, he main-
tained his independent attitude toward the party
leaders of his State, and gradually won for himself a
commanding position in the halls of Congress. There
is no place where a man's true capacities are more
likely to be discovered and to be more correctly
appraised than in the House of Representatives, and
the judgment of the House as to its own members is
often a surprise to constituencies and to the general
public. Reed's talents proved to be exactly suited
to this arena, and while a faction of his own party at
374 MADsTE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
home were plotting to displace him, and before the
country at large knew who he was, he had become
the recognized leader of the Republican minority
upon the floor, and the logical candidate for the
Speakership whenever the Republicans should con-
trol the House. His opportunity came with the elec-
tion of 1888, when Harrison was elected to the
Presidency, and in 1889, upon the first meeting of
the Fifty-first Congress, he was chosen after some
opposition as Speaker of the House.
Now, since in the election of 1888 the Republicans
had elected a majority of both houses of Congress
and also their candidate for the Presidency, it was to
have been presumed that the people had recorded
their approval of that party's policies, and wished to
see those policies enacted into legislation ; but all
such legislation was impossible if the House of Rep-
resentatives was to be governed by the same rules
which had governed it in the past. Under those
rules it was easily in the power of the minority to
prevent entirely by the use of filibustering tactics all
legislation to which they were opposed, and filibuster-
ing in the House was sustained and supported by the
most ancient of precedents. No man in the country
at that time better understood the rules of the House
than Reed, and no member of the House was able to
use them more skilfully in opposition to the wishes of
the majority. As the minority leader he had fre-
quently made use of the advantages which the rules
gave him, and he knew exactly what those advantages
were. Nevertheless he did not believe that the minor-
PUBLIC CAREER OF THOMAS B. REED 375
ity should have such advantages, and before his party
was in control he had frequently expressed his disap-
proval of the principles upon which the rules were
founded. Shortly after the election in 1888, in March,
1889, he published in the Century an article entitled
" The Rules of the House of Representatives," in
which he clearly showed the abuse which had grown
up under cover of them, and the necessity of radi-
cally changing them. To his mind the most impor-
tant question was not what Congress should do, but
whether it could do anything at all. Should the
House be enabled to exercise its constitutional power
of taking part in legislation, or should it permit itself
to be reduced to the impotence of a debating society ?
To him there was but one possible answer. He would
so amend the rules as to curb the obstructive power
of the minority and place the majority in control. In
other words he would put into effect the fundamental
rule of all parliamentary bodies and of all democracies
that the will of the majority must govern.
The first basis of filibustering tactics was the con-
stitutional provision that a majority of the House is
required for a quorum. The practice had long
obtained of counting as present when a vote was
taken only those who answered to their names on roll
call, and if less than a clear majority was recorded as
having voted for or against a measure, the point was
commonly taken that there was no quorum present,
and such point had always been sustained. As a
matter of fact it was often plainly and sometimes
even vociferously apparent that a large majority of
376 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
the members were in the House while the vote was
being taken, but such was the respect paid to prece-
dent that Speakers had felt bound to disregard all
evidences of their senses, and to accept as conclusive
upon that question the figures upon the tally sheet of
the clerk. Breaking a quorum by simply refusing to
answer to their names on roll call had long been a
favorite device of those who desired to defeat a bill,
and such device was frequently successful ; for*
although many measures might meet the approval of
an actual majority of the entire House, it was not
always practicable, in fact it was often impossible, to
have that majority constantly in attendance when
such measures were under consideration.
The second basis of filibustering was in the use of
privileged motions for purposes of delay, and hours
and even days at a time had frequently been wasted
in the efforts of a determined minority to tire out the
majority. Things had come to such a pass that about
the only legislation which stood much chance of pas-
sage was that to which there was no opposition. In
other words the House could act only by unanimous
consent.
With rules like these in force it was obvious that
the recent Republican victory at the polls would go
for naught, and that the plainly expressed mandate
of the people would be utterly disregarded. No bill
on the tariff, for instance, prepared by the Republi-
cans, would be approved by the Democrats, and
although a majority of both houses might desire the
passage of such a bill, it would have absolutely no
PUBLIC CAKEEK OF THOMAS B. HEED 377
chance in the world of getting through. So although
the Democratic party had been defeated in the elec-
tion they had no fear that the policies which they had
opposed would ever ripen into legislation.
Now, it is of course apparent that the bases of fili-
bustering are unsound. Filibustering did not rest
upon common sense, and the application of common
sense was sufficient to demolish it completely. If a
majority of the members of the House are actually
present, a quorum is present within the meaning of
the constitution, and the failure or refusal of certain
members to answer to their names on roll call cannot
alter the fact. Nothing can be simpler, nothing can
be truer than this simple statement, and a ruling of
the Speaker based upon it would be in accordance
with common sense. Furthermore, since no member
can lawfully make a motion without first being recog-
nized by the Speaker, the Speaker is clearly within
his rights in refusing to recognize a member who
desires to make a motion which is intended to be
merely dilatory, and in refusing to put a motion
which is avowedly made for merely dilatory purposes.
But that simple common sense might be applied to
the situation which had grown up in the House a
man was required of unusual courage, firmness and
determination. He must be strong enough to be able
to command the loyal support of his own party
through thick and thin, and must be also strong
enough to be able to meet alone the united assaults
of the opposition. Reed proved to be the man of the
hour. Probably no other man in the country could
378 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
have performed his task. The Republican majority
was so small that even a slight defection would
have been fatal, and he compelled the party to stand
as a unit behind him. The Democratic minority
resorted to every means short of personal violence to
overcome him and to make him swerve from his posi-
tion, and he forced them to submit. In all the trying
period he was always perfectly fair. Those whom he
counted as present were always actually present.
Every man whom he refused to recognize was a man
who avowedly desired to speak simply for the pur-
pose of creating delay and obstructing the action of
the House. In no single instance was there an accu-
sation that he refused to put any motion made in
good faith. In no House had there been given
greater opportunity for honest debate and a wider
latitude for the opinion and action of the minority,
so long as that minority did not trespass upon the
rights of the majority.
Reed's action in counting a quorum appealed at
once to the people as being based upon common
sense, and in his inimitable way he also made mani-
fest the absurdity of the position of his critics.
When the name of Mr. McCreary, of Kentucky, a
Democratic leader, was called as being present and
not voting, that gentleman exclaimed, " I deny your
right, Mr. Speaker, to count me as present." Mr.
Reed replied, " The Chair is making a statement of
fact that the gentleman from Kentucky is present.
Does the gentleman deny it ? " Later, when the rul-
ing was announced, and the Democrats rising from
PUBLIC CAREER OF THOMAS B. REED 379
their seats, and wildly gesticulating, surged down the
aisles crying " Tyrant," " Czar," "Usurper," his own
voice rang out as soon as he could be heard, " Will
the gentlemen who say they are not present please
resume their seats."
It is difficult to realize even at so short a distance
of time from the event the enormous amount of abuse
heaped upon Reed for his action as Speaker of the
Fifty-first Congress. He was denounced from the
floor as the worst tyrant who had ever presided over
a parliamentary body ; he was called " a scurvy poli-
tician acting in defiance of right and justice ;" and the
epithets "Tyrant," "Usurper" and"Czar" were hurled
at him day after day. Yet he was through it all calm,
serene and dignified. "The House will not allow itself
to be deceived by epithets," he said. " No man can
describe the action and judgment of this Chair in
language which will endure unless that description
be true. Whatever is done, has been done in the
face of the world, and is subject to its discriminating
judgment."
And the discriminating judgment of the world soon
sustained him upon all points. The Supreme Court
of the United States decided his ruling to be in
accordance with the Constitution and the laws. Even
his opponents, paralyzed and helpless under the old
rule which they had readopted in coming again into
power in the Fifty-third Congress, finally discarded it
and adopted the Reed rule, and the Democratic leader
in making the motion said he would " hail the adop-
tion of this rule as a new era in American legislation."
380 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
No justification could be more complete, no victory
more triumphant, yet Mr. Reed simply said :
" Mr. Speaker, I do not desire to address the House again upon the
general subject. This scene here to-day is a more effective address
than any I could make. The House is about to adopt the principle for
which we contended in the Fifty-first Congress, and is about to adopt
it under circumstances which show conclusively to the country its
value. No words that I can utter can add to the importance of the
action. I congratulate the Fifty-third Congress upon the wise decision
that it is about to make."
But while Reed was thus roundly abused and
anathematized by his political opponents, it must be
remembered that he was at the same time glorified
by his political friends. If he received more abuse
than commonly falls to the lot of a politician, he also
received more commendation, and while the animosity
of the opposition did not harm him, the approbation
and applause of his own party advanced him in rep-
utation, and changed his status from that of one of
the rank and file to that of a standard bearer and
champion.
It was perfectly natural that he should be suggested
as a Presidential candidate. At the Minneapolis con-
vention, in 1892, there was a possibility of his nomi-
nation, although it is probable that he did nothing
whatever in aid of any movement in that direction,
and in fact that he did not then desire the nomina-
tion. It was a bad time to run. The McKinley Act
had proved immensely unpopular, what had been
done by the Fifty-first Congress had not by any
means been approved by the people, and in the Con-
gressional elections of 1890 the party had been
PUBLIC CAREER OF THOMAS B. REED 381
overwhelmingly defeated. It was very probable that
the Presidential election of 1892 would be won by the
Democrats. Republican chances of winning would
not be improved by nominating a man whose most
conspicuous and most recent public act had aroused
intense antagonisms, and so far as the last election
indicated anything, had been severely condemned.
The nomination of Reed at this time would have been
bad for the party and bad for Reed too.
But as the time for the national convention of 1896
approached it was apparent that the Republicans
would make the campaign under new leaders. Har-
rison, defeated in 1892, was out of the question,
Elaine was dead, Sherman and Allison had grown
old. The names which for twenty years had been
familiar before Republican conventions would not be
again presented. Younger men would be the candi-
dates, men who had entered public life some time
after the close of the Civil War, and who had but
lately risen to prominence.
No man in national public life was at this time
more prominent than Reed. He was still in Congress.
After his retirement from the Speakership after a sin-
gle term he had skilfully led the Republican minority
upon the floor during the two terms of Crisp's Speak-
ership. The animosity created by his famous ruling
had died away, and, as has been said, his opponents
had testified to the soundness of his position in adopt-
ing his rule themselves. Then at the election of 1894,
he had come back with a majority behind him, and
was placed in the Speaker's chair a second time. He
382 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
had proved both in victory and defeat that he pos-
sessed the qualities of leadership, he had won the
admiration of hosts of his party in all parts of the
country, and he held the highest office then held by
any Republican, the influence and power of which
might easily be used in securing delegates.
The only other name prominently suggested for the
nomination was that of McKinley, who since his
defeat in 1890 had not returned to Congress, but had
been elected governor of Ohio. He was the reputed
author of the tariff act bearing his name, and had
made himself on all occasions the champion of the
principle of protection. As a matter of fact the tariff
act was more the work of Dingley than of any other
single member of the committee which reported it,
and its passage was brought about by the adoption of
the Reed rules, and not by McKinley's advocacy. So
far, too, as concerns the principle of protection, Reed
and Dingley were no less its champions than was
McKinley, and each of them in his career had done
quite as much for its success. But in the minds of
the people the tariff act of 1890 was inseparably con-
nected with the name of McKinley, and he was
regarded as the special advocate of the principle upon
which that act had been founded.
The limits of this paper will not permit a discussion
of the pre-convention canvass of 1896, of McKinley's
nomination, and of his triumphant election. Why
the party chose the weaker man, and whether, on the
whole, such choice was the wiser, are questions about
which there is to-day considerable difference of
PUBLIC CAREER OF THOMAS B. REED 383
opinion. Such questions must be settled by future
historians. But Reed was never reconciled with the
result. The reason of the situation was all on his side,
and he knew it. If the nomination should go to the
stronger man, to him who had done the most for his
party and his country, to him who more than any
other was a real leader, and had proved it, Reed was
the man. If the issue of the campaign was to be the
tariff, as was thought likely, no man was a firmer and
more consistent protectionist, and for the passage of
the recent Republican tariff act no man was entitled
to more credit. If the issue was to be the currency,
as in fact it proved to be, no man had a better or
more consistent record for sound money, and no man
had been less influenced by the alluring sophistries of
the bimetallisms argument.
But McKinley was popular. He was kind-hearted,
tactful, gracious, polite, urbane. He would go hun-
dreds of miles to deliver a speech when invited, and
welcomed all such invitations. He believed in the peo-
ple, he sought to know their wishes, he strove to carry
out their will, he was influenced by public opinion.
Reed never sought popularity, he had little tact, he
was sometimes ungracious, he not only never sought
invitations to deliver speeches, but he declined many
which were urgently pressed upon him. He strove
to lead the people, and disdained to follow them. No
amount of public opinion was ever able to swerve
him from his position or to force him to yield his
opinion. Reed was the intellectual superior, but
McKinley was an excellent type of the common
384 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
average man. His ideals and his courage, which was
not of the strongest, but which was average and
human, his view point, his education, his aspirations
for America, were those of the average American ;
and although the wise men of the country would have
had Reed, the common people turned instinctively to
McKinley, whom they could better understand and
better appreciate and whom they better liked.
As has been said the question as to whether the
convention's choice was the wiser may still be consid-
ered an open one, but there can be no question but
that the revolution brought about in 1898 by the
Spanish war and its results was much more easily
accomplished with McKinley as President than it
would have been with Reed. As early as 1890 Cap-
tain Mahan had published an essay entitled "The
United States Looking Outward," in which he had
said, " Indications are not wanting of an approaching
change in the thoughts and policy of Americans as
to their relations with the world outside their own
borders. The interesting and significant feature of
this changing attitude is the turning of the eyes out-
ward instead of inward only to seek the welfare of
the country." Returning again to the subject in
1897 in an essay entitled " A Twentieth Century
Outlook," Mahan said :
" Signs may be noted, even if they cannot be fully or precisely
interpreted ; and among them I should certainly say is to be observed
the general outward impulse of all civilized nations of the first order
of greatness except our own. Bound and swathed in the traditions
of our own eighteenth century, when we were as truly external to the
European world as we are now a part of it, we, under the specious
PUBLIC CAREER OF THOMAS B. REED 385
plea of peace and plenty fullness of bread hug an ideal of isola-
tion, and refuse to recognize the solidarity of interest with which the
world of European civilization must not only look forward to, but go
out to meet, the future that, whether near or remote, seems to await
it. I say we do so ; I should more surely express my thought by say-
ing that the outward impulse already is in the majority of the nation,
as shown when particular occasions arouse their attention, but that it
is as yet retarded, and may be retarded perilously long, by those whose
views of national policy are governed by maxims framed in the infancy
of the republic."
The change which Captain Mahan with so much
prescience had predicted came even sooner than he
himself had probably anticipated. He saw signs of
the times which wereunseen by other observers, and
he read them with remarkable accuracy. A foreign
war was all that was needed to make plain to all this
outward impulse of the people to which he had called
attention. Such a war came in 1898, and no one is
so blind as he who cannot see the enormous changes
which have followed it. In the Atlantic Monthly for
December, 1902, President Woodrow Wilson, in an
article entitled " Ideals of America," says :
"No war ever transformed us quite as the war with Spain trans-
formed us. No previous years ever ran with so swift a change as the
years since 1898. We have witnessed a new revolution. We have seen
the transformation of America completed. That little group of states
which 125 years ago cast the sovereignty of Britain off, is now grown
into a mighty power. That little confederation has now massed and
organized its energies. A confederation is transformed into a nation.
The battle of Trenton was not more significant than the battle of
Manila. The nation that was 125 years in the making has now stepped
forth into the open arena of the world."
To this growing impulse of the people to look
beyond their own borders and to take part in the
greater politics of the world, McKinley gradually
Vol. 1 26
386 MAnSTE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
yielded, and at last adopted as his own a policy
designed to place America in the front rank of the
great powers of the world. He had become a Presi-
dential candidate with his most conspicuous political
belief that the home market should be reserved for
the home industries, and he had won the Presidency
on the question of coinage. He had never before
taken any part in foreign affairs, and his previous
record was entirely upon domestic questions, but he
so shaped the policy of his administration that in the
campaign of 1900 domestic questions had become
subordinate to what his opponents called the para-
mount issue of imperialism, and on this issue he was
triumphantly re-elected.
But Reed refused to yield to the changing views of
his countrymen. He deeply regretted sending the
Maine to Havana for he felt only trouble could come
of it. He prevented the House of Representatives
from recognizing the independence of the so-called
Cuban republic. He held back the House until the
last moment from declaring war with Spain. But
with the ratification of the treaty of peace in Febru-
ary, 1899, he clearly foresaw the new policy upon
which his own party was to embark, and the impossi-
bility of his longer continuing in public life in har-
mony therewith. He therefore announced his intention
to retire, but was persuaded by friends to postpone for
a few months sending his resignation. In September,
however, he finally withdrew, and in his final letter
to his constituents thanking them for their long-con-
tinued and loyal support, he said, " Whatever may
PUBLIC CAREER OF THOMAS B. REED 387
happen, I am sure that the first Maine district will
always be true to the principles of liberty, self-gov-
ernment and the rights of man."
In these final words to his constituents, we have, I
believe, the basis of Reed's political faith liberty,
self-government and the rights of man. The inher-
ent rights of the individual he adhered to on all
occasions. He was an abolitionist of the the school
of William Pitt Fessenden and Thaddeus Stevens.
He believed in suffrage for the negroes, and would
have used the power of the government to protect
them in its exercise* He believed in suffrage for
women. In his mind there was no higher purpose to
which the powers of government could be put, there
was no greater reason for the existence of government
itself, than to secure and protect the rights of man.
He may have been governed by eighteenth century
maxims, but to him their truth was unassailable.
Reed believed that in seeking new ideals his coun-
try was abandoning the ideals of its foundation and
of its national life for more than a century. Upon
this point a majority of his countrymen disagreed
with him, and his own party with practical unan-
imity believed him to be mistaken. But he held to
his views to the end, and died unreconciled with the
new policies and unchanging in his allegiance to the
old.
The question as to whether Reed was right or
wrong was settled against him in his lifetime by the
weight of numbers and the course of events, and his
views as to the duties and responsibilities of the
388 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
United States outside its own borders never received
sincere support from any political party. They were,
to be sure, adopted by his old opponents, the Demo-
crats, and made to do service in a single campaign,
but they were practically abandoned after the prog-
ress of the campaign had demonstrated how slight a
hold they had on the people at large, and they have
now doubtless ceased to represent a living issue in
American politics. But the controversy which raged
upon this question is still too recent to be discussed
dispassionately by one who passed through it, and its
embers have still so much heat that one cannot hope
to stir them without raising again the flame.
But it was always a matter of profoundest regret to
Reed's warmest friends and supporters that he felt
himself bound to assume a position which alienated
him from his political associates of a generation, and
it was hoped that when the question blew over, as, it
was foreseen, would soon be the case, he might
resume his place in public affairs, and that his coun-
try and his party might again have the benefit of his
valuable services. But it is doubtful if this hope
could ever have been realized even with anti-imper-
ialism out of the way. Reed was a conservative, and
his party was and is liberal. He had given his alle-
giance to that party in his youth, and to the party as
it existed in his youth he was true to the end. He
was a Republican of the Civil War and Reconstruc-
tion days. His political creed had in it nothing of
civil service reform, reciprocity or anti-trust. One of
his bitterest political feuds was upon appointment to
PUBLIC CAREER OF THOMAS B. REED 389
office in his district. He was indignant with Elaine
for advocating the reciprocity features of the McKin-
ley Act, and his latest political deliverance is the
caustic and brilliant essay in the December number
of the North American Review wherein he argues as
to the futility of attempting to regulate trusts, and
the absurdity of revising the tariff. Had he returned
to public life he would have found himself out of
sympathy with a large element in his party upon
other questions than imperialism, and his influence
would have suffered .accordingly.
It is impossible at this early day to state Reed's
place in history. We are certain that he will be one
of the very few men of the present whom the next
generation will remember and honor. We believe
that his name will be among the great ones of the
nineteenth century. He possessed the elements of
greatness. He had strength of intellect and of will,
firmness of conviction and of purpose, uprightness,
truthfulness, courage and integrity. The verdicts of
history are not always just, her judgments are not
always impartial. But to the men of his own day, to
those who knew him as he was, who agreed with him
or differed from him, who fought with him or fought
against him, Reed was great, and posterity will surely
have respect to their testimony.
390 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
EXTRACTS FROM THE EARLY RECORDS OF THE
FIRST CHURCH IN NEW MARBLEHEAD
(NOW WINDHAM, MAINE)
BY SAMUEL T. DOLE
Read before the Maine Historical Society, March 26, 1908
Several years ago I was fortunate enough to obtain
the record book of the venerable first church in
Windham, and made a complete copy of the entries
from its organization until the close of the second
minister's pastorate, covering a period of about forty-
seven years. From its time-hallowed pages we learn
that the church was organized December 14, 1743,
and Rev. John Wight was ordained pastor. On that
day a church covenant was adopted, which is as
follows :
" Whereas we, tbe subscribers, have had by the assistance of the
Proprietors of this Township an house built for the regular worship
and ordinances of God ; and have had our hearts inclined to combine
ourselves into a Church State and relation to God and one another, and
after humble confession of our manifold sins and supplication for par-
doning mercy thro 1 the blood of the everlasting covenant and the
adoration of the boundless, rich and free grace of God, which triumphs
over our unworthiness : and such of us as were members in full com-
munion with other Churches, do solemnly and explicitly enter into
Covenant with God and one another in the manner following.
" 1st. Having perused the confession of faith set forth by the
Synod of Churches held at Boston in New England, we do close with it
as to the substance of it, and promise to stand by it, and maintain it,
and if need be contend for the faith therein delivered to the people of
God. And if any among us Shall go about to undermine it, we will
bear a due testimony against it.
FIRST CHURCH IN NEW MARBLEHEAD 391
"2nd. We give up ourselves to God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost
and the only living and true God, Avouching him this day to be our
God and Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ as our Prophet, Priest and
King, to bring us to eternal Salvation. Promising by the assistance of
the Holy Spirit to cleave to this God and Mediator now and forever as
his Covenant, professing to observe the ordinances of Jesus Christ
together in an holy society and communion in the faith and order of
the gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
"3d. We give ourselves to one another in the Lord, Solemnly bind-
ing ourselves to walk together in the ways of God's worship and to
cleave to his ordinances according to the rules of his holy word.
" 4th. We give up our children to be the Lord's promising by the
assistance of Divine grace to do our utmost to bring them up in the
nurture and admonition of the Lord.
"5th. We do promise to submit ourselves to the government of
Christ in his Church according to his institution : Viz : to the minis-
terial teaching and guidance of the Elder or Elders of this Church :
and in brotherly love to watch over one another in godly, sober and
religious life, to the keeping of consciences void of offence towards God
and man.
"6th. We do also promise and solemnly engage by all means to
study and promote the peace of this Church, and to maintain the
purity of the worship of God therein : This we do, praying the
Great Shepherd of his Sheep to prepare and strengthen us for every
good work, and vouchsafe his blessing on this his heritage, Amen.
JOHN WIGHT, THOMAS CHUTE,
THOMAS BOLTON, JOHN FARROW,
THOMAS HASKELL, SAMUEL ELDER,
ABRAHAM ANDERSON."
Of Mr. Wight's ordination we have no details, but
do know from the church records that on that day he
solemnized a marriage, which may be regarded as his
first official act. On December 27, 1743, the newly-
>rmed church held its first meeting for the trans-
ition of business relating to the proper observances
>f the gospel ordinances on the above date. The fol-
lowing is the entry as it appears on the record book :
41 After Solemn prayer for direction and assistance, It was proposed
the brethren to consider what steps may be proper to be taken in
392 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
order to furnish the communion table with vessels, and after some
consideration thereof, Voted, that the church borrow vessels, if they
can, till they can either procure them themselves, or intercede with
some of the Proprietors of this Township generously to bestow some
on this church.
" It was then proposed when it might be proper to have the ordi-
nance of the Lord's supper administered here for the first time. Voted
that the sacrament be administered the next Sabbath for the first time
( God willing,) It being the first day of the year. It was then proposed
how often the sacrament should be administered here. Voted that it
be administered once in six months if the Elements can be procured.
" It was further proposed and considered what each communicant
should contribute in order to prepare the Elements for the communion
for the first time the Lord's Supper shall be administered here, and so
from time to time till the matter be further considered before the
brethren of this Church, And after some deliberation, Voted that there
shall be contributed five shillings by each of the brethren the first time
the Lord's Supper is administered, and one shilling afterwards by each
communicant at every time the Lord's Supper is administered till the
affair be further settled before the brethren of this Church.
" It was further considered whether the Brethren would choose one
of their number to prepare the Elements for the communion Table, and
serve them to the communicants at the sacrament, and take care of the
money that shall be contributed from time to time for that purpose, till
another of the brethren be chosen for that purpose.
" Voted that brother Thomas Chute be chosen for that service.
After prayer the meeting was dismissed."
Then follow a list of admissions to the church,
Mr. Wight's marriages, births, baptisms, with a rec-
ord of the deaths that occurred during his pastorate.
The last entry relating to church matters is as follows :
"December 23, 1750, Voted, That Edmond Finney 1 , some time since
admitted to full communion in this Church be dismissed therefrom to
be joined with, ( or embodied with ) a Church speedily to be gathered
at a plantation called Gorhamtown, near to us. Near the conclusion
of the public service the foregoing vote was passed."
1 Edmund Phinney, afterward in the Revolutionary War Colonel of the 31st Regi-
ment of Foot, and of the 18th Continental Regiment.
FIRST CHURCH IN NEW MARBLEHEAD 393
Mr. Wight died May 8, 1753, a fact duly recorded
in the church book in the handwriting of Deacon
Thomas Chute. The church in Windham remained
without a pastor until September 22, 1762, when Rev.
Peter Thacher Smith was ordained in the old fort.
He was the son of Rev. Thomas Smith, first minister
of ancient Falmouth, and had preached to the people
of Windham occasionally after the death of Mr. Wight.
Mr. Smith found here thirty-nine families poor as
poverty, and a church consisting of eight male and
five female members^ with no place in which to hold
the meetings for worship except the fort, which they
fitted up for that purpose. Mr. Smith's ordination
gave great satisfaction to the people here, and the
following account of the affair was entered on the
church book by Mr. Smith himself :
u I was ordained Pastor of the Church of Christ in this Town, Sep-
tember 22, 1762. Those who assisted in my ordination were the Rev.
Moses Morrill of Biddeford, who made the first prayer, The Rev. Dr.
Samuel Langdon of Portsmouth, who preached, ( his sermon printed ),
My Rev. Father of Falmouth gave the charge, The Rev. Nicholas Lor-
ing of North Yarmouth, gave the right hand of Fellowship ; the Rev.
Richard Elvins of Scarborough, made the last prayer. There were also
present of the council the Rev. Samuel Haven of Portsmouth, and the
Rev. Joseph Jackson of Brookline. The Rev. Aaron Smith of Marl-
borough, the Rev. Samuel Wooddard of Weston and the Rev. Jonas
Merriam of Newtown were also sent for to assist in my ordination, their
Churches voted their concurrence, but as they could not come they
wrote letters in my favor which are upon file. The result of the coun-
cil and all other papers relating to my ordination are also upon file."
The following are the names of the church mem-
bers as recorded by Mr. Smith at the time he assumed
the pastoral office, viz :
394 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
"Thomas Chute, Thomas Bolton, Abraham Anderson, Micah
Walker, Curtis Chute, John Farrow, Thomas Haskel who lived in
Falmouth, and Seth Webb in Gorham, both of whom concurred in my
ordination, Lois the wife of Caleb Graffam, Bethiah the wife of Thomas
Meayberry, Rachel the wife of William Bolton, Anna the wife of Abra-
ham Anderson, and Mary the wife of Thomas Bolton. ' '
The newly-ordained pastor and his flock met in
regular conference for the transaction of business
October 20, 1763, and the following is the record of
their doings as it appears on the church book :
" At a Church meeting after prayer, I considered the State of the
Church and found that the characters of several were agreeable and
Nathaniel Elvins, Ephraim Winship and Moses Starling, had their dis-
mission read from the several Churches to which they belonged and
were received into this Church. N. B. Their letters are upon file.
We then considered when the sacrament of the Lord's Supper should
be administered and how often. It was voted that the Lord's Supper
should be administered on the 21st day of November next, and once in
two months until it shall be determined otherwise by the Church. It
was likewise voted, that, at the first sacrament each member contribute
a pistereen, and half as much the next. I read to this Church [a letter]
from the Church in Pepperelborough, desiring our assistance in the
ordination of Mr. Fairfield, the Church Chose Dea. Chute and John
Farrow for that purpose. The meeting was then dismissed."
Their next meeting was held on April 5, 1763, and
appears to have been called as a sort of inquiry meet-
ing, as the old record says :
" At a church meeting called for enquiry into the conduct of one of
its members, after prayer I proposed to the Church, that they should
choose a committee to deal with the offending person and any others of
the church, or those who had owned their Covenant and did not agree-
able to the rules of the gospel, that this committee should try to settle
all private disputes or uneasiness among any of the church, and that
the committee be for a year, and report from time to time. Voted to
Choose a committee for the year for the business aforesaid, and chose
Dea. Chute, Abraham Anderson and Micah Walker for the Committee
FIRST CHURCH IN NEW MARBLEHEAD 395
and they all accepted. The church then directed to immediately treat
with five persons mentioned by name for several things specified, and
make a report thereof to the Church on the 12th day of May next, to
which time and for which purpose this meeting is adjourned."
Although the foregoing minutes expressly state that
five individuals were designated by name nothing of
the kind can be found to show who they were, but it
does appear that the committee, according to their
instructions, took immediate action, and from their
report we learn the names of two of the offending
parties :
41 May 12th, 1763. This day according to adjournment and after
prayer, the committee were desired to give an account of their pro-
ceedings. Accordingly the Committee informed the Church that they
had treated with three of the persons they were to, that they discovered
a suitable temper, acknowledged their faults, and promised reformation
and begged forgiveness of God and of the Church, whereupon this
Church unanimously voted to restore them and their families to their
charity."
" The committee also reported that Seth Webb, one of the members,
and another of the offending persons had been abroad and that thereby
they had not as yet opportunity to treat with them."
"The committee further reported to this Church that they had
treated with Hannah Stevens the wife of John Stevens jun. about those
things they were desired to, and she discovered an unbecoming temper
and would not give them satisfaction as to any of those things, where-
upon this Church unanimously declared that they were still dissatisfied
with her and would not permit her to the privileges of a Church mem-
ber until she gave them satisfaction for those things, and discovered
more of the temper and life of a Christian. The committee are desired
by this Church to inform the s d Hannah Stevens of this vote."
What misdemeanor Mr. Webb had been guilty of
has never transpired, or how the matter was finally
adjusted, but in the case of Mrs. Stevens the church
appears to have acted somewhat prematurely, as the
MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
following entry made in connection with the forego-
ing vote goes to show :
" N. B. This Hannah Stevens does not belong to this Church."
An old tradition informs us that the charge against
her was witchcraft and many stories are told of her
supposed diabolical powers. However, as she was
outside of the church nothing could be done and so
the matter ended. She lived to a good old age and
died quietly in her bed about the commencement of
the last century.
At the meeting held May 12, 1763, after disposing
of these cases of discipline, the church voted unani-
mously :
" That if those persons who have been married, or had their children
baptized by one Townsend of Gorham, (who was an illiterate Exhorter
and settled there in a very disorderly manner by some lay brethren of
that church,) would declare to me, that they did not go to s d Townsend
for those purposes above named out of a disorderly temper, or out of
prejudice against the regular ministers or churches, but that they really
thought sd Townsend was a regular minister. That upon their making
this confession to me this church is willing to admit them to their
privileges. ' '
Whether any offender against the "standing order"
took advantage of this proclamation of amnesty the
records nowhere state, but it is possible that some
might have done so.
THE CUMBERLAND AND OXFORD CANAL 397
EARLY RECOLLECTIONS OF THE CUMBERLAND
AND OXFORD CANAL
BY 8. B. CLOUDMAN
Read before the Maine Historical Society, March 26, 1903
The humble glories of the old Oxford and Cumber-
land Canal have long since faded, and its former
popularity only exists in the memory of a few who
live to recall the events of the days of its prosperity.
In the years of my early childhood, the brilliant
hope, the sanguine expectations, in regard to its future
development were the chief topics of interest with all
parties concerned in its location and construction.
The building of " air castles " in connection with
the enterprise was legion, perhaps, because the mate-
rial for such building came without cost, and every-
body felt called upon to contribute something to the
wonderfully prospective future of the coming canal.
But the stern facts in later years proved that the best
laid plans of " mice and men " do sometimes fail to
materialize satisfactorily. To say the whole enter-
prise of building and running the canal from begin-
ning to end was a series of misfortune and financial
disappointment would be placing the matter about
where it belongs.
The first boat that ever pulled through this new
water line bore the illustrious name of " George
Washington," and was also called the "pleasure boat."
398 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
It was built by William A. Rice, a miller who lived at
Great Falls, on the Presumpscot. I remember this boat
very distinctly. It was painted in stripes, with the
national colors, red, white and blue. On its stern
were the heads of George and Martha Washington,
finely carved and artistically arranged, with the name
of George Washington in half circle above them.
The favored passengers on this first trip were the
stockholders and business men of Portland, West-
brook, Gorham, Sebago and Standish.
We must not forget the fact that the temperance
cause in those days had few advocates, and hardly
any admirers. Rum and its associate drinks were
then considered among the indispensable necessaries
of life on all occasions. The outfit of the pleasure
boat was in full sympathy with the times, having a
" bar " well supplied with the needful, which, at this
time, contributed much to the wild hilarity on the
deck of their newly-fledged craft. Evidently at that
date, a sheriff of the Pearson type would not have
been very well supported by that crowd or any polit-
ical party.
The boat with all of its old-time attractions, was
not a success financially. It was soon remodeled into
a freight boat, and finally sank in a small cove near
' Kemp's Lock," where a few pieces of its old decayed
timbers are still to be seen. The common freight boat
was sixty-five feet long, and ten feet wide, with a
little bee-hive cabin only nine feet square, in which
were a cook-stove, three bunk-beds, a table, three
chairs, all the cooking apparatus and clothing for
THE CUMBERLAND AND OXFORD CANAL 399
three men. The boatman used a very long tin horn
to notify the "lock-tender" of the coming boat, also
in going through ledges where the cut was too narrow
for two boats to pass ; a long, shrill blast was given
to announce the near approach of the down-stream
boat, which had the right of way. The down freight
was sawed lumber, boards, shook, staves and cord
wood. The price of best hard wood, delivered on
any wharf, was $2.50 to $3.00 per cord. Ten to fif-
teen cords made the average load for one horse, and
the average speed was four miles an hour. The seven
miles level without a lock, between Horse-beef Falls
and Stroudwater, was called the long level. Then
there were seven locks quite near together ; the last
one was located near the foot of Clark Street, called
"Lower Guard Lock," and opened into salt water.
Ths canal proper from Portland to Sebago Lake was
about twenty miles long. Boats went to all points on
Sebago Lake, often taking freight from Bridgton and
Harrison. The Canal Company owned but one, called
the " Corporation boat," managed by Lothrop Libby,
Timothy Skillings and Joseph Libby. These men
had the oversight of all needed repairs on the whole
line. Their arrangement was found to be too expen-
sive, and the boat soon dropped out of existence.
The company had nothing to do with furnishing
boats for transportation. Each individual built and
furnished his own, paid a certain per cent, a mile for
transporting goods and merchandise. The old records
show the toll on molasses to be ten cents a mile for
each hogshead, rum two cents, staves and shook three
400 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
cents per thousand. All other goods in about the
same proportion ; passengers one-half cent per mile.
The whole matter of collecting revenue was regu-
lated by a board of five directors and the money was
paid to the treasurer by the superintendent, Charles
E. Barrett of Portland, who was treasurer for many
years. I recall the name of Joseph C. Larry of South
Windham, an old-time blacksmith, whose workman-
ship was highly appreciated by the company, who
employed him for thirty years. His blacksmith
shop was near the seven locks. Another fine old
citizen of Little Falls, Edmund Dorsett, had the
care of the locks, bracing them against the action
of frost late in the fall, and repairing the same in
early spring for the boating season. The names of
some of those old boats are still held in memory,
viz.: " Waterwitch," "Boisterous," " Sebago," "Jack
Doring," "Honest Quaker," " Speedwell," and many
others.
The By-laws of the company required all boats to
have a name painted on the stern in letters " not less
than four inches in height." Among those who owned
and managed boats on the lake and canal, I recall the
names of Luther Fitch, John Lindsay, William Chad-
bourn, Elliot Libby, Jess Plummer, Henry Chad-
bourn and Nathan Winslow, not one of whom is now
living.
The canal for nearly one mile passed through the
old Cloudman farm in Gorham, where I now live, and
we mow with a machine good English grass in the
bottom of the old canal.
THE CUMBERLAND AND OXFORD CANAL 401
The process of locking a boat through was very
simple and very practical. If the boat was on its
way up to the lake the tow-line was cast off at the
foot of the lock and it sailed into the empty lock when
the two huge wooden gates were closed behind the
boat, and the up-stream pads were opened with a big
iron wrench, admitting near the bottom of the boat
two streams of water, each two feet square, under a
pressure of ten feet head. In about three minutes
the boat came up to the level water above, gliding
easily out, and was again on its way to the lake.
With the down stream* the process was reversed. The
boat sailed into the filled lock, the upper gates were
closed, the lower pads opened, and the boat gently
settled to the level below. Five minutes' time was
sufficient to lock through.
The records show that in 1821 the Legislature
passed an act, granting a charter to Arthur McLellan
and ten others, with power to lay out, make, and
maintain a canal from Thompson Pond, in Oxford
County, to Fore River, in the town of Westbrook,
Cumberland County. I have the impression that the
charter must have been the first ever given by our
Legislature, because Maine became a state in 1820,
and their charter was given in 1821. However, for
lack of money, its limit expired before doing any
work and another was granted in 1826. Finally,
after many discouraging delays and financial hin-
drances on the part of the pioneers of this enterprise,
the actual work of " digging " began in the summer of
1828, and was completed in three years from Portland
Vol. 1 26
402 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
to Sebago Lake, a distance of twenty miles, at a cost
of $200,000. Somewhere in the twenties, our Legis-
lature passed an act granting a " lottery scheme " to
the " Cumberland & Oxford Canal Company," suffi-
cient to raise $50,000 to assist in building a canal
from Sebago Lake to Portland tidewater. From this
lottery the company realized $27,000. One good old
Freewill Baptist ( Deacon Shaw ) was the lucky man
and drew the highest prize, $5,000 ; and perhaps to
keep his record as good in the next world as it had
been here, he appropriated a liberal share of the
money to the building of a church for his denomina-
tion and people. It is said the house still stands as
a monument of the old deacon's conscientious gener-
osity. For a long time one of those old lottery tickets
and three of those famous " paper shares " in the
canal were among my father's papers, as relics of the
old canal. The shareholders never received *a divi-
dend, for the simple reason that there was nothing to
divide. Somewhere early in the thirties, parties
interested in the success of the canal, procured the
incorporation of the Canal Bank, with a capital of
$300,000. Possibly some will remember with me
the old-time paper money, bearing that title. The
bank furnished the company with money, and took a
mortgage on the property. After a time the bank
folks found it necessary to foreclose and take the
property, which they held until 1857, when they sold
the same to F. 0. J. Smith, Thomas S. Abbott and
Isaac Dyer, for $40,000. After this, misfortunes
seemed to multiply, and somehow the affairs of the
THE CUMBERLAND AND OXFORD CANAL 403
canal got into the courts and much litigation followed ;
some cases pending as late as 1876. Finally, after
many commendable struggles for a continued exist-
ance, the few boats left on the line ran their last trip
in the fall of 1876, when the bottom dropped out of
the whole enterprise, and the unfortunate old canal
became a thing of the past.
In the summer of 1830, the whole line was alive
with newly imported Irishmen who, with picks,
shovels and wheel-barrows excavated the earth and
built the tow-path. The banks were dotted all along
with rudely-built shanties, which overflowed with
little children and healthy-looking mothers. From
four to six families were somehow packed in
each shanty. Locks, wasteways and farm bridges
were built by a crew of rough-and-tumble carpenters.
The building of the aqueduct, where the canal crossed
Little River in Gorham, with its two solid stone
abutments and three stone piers in the channel of
the river, was a very expensive job. Great strength
of timber was required to stand against the pressure
of water in this structure. In the palmiest days of
the canal there were nearly one hundred boats
actively employed on the lake and line. For a short
time the whole thing was quite popular, and donned
considerable aristocratic dignity, with its " red tape "
and stringent by-laws. No carriage riding was
permitted on the tow-path ; no horse was allowed
to go faster than a walk ; if cattle were found on the
canal, their owners were liable to a fine. However,
this sort of direction did not last long ; poverty and
404 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
common sense demanded a radical change ; and it
came.
It is not an exaggeration to say that during the
forty-eight years of the existence of this canal not a
dozen men concerned in the matter were financially
benefitted. Large amounts of money were wasted,
much property sacrificed and many people made
poor.
The shore line of Sebago Lake and its immediate
vicinity was stripped of its valuable pines and hard
wood lumber ; thousands and thousands cords of
wood were cut and sold for just enough to pay for
cutting ; and for all this reckless extravagance very
little (excepting rum) was given in return.
The deep cut through many fine farms in the val-
ley of the Presumpscot River, reduced their produc-
tive values twenty-five per cent. The additional
expense of supporting fences and farm bridges was a
heavy burden to farmers on the line of the canal.
With very few exceptions all land damage was off-
set with worthless " paper shares " issued by the
company.
Well, things have changed, and while I rehearse
the past history of the old Cumberland and Oxford
Canal there comes to me a feeling of regret and sym-
pathy because of its unprofitable and unsuccessful
record. Railroads have taken the place of that prim-
itive mode of transportation. The red-shirted boat-
men have nearly all dropped out by the wayside.
The shrill blast of the long tin horn is heard no more
from the deck of the slow-moving boat. Scarcely a
THE CUMBERLAND AND OXFORD CANAL
405
timber is left in the rapidly decaying old locks and
other wooden structures once belonging to the Canal
Company. Only a few old, gray-haired citizens are
left to recall the unfortunate events associated with
the beginning and end of the ill-fated Cumberland
and Oxford Canal.
406 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
THE LAST TRAGEDY OF THE INDIAN WARS:
THE PREBLE MASSACRE AT THE KENNEBEC
BY REV. HENRY O. THAYER
Read before the Maine Historical Society April 30, 1903
Our historian Bancroft, remarking upon the terrible
wars of the red men, prosecuted usually by warrior
bands rarely exceeding forty, adds that " parties of
six or seven were most to be dreaded, while those of
two or three were not uncommon." Stealthy steps
upon the enemy's trail to strike them when asleep ;
the ambush of a village ; the dash upon a single foe-
man or upon a woman and children ; the quick taking
of scalps and flight ; were characteristic methods.
In the same way later upon the white man did the
Indian make war when his bloodthirsty nature sought
victims or his hate and fears would expel the intrud-
ing settler.
Our New England history shows instances where
war parties of several hundreds assaulted settlements
as at Dover and Wells, but in a majority of such cases
Frenchmen doubled the savage horde and French
leaders and French tactics aided in a more woeful
work as at Deerfield, Berwick, Casco, Pemaquid. But
in those same wars the great number of desolations
and atrocities came from bands of ten or a score.
In the last twenty years of the Indian warfare -
1740-60 when settlements had been extended and
THE PREBLE MASSACRE AT THE KENNEBEC 407
were stronger, the main work of the harrassing foe
was done on the outskirts, by ambush of laborers, a
fell swoop upon a lonely dwelling. These murderous
raids were better executed by wolf-like bands of five
or ten.
"War," wrote Edmund Burke, "is the matter which
fills all history." Our Maine history is not complete
without many pages of deeds over which humanity
must weep.
The instance I relate was the first of the Kennebec
tales of blood which engaged my attention, and had
special significance Because it occurred a mile from
my home for many years and the descendants of the
victims were my neighbors and intimate friends. To
family traditions I was afterwards able to add docu-
mentary evidence from the Massachusetts State
papers.
Upon Ebenezer Preble fell the sudden deadly onset
of skulking raiders of the Kennebec valley.
He was the son of Jonathan of Arrowsic, who was
grandson of Abraham, the immigrant to Scituate and
thence to York, about 1642. Hence he was a second
cousin of General Jedediah Preble whom Portland
holds in honor.
For the times, middle of the eighteenth century,
this young man of thirty-four had made a happy
beginning in life. A farm, a humble dwelling shel-
tering a wife and six children, cultivated acres near
at hand, a barn partly built, fair prospects for the
onward years, were solid foundations for true satis-
faction. His home was on a small plateau jutting
408 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
upon the tides and eddies of the river, and now
opposite to the northerly part of the city of Bath.
At work in his corn-plat on a day of early June, the
ambushed foe sped their deadly missiles upon him,
and he fell under the careful certainty of aim. The
report of guns like thunder from a clear sky sent a
shock of terror into his dwelling. Did not every wife
and mother carry an aching fear of similar peril every
day ? Mrs. Preble knew full well the meaning of those
guns. She hastily barred the door and, unwisely it
seems, made such defense as she could against the
fierce enemy who at once yelled their joy and defiance
about the house. It was a party of four only, rang-
ing from Canada into Maine for scalps and captives.
They preferred captives to scalps because of the
higher price in the French markets of the spoils of
war. They strove for entrance and demanded sur-
render, offering " good quarters." Failing of this,
they tried bullets. One account told that Mrs. Preble
was putting a featherbed against the door for more
effective barricade against the guns. Through crev-
ice or aperture by door or window she was shot dead,
falling in the midst of her shrieking children, while
grievous wounds were inflicted on two more of the
household.
Now dire fright and hopelessness compelled to
unbar the door. The assailants took possession, glee-
ful certainly at success and the numerous captives
which meant much silver in hand at Quebec. They
hastily gathered such plunder as they would be able
to carry : of it one portion was the mass of dough
THE PREBLE MASSACRE AT THE KENNEBEC 409
for the rye-and-Indian loaf, in preparation by Mrs.
Treble's hands. This was slipped out of the tray
into a blanket, greedily to be devoured later, or
divided to the captives. Probably the whole trans-
action did not occupy an hour from the ambushed
shot till the march began. The Indian file-leader led
on the distressed company into the great wilderness
through which Arnold and his men toiled and suf-
fered six score years later. Now four exultant sav-
ages convoyed a company of eight horror-stricken
youth and children.
It was fortunate that only nine months previously
record of this family was entered at Georgetown by
Clerk Samuel Denny. The ages were approxi-
mately, Rebecca, twelve and one-half years ; Sam-
uel, ten ; Mehetabel, eight and one-half ; Ebenezer,
six ; Mary, three and one-half ; also an infant, Wil-
liam, three months. There was also a servant girl,
Sarah Fling, seventeen years of age, and an under-
sized boy nearly fifteen, Simeon Girdey, a lad in the
service of Jonathan Preble.
The girl, Sarah Fling, suffered a slight wound ; the
lad one grievous and mortal. A tradition told that
the Indians endeavored to save his life, probing the
wound for the bullet. We know that in the end he
was knocked on the head.
Family tradition retained few incidents of the dol-
orous journey. The Indians made hasty departure,
taking a detour back from the river into the forest
for greater safety if their horrid work should at once
be discovered. At the first resting-place but a few
410 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
miles onward, the oldest daughter was confident she
could have escaped, but loyally would not forsake her
sisters. The little Mary in fits of crying was threat-
ened into silence by her captors, and was also carried
on the back of her oldest sister much of the way.
The undiscerning Indians, in desire to save the
infant's life, assumed that the stout servant girl
might nourish it at her breast, and so directed. She
could only deny and protest " I am not its mother."
Then in their disappointment and exasperation the
little one was recklessly and viciously brained against
the nearest rock or tree. The family tradition holds
that this fiendish deed was done before the eyes of
the horrified group.
The captives were as kindly treated as life in the
wilderness would allow ; received the choicest bits of
game killed ; were watched over with care, for if
there was no compassion, self-interest so enjoined that
the larger revenue of their exploit should be secured
by living captives than by scalps.
On the way the captors hailed another party and
held aloft on a pole the bunch of scalps, exulting in
the trophies of a successful raid : the bereaved girls
held long in memory the excruciating view of the
long, black hair of their mother, waving as a token of
orphanage cruelly thrust upon them in a moment and
their wretched and then hopeless fate as they were
driven into the land of the enemy and the stranger.
The situation of the house still used for many
years was well known in recent times as it had stood
on the south side of the plateau on the border of a
THE PREBLE MASSACRE AT THE KENNEBEC 411
little cove. It disappeared, however, by the encroach-
ment of brick-making, which ate away the supporting
river bank. The outline of stones forming evidently
the foundations of the barn can now be traced.
From that wrecked and blood-stained home the
scarred bodies of the murdered parents were taken
up river a mile to the block-house of Captain Harn-
den, who was Mrs. Treble's father, at the present vil-
lage of West Woolwich, and there close by received
sorrowful burial. A slight mound bordered by rough
stones amid later graves is now plainly defined,
remaining a memorial of the tragic event, and sadly
needing some monument in their memory who were
the victims of the last raid and massacre of the
Kennebec valley.
Too late ! often a poignant phrase, must have been
a sharp thorn in Captain Harnden's heart, if, as was
told, he intended in view of peril to take his daugh-
ter and family home a day later when planting should
be done.
It seems desirable in behalf of the accuracy of his-
tory to refer to what existing history contains con-
cerning this hostile raid. Sullivan wrote the date
1756, but Parson Smith in his Journal showed the
correct one, 1758. Williamson, accordingly, felt
obliged to accept both, and wrote of two separate
events. Sullivan has only the name Preble, as also
Smith's Journal, but in the latter the note by Mr.
Willis says " Jonathan Preble who was born in York,
1695," thus regarding the father not the son as the
real victim. All these writers assign the occurrence to
412 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
the island of Arrowsic,tlie location of Jonathan Treble's
home, but not of his son the sufferer. His house had
been located four miles north, on the east bank of the
Kennebec, in a section of Georgetown which by incor-
poration in the following year became Woolwich.
Sullivan knew only of three children captured, yet
he had conversed with one or two in after years.
In a historical sketch of Bath and vicinity, by Gen-
eral Joseph Sewall, some errors and apocryphal accre-
tions were attached in the narration of this savage
incursion, due to too ready acceptance of floating
local traditions unverified by facts then obtainable
from one of the captive daughters a few miles away.
He copies Sullivan in the date, the place, the number
of captives, and makes Jonathan Preble, the owner of
the block-house, the victim. He regarded the assail-
ants as a " strong party," which advanced directly
upon the Preble garrison, and then upon Harnden's,
and also dared a futile attack upon a strong fort at
the lower end of Arrowsic, where they killed many
cattle. He tells of the capture of a Miss Motherwell
near Harnden's house. In fact, four Indians, like sly
wolves upon a sheep-fold, sprang upon a solitary
farm-house, broke in, killed, seized their prey, then
fled. The Miss Motherwell capture had only one fact
for basis : one captive daughter did become Mrs.
Motherwell many years after.
How slight and defective the knowledge of the
transaction held by some of the descendants will be
perceived by a short notice found in the volume,
" The Preble Family."
THE PREBLE MASSACRE AT THE KENNEBEC 413
Documents in the Massachusetts Archives correct
and enlarge the family traditions respecting the
transaction and the captives. 1 They show the precise
number of assailants, the number killed and wounded,
a list of the captives, the manner of their detention
or disappearance, or their return home. One paper
by the grandfather, Mr. Preble, gives a list of this
family, with other names of like sufferers along the
Kennebec that year. It assures the accurate date,
June 9, 1758. Parson Smith's entry upon the
eleventh says "lately," intelligence reaching Fal-
mouth the second da*y after.
We learn that the second daughter, Mehetabel,
entered a family, doubtless of the better class, which
soon went to France, and though there was expecta-
tion of return, nothing further was ever heard of her.
Her two sisters, in the following year when Quebec
fell, were discovered by two men, evidently soldiers
from the Kennebec in the New England forces.
These men in kindness arranged for their ransom
which amounted to one hundred dollars, and the girls
came home in a transport which arrived at Boston
date not known. To little Mary at departure had
been given by the foster family a small tablecloth.
In the greetings at Boston by waving flags, hats,
handkerchiefs, she had only her tablecloth to use,
which in the swinging slipped from her feeble grasp
and was lost in the harbor.
Some facts indicate that in many, perhaps a major-
ity of cases, English captives were kindly and
1 Massachusetts Archives, Vols. 38 A and 79.
414 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
humanely treated by the French in Canada. Officers
of government, wealthy families, seem to have taken
as many as they could, of course to be in the place of
servants. 1 Some captives found better homes than
they had left. One of these Preble boys, in after life
of poorly remunerative toil, lamented that his pros-
pects for life had been changed for the worse by
return home. Others, many, must have had lives
rugged and harsh because of the conditions of the
families into which they fell by the chances of sale.
Some captives were retained by the Indians, subjected
and agreeably accustomed to their mode of life. Still
others, a multitude from the border towns of New
England, as they were hurried away by the captors
toward the northern wilderness, passed into oblivion,
for no word came back to reveal their fate. Not only
as concerned miserable captives, but the processes of
war were changed for the better in the course of
years. Parkman holds that their wars in the
eighteenth century were less cruel and bloodthirsty
than in the previous, and believes that the teach-
ings and influence of the Jesuits contributed to this
result.
In the spring of 1761 the recovery of the remaining
Kennebec captives was undertaken. Captain Samuel
Harnden, in a petition to the General Court of Mas-
sachusetts, detailed the incidents connected with the
loss of his grandchildren and sought aid in his pur-
pose to go to Canada for them and for several others
1 For prices of captives refer to Collections Maine Historical Society, Series II,
Vol. 10, pp. 194-196.
THE PREBLB MASSACRE AT THE KENNEBEC 415
taken in his vicinity. By vote of June 20, a sum of
money and letters and credentials were granted to
him. He had first proposed to take the Kennebec
route, but found reasons to make his journey by way
of Crown Point. On the sixteenth of August he
reached Montreal and was so speedily successful as
to obtain his grandson Samuel on the third day. The
boy had fallen into the hands of Major Desney. Five
days later he took from a nunnery Elinor, daughter
of Lazarus Noble of Swan Island, who had been in
captivity eleven years. 1
The girl Sarah 'Fling he learned was at San
Antonio, sixty miles distant. Obtaining the needful
passport, he set out and crossed the river, but soon
some slight indisposition and probably a loss of ardor
in her behalf turned him back. It is hoped that the
girl who would have been in a measure homeless had
she returned, did fare even better in the land of
captivity.
Intelligence privately obtained led him to seek the
younger grandson at or near Quebec, where he arrived
by ship on the twenty-ninth of August. On Septem-
ber 1, the lost boy was delivered to his hands. But
here the misfortune of a broken arm befell the older
boy, causing expense and delay. The voyage from
Quebec to Boston extended from September 17 to
October 4. By further delay in sailing eastward he
was unable to give the three homebound children a
sight of their native Kennebec till October 20.
1 For prices of captives refer to Collections Maine Historical Society, Series II,
Vol. 10, pp. 199-202.
416 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
The narration can only draw the outlines without
finer detail of what befell a household of ten persons.
Four met death by the bullet and tomahawk ; one in
France and one in Canada passed out of all knowl-
edge of family or friends ; two daughters after a year,
two sons after three and a half years came back to
the place of their birth. The older son Samuel came
into possession of the farm from which he had been
cruelly torn away, still in memory spotted and sacred
by blood of parents. He died in 1806. His brother
Ebenezer made his home on an adjacent farm, living
till 1790. Rebecca, after twenty years from her cap-
tivity, married Thomas Motherwell 1778 residing
within two miles of her brothers till her death in
1829. With her dwelt her sister Mary, remaining
unmarried, and in later years in the family of Captain
Lincoln Webb at West Woolwich, attaining the age
of eighty-nine in 1843.
Rebecca, as also her sister, became a member of
the Congregational church and was esteemed a per-
son of ardent piety traced to experiences of childhood.
In that despairing hour when she was driven from
home and the lifeless mother's side, she took the only
good book possible, a small copy of the Psalter, and
retained it and its cheer through the weary, homesick
year in Canada.
Treasured in the family is a plain finger-ring, a
mournful relic, a precious heirloom. It was on the
mother's hand as she fell dead, and by the bread-
dough in which her hands were at the moment of
alarm, was so concealed as to escape the eye of the
THE PREBLE MASSACRE AT THE KENNEBEC 41 7
plundering savage eager for the rich and bountiful
scalp. It has last been in the possession of a daugh-
ter of the late Captain George A. Preble of Bath,
a great-great-granddaughter of her who wore it at
death. If as assumed a marriage ring, it dates back
one hundred and fifty-seven years, and has been worn
by four persons bearing the name Mary Preble, while
a fifth Mary will have rights in succession.
So the past transmits, with but the memory of
calamities and sorrows, rich gifts of enjoyment and
privilege the inheritance of to-day.
This event as defailed may have worth as one
instance of many hundreds of similar tragedies
enacted throughout New England during eighty
years of recurring Indian wars. Far more horrible
were many ; far more agonizing the terror of the foe's
onset and the pain of separation ; more dreadful and
wearying unto death often the toilsome wilderness
journey ; more heartbreaking the oblivion which cov-
ered the fate of hundreds. Certainly much of woe
and loss had been avoided if truth and justice had
ruled in all relations with the Indians, and also a
half century of conflict had been spared with its des-
olations and cost in human life, if thirst for dominion
and the spirit of war had not so controlled the great
nations in their stubborn rivalries nor permitted the
grasp upon possessions in America to seem to justify
the use of those malign savage allies to achieve the
ends desired.
This event narrated has special significance because
of its place at the close of the " Seven Years War,"
VoL I 27
418 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
which terminated the period of the " Indian Wars."
French instigation ceased and raids on the frontier
settlements save a few outbreaks during the War of
the Revolution growing out of restless savage natures
and greed for spoils. As that band of marauders
were trailing through the northern forests and skulk-
ing about the Kennebec settlements, the forces of
Amherst and Wolfe were massing upon Louisburg,
the strong but doomed fortification in which France
trusted to defend her eastern territory. The captives
were not more than well placed in new homes by the
St. Lawrence when the great fortress fell into English
hands. The tragedy therefore was contemporary with
the first act of the stirring drama of final conquest by
Great Britain in North America.
Likewise it was the last known tragedy of the
Indian Wars which involved and blotted out a whole
family. Indeed it would have for any year distinc-
tion in that respect. Subsequently in that summer,
records show many persons taken by the enemy. A
large portion were captured in the region of Lake
George and the northern army and were soldiers evi-
dently. Others were seamen and fishermen on the
eastern coast, who were viciously picked off though
the Indians were greatly disheartened by the fall of
Louisburg. Some dozen names appear of victims of
savage incursions in eastern Maine during June, July
and August. The price of the ransom was an impel-
ling motive constantly, when French instigation no
more set the human wolves upon the prey. But I
find only individual captures or two or three at one
THE PREBLE MASSACRE AT THE KENNEBEC 419
time. No list of the lost indicates a family, and only
two names of females are found among scores of cap-
tives. I conclude no whole family was assailed and
taken away. No other later capture was reported
from the valley of the Kennebec in applications to
the State government. No history shows a single
name. The war in Maine was virtually ended.
Noticeable likewise is it that this last family trag-
edy of the last Indian war occurred but one mile
distant from the place of the first tragedy of the first
Indian war in the valley of the Kennebec, when Rich-
ard Hammond's house was vengefully assailed in
August, 1676. Not far away, perhaps not a hundred
yards from the spot where the bodies of Hammond
and companions were cast out stripped and unburied
to the winds or the wolves, the murdered parents
received loving and as decent burial as the distressing
conditions allowed. For that region and all of
Maine as well, how many and barbarous, how treach-
erous and desolating, the deeds of the vengeful enemy
which joined those extremes, 1676 and 1758.
After Louisburg a year led on to Quebec's invest-
ment and its fall when " England blazed with bon-
fires, . . . and New England filled the land with
jubilation."
Then two captive maidens from the Kennebec stood
on the heights or walls of the strong city and saw the
movements of ships and soldiers which promised to
them deliverance, and long remembered their share
in the joy of England's triumph. There was needed
only the further campaign against Montreal and then
420 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
France lowered its flag and by that capitulation
" Canada and all its dependencies passed to the
British crown," and as Parkman wrote, "Half the
continent had changed hands at the scratch of a
pen."
NOTE A.
Obviously required as also conformed to present endeavor in
New England to mark historic sites, is some simple monument at
the burial-place of the victims of this tragedy. It is regarded
very desirable by their descendants, and has been mentioned with
approval in historical circles. Sufficient funds however are not
at present readily obtainable, but steps have been taken to insure
that ownership and legal title to the spot shall be vested in some
appropriate corporate body, probably the Maine Historical Society.
NOTE B.
It is suitable in aid of family history present and future to
append a brief outline of descendants of these parents who fell
under savage assault.
Names are given of four generations which are denoted in
their order by the numerals. Those in the fifth generation
now children and young persons, are enumerated but not
named. All were or are residents of Woolwich unless otherwise
designated.
These records show hi the several families twelve or thirteen
master mariners of whom two are now living, one retired from
the merchant service and one in command of a government
transport. Four or five were seamen of whom two were lost
at sea and two died in foreign ports.
But Captain Motherwell was in the militia and had service at
the Kennebec in the War of 1812.
THE PREBLE MASSACRE AT THE KENNEBEC 421
DESCENDANTS OF EBENEZER AND MARY (HARNDEN) PREBLE.
A. 1. Rebecca, eldest daughter and captive; m. Captain
Thomas Motherwell.
2. Rachel, m. Joseph Day.
3. Joseph Appleton Day, d. 1877 ; six children, viz. :
4. Captain Edwin O. Day, Flushing, L. I. ; three daugh-
ters, one grandson.
Alfred M. Day, West Dresden ; two daughters, five
grandchildren.
Mrs. Margaret M. Day Carter ; one son, three children
of deceased daughter.
Mrs. Rachel J.. Day Burchard, Hyattsville, Md. ; one
son.
Daughter and son unmarried, Elizabeth A., Apple-
ton C.
2. Thomas Motherwell ; some descendants living, resi-
dence not known.
3. Rachel M., daughter of Joseph Day, m. Captain Lin-
coln Webb.
4. Joseph L. Webb ; two sons, one daughter, seven grand-
children.
Mary J. Webb ; m. Dr. S. P. Buck, as below.
B. 1. Samuel, eldest son and captive.
2. Samuel.
3. Captain George A. Preble, Bath.
4. Mrs. Mary Preble Melcher ; one son.
Harriet, unmarried.
2. Charlotte, m. Cleaveland Buck, M. D.
3. Samuel Preble Buck, M. D., d. 1903. By marriage
with Mary Jane Webb, their children came into
the united lines of Rebecca and Samuel.
4. Captain Edward P. Buck, d. 1897 ; one daughter.
Samuel Preble Buck ; one son.
422
MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
One daughter, Rachel, deceased ; son and daughter,
Cleaveland L. and Charlotte L., unmarried.
2. Sarah, m. Captain David G. Stinson.
3. Captain Edward Preble Stinson, d. 1904.
4. John Edward, whose two brothers and one sister have
died.
3. Mrs. Rachel P. Stinson Otis, d. 1899.
Captain D. G. Stinson had also a son, Frederic J., lost
at sea, and a daughter, Antoinette A., deceased.
2. Mary, d. 1890 ; m. Captain William P. Stinson.
3. Harriet H., m. Captain John A. Stinson.
4. Captain William Pearson Stinson.
George Preble Stinson.
Emma Tilden Stinson.
Mary Joanna Stinson.
3. Captain Francis M. Stinson, d. 1877; m. Mehetabel Stin-
son.
4. Charlotte B.
C. Ebenezer, m. Martha Smith. A few descendants liv-
ing, not traced. In his line have been two Free
Baptist ministers.
GENERAL SAMUEL THOMPSON 423
GENERAL SAMUEL THOMPSON OF BRUNSWICK
AND TOPSHAM, MAINE
BY NATHAN GOOLD
Read before the Maine Historical Society, April 30, 1903
One of the most prominent and ardent patriots in
Cumberland County, during the War of the Revolu-
tion, was General Samuel Thompson, then of Bruns-
wick. He was zealous and active when others
hesitated, pledged his services and means to the
cause, and, without doubt, believed the declaration
that, with the indignities of the British government,
death was preferable to life. It was such as he who
made the beginning and the end of the Revolution
possible.
Samuel Thompson was a man of limited school
education, of strong parts, had good sense and held
the confidence, at all times, of the larger part of his
fellow citizens. He was a leader among them
through life, a man of integrity and was successful
with his own affairs. He was a substantial citizen in
the towns where he lived, but made many enemies,
as such men do who have positive convictions and
do not hesitate to declare them at the time of excit-
ing events. The History of Brunswick says of him :
" As a public speaker we cannot with fairness judge Mr. Thompson
by his harangues to the populace. In these he was impetuous, noisy
and sometimes even furious."
" He possessed no mean power of debate and could express himself
tersely and vigorously."
424 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
11 In regard to his character it is hardly possible to render Brigadier
Thompson exact justice. 1 '
" In regard to his public life it is not so difficult to form an opinion,
though even here, owing to his outspoken and vehement manner, he
made so many enemies that it is difficult to know the truth of some
statements made in regard to him. One thing sure, that he was one of
the leading men of his day, running over with zeal and patriotism."
"Notwithstanding the anecdotes tending to throw ridicule upon
him and the animadversions of his enemies it is evident that General
Thompson must have been in some respects a remarkable man or he
could not for so long a period have possessed the confidence of a
majority of his fellow citizens and have filled the responsible stations
which he did. At all events the strength of patriotism ought to over-
shadow many minor deficits of character. 11
At this distance from his time it is well that his
life work should be reviewed in the light of its use-
fulness, by the records preserved, as such as he, in
other communities, are revered by the generations as
they pass along. His long service to his country,
much of it without compensation, renders us under
obligations to his memory. That he may have his
proper place in our history this statement of fact has
been prepared under the conviction that full justice
has not as yet been done to his memory. The impres-
sions gained from our local histories are unfavorable
to a certain extent, which no doubt is the result of
inherited prejudice.
Recognizing the services of General Samuel
Thompson, the War Department has named one of
the batteries that comprise Fort McKinley, which is
located on what is now known as Great Diamond
Island, in Portland harbor, " The Thompson Battery."
This battery commands the passage approaching the
city inside of Cow Island and is built on the northerly
GENERAL SAMUEL THOMPSON 425
side of Diamond Cove. The armament consists of
three eight-inch and two six-inch guns mounted on
disappearing carriages.
The origin of this Thompson family has been a
matter of uncertainty. James Thompson, a tailor,
whose wife was Adrian Frye, it is said, was the
grandfather of General Samuel Thompson. He lived
in Kittery, Maine, but removed to the Scotland Par-
ish, in the town of York, and was probably the son of
William Thompson of Dover, N. H. A tradition writ-
ten, before 1835, by Ezekiel Thompson, a brother of
the General, is that* James came from Ireland, but
other members of the family believe they were of
Scotch descent. Alexander, James, Joseph and Ben-
jamin Thompson of Brunswick and vicinity, were
probably brothers and, if so, the sons of James of
York.
James Thompson, Jr., the father of the General,
was born in Kittery, February 22, 1707, and went
from Biddeford to Brunswick, about 1739, and settled
on the New Meadows River. He married, April 13,
1732, Reliance, the daughter of Deacon Samuel Hink-
ley, and they had ten children. She died May 22,
1751, and he married, for his second wife, widow
Lidia ( Brown ) Harris, December 13, 1751, who died
February 10, 1764. She had six children. His third
wife was Mary Higgins, whom he married March 22,
1764. She died May 23, 1790. He had altogether
eight sons and eight daughters. " Captain " James
Thompson served as a selectman in Brunswick in
1748, 1752-54 and 1757. He was a licensed
426 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
innholder from 1761 to and including 1782 and a
retailer 1783 and 1784.
General Samuel Thompson was a son by the first
wife and was born at Brunswick, on the New Meadows
River, March 22, 1735. He married, probably in
December, 1757, Abial Purinton, a daughter of Dea-
con Humphrey Purinton (of Georgetown, now Bath,
Maine ), who came from Truro, Cape Cod, where she
was baptized July 23, 1738. She is said to have
been a very handsome woman, but she became insane
and was a great care. This was before the establish-
ment of hospitals for such unfortunates, and he built a
small building, near his dwelling, for her occupancy.
Her condition of mind was a great misfortune to him
and had, no doubt, much to do with the lack of facts
relating to his home life and his family. She out-
lived him.
Their children were :
1. Reliance, born November 31, 1758.
2. Rachel, born February 19, 1761 ; died young.
3. Rachel, born July 9, 1763 ; married John
Wilson.
4. James, born June 15, 1765 ; married Decem-
ber 3, 1790, Mary Wilson.
5. Humphrey, born December 11, 1767 ; wife,
Mary, who died September 27, 1835, aged sixty-six
years. He died at Topsham May 29, 1804.
6. Aaron, born October 18, 1769 ; died seven
days later.
7. Aaron, born November 16, 1770 ; married Mary
Gushing of Cape Elizabeth.
GENERAL SAMUEL THOMPSON 427
8. Thomas Cheney, born July 14, 1774 ; never
married.
Samuel, Jr., a schoolmaster, never married, and was
drowned.
Thankful, married William Wise of Saccarappa, in
1803.
Elizabeth, married John Mallett.
General Thompson was licensed to sell tea, etc., in
1763, as a retailer in 1772 and 1774 and as an inn-
holder in 1773. He is described as a portly man,
not tall, somewhat corpulent and had a robust consti-
tution. He was rather fierce in appearance, had
strong mental powers, was witty in conversation and
was a man of capacity. He generally wore a suit of
grey broadcloth. No portrait of him exists. Once
he overheard a person say, what a pity it was
that he had no better education, and turning, he
replied, "If I have no education perhaps I can
furnish some ideas to those who have." While
attending the General Court, one of the lawyers
handed him back a paper he had written requesting
him to read it, to which he replied, " I wrote it for
you to read, not to read it myself." One of the
members said to him that if he had had an educa-
tion he would have been a great man, to which
he replied, " If I had your education I could put
you in my pocket." Once walking with some gen-
tlemen in Brunswick, he pointed to a lot of land
saying that it was intended by the God of nature
for an institution of learning. That is now the loca-
tion of Bowdoin College, to which he donated land,
428 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
and he was a member of the first board of overseers.
The board attended his funeral.
At New Meadows River, now a continuation of
Water Street, he was an innholder, until he removed
to Topsham, about 1784. There he lived near where
the end of the railroad bridge now is, on Elm Street,
west of the railroad, in a large two-story pitched
roof house which was burned with his valuable
papers, the location occupied, in 1898, by the house
of James Barron. He was a large land-holder. Gen-
eral Thompson died at Topsham, May 16, 1798, aged
sixty-three years, and was buried where the railroad
bridge lands in Topsham. When he laid out this
graveyard at " Ferry Point," he remarked that it was
where " I can go there by land or water." When the
railroad bridge was built the remains of those buried
there were removed to the River View Cemetery, on
Elm Street, near by. His remains were identified by
the brass coffin-plate, and their final resting-place is
in the lot of his son Humphrey, near the center of the
old part of the cemetery. No stone marks his grave
but the son has a stone plainly inscribed, and both
are in the same grave. A great-great-grandson, Israel
Collins Purinton, pointed out to the writer the grave
which was marked by a Revolutionary soldier's
marker by the Maine Sons of the American Revolu-
tion, in 1903.
Ezekiel Thompson of Little River and James
Purinton of Topsham, on June 19, 1798, were
appointed the administrators of Samuel Thompson's
estate. Benjamin Ham of Bath and James Thompson
GENERAL SAMUEL THOMPSON 429
of Little River were the sureties. Samuel Thompson,
Jr., the minor son, chose John Merrill of Topsham
his guardian, May 27, 1800. The appraisers of
the estate were Joseph Kilgore, Aaron Dwinell and
Acton Patten, Jr. The real estate was inventoried
at $17,833.73 and the division of the same was
made, April 25, 1806, among son James, Mary,
the widow of son Humphrey and his heirs, sons
Aaron and Samuel, Jr., grandson Samuel Thompson
Mallett of Lisbon, Maine, who was living in 1825,
daughters Rachel Wilson and Thankful who were
living at the same Mate. It has been stated that
General Thompson's whole estate amounted to
$35,000. On the tax list of 1758, his real estate
was valued at but four pounds, and his personal
property at ten pounds eighteen shillings. In 1763,
his taxable property was, real estate seven pounds,
two oxen, one horse, one cow, two swine, thirty-nine
vessel tonnage and three pounds income on trade.
In 1765, he had thirty-six pounds real estate and four
pounds six shillings personal property.
Samuel Thompson was " a centinel " in Captain
John Getchell's Company from August 14 to Septem-
ber 14, 1751, had a service of four weeks four days in
scouting and guard duty and he then was but sixteen
years of age. In 1757, he was a member of the train
band under the same captain, and if there was other
service at about this time the records of the same
have not come to our notice.
At a town meeting held at Brunswick November
17, 1774, Samuel Thompson was the moderator, and
430 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
at that meeting he was elected the captain of the
town military company, with Robert Dunning as the
lieutenant and Thomas Thompson the ensign. Mr.
Thompson was a member of the three Massachusetts
Provincial Congresses from Brunswick, and partici-
pated at Concord when men and means were voted to
make the beginning of the War of the Revolution.
He was also at the head of the Committee of Safety
for his district.
The meeting of the three Provincial Congresses
were as follows :
First Provincial Congress met at Salem, October
7, 1774, and adjourned the same day. They met at
Concord, Mass., Tuesday, October 11, 1774, and
adjourned October 14. Met again at Cambridge,
October 17, and adjourned Saturday, October 29.
Met at the same town, November 23, and dissolved
December 10, 1774.
Second Provincial Congress met at Cambridge,
Wednesday, February 1, 1775, and adjourned Febru-
ary 16. They met at Concord, Tuesday, March 22,
and adjourned Saturday, April 15 to May 10, but met
in the same town Saturday, April 22, and adjourned
to Watertown, where they met at four o'clock the
same day and dissolved May 29, 1775.
Third Provincial Congress met at Watertown,
Wednesday, May 31, 1775, and dissolved Wednesday,
July 19, 1775. The General Court met the same day
and organized, they declaring that from the nineteenth
of the ensuing September all executive appointments
and commissions previously made to this action
GENERAL SAMUEL THOMPSON 431
would be void. This was an entirely new organiza-
tion of the government.
The members from the District of Maine in the
Provincial Congresses were as follows :
FIRST PROVINCIAL CONGRESS.
York County : Captain Daniel Bragdon, York ;
Charles Chauncy, Esq., Edward Cutts, Esq., Kittery ;
Ebenezer Sayer, Wells ; Captain William Gerrish,
Berwick ; James Sullivan, Biddeford.
Cumberland County : Enoch Freeman, Esq., Fal-
mouth and Cape Elizabeth ; Samuel March, Scar-
borough ; John Lewis, North Yarmouth ; Solomon
Lombard, Gorham ; Samuel Thompson, Brunswick
and Harpswell.
Lincoln County : Had no representatives.
SECOND PROVINCIAL CONGRESS.
York County : Captain Daniel Bragdon, York ;
Edward Cutts, Charles Chauncy, Kittery ; Ebenezer
Sayer, Wells ; Ichabod Goodwin, Berwick ; John
Hovey, Arundel ; James Sullivan, Biddeford.
Cumberland County : Samuel Freeman, Falmouth
and Cape Elizabeth ; Samuel March, Scarborough ;
Samuel Thompson, Brunswick and Harpswell ;
Briant Morton, Gorham.
Lincoln County : Samuel McCobb, Georgetown ;
John Merrill, Topsham ; Captain Samuel Harnden,
Bowdoinham ; Joseph North, Gardnerstown ; Rem-
ington Hobby, Vassalborough ; Ichabod How, Win-
throp.
432 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
THIRD PROVINCIAL CONGRESS.
York County : Captain Daniel Bragdon, York ;
Edward Cutts, Kittery ; Ichabod Goodwin, Berwick ;
John Hovey, Arundel ; James Sullivan, Biddeford.
Cumberland County : Samuel Freeman, Falmouth
and Cape Elizabeth ; Briant Morton, Gorham ; Sam-
uel Thompson, Brunswick ; David Mitchell, North
Yarmouth.
Lincoln County : Timothy Langdon, Pownalbor-
ough ; Samuel McCobb, Georgetown and Woolwich ;
James Fulton, Topsham ; Joseph North, Gardiners-
ton.
Samuel Thompson attended the sessions of the Pro-
vincial Congresses, returning to Brunswick during
the intermissions. He occupied a position of promi-
nence with his associates in the Congresses, as the
records show.
October 13, 1774, he was appointed one of the
committee to wait upon General Gage on the dis-
turbed condition of the province. October 21, 1774,
he was made one of a committee to obtain the names
of those accepting appointments under Parliament,
and the same day appointed on a committee on the non-
consumption agreement. December 7, 1774, he was
appointed on a committee, to represent Harpswell, to
prepare a statement of the number of inhabitants and
extent of the commerce of the colony. December 10,
1774, he was appointed on the committee for Lincoln
County to ascertain the state of the militia. March
29, 1775, he was on the committee to bring in the
GENERAL SAMUEL THOMPSON 433
resolves in regard to accepting appointments under
Parliament and in publishing their names. The next
day he was put on a committee to consider two
accounts of John Brown, also an account of Mrs.
Dorothy Coolidge.
The Provincial Congress, April 11, 1775, ordered
that " Colonel Thompson be desired to repair imme-
diately to Brunswick, Casco Bay, Woolwich, George-
town and other places and take the most effectual
measures to acquaint the people that one Mr. Perry
is in the eastern part of the country endeavoring to
supply our enemies with masts, spars and timber,
and to make use of all proper and effective measures
to prevent their aiding him in procuring such arti-
cles." The Congress adjourned on the fifteenth, and
Colonel Thompson went to Bath and " with twenty
resolute men seized Edward Parry and compelled
him to give bonds with the penalty of 2000 to abide
in the town until the pleasure of Congress could be
known, and exacted money for the refreshment of the
captors." What Thompson did at Bath is an extract
from the record of the Congress, under the date of
May 10, 1775. The refreshments cost forty-two shil-
lings, lawful money. This event was before the
Revolution had actually begun.
Edward Parry was the King's mast agent at King's
Dock, in the upper part of Bath. After his capture
he was tried at Joseph Lambard's house, where it was
decided to send him to the Provincial Congress, which
was done later. Luke Lambard went with him, and
the Congress committed him to jail, where he
Vol. 1 28
434 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
remained about a year, when he was exchanged and
he then went to England. Mr. Parry was from Lon-
don, and it is said that he was a man of integrity,
honor and the most urbane manners, but he was a
staunch supporter of the King.
Another man Thompson became involved with
was John Bernard, an associate of Parry, who
was suspected of being a Tory, and he put him
under bonds also. Bernard made a complaint to
the General Court, and the investigation was made
with Parry's case and that of the capture of
Captain Mowat, a little later, which will appear
further on.
John Bernard kept a store in Bath. He was the
son of Sir Francis Bernard, who was granted by the
General Court, in 1762, the Isle of Mount Desert, and
he erected a house at South West Harbor. He died
in 1779, and left that island to trustees for his son
John's benefit during his life. It was confiscated by
the government, and June 23, 1785, one-half was
restored to John Bernard, as being his interest at
that time. He had satisfied the General Court of his
loyalty to the colonies. John Bernard was a genteel
and a proud man. He was six feet in height and had
the body of a greyhound, and thought little of walk-
ing to Boston in a week. He had a thin face and
penetrating eyes and was a man of great integrity of
character, but never married. He was poor, but his
dress was a cocked hat with a cockade, knee breeches
with silver knee and shoe buckles ; he wore a coat and
waistcoat with stockings to match. He left the
GENERAL SAMUEL THOMPSON 435
country in 1786 and went to England. Afterwards
he became Sir John Bernard and died in 1809.
Ten days after the battle of Lexington Colonel
Thompson wrote a letter from Brunswick to the Com-
mittee of Safety at Cambridge which is still preserved
in the Massachusetts Archives, in Volume CXC1II,
page 98. The penmanship is fair and his autograph
is creditable. He had then been a selectman at
Brunswick from 1768 to and including 1771. He
was a delegate to the Cumberland County convention
of September 21, 17^4, at Falmouth Neck, now Port-
land, to consider the alarming state of public affairs
and was one of the committee who drew up the res-
olutions that expressed the people's sentiments, of
which it has been said that they compared favorably
with any resolutions of that time. He had been the
moderator of their town meetings, had just been
appointed on the Committee of Inspection and had
been added to a committee to petition the General
Court. The letter is given verbatim et literatim, as
follows :
"I this minute have an opportunity to Inforrae you of the State of
our affairs at the Eastward ; that we are all Stanch for Country, Except
three men and one of them is Deserted, the other two are in lorns ; as
for the vessels which attempted to Convey Stuff to our enemies are
stopt, and I am about to move about two hundred of white pine masts
and other Stuff got for our Enemies' use. Sir, having heard of the
Cruill murders they have don in our Province, makes us more Resolute
than ever, and finding that the Sword is drawn first on their side, that
we shall be animated with that noble Spirit that wise men ought to be,
until our Just Rights and Libertys are Secured to us. Sir, my heart is
with every true Son of America, though my Person can be in but one
place at once, tho very soon I hope to be with you on the spot. If any
of my Friends enquires after me, Inform them that I make it my whole
436 MAItfE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
business to persue those measures Recommended by the Congresses ;
we being upon the Sea Coast and in danger of being invaded by
Piriats as the 27 th of inst. there was a boat or barge came into our
harbor and River, and sounding as they went up the River.
" Sir, as powder and guns is much wanted in this Eastern Parts and
also Provisions, Pray Sir, have your thoughts something in this matter
against I arrive, which will be as soon as busnes will admit. Sir, I am,
with the greatest Regard to the Country, at heart your Ready friend
and Humble serv*,
SAMUEL THOMPSON.
" Brunswick, April ye 29th 1775. "
The cruel murders referred to in the above letter
were the battles of Lexington and Concord.
The Council and House of Representatives ordered
May 9, 1775, that a barrel of gunpowder be delivered
to Colonel Thompson from the commissary stores at
Falmouth for the towns of Harpswell and Brunswick,
he to account to them for the same. He carried the
powder to the captains before May 31, and they were
ordered to deliver it to their men when necessary.
The British vessels then cruising along our coast,
were a constant menace to the peace of the fishermen
and farmers who dwelt near the seashore and on the
islands. They impressed men into their service,
appropriated stores and resented remonstrances by
burning their buildings. The insolence of the British
officers was almost unbearable and they were sincerely
hated, none more so than Captain Henry Mowat of
the Canceau.
In April, 1775, Captain Mowat was at Falmouth
Neck protecting Captain Thomas Coulson in the rig-
ging of his mast ship, much to the annoyance of th(
inhabitants. Colonel Thompson suggested to the
GENERAL SAMUEL THOMPSON 437
men of Brunswick and Topsham the capture of the
Canceau and the plan was concocted in secret meet-
ings, they guarding all the roads leading to Falmouth.
He was chosen the colonel and John Merrill and
Thomas Thompson were the captains with Captain
John Simmons as the commodore. The place of
meeting was at the house of Aaron Hinkley. The
plan was to procure a vessel of sufficient size to carry
sixty or more men, which they were to disguise as a
wood coaster. The men were to be concealed in the
hold, and they were to go to Falmouth in the night,
get alongside of the 'Canceau and board her immedi-
ately. Notwithstanding their precautions the knowl-
edge of their design reached people at Falmouth Neck
and Captain Mowat. At Falmouth Neck, the people
were much alarmed on learning of their intention
and Enoch Freeman wrote Colonel Thompson, plead-
ing for the abandonment of the undertaking, because
they feared the wrath of the British captain. To this
he probably answered that it had been laid aside,
which, no doubt, was their intention to do. The dis-
covery of the plot did not dampen the ardor of the
party and they again resolved to undertake the task.
Trusty, adventurous men were enlisted in the expedi-
tion which sailed in the night of May 8, 1775, and,
on their arrival at Falmouth Neck, landed at Sandy
Point, where the Grand Trunk Railway bridge now
is, in Portland. In the party there were fifty, or
more, men and in the absence of a uniform these men
of 1775 wore a sprig of spruce in their hats, and for
their standard they used a pole with the green top
438 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
left on. Their camp, on the back side of Munjoy
Hill, was between Tukey's and the railroad bridge, in
a thick grove of pine trees where the men were con-
cealed from view. Sentinels were posted and Pela-
tiah Haley was sent into town for information. Those
that passed that way were taken care of for a time.
About one o'clock, as Captain John Merrill and two
of the sentinels were walking near the shore, they
saw Captain Mowat, Rev. Mr. Wiswell, of St. Paul's
Church, and the ship's surgeon land and walk up the
hill. They seized and carried them to Colonel
Thompson, who received Captain Mowat's sword,
which he immediately returned. The news of all
this soon reached the town's people and caused con-
sternation. The camp was visited by prominent citi-
zens who strongly urged the release of the prisoners.
Colonel Thompson and his men refused to do so, they
contending that the war had already begun and that
Providence had put the captives into their hands.
As night was approaching it was decided to take the
prisoners to Marston's Tavern, which was done under
the escort of Colonel Thompson's men and the Fal-
mouth Neck company. The tavern stood in what is
now Monument Square, where the American Express
office now is, but back from the street. The two
companies were drawn up before the door, where they
remained. The excitement was at its height. Lieu-
tenant Hogg, the sailing master of the Canceau,
threatened to burn the town if Captain Mowat was
not released within two hours, and in reply, it is said
that Colonel Thompson, having a slight impediment
GENERAL SAMUEL THOMPSON 439
in his speech, said, " F-f-fire away ! f-f-fire away !
every gun you fire, I will cut off a joint." General
Jedediah Preble said that two guns were fired from
the vessel without shot and that they " frightened the
women and children to such a degree that some
crawled under wharves, some ran down cellar and
some out of town. Such a shrieking scene was never
before presented to view here."
Evidently by a previous understanding or by the
alarm Colonel Edmund Phinney's regiment assembled
in town and there was so much talk of rescuing the
prisoners that two or* three companies were put under
arms to prevent its being accomplished. The fact
was the people of Falmouth Neck, at that time, were
not ready for the rebellion against the British govern-
ment. The timid property owners and the Tory ele-
ment were the prominent people of the town and not
until they felt the iron hand of English tyranny, the
next October, when Captain Mowat burned the town,
did the people of all classes have a common cause.
Then there was no hesitancy, and old Falmouth has
ever afterwards a proud record of her people to the
end of the war.
Colonel Thompson, of course, was considered the
cause of this tumult and many of the leading citizens
appealed to him to release Mowat, and every argu-
ment was used to effect it. The most convincing one,
no doubt, was that there was a great scarcity of corn
in town and if the harbor was closed at that time,
there must be great suffering. At this time Captain
Mowat was in favor with the leading townspeople
440 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
and they of course thought it an outrage on a gentle-
man. About nine o'clock that night the prisoners
were released on a parole to return the next morning,
General Preble and Colonel Enoch Freeman pledging
themselves for them. Captain Mowat did not return
the next morning at nine, as promised, and the spon-
sors were confined. The reason Mowat gave for not
fulfilling his agreement was the fear of his own life.
Colonel Thompson and his men were much disap-
pointed at this turn of affairs and called upon General
Preble and Colonel Freeman for refreshment for the
soldiers, which they provided at a cost of 13 or 14,
whereupon they were released at ten o'clock, the next
day but one. Thompson called upon them to pay for
the time and expense of the men, amounting to 158
18s., which they refused to do. All this enraged
Colonel Thompson and his associates, who seized all
the goods they could find belonging to Captain Coul-
son and Sheriff Tyng and levied on Captain Jeremiah
Pote, all notorious Tories. Enoch Ilsley contributed
refreshments but we find no complaint from him.
The soldiers carried off one of Coulson's boats and
one other belonging to Captain Mowat from under
his guns and hauled them nearly over to Back Cove.
They neither returned anything nor gave up Calvin
Lombard of Gorham, who fired a brace of balls at
Mowat's vessel, although demanded by that officer.
All this has come down to us as " Thompson's War,"
and properly so. General Preble in a letter, written
at the time, said that " Mowat never will fire upon the
town in any case whatever."
GENERAL SAMUEL THOMPSON 441
After the release of Mowat the officers who had
resolved themselves into a board of war voted that
Mowat's vessel ought to be destroyed, and a commit-
tee was appointed to consider in what manner it should
be done, but by the most strenuous efforts of the peo-
ple of Falmouth Neck they were prevented from
carrying out their purpose. After the burning of the
town in October no doubt the people became aware
of their mistake. If they had destroyed the vessels
in May, there would have been no burning of the
town in October. The History of Brunswick says,
" A year later it would have been a success."
The goods that were " sacked " from Coulson's and
Tyng's houses were accounted for formally to the
General Court, October 21, 1776, and instruction
asked for the disposition of the same. It was not a
case of plunder. No one suffered but the Tories : men
who were considered enemies. There were about six
hundred soldiers in town at the time, and most of
them had gone before the night of the third day,
having feelings of great indignation against the citi-
zens of Falmouth Neck. They said " the town ought
to be laid in ashes," and spoke sneeringly of the
" Falmouth gentry." After the burning of the town
General Preble spoke of Captain Mowat as " that vil-
lain." If the capture could have been carried out,
Casco Bay would have been the scene of one of the
most brilliant events of the Revolutionary War. Soon
after the soldiers left town, Mowat weighed anchor,
and taking Coulson went to Portsmouth, N. H., but
he did not forget the event.
442 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Captain Thompson and his men left for home
on Saturday, much disappointed. Captain Mowat
expected they would go Friday and he sent " a little
vessel," with a swivel, to interrupt them. If they had
met them the result would have been a question.
The History of Brunswick says of Thompson's men,
that they were " mostly young adventurers who after-
wards enlisted under Captain James Curtis, were
employed for some time at Cundy's Harbor ; were
then sent to Cambridge and afterwards they went to
Deer Isle." The men who captured the Margaretta
at Machias a short time afterwards were just such
adventurers, and their descendants take much pride
in their ancestry.
Captain James Curtis' wife was Rachel, the sister
of Colonel Thompson. The company arrived home
on Sunday and on Monday, May 15th, enlistment
began. They arrived at Cambridge, Mass., July 30,
and August 8 were ordered to Deer Isle, which then
held a population of about three hundred souls. They
were ordered to take six whale-boats, three barrels
powder, one thousand pounds weight of ball, five
hundred flints and two hundred bushels of Indian
corn or flour. They were given forty shillings
advance pay and the town where they might be sta-
tioned was to furnish the provisions for which they
were to receive six shillings per week for the same
per man. Their duties were to prevent the British
from plundering the inhabitants of their cattle, sheep,
wood, etc. The soldiers of this company receipted
for the advance pay at Cambridge, August 9, 1775,
GENERAL SAMUEL THOMPSON
443
and their names have been preserved. These were
the men who participated in the " Thompson's War,"
an event important in the history of Portland. The
company was as follows :
James Curtis,
Mark Rogers,
Jona. Thompson,
John Ewing,
William Hunt,
Joel Thompson,
Jacob Curtis,
William Stanwood,
John Hunt, Jr.,
John Blake,
Nathan Coombs,
John Walker,
Asa Miller,
John Duncan,
Richard Thompson,
Daniel Brown,
Benjamin Rideout,
Isaac Hinkley,
John Jones,
Ebenezer Woodward,
John Andrews,
James Dunning,
Benjamin Coombs,
Benoni Austin,
Samuel Ripley,
Jona. Young,
William Spear,
John Dunning,
Fields Coombs,
Captain,
First Lieutenant,
Second Lieutenant,
Sergeant, 1
Corporal,
Drummer,
Fifer,
Private,
Brunswick.
Harpswell.
Georgetown.
Harpswell.
Brunswick.
u
Harpswell.
Brunswick.
a
Harpswell.
Brunswick.
w
Harpswell.
Brunswick.
u
u
u
u
u
u
1 Died August 26, 1775.
444
MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Daniel Hunt,
Tobias Ham,
David Johnson,
John Cummings,
Jona. Johnson,
James Johnson,
Humphry Purinton,
James Bibber,
William Roddich,
Joseph Tarr,
William Tarr,
Thomas Adams,
Elijah Doyle,
Nathaniel Curtis,
Samuel Williams,
James Bestow,
Ephraim Toothacker,
Cornelius Thompson,
Alexander Gray, Jr.,
Samuel Potter,
John Dunlap,
Simon Peter Walker,
Uriah Gray,
Hugh Mulloy,
Thomas Foote,
Bristol Griffin,
Private
Brunswick.
u
Harpswell.
Georgetown.
In addition to the above who were in the company
about this time were :
Hezekiah Coombs,
Samuel Woodward,
Total fifty-seven men.
Brunswick.
u
The above, no doubt, were the " adventurers," who
went to Falmouth Neck with Colonel Thompson for
GENERAL SAMUEL THOMPSON 445
the purpose of capturing the hated British vessel and
its commander, many of whom, living by the sea, had
good and sufficient reason for their hatred. This
company served until the latter part of October, Cap-
tain Curtis being credited with five months five days
service. These men did not stop here but again
entered the army, and many had long and honorable
service, while some gave all that man can give, their
lives, for the cause, and their names are among the
honored dead of the Republic.
The next day after the capture of Captain Mowat,
Colonel Enoch Freeman, chairman of the Committee
of Safety of Falmouth, wrote to his son, Samuel Free-
man, then in the Provincial Congress, as follows :
"Falmouth, May 10, 1775.
u We are in confusion ; though Colonel Thompson wrote us he had
laid aside the scheme of coming here to take the Ship Canceaux, yet he
appeared yesterday on the back of the Neck. I cannot help thinking
but that it is a very impudent action, and fear it will bring on the
destruction of the Town ; for we can make no defence against a Man of
War, and, undoubtedly, in short time there won't be a house standing
here.
"Pray let Congress be informed of this affair, and let us know
whether Thompson had such orders ; and pray the Congress to give us
directions, for we are in such confusion nobody seems to be rational."
The Committee of Correspondence of Falmouth thus
addressed the Committee of the Provincial Congress,
on the fifteenth of May :
" May it please your honors :
u We, the committee of correspondence in Falmouth, would beg
leave to represent to your honors, the situation and circumstances of
this town and county ; and if there is any impropriety in our doing it,
your candor will excuse it.
446 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
" The alarming attempt of Colonel Thompson, to take the ship
Canceaux, Captain Henry Mowat, commander, now in this harbor, has
occasioned very great uneasiness in this town, as it has a tendency to
bring on us certain ruin, by the admiral's resenting it, in such a man-
ner, as to block up our harbor before the time. We have no force to
oppose or prevent it, no fortifications, no ammunition, no cannon, and,
if provisions are stopped from coming in here, the town is ruined, as
well as the country, which depends upon the town for supplies, of
which, at present, there is a great scarcity. We think Colonel Thomp-
son's attempt was rash and injudicious, if not unjustifiable, as we
cannot learn he had any authority from you or the Congress ; we are
sure it was contrary to the will, and without any orders from his
superior officers in the militia, though solicited for by him, and the peo-
ple here seemed to be laid under contribution to subsist his men. We
hope care will be taken that every attack upon our enemies, through
the province, shall be conducted by proper officers, orderly, regularly,
and with proper authority, lest it should occasion a civil war among
ourselves. It is true, in defending ourselves, which may be sudden,
immediate and resolute opposition, in the best manner that can be
suddenly thought of, should be adopted ; but we are afraid, that if any
number of men, at any time, and in any manner, may collect together,
and attack anything, or any person they please, everybody may be in
danger. Sat verbum sapienti.
" We are also concerned, lest there should a deal of confusion arise,
from a number of our men in the country, possessing themselves of the
enlisting papers, lately printed, some calling themselves colonels, some
majors, appointing their own officers, adjutants, chaplains, chirugeons,
etc., etc., without having, as we can learn, any written orders for so
doing : for they seem to contend, already, who shall be chief officers ;
and they are uncertain, whether the men they enlist are to be stationed
here, for our defence, or march to the camp at Cambridge, to make up
the standing army.
"Enlisting papers, we understand, were sent to General Preble, but
he, not having any written orders, did not act in the affair. If the
army can be completed without drawing men from hence, as we have
all along been made to understand was the case, we cannot help think-
ing it would be most prudent ; however, we shall not be backward, if
there is real occasion for our men ; and, in that case, we humbly sub-
mit, whether it would not be best, that some person or persons should
be appointed, to conduct the affair according to orders. We hope we
shall be excused for thus troubling your honors, as we are solicited to
do it by a number of gentlemen.
GENERAL SAMUEL THOMPSON 447
u We are, with great veneration, your honors' most obedient humble
servants,
ENOCH FREEMAN, per order.
On Thursday A. M., May 18, 1775, the Provincial
Congress ordered,
"That Mr. (James) Sullivan, (of Biddeford), Col. (Jedidiah) Fos-
ter (of Brookfield), Doct. Samuel Holten (of Danvers), Mr. (Daniel)
Bragdon (of York), and Capt. (Josiah) Batchelder (of Beverly), be a
committee to take into consideration a letter from the committee of
correspondence for the town of Falmouth, and such parts of a letter
from the Hon. Enoch Freeman, Esq., to the secretary as he may
communicate."
The committee to whom the communications in
relation to Colonel Thompson were referred, reported
the following letter to that gentlemen, which, how-
ever, was not accepted :
" Sir : This Congress have received information that the committee
of correspondence of the town of Falmouth, on hearing that you were
about making an attack on the Canceaux, man of war, lying in the har-
bor of that town, desired you to forbear any proceedings of that kind,
which you promised to do ; but that you afterwards took the captain
of said ship of war, and detained the Hon. Jedidiah Preble and Enoch
Freeman, Esquires, as hostages for the return of said captain ; and that
you levied contributions of money, and other things, from the subjects
there, and took a boat belonging to the said Canceaux.
" Though the Congress approves of your general zeal for this coun-
try, yet it appears that your conduct, in taking the captain of the ship,
against your promise, and your levying money, or other things, of the
people is by no means justifiable ; and it is therefore expected, that
you attend the next congress that shall be held in this colony, and to do
your character justice in this matter, and that you return said boat,
and stay all further proceedings of this kind in the mean time."
In the Provincial Congress, Monday, June 26, 1775,
it was ordered,
41 That the committee appointed to consider the petition of Mr.
Edward Parry, and the report of Col. Thompson relative to his conduct
448 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
at Kennebec, be directed to consider his the said Thompson's conduct
at Falmouth, with respect to Capt. Mowat and Capt. Coulson, and his
laying Mr. Bernard under bonds."
That committee was Nathaniel Mighill of Rowley,
Israel Hobart of Townshend (Boothbay), Jonathan
Webster, Jr., of Haverhill, and Isaac Lothrop of
Plymouth, and their report was as follows :
" The committee appointed to consider the conduct of Colonel
Thompson at Falmouth with respect to Capt. Mowat, etc., and his lay-
ing Mr. Bernard under bonds, are of opinion, that said Thompson's
conduct was friendly to his country, and the cause of liberty ; and that
said Barnard's conduct appears to have been inimical to both."
Thus it will be seen that the Provincial Congress
had no word of censure or reproval for Colonel
Thompson, and early in 1776 he was appointed to
have the raising of troops under his command, as
Colonel Freeman requested some officer might have,
but probably little thought that he would be the one.
Colonel Samuel Thompson returned to the Provin-
cial Congress, and although he failed in the effort to
capture the British vessel and created the enmity of
many people at old Falmouth, he seemed to have lost
no prestige.
He was, June 15, 1775, one of a committee to
enquire if the army is sufficiently supplied with
ammunition ; Sunday, June 18, 1775, on a commit-
tee to take into consideration a petition from " Ega-
magen Reach " and Deer Island for a supply of
provisions ; June 23, 1775, on a committee to take
into consideration the case of the regiment that was
moved from Marblehead to Cambridge and to see if
they were ordered to go to Cambridge and to inquire
GENERAL SAMUEL THOMPSON 449
into it. The next day, he was on a committee to
consider the request of Colonel Freeman to have the
minute-men of Sandwich stationed at Naushan Island.
June 26, 1775, he was on a committee to consider what
measures are proper to be taken for the defence and
protection of the sea coast ; June 28, 1775, one of a
committee of three to station the troops in Cumber-
land County, and on a committee to bring in a resolve
for the purpose of preventing the unnecessary
expenditure and use of gunpowder ; June 29, 1775,
on a committee to which the account of Ichabod
Goodwin was committed ; June 1, 1775, one of the
committee to consider a letter from the Committee of
Safety for the town of Salem, and the same day was
appointed on a committee to draw up a resolve rec-
ommending to the town of Eastham to choose a new
member or members to represent them in the Con-
gress. The next day he was put on a committee to
take into consideration the situation and circum-
stances of seaport towns and islands which are
exposed to the ravages of the British and for other
matters of like import. Sunday, June 4, 1775, he
and Captain Daniel Bragdon of York, were appointed
to attend Paul Revere whilst he was striking off the
notes for the advance pay for the soldiers, night and
day, alternately, until they were all struck off ;
June 6, 1775, one of a committee of three, to enquire
into the circumstances of bringing four prisoners into
the place the day before ; June 10, 1775, one of a
committee to consider the expediency of establishing
a number of armed vessels ; June 12, 1775, on a
Vol. 1 29
450 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
committee to inquire into the reason of the want of
discipline in the Massachusetts army.
Colonel Thompson was appointed by the General
Court on a committee to examine the matter of Jere-
miah Pote and Thomas Wyer exporting fish, at Fal-
mouth. Both were Tories, who later left the town.
Pote plead ignorance of the resolve against it, asked
forgiveness and both were released. August 13, 1775,
he was one of a committee to have hand bills printed
and distributed in reference to desertions from the
army. These bills were issued at the request of
General Washington. November 9, 1775, he was
appointed on a committee to wait upon the Council
in relation to their attitude in the appointment of mil-
itary officers. December 9, 1775, he was appointed
by the General Court to take into keeping Paul
Revere 's printing press until the plates were ready
to strike off the state bills. January 4, 1776, he was
put on the committee to arrange for the signing and
numbering of 75,000 of new bills then to be issued.
February 1, 1776, he was added to a committee to
arrange for the prevention of the counterfeiting the
State bills.
At Brunswick, " Brigadier Thompson," as he came
to be called, occupied a leading position in the town's
affairs. He presided at the regular town meeting in
1775, and after the regular business had been
attended to, Rev. Samuel Eaton, of Harpswell, was
invited to address them on the issues of the day.
He made a stirring appeal to their patriotism which
aroused the spirits of those present to such a degree,
GENERAL SAMUEL THOMPSON 451
that Thompson and several others seized Vincent
Woodside, who held a commission under the King
and an outspoken Tory, and attempted to force him
to renounce British rule, which he would not do ;
whereupon they buried him in the ground to his neck,
when he was rescued from further indignities by
resolute friends. They then called upon two others
who were not at home, whereupon they proceeded to
the mast yard, but the mast agents, Parry and Bar-
nard, were at Georgetown. After spoiling a lot of
the King's masts, they proceeded over the river to
Topsham and seized Thomas Wilson, whom they con-
sidered a Tory, but his offence is said to have been
that he thought it unwise to rebel against England,
which position so aroused Colonel Thompson that he
denounced him as a Tory and threatened him. They
handcuffed Wilson and carried him to a neighbor's,
but he escaped and returned home. It is said that
he was dealt lightly with because he was the tailor
and could not well be spared. Wilson afterwards
was a cause of disturbance and he was mobbed and
carried to New Meadows loaded with chains. This
harsh treatment of well-known citizens engendered a
hostility between the families and their friends, which
had very much to do with the fact that Brigadier
Thompson has never had full credit for his ardent
patriotism and his devotion to the struggle for the
independence of the Colonies.
Samuel Thompson was elected a colonel early in
1775 and also on the Committee of Inspection. In
May, 3 776, he was one of the committee to draft a
452 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
petition to the General Court. In December, he was
chosen to represent the town at the General Court in
relation to the formation of " some form of govern-
ment that shall most conduce to the safety, peace and
happiness of this State in all after generations." In
1777, General Thompson, with nineteen others, pro-
tested against the selectmen serving as such until the
matter of dispute between himself and them was
settled.
March 3, 1779, he was chosen first on a committee
to supply the families of the men in the Continental
Army with provisions. He was the moderator of the
town meeting held October 31, 1780, and was chosen
chairman of the committee to procure beef for the
army. That same year he was chosen by the Pejep-
scot Proprietors one of a committee to lay out
land. In 1783, the town of Brunswick voted him
30 16s. 3d. for his services as their delegate to
the Provincial Congress in 1774 and 1775. In 1781,
he was at the head of a committee, appointed by the
Court of General Sessions, to lay out a road at
Brunswick.
Colonel Thompson was elected brigadier-general
of the Cumberland County Militia, January 30, 1776,
and was commissioned February 8. He and Samuel
Freeman recommended that the militia of the county
be organized into four regiments, which recommenda-
tion was approved. The regiments and their field
officers were as follows :
The 1st Regiment was from Falmouth and Cape
Elizabeth and the officers were :
GENERAL SAMUEL THOMPSON 453
John Waite, Colonel, Falmouth.
Peter Noyes, Lieutenant-Colonel, "
Nathaniel Jordan, First Major, Cape Elizabeth.
William Frost, Second Major, Falmouth.
The 2d Regiment was from North Yarmouth, Bruns-
wick, Harpswell and Royalston ( Durham ) and the
officers were :
Jonathan Mitchell, Colonel, North Yarmouth.
Nathaniel Purinton, Lieutenant-Colonel, Harpswell.
Charles Gerrish, First Major, Durham.
Nathaniel Larrabee, Second Major, Brunswick.
The 3d Regiment was from Scarboro, Gorham and
Pearsontown ( Standish ) and their officers were :
Reuben Fogg, Colonel, Scarboro.
Richard T. Lombard, Lieutenant-Colonel, Gorham.
Timothy McDonald, First Major, Scarboro.
Ephraim Rowe, Second Major, Standish.
The 4th Regiment was from Windham, New
Gloucester, New Boston ( Gray ) and the settlements
back of Royalston and the officers were :
Timothy Pike, Colonel, Windham.
Moses Merrill, Lieutenant-Colonel, New Gloucester.
William Knight, First Major, Windham.
Samuel Matthews, Second Major, Scarboro.
As the Brigadier-General, all the troops raised in
Cumberland County were under the direction of Sam-
uel Thompson, and it continued so to the end of the
war. The raising of Colonel Mitchell's regiment for
454 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
the Bagaduce Expedition was by his orders. After
the men were detached for that duty all did not
report as promptly as their duty required, and upon
being notified of that fact, General Thompson sent
back word, " If they will not go I will make the
county too hot for them." July 14, 1779, he reported
to the Board of War that the regiment was ready at
Falmouth Neck. The order, published in the History
of Brunswick, verbatim et literatim, to Major Larra-
bee, July 3, 1779, was signed by General Thomp-
son only. The body of the order was written by
another. The original document is in the Massachu-
setts Archives.
General Thompson moved to Topsham about 1784,
and in November, 1785, he was chosen by that town
a delegate to a convention to be held at Falmouth, to
consider as to the advisability of the separation from
Massachusetts. At the annual town meeting in 1786
he was chosen again to attend a convention, to be held
at Falmouth, on the first Wednesday of the next Sep-
tember, for the same purpose, and the town voted in
favor of a separation. He was chosen a delegate to
the convention held in Boston, in January, 1788, for
the ratification of the Federal Constitution, and he
and his town were opposed to that instrument, as
presented. In the convention he was one of the
leaders of the opposition, where sat such men, as del-
egates, as John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Samuel
Adams, Christopher Gore, General William Heath,
Increase Sumner, General Benjamin Lincoln, Rufus
King, General John Brooks and others of prominence.
GENEKAL SAMUEL THOMPSON 455
He spoke several times and disclaimed any knowledge
of ancient history, but said he had some knowledge of
his own country's. He apologized for his zeal and
advised the members to go slow, for the nation was
but in its childhood and when it grew to maturity he
wished it to be without a deformity. He advocated
the abolition of slavery, and said :
u Mr. President, shall it be said that after we have established our
own independence and freedom we make slaves of others ? O Wash-
ington, what a name he had ! How he has immortalized himself, but
he holds those in slavery who have as good right to be free as he has.
He is still for self and in my opinion his character has sunk fifty per
cent."
General Thompson opposed a standing army, but
said, " Keep your militia in order." He advocated
annual elections for members of Congress, and said,
." Let the members know their dependence upon the
people." He said, " We cannot have too much liber-
ty," and in regard to the Constitution, he said, " There
are some parts of the Constitution which I cannot
digest ; and, sir, shall we swallow a large bone for
the sake of little meat ? Some say, swallow the whole
now and pick out the bones afterwards. But I
say, let us pick off the meat and throw the bone
away."
He said that the Constitution should have been
first sent to the towns for their consideration, and
added, " My town considered it seven hours and after
this there was not one in favor of it." Then again he
said, " It is strange that a system, which its planners
say is so plain that he that runs may read it, should
want so much explanation." When the vote was
456 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
taken, the Constitution was adopted, in a total
vote of three hundred and fifty-five, by only nine-
teen majority. The majority of the Maine dele-
gates was but four. Maine abolished slavery that
year.
General Thompson ran the ferry over the Andro-
scoggin River between Topsham and Brunswick, at
Ferry Point, from 1783 until 1796, and was at the
head of the proprietors of the first boom across the
Androscoggin River, in 1789. He was chosen to
represent Topsham in the General Court twelve
terms, 1784-88, 1790-94 and 1797-98, and the year
he died, 1797, he was chosen State senator. In 1779,
General Thompson bought the island and the lower
mill privilege, at the Topsham end of the Brunswick
bridge, of Samuel Wilson, and his heirs sold it in
1826. The island was called " Thompson's Island "
for several years. In 1784, he erected a saw-mill,
with four saws, in Topsham where the mill now is,
by the toll house. It had been completed but a few
days when a freshet carried it off. It was rebuilt the
next year. In 1802, his son, James Thompson, lived
on the island and had the only house there.
In 1781, General Thompson was appointed by the
Court of General Sessions of Lincoln County to lay
out a road at Topsham. The town of Lisbon was
incorporated in 1799 as Thompsonborough, in his
honor, but the name was changed in 1802. In 1790,
he kept a store in Topsham, and a tavern in 1792,
and that year that town cast its vote for him as a
Presidential elector. In 1793, he was chosen a
GENERAL SAMUEL THOMPSON 457
delegate to another convention to be held in Portland,
in December, to consider the expediency of forming a
new state, and in 1795 chosen again for the same
purpose. He was a member of the Governor's Coun-
cil in 1794, and filled many minor offices and served
on committees of importance, of which we now have
no record. He was a faithful public servant and his
integrity has never been questioned in any history of
his time.
General Thompson was a constant, active and sturdy
patriot of the Revolution. He kept his pledge, made
in 1775. He was* a member of the Congress that
voted the men and means to begin the war, at Con-
cord, Mass., and at the end, he was a prominent
member of the convention for the ratification of the
Constitution, serving faithfully during the whole
struggle for independence. The criticisms made of
General Thompson's conduct was, at the beginning,
for what they termed rashness. James Sullivan wrote
Samuel Freeman, then at the General Court, January
21, 1776:
" I am surprised the militia bill is where you mention in your last.
I fear our country will owe its destruction to the squeamishness of our
General Court. Bold and manly strides are necessary in war. What
is done amiss in war, may be set right in time of peace."
The earliest reflection, in our histories, of General
Thompson's conduct in 1775, was by Samuel Free-
man, in his edition of Parson Smith's Journal, in
1821, he using General Jedediah Treble's letters,
written at the time of the " Thompson's War."
458 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
General Preble changed his opinion of Captain Mowat,
later, and probably did of General Thompson. The
enmity between Enoch and Samuel Freeman and
Jedediah Preble and General Thompson was of the
same character as between members of different
political parties. Thompson placed the others in not
an enviable position, as events proved and they were
not unprejudiced witnesses. They all proved them-
selves devoted patriots, having the good of the coun-
try uppermost in their hearts, and there being honor
enough for all, we can afford to give General Thomp-
son full credit for his services, even at this late day.
The Freemans and Preble have had their eulogists,
and Thompson merited his, for probably no man in
the County of Cumberland did more to arouse the
people to the spirit of rebellion and action than he,
and he was faithful to the end. Had the effort for
our independence been a failure the first rebel hung
in Cumberland County would have been Samuel
Thompson. " He dared to be free."
I N DBX
INDEX
INDEX OF SUBJECTS
ACADIANS, Occasion of the expul-
sion of the, 252.
Address of J. P. Baxter, 1.
Alfred the Great, Anglo-Saxon
Constitution and laws under,
46; as a Christian, 62; a patron
of literature, 29; life and char-
acter of, 5.
Allen, Charles E., Freeman Parker
and the Church of Dresden,
213.
American Academy of Arts and
Sciences, 336.
Anabaptists, 246.
Andover Association, the, 215.
Anglo-Saxon Constitution and
Laws under Alfred the Great,
42.
Antinomians, 234.
Army, the National under Alfred
the Great, 18.
Austin, Alfred, The Spotless King,
28.
BABBLERS, The, 222.
Bagaduce Expedition, the, 454.
"Baptists, 245, 247.
Baxter, J. P., Address of, 1; Rich-
mond's Island, 66.
Bible, the, not read in early Mas-
sachusetts churches, 301, 303.
Biographical Sketches:
Bernard, John, 434.
Parry, Edward, 433.
Black, J. W., Life and Character
of Alfred the Great, 5.
Blind Preacher of Dresden, 215.
Boundary, eastern, claimed by
England in 1778 not the same
as claimed in 1814, 157.
Bretwalds, the last of the, 7.
Burbank, H. H., James Sullivan,
322.
Burrage, H. S., Attitude of Maine
in the Boundary Controversy,
353; Expulsion of the Acad-
ians, 252; Plymouth Colonists
in Maine, 116.
CAPTURE of the Caleb Cushing,
191.
Chaises in Dresden, 218.
Chapman, H. L., Alfred the Great
as a Patron of Learning, 29.
Charter, first given by the State of
Maine, 401; of Massachusetts
Bay Colony, 227, 231; of Vir-
ginia, 242.
Church and State in New England,
221, 302.
Church Council, first English, 9.
Cloudman, S. B., Cumberland and
Oxford Canal, 397.
Colonial government, ecclesiasti-
cal, 227.
Committee of Safety and Inspec-
tion, 333, 349.
Common Schools, 231.
Company of Husbandmen, 78.
Congregationalism, 300, 302.
Congregationalists, 300.
Congress, Continental, 332, 335.
Provincial, 327, 332, 333, 334,
335, 433, 445, 447, 457.
462
MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Congress, Provincial, Sessions of,
430, 431, 432.
Connecticut, the Republic of, to
be dissolved, 340.
Constitution, a, denned, 43.
Continental Army, 319, 347, 349.
Council for New England, 71, 73,
78, 79, 80, 82, 126, 129.
Council of Plymouth, 243.
Whitby, 7.
Courts Baron, the, 55; of Justice
in time of Alfred, 60. 52, 53,
54.
Cradle of Puritanism in Ireland,
72.
Cumberland Canal, Early Recollec-
tions of, 397.
Currency sound in Alfred's time,
18.
DAI/TON, A., Alfred the Great as a
Christian, 62.
Danelaw, the, 16, 21.
Deaths on battlefields, relative,
162, 163.
Deed of sale, the second legal in
Maine, 89.
Dole, S. T., Early Records of
First Church of Windham,
390; Peter Little, 344; Wind-
ham's Colored Patriot, 316.
Dooms, the, 42, 45, 49, 60; of
^Ethelbehrt, 45.
Doom-book of King Alfred, 19.
Dresden, The Church in, 212.
Dyer, Mary, conquered Massachu-
setts, 241.
EMERY, G. F., James W. Brad-
bury, 158.
Episcopalians, 229, 234, 242, 246,
308.
Extracts from Records of First
Church in Windham, 390.
FAITH, the, professed by New
England Churches, 299, 300.
Families in Falmouth in 1726, 298.
Farmers of the Trade, 144.
Fire, Ordeal by, 54.
First Regiment, officers of the, 453.
Fishing-station at Richmond's
Island, 84.
Fourth Regiment, officers of the,
453.
Freemen and Freeholders, 228.
Frith of 886, 21.
Fryd, the, 18.
Funeral, first instance of prayer
at, in Massachusetts, 301.
GENEALOGIES:
Buck, 421.
Preble, 421.
Stinson, 422.
Thompson, 425.
Goold, Nathan, Samuel Thomp-
son, 423.
Government in America, a new
form of proposed, 342.
Granary, of embryo New Eng-
land, 122.
Great Awakening, the, 299, 308.
Guelph usurpation, the, 189.
HALE, C., The Capture of the
Caleb Gushing, 191.
Half-way Covenant, the, 304, 305.
Hawkins family, 74.
Hundreds, the, 55.
INDEPENDENTS, the, 223.
Intercolonial Railway, 361.
JESUITS, influence of the, 414.
KENNEBECK GRANT, 129, 141, 143,
144, 146.
Patent, 128, 129, 130, 131, 130,
141, 142, 143, 144.
Purchase, 145.
King, first typical English, 21.
King Philip's War, 234, 295.
INDEX
463
Kingship in England elective, 46,
47, 48, 61.
LANDED CLASSES, 67.
Laws of the Anglo-Saxons, 42, 43,
44, 49 ; of Contract, 68.
Letters :
Freeman, Enoch, 445.
Mclntire, Rufus, 188.
Smith, Thomas, 292.
Thompson, Samuel, 435.
Winship, James, 91.
List of men engaged in Thomp-
son's War, 443, 444.
Lollards, the, 222.
London founded by King Alfred,
21.
Company, 225.
Long Parliament, 226.
Lottery granted, 402.
Loyalists to colonize New Ireland,
147, 149, 150, 152.
MclNTYRE, P. W., Sword of Rufus
Mclntire, 187.
Madawaska trouble, the, 190.
Maine, Attitude of in Boundary
Controversy, 353.
Battery, the Fifth, 162.
Cavalry, the First, 162.
Heavy Artillery, the First, 162.
Historical Society, Millenary
Anniversary of the Death of
Alfred the Great, 1 ; Field-
Day at Richmond's Island, 66.
Infantry, the Seventeenth, 162,
181.
Volunteer Infantry, the Fourth,
164, 167, 169, 170, 172, 173, 174,
181.
Volunteers, the Seventh, 197,
198, 199, 201.
Marriage service, the first per-
formed by a pastor in Massa-
chusetts, 301.
Massachusetts Historical Society,
Masts for the Royal Navy, 153,
154, 451.
Mattocks, C. P., Hiram G. Berry,
162.
Meeting-houses, the New England
type of, 219.
Memoirs:
Berry, Hiram G., 162.
Bradbury, James W. 158.
Little, Peter, 344.
Smith, Thomas, 288.
Sullivan, James, 322.
Thompson, Samuel, 423.
Winship, Josiah, 88.
Ministers, former respect for, 96.
Moots, 52, 55, 56 ; see also Witen-
agemot.
Moulton, A. F., Church and State
in New England, 221.
NATIONAL code of laws created
by King Alfred, 19.
Consolidation begun by the
Church, 9 ; continued by King
Alfred, 20, 21, 29, 42, 46.
Monarchy founded, 22.
Navy, English in time of King
Alfred, 19.
New England, the charter, 118.
Division of into governments,
339.
New Ireland, The Proposed Prov-
ince of, 147.
New Lights, the, 113.
Northeastern Boundary Contro-
versy, The Attitude of Maine
in the, 353.
OCCASION of the Expulsion of the
Acadians, 252.
Ordination party expenses paid by
the town, 93.
Oxford Canal, Early Recollections
of the, 397.
PAEISH, the, in Colonial and later
times, 302.
464
MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Parker, Freeman, and the Church
in Dresden, 212.
Peace of 886, 21; of Wedmore, 15,
16, 17, 21 ; see also Treaties.
Pejepscot Proprietors, 145, 146,
452.
Pemaquid Proprietors, 145.
Penobscot, Colony to be founded
at, 152.
Perkins, J. C., Thomas Smith, 288.
Pilgrim Patent, see Kennebeck
Grant.
Pilgrims, 221, 222, 223, 224, 225,
226, 233, 235, 300.
Piscataqua Company, 76.
Plymouth Colonists in Maine, 116.
Company, 145.
Popham Colony, 120, 131.
Preaching, early in Falmouth, 294,
296.
Preble Massacre, 406.
Proposed New Arrangement of
New England, 339.
Proposed Province of New Ire-
land, 147.
Proprietors of the Kennebec Pur-
chase, 145.
Proprietors, Old and New in Fal-
mouth, 306.
Puritanism, 299.
Puritans, 226, 295, 299, 300.
QUAKERS, 236, 238, 239, 240, 241,
246.
Reed, T. B., Public Career of, 369.
Religious Toleration Act, the, 111.
Remuneration of clergymen, 292,
296.
Republics in America, 340, 342.
Rhode Island, Republic of to be
dissolved, 340.
Richmond's Island, 66.
Riding the circuit, 328.
Roads from Boston to Halifax and
Quebec, 153; from Halifax to
Basin of Minas, 271.
Robinhood's deed of sale, the sec-
ond of legal form in Maine, 89.
ST. CROIX COMMISSION, 355, 359,
361.
Savage, A. R., Anglo-Saxon Con-
stitution and Laws, 42.
Separatists, 223, 224, 226, 300.
Sermons, the length of, 95.
Sheriff, the, 56.
Shipbuilding at Falmouth, 340.
Slavery abolished in Maine, 455;
in Windham, 316.
Squatters of Maine, 216.
Star Chamber, the, 232.
Stoddardeanism, 304.
TAXATION in the time of King
Alfred, 18, 50.
Tenancy, system in England not
palatable in New England, 83.
Thayer, H. O., Last Tragedy of
the Indian Wars, 406; Josiah
Winship, 88.
Third Regiment, officers of the,
453.
Trading Post of Ashley on the
Penobscot, 132, 133, 134, 138,
139, 140; of the Pilgrims on
the Kennebec, 132, 133, 134,
138, 141, 144.
Tragedy, first of the Indian wars,
419; last of the Indian wars,
416, 418, 419.
Treaties, Aix-la-Chapelle, 278; of
Breda, 254; of Ghent, 354, 355,
359, 363; of Paris, 307; of
Utrecht, 255, 256, 259, 272,
276; of 1783, 355, 361, 368; of
1832, 365.
VALLEY FORGE of King Alfred,
the, 14.
Vessels :
Agawam, 204.
Angel Gabriel, 85.
INDEX
465
Vessels :
Archer, 192, 194, 196, 204.
Boisterous, 400.
Bon Ilomme Richard, 207.
Caleb Gushing, 191, 193, 194, 195,
196, 202, 204, 207, 210.
Canceau, 436, 437, 438, 445, 446,
447, 448.
Casco, 197.
Chesapeake, 197, 199, 200, 201,
202.
Clarence, the brig, 193.
Clarence, the yacht, 204.
Florida, 193, 196, 202, 206.
Forest City, 196, 197, 198, 199,
200, 202.
Fortune, 120.
George Washington, 397?
Holy Ghost, 85.
Honest Quaker, 400.
Jack Doring, 400.
Maine, 386.
Margaretta, 442.
Mayflower, 118, 119, 120, 225.
Plough, 78.
Pontoosac, 205.
Sebago, 400.
Serapis, 207.
Sierre, 218.
Vessels :
Speedwell, 400.
Tacony, 193, 194, 196, 206.
Tiger, 198.
Village, 191.
Water witch, 400.
White Angel of Bristol, 85.
Virginia Company, 117, 118.
Vose, Z. P., requiem by, 185.
WAR OF 1812, 420 ; King Philip's,
234, 296 ; Thompson's, 347,
440, 443.
Warren Association, 247.
Washington, George, and slavery,
455.
Water, ordeal by, 52.
Webb, R., Public Career of T. B.
Reed, 369.
Wergeld, 59.
Williamson, J., Proposed Province
of New Ireland, 147.
Windham, Colored Patriot of, 316;
Extracts from the Records of
the First Church of, 390.
Winship, Josiah, 88.
Wiscasset Company, 145.
Witenagemot, the, 20, 46, 47, 48,
49, 60, 51, 66 ; see also Moots.
INDEX OF NAMES
ABBOTT, THOMAS S., 402.
Adam, 10.
Adams, John, 338.
Jonathan, 108, 114.
Samuel, 216, 248, 454.
Thomas, 444.
^Ethelbehrt, 42, 45.
Alden, John, 136.
Alexander the Great, 164.
Sir William, 254.
Alfred the Great, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 6, 10,
11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19,
20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30,
31, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 39, 40, 42,
Alfred the Great, continued.
43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 49, 52, 53, 66,
69, 60, 62, 63, 64, 65.
Alger, Andrew, 83.
Thomas, 83.
Algers, the, 86.
Allen, Charles E., 212.
E., 330.
Allerton, Isaac, 126, 128.
Allison, William B., 381.
Amherst, Jeffrey, 418.
Anderson, Abraham, 391, 394.
Anna, 394.
Andrews, John, 443.
Vol. 1
30
466
MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Andrews, Capt. , 197, 206.
Andros, Edmund, 243.
Angles, the, 6, 20, 45.
Anne, Queen, 255, 258.
Armstrong, Lawrence, 263, 264, 266.
Arnold, Benedict, 335, 409.
Matthew, 39.
Ashburton, Lord, 366.
Ashley, Edward, 132, 133.
Asser, Bishop, 2, 10, 14, 15, 22, 26,
30, 32, 34, 35, 39.
Athelstan, 35.
Austin, Alfred, 28.
Ann, 238.
Benoni, 443.
Edward, 219.
BACKUS, ISAAC, 248.
Badiver, John, 83.
Bagnall, Walter, 72, 74, 75, 77, 79,
80, 81, 85.
Bailey, Jacob, 212.
Baker, James, 90.
Bancroft, George, 137, 406.
Barker, David, 348.
Barrett, Benjamin F., 218.
Charles E., 400.
Oliver, 218.
Sarah, 218.
Barren, James, 428.
Bartol, Cyrus, 214.
Batchelder, Josiah, 447.
Baxter, James P., 1, 66, 208.
Beauregard, P. G. T., 172.
Bede, the Venerable, 40, 63.
Bedford, the Duke of, 274.
Beowulf, 36.
Bernard, Francis, 154, 339, 434.
John, 434, 435, 448, 451.
Berry, Francis G., 168.
Hiram G., 162, 164, 166, 167, 168,
169, 170, 172, 173, 174, 175,
176, 177, 178, 179, 180, 181, 182,'
183, 184, 185.
Jeremiah, 168.
Lucy F., 170.
Bestow, James, 444.
Bibber, Albert T., 191, 102.
James, 444.
Black, J. William, 5.
Luce, 321.
Elaine, James G., 373, 381, 389.
Blake, John, 443.
Boaden, John, 86.
Boethius, 17, 23, 27, 40, 63.
Boies, Antipas, 144.
Bolton, Mary, 394.
Rachel, 394.
Thomas, 391, 394.
William, 394.
Bonython, Richard, 77.
Boscawen, Edward, 282.
Bowdoin, James, 454.
Bowker, Alfred, 25.
Bowman, Jonathan, 212, 214, 217.
Rev. Jonathan, 217.
Brackett, James, 345.
Bradbury, J., 330.
James W., 158, 159, 160, 161.
Mr. -- ,101.
Braddock, Edward, 278, 280, 283,
284.
Bradford, Alden, 214.
William, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120,
121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126,
127, 128, 129, 131, 132, 133,
134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 140,
141, 224.
Bradshaw, Richard, 75, 76.
Bragdon, Daniel, 431, 432, 447,
449.
Brattle, Thomas, 144.
Brewster, William, 224.
Bridge, Edward, 212, 214, 217.
Brooke, Lord, 135, 136.
Stopford, 32.
Brooks, Edward, 92.
John, 216, 454.
Daniel, 443.
Eugene H., 203, 205.
John, 433.
INDEX
467
Berry, Robert, 223.
Thomas, 101, 102.
Buchanan, James, 189.
Buck, Charlotte, 421.
Charlotte L. , 422.
Cleaveland, 421.
Cleaveland L., 422.
Edward P., 421.
Rachel, 422.
Samuel P., 421.
Buckingham, George Villiers,
Duke of, 70.
Burbank, Horace H., 322.
Burchard, Rachel J. Day, 421.
Burke, Edmund, 407.
Burnside, Ambrose E., 180.
Burrage, Henry S., 116, 246, 252,
353.
John, 86.
Burroughs, George, 296.
Butterfield, , 350.
Buzzel, John, 106, 108.
CAEDMON, 36.
Cassar, 44.
Califf } John ' 151 ' 152 ' 154 ' 156 '
Call, Obadiah, 212.
Cammock, Thomas, 78, 80, 83, 229.
Caner, Henry, 152.
Canute, 20.
Captain Sandy, 329.
Cargill, Col. , 155.
Carleton, Thomas, 354.
Carlisle, James, 333.
Carlyle, Thomas, 29.
Carter, Appleton, 421.
Elizabeth A., 421.
Margaret M. Day, 421.
Carver, John, 224.
Casey, Silas, 178.
Caulfield, Thomas, 258.
Chadbourne, Henry, 400.
William, 400.
Chalmers, William, 104.
Champlain, Samuel de, 66, 68, 69,
72, 89.
Chapman, Henry L., 29.
Charlemaine, 268.
Charles, the Great, 23, 25, 64.
the Hammerer, 16.
I. of England, 70, 71, 75, 226, 227.
II. of England, 242, 243, 300, 342.
II. of France, 10.
Chauncy, Charles, 431.
Chipman, Ward, 354.
Chute, Curtis, 394.
Thomas, 317, 391, 392, 393, 394.
Clark, Ephraim, 101.
Jonas, 145.
Cleeve, George, 66, 71, 75, 76, 77,
78, 79, 80, 82, 83, 84, 87, 295.
Cloudman, S. B., 397.
Cobb, Samuel, 292, 305.
Sylvanus, 217.
Coffin, Ebenezer, 214.
Jeremiah, 346.
Paul, 96, 101.
Cole, Jeremiah, 330, 333.
W., 330.
Collier, George, 155.
Conolly, H. L., 252.
Coolidge, Dorothy, 433.
Coombs, Benjamin, 443.
Fields, 443.
Hezekiah, 444.
Nathan, 443.
Cornwallis, Charles, Earl, 110.
Edward, 266, 271, 272, 274, 275,
277.
Corwin, Mary, 290.
Couch, Darius N., 178.
Coulson, Thomas, 436, 440, 441,
448.
Craggs, James, 263.
Crisp, Charles F., 381.
Cromwell, Oliver, 189, 233, 236.
Cummings, John, 444.
Curtis, Jacob, 443. %
James, 442, 443, 445.
Nathaniel, 444.
Gushing, Mary, 426.
Cutts, Edward, 431, 432.
468
MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Cutts, Thomas, 327.
Cynewulf, 36.
D ALTON. ASA, 62.
Dartmouth, Earl of, 147.
D'Aulnay, Charles de Menon-
Charnisay, 138, 139.
Davenport, Lieut. , 195, 197,
200, 202, 203.
Davis, William, 298.
Day, Alfred M., 421.
Edwin O., 421.
Joseph, 421.
Joseph A., 421.
Rachel, 421.
Rachel M., 421.
Deane, Samuel, 92, 101, 288, 298,
308, 313.
De la Loutre, see Le Loutre.
De Monts, see Monts.
Denny, Samuel, 409.
Desney, Maj. , 415.
Dingley, Nelson, 382.
Dole, Richard, 319, 348, 352.
Samuel T., 316, 344, 390.
Dolley, Joseph E., 350.
Dorsett, Edmund, 400.
Doucette, John, 258, 259.
Douglas, Stephen A., 171.
Doyle, Elijah, 444.
Drake, Samuel Adams, 132.
Dudley, Thomas, 137.
Dumaresque, , 217.
Du Monts, see Monts.
Duncan, James, 152.
John, 443.
Dunlap, John, 444.
Dunning, James, 443.
John, 443.
Robert, 430.
Dwinell, Aaron, 429.
Dyer, Jsaac, 402.
Mary, 241.
EADRED, 8, 20, 26.
East, , 307.
Eaton, Samuel, 92, 101, 214, 450.
Edgecomb, Nicholas, 86.
Edward I., 21.
III., 55.
the Confessor, 48, 50.
the Elder, 19, 20, 23.
Edwards, Jonathan, 299.
Egbert, 7, 8, 20, 47.
Elder, Samuel, 391.
William, 350.
Elizabeth, Queen, 223, 224.
Elvins, Nathaniel, 394.
Richard, 393.
Emerson, Ezekiel, 103.
Sarah, 352.
Emery, George F., 158.
Hannah, 351.
John, 247.
Nicholas, 365.
O., 330.
Stephen, 344, 351.
Endicott, John, 229, 242.
Estaing ) Charles Hector, Theodat,
Etaigne ) Count d 1 , 152.
Estes, Samuel, 350.
Ethelred, 11, 12, 20, 23, 48.
Ethelwulf, 10, 47.
Evans, George, 362.
Ewing, John, 443.
FAIRFIELD, JOHN, 394.
Farrow, John, 391, 894.
Fessenden, Francis, 164.
William Pitt, 387.
Fickett, Mr. , 201.
Fisher, Mary, 238.
Fiske, John, 239.
Fitch, Luther, 400.
Fletcher, Nathaniel D., 214.
Fling, Sarah, 409, 415.
Fogg, Reuben, 453.
Folsom, George, 327, 331, 332.
Foote, Thomas, 444.
Ford, Elizabeth, 97.
George, 330.
Deacon , 101.
INDEX
469
Foster, Jedediah, 447.
Fox, George, 237.
Mr. ,201.
Franklin, Benjamin, 338.
Freeman, Edward A., 14, 24.
Enoch, 431, 437, 440, 445, 447,
448, 457, 458.
Samuel, 289, 290, 431, 432, 445,
452, 467, 458.
, 312.
Frost, Charles, 312.
William, 453.
Frye, Adrian, 425.
Fulton, James, 432.
GAGE, THOMAS, 155, 432.
Ganong, William F., 353*354,355,
356, 357, 358, 359, 360, 361,
367.
Gardiner, John, 218.
Robert H., 145.
George I., 258, 264.
II., 264, 265, 266, 276.
W. C., 217.
Germain, Lord, 152, 154.
Gerrish, Charles, 453.
Oliver, 352.
William, 431.
Getchel, John, 429.
Gibson, Richard, 85, 294.
Giles, J. A., 10.
Gilman, Tristram, 101.
Gilmore, David, 108.
Gilpatrick, J., 330.
Thomas, 330, 331, 333.
Girdey, Simeon, 409.
Girling, Capt. , 139, 140.
Godfrey, J. E., 140.
Godwin, 48.
Goodwin, Ichabod, 431, 432, 449.
Goodyear, Moses, 74, 81.
Goold, Nathan, 423.
William, 208.
Gore, Christopher, 454.
Gorges, Ferdinando, 73, 74, 75, 76,
77, 79, 80, 85, 295.
Gorges, Robert, 229, 234, 294, 295.
Goss, Judith, 97.
Thomas, 92, 97.
Gould, Edward K., 170.
Graff am, Caleb 349, 394.
Lois, 394.
Gray, Alexander, Jr., 444.
Uriah, 444.
Green, John Richard, 14, 21, 23,
36, 37.
Greenleaf, Jonathan, 82.
Gregory I., 23, 37, 40, 63.
Griffin, Bristol, 444.
Grimbald, 35, 39.
Grotius, 63.
Groton, Nathaniel, 95, 96.
Guizot, F. P. G., 3.
Gustavus Adolphus, 171.
Guthrum, 9, 13, 15, 16, 21.
HAILE, MB. , 201.
Hale, Clarence, 191.
Haley, Pelatiah, 438.
Haliburton, Mrs., 252.
Halifax, Earl of, 339.
Ham, Benjamin, 428.
Tobias, 444.
Hamilton, Alexander, 338.
Hammond, Richard, 419.
Hancock, John, 215, 217, 338, 454.
Hanson, Elijah, 348.
Harmon, Z. K., 187.
Harnden, Mary, 411, 421.
Samuel, 411, 412, 414, 431.
Harris, Lidia (Brown), 425.
Mr. , 201.
Harrison, Benjamin, 374.
Frederic, 25, 40.
Harward, , 217.
Haskell, Thomas, 292, 391, 394.
, 298.
Hatch, Mark, 155.
Hathorn, Jefferson, 220.
Haven, Samuel, 393.
Hawkes, David, 350.
Hawkins, John, 74.
470
MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Hawood, Benja., 152.
Hawthorne, John, 217.
Nathaniel, 252.
Hazard, Ebenezer, 129, 130.
Heath, William, 454.
Heintzelman, Samuel P., 171, 175,
176, 177, 178.
Hemmenway, Moses, 101.
Henry VIII., 222.
Higgins, Mary, 425.
Higginson, Francis, 227.
Hill, A. P., 181.
James P., 333.
Jere., Jr., 333.
Hinkley, Aaron, 437.
Isaac, 443.
Reliance, 425.
Samuel, 425.
Hobby, Remington, 431.
Hobert, Israel, 448.
Hocking, John, 134, 135, 136, 137.
Hogg, Lieut. , 438.
Holmes, John, 189.
Holton, Samuel, 447.
Hooker, Joseph, 176, 177, 178, 182,
183, 184, 185.
Hooper, Benjamin, 333.
Hopson, Peregrine T., 275, 276.
Houdlette, Charles Stephen, 218.
Edward E., 218.
Henry, 218.
Hovey, John, 431, 432.
How, Ichabod, 431.
Howard, Oliver O., 164, 173, 183.
Simeon, 213.
Howland, John, 135.
Hubbard, John, 218, 219.
Mrs. John, 218.
Sarah B., 219.
Huddlestone, John, 121.
Hunt, Daniel, 444.
John, Jr., 443.
William, 443.
Huse, Jonathan, 214.
Hutchinson, Thomas, 151, 152.
IGNACE, 268.
Ilsley, Enoch, 440.
19, 42, 49.
Infanta of Spain, 70.
JACKSON, JOSEPH, 393.
Thomas J., 183.
James I., 70, 254.
II., 243, 309.
Jameson, Charles D., 177.
Jefferson, Thomas, 338.
Jennens, Abraham, 73, 74.
Jewett, Jedediah, 196, 197.
Sarah Orne, 189.
Jocelyn, Henry, 234.
Thomas, 85.
John of Athelney, 35, 39.
Johnson, David, 444.
James, 444.
Jona., 444.
Rebecca, 217.
William, 278.
, 217.
Jones, Benjamin, 204.
John, 443.
Paul, 207.
Peason, 345.
Jordan, Nathaniel, 453.
Rishworth, 333.
Robert, 85, 86, 87, 234, 294.
Tristram, 334.
Josselyn, Thomas, 85.
Judith, 31.
Jusserand, J. J., 3.
Justinian, 261, 262.
KAVANAQH, Edward, 367.
Kearny, Phil., 173, 175, 177, 178.
Kellogg, Elijah, 315.
Gardiner, 352.
Kendall, James, 213.
Kent, Edward, 366, 367.
Keyes, Erasmus D., 163, 175.
Kilgore, Joseph, 429.
King, D., 329, 330.
of the Netherlands, 363.
INDEX
471
King, Rufus, 454.
Knight, Samuel, 347.
William, 453.
Knox, William, 151, 152, 150.
-, 145.
LAKE,
Lambard, Joseph, 433.
Luke, 433.
Langdon, Samuel, 101, 393.
Timothy, 432.
Lansdowne, Marquis of, 147.
Larrabee, Benjamin, 454.
Nathaniel, 453.
Larry, Joseph C., 400.
Latimer, Henry, 222.
Laud, William, 226.
Lawrence, Charles, 276,277, 278,
280, 281, 282, 285.
Lee, Robert E., 163, 207.
Leighton, Capt. , 199, 200.
Le Loutre, Louis Joseph de, 273,
275, 277, 280.
Leo IV., 10.
Leofric, 48.
Leonard, Daniel, 151.
Levett, Christopher, 68, 69, 70, 71,
83, 294.
Lewis, John, 431.
Mary, 294.
Libby,' Elliot, 400.
John, 86.
Joseph, 399.
Lothrop, 399.
Lincoln, Abraham, 171, 322.
Benjamin, 454.
Lindsay, John, 400.
Lithgow, Alfred G., 217, 218.
Little, Hannah, 351.
Hannah (Emery), 344, 351.
Mary, 351.
Moses, 351.
Paul, 344, 345, 346, 347, 348, 349,
350, 351, 352.
Paul, Jr., 351.
Sarah, 352.
Sarah Emerson, 352.
Little, Thomas, 351.
Timothy, 351.
Livingston, Edward, 365.
Locke, John, 151.
Lombard, Calvin, 440.
Richard T., 453.
Solomon, 431.
Longfellow, H. W., 94, 22, 253,
284.
Longstreet, James, 176.
Lonnon, see Rhode, Lonnon.
Lord, Samuel, 349.
Loring, Nicholas, 393.
Lothrop, Isaac, Jr., 448.
Loughborough, Lord, 156.
Lovejoy, Abiel, 212.
Luther, Martin, 222.
MCCLELLAN, GEORGE B., 175, 177,
178, 180.
McCobb, Samuel, 431, 432.
McComb, Alexander, 187.
McCreary, James B., 378.
McDonald, Timothy, 453.
McDowell, Irvin, 172.
Mclntire, Rhoda Allen, 187, 189.
Rufus, 187, 188, 189.
Mclntyre, Philip W., 187.
McKinley, William, 380, 382, 383,
384, 385, 389.
McLane, Louis, 365.
McLean, Francis, 153, 155.
McLellan, Arthur, 401.
Jacob, 196, 198, 206.
Macworth, Alexander, 77.
Arthur, 234.
Maffit, , 193, 194.
Mahan, Alfred T., 384, 385.
Mallet, John, 427.
Samuel T., 429.
Manchester, Esther, 350.
Stephen, 348.
March, Samuel, 431.
Maria, Infanta of Spain, 70.
Marshall, John, 167.
Mary I., 154, 222.
472
MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Mary II., 234, 243.
Mascarene, Paul, 266, 267, 268, 269.
Mason, John, 244.
Capt. John, 76, 80.
Col. -- , 197, 199,200.
Massasoit, 119.
Mather, Cotton, 299.
Increase, 309.
Richard, 85.
Matthews, Samuel, 453.
Lucy, 321.
Margaret, 319.
Richard, 318, 319, 320, 346.
Thomas, 318, 319, 394.
William, 348.
Mead, George G., 163.
Melcher, Mary P., 421.
Menon, see D'Aulnay.
Merriam, Jonas, 393.
Merrill, James, 321.
John, 429, 431, 437, 438.
Moses, 453.
Merriman, Lieut. - , 196.
Merritt, Wesley, 168.
Rev. -- , 216.
Mighill, Nathaniel, 448.
Miller, Asa, 443.
John, 90, 92.
Millions, Thomas, 348.
Mitchell, Daniel, 432.
Jonathan, 453.
Mitton, -- , 78.
Mohammed IV., 238.
Mohotiwormet, 89.
Monckton, Robert, 280.
Monts, Pierre du G. Sieur de, 66,
67, 85, 254.
Moody, Enoch, 345.
Joseph, 247, 298, 312, 323.
Joshua, 305.
Samuel, 292, 293, 296, 297, 303,
305.
Moore, John B., 355, 365.
Morrell, J., 330.
Morrill, Moses, 393.
Morton, Briant, 431, 432.
Thomas, 71, 78, 79, 85.
Mostyn, Savage, 282.
Motherwell, Rebecca, 412, 416, 421.
Thomas, 416, 420, 421.
Miss , 412.
Mott, Gershom, 184.
Moulton, Augustus F., 221.
Mowatt, Henry, 208, 209, 311, 346,
434, 436, 437, 438, 439, 440, 441,
442, 445, 446, 448, 457.
Mulloy, Hugh, 444.
NAPOLEON, 27, 163, 164, 167.
Nason, B., 330.
Neale, Walter, 76, 80, 83.
Newcastle, Duke of, 264, 265.
Newmarch, John, 298.
Nicholson, Francis, 254, 255, 261.
Noble, Elinor, 415.
Lazarus, 415.
North, Frederick, Lord, 157.
Joseph, 431, 432.
Norton, Sarah, 351.
Noyes, Peter, 453.
OLIVER, PETER, 151.
Orosius, 40.
Osburh, 10, 31.
Osgood, Mary, 351.
Otis, John, 367.
Rachel P. S., 422.
PAGAN, ROBERT, 346.
Pain, Felix, 259, 260.
Parker, Freeman, 212, 213, 214,
215, 216, 217.
John, 214.
Robert, 214.
Parkman, Francis, 414.
Parry, Edward, 433, 434, 447, 451.
Parsons, Theophilus, 101.
Patten, Acton, Jr., 429.
Arthur, 217.
Patterson, Elizabeth, 218.
, 217.
INDEX
473
Pauli, Reinhold, 23.
Pearson, Moses, 312.
Pepperrell, William, 270, 277.
Perkins, John, 155.
John C., 288.
Joseph, 155.
William, 327.
Peter the Great, 64, 65.
Peters, Samuel, 233.
Phillipps, Richard, 260, 261, 262,
263, 264, 265, 266, 272, 273.
Phinney, Edmund, 392, 439.
Phips, William, 280.
Pierce, Franklin, 190.
William, 133.
Pike, Timothy, 348, 349, 453.
Plegmund, of Mercia, 35, 39.
Plummer, Jess., 400.
Moses, 346.
Pochard, Peter, 217.
Polk, James K., 190.
Porter, Aaron, 333.
Pote, Jeremiah, 440, 450.
Potter, Samuel, 444.
Powell, Jeremiah, 311.
Preble, Abraham, 407.
Ebenezer, 407, 416, 421, 422.
Mrs. Ebenezer, 408, 409, 411.
Ebenezer, Jr., 409.
George A., 417, 421.
Harriet, 421.
Jedediah, 280, 407, 439, 440, 441,
446, 447, 457, 468.
Jonathan, 407, 409, 411, 412, 413.
Mary, 409, 410, 413, 416, 417.
Mehitable, 409, 413.
Rachel, 421.
Rebecca, 409, 416, 421.
Samuel, 409, 416, 421.
William, 409.
William Pitt, 365, 367.
Prence, Thomas, 142, 143.
Prescott, Judy, 113.
Warren, 217.
Pride, Joseph, 298.
Purinton, Abiel, 426.
Humphrey, 426, 444.
Israel Collins, 428.
James, 428.
Nathaniel, 453.
RALEIGH, WALTER, 116.
Randall, Benjamin, 104, 105, 106,
107, 108, 109, 110.
Wilmot, 86.
Razilli, Isaac de, 138.
Rea, Caleb, 349.
Read, C. W., 193, 194, 195, 203,
206.
Reed, Samuel, 114.
Thomas B., 209, 369, 370, 371,
372, 373, 374, 378, 379, 380,
381, 382, 383, 384, 386, 387,
388, 389.
Revere, Paul, 449.
Rhode, Chloe, 316, 317, 318, 319,
320.
Hagar, 320.
Harry, 320.
Lucy, 320, 321.
Lonnon, 316, 317, 318, 319, 320,
321.
Robin, 320.
Rice, Rebecca, 215.
Thomas, 215.
William A., 398.
Richmond, George, 71.
Rideout, Benjamin, 443.
Mary, 305.
Ridlon, Daniel, 329, 330.
Riggs, I., 298.
Ripley, Samuel, 443.
Robinhood, Sachem, 89.
Robinson, John, 224.
Reuben, 321.
Roddick, William, 444.
Rogers, John, 298.
Mark, 443.
Roswell, Henry, 227.
Rowe, Ephraim, 453.
Vol. 1
474
MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
ST. AUGUSTINE, 40.
St. Ovide, M., 262.
Samoset, 119.
Sandy, Captain, 329.
Savage, Albert R., 42.
Isaac, 298.
Sawyer, John, 298.
Say, Lord, 135, 136.
Sayer, Ebenezer, 431.
Scales, Thomas, 346.
Scott, Winfield, 163.
Sewell, Joseph, 412.
Mehitabel, 103.
R. K., 122.
Shaftesbury, Lord, 151.
Shapleigh, Nicholas, 329, 330.
Shattuck, Moses, 345.
Shaw, Lemuel, 213.
Oakes, 213, 214.
Deacon , 402.
Sherman, John, 381.
William T., 209.
Shirley, William, 278, 279, 280.
Sickles, Daniel E., 183.
Simmons, Franklin, 186.
John, 437.
Sinnet, Deborah, 349.
Skillings, Timothy, 399.
Small, Francis, 329.
Smith, Aaron, 393.
Allison, 333.
F. O. J., 402.
John, 293, 306.
Capt. John, 68, 72.
Martha, 422.
Peter T., 317, 318, 320.
Thacher, 393.
Thomas, 290.
Rev. Thomas, 288, 289, 290, 292,
293, 294, 297, 298, 299, 301,
302, 303, 304, 305, 306, 307,
308, 309, 311, 312, 313, 314,
315, 393, 411, 413, 457.
Snow, Albert D., 170.
Souther, \ Qoi . oVlXr OK-,
Southern, j Sarah N., 351.
Timothy, 351.
Souther, Captain , 101.
Spanish Infanta, the, 70.
Spear, William, 443.
Sqoanto, 119.
Standish, Ellis, 350.
Miles, 126, 136, 139, 140.
Stanton, Edwin M., 185.
Stanwood, William, 443.
Staple, James, 330, 333.
Starling, Moses, 394.
Stevens, Hannah, 395, 396.
John, Jr., 395.
John L., 217.
Thaddeus, 387.
Stimpson, Josiah, 330, 333.
Stinson, Antoinette A., 422.
Charlotte B., 422.
David G., 422.
Edward Preble, 422.
Emma Tilden, 422.
Francis M., 422.
Frederic J., 422.
George P., 422.
Harriet H., 422.
John, 108.
John A., 422.
John E., 422.
Mary, 422.
Mary J., 422.
Mehitabel, 422.
Samuel, 103.
Sarah, 422.
Thomas, 103.
William P., 422.
, 298.
Stoddard, Solomon, 304.
Stone, Daniel, 214.
Strafford, the Earl of, 226.
Stratton, John, 76, 77.
Stubbs, William, 7, 47, 51.
Subercase, Daniel Augur de, 254.
Sullivan, Ebenezer, 325.
James, 86, 130, 131, 216, 220, 289,
322, 324, 325, 326, 327, 329, 330,
331, 333, 334, 335, 336, 337, 338,
411, 412, 431, 432, 447, 457.
INDEX
475
Sullivan, John, 323, 324, 325, 326.
John L., 336.
Margery, 324.
Sumner, Edwin V., 176, 180.
Increase, 454.
Sunday, Captain, 329.
Swett, Joseph, 349.
TACITUS, 44, 50.
Talbot, Moses, 136.
Tappan, David, 214.
Tarr, Joseph, 444,
William, 444.
Thayer, Henry O., 88, 406.
Theobald, Martha, 217, 218.
Theodore, Archbishop, 9.
Thomas, Thomas, 292.
Thompson, Aaron, 426, 429.
Alexander, 425.
Benjamin, 425.
Cornelius, 444.
David, 125.
Elizabeth, 427.
Ezekiel, 425, 428.
Humphrey, 426, 428.
James, 425, 426, 428, 429, 456.
Joel, 443.
Jona., 443.
Joseph, 425.
Mary, 426.
Mary Cushing, 426, 429.
Rachel, 426, 429, 442.
Reliance, 426.
Richard, 443.
Samuel, 423, 4*4, 426, 427, 428,
429, 430, 431, 432, 433, 434, 435,
436, 437, 438, 439, 440, 442, 444,
445, 446, 447, 448, 449, 450, 451,
452, 453, 454, 455, 456, 457, 458.
Samuel, Jr., 427, 429.
Thankful, 427, 429.
Thomas, 430, 437.
Thomas C., 427.
William, 425.
-, 179.
Thor, 9.
Thorny croft, Hamo, 5.
Tisquantum, 119.
Titcomb, Elbridge, 191, 195.
Toothacker, Ephraim, 444.
Townsend, , 396.
Trelawney, Robert, 73, 74, 75, 81.
Robert, Jr., 74, 75, 80, 81, 82.
Trott, Grandma, 103.
Tubbs, Samuel, 217.
Tucker, Richard, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80,
83, 295.
Tukey, , 438.
Tupper, Cordelia, 217.
James, 218.
-, 217.
Turner, Sharon, 17, 24.
Twiss, Travers, 355.
Tyndall, William, 222.
Tyng, Edward, 144.
William, 440, 441.
VINCENT, PEBE, 260.
Vines, Richard, 77, 86.
Vose, Z. P., 185.
WADE, ABNEB, 109.
Waerferth, \ ;,!,-, OK QT
Werfrith, f Blshop ' 36 ' 37 '
Waite, John, 308, 345, 453.
Waites, the, 308.
Walker, Elijah, 169, 175, 182, 300.
John, 443.
Micah, 317, 394.
Simon Peter, 444.
Walton, Peter, 292.
Ward well, Lydia, 239.
Warren, John C., 215.
Capt. , 201.
Warwick, Earl of, 80.
Washburn, Israel, 218.
Sidney, 218.
Washington, George, 25, 64, 322,
337, 338, 398, 450, 455.
Martha, 398.
476
MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Watts, Isaac, 112.
Webb, Eli, 348.
Joseph L., 421.
Lincoln, 416, 421.
Mary J., 421.
Nathan, 371.
Richard, 369.
Seth, 394, 395.
Webster, Daniel, 250, 367.
Jonathan, Jr., 448.
Weeks, Joseph, 319.
Joshua W., 152.
Wellington, the Duke of, 163.
Wellman, the Rev. , 90.
Wentworth, John, 298.
Werwulf, 35.
Wesley, John, 237.
Weston, Thomas, 71, 118.
Wheeler, Henry, 312.
White, Barzilla, 217, 218.
John, 298.
, 217.
Whitefield, George, 237, 270, 299,
309, 312, 313.
Whitney, Nicholas B., 213.
Peter, 213.
Whittier, John Greenleaf, 110.
Wight, John, 390, 391, 392, 393.
Wihtraed, 42.
Willard, Samuel, 290.
William L, the Conqueror, 46.
II., 234, 243.
III., 154.
the Silent, 224.
Williams, Ebenezer, 101.
Roger, 234, 235, 246, 300.
Ruel, 365.
Samuel, 444.
Shubal, 156.
Williamson, Joseph, 147, 339.
William D., 93, 131, 411.
Willis, William, 208, 290, 411.
Wilson, Deborah, 239.
John, 426.
Mary, 426.
Rachel, 429.
Wilson, Samuel, 456.
Thomas, 451.
Woodrow, 385.
Wincob, John, 117.
Wingate, J., 329, 330.
Simon, 330, 333.
Winship, Edward, 91.
Elizabeth, 90.
Ephraim, 394.
John, 91.
Josiah, 88, 90, 91, 92, 94, 95, 96,
97, 98, 99, 101, 103, 104, 107,
108, 109, 110, 112, 214.
Mary F., 114.
Thankful, 97.
Winslow, Edward, 121, 122, 124,
137, 138, 141, 142, 279, 354, 359.
John, 144, 278, 279, 283, 284.
Nathan, 400.
Winter, Francis, 96.
Jane, 86.
John, 74, 75, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86,
87, 294, 295.
Sarah, 86, 294.
Winthrop, John, 72, 137, 236.
Wise, Jeremiah, 298.
Thankful, 427, 429.
William, 427.
Wiswell, John, 438.
Wodan, 9, 10.
Wolfe, James, 418.
Wood, William, 85.
Woodbury, Hugh, 350.
Levi, 365.
Wooddard, Samuel, 393.
Woodside, Vincent, 451.
Woodward, Ebenezer, 443.
Samuel, 444.
Worth, Ensign , 264.
Wright, ,71.
Wyckliffe, John, 222.
Wyer, Thomas, 450.
YORK, BENJ., 292.
Young, Jona., 443.
INDEX
477
INDEX OF PLACES
ACADIA, 243, 253, 273.
Alexandria, 280.
Alleghany Mountains, 256.
Alna, 219.
Annapolis, 155, 252, 255, 257, 258,
260, 264, 266.
River, 260, 261, 263, 264, 265, 282.
Arlington, 91.
Arrowsic, 103, 104, 111, 407, 412.
Arundel, 431, 432.
Ashdown, 12.
Athelney, 14, 15.
Augusta, 132, 214, 218.
BACCHUS, ISLE DK, 67, 72.
Bandon Bridge, 72.
Barnstable, England, 84.
Mass., 214.
Mass., West Church, 213.
Basin of Minas, 271.
Bath, 95, 96, 198, 408, 412, 417, 421,
426, 428, 433, 434.
King's Dock, 433.
Mirror, 95, 96.
Bay of Chaleur, 361.
Fundy, 265, 279.
Machias, 341, 342.
St. Croix, 351.
Beaubassin, 258, 277.
Beau Sejour, 280, 281.
Bellingham, 291.
Berkshire, 9.
Berwick, 298, 324, 406, 431, 432.
Beverly, 447.
Biddeford, 327, 329, 331, 332, 336,
393, 425, 431, 432, 447.
Black Point, 77, 80.
Bolton, 92, 97.
Boothbay, 448.
Boston, 136, 137, 153, 155, 232,
238, 239, 241, 289, 293, 300,
310, 328, 332, 390, 413, 415,
434, 454.
First Church, 300.
Second Church, 309.
Boston, Old South Meeting-house,
243, 290.
Public Library, 214.
West Church, 213.
Bowdoin College, 164, 372, 427.
Hubbard Library, 219.
Bowdoinham, 431.
Bridgton, 399.
Brookfield, 447.
Brookline, 393.
Brown University, 336.
Brunswick, 92, 214, 423, 425, 426,
427, 429, 430, 431, 432, 433,
435, 436, 437, 441, 442, 443,
444, 450, 452, 453, 454.
Bull Run, 171, 172, 173, 174, 178.
Buxton, 101.
CALIFORNIA, 373.
Cambridge, Eng., 13.
University of, 224.
Mass., 91, 92, 97, 214, 232, 430,
442, 448.
Cragie House, 252.
Camp Lincoln, 197.
Canada, 273, 276, 279, 286, 358, 359,
361, 414, 416, 420.
Canard, 281.
Canseau, 269, 271.
Cape Ann, 298.
Cod, 68, 118, 119, 426.
Cod Harbor, 119.
Elizabeth, 66, 68, 74, 75, 79, 82,
84, 101, 291, 307, 426, 431, 432,
452, 453.
Porpoise, 79.
Sable, 271.
Carratunk Falls, 145.
Casco, 72, 83, 406.
Bay, 66, 68, 69, 71, 74, 84, 131,
145, 293, 306, 339, 340, 433.
Castine, 132.
Chance llorsvi lie, 177, 183.
Charlestown, 188, 232, 300.
Chebuctou, 271.
478
MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Chester, 16.
Chickahominy, 179.
Chickamauga, 173.
Chignecto, 260, 274, 276, 283.
Chippenham, 13, 15.
Cobequid, 257, 258, 270.
Cod Ledge, 196.
Columbia University, 355, 365.
Concord, Mass., 430.
Connecticut, 234, 240, 243, 244, 247,
250, 340, 342.
Cornish, 329.
Cow Island, 195, 424.
Cox's Head, 109.
Crown Point, 278, 415.
Crystal Hill, 68.
Cumberland County, 317, 319, 352,
401, 423, 431, 432, 435, 449,
452, 453.
Cundy's Harbor, 442.
Cushnoc, 131, 132.
Cutt's Island, 327.
DAMARISCOVE, 121, 122, 123, 125.
Island, 191.
Danvers, 447.
Dartmouth College, 189.
Deerfield, 406.
Deer Isle, 442, 448.
Diamond Cove, 210, 425.
Island, 210.
Dorchester, 217.
Dorsetshire, 13.
Dover, 406, 425.
Dresden, 212, 213, 215, 216, 217,
218, 219, 220.
Blenn's Hill, 218.
Congregational Society, 215.
Meeting-house, 217, 219.
Methodist Society, 216.
Durham, 325, 453.
EAST ANGLIA, 7, 8, 20, 31.
East Florida, 148.
Eastham, 449.
Edington, 16.
Egamagen Reach, 448.
Essex, 7, 13, 21.
Ethandum, 15.
FAIR OAKS, 178.
Falmouth, 92, 101, 190, 191, 280,
288, 289, 290, 291, 292, 293, 294,
296, 296, 297, 299, 302, 305, 306,
307, 312, 335, 340, 344, 393, 394,
413, 431, 432, 436, 437, 439, 445,
447, 448, 450, 452, 453, 454.
Back Cove, 440.
First Parish, 288, 308.
Foreside, 296.
Marston's Tavern, 438.
Neck, 293, 295, 296, 297, 304, 305,
435, 436, 437, 438, 439, 441, 444,
445, 454.
Sandy Point, 437.
Smith's First Meeting House,
304, 307.
Smith's Second Meeting House,
307.
Fish Point, 192.
Flushing, 421.
Fore 'River, 401.
Fort Duquesne, 278.
Halifax, 279.
Harnden's, 411, 412.
Lawrence, 280.
Loyal, 295.
McKinley, 424.
Magruder, 176.
Plymouth, 131.
Popham, 131.
Preble, 196, 197, 206, 412.
Province, 349.
Smith's, 307.
Thompson's Battery, 424.
Forts and Garrisons :
at Annapolis, 269, 270.
at Bay View, 277.
at Beau Sejour, 277, 280, 281.
at Canseau, 269.
at Chignecto, 279.
at Falmouth Foreside, 296.
INDEX
479
Forts and Garrisons :
at Louisburg, 266, 277, 279.
at New Casco, 296.
at Small Point, 131.
Francistown, 329.
Fredericksburg, 180, 181.
Frontenac, 278.
GAINKS' MILL, 178.
Gardnerstown, 431, 432.
Georgetown, 103, 326, 327, 409,
412, 426, 431, 432, 433, 448,
444, 451.
Gettysburg, 207.
Gloucester, 13.
Gorham, 247, 349, 350, 392, 394,
396, 398, 431, 432, 453.
Cloudman Farm, 400^
Kemp's Lock, 398.
Little River, 403.
Grand Pr, 253, 270, 283, 284.
Gray, 453.
Great Diamond Island, 294, 424.
Falls, 398.
Green Islands, the, 196, 210.
Groton, 334.
HALIFAX, 153, 271, 273, 275, 277,
280, 283.
Hallowell, 92, 218, 219.
Ham, 80.
Hampshire, 15.
Harps well, 92, 101, 214, 431, 432,
436, 443, 444, 450, 453.
Harrison, 399.
Harrison's Landing, 179.
Harvard University, 91, 215, 232,
290, 305, 309, 336.
University Divinity School, 213.
Havana, 386.
Haverhill, 448.
Hertford, 9.
Hingham, Second Church, 213.
Hockamock, the, 89.
Hog Island, 195.
Holland, 224, 225.
Holyoke, 217.
Horse-beef Falls, 399.
House Island, 77.
Hubbardstown, 329.
Hussey's Sound, 195, 210.
Hyattsville, 421.
ISLAND OF CAPE BRETON, 256,
261, 262, 267, 271.
Isle of Bacchus, 67, 72.
of Jersey, 280.
of Shoals, 68.
Royal, 256, 257, 261, 262, 269.
KENNEBEC, 90, 128, 146, 414, 415,
418.
River, 89, 104, 123, 124, 125, 127,
128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 134, 138,
141, 142, 145, 156, 279, 839, 406,
407, 412, 413, 419, 420.
Trading House, 131, 134, 185,
136, 138, 144.
Valley, 92.
Kent, 7, 19, 23.
Kentucky, 378.
Kittery, 270, 298, 327, 328, 425, 431,
432.
LAKE CIIAMPLAIN, 335.
Erie, 255.
Ontario, 278.
Lexington, 214.
Leyden, 224.
Limerick, Ireland, 323, 329.
Maine, 329, 330, 331, 333.
Limington, 329.
Lincoln County, 431, 432.
Lisbon, 429.
Falls, 400.
Ossipee, 329.
Ossipee River, 328, 330.
Little River, 403, 428, 429.
London, 16, 21.
Fleet Prison, 133.
Long Island, 156.
Louisburg, 89, 256, 257, 261, 269,
270, 271, 276, 277, 278, 279, 286,
418, 419.
480
MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Louisiana, 286.
MACHIAS, 442.
Bay, 341, 342.
Mackworth's Island, 210.
Madawaska, 190, 359, 360, 361, 362.
Maine, District of, 130, 147, 169,
187, 189, 250, 323, 327, 328, 335,
385, 431, 455.
Province of, 89, 229, 231, 234, 242,
243, 280, 295, 302, 303, 326, 341,
342, 408, 418, 419.
State of, 116, 158, 169, 161, 163,
164, 168, 169, 170, 177, 181, 186,
187, 189, 289, 335, 337, 353, 354,
355, 356, 357, 358, 359, 360, 361,
362, 363, 364, 365, 366, 367, 368,
373, 387.
Majabigwaduce, 155.
Maiden, 291.
Malvern Hill, 179.
Manassas, 172.
Manila, 385.
Marblehead, 448.
Marlborough, 393.
Mars Hill Highlands, 354, 356.
Maryland, 283.
Massachusetts Bay, 221, 226, 300.
Bay Colony, 227, 228, 229, 231,
233, 234, 237, 238, 239, 241, 242,
243, 244, 247, 260.
Province of, 278, 279, 280, 295,
309, 341, 342.
State of, 251, 323, 336, 367.
Menikoe, 77.
Menotomy, 91.
Mercia, 7, 8, 9, 12, 16, 19, 20.
Merrimac River, 279.
Merry Mount, 72.
Michigan, 365.
Middlesex Canal, 336.
County, 232.
Minas, 267, 258, 259, 260, 269, 270,
275, 281.
Basin of, 271.
Mississippi River, 255.
Monhegan Harbor, 125.
Island, 68, 125.
Montreal, 255, 415, 419.
Mount Desert, 154, 341, 434.
Desert Rock, 193.
NAUSHAN ISLAND, 449.
Ne-qua-seag, 1 89, 90, 97, 101, 105,
Nequasset, J 110.
Falls, 101.
Nequamkike Falls, 129.
New Boston, 453.
Brunswick, 287, 353, 354, 355,
366, 357, 360, 361, 366, 367,
368.
Newbury, 344, 351.
Newburyport, 301, 328.
New Casco, 296.
Newfield, 328, 329.
Newfoundland, 279.
New Gloucester, 463.
Hampshire, 148, 242, 244, 247,
249, 279, 326.
Haven, 240, 244.
Ireland, 147, 148.
Marblehead, 390.
Meadows, 145, 451.
Meadows River, 425, 426.
Meadows River, Water Street,
428.
Plymouth, see Plymouth, Mass.
Newton, 77.
Newtown, 393.
New York, 339, 342.
Niagara, 278.
Norridgewock, 145,
North Carolina, 283.
Northampton, 304.
Northumberland, 7.
Northumbria, 6, 8, 9, 20, 31, 36.
North Yarmouth, 92, 306, 393, 431,
432, 453.
Nottinghamshire, 224.
Nova Scotia, 147, 148, 243, 252,
253, -254, 255, 256, 258, 260, 269,
273, 278, 279, 285, 287, 339,
340, 341, 362.
INDEX
481
Nychioraunock, 340.
OHIO, 382.
River, 278.
Old Orchard Beach, 67.
Ossipee River, 329.
Oxford County, 401.
Parsonsfield, 189, 329.
Parsons town, 329.
Passamaquoddy Bay, 341.
Pearsontown, 453.
Pejepscot, 1 7 , 7ft
Pashippscot,/ 75 ' 76 '
Pemaquid, 138, 140, 145, 406.
Penobscot, 152, 153, 155, 157, 339,
340, 341.
Bay, 340.
River, 132, 152, 156, 39, 340.
Trading house, 132, 133, 134,
138, 139, 140.
Pentagoet River, 279.
Pepperelboro, 101, 329.
Philadelphia, 218, 332.
Piscataqua, 294, 340.
River, 128, 135, 136, 137, 147, 148.
Piziquid, 270, 275, 281.
Placentia, 259.
Plattsburg, 187.
Plymouth, Eng., 73, 83, 125.
Mass., 119, 123, 124, 126, 130,
132, 139, 142, 143, 213, 221,
224, 225, 226, 233, 240, 243,
279, 300, 448.
Mass., Pilgrim's Church, 213.
Poland, 362.
Pomeroy's Point, 192.
Portland, 92, 101, 190, 192, 194,
195, 206, 208, 209, 211, 290,
328, 344, 351, 352, 371, 372,
398, 399, 400, 401, 402, 407,
435, 443.
Argus, 198.
Burroughs' Meeting-house, 295.
Canal Bank, 402.
First Parish Church, 288, 302.
Franklin Wharf, 205.
Portland, Grand Trunk Railway
Bridge, 437, 438.
Harbor, 66, 68, 69, 191, 192, 195,
294, 424.
India Street, 307.
King Street, 344.
Light, 198.
Middle Street, 307.
Monument Square, 438.
Munjoy Hill, 438.
Neck, 77, 84.
Observatory, 196.
Company, 295.
St Paul's Church, 438.
Second Parish, 316.
Tukey's, 438.
Victoria Wharf, 204.
Port Royal, 264, 255.
Portsmouth, 328, 393, 441.
Pownalborough, 212, 214, 432.
Christ Church, 217,
Congregational Society, 213.
Hall, 212, 217.
Presumpscot River, 398, 404.
Prout's Neck, 80.
Purpooduck, 291.
QUACK, 68, 69.
Quebec, 89, 90, 153, 255, 268, 273,
355, 359, 362, 408, 413, 415, 419.
Quincy, 213.
RAPPAHANNOCK, THE, 181.
Raymond, 349.
Reading, 9, 12.
Rhode Island, 227, 235, 240, 241,
244, 247, 340.
Richman's Island, 72.
Richmond, 220.
Landing, 131.
Village, 218.
Richmond's Island, 66, 72, 74, 75,
77, 79, 80, 81, 83, 84, 294.
River Canard, 270.
St. Francis, 365.
St. John, 340, 360, 361, 362.
482
MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Rochester, 21.
Rockland, 164, 168, 170, 171, 175,
180, 185.
City Guards, 169.
Gazette, 185.
Limerock Bank, 169.
Steam Manufacturing Company,
169.
Rowley, 448.
Roxbury, 301.
Royalston, 453.
SACCABAPPA, 427.
Saco, 69, 294, 327, 329, 331.
Truck House, 293.
River, 68, 77, 86, 147, 148, 156,
323, 327, 328.
Sagadahock, 340, 341.
St. Croix, 339, 341.
Croix River, 66, 147, 156, 157,
342.
Georges, 293.
John's River, 279.
Lawrence River, 355, 362, 418.
Lawrence Valley, 255.
Salem, 229, 295, 300, 328, 430, 449.
San Antonio, 415.
Sandwich, 291.
Sasanoa, the, 89.
Sawkno River, 147, 148.
Scarborough, 393, 431, 453.
Scituate, 407.
Scrooby Manor, 224.
Sebago, 398.
Lake, 399, 402, 404.
Sebasticook River, 279.
Selwood Forest, 15.
Seven Pines, 178.
Shapleigh, 329.
Sheepscot River, 89, 109, 145.
Sidney, 212.
Small Point, 131.
Smith College, 353.
Somersetshire, 15.
South Berwick, 325.
South Boston, 252.
Southport, 194.
South West Harbor, 434.
South Windham, 321, 400.
Spurwink, 294, 295.
River, 75, 76, 77, 78, 82.
Stage Island, 131.
Standish, 398, 453.
Stone of Egbert, the, 15.
Stroudwater, 307, 399.
Sussex, 7.
Swan Island, 415.
THOMASTON, 170.
Thompson's Pond, 401.
Topsham, 423, 426, 428, 429, 431,
432, 437, 451, 454.
Elm Street, 428.
Ferry Point, 428.
River View Cemetery, 428.
Trenton, 385.
Truro, 426,
Turkey, 238.
VALLEY FOKQE, 319.
Vassalborough, 431.
Vermont, 249.
Virginia, 283, 286.
WANATING, 10.
Wantage, 10.
Wareham, 13.
Washington, D. C., 364, 365, 366.
Maine, 329.
County, 193.
Waterborough, 329.
Watertown, 430.
Watling Street, 16.
Wedmore, 15.
Wells, 101, 298, 406, 431.
Second Church, 214.
Wessagusset, 71.
Merry Mount, 72.
Wessex, 7, 8, 13, 15, 20, 22, 31.
Westbrook, 349, 398, 401.
West Dresden, 421.
West Newbury, 351.
INDEX
483
Weston, ,393.
West Point, 164, 165, 167, 168, 169.
West Woolwich, 411, 416.
Wawenoc, 89.
Weymouth, Eng., 69.
Mass., 71, 92.
Whitby, 36.
White Mountains, the, 68.
White's Landing, 218.
Williamsburg, 175, 176, 177, 178.
Wilmington, 97.
Wilton, 12.
Wiltshire, 15.
Winchester Abbey, 35.
Windham, 316, 317, 319, 320, 321,
344, 346, 347, 348, 349, 350,
351, 352, 390, 393, 453.
Windham Center, 321.
First Church, 320.
Hill, 351.
Winthrop, 431.
Wiscasset, 97, 214, 215, 218.
Woolwich, 90, 91, 97, 104, 105, 107,
114, 145, 214, 412, 420, 432, 433.
Parsonage, 98.
YARMOUTH, 92, 101.
York, Eng., 68, 71.
Maine, 69, 155, 219, 247, 298, 323,
328, 411, 431, 432, 447, 449.
Maine, Scotland Parish, 425.
County, 187, 189, 190, 336, 431,
432.
Yorktown, 175, 176.
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