Stories of Maine

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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

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STORIES OF MAINE

BY

SOPHIE SWETT

NEW YORK •:• CINCINNATI ■:• CHICAGO

AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY

^

(sJ^-

4?069

Copyright, 1899, by
SOPHIE SWETT.

STO. OF MAINE
W. P. I

TWO COPIES RECEIVED,

^COWD COPY,

PREFACE.

The stories of the smallest, the least important, the
most favored by fate of the United States of the New
World, are well worth the telling. It may therefore be
wondered that those of Maine — historically the begin-
ning of New England, the scene of the bloodiest Indian
wars, the place where different European nations con-
tended most fiercely for supremacy, and whose records
are so dramatic that they read like folklore and legend
rather than veritable history — should have been so little
told. Many of those that have been told are to be found
in histories that are out of print and forgotten, and in
the musty folios of the historical societies, where the
young people, at least, seldom look. Some not yet,
and perhaps never to be read, have been written by
glaciers and fossil remains on rocky headlands and in
obscure caves. In remote graveyards strange foreign
names and inscriptions hint of others.

The writer has sought to select, from an overflowing
store, those narratives which most vividly and dramatic-
ally illustrate the evolution of the great state from a

5

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savage-haunted wilderness to a community whose com-
merce, in ships of her own building, has extended over
the whole civilized world, whose institutions of learning
rank with the first, and whose statesmen, soldiers, ora-
tors, and authors form a list that few of the other states
can rival.

That these stories do not assume to be a history of
Maine is evident at the outset; but it is the author's
hope that the valuable historical facts with which they
are filled may be absorbed by eager readers — as the pill
is swallowed, all unwittingly, in the jelly.

4

CONTENTS.

I. The First Voyagers to Maine ....

II. The Maine Indians

III. How Captain Weymouth Kidnaped the Natives
IV. Father Biard's Story . . • •

V. The Story of Epenow and Assacomet

VI. The Plymouth Company

VII. The Story of La Tour and D'Aulney
VIII. King Philip's War . . • •

IX. Agamenticus and Passaconaway.
X. Simon, the Yankee-Killer . . . • •
XI. The Story of Baron Castine . • •

XII. A Maine Sindbad

XIII. Major Waldron and the Indians .

XIV. Lovewell's War

XV. The First Naval Battle of the Revolution

XVI. The Burning of Falmouth . . • •

XVII. A Hairbreadth Escape

XVIII. The British again in Maine
XIX. 'Maine in the Civil War . •

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PAGE

9

17

23
34
48

53
70

87

99
116

129

141
156

169

185

197

, 205

. 214

, 226

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XX. Anecdotes of the Heroes of Maine

XXI. The Emma and the "Leapixg Tarantula"

XXII. Some of Maine's Resources

XXIII. The "Aroostook War" ....

XXIV. The Ships of Maine ^

XXV. Maine's Famous Humorist ....

PAGE
238

252

262
271

STORIES OF MAINE.

3>8SjOO-

L THE FIRST VOYAGERS TO MAINE.

THE beginning of Maine dates back to the begin-
ning of the great American nation. The earHest
discoverers, the Northmen, who were born rovers, sailed
their queer primitive ships to its shores more than a
thousand years ago, and while all America was a wil-
derness inhabited only by Indians and wild beasts.

One of these Northmen, named Biorne, sailing from
Iceland to Greenland, was driven by wild winds so far
astray that, as it seems from his descriptions, he caught
sight of Cape Cod, and then retraced his course north-
easterly along the shores of Maine and Nova Scotia.
The accounts which these wandering Northmen left of
their discoveries are somewhat vague and confused.
Adventurers are not apt to be exact chroniclers, and
stories handed down through many generations lose
nothing on the way.

Old Icelandic stories tell us of a Scandinavian giant,
Thorhall, who would have been the discoverer of Maine
if winds and waves had permitted. Wonderful were
Thorhall's feats of strength, as related in these tales.

9

lO

When his ship got aground, he could always push it off,
single-handed ; when the wind fell, he rowed the ship

with one mighty oar. He had even been known to pick
it up and carry it across a sandbar, without troubling the
crew to disembark !

This wonderful Thorhall and his crew had sailed
across Massachusetts Bay in a northeasterly direction,
and almost reached the coast of Maine, when his vessel
encountered a northwest wind so furious and persistent
that it was blown completely across the Atlantic Ocean
to the Irish shores! And in Ireland Thorhall and his
men were made slaves.

All that can be vouched for as true about this story
is that one of the first white men to see the shores of
Maine was an Icelander of unusual stature, named
Thorhall.

1 1

There is no doubt that Sebastian Cabot discovered the
Maine coast, in 1498. Verrazano, a Florentine, sent by
the King of France in 1524, after touching at North
CaroHna, sailed to the shores of Maine, and, returning,
reported that he " had discovered a country never before
seen by any voyager since the world began." Estevan
Gomez came next, sent by Charles V. of Spain. He
named the old Markland and Vinland of the Northmen,
— territory of which Maine now forms a part, — the
'' Country of Gomez ;" and he captured as many Indians
as he could, to sell as slaves to the Spaniards.

The Mary of Guilford, an English vessel, commanded
by one John Rut, came to the coast of Maine in the
year 1567. Rut and his men landed, and explored, to
some extent, the interior of the country, — the first Eng-
lishmen known to have set foot upon the American
continent.

Andre Thevet, a French monk, was one of the earli-
est visitors to the coast of Maine. After he returned to
France he wrote a book called '* The Singularities of
Antarctic France, otherwise called America;" and in it
we find this description of the Penobscot River:

'' Here we entered a river which is one of the finest
in the whole world. We call it Norumbeg^a. It is
marked on some charts as the Grand River. The natives
call it Agoncy. Several beautiful rivers flow into it.
Upon its banks the French formerly erected a small
fort, about ten leagues from its mouth. It was called
the fort of Norumbega, and was surrounded by fresh
water.

" Before you enter this river there appears an island,

12

surrounded bv elorht small islets. These are near the
country of the Green Mountains. About three leagues
into the river there is an island four leagues in circum-
ference, which the natives call Aiayascou [now Isles-
borough]. It would be easy to plant on this island, and
to build a fortress which would hold in check the whole
surrounding country.

,.»«'"'

" Upon landing, we saw a great multitude of people,
coming down upon us in such numbers that you might
have supposed them to be a flight of starlings. The
men came first, then the women, then the boys, then the
girls. They were all clothed in the skins of wild animals.

" Considering their aspect and mode of advancing, we
mistrusted them, and retired on board our vessel.

13

They, perceiving our fear, made signs of friendship.
The better to assure us, they sent to our vessel several
of their principal men, with presents of provisions. We
returned a few trinkets of little value, with which they
were highly pleased.

" The next morning I, with some others, was com-
missioned to meet them, to see if we could obtain more
provisions, of which we stood in great need. As we
entered the house of the chief, w^ho w^as called Pemarick,
w^e saw several slaughtered animals hanging on the
beams.

" The chief gave us a hearty welcome. To show his
affection, he ordered a fire to be built, on which meat
and fish were placed to be roasted. Upon this some
warriors came in, bringing to the chief the dissevered
heads of six men whom they had taken in battle. The
sight terrified us. Fearing that we might suffer in the
same way, we, towards evening, secretly retired to our
ship, without bidding our host good-by.

*' This greatly displeased him. In the morning he
came to the ship with three of liis children. His coun-
tenance w^as very sad, for he thought he had offended
us. He said to me in his own language: ' Go back on
land with me, my friend and brother. Come and eat
and drink such as we have. We assure you upon oath,
by heaven, earth, moon, and stars, that you shall not
fare worse than we do ourselves.'

'* Seeing the good affection of this old man, twenty
of us went again on land, all well armed. We went to
his house, where we were feasted, and presented with
whatever he possessed.

H

" Meanwhile large numbers of his people arrived.
Ihey all greeted us in the most affectionate manner,
declaring that they were our friends. Late in the even-
ing, when we wished to retire, they all entreated us to
remain through the night. But we could not be per-
suaded to sleep with them, and so we retired to our
vessel. Having remained in this place five days, we
weighed anchor, and parting from them wdth a marvel-
ous contentment on both sides, went out upon the open
sea.

Nearly fifty years now passed away, during which no
explorers visited the shores of Maine, although both
France and England were sending expeditions to the
New World, and trying to gain possession of the same
territories.

In 1602 Bartholomew Gosnold sailed from Falmouth,
England, and boldly took a new route, avoiding the old
circuitous one by the Azores. He stood straight across
the ocean from Falmouth, and made the land about
Sagadahoc. The journalist of this voyage relates that,
when they anchored, they were startled by the sight of
eight Indians in a Biscay shallop, with mast and sail,
some of them dressed in European clothing. This hap-
pened in what is now Casco Bay, May 14, 1602.

Mount Agamenticus was probably the first land seen
by Gosnold, and York his first landing place. He very
soon sailed away from Maine, and afterwards settled in
Virp'inia.

The next year, Martin Bring, another Englishman,
entered Penobscot Bay, and probably the York and
Kennebunk rivers. It is said that Bring and his men

15

gave to the Fox Islands tlieir name, liavhig seen there
a great number of silver foxes; also that they carried'
home, among other curiosities, a canoe, which was
placed on exhibition, and was regarded as a marvel of
ingenuity for savage tribes to have accomplished. Pring
is said to have written the best description of the coun-
try that had yet been given.

At about this time a little settlement was made by
French priests on Mount Desert Island, and this hap-
pened as the result of a very curious quarrel. The
French king, Henry of Navarre, had granted to Pierre
de Monts, a Protestant gentleman and member of the
king's household, a grant of all American territory
lying between the fortieth and forty-sixth degrees of
north latitude, that is, between the latitude of Phila-
delphia and a parallel a little north of Mount Katahdin.
M. Pourtrincourt, De Monts's friend, came with him to
America, and they established the settlement of Port
Royal, now Annapolis, Nova Scotia.

On a second voyage to Port Royal, Pourtrincourt
brought with him his son, Biencourt, and two Jesuit
priests, Biard and Masse, whose purpose was to con-
vert the natives to the Roman Catholic religion.
Even before the vessel landed, Pourtrincourt had
quarreled violently with the priests, declaring that it
was " his part to rule them on earth, and theirs only
to guide him to heaven."

When he departed again to France, and left his son
in command of the settlement, Biencourt was even
more domineering than his father had been ; for when
the priests threatened him with the anathemas of the

i6

church on account of his dissipated and reckless con-
duct, he retahated by vowing to set up the whipping
post for them.

Accounts vary as to the time that the fathers spent
with Biencourt after this unpleasantness. They seem
to have made an expedition to the Penobscot, and then
returned to Port Royal ; and it was only after being
reenforced by other priests and some French colonists,
who had come over under the patronage of Mme. de
Guercheville, that they attempted the Mount Desert
settlement which we shall hear of later.

These Jesuit missionaries, as well as those who came
after them, seem to have been truly good and self-
denying men, and to have acquired a remarkable influ-
ence over the savages. In fact, it was probably through
the influence of these priests that the Indians remained
always on better terms with the French than with the
English.

11. THE MAINE INDIANS.

THE Maine Indians, divided into two great tribes,
the Etechemins and the Abenaques, were all de-
scendants of the Mohicans, and the Mohicans were de-
scendants of the Lenape, or ** original people," as they
called themselves. The Lenape migrated eastward from
the Pacific Ocean many hundred years ago. In ancient
Indian traditions it is related that the race originated in
the West. All their tales of lost glory and greatness
cluster about the land of the setting sun.

The Lenape wandered to the Mississippi River,
where they found other tribes, who were pilgrims from
another country, — always the West. Fighting with
some tribes, and allying themselves with others, they
traveled on to the Hudson River, which they called
the Mahicannituck ; and from this they received their
name, naturally misspelled and mispronounced, after
the white people appeared, until it became ** Mohicans "
and " Mohegans." A body of these Indians crossed the
Hudson and gradually overspread the country that is
now New England. Their characteristics seem to have
varied as do those of white people, some tribes being
nomadic, and others having a strong attachment to the
place of their nativity.

The Maine Indians were divided into different small

STO. OF MAINE — 2 17

i8

tribes, those living along the Penobscot being called
Tarratines or Penobscots. They claimed all the terri-
tory bordering on the river, from its source to the sea;
and the Penobscot Mountains, now known as the Cam-
den Hills, served as a natural fortress to separate them
from their enemies on the west. They were a powerful
tribe, valorous but discreet, inclined to avoid hostilities
with the English, but always preferring the French as
neighbors.

Chief among the tribes of the Abenaques were the
Wawenocks. The name signifies " very brave, fearing
nothing." Captain John Smith relates that the Wawe-
nocks, besides being active, strong, and healthy, were
very witty, a most unusual characteristic for Indians.

The Bashaba, ruler of all the Abenaques, had the
Wawenocks for his immediate subjects. He lived in
the region about Pemaquid, and it was here that No-
rumbega, the wonderful Indian city or town which tra-
dition tells of, was located.

The name " Norumbega " was originally given to the
territory claimed by Spain, including the whole eastern
coast from Nova Scotia to Florida. Afterwards the
name was applied to New England alone, then to
Maine, and at last to the region of the Penobscot River
only. It appears as Arambe in a Spanish document of
1523, likewise as Arambec, and is spoken of as having
been discovered by Giovanni Verrazano.

Students of Indian tongues declared that the word
meant the ''place of a fine city." Sometimes, in the
ancient chronicles, it appears as a great region, some-
times as a magnificent city, with towers and palaces.

19

Mark L'Escorbat, a French attorney, writes, in 1609:
" If this beautiful town ever existed in nature, I should
hke to know who pulled it down; for there is nothing
but huts here, made of pickets, and covered with the
bark of trees or with skins/'

Champlain, in his "Voyages," writes: "The savages
here, having entered into an alliance with us, guided
us to their river, Pentagoet, as they call
it. I believe that this river is one which
many navigators and historians call No-
rumbegue, and that most of them have
described it as grand and spacious ; it
is also related that there is a large town
there, thickly populated with adroit and
skillful savages, who manufacture cotton
thread."

That the savages, as we know them, at
that time should have been able to manufacture cotton
thread would be almost as strange as that they should be
able to build a magnificent city. The earliest explorers
expected to find a passage to India, a " gateway to the
opulent East," and their imaginations, excited by the
hope of finding great treasures, invented the magnificent
city; and it is likely that the Indian manufacturing
town was drawn from that tale by a more prosaic fancy.
It is possible, also, that the remarkable beauty of the
Penobscot River and the region about it, as reported
by all travelers, had something to do with the fable.
The Wawenocks, moreover, who inhabited that re-
gion, were more " adroit and skillful " than any other
of the Maine tribes.

Samuel de Champlain.

20

These more intelligent Indians were always on the
side of peace, as were the sagacious chiefs of several
tribes ; and if their counsels had prevailed, the fierce and
bloody wars that form the chief stories of the beginnings
of Maine might have been avoided, although the white
men seem to have been, at first, the aggressors.

All the Indian tribes had some religious ideas, varying
very much, but all crude and childish. The only point
of unity was that the ideas all clustered about a " Great
Spirit," who had almost as many names as there were
tribes. He was called " Glooskap " by the Penobscots,
and his story was told in a few words by Marie Saksis,
an old woman of that tribe.

" Glus-gahbe gave names to everything. He made
men and gave them life, and made the winds to make
the waters move. The turtle was his uncle ; the mink,
Uk-see-meezel, his adopted son ; and Monuikwessos,
the woodchuck, his grandmother. The beaver built
a great dam, and Glus-gahbe turned it away and killed
the beaver. At Moosetchuk he killed a moose. The
bones may be seen at Bar Harbor, turned to stone. He
threw the entrails of the moose across the bay to his
dogs, and they, too, may be seen there to this day, as
I myself have seen them. And there, too, in the rock,
are the prints of his bow and arrow." ^

Another story, also from the Penobscots, has wit and
sentiment worthy of a far more enlightened people.

" Now it came to pass, when Glooskap had conquered
all his enemies, — even the Kewahqu', who were giants
and sorcerers, and the M'le'oulin, who were magicians,

1 Leland's " Legends of the Algonquins."

21

and the Pamola, who is the evil spirit of the night air,
and all manner of ghosts, witches, devils, cannibals, and
goblins, — that he thought upon what he had done, and
wondered if his work were at an end.

" And he said this to a certain woman. But she said :
* Not so fast. Master, for there yet remains one whom
no one has ever conquered or got the better of in any
way, and who will remain unconquered
to the end of time.'

" * And w^ho is he? ' inquired the
Master.

" ' It is the mighty Wasis,' she
replied ; * and there he sits ; and
I warn you if you meddle with him
you will be in sore trouble.' Now
Wasis was the baby ; and he sat
on the floor, sucking a piece of
maple sugar, greatly contented
with everything, and J'^l&^i^C^

troubling no one.
*' As the Lord of
men and beasts had
never married or
had a child, he knew
naught of the way
of managing chil-
dren. Therefore he was quite cer-
tain, as is the wont of such people, that he knew^ all
about it. So he turned to baby wnth a bewitching
smile, and bade him come to him. The baby smiled
again, but did not budge.

22

" And the Master spake sweetly, and made his voice
Hke that of the summer bird ; but it was of no avail, for
Wasis sat still and sucked his maple sugar.

" Then the Master frowned and spoke terribly, and
ordered Wasis to come crawling to him immediately.
And baby burst out into crying and yelling, but did not
move, for all that.

" Then, since he could do but one thing more, the
Master had recourse to magic. He used his most awful
spells, and sang the songs which raise the dead and scare
the devils. And Wasis sat and looked on admiringly,
and seemed to find it very interesting; but, all the
same, he never moved an inch.

" So Glooskap gave it up in despair, and Wasis, sit-
ting on the floor in the sunshine, went * Goo ! goo ! ' and
crowed. And to this day, when you see a babe, well
contented, going * Goo! goo!' and crowing, and no one
can tell why, know that it is because he remembers the
time when he overcame the Master, who had conquered
all the world. For of all the beings that have ever been
since the beginning, baby is alone the invincible one."

It is astonishing, and shows the strange contradictions
of the Indian character, that so pretty and gentle a
legend should originate in a race so barbarous and
bloodthirsty.

Such were the strange people who inhabited Maine,
having inherited the land from their fathers and grand-
fathers, when the first white men set foot upon its
shores.

III. HOW CAPTAIN WEYMOUTH KIDNAPED

THE NATIVES.

CAPTAIN GEORGE WEYMOUTH, in command
of the ArcJiangcl, a fine, large ship, sailed from
the English Downs for America on the 31st of March,
1605. The reason given out for the expedition was the
old desire to find a northwest passage to India; but it
was an open secret that its real object was to keep an
eye upon the French, and establish some English settle-
ments in desirable localities.

On the iith of May Captain Weymouth came in
sight of the American coast near Cape Cod. Finding
himself among shoals, he sailed northwardly for a few
days, and anchored on the north side of a large island,
"as fair land to fall in with as could be desired," he
reported. Sea fowl were plenty, and the sailors caught
thirty large cod and haddock. They remained several
days on the island, and "took plenty of salmon and other
fishes of great bigness, good lobsters, rockfish, plaice,
and lumps," and an abundance of mussels, some of which
contained pearls, fourteen being taken from a single
shell. Weymouth and his men also " digged a garden,
sowed pease and barley and garden seeds, which, in
sixteen days, grew up eight inches, although this was

23

24

'-'•ttio.r

but the crust of the ground, and much inferior to the
mold we afterwards found on the main."

The adventurers were greatly delighted with the
country they had found. Weymouth writes that many
who had been travelers in sundry countries and had seen
most famous rivers affirmed them not comparable to this,
" the most beautiful, rich, large, secure harboring river
that the world affordeth." When this was written they
were on the Penobscot, probably as far up as Belfast
Bay.

Their first relations with the Indians were very friendly,
and certainly should have been satisfactory to the visit-
ors, who relate that one Indian gave them forty skins
of beaver, otter, and sable, for articles of five shillings'
value.

The Indians were finally induced to visit the ship, and
showed great curiosity at everything they saw. Captain
Weymouth, for their entertainment, and also, perhaps,

in order to impress them
with a sense of his ex-
traordinary powers,
magnetized the point
of his sword, and
with it took up nee-
dles and knives.
The Indians re-
garded this as mag-
ic, but the process
of writing seemed
to them even more
marvelous. Thev

25

watched with amazement, and even with fear, the writ-
ing down of the names of the articles bought and sold.

Two of the Indians lunched on board the ship, and
found the pewter dishes magnificent. They asked to
be allowed to carry some green pease — to them a new
and delicious dainty — home to their squaws.

When the white men returned the visit, the Indians
built a great camp fire, the highest mark of hospitality,
and gathered around it in solemn silence. They care-
fully covered the seats around the fire with deerskin
cushions, and then offered pipes and tobacco — such
good cheer as they had — to their guests.

They displayed their bows and arrows, perhaps with
some such private motives as may have moved Captain
Weymouth to show them his necromancy. The bows
were made of the toughest wood of the forest, the art
of selecting and preparing it being handed down from
one generation to another. It needed tough muscles,
too, and trained ones, to use the bows, but from the
right hands an arrow could be sped with fearful force.
The javelins were made of wood, and their manufacture
was a matter of great skill and of especial pride. They
were barbed with bone, and the barbs were often poisoned.

Although of small avail against the firearms of civili-
zation, these Indian weapons were capable of terrible
execution upon a surprised or unarmed foe. Lurking
in ambush, the savages hurled them to a great distance,
and with an accuracy of aim that seemed almost mirac-
ulous. When they obtained muskets and guns of the
white men, the skill in aiming which they had acquired
with their arrows made them formidable foes.

26

On a certain nip-ht when the Indians entertained the
ArcJiangcr s company around their camp fire, Owen
Griffin, one of the men, was left on shore as a watch-
man. This may have been done because Weymouth
really suspected treachery on the part of the savages,
but the fact that three of the Indians were taken on
board the ship as hostages for Griffin makes it seem
probable that Weymouth was merely maturing his
plans for kidnaping some Indians. He openly ac-
knowledges that this was his intention from the begin-
ning, and even justifies the deed, as do, astonishingly,
some historians of a later and more enlightened time,
on the ground of its great benefit to humanity. That
the end justifies the means is apt to be very dangerous
doctrine, as it is certainly a very hard one to accept in
the case of the poor Indians, torn from home and kin-
dred by worse than savage treachery.

While on the coast, Weymouth treated with great
kindness all the natives he encountered. Those whom
he captured, after recovering from their surprise and
alarm, and perceiving by their kind usage that no harm
was intended them, became contented and tractable,
and very willing to impart the information desired of
them.

To return to the story of the kidnaping : Owen Griffin
remained on shore, and the three Indian hostages slept
on the orlop deck of the ArcJiaugel, with a pile of
old sails for a bed. They showed great fear of the
EngH.sh dogs, and the dogs, on their part, always mani-
fested a want of sympathy with Indians.

The next day was Sunday ; and when the Indian

27

canoes set out for the ship with articles for barter, Cap-
tain Weymouth waved a signal for them to go back.
There being no Sundays in the savage calendar, this
was a mystery which they, doubtless, thought might
savor of the treachery of which they were constantly
suspicious. But they returned, and did not venture a
second time toward the ship that day. The next morn-
ing the canoes appeared again, and the occupants made
signs to indicate that the chief of their tribe was wait-
ing a little farther up the bay with fine furs to barter.
Captain Weymouth set out in a boat with eight men to
find the chief; but, as always, he suspected treacher}',
which is, perhaps, not strange, when one considers what
his own designs were. So he sent Owen Griffin on
shore in the canoe in which the in\itation had been
brought, retaining as hostage one of the three Indians
who had paddled it.

The Indians gave a very full and candid description
of their chief's situation and surroundings. He had two
hundred and eighty followers with him, armed, as
usual, with bows and arrows. He had also a great
pack of Indian dogs and tamed wolves.

When Owen Griffin reached the place, there were no
furs at all for traffic. The Indians urged him to go
farther up the stream, to the place where they said their
furs were stored. It seems unlikely that they had any
treacherous designs, for if they had they could have
accomplished them as well where they were as farther
up the river; and Captain Weymouth held an Indian as
hostage in his boat. But Owen Griffin had not been
chosen for his bravery. He was afraid, and he re-

28

turned to Captain Weymouth with a report which
made the captain think it unsafe to land.

The natives, on their part, felt increased suspicions
that the white visitors meant them harm. When two
canoes, with three Indians in each, paddled near to the
ship, Captain Weymouth tried in vain to lure them on
board. When he extended a dish of green pease, they
seized them, but paddled away to a distance and de-
voured them. After that two in the other canoe ven-
tured to go on board.

When one of the pea- eaters, a fine, athletic young
brave, politely returned with the dish. Captain Wey-
mouth beguiled him on board, and induced him to go
to the cabin below, where the two other Indians were
being entertained. There the three poor savages soon
found that their suspicions of treachery were realized,
for the cabin door was locked against them.

These three being secured, the enterprising Captain
Weymouth straightway set to work to kidnap some
more. There had been six Indians in the canoes, and
three of them were now on shore. He sent out a boat,
manned by eight of the strongest sailors, to pretend
that they wished to buy furs. They carried another
can of pease. The savages' vulnerable point seems to
have been an appetite for pease.

One of the Indians took to the woods and escaped, but
the other two were persuaded to sit down before their
fire with the white visitors ; and they all ate together like
brothers until suddenly, watching their opportunity, the
stout sailors sprang upon their victims and, after a ter-
rible struggle, dragged them to their boat and finally on

29

board the ship. "Thus," triumphantly writes Rosier,

who kept the journal of the voyage, " we shipped five

savas^es and two .^ , ;

canoes, with all

their bows and

arrows."

One of these
young Indians
was a chief, and ,
two others were
of rank in their
tribe. They had "'
come from their >
home at Pema-
quid to visit the '^~

white strangers, of whom they had heard. The names
of four of these captives were Tisquantum, Nahanada,
Skitwarroes, and Assacomet, one being a sagamore, or
head chief. The first three Weymouth delivered to
Sir Ferdinando Gorges, who was at that time the gov-
ernor of Plymouth, England ; the other two were
probably assigned to Sir John Popham, an English judge
who w^as much interested in American affairs.

Sir Ferdinando Gorges, who has been called the father
of Enghsh colonization in New England, kept the three
Indians in his family for several years. He treated
them with great kindness, and had them taught the
English language ; and he so well improved the oppor-
tunity given him to acquire a knowledge of the region
visited by Weymouth that he says: "The capture of
these Indians must be acknowledged the means, under

'■A

30

God, of putting on foot ^md giving life to all our
plantations."

It was intended that the Indians should be returned
to their homes, and when the Plymouth Company was
formed, two of them, Nahanada and Assacomet, were
placed on board a ship which sailed from Bristol, Eng-
land, for the coast of Maine. The ship encountered a
Spanish fleet, and was captured — England being then
at war with Spain — and carried off, a prize, to Spain,
which country had already learned to make slaves of
the Indians, as many as could be caught. So the second
captivity of these two poor Indians was far worse than
their first.

But there were then many Spanish vessels sailing to
the American shores for fishing or trading, and in some
one of these Nahanada was so fortunate as to find his
way back to his native land. It was Nahanada that
was supposed to be a chief of high rank.
. When, in 1607, the Plymouth Company attempted to
plant a colony at the mouth of the Sagadahoc River,
in Maine, Skitwarroes, another of the kidnaped Indians,
was sent over on board a vessel called the JlLijy andJoJin.

The ship came to anchor near Pemaquid, and the
captain, manning a boat, took Skitwarroes as a guide,
ajitd rowed across the bay to the mainland. Skitwarroes
led the way to a little Indian town in what is now Bristol.
But the Indians had learned from Weymouth's kidnap-
ing to regard the English as fiends. The air was filled
with the shrieks of squaws and children, and the men
prepared for a vigorous defense. Skitwarroes tried to
reassure them, but m his English dress they failed to

31

recognize him. But when Nahanada caught siglit of
his fellow-prisoner, he rushed into his arms, and the
terrified Indians were soon calmed by the influence of
their two chiefs.

We hear, later in the history of the colonies, of these
three Indians, Nahanada, Skitwarroes, and Assacomet,
who had made so strange and painful a journey into the
great world of the white man ; and they seem to have
acted the part of peacemakers between their people and
the Europeans.

Tisquantum, also, or Squantum, as he is called by
later historians, was returned to his native country, and
was the first Indian who visited the Pilgrims of the
Plymouth colony. He had forgotten or forgiven the
treachery of the English, and was the firm friend of
the Pilgrims, acting as interpreter between them and
the savages, and doing much to preserve peace and
friendly relations.

But let us return to the A7xhangcl, with her im-
prisoned Indians. Weymouth was preparing to set sail,
having no desire to linger until the fate of five of
their number should become known to the Indians,
when two large canoes were discovered, making for the
ship. They were highly decorated canoes, and the
Indians in them were elaborately painted and gor-
geously dressed in their barbaric fashion. It was evi-
dently an embassy of great importance, for it bore all
the marks of that display and ceremony which the wild,
forest-reared Indians loved so well.

One of them even wore a coronet in which glass
beads, the feathers of wild fowl, and real pearls were

32

somewhat queerly but not ineffectively mingled. And
this was not merely an ornament with which any one
who chose might adorn himself, but showed that the
w^earer was of royal blood. They came with an invita-
tion to Captain Weymouth to visit, in his ship, their
great lord, the head chief of the Pemaquid tribes. They
came on board the Archangel, and were entertained
upon the deck, quite unconscious of their miserable
captive brothers below.

That Captain Weymouth did not seize them and
carry them away captive was probably due only to his
lack of accommodation for any more prisoners than he
had. He declined the invitation, but dismissed them with
much politeness and many assurances of friendly esteem.
He set sail immediately after the departure of the em-
bassy, and sailed westerly along the Maine coast, of
which he has left an enthusiastic description.

While the Archangel lay at anchor in the Sagada-
hoc, an Indian canoe appeared, that had followed on
her track as soon as the kidnaping of the Indians was
discovered. It was rowed by many Indians, and in it
was the Indian prince, who had come to try to rescue
his countrymen.

His supplications were, of course, all in vain. Wey-
mouth invited him to the religious ceremony of
planting a cross at the mouth of the Androscoggin
River, where he said to him: "It is in the name of
Jesus Christ that I have kidnaped your friends. It is
Christianity which authorizes these deeds. Some of
my countrymen will soon appear to teach you to em-
brace this religion."

33

On the homeward voyage of the ArcJiangcl a dis-
covery was made which has proved a great blessing to
the world. When about a hun-
dred miles from land, the
ship ran into shoal water,
the depth dwindlinj
gradually to less
than twenty-five
fathoms. In this
shoal water the
ArcJiaugel was
one day wholly
becalmed, and a
sailor, Thomas
King, whose name
should be held in remem-
brance as that of a great discoverer, was moved by what
old Izaak Walton calls *' the primal, honest instinct of
humanity to fish." He cast out a line, and drew up a
codfish of quite astonishing size. Other sailors followed
his example, and fine fat codfish were caught almost as
fast as the fishermen's arms could move. For then, as
now, the Grand Banks of Newfoundland swarmed with
fish.

STO. OF MAINE — 3

IV. FATHER BIARD'S STORY.

MOST historians assert that Father Biard and
I'^ather Masse, the two Jesuit missionaries who
had quarreled with Biencourt, the lordly ruler of Port
Royal, departed thence by themselves directly to Mount
Desert, which the Indians had represented to be "a
goodly land abounding in game and fish." The facts
as set forth in Father Biard's simple and dramatic nar-
rative, in the "Jesuit Relations," are quite different.

Although the priests had had difficulties, even on the
ship that brought them from France, with Pourtrin-
court, the first commander of Port Royal, who had told
them it was " his part to rule them on earth, and theirs
only to guide him to heaven," and afterwards with Bien-
court, Pourtrincourt's son, who had threatened them
with the whipping post, they seem to have still lingered
at Port Royal until aid and countenance came to them
in the shape of De Monts's surrender of his patent to
Mme. de Guercheville. She was a woman famed among
the attendants of Marie de Medicis for her beauty and
her piety. The great desire of her heart was to plant
the Roman Catholic faith in the wilds of America, and
in the spring of 1613 she sent her agent, M. Saussaye,
to take possession of the land in her name, and to set
up her arms.

34

35

M. Saussaye evadently proceeded first to Port Royal
(now Annapolis, Nova Scotia), and there the two priests
embarked with him to seek a place where a French
settlement could be established under more favorable
auspices than had attended the one at Port Royal.
Two other priests, Father Quentin and Father du Thet,
were of the party.

This is the tale as told by Father Biard himself:
" We were detained five days at Port Royal by adverse
winds, when, a favorable northeaster having arisen, we
set out with the intention of sailing up Pentagoet
[Penobscot] River to a place called Kadesquit [Bangor],
which had been chosen for our new residence, and
which possessed great advantages for this purpose. But
the good God willed otherwise, for when we had reached
the southeastern coast of the island of Menan the wea-
ther changed, and the sea was covered with a fog so
dense that we could not distinguish day from night.

" We were greatly alarmed, for this place is full of
breakers and rocks, upon which we feared, in the dark-
ness, our vessel might drift. The wind not permitting
us to put out to sea, we remained in this position two
days and two nights, veering sometimes to one side,
sometimes to another, as God inspired us.

" Our tribulation led us to pray to God to deliver us
from danger and send us to some place where we might
contribute to His glory. He heard us in His mercy, for
on the same evening we began to discover the stars,
and in the morning the fog had cleared away. We then
discovered that we were near the coast of Mount Desert,
an island which the savages call Pemetic.

36

"The pilot steered toward the eastern shore, and
landed us in a large and beautiful harbor. We returned
thanks to God, elevating the cross, and singing praises,
with the holy sacrifice of the mass. We named the
place and harbor St. Saviour." This was probably
Northeast Harbor.

" Now, in this place (St. Saviour) a violent quarrel
arose between our sailors and the other passengers.
The cause of it was that the charter granted and the
agreement made in France were to the effect that the
said sailors should be bound to put into any port in
Acadia that we should designate, and should remain
there three months.

" The sailors insisted that they had arrived at a port
in Acadia, and that the term of three months ought to
date from this arrival. To this the answer was that
this port was not the one designated, which was Kades-
quit, and that therefore the time that they were in St.
Saviour should not be taken into account.

" There was much argument over this question, and
while it was still unsettled the savages made a fire, in
order that we might see the smoke. This signal meant
that they had observed us, and wished to see if we
needed them, which we did.

" The pilot found an opportunity to let them know
that the fathers from Port Royal were in his ship.

" The savages replied that they would be very glad
to see one whom they had known at Pentagoet two
years before. This was I, Father Biard, and I went
immediately to see them, and inquired the route to
Kadesquit, telling them that we intended to live there.

37

" ' But,' said they, ' why do you not remain, instead,
with us, wlio have as good a place as Kadesquit?'

" They then began to praise ^

their settlement, assuring us "'"ifj vJ^t'^^^T #?,
that it was so healthful and "^'^''^S^fel?^!

i^

so pleasant and so delightful

in every wa}^ that when the natives

were ill anywhere else they were

brought there and

were quickly cured.

"These eulogies
did not greatly im-
press us, because
we knew well that
the savages, like
other people, some-
times overrated
their own posses-
sions. Neverthe-
less, they knew
how to induce us to remain,
for they said : ' You must come, for our sagamore, Asti-
cou, is dangerously ill, and if you do not come he will die
without baptism, and will not go to heaven ; and you will
be the cause of it, for he wishes to be baptized.'

" This reason finally persuaded us, since there were
but three leagues to travel, and it would be no greater
loss of time than a single afternoon. .

" We embarked in the savages' canoe, with Sieur
de la Motte and Simon, the interpreter. When we
arrived at Asticou's wigwam, we found him ill, but not

/jiiiQoluvTna^tr

38

dang-erously so, for he was suffering only from rheuma-
tism. And after discovering this, we decided to pay a
visit to the place which the Indians had boasted was so
much better than Kadesquit for Frenchmen.

** We found that the savages had indeed reasonable
grounds for their eulogies. We felt very well satisfied
with it ourselves, and having carried these tidings to
the rest of the crew, it v/as unanimously agreed that we
should remain there, and not seek farther, seeing that
God himself seemed to intend it, by the train of happy
accidents that had occurred, and by the miraculous cure
of a child, which I shall relate elsewhere. This place
is a beautiful hill, sloping gently to the seashore, and
supplied with water by a spring on each side.

" The ground comprises from twenty-five to thirty
acres, covered with grass which in some places reaches
the height of a man. It fronts the south and east toward
Pentagoet Bay, into which are discharged the waters of
several pretty streams abounding in fish. The land is
rich and fertile. The port and harbor are the finest
possible, in a position commanding the entire coast ; the
harbor especially is as smooth as a pond, being shut in
by the large island of Mount Desert, besides being sur-
rounded by certain small islands which break the force
of the winds and waves and fortify the entrance.

" It is large enough to hold any fleet, and is navigable
for the largest ships up to a cable's length from the
shore. It is in latitude 44}4^ N., a position more
northerly than that of Bordeaux.^

1 This was evidently Fernalds Point, on the western side of Somes
Sound.

39

" When we had landed in this place, and planted the
cross, we set to work ; and with the work began our
disputes, the omen and origin of our misfortunes. The
cause of these disputes was that our captain, La Saus-
saye, wished to attend to agriculture, and our other
leaders besought him not to occupy the workmen in
that manner and thereby delay the erection of dwellings
and fortifications. He would not comply with their
requests ; and from these disputes arose otliers, which
lasted until the English obliged us to make peace in the
manner I am about to relate.

" The English colonists in Virginia are in the habit of
coming every year to the islands of Pencoit, twenty- five
leagues from St. Saviour, in order to provide food [fish]
for the winter. While on their way, as usual, in the
summer of 1613, they were overtaken out at sea by
fogs and mists, which in this region often overspread
both land and sea in summer. These lasted some days,
in which the tide drifted them gradually farther than
they intended. They were about eighty leagues farther
in New France than they supposed, but they did not
recognize the place."

Father Biard means, of course, within the limits of
the territory granted to De Monts and now transferred
to Mme. de Guercheville.

Samuel Argall, whose ship was now swooping down
upon the little French settlement on the shore of Somes
Sound, was nominally a trader, but practically a pirate.
He went fishing in a vessel manned by eighty sailors
and carrying fourteen guns. He plundered every
French ship that he could lay hold of, and piously prayed

40

for the blessing of God upon his voyages. Ha\ ing
now lost his reckoning, he improved the unexpected
opportunity to rob and murder tlie French.

Father Biard continues: "Some savages observed
their vessel, and went to meet them, supposing them
to be Frenchmen in search of us. The Englishmen
understood nothing of what the savages said, but con-
jectured from their signs that there was a vessel near,
and that this vessel was French. They understood the
word 'Normans' which the savages called us, and in
the polite gestures of the natives they recognized the
French ceremonies of courtesy.

"Then the Englishmen, who were in need of provi-
sions and of everything else, ragged, half naked, and in
search of plunder, inquired carefully how large our
vessel was, how many cannon we liad, at^.d how many
men; and having received a satisfactory answer, uttered
cries of joy, demonstrating that they had found what
they wanted, and that they intended to attack us.

" The savages did not so interpret their demonstra-
tions, however, for they supposed the Englishmen to
be our friends who earnestly desired to see us. Accord-
ingly, one of them guided the Englishmen to our vessel.

"As soon as the Englishmen saw us, they began to
prepare for combat, and their guide then saw that he
had made a mistake, and began to weep, and to curse
tho.se who had deceived him. Many times afterwards
he wept and implored pardon for his error, of us and of
the others, because they wished to avenge our misfortune
on him, believing that he had acted through malice.

" On seeing this vessel approach us, we knew not

41

whether we were to meet friends or enemies, French-
men or foreigners. The pilot, therefore, went forward
in a sloop to reconnoiter, while the rest were arming
themselves. La Saussaye remained on shore, and with
liim the greater number of the men. Lieutenant La
Motte, Ensign Ronfere, Sergeant Joubert, and the rest
went on board the ship.

" The English ship moved with the swiftness of an
arrow, havinij; the wind astern. It was hun^ at the
waist with red, the arms of England floated over it, and
three trumpets and two drums were ready to sound.
Our pilot, who had gone forward to reconnoiter, did not
return to the ship, fearing, as he said, to fall into their
hands, to avoid which he rowed himself around an
island.

" Thus the ship did not contain one half its crew, and
was defended only by ten men, of whom but one. Cap-
tain Flory, had had any experience of naval contests.
Although not lacking in prudence or courage, the cap-
tain had not time to prepare for conflict, nor had his
crew. There was not even time to weigh anchor so as
to disengage the ship, which is the first step to be taken
in sea fights. It would, however, have been of little
use to weigh the anchor, since the sails were fastened ;
for, as it was summer, they had been arranged as an
awning to shade the decks.

"This mishap, however, had a good result; for, our
men being sheltered during the combat, and out of reach
of the Englishmen's guns, fewer of them were killed or
wounded.

*' As soon as the Englishmen appr(^ached, our sailors

42

hailed them ; but they repHed only by threatening cries,
and by discharges of musketry and cannon. They had
fourteen pieces of artillery and sixty artillerymen, who
ranged themselves along the side of their vessel, firing
rapidly without taking aim.

** The first discharge was terrible. The whole ship
was shrouded in fire and smoke. On our side the

guns remained silent. Captain Flor\'
shouted out, ' Put the cannon
position!' but the gunner
was absent. Father Gi)-
A. bert du Thet, who

had never been
guilty of cowardice
in his life, hearing
le captain's order, and
seeing that no one obeyed,
took the match and fired the cannon as loudly as the
enemy's. The misfortune was that he did not aim
carefully.

" The Englishmen, after their first attack, made read}/
to board our vessel. Captain Flory cut the cable, and
thus arrested, for a time, the progress of the enemy.
They then fired another volley, and in this Du Thet
was wounded by a musket, and fell across the helm.

" Captain Flory and three others were also wounded,
and they cried out that they surrendered.

" 71ie Englishmen, on hearing this cry, went into
their boat to board our vessel, when our men impru-
dently rushed into theirs, in order to put off to shore
before the arrival of the visitors. The conquerors cried

43

out to them to return, or they would fire on them, and
two of our men, in their terror, threw themselves into
the water and were drowned, either because they were
wounded or, more probably, were shot while in the
water.

" They were both promising young men, one named
Le Moine, from Dieppe, and the other named Nenen,
from Beauvais. Their bodies were found nine days
afterwards, and carefully interred. Such was the his-
tory of the capture of our vessel.

" The victorious English made a landing at the place
where we had begun to erect our tents and dwellings,
and searched Captain Flory to find his commission, say-
ing that the land was theirs, but if we could show that
we had acted in good faith, and under the authority of
our prince, they would not drive us away, since they did
not wish to imperil the amicable relations between our
two sovereigns.

" The trouble was that they did not find La Saus-
saye, but they seized his desk, searched it carefully,
and having found our commission and royal letters,
seized them. Then, putting everything in its place,
they closed and locked the desk.

" On the next day, when he saw La Saussaye, the
English captain greeted him politely, and then asked
to see his commission. La Saussaye replied that his
papers were in his desk, which was accordingly brought
to him, and he found that it was locked and in perfect
order, but the papers were missing.

"The English captain immediately changed his tone
and manner, saying: ' Then, sir, you are nnposing upon

44

us! You give us to understand that you hold a com-
mission from your king, and yet you can produce no
evidence of it. You are ah rogues and pirates, and
deserve to be executed.' He then gave his soldiers
permission to plunder us, in which work they spent the
entire afternoon.

" We witnessed the destruction of our property from
the shore, the Englishmen having fastened our vessels
to theirs ; for we had two, a ship, and a boat newly con-
structed and equipped. We were thus reduced to a
miserable condition, and this was not all. Next day
they landed and robbed us of all we .still possessed,
destroying also our clothing and other things.

*' At one time they committed some personal violence
on two of our people, which so enraged them that they
fled into the woods like poor crazed creatures, half naked
and without any food, not knowing what was to become
of them.

" I have told you that Father du Thet was wounded
by a musket shot during the fight. The Englishmen,
on entering our ship, placed him under the care of
their surgeon, with the other wounded men. The sur-
geon was a Catholic and a very charitable man, and
he treated us with great kindness. The captain allowed
Father du Thet to be carried ashore, so that he had an
opportunity to receive the last sacraments, and to praise
the just and merciful God, in company with his brethren.
He died with much resignation, calmness, and devo-
tion, twenty-four hours after he was wounded. He
was buried, the next day, at the foot of a large cross
which we had erected on our arrival.

45

" It was not until then that the EngHshmen recog-
nized the Jesuits to be priests. I, Father Biard, and
Father Ennemond Masse went to the ship to speak to
the Engh'sh captain, and frankly explained to him that
we were Jesuits who had come to this heathen land to
convert the savages to the true faith, and implored
him, by the Redeemer who died for us all, to leave us
in peace. From that time the captain made Father
Masse and me share his table, sho.wing us much kind-
ness and respect. But one thing annoyed him greatly
— the escape of the pilot and sailors, of whom he could
hear nothing.

" The pilot was a native of Rouen named La Pailleur.
The English captain was an able and artful man, a gen-
tleman and a man of courage.

*' It is difficult to believe how much sorrow we ex-
perienced at this time, for we did not know what was to
be our fate. On the one hand, we expected either
death or slavery from the English, and, on the other, to
remain in this country, and live an entire year among
the savages, seemed to us a lingering and painful death.
But we did not see any hope before us, and we did not
see how we could live in such a desert."

La Saussaye, Father Masse, and thirteen others were
mercilessly cast off in an open boat. Being joined
among the islands by the pilot in his boat, they made
their way eastward by the aid of oars, until, on the
southern coast of Nova Scotia, they found two trading
vessels, and secured passage to Saint- Male. Father
Biard and thirteen others were carried prisoners to
Virginia, where Sir Thomas Dale, governor of Virginia,

46

threatened to hang them, and would doubtless have
made good his threat if Argall had not, at length, been
moved to confess that he had stolen the commission.

They were at last allowed to take passage on a vessel
bound for the Azores, and from those islands the captain
of the vessel decided to sail to a port in Wales. There
Father Biard went also, and was favorably received by
the Protestant clergymen.

Later he returned to France, and became a professor
in a theological seminary. But a more roving life w^as
better suited to his taste, and he was soon made a
chaplain in the French army, where he remained until
his death.

Mme. de Guercheville soon abandoned or was bereft
of her claim. M. Cadillac next received from Louis
XIV. a grant of a hundred thousand acres on both sides
of the bay and comprising a large part of the island of
Mount Desert.

Cadillac was always proud of his domain, although
he remained in the region but a little time. He ob-
tained many offices and honors in the New World, and
was at one time governor of Louisiana; and as long as
he lived he took to himself the high-sounding title,
Lord of Mount Desert. But he never attempted to
make any settlement upon the island, and, indeed, there
never was another French settlement there, although,
many years after M. Cadillac's death, Mme. Gregoire
proved herself to be his lineal descendant, and, estab-
lishing a claim to a part of his possessions, came from
France with her husband, and made her home at Mount
Desert.

47

They settled at Hulls Cove, near Bar Harbor. The
island had by that time been partially settled by fisher-
men, but it was still a half-savage land, and the high-
born French emigrants must have led a strange and
lonely life. M, Gregoire was a recluse, or such is the
impression of him that remains with the descendants of
the fishermen who knew him; but Mme. Gregoire was
a spirited and energetic woman, who affiliated with
fisherfolk and Indians, and made the best of the wild
life that she had, perhaps ignorantly, chosen. They
never returned to France, although their children did.
Their bodies are buried outside the little cemetery at
Hulls Cove, — outside probably because they were
Roman Catholics, — and the wild roses, that know no
creeds, have wandered through the rude cemetery fence
and impartially bedecked their graves.

V. THE STORY OF EPENOW AND
ASSACOMET.

IX years after Weymouth's kidnaping exploit, Cap-
tain Edward Harlow was sent from England to
explore Cape Cod and the region round about it.

He sailed first to Monhegan, and, anchoring in its
harbor, he enticed three Indians on board his ship, and
seized them as captives. His methods were less cere-
monious than Captain Weymouth's, and his avowed
purpose was to sell them as slaves, or to make money
by them in some other way. The names of the pris-
oners were Peckmo, Monopet, and Peckenine.

Peckmo was an athletic young brave, and after a fierce
struggle he broke away from his captors, leaped over-
board, and swam ashore. He aroused all the Indians
within hail, and they rushed fiercely to the rescue of
the captured Monopet and Peckenine. Canoes sur-
rounded the ship ; but arrows were no match for the
firearms of the white men, who only mocked their
efforts. But, sweeping the deck with their whizzing
arrows, they succeeded in cutting away the longboat of
the ship, that was floating at the stern. They carried
tlie boat ashore, filled it witli sand, and placed it in a
position where they could defend it with their arrows.

When Harlow sent a band of armed men to recover

48

49

the boat, the savages fought ciesperately ; it is probable
that some of them were killed, and three of Harlow's
men were seriously wounded; but Harlow went away
without his boat.

Sailing off with his two captives, he made his way to
Cape Cod, aiid there lured more of the unsuspecting-
savages on board his ship by offering enticing wares for
barter. He secured three more captives, locking, the
oaken doors of the cabin upon them, as he had done
upon the others. The names of these Cape Cod Indians
were Sackaweston, Coneconum, and Epenow.

It is strange to know that the Maine Indians and
those from Cape Cod could not understand one another's
language, and their habits and customs were almost as
different as their speech. But the different tribes all
over the country soon had one strong sentiment in
common — hatred and distrust of the white man. Har-
low carried all five of the kidnaped Indians to London,
where he exhibited Epenow, who seems to have been
the most clever and tractable of them, in a show.

Sir P^rdinando Gorges, w^ho had interested himself in
Weymouth's captives, finally took Epenow also under
his protection. " There came one Harlow unto me,"
writes Sir Ferdinando, " bringing with him a native of
the island of Capawick, a place seated to the southward
of Cape Cod, whose name was Epenow. He was a
person of goodly stature, strong and well proportioned.
This man was taken upon the main by force, with some
twenty-nine others, by a ship of London, which en-
deavored to sell them as slaves in Spain. But it
being understood that they were Americans, and unfit

STO. OF MAIXF. — 4

50

for their uses, they would not meddle with them. This
Epenow was one of them whom they refused, wherein
they expressed more worth than those that brought
them to the market. How Captain Harlow came to be
in possession of this savage I know not; ,but I under-
stood by others how he had been shown in London
for a wonder. It is true, as I have said, that he was a
goodly man, of a brave aspect, stout, and sober in his
demeanor, and had learned so much English as to
bid those that wondered at him, * Welcome ! Wei-
con:ie !

Epenow by forming a shrewd plan to get back to his
own country shov/ed that his ability was not overrated.
He and Assacomet, who was then still in England, and
whom he met probably through the kindness of Sir
Ferdinando Gorges, put their heads together and agreed
to make the English believe that Epenow knew of a gold
mine in America, in the hope that they might be em-
ployed to guide an expedition in quest of it.

They were successful in this deception, and Gorges
himself sent a ship to Cape Cod, under command of
Captain Hobson, with Epenow and Assacomet as guides
to the gold mine.

Some suspicions seem to have been entertained of the
sincerity of Epenow and Assacomet, for when the ship
anchored in the harbor to which Epenow had guided it
as being within convenient distance from the gold mine,
the captain treated both Indians as prisoners and would
not allow them to go ashore. The natives came on
board the ship in great numbers, and some of the
brothers of Epenow were among them.

51

The story of what happened is told by Gorges's son,
who accompanied the expecHtion.

" But Epenow," he writes, " privately had contracted
with his friends how he miglit make his escape without
performing what he had undertaken. For tliat cause I
gave the captain strict charge to endeavor, by all means,
to prevent his escape. And for the more surety I gave
order to have three gentlemen of my own kindred to be
ever at hand with him, clothing him with long garments,
fitly to be laid hold of, if occasion should require.

'* Notwithstanding all this, his friends being all come,
at the time appointed, with twenty canoes, and lying at

a certain distance with their bows ready, the captain
calls to them to come on board. But thev not moving,
he speaks to Epenow to come unto him where he was
in the forecastle of the ship. Epenow was then in the
waist of the ship, between two of the gentlemen that had
him in guard. Suddenly he starts from them, and
coming to the captain, calls to his friends in English to
come on board. In the interim he slips himself over-

52

board ; and although he was taken hold of by one of
the company, yet, being a strong and heavy man, he
could not be staid. He was no sooner in the water
but the natives, his friends in the boats, sent such a
shower of arrows, and came, withal, desperately, so near
the ship, that they carried him away in despite of all the
musketeers, who were, for the number, as good as our
nation did afford. And thus were my hopes of that
particular voyage made void and frustrate."

Five years after this an English captain, sent by Sir
Ferdinando Gorges, visited the island (supposed to be
Martha's Vineyard) where this rescue of Epenow took
place. He met Epenow, who told him triumphantly of
his escape. Epenow and his friends thought that the
object of the expedition was to seize him and carry him
back to England ; and when an armed boat's crew came
on shore, a skirmish ensued, in which the English captain
was wounded and, with his crew, driven back to the ship.

Squantum, the friendly Indian who himself had had
the experience of being kidnaped, is said to have tried
to prevent the hostilities. " The Indians would have
killed me had not Squantum entreated hard in my be-
half," writes the English captain.

A little later than this, one Thomas Hunt seized
twenty-four savages at the mouth of the Kennebec, and
sold them as slaves at Malaga. The price received is
said to have been one hundred dollars each.

Assacomet made his way home to Pemaquid, and we
hear that he was afterwards the friend of the settlers.

VI. THE PLYMOUTH COMPANY.

THE eyes of many Englishmen were still turned
toward America — " a fertile, salubrious land," as
one ancient chronicle describes it. There were some
who longed for adventure, and some who were greedy
of wealth ; and the captive Indians carried across the
ocean had aroused in others the desire to carry Chris-
tianity to the dark corners oi the earth, and civilize the
strange barbarians. Moreover, there were not a few
Englishmen who wanted the country simply because
France claimed it.

In 1606, when James I. was King of England, a com-
pany of gentlemen was formed whose avowed purpose
was "to propagate God's holy church." After events
proved that they were not wholly superior to considera-
tions of personal gain in connection with this pious and
laudable purpose.

The company comprised two divisions, one of which
essayed to settle Virginia and the region thereabout,
and the other, known as the Plymouth Company, with
Lord Popham and Sir Ferdinando Gorges as leaders,
sent out a ship in August, 1606, to establish a colony
on the Acadian peninsula, embracing what is now the
state of Maine. The ship carried thirty-one white men
and two Indians — Weymouth's captives. England was

53

54

then at war witli Spain, and the vessel was seized by a
Spanish fleet and carried to Spain. A second vessel
reached the Maine shores, but was, for some unknown
reason, unsuccessful in establishing a colony.

The first division of the council, called the London
Company, had sent a hundred colonists to Virginia, and
at the mouth of the James River a permanent settlement
was established. On the 31st of May, 1607, two ships
set out from Plymouth, England, with colonists for the
Northern shores. George Popham, a brother of Lord
Popham, was in command of one ship, and Raleigh Gil-
bert, a nephew of Sir Walter Raleigh, of the other.
They had intended to have three ships, but in conse-
quence of some difficulty in procuring another, two only
were dispatched.

Popham's vessel was called the Gift of God, and Gil-
bert's the Mary and JoJlii. There were over a hundred
colonists in these vessels, and large quantities of the
necessaries of life in a new land.

These vessels found the Grand Banks of Newfound-
land a wonderful fishing ground. They stopped three
hours to fish, and took so many codfish that they could
have filled their boats. They were " of a most goodly
size," too, these fish with which the New V/orld's wa-
ters teemed. " There seems, indeed, to be no limit to
the good gifts of God in these waters," writes an enthu-
siastic chronicler of the vovao-e.

They had directed their course to the island of Mon-
hegan, but came to anchor at a small island not far from
Pemaquid, supposed to be Stage Island. They had
religious services, and read their patent. It was a form

55

of government, carefully drafted and adapted to a great
state. Every colonist and his children were to be
"citizens of the realm;" the coinage of money was
made lawful ; and for seven years the importation of all
useful chattels, armor, and furniture from the British
dominions was to be allowed free of duty. The colo-
nists were also given the right to exact taxes and duties
for their own benefit, and to seize or expel intruders.

Besides giving thanks to God for their safe arrival,
and reading their patent, the settlers listened to a ser-
mon preached by the Rev. Richard Seymour, the chap-
lain of the company.

Eight Indian men and a boy visited them upon the
island. At first these natives showed distrust, but at
length three of the bolder spirits ventured on board
the ship. Their reception seems to have been an
agreeable one, for the next day they returned in a larger
boat, with a load of fine beaver skins, for which an
honorable and satisfactory trafiic was made.

The colonists built some rude cottages on this island,
and sunk two or three wells ; but thev soon decided
that the island was too small for a permanent settlemxcnt.
It is said that on Stage Island one may still see the
remains of a fort, brick chimneys, and some wells of
water, and several cellars. The bricks must have come
from Europe.

The settlers reembarked, and sailing on in search of
a favorable location for their new settlement, they came
to a cape which they describe as low land, showing
white like sand. " But yet it is all white rocks, and a
strong tide goeth in there." This is thought to have

c

6

been Cape Smallpoint, at the western extremity of the
town of Phippsburg, where the tides are remarkably
strong.

Skitwarroes, the Indian chief captured by Weymouth,
was on board the Mary and John. He here found
his friends, including Nahanada, who had previously
found his way home, and was of great service to the
white men in keeping peace with the Indians, whom at
this point they found in a terrified and hostile condition
from their recollection of Weymouth's treachery.

Wind and weather seem to have had their part in
determining the location of the first settlement in Maine.
In attempting to enter the Sagadahoc River the two
ships encountered a dead calm. They were three miles
south of Seguin, and were forced to lie there. The calm
preceded a storm, as dead calms are apt to do, especially
off Seguin. In the middle of the night a wild tempest
arose. There was no harbor and no anchorage, and the
Gift of God and the Mary and Jo Jin were in imminent
danger of being beaten upon the rocky shore.

All night the lives of the passengers and the life of
the new colony were in jeopardy. With the earliest
ray of dawn, the storm having almost spent itself, they
sought the nearest point where they could find safety.
Under the shelter of a small island, supposed to be one
of the St. Georges, they found a safe harbor.

The next morning, with weather still unfavorable, the
Gift of God made her way into the mouth of the Saga-
dahoc. Before the Mary and John could follow she
was becalmed ; but by her boats and those of the Gift
she was towed in as soon as the tide served, and anchored

57

also in the "gallant river," as they called the beautiful
Sagadahoc.

They rowed far up the river in search of an abiding
place, and found many "goodly" sites for the new
settlement, but none that seemed to them more favor-
able than the one at the mouth of the river. It was at
the southerly corner of the present town of Phippsburg,
near what is now called Atkins Bay.

The Indians called the place Sabino, from the chief
within whose dominion it lay. It was a beautiful head-
land of more than a hundred acres. They gave the
settlement the name of Sagadahoc colony, and laid its
foundation with religious ceremonies, to the intense
interest of the Indians, who were always greatl}' at-
tracted by ceremonials.

These Indians had Nahanada, the returned captive,
for their chief, but he evidently did not dispel their
suspicion of the white men. They could not be hired
to work, although they worked gladly for the French
in Canada. Weymouth's treachery had made too deep
an impression upon them. The colonists built a fort,
and named it Fort St. George from the Christian name
of their leader. It was afterwards called Fort Popham.
It was on the southeastern side of Cape Smallpoint.

In December the Gift of God and the Mary and John
returned to England, leaving only forty-five settlers, a
small, stout-hearted band, to face the winter with but
scanty supplies, and between a howling wilderness and
a waste of waters.

They had built several log huts, and named the town
St. George. They built also a storehouse for their

58

supplies, and a small vessel to cruise along the coast and
make explorations. This first vessel built in Maine was

of thirty tons' burden, and
the name Vii'giiiia was
given to her by the
settlers.

From the first,
great dissatisfaction
prevailed in the col-
ony, and its affairs
seem to have been
conducted without
prudence or discre-
tion. They discov-
ered too late that
the headland, which
they had supposed
to be so fertile, was
a sand bank, barren
and bleak. They sent
home the discouraging report
that the country was " intolerably
cold and sterile, unhealthy, and not habitable by our
English nation."

After their buildings were erected, instead of occupy-
ing themselves with preparations for the coming winter,
they were continually making excursions in the Vii'-.
ginia, seeking a better location for a settlement, al-
though they could not then avail themselves of this if
it should be found. They also had continual difticulties
with the Indians, although, under the influence of Skit-

59

warroes, the returned captive, these were disposed to
be peaceable and friendly.

Some of the chiefs offered, with great friendliness,
to go with the white men to the Bashaba, their saga-
more, who lived somewhere in the region about Pema-
quid. He was a mighty prince, head over all the
sachems from Penobscot to Piscataqua, and all strangers
were expected to pay him court.

An expedition set out, guided by Skitwarroes, to
visit this high potentate, whose friendly favor was, of
course, greatly to be desired ; but, unfortunately, it was
obliged to turn back by reason of adverse winds and
stormy weather.

Shortly afterwards the Bashaba sent his own son to
Popham, proposing to open a traffic in furs and skins.
In all this early traffic the Indians are said to have been
not only businesslike and honorable, but to have shown
a remarkably generous spirit. An Indian named Ameri-
guin, — his name has survived the centuries on account
of one little act that showed a generous spirit, — having
been given a straw hat and a knife, immediately pre-
sented the giver with a rich beaver mantle.

The colonists suffered miserably from cold. They
had neglected to provide ample stores of wood, as they
might have done, and had failed to obtain from the
Indians the necessary supply of furs for clothing and
bed din"-.

At length the difficulties with the Indians culminated
in a fierce quarrel, in which one of the settlers was
killed, and the rest were driven out of the fort, leaving
provisions, arms, and several barrels of powder. The

6o

Indians opened the barrels of powder, and, having had
no experience with explosives, carelessly scattered the
stuff about. Everything in the fort was blown to pieces,
and several of the Indians were killed.

Fortunately for the colonists, the savages regarded
this terrifying disaster as a sign that the Great Spirit
was angry with them for their treatment of the strangers,
and they immediately made overtures for peace.

Another story wdiich reflects very severely upon the
settlers is told by Williamson, who " hopes it may be
one of those tales invented or exaggerated by the lively
imagination of posterity."

Some Indians who had come to the fort to trade furs
were shown the firearms, in which they had always a
keen interest, regarding gunpowder as a device of magic,
or else an especial gift of the Great Spirit to his white
children. They were allowed to draw a small mounted
cannon by its ropes, and when they were all in an ex-
posed position it was discharged. Some were killed
and others wounded, while all received a frightful shock.

When the colonists' storehouse took fire in mid-
winter, and, with most of their provisions in it, was
burned to the ground, it was perhaps not unreasonable
to suppose that the Indians were the incendiaries.

As soon as the Gift of God and the Mary and Jo Jin
reached England, another outfit was to have been sent
to the colonists, and two ships w^eYe made ready. But
while one ship waited for a favoring wind, the death of
Lord Popham, the moving spirit of the enterprise, was
announced, and before the other sailed the news reached
it that Sir John, the brother of Raleigh Gilbert, was

6i

dead. George Popham, the head of the colony, also
died, — fortunately for him, while there was yet hope
that the settlement would survive. His last words were :
" I die content. My name will be always associated
with the first planting of the English race in the New
World. My remains will not be neglected, away from
the home of my fathers and my kindred."

His expectation was unfulfilled. His colony soon
came to an end. His grave, on the alien shore, far
from the home of his fathers, remains unmarked and
unknown. But his name has not quite faded or been
forgotten in the province of Maine, where his highest
hopes were set.

Raleigh Gilbert succeeded Popham as head of the
colony ; but his brother's estate, which he had inherited,
required his attention, and he soon returned to England.
All these misfortunes, happening at nearly the same
time, proved the deathblow to the colony. The resent-
ment of the natives on account of the cannon discharge
had not been overcome, and one account represents the
colonists as fleeing for their lives from the savages.
Another account relates that they " cheerfully de-
parted," although they carried with them, as the only
fruits of their exile, toil, and privation, some furs, the
small vessel that they had built, and some products of
the new countrv.

The Plymouth Company was discouraged by the un-
expected return of these settlers, and made no further
attempts at colonization for several years ; nevertheless,
Sir Francis Popham, son of the baronet, sent a ship over
annually for the fishing and fur trade, and with, pos-

62

sibly, some hope of a future colony, until continued
losses and discouragements induced him to abandon
the effort.

After the failure of Popham's colony, Sir Ferdinando
Gorges had purchased a ship, and secured Richard* Vines
as captain, with the intention of effecting another settle-
ment on the Maine coast ; but the new country had
fallen into such ill repute that he sought in vain for
colonists, and was obliged to be satisfied with sending

trading vessels to America, as Sir Fran-
cis Popham had done.

About five years after Sir Francis
Popham had decided to let the New
World alone. Captain John Smith, of
whom every one has heard, was moved
by his zeal to attempt another settle-
ment at Sagadahoc.

Smith seems a storybook hero, but
he was a real personage. An unvar-
nished tale of his prowess relates that
when he was making the tour of Europe,
at the age of seventeen, he killed three Turkish champion
fighters in single combat, and was honored therefor by
a triumphal procession. But he received something
besides honor in Turkey, for we- read that he was for
many months a prisoner there. All this was long before
his life was saved in Virginia by the beautiful Indian
girl Pocahontas. He was now but thirty-five years
old, yet six years before this time he had been president
of the colonial council of Virginia.

He sailed from London, March 3, 16 14, with two

Captain John Smith.

63

vessels, a ship and a bark. His destination was Saga-
dahoc, in Maine. He was to found a settlement there,
or at least to hold possession, and " hinder any foreigner
from settling there, under any pretense whatever." He
built boats as soon as he reached the mouth of the
Sagadahoc, and explored the coast. His men spent
the fishing season in catching whales, which seems to
have been a Simple Simon sort of enterprise, for when
they were caught they were " not of the kind which
yields fins and oil."

Then the men were led astray by a story about rich
gold and copper mines which proved to have no more
gold and copper in them than the whales had fins
and oil. Nevertheless, their gains were very valuable.
Captain Smith says: '* We got, for trifles, 11,000
beavers, 100 martens, and as many otters, and we took
and cured 40,000 dry fish and 7,000 codfish, corned or
in pickle." The net value of what they carried home
with them amounted to ^1,500.

Captain Smith seems to have had peaceful relations
with the natives, except in one instance, when there
was a skirmish, and several Indians were killed. When
Smith sailed for England, he left at the mouth of the
Kennebec Thomas Hunt, the master of the other ship.
This man diso raced himself and the Plv mouth Company
by stealing twenty-four Indians, whom he carried to
Malaga and sold as slaves to the Spanish, at i^20 each.

In 1 6 16 Captain Smith published in London a map
and a short history of the country which he had ex-
plored. Prince Charles gave the latter the title of " A
History of New England."

64

In 1615 Captain Smith came ai^ain to America. The
Plymouth Company liad once more lost interest in the
New World, and it was Sir Ferdinando Gorges, with
some friends, who privately equipped two ships and
gave the command to Captain Smith. But England
and France were at war, and Smith and his companions
were captured by a French ship and carried prisoners
to France.

Not long after this the Plymouth Company aroused
itself sutlficiently to send another ship to America, under
command of its president, Sir Richard Hawkins. But
he found the whole eastern coast the scene of a bloody
war between the Indian tribes, and was forced to return
with only a cargo of fish. This war was so widespread
and destructive as nearly to depopulate New England.
It was impossible to cultivate the ground. The settlers
were driven from their burning cabins to the woods,
where they wandered, without food or shelter. Nearly
all the warriors on both sides were slain.

A fearful pestilence followed the war. Whether it
was smallpox or yellow fever is uncertain, but it is de-
scribed as a most loathsome disease, and the Indians
died of it " in heaps." It happened, strangely, that
Captain Richard Vines, sent by Sir Ferdinando Gorges
in a trading vessel, passed this winter near Saco ; and
although the mortality among the savages was frightful,
yet *' not one of his company," as Gorges quaintly
records, " ever felt his head to ache so long as they
staid there."

Captain Smith, still full of enthusiasm, essayed an-
other voyage, but was " wind-bound " for three months,

65

and finally abandoned the undertaking. He received
from the Plymouth Company the honor of a commission
as Admiral of New England. What practical benefits
it entailed we are not definitely told.

During another spasmodic revival of the Plymouth
Company's courage, it received information that Thomas
Dermer, an Englishman then in Newfoundland, had
great zeal in making discoveries and forming settlements.
So the company, through the influence of the indefati-
gable Sir Ferdinando Gorges, sent out Edward Rocroft
in a ship to Dermer's assistance. Rocroft failed to find
Dermer, but he captured a French bark whose crew
were fishing and trading upon the coast. She was a
fine ship, and regarding her as a valuable prize, he sent
the captain and crew to England in his own vessel, and
kept the French vessel himself, with a part of his men
to guard the coast through the winter.

Some of Rocroft's men formed a plot to assassinate
him and run away with the French prize. The plot
came to Rocroft's ears just in time to save his life. He
set the would-be assassins ashore at Saco, and sailed for
Virginia, where he w^as soon afterwards killed, we are
not told by whom.

Dermer had missed Rocroft, but he had the help of
Squanto, one of Hunt's captives, whose heart he had
won by great kindness. Samoset, a captive from Saga-
dahoc, sent home by Captain Mason, governor of New-
foundland, was also with Dermer, and was his faithful
friend and ally. These two Indians were of great assist-
ance in helping the Englishmen to keep peace with the
hostile tribes.

STO. OF MAINE — 5

66

Dermer, like Rocroft, went to Virginia, and also met
his death there, being killed by Epenow, the famous
captive, who had been sent home from England. The
death of Dermer, a thoroughly honorable as w^ell as a
discreet and politic man, discouraged Gorges. He de-
clared that " it made him almost resolve never to inter-
meddle again in any of those undertakings."

In the meantime, in the year 1620, — one of the few
dates we never forget, — the Pilgrims from England had
landed upon Plymouth Rock and established their per-
manent and world-famous colony.

In that same year the Plymouth Company secured a
new patent, and the son of Sir Ferdinando Gorges,
himself a brilliant officer in the English army, estab-
lished a permanent settlement at Saco, and was com-
missioned lieutenant general and governor in chief of
New England. But before long the English govern-
ment became convinced that the Plymouth Company,
and especially the new governor in chief, were moved
altogether by motives of self-interest and private gain,
and threatened the withdrawal of the patent. Gorges
thereupon planted a small colony at his own expense,
securing a grant of twenty-four thousand acres on each
side of York River.

There were disturbing controversies with France ; but
in spite of these, and of continual Indian outbreaks, the
Plymouth Company continued to grant patents. At
Sheepscot, at Pemaquid, and at Damariscotta small
settlements were made, and in 1630 eighty -four families,
besides the wandering fishermen, were living along the
shores of this region.

67

New Plymouth, a flourishing colony at this time,
opened a trade in an article called wampum. One
authority says that it was originally made of white and
blue beads, as long and large as a wheat corn,
blunt at the ends, perforated, and strung. The
beads possessed a clearness and beauty which
rendered them desirable ornaments. Other
authorities say that wampum was made of the
inner wreath of the cockle or periwinkle, some
shells being white, others blue veined with pur-
ple. The white beads were used by the Indi-
ans for stanching the blood from a wound.

The commercial value of wampum varied
like that of gold and silver, being determined
by both quality and workmanship. Belts were
made of it, and highly ornamented, and it be-
came not only the money of the tribes that pos-
sessed it, but also the expression of their artistic
talent ; and the beautiful belts were used as
pledges of good faith and tributes of friendship. The
colonists, having little gold and silver, came to regard
wampum as " legal tender." But it seems to have been
known only to the Narragansetts, the Pequots, and the
natives on Long Island.

The Plymouth Company held its last meeting April
25, 1635, when only sixteen members were present.
The cause of its dissolution was tluis recorded: "We
have been bereaved of friends ; oppressed with losses,
expenses, and troubles ; assailed before the pri\y council
again and again with groundless charges ; and weakened
by the French and other foes without and within the

A Belt of
Wampum.

68

realm. What remains is only a breathless carcass.
We therefore now resign the patent to the king, first
reserving all grants by us made and all vested rights, a
patent we have holden about fifteen years." The king,
expecting this dissolution of the company, had already
appointed eleven of his privy councilors lords commis-
sioners of all his American plantations, and committed
to them the direction of colonial affairs. This commis-
sion procured for Sir Ferdinando Gorges the position of
governor general over the whole of New England.

Sir Ferdinando was then sixty years old, but his zeal
for the English settlement of the New World had not
abated. A man-of-war was built to bring him to this
country, and was to remain here for defense; but in
launching she turned over upon her side, and her ribs
were broken beyond repair. Strange to say, although
it might be supposed that England could afford another
war ship, the enterprise thereby failed, and Sir Ferdi-
nando never saw America. Nevertheless, on the 3d of
April, 1639, with interest in the New World still un-
abated and hope undimmed, he received a charter of
the province of Maine.

He congratulates himself in this wise : " Being seized
of what I have travailed for, above forty years, together
with the expenses of many thousand pounds, and the
best time of my age loaded with troubles and vexations
from all parts, as you have heard, I will give you some
account in what order I have settled mv affairs in the
province of Maine, with the true form and manner of
government according to the authority granted me by
his Majesty's royal charter."

r

69

There are two reasons given for the naming of the
province. One is that on account of the great number
of islands the shores were constantly called the " main."
Captain John Smith says the Indians called the land
there the " Mayne." The other and more probable
reason for the name is that it was given in honor of
Queen Henrietta Maria, married not long before to
King Charles. She was a French princess, and had
inherited the province of Maine in her own country.

VII. THE STORY OF LA TOUR
AND D'AULNEY.

RAZILLA, the governor of Acadia, died in 1635,
and two of his subordinate officers were deter-
mined to succeed him in command. One of these am-
bitious officers was Charles de la Tour, son of Claude
de la Tour, the former commandant of Port Royal.
He stationed himself at the mouth of the St. John
River. D'Aulney de Charmay, the other, took up his
residence at 'Biguyduce, the peninsula now called Cas-
tine. This was on the eastern side of the Penobscot,
and a hundred and fifty miles west from La Tour.
The valleys of both the St. John and the Penobscot
were inhabited by two powerful tribes of Indians.

D'Aulney was a Roman Catholic, as were most of the
first French settlers, and had behind him the influence
of the Jesuits, already a power in the land. La Tour
was a Protestant, and had allied himself with the New
England Puritans, It is to be feared that there was,
in both men, less of religious faith and zeal than of a
desire to inflame the religious prejudices of others to
serve their own ends.

The King of France was fighting Spain, and troubled
himself very little about his American colonies, sepa-
rated from him by three thousand miles of water. If

70

71

the quarrel should come to his ears the Protestant La
Tour had no chance of the royal favor in a conflict
with his Roman Catholic rival.

So, instead of appealing to the crown, La Tour sent,
from his colony on the St. John, an agent, M. Rochet,
to propose to Massachusetts a cooperation in the effort
to drive D'Aulney from his 'Biguyduce settlement, and,
if possible, altogether off the Penobscot. He proposed
free trade between the colonies as a pleasing addition to
his plan.

The free-trade idea was at once carried into effect,
but Massachusetts declined to form an immediate alli-
ance with La Tour for the dispossession of his rival.

Meanwhile the Jesuits set to work and obtained a
-royal edict denouncing La Tour as a rebel and an out-
law; and immediately D'Aulney fitted out an expedi-
tion of four vessels, with five hundred men, and sailed
for his rival's settlement on the St. John. He com-
pletely blockaded the harbor, and cut off all supplies
and communications from La Tour. The besieged gar-
rison was reduced to distress and despair. La Tour
and his wife escaped in the night. They ran the block-
ade in a small vessel, and succeeded in getting safely to
Boston, where La Tour tried all his powers of persua-
sion to induce the governor of the colony to give him
the aid of a military force.

The Massachusetts colony was greatly disturbed by
this demand, and divided in sentiment. La Tour had
an unquestionably genuine commission from the French
cabinet appointing him the king's lieutenant general
in Acadia, and there were those who urged that he was

72

the lawful ruler, and that their interests and their prin-
ciples, especially their religious principles, demanded

that they should sustain him.
On the other hand, it was
argued that the French
cabinet had appar-
ently revoked its de-
cision ; that the exact
"^ state of the case was
not clear to them;
that La Tour's Protes-
tantism was not of the
Puritan sort, and was
apparently no religion
at all, except in the mat-
ter of expediency ; and,
finally, that it was not seemly that a
French adventurer should lead staid and Puri-
tan Massachusetts into a war.

The province of Maine was even more deeply agitated
by the quarrel between the rival officers. Thomas
Gorges, son or nephew of Sir Ferdinando, and deputy
governor of the province, wrote the following letter,
from his residence at Kittery Point, to Governor Win-
throp of Massachusetts :

" Right Worthy Sir : I understand by Mr. Parker
you have written me by Mr. Shurt, which as yet I have
not received. It cannot be unknown to you what fears
we are in, since La Tour's promise of aid from a'ou.
For my part, I thought ht to certify so much unto you ;

73

for I suppose that not only these parts, which are naked,
but all northeast, will find D'Aulney a scourge. He
hath long- waited, with the expense of near ;{^8oo per
month, for an opportunity of taking supplies from his
foe ; and should all his hopes be frustrated through
your aid, you may conceive where he will seek for
satisfaction.

" If a thorough work could be made, and he be utterly
extirpated, I should like it well ; otherwise it cannot be
thought but that a soldier and a gentleman will seek to
revenge himself, having five hundred men, two ships, a
galley, and pinnaces well provided. But you may please
conceive in what manner he now besieges La Tour.
His ships lie on the southwest part of the island, at the
entrance of the St. John River, within w^hich is only an
entrance for ships. On the northeast lie his pinnaces.
It cannot be conceived but he will fortifv the island,
which will debar the entrance of any of your ships and
force them back, showing the will, not having the power,
to hurt him. I suppose I shall sail for England in this
ship; I am not yet certain, which makes me forbear to
enlarge at this time or to de-sire yoiir commands thither.
Thus, in haste, I rest,

" Your honoring friend and servant,

"Thomas Gorges."

The Massachusetts authorities did not yet see their
duty clear to help to extirpate D'Aulney, and they
finally declared that, although they could not be counted
upon as active allies, yet La Tour might buy or charter
vessels, and enlist as many Massachusetts volunteers as

74

he could find, of course at his own expense. La Tour
at once mortgaged his fort at St. John, with all its
stores and ammunition, and also all his real and per-
sonal estate in Acadia, to raise the necessary money
for his warfare against D'Aulney.

He chartered four vessels for two months, paying for
them twenty-six hundred dollars. He secured one
hundred and forty-two volunteers and thirty-eight
pieces of ordnance. Plenty of ammunition and provi-
sions were also stored upon the vessels, and they were
in charge of well-trained seamen. Nothing seemed
lacking for a vigorous onslaught upon the foe.

The four vessels which he had chartered were named
the PJiilip and Mary , the Grcyhojnid, the Seabridge^ and
the Increase. His own vessel, the Clement, in which he
had escaped from the enemy, increased his fleet to fi\ e
vessels. La Tour knew his enemy, and had provided
himself with an adequate force against him, and his
furious onslaught was entirely successful. He chased
D'Aulney's vessels into the Penobscot, and two of them
were driven aground. A lively conflict ensued, and
several Frenchmen on both sides were either killed or
wounded ; but the Massachusetts volunteers all escaped
unharmed. Within the time for which they were char-
tered the vessels returned to Boston, La Tour trium-
phant with a ship of D'Aulney's which he had captured
with a freight of valuable furs.

But the end of this trouble for the province of Maine,
and in fact for Massachusetts, was not yet. D'Aulney,
enraged against Massachusetts on account of the aid it
had rendered to La Tour, applied to the court of France

75

for vengeance upon the colony, which he reported was
fitting out an expedition to destroy all the French colo-
nies in Acadia. His application w^as unsuccessful, but
he openly declared his resolve to stop all intercourse
or alliance between Massachusetts and La Tour. From
the vantage ground of his 'Biguyduce peninsula, be-
tween Massachusetts and La Tour's St. John settlement,
he could easily discover and attack any passing vessels
belonging to either.

His animosity extended to all Englishmen ; for when
three colonists, men of importance in their several colo-
nies, set out to visit La Tour's settlement, he caused
their arrest and imprisonment as soon as they reached
the Penobscot. The three men were Shurt of Pema-
quid, Vines of Saco, and Wannerton of New Hamp-
shire, neither of them having any connection whatever
with Massachusetts. They were imprisoned for several
days, and had great difficulty in obtaining their release.
They had business with La Tour, and being at length
released, they continued on their way to the St. John.
They learned from La Tour that the 'Biguyduce gar-
rison was but feeble, and Wannerton, a passionate, im-
pulsive man, who had been throw-n into a fierce rage
by his seizure and imprisonment, secured a company ot
twenty well-armed men to go with him to 'Biguyduce
for vengeance upon D'Aulney.

Five miles away from his fort, D'Aulney had a flour-
ishing, well-stocked farm. The party landed near the
farm, and marched to the buildings, which were near the
shore. The farm laborers sought shelter in the house
when they saw the armed men, and when Wannerton,

76

leading his men, knocked at the door, it was opened,
and they were greeted with a storm of bullets from
within.

Wannerton received a wound which proved mortal;
one man was shot dead, and still another was severely

wounded. Having

made this brave but

desperate resistance, the

laborers gave up their

arms and surrendered to

superior force.

The avengers
scorned to take any
booty, but they
ruthlessly burned
and destroyed every-
thing' that was of value. All
the buildings, farming tools,
and stores were reduced to
ashes ; the animals were killed. A
scene of utter desolation was left
behind them.

D'Aulney, utterly incensed,
vowed vengeance upon all
Englishmen. Although Wan-
nerton had paid with his life
for the revenge which he had
undertaken, in his private ca-
pacity, for the affront which had been offered to him-
self, yet D'Aulney announced that every Englishman
who ventured east oi the Penobscot should be held

11

accountable for the outrage committed upon his prop-
erty ; every EngUsh colonial vessel he would seize.

The governor of Massachusetts sent him a letter of
mild but firm remonstrance. " A merchant's trade is
permitted between us and St. John," wrote the gov-
ernor, *' and rest assured it will be protected."

D'Aulney also found himself in disgrace with his own
government, which was not disposed to go to war with
England on account of small issues in the distant wilder-
ness. He was rebuked by the Erench cabinet, and
warned to maintain thenceforth friendly relations with
all the English. But when it came to a question of
D'Aulney's relations with La Tour, the French govern-
ment immediately sustained the Roman Catholic. The
Protestant La Tour and his wife were denounced as
traitors, and orders were given for their arrest.

Mme. La Tour was then in Boston, the master of the
ship which brought her from Erance having landed her
there, instead of carrying her to St. John. D'Aulney
sent an envoy, M. Marie, with a retinue of attendants, to
make a treaty with the governor of Massachusetts, who
was expected to deliver up Mme. La Tour. But Gov-
ernor Winthrop tried to reconcile the two Erench parties,
and to secure the safe return of Mme. La Tour to her
husband.

M. Marie's angry reply is recorded by the governor:
" No! nothing but submission will save La Tour's head,
if he be taken ; nor will his wife have any passport to
St. John. She is known to be the cause of his contempt
and rebellion. Any vessel which shall admit her as a
passenger will be liable to arrest."

78

The treaty was made a merely commercial one, the
governor feeling it wise to remain neutral, although the
sympathy of the Massachusetts colony was with La
Tour. By the treaty D'Aulney agreed to abstain from
all hostile acts, and the province of Maine was relieved
and rejoicing. It had felt itself almost defenseless
before this ruthless and reckless pirate of the high seas
and of the coasts. Mme. La Tour, in the meantime,
showed herself a clever woman by prosecuting for
damages the captain who had left her where she could
not reach her home except with a sufficient force to
enable her to bid defiance to the ever-watchful enemy.
After a four days' trial the court granted a verdict in
her favor, with damages fixed at ten thousand dollars.
She chartered three London ships with this money,
and proceeded safely and triumphantly to St. John.

D'Aulney, furious, because he had fully expected to
make her his captive, declared that the Massachusetts
colony had violated the treaty in allowing Mme. La
Tour to charter the ships. He learned that La Tour
had gone on a cruise to the Bay of Fundy, that but
fifty men were left in the garrison, and the supply of
food and ammunition was but scanty.

With a well-equipped war vessel, he set sail, in the
spring, to capture the works at the St. John. He over-
took a New England vessel on the way, which was
carrying supplies to La Tour's garrison. Commercial
treaties were evidently held in but slight regard by the
desperate D'Aulney. He seized the vessel, landed the
crew on an uninhabited island, and abandoned them.
There was still snow on the ground, and they had no

79

means of making- a fire. They built a rude shanty, but
ahnost perished from cold and hunger in the ten days
that elapsed before they were taken off.

Mme. La Tour was not only a clever and resourceful
woman : she was a determined heroine as well. The
garrison upon which D'Aulney opened a furious fire
was a feeble one, but she strengthened it by her unflinch-
ing bravery. She directed the firing, and with a skill
that caused every shot from the fort to strike the ship.
"The deck of D'Aulney's vessel ran red with blood,"
says the ancient record, " and was strewn with the
mangled bodies of the dead and dying." The vessel's
strong ribs were broken. The water was rushing in
through the shotholes. The deadly rain of bullets still
fell upon it, while the intrepid garrison stood behind its
ramparts, almost unharmed.

Under the shelter of a convenient bluff D'Aulney
protected his vessel from the furious firing, while he
buried the dead, dressed the wounds made by the
cannon shot, and repaired the damages to his vessel as
best he might ; and as soon as possible he made his
way back to 'Biguyduce, utterly beaten and crest-
fallen.

Massachusetts demanded an explanation and satis-
faction for the breaking of the treaty in the seizing of
a New England vessel.

The Frenchman, whose temper w^as, naturally, not
improved by his recent experiences, became utterly
reckless and defiant. " You have helped my mortal
enemy in aiding La Tour's wife to return to St. John.
You have burned my buildings, you have killed my

So

animals. I warn you to beware of the avenging hand
of my sovereign," he said.

The Puritan envoy who had been sent to him must
have enraged him still more with his mild dignity.
" Your sovereign is a mighty prince," he answered ; " he
is also a prince of too much honor to commence an
unjustifiable attack; but should he assail us, we trust in
God, who is the infinite arbiter of justice."

Nothing was accomplished by the conference, except
a truce for a few months. There were occasional efforts,
by correspondence, during the ensuing year, to make
a diplomatic settlement of the affair; but the colony
became convinced that it could not keep peace and
carry on free trade with both these French generals,
who were such implacable enemies to each other.

D'Aulney sent three commissioners to the governor
of Massachusetts, in September of the next year, to
demand damages for losses which he had incurred
through the English. The amount was set at four
thousand dollars. The government brought counter-
charges, and accounted its damages to be considerabl}'
more than four thousand dollars.

Meanwhile D'Aulney, with the Jesuit priests as spies,
was keeping a watchful eye upon La Tour's fortress at
St. John. The bitter resentment of his repulse when
Mme. La Tour had held the fort had only increased with
time, and he had never ceased to plan a revenge. Dis-
covering that La Tour had again gone on a voyage to
obtain provisions, he set out, this time with an ade-
quate force of well-equipped vessels and a large com-
pan}^ of armed men.

8i

^i.^rr^

He not only assailed tlie fort by a terrific cannonade
from his ships, bnt made a fierce onslaught upon il on
the land side. He lost
twelve men, and had
many wounded,
for the fort made
a gallant defense,
as before ; but, in
the end, its w^alls
were scaled, and
it was forced to
surrender.

The savage
D'Aulney had
no mercy upon
the helpless in-
mates. They
were all slaugh-
tered, except
Mme. La Tour,
who was taken
prisoner. More than
fifty thousand dollars'
worth of bcjoty fell into the hands of
D'Aulney. Besides implements of war, there were val-
uable household goods, including plate and jewels and
many objects highly prized by their fair owner.

Mme. La Tour, although so brave and high-spirited,
was unable to survive this last cruel stroke of fortune.
She had lost all her worldly possessions, and her new
home, to which she is said to have been driven from

STO. OF MAINE — 6

^2

France by religious persecution, was in ruins. Her hus-
band was an outlaw, who might never hope to regain
position or fortune, and she was helpless in the hands
of her bitterest enemy. She died within three weeks
from the day when the fort was taken, *' glad to be rid
of so weary a world."

The Massachusetts colony had always felt, as has been
said before, a sympathy with La Tour. When he ap-
peared in Boston with this latest trouble heavy upon
him, utterly impoverished, and besieged by creditors,
who through his misfortunes had lost heavily, the mer-
chants, even some who had lost by him, took pity on
him, and provided him with a vessel and goods to the
value of several thousand dollars, that he might set up
a coasting trade with the natives. The crew was a mix-
ture of French and English seamen.

It is sad to record the base ingratitude and treachery
of La Tour, who seems to have been destitute of any
redeeming virtue and to have quite justified the suspi-
cion of the shrewd old Puritans of Massachusetts that his
boasted Protestantism was only the absence of all religion.

Off Cape Sable, in Nova Scotia, he formed a conspir-
acy with the French sailors, his own countrymen, seized
tlie vessel and cargo, and drove the English sailors
ashore. One of the Englishmen, who resisted, he shot
in the face with his own pistol.

It was midwinter and intensely cold, and the Eng-
lishmen, abandoned upon the uninhabited ice-bound
coast, endured terrible sufferings for more than two
weeks, and would have perished but for a providential
meeting with some Micmac Indians, who took them to

83

their wigwams, warmed and fed them, and clothed them,
too, as well as they could. An ancient historian says :
'' If they had not by special providence found more
favor at the hands of Cape Sable Indians than of those
French Christians, they might all have perished ; for,
having wandered fifteen days up and down, they at the
last found some Indians, who gave them a shallop with
victuals, and an Indian pilot ; by which means they
came safe to Boston three months afterw^ards."

La Tour had gone with his stolen vessel, no one
knew where.

D'Aulney was the ruler of Acadia. His supremacy
was unquestioned, and his fortress at 'Biguyduce was
the resort of all the Roman Catholic priests sent over
by France to convert the natives and help in taking and
retaining possession of the country. His religious zeal
gave him great influence with the French cabinet, and
strengthened his position as a colonist. But in 1650
he died, and a year after his death the wandering La
Tour returned.

How he was received by the Massachusetts merchants,
whose generosity he had abused, there are no records
to show. But what we are told did occur when the
bold adventurer returned reads more like a wildly im-
probable romance than the sober facts of history. He
married the widow of D'Aulnev, his bitter foe ; he sue-
ceeded to all D'Aulney's possessions; he renounced his
Protestantism, and secured the favor and influence of
court and church; he gave up his wanderings, and re-
building the fortress at St. John, he hved there in lux-
ury and conviviality.

84

Here several children were born to him, but only one,
Stephen de la Tour, survived him, and inherited his
large but debt-burdened estates. From his St. John
fortress La Tour ruled the Penobscot region with mili-
tary despotism, permitting no civil tribunals to be estab-
lished.

It was suspected, however, that his ambition was not
satisfied. With the aid of the Roman Catholic mission-
aries, who were always able to influence the Indians to
a wonderful degree, he had acquired a great ascendency
over the native tribes of the region. He was believed
to have formed a plan to combine the Indians of Maine,
Nova Scotia, and Canada, and make a seizure of all the
English settlements, constituting the French possessors
of the wdiole country, and himself the lord of all the land.

Massachusetts, taking alarm, issued an order, through
its General Court, prohibiting commercial intercourse
with the French on the east, and also with the Dutch
on the west. The penalty of disregarding this prohibi-
tion was to be the loss of both vessel and cargo. La
Tour's devotion to self-interest, and utter indifl'erence
as to which European country was his master, so long
as his possessions wxre left to him, are curiously shown
in what followed.

The order of the Massachusetts court thrcAv him and
his colonies into great privation and want. They were
not a thrifty people, nor given to husbandry. Instead
of cultivating the land, as they might have done, the
Indians lived on fish, especially shellfish, and such
edible roots as thev could find. Some of the more
industrious sowed a scanty crop of corn.

With the furs of the Indians, for wliich the French
paid with beads and baubles, plent\- of food had been
obtained from the better-cukivated parts of New Eng-
land. With commercial relations forbidden, they seemed
doomed to starvation.

This was thought to be a harsh measure, since there
was no proof of La Tour's ambitious schemes, and it
was feared that it would arouse the always dreaded
ferocity of the Indians. Either with or without the
consent of the authorities, a vessel loaded with provi-
sions was sent to the St. John settlement. But an ex-
pedition of a different character was b}^ this time getting
under way for the St. John.

Oliver Cromwell had sent a fleet to Boston, with
orders to raise there a volunteer force and take posses-
sion of the Dutch colony on the Hudson; for the Dutch
were then taking America in a way that England did
not like. The plan was to conquer Nova Scotia, after
the Dutch had been subdued. But the news came that
peace had been declared between England and Holland,
and the fleet proceeded to the fortress at 'Biguyduce,
and afterwards to the stronger one at the St. John.

Perhaps resistance would not have availed, tlie force
being very strong. At all events, none was offered at
either place, and La Tour quite cheerfully accepted an
Enplish sovereign instead of a French one.

The English took possession of the whole province,
and held it for thirteen years, or until the treaty of
Breda restored it to the French. La Tour lived but a
short time after the English came into power. He
died at his settlement on the St. John, and Cromwell

86

confirmed the rights of his son Stephen in his father's
possessions there.

La Tour's was a singular character, with its lack of
moral sense and of any convictions that interfered with
his success in life. He was of fine personal appearance,
and had a frank and attractive manner that won him
many friends. Fortune had played him many tricks,
making him rich one day and poor the next, now high
in the king's favor and again a hunted outlaw; but he
is said to have carried, through all his mischances, a
''goodly outside" and as careless an air as if he had
been the king's jester.

The old times of colonial struggle and savage warfare
have vanished like a dream, and their records read like
a romance ; but the summer visitor to Castine is shown
relics and landmarks that easily transform to his imagi-
nation the pleasant, drowsy town to the old, much-
fought-for 'Biguyduce ; and at the mouth of the St. John
the site is still pointed out of the fortress which brave
Mme. La Tour, alone and heartsick with exile, so nobly
held, and lost at last.

VIIT. KING PHILIP'S WAR.

THE Indians had obtained from the Frencli traders
a supply of firearms and ammunition, and had
learned with surprising readiness to use them. It is
thought that the possession of these arms excited and
emboldened them to the acts of hostility which cul-
minated, June 24, 1675, in the breaking out of the
great King Philip's War, a war in which Indian revenge
and rapacity were both fearfully displayed. The war
started in Plymouth, and within twenty days " the fire
began to kindle in these easterly parts, though distant
two hundred and fifty miles."

There were then nearly seven thousand English
settlers in Maine, and between two and three times as
many Indians. It is easy to see how great were the
peril and distress of the pioneers when the long-smolder-
ing hatred and revenge of the savages at last broke out.

Squando, sagamore of the Sokokis, was a seer and a

magician in the eyes of the Indians. He had counseled

a peaceful policy toward the white men, although he

declared that God himself had told him that the English

people must be destroyed by the Indians. He had a

prudent mind, for an Indian, and if it had not been

for a great wrong which he suffered just as the news

came of the Plymouth hostilities, he might have cast

87

88

his influence for peace instead of war. Sqnando's
squaw was paddling along the Saco in a canoe, with
her baby, when some rough sailors in a boat, think-
ing it would be fine fun to discover whether papooses
could swim like ducks, as the tradition ran, upset the
canoe. The papoose sunk. The squaw dived, and
brought it up alive, but it died within a few days, doubt-
less from the shock Then Squando, who had unlimited
power over his own tribe, and great influence over many
others, used it all to arouse the Indians to fiercest
warfare.

Wonolancet, Passaconaway's son, followed his
father's counsel and took no part in the war. He was
now chief of the Penacooks, a fierce and warlike tribe.
He would not take sides with the enemy of his people,
but " withdrew into the heart of the distant desert," —
supposed to be the forest near Mount Agaixienticus,

89

And so great was his influence over the stormy spirits
of his tribe that most of them followed him.

The Indians were especially bitter against the English
colonists, because they refused to sell them arms and
ammunition, which they had now come to depend upon
in the hunting that was their chief means of subsist-
ence, while the French, they said, were " free and
cheerful " to supply them with whatever they needed.
They believed, too, that the Great Spirit had given
them for their own the country of their birth, and that
they had absolute right in it; and they cherished and
rehearsed, with a true Indian spirit of revenge, the old
stories of kidnaping and cheating and general treachery
on the part of the English. A committee of war was
appointed by the General Court, intrusted with military
power over the eastern parts, and with directions to
furnish themselves with all necessary munitions of war
for the common defense, and to sell neither gun, knife,
powder, nor lead to any other Indians than those whose
friendship was fully known. It was proposed to take
from the Indians, as far as possible, their arms and
ammunition.

Some of the Canibas and Anasagunticook tribes
peaceably gave up their weapons; but one Canibas
Indian, named Sowen, turned with sudden fury upon
Hosea Mallet, one of the party that received the arms,
and would have killed him if he had not been seized
and bound. The Indians confessed that Sowen deserved
death, yet pleaded for his release. They offered forty
fine beaver skins as a ransom, and hostages for his future
good behavior.

90

Sowen was released, the Indians were feasted and
given a pler.tiful supply of tobacco, always their hearts'
desire, and Robinhood, sagamore of the Can-
ibas, gave a great dance, the next
day, celebrating the peace
with a wild carousal.

Squando, who took the
warpath on account of the
death of his papoose, ap-
pears now in a more hon-
orable light, being the
rescuer of Elizabeth
Wakeley, a girl of
eleven years, who
had been carried
into captivity by the
Indians. The savages had
previously killed with shocking cruelty all the rest of
her family, except two little children, who were car-
ried off in another direction.

The Indians, having now tasted blood, seemed like
wild beasts in their fury. They robbed and murdered
in every defenseless settlement, and no one's life or
possessions were safe.

The dwelling houses of John Bonython and Major
William Phillips were on opposite banks of the river,
and both had been fairly well fortified. A friendly
Sokokis native came to Bonython's house, and told him
that a strange Indian, from the westward, with a party
of Anasagunticooks, had been at his wigwam, persuad-
ing all his tribe to raise the tomahawk against the white

91

people ; that they had gone to the east, and would soon
come back with many more Indians.

Bonython, much alarmed, spread the news, and then
took shelter, with the other settlers and their families,
in Major Phillips's house, which was better garrisoned
than any other. Next day they saw Bonython's house
in flames, and a sentinel caught sight of an Indian lurking
under the fence.

Phillips, at his window, was wounded by an Indian's
gun, and those who lay in ambush near the house
thought him killed, and with savage shouts exposed
themselves to sight. The settlers fired upon them from
the house and from outposts in all directions. Several
Indians were wounded, including the leader, who died
while they were on the retreat.

The assailants were finally convinced that the place
could be taken only by stratagem. To draw the men
out of the fortification, they set fire to a small house,
and afterwards to the mill, calling to the settlers : " Come,
now, you English coward dogs! Come put out the fire,
if you dare!" This move proving unsuccessful, they
resumed their firing, and continued it until the moon
set, about four in the morning. Then the savages,
taking a cart, hastily constructed a battery upon the
axletree and forks of the spear, forward of the wheels,
to shelter them from the musketry of the fort, and filled
the body of the cart with birch rinds, straw, and matches.

This engine they ran backward, within pistol shot ot
the garrison house, intending to communicate to it, by
means of long poles, the flaming combustibles. But in
passing a small gutter one wheel stuck fast in the mud,

92

which gave a sudden turn to tlie cart, exposing the
whole party to a fatal fire from the right flanker, — an
opportunity which the settlers quickly improved. Six
Indians fell dead. Fifteen, in all, were wounded in the
assault ; and the survivors, about sixty in number, tired
of the attack, and mortified at the repulse, withdrew.
During the siege there were fifty persons in the house,
of whom only ten were effective men ; five others could
only partially assist; and one or two, besides Major
Phillips, were wounded.

No aid could be spared to Major Phillips, and he was
forced to leave his house, which the infuriated Indians
burned to the ground.

They burned all the houses above Winter Harbor, and
shot down in cold blood all the white travelers whom
they encountered. They carried into captivity from
Winter Harbor a Mrs. Hitchcock, and the next spring,
when a ransom was offered for her return, they reported
that she had died, in the winter, from eating poisonous
roots which she had mistaken for groundnuts.

Instances of heroism that thrill the blood are not rare
in the records of those dreadful days, when even old
men and feeble women, holding their lives in their
hands, sold them dearly in defense of their lo\'ed ones.

The story is told of a young heroine at Newichawan-
nock (South Berwick), whose name, unfortunately, has
been forgotten. The house of Jolm Tozier was in an
isolated region, and Tozier himself, and the few other
men of the neighborhood, had gone to the relief of the
people of Saco, who were surrounded by Indians. The
fifteen persons left wholly unprotected inTozier's house

93

were all women and children. An attack was made
upon the house, led by two of the fiercest warriors of
their tribes, one of whom was Andrew, a Sokokis brave,
and subject of the great Squando, in whose character
cruelty and kindness seem to have been incomprehen-
sibly combined.

It was a young girl of eighteen who discovered the
approach of the dreaded Indians, and she shut the door
and held it fast, parleying witli
them to gain time and
allow the rest of the
household to escape.
When finally the Indi-
ans cut the door down
with their hatchets,
they found that all but
her had p-one.

The exasperated
savages fell upon her
with their hatchets,
and left her for dead.
They then pursued the
freeing family, and
overtook two of the
children. A little three-
year-old, who was too young to

travel, and likely to be an incumbrance, they killed, and
the older child they carried into captivity. It is pleas-
ant to be able to add to this tale of horror that the
brave girl revived after her fiendish assailants had gone,
crawled to the garrison for relief, was healed of her

■--■ ■C-gr"'vM''gl' '

94

wounds, and lived to tell, in peaceful days, the story
to her children.

The Indians went on burning and pillaging and
slaughtering, until a temporary lull in hostilities was
effected by the chief magistrate of the Pemaquid plan-
tation, Abraham Shurt, whose fame has come down
to us as a man of peace and of unusual good sense. He
succeeded in inducing the warlike sagamores to meet
him at Pemaquid for a parley. The result was a truce,
by which they engaged to live in peace with the Eng-
lish, and to prevent, if possible, the Anasagunticooks
from committing any more depredations. Much faith
was felt in these pacific measures, and the General Court
ordered that quite a large sum should be taken from the
public treasury for the relief of those friendly Indians
whose wigwams had been burned and whose harvests
had been trampled down.

But this truce was narrow in its province, and had
but shght effect. In other parts of the colony a different
policy prevailed. The Indians, having set out upon the
warpath, were not easily turned back, and many of the
English believed in a policy of extermination rather
than of peace.

The town of Berwick seems to have been chosen by
the Indians for their fiercest onslaughts, in spite of the
fact that one of the strongest of the garrison houses was
located there. In October, 1675, a party of a hundred
Indians, partly of the Sokokis tribe (always known as
the fiercest) and partly of the Canibas, attacked Richard
Tozier's house, burned it to the ground, killed Tozier,
and carried his son away captive. This was in sight of

95

the garrison house. Lieutenant Roger Plaisted, in com-
mand of the garrison, sent a hltle company of nine
picked men to watch the enemy's movements. -

The men were unwary, and walked into an Indian
ambuscade. The instinct of war born in the Indians
seems to have been entirely lacking to the English
settlers. For a hundred years the English officers went
on leading their men into the snares that the wily sav-
ages set for them, and it is said that even the squaws
made merry over their stupidity. Plaisted knew that a
hundred cunning savages were lurking about, and yet
he led his men boldly into the midst of them. Three
of the nine were killed at once ; the others succeeded
in making their escape. The next day Plaisted sent a
team with twenty armed men to bring in the bodies of
the slain. They had a cart drawn by oxen, and Plaisted
himself led the little company. They had placed one
dead body in the cart, when, from the bushes behind a
stone wall, a hundred and fifty Indians poured upon
them a deadly fire. Only a few of the men escaped.
Lieutenant Plaisted fought bravely until cut down by a
tomahawk. Two of his sons were among the killed.

In view of the Berwick highway may still be seen a
monument with this inscription: ** Near this place lies
buried the body of Roger Plaisted, who was killed by
the Indians October i6, 1675, aged 48 years; also the
body of his son, Roger Plaisted, who was killed at the
same time."

A quick-witted stratagem saved the house of Captain
Frost at Sturgeon Creek, where this same band of In-
dians proceeded from Berwick. Captain Frost was

96

outside his door, and had ten shots fired at him, harm-
lessly, before he had time to close it upon the Indians.
There were only three boys with him in the house, yet
he had the presence of mind to shout out commands as
if there were a body of soldiers within.

"Load quick! Fire, there! That 's well! Brave
men!" he shouted. And the Indians, doubtless unsus-
picious, of cunning in the settlers, where they seldom
found it, concluded that the soldiers here were too many
for them, and rapidly retreated.

In the settlements between Piscataqua and Kennebec,
within the short space of three months, there were
eighty lives lost, with a great number of dwelling
houses and other property.

All business was suspended, harvests were ungathered,
and homes deserted. Men, women, and children were
huddled in small garrisons, or in the larger houses,
which had been as strongly fortified as possible.

As winter came on there was a revival of the hope of
peace. The Indians had no provisions on hand, nor
any means to buy them. Their ammunition was con-
sumed, the snow was too deep for hunting, and they
saw that peace or starvation was the alternative before
them. The sagamores, therefore, requested an armis-
tice for the whole body of Indians eastward, promising
to be the submissive subjects of the government, and
to surrender all captives without ransom. Many of
those carried into captivity were from time to time re-
stored, and doubtless welcomed by their friends as if
they had arisen from the dead.

Through seven months there was peace, and that the

97

war broke out again was not wholly due to the savages.
There were influences of private gain and personal
revenge ; and the suspicions of the settlers against the
Indians were, not unnaturally, but sometimes unfortu-
nately, never sleeping.

Several Indians were seized by kidnapers and carried
off in vessels and sold as slaves in foreign countries.
Some of the kidnaped Indians were Micmacs from
Nova Scotia, and the Micmacs were thus led to join
the Maine tribes in their warfare,

A council was held at Teconnet, near what is now
Waterville. It has been thought that if Squando had
been present the treaty might have been effected ; for
although Squando's moods were variable, he was known
to have at that time a strong desire for peace. Madock-
awando, the chief who was the ruling spirit of the five
sagamores present, was angry at the distrust shown by
the settlers in not consenting to sell ammunition to the
Indians ; and the council broke up without result.

King Philip was killed in August, 1676, but that did
not terminate the war. The Indians, who called him
Metacom, reverenced him as of almost superhuman
power, and they believed that through his influence,
even after he had gone to the " happy hunting grounds,"
leaders would be raised up to guide them to victory.
Squando now came to the front with fresh revelations
and prophecies. He pretended that God appeared to
him in the form of a tall man in black clothes, com-
manding him to leave his drinking of strong liquors,
and to pray, and to keep Sabbaths, and to go to hear
the Word preached ; all which things the Indian did

STO. OF MAINE — 7

98

for some years, with great apparent devotion. Squando
assumed supernatural gifts and powers, but neither he
nor any of the other great chiefs ever. took upon them-
selves such earthly state as did King Philip. When an
ambassador was sent to him from the governor of Mas-
sachusetts to inquire why he was making preparations
for war, the Indian haughtily answered: "Your gov-
ernor is but a subject of King Charles of England. I
shall not treat with a subject; I shall treat only with
the king, my brother. When he comes, I am ready."
Proud King Philip was dead, and his forces were
scattered ; but many of his warriors joined the Maine
Indians, and the ravages there were continued with re-
newed force. Squando was assured by supernatural
visitants that the destruction of the English would now
be soon completed.

IX. AGAMENTICUS AND PASSACONAWAY.

GORGEANA, the first city of Maine, was planted in
the wilderness. The ambition of its founder, Sir
Ferdinando Gorges, to establish a colony in Maine had,
as we have seen in connection with the Plymouth Com-
pany, been thwarted and disappointed at every point.

When he secured a private grant of twenty-four
thousand acres on each side of York River, he deter-
mined to plant a small colony there at his own expense.
He called his colony Agamenticus at first, from the name
of the mountain, famous in the aboriginal legends, which
looked down upon it.

*' Agamenticus " signifies, in the Indian tongue, '* the
other side of the river." The name is applied to a
beautiful elevation, or rather three elevations joined
together, well wooded, and rising by gentle slopes, not
rocky or steep like the Mount Desert mountains, but
with a large crowning rock upon its summit. This
mountain .is a famous landmark for mariners, and is
thought to have been the first land of the New World
that revealed itself to Gosnold, in 1 603. He is supposed
to have landed at York Nubble and to have named it
Savage Rock. The mountain is five or six miles from
the shore, while Boon Island, the first land to be ap-
proached in that neighborhood, is seven miles farther,

99

lOO

It was to Agamenticus that Wonolancet, the peace-
loving son of the great Passaconaway, is thought to have
retired when he refused to take part in the long and
bloody King Philip's War. St. Aspinquid, of Indian
tradition, who died on the mountain, and whose grave-
stone is still to be seen there, is said to have been Pas-
saconaway himself.

St. Aspinquid died May I, 1682, and is said to have
been born in 1588, being therefore about ninety-four
when he died. He was over forty when he was con-
verted to Christianity, and from that time devoted him-
self to preaching the gospel to the Indians.

His funeral obsequies were attended by many sachems
of various tribes, and celebrated by a grand hunt of the
warriors, at which were slain ninety-nine bears, thirty-
six moose, eighty-two wild cats, and thirty-eight por-
cupines.

That Passaconaway was living at as late a date as 1660
is shown by an anecdote of that year told of him in an
ancient Indian biography.

Manataqua, sachem of Saugus, had made known to
Passaconaway that he wished to marry his daughter.
This being agreeable to all parties, the wedding soon
took place, at the residence of Passaconaway, and the
hilarity wound up with a great feast.

According to Indian customs when the contracting
parties are of high station, Passaconaway ordered a
select number of his men to accompany the newly mar-
ried pair to the husband's home. When they had
arrived there, several days of feasting followed, for the
entertainment of such of the husband's friends as were

lOI

</-■'

unable to be present at the ceremony, as well as for the
escort, who, when the rejoicings were over, returned to
Penacook.

Some time after, the wife of Manataqua expressed a
desire to visit her father's house. She was permitted
to go, and a select company
was chosen by her husband
to conduct her safely
through the forest. When
she wished to return to
her husband, her father,
instead of conveying
her, as before, sent to
the young sachem to
come and take her away.

Manataqua was
highly indignant at
this message, and
sent his father-in-law
this answer : ** When
she departed from me, I

caused my men to escort her to your dwelling, as be-
came a chief. She now having an intention to return
to me, I did expect the same."

The elder sachem was angry in his turn, and sent
back an answer which only increased the difficulty, and
it is supposed that the connection between the new
husband and wife was terminated by this disregard of
ceremony on the part of her father.

Passaconaway's character was certainly like that
ascribed to St. Aspinquid. In his youth he was sup-

102

posed to have magic powers, and his people beheved
that he could burn a leaf to ashes and then restore to it
nature's vivid greenness. They never doijbted that he
could raise a living serpent from the skin of a dead one,
and many warriors testified that they had seen him turn
himself into a flame to burn up his enemies.

As for St. Aspinquid, we may well believe that his
assumption of magic powers was not wholly abandoned
after he embraced Christianity, for most of the praying
Indians clung to some of their savage superstitions, and
sometimes would divest themselves of their new re-
ligion as suddenly as if it were a blanket, and rush
frantically into a powwow or a war dance, or even a
frenzy of slaughter. But St. Aspinquid died firm in
the faith delivered to him by the devoted Jesuit mission-
aries, and in his last days he endeavored to promote
peace and good will between his people and the whites.

In 1660, when he felt his end to be drawing near, he
made a great feast, to which he invited all his widely
scattered tribes, calling them his children.

" Hearken," he said, " to the last words of your father
and friend : The white men are sons of the morning.
The Great Spirit is their Father. His sun shines bright
about them. Never make war with them. Sure as you
light the fires, the breath of heaven will turn the flames
upon you and destroy you. Listen to my advice. It
is the last I shall be allowed to give you. Remember
it, and live."

A poem on Passaconaway, written by a bard of the
old days, and extremely popular as a fireside tale, is too
delightfully quaint to be allowed to pass into oblivion :

I03

*' 'Tis said that sachem once to Dover came
From Penacook, when eve was setting in;
With plumes his locks were dressed, his eyes
shot flame ;
He struck his massy club with dreadful din,
That oft had made the ranks of battle thin.
Around his copper neck terrific hung

A tied-together bear and catamount skin ;
The curious fish bones o'er his bosom swung;
And thrice the sachem danced, and thrice
the sachem sung.

*' Strange man was he ! 'Twas said he oft
pursued
The sable bear and slew him in his den,
That oft he howled through many a pathless
wood
And many a tangled wild and poisonous fen
That ne'er was trod by other mortal men.
The craggy ledge for rattlesnakes he sought,

And choked them one by one, and then
O'ertook the tall gray moose as quick as

thought.
And then the mountain cat he chased, and
chasing caught.

•

"A wondrous wight ! For o'er Siogee's ice
With brindled wolves, all harnessed three
and three,
High seated on a sledge, made, in a trice.
On Mount Agiocochook of hickory,
He lashed and reeled and sung right joUily.
And once, upon a car of flaming fire.

The dreadful Indian shook with fear to see
The king of Penacook, his chief, his sire,
Ride flaming up toward heaven, than any
mountain higher ! "

I04

The last line suggests the curious reverence of the
Indians for mountain peaks, and their dread of the evil
spirit whom they supposed to inhabit them. They be-
lieved that the devout St. Aspinquid had banished it from
Agamenticus, but thought it dangerous to ascend any
other high mountain. The summit of Mount Katahdin
they thought the home of Pamola, an evil spirit very
great and very strong indeed. His head and face were
said to be like a man's, his body and feet like an eagle's,
and he could take up a moose with one of his claws.
Pamola did not like snowtime, so the tradition ran,
and at the beginning of winter he rose with a great
noise, and took his flight to some unknown warmer
region.

The story is told of seven Indians who, a great many
moons ago, too boldly went up the mountain, and were
certainly killed by the mighty Pamola, for they were
never heard of more. The tradition handed down from
earliest times was that an Indian never goes up to the
summit of Katahdin and lives to return. Passaconaway
had banished the evil spirit from Agamenticus, but the
Indians themselves were soon driven away by the new
settlement.

Gorges's long-thwarted ambition demanded a great
and striking success for his colony. He was not willing
to build a little hamlet and see it gradually expand into
a village and then a town, after the humble fashion that
prevailed in Maine. Instead, he inaugurated a city with
pomp and ceremony, — an old-world city, whose mayor
and all civil officers wore gorgeous uniforms and the
insignia of their rank. The mayor was called upon to

I05

-'^ •ttTv-^ ' ' ^ '■-'

4 .^. 'Sh

tl*.

hold semiannual fairs, on the feasts of St. Peter and St.
James, and to make arrangements that they should be
held perpetually.

It was evidently intended to form by ceremonial and
festival an attractive contrast to the plainness and aus-
terity of the Puritan settlements in other parts of Maine.

The poet of Sir Ferdinando's city has perhaps exag-
gerated a little. He writes :

*'For hither came a knightly train

From o'er the sea with gorgeous court ;
The mayors, gowned in robes of state,
Held brilliant tourney on the plain,
And massive ships, within the port,
Discharged their load of richest freight.

io6

Then when at night, the sun gone down

Behind the western hill and tree,
The bowls were filled, this toast they crown:

' Long live the city by the sea ! ' "

But the city was not destined to live long. Massa-
chusetts assumed control of Maine by virtue of her
charter from the English king, and after some resistance
the inhabitants allowed a large part of the territory to
be annexed to Massachusetts. Sir Ferdinando Gorges
died, and his nephew, Thomas Gorges, who had been
deputy governor of the province of Maine, and was then
living in state at Gorgeana, had gone on a visit to
England to secure influence to settle the disturbed con-
dition of affairs in Maine.

In his absence the city was sacrificed to the ambition
of the Massachusetts Bay Company. It was sold out
to a company, and when Gorges returned he found even
his residence despoiled, nothing remaining but an old
pot, a pair of tongs, and a couple of andirons.

The "civic splendor" had all departed, but it re-
mained a town, and in 1652 it was ordered at a town
meeting that " William Hilton have use of ferry for
twenty-one years, to carry strangers over for twopence
and for swimming over horses or other beasts, four-
pence, or for one swum over by strangers therewith, he
or his servants being ready to attend."

The overland route from Maine to Massachusetts was
close by the ocean, and the ferry in constant demand.
The Indians in that region, whether through the influ-
ence of Passaconavvay or through the friendliness of the
settlers, seem to have been less hostile than in the adjoin-

107

Ing towns ; for, on their journeys, they frequently pat-
ronized the ferry, their way of announcing themselves
as passengers being by a blood-curdling war whoop at
Mr. Hilton's gate.

Even in the darkness of the evening, Mrs. Hilton
would answer the signal, and herself ferry the savages
across. A squaw who had been indulging in fire water,
one day, became enraged at Mrs. Hilton's refusal to
ferry her over, and threw a knife so that it cut off the
*' thumb cap " of the door latch. But she returned the
next da3% deeply penitent, and with promises of future
good behavior.

The part of the territory of Maine which had been
annexed to Massachusetts was called the county of
Yorkshire, and Agamenticus, the late city of Gorgeana,
received the name of York. But while York continued
to keep peace with its neighboring Indians, the bands
of savages that roamed, plundering and slaughtering,
through the country often swooped down upon it ; and
in February, 1692, while it was still only a little village
scattered along the bank of the Agamenticus River, it
was entirely destroyed, except the garrison houses, by
a company of nearly three hundred French and Indians,
who had come through the wilderness from Canada on
snowshoes. In half an hour they had killed seventy-
five of the inhabitants, and taken more than a hundred
prisoners.

Many of the prisoners were severely wounded, and
were carried away, in the bitter cold of the winter, by
the ruthless savages, and very few of them ever saw
home or friends again.

io8

But the little town arose from its ashes. At the close
of the dreadful King William's War, which was the
second Indian war and lasted ten years, while King
Philip's War, bloody and devastating as it was, had
lasted but three, the destitution and suffering in Maine
were extreme.

** No mills, no inclosures, no roads, but, on the con-
trary, dilapidated habitations, wide, wasted fields, and
melancholy ruins." But the people of York were not
wholly discouraged. Among other things, they wanted
a gristmill. The united resources of the town were not
sufficient to build one; so they offered to a man in
Portsmouth a lot of land to build a mill upon, liberty to
cut all the timber that he needed, and their pledge to
carry all their corn to his mill, so long as he kept it in
order. They could not live without the mill, and they
suffered great suspense for a time, lest their offer
should not be accepted. What had been Sir Fer-
dinando's proud city now depended upon a gristmill,
or the hope of one, for its continued existence.

The mill was built, and gradually the scattered people
returned and rebuilt their little log houses. But there
was no peace for the plucky pioneers. The first disturb-
ance originated in a report that the settlers were organ-
izing for a war of extermination upon the savages.
The Indians were frightened, and began to withdraw
from the settlements. Even Passaconaway's peaceful
tribes took alarm, and their departure led the inhabitants
to believe that they were to join a general uprising of
the tribes.

The militia was ordered out, and well-armed soldiers

109

patrolled the town of York, every night, from nine until
morning. The townspeople listened, doubtless with
heart-sickening dread, for the war whoop that should
mean more than a demand for Goodman Hilton's ferry-
boat.

But this time the horrors of bloodshed were averted.
Governor Dudley arranged a council with the sagamores
of the eastern tribes at Falmouth, the 20th of June, 1 703.

Knowing that the Indians were greatly impressed by
pomp and ceremony, the governor came to the council
with an imposing retinue. But the splendor of the
Indians altogether eclipsed that of their white brethren.
There were eleven sagamores, and they entered Portland
harbor with a fleet of sixty- five canoes, containing two
hundred and fifty warriors, decorated with plumes and
war paint, and wearing garments gorgeous with fringes
and beaded embroidery.

Governor Dudley had brought a great tent, in which
were gathered his suite and all the Indian chiefs. He
made a speech to the Indians, in which he declared that
it was his wish to reconcile every difficulty that had arisen
since the last treaty, and that he would esteem them all
as brothers and friends. Simms of the Penobscots was
the Indian orator of the occasion, and he bore himself
with much dignity. " We thank you, good brother, for
coming so far to talk with us," he said. " It is a great
favor. The clouds gather and darken the sky. But we
still sing with love the songs of peace. Believe my
words. So far as the sun is above the earth, so far are
our thoughts from war or from the least desire of a rup-
ture between us."

I lO

Peace was ratified and presents exchanged, after the
Indian fashion. There were professions of strong friend-
ship on either side, and the hearts of the people rejoiced.
Those who had been ready to depart to safer regions
remained, and there was even a httle emigration to the
Maine shores, where land was cheap, valuable timber
abundant, the soil rich, and the fisheries increasingly
profitable. But only two months after this encouraging
peace was made, a company of five hundred French and
Indians swooped down upon the shore towns, Cape Por-
poise, Wells, York, Saco, and Casco. Few details re-
main to us, but it is evident that the slaughter and
destruction were terrific, and, except the garrison houses,
scarcely a building remained in those towns.

In 1707, the six English settlements which were all
that survived in Maine were those of Wells, Berwick,
Kittery, Casco, Winter Harbor, and York. The settlers
continued to suffer constantly from the prowling savages.
In the summer of 1712 twenty-six of the English were
killed or carried into captivity in the neighborhood of
York, Kittery, and Wells. They could not venture into
the fields without danger of being murdered. Children
playing upon the doorsteps would be dragged off by the
savages before their mothers' eyes.

One of the scouting parties which were continually on
the march for the defense of the settlements was sur-
prised, between York and Cape Neddick, on the 14th
of May, I 712, by a company of thirty Indians.

The leader of the scouting party, Sergeant Nalton,
was instantly killed, and seven others, probably wounded,
were captured. The survivors fled for their lives, and

1 1 1

succeeded in reaching the garrison. A Mr. Pickernel,
hearing of the Indian assault, had left his house, with
his family, to take refuge in the garrison, when an am-
bushed Indian shot him dead. His wife was wounded,
and his little child was scalped. The child, left for
dead, eventually recovered from the frightful wound, —
which was very unusual for a victim of the Indians'
scalping.

The story of York has seemed worth the telling, not
only because it was the first city of Maine, but because
it was one of the towns which through all the wars bore
the brunt of the Indians' fury, and its survival shows the
noble courage and persistence of its settlers. Wells, the
adjoining town, was another settlement upon which the
Indians' vengeance was especially fierce. The story of
a little captive from that town forms one of the most
romantic chapters in Miss C. A. Baker's " True Stories
of New England Captivities."

Little Esther Wheelwright was the granddaughter of
the Rev. John Wheelwright, the first minister of Wells.
He was a man of high character and great spirituality,
but of doctrinal peculiarities which had not found favor
with his Puritan brethren in Massachusetts. So in 1643
he removed to Wells, and although he afterwards re-
turned to England, his son, who was also John Wheel-
wright, remained, shared the fearful struggles with the
Indians, and was known until his death as a highly re-
spected citizen.

His daughter, little Esther, was doubtless a typical
Puritan girl, dutifully sharing in the household tasks
of the bare and primitive living, learning her catechism.

I 12

and walking to "meeting" in the blockhouse under
the protection of her father's gun ; and also imbibing
a wholesome horror of Indians, and of the papistical
French, their allies.

In the blockhouse her sister Hannah had been mar-
ried, on the 1 6th of September, i 7 1 2, to Elisha Plaisted,

a young man of Portsmouth. The
Wheelwrights were one of the
first families of Wells, and
young Plaisted also
had good social
connections and an
extensive acquaint-
ance. There were
guests from Ports-
mouth and Kittery,
from York, and even
from Falmouth.
Some came by wa-
ter, some in com-
panies on horse-
back, and all were
well armed. For
once, privations
should be forgotten, terrors thrown to the winds,
and the garrison house, stained with blood and hacked
by tomahawks though it might be, should be decked
for a bridal. But alas! there were unexpected, unwel-
come guests.

The Indians had heard of the proposed festivi-
ties, had even made themselves acquainted with the

113

ways by which the wedding guests were to come
and go.

The ceremony was performed, and there was froHc
and feasting. It is quite likely that it lasted well into
the small hours ; when good times are rare, people are
apt to make the most of them. The first of the guests
to leave found that two of the horses were missing.
Sergeant Tucker, Isaac Cole, and Joshua Downing went
out in search of them. While they were still very near
the blockhouse, from behind the trees came the fierce
volleys of two hundred savages ambushed in the forest.
Joshua Downing and Isaac Cole fell dead, and Sergeant
Tucker, seriously wounded, was taken captive.

Out of the blockhouse rushed every man of the
company at the sound of the guns. Many of them
were military men, and accustomed to Indian warfare,
but they did not realize how great was the number
of their foes. They sprang upon their horses, and, in
small companies, rode off, in different directions, to
waylay the Indians and cut off their retreat. But on
each path that they took were Indians lying in ambush.
Elisha Plaisted, the bridegroom, who was very brave,
led seven or eight men, and they rode directly into an
ambush.

With one volley the Indians killed every horse. One
man was killed, and young Plaisted was captured and
carried away in his wedding garments. In their anxiety
to secure Plaisted the Indians allowed the others to es-
cape. His father was a comparatively rich man, and
they expected to extort from him a large ransom for his
son.

STO. OF MAINE — 8

114

He was finally ransomed by the payment of ^^300.
But when, in a fiercer raid and slaughter, little Esther
Wheelwright was taken captive, the Indians disappeared
with their prey into the heart of the forest, and there
was no possibility of a ransom.

She suffered hardship in the long journey through the
winter woods to Canada, but the Indians do not seem to
have treated her cruelly. We hear of her next in the
Ursuline Convent at Montreal, where the sisters have
speedily transformed the granddaughter of the Puritan
divine into a novice with white veil and crucifix. She
became a devout nun, and although she was at liberty
to visit her home, she never cared to do so. She died
full of years and sainthood, the mother superior of the
Ursuline Convent.

Little Mary Sereven, the daughter of the Baptist min-
ister of Wells, carried away by the Indians at the same
time with Esther Wheelwright, also became a member
of a Roman Catholic sisterhood, but of her story little
is known.

In spite of the continued Indian depredations,
these coast towns gradually increased and prospered.
In 1725 York was, next to Falmouth, the most im-
portant town in Maine. It was of political consequence,
the shire town, and its inhabitants were men whose opin-
ions had weight in the councils of the colony. Perhaps
this was, after all, better than the " civic splendor " of
Sir Ferdinando's ambition.

There was, indeed, before long, not a little wealth and
refinement of living. The last negro slaves held in New
England were owned there, and the oldest inhabitant

115

remembers going to the funerals of two of them and
seeing them buried at the feet of the master and mis-
tress who had died before them.

Now the beautiful York coast and harbor and the
pretty winding river have attracted swarms of summer
visitors. Hotels line the wide beaches, and sounds of
revelry by night awaken even the echoes on Passacona-
way's lonely mountain. No trace remains of the fa-
mous old sagamore and saint, except the grave that is
to be seen on Agamenticus, and his name, bestowed
upon a fine hotel.

I

X. SIMON, THE YANKEE-KILLER.

AFTER the death of King PhiHp, some of the fierc-
/V est of his followers fled to Maine and distributed
themselves among the eastern tribes. Their language
was radically the same as that of the Maine Indians, but
they used a dialect as different as was the cut of their
hair. They were madly warlike, and of the superstitious
sort, believing themselves commissioned by the Great
Spirit to destroy the English.

Some of these fugitive Indians could speak English,
and three of the most bloodthirsty had acquired the
English names of Simon, Andrew, and Peter. These
three had escaped to the Merrimac River, a little while
before the downfall of King Philip, and tried to conceal
themselves among the Penacooks, who had remained
neutral through the war. But the Penacooks surren-
dered them as murderers, and they were confined at
Dover for many months, at length making their escape
and fleeing to Casco Bay.

They were all villains, but Simon, surnamed the " Yan-
kee-killer," was the worst. He boasted that he had shot
at many white settlers, and had only once failed in bring-
ing his man to the ground. He had killed some settlers
and taken others captive in Bradford and Haverhill.

He escaped from Dover prison, made his way to Casco,

ii6

117

and went to Anthony Brackett's house, where he rep-
resented himself as a *' praying Indian," and completely
won the confidence of the simple-hearted settler. He
was a shrewd rascal, and, like Squando and Passacon-
away, was accredited by the Indians with a knowledge
of the arts of magic. He apparently accepted the
religion offered him by the missionaries, and regarded
it with superstitious awe, as a superior kind of necro-
mancy.

Anthony Brackett had lost a cow, and Simon, assum-
ing great friendliness, declared that he would find the
Indians who had killed it, and would bring them to
Brackett's house, of course with the understanding that
payment or satisfaction of some sort was to be obtained
from them.

But Simon came at the head of a company of Indians,
boldly entered the house, and took possession of Brack-
ett's firearms. They were the Indians, Simon declared,
who had killed his cow, and he had kept his promise.
Now his friend Anthony might take his choice, to serve
the Indians or be slain by them. Brackett chose to
serve, and the savages bound him, his wife and five chil-
dren, and a negro servant.

Mrs. Brackett's brother, Nathaniel Mitten, resisted,
and they instantly killed him. Brackett lived on a large
farm at Back Cove, in Falmouth. There were clearings
in the wilderness all about the cove, with cabins and
small farms. Around the cove, at Presumpscot River,
that day, Benjamin Atwell and Humphrey Durham
were helping their neighbor, Robert Corwin, to get in
his hay. The stillness of the beautiful August day was

ii8

broken by the report of guns. Simon's men came from
Anthony Brackett's, in one of the wild frenzies that often
seemed to seize them as soon as they had shed blood,
and shot down the three haymakers, who had no means
of defense. They then went from one cabin to another,
burning, slaying, and taking prisoners.

Richard Pike and another man, who chanced to be in
a canoe on the river, heard the sound of guns, and saw
a little boy running, wild with terror, toward the river,
pursued by the maddened, yelling savages. They were
firing at the boy, and the bullets whistled over the heads
of the men in the boat.

Simon himself demanded from the river bank that the
men should come ashore, but they plied their paddles
for dear life ; and as they did so they shouted the
alarm to the inmates of the houses along the river, bid-
ding them run for their lives to the garrison house.

The first settlers of Portland had built their homes on
the promontory, a hundred and sixty feet above the
level of the sea, then called Cleaves Neck, and here they
had erected their garrison house to protect them from
their savage foes. But on this day those w^ho had es-
caped to the garrison were few and feeble, and so terror-
stricken that they dared not await the attack from the
infuriated, merciless savages. They huddled together
in the few canoes at hand, and sought refuge on the
island near the harbor's mouth, now known as Cushings
Island.

From there they sent a messenger across the water to
Scarborough (then known as Black Point) for aid.
After night fell, a small party of men paddled bravely

119

across the harbor and secured some powder, which they
had left behind them in their hasty flight, and which,
fortunately, the ransacking Indians had failed to find.

Some of the other settlers succeeded in escaping the
next day, and joined the fugitives on the island. They
were in utter destitution, their lives alone being left to
them. Everything in their homes was plundered or
destroyed by the Indians. They were helpless, in the
wilderness, with the bitter winter coming on.

Casco Neck was depopulated and laid waste. Thirty-
four persons were either killed or carried into captivity.
As soon as the dreadful news reached Boston the Gen-
eral Court sent a vessel with provisions to the starving
outcasts on Cushings (then called Andrews) Island.

The following letter, written from Portsmouth at this
time, will give the reader some conception of the ter-
ror of those days. The letter was addressed to Major
General Denison at Ipswich.

** This serves to cover a letter from Captain Hathorn,
from Casco Bay, in which you will understand their
want of bread, which want I hope is w^ell supplied be-
fore this time ; for we sent them more than two thou-
sand weight, which, I suppose, they had last Lord's-day
night. The boat that brought the letter brings also
word that, Saturday night, the Indians burned Mr.
Munjoy's house, and seven persons in it. On Sabbath
day, a man and his wife, one George, were shot dead and
stripped by the Indians at Wells. Yesterday, at two
o'clock, Cape Nedick was wholly cut ofi^; only two men
and a woman, with two or three children, escaped. So

I20

we expect now to hear of further mischief every day.
They sent to us for help, both from Wells and York ;
but we had so many men out of town that we know not
how to spare any more.

" Sir, please send notice to the council that a supply
be sent to the army from the bay ; for they have eaten
us out of bread, and here is little wheat to be gotten,
and less money to pay for it. The Lord direct you and
us in the great concerns that are before us ; which duti-
ful service presented in haste, I remain, sir,

** Your servant,

" Richard Martin."

Anthony Brackett and his wife made their escape in
a remarkable manner. It will be remembered that they
were the first victims of Simon's raid, on that August
day when the peaceful harvesting was going on at
Casco Neck. When the Indians who had taken them
captive, with Brackett, his wife, five children, and a ne-
gro servant, had reached the north side of Casco Bay,
they heard the news of the taking of Arrowsic garrison
house in Kennebec, with all its stores. They were over-
joyed at this, and were anxious to be on hand to share
the booty. Simon, notwithstanding his necromancy
and superstition, had always a practical mind and was
especially eager for gain.

The Indians were in such haste to reach Kennebec
that they promised Brackett and his wife a share of the
spoils if they would hasten after them, bringing along a
burden which each had been given to carry.

Mrs. Brackett had seen an old birchen canoe lying at

I2T

the waterside, and was inspired by the hope that it
might be a providential opportunity offered for their
escape.

She first prudently asked the Indians to let the negro,
their own servant, help them to carry their burdens, a
request which Simon immediately granted. Then they
begged a piece or two of meat, which was not denied
them, Simon showing the curious mixture of kindness
and ferocity which always distinguished him, as well as
several of the other more noted Indians. Thus being
furnished with help and provisions, the Indians leaving
them to follow behind with their burdens and
a young child, they could but look upon
the whole circumstance '* as a divine
mandate to shift for themselves."

Mrs. Brackett also found a needle
and thread in the house where they
staid, on the east side of the
bay, and with that she mended
the canoe so that it was water-
tight. They all hastily em-
barked, and in that old ca-
noe, which had been aban-
doned as being past
repair, they crossed a
water space eight or
nine miles broad.

They were in dan-
ger and in great terror

of meeting Indians at Black Point, but fortunately the
savages had just gone. Instead of hostile savages, they

122

found at Black Point a vessel bound for Piscataqua, on
which they made their final escape from the Yankee-
killer and his savage horde.

Anthony Brackett's brother-in-law writes patheti-
cally to his mother of the dreadful calamity :

*' Honoured Mother : After my Duty and my
wife's, presented to yourself, these may inform you of
our present health, of our present being when others of
our friends are by the barbarous Heathen cut off from
having a being in this World. The Lord of late hath
renewed his Witnesses against us and hath dealt very
bitterly with us, in that we are deprived of the Societie
of our nearest Friends, by the breaking in of the Adver-
sarie against us.

" On Friday last, in the Morning, your own son, with
your two sons-in-law, Anthony and Thomas Brackett,
with their whole Families were killed and taken by the
Indians, we know not how; 'tis certainly known by us
that Thomas is slain and his wife and children carried
away captive.

" And of Anthony and his Familie we have no Tid-
ings and therefore think that they might be captivated
the Niffht before, because of the Remoteness of their
Habitation from neighbourhood.

" Goodman Corbin and all his Familie, Goodman
Lewis and his wife, James Russ and all his Familie,
Goodman Durham, John Munjoy and Daniel Wakeley,
Benjamin Hadwell and all his Familie are lost. All
slain by Sun an Hour high in the Morning and after.

" Goodman Wallis his dwelling House, and none be-

123

sides his, is burnt. There are of men slain i i ; of
women and children 23 killed and taken. We that are
living are forced upon Mr. Andrews his Island to secure
our own and the Lives of our Families. We have but
little Promise and are so Few in Number that we are
not able to bury the Dead till more Strength come to us.
The Desire of the People to yourself is that you would
be pleased to speak to Mr. Munjoy and Deacon Phillips
that they would entreat the Governor that forthwith Aid
might be sent to us, either to fight the Enemie out of
our Borders, that our English corn may be inned in,
whereby we may comfortably live, or remove us out of
Danger that we may provide for ourselves elsewhere.
Having no more at Present but desiring your Prayers to
God for his Preservation of us in these Times of Danger
I rest,

** Your dutiful Son,

'' Thaddeus Clark.
''From Casco Bay, 14, 6, 76.
" Remember my love to my sister, etc."
Direction : " These for his honoured Mother, Mrs.
Elizabeth Harvy, living in Boston."

This band of Indians, under the leadership of Simon,
began the hideous and wanton cruelties which make the
details of the wars with the Indians in Maine too terri-
ble to relate. Simon, an Indian like Squando, super-
stitious, and with a vague sense of a peculiar mission
and peculiar powers, was utterly cruel and vindictive
when his passion of hatred was thoroughly aroused.

The taking of the Arrowsic garrison house, the news

T24

of which had helped the Brackett family to escape, was
accomplished by a part of Simon's band which had
separated from the others as a matter of strategy. It
was one of the strongest fortresses in Maine, and the
little settlement upon the beautiful Arrowsic Island was
remarkably prosperous. Captain Lake, one of the pro-
prietors, who was a rich man, had built a fine mansion
there, as well as a strong fortress, with storehouses and
mills.

. In the dead of the night a hundred Indians had landed
stealthily upon the southeastern point of the island,
made their lurking, catlike way through the woods, and
crept in at the fort gate. Once inside the portholes,
they, with fiendish yells, announced their mastery of the
fort.

The inmates, thus terribly surprised, made at first a
fierce resistance ; but seeing that the number of their
enemies made it utterly hopeless. Captain Lake and
Captain Davis, who were in charge of the fort, fled, with
a few others, by a rear exit, and attempted to escape in
a canoe to another island.

The Indians pursued and fired upon them, and Cap-
tain Lake was killed. Captain Davis, wounded and
crippled, was still able to land, and hid among the rocks,
remaining for several days in severe suffering. Then,
by the use of one arm, he succeeded in paddling to the
mainland.

The Indians burned all the buildings, with all provi-
sions and supplies, upon Arrowsic Island, and left the
pleasant little settlement a scene of utter desolation.
About a dozen persons were so fortunate as to escape,

125

while thirty-five were either killed or carried into cap-
tivity.

The terrified settlers in the region fled from their
homes to Monhegan, where it was easier to defend them-
selves than on the mainland. But clouds of smoke
continually ascending from New Harbor, Corbins Sound,
and Pemaquid, warned them that the savages were still
at their terrible work of slaughter, pillage, and destruc-
tion ; and in destitution and despair they crowded on
board a vessel, and sailed for Piscataqua and Salem.

On Munjoys (now Peaks) Island, about three miles
from " the main," there w^as an old stone house which
served as a garrison for many families of settlers fleeing
for their lives from their burning homes.

All along the coast, for sixty miles east of Casco Bay,
the ravages of the Indians extended. The sunshiny
peace and plenty of the summer had given w^ay to ter-
ror and death and destitution.

Again and again the settlers, with what seems an
astonishing lack of prudence, allowed themselves to be
surprised by the Indians under the leadership of the
wily Simon. Some of the fugitives escaped to a garri-
son house on Jewells Island, and were pursued by the
Indians, who were so elated that they no longer gave
themselves the trouble of any secrecy or ambush. They
landed on the island openly and with their dreadful war
whoops. Strange to say, there was no sentinel on the
watch, no guard whatever. The men had all gone fish-
ing, the women were washing at a brook, the children
were scattered about the shore.

The Indians immediately took possession of the

126

house, cutting off the retreat of the women and children,
and leaving the men no opportunity to return.

One small boy, left alone in the house, bravely fired
two guns and shot two Indians. The men, off in fishing
boats, heard the guns, and knew what was happening.
One man rowing rapidly to shore was seen by his little
son, who rushed to meet him. An Indian pursued the

child, and seized him just as

,,\*i

'■^^ '''^^{^ h^/ ' he reached the shore. The

father leveled his gun and
could have shot the In-
ji. "^ dian, but dared not lest
he should also kill his
child. He fled to
Richmans Island for
aid. The other men,
brave, although they
must have been
hopeless, cut their
way through the In-
dians and regained
the fortress. In this
desperate effort two
were killed, and five,
probably disabled by wounds, were made prisoners and
carried away by the victorious savages.

The Indians, who never exposed themselves to the
guns of the settlers in the open field, hurried across the
bay to Spurwink with their prisoners. A government
vessel came, soon after, and carried the remaining
Englishmen to a place of safety.

127

A band of Indians, led by Simon, crossed the Pis-
cataqua River to Portsmouth, burned a house, and
took a woman with a baby captive, and also a young
girl. There was an old woman in the family, but Simon
said she should not be harmed, because she had, years
before, shown kindness to his grandmother. He also
gave the infant into her care. Simon was one of the
'* praying Indians," and seems certainly to have known
the better way, if he did not follow it.

It is related that Simon once sat with an English
judge to decide upon a criminal case. Several women,
Simon's wife among the rest, had committed some
offense. Judge Almy thought that they should be
punished with eight or ten stripes each.

" No," said Simon; *' four or five are enough. Poor
Indians are ignorant. It is not Christian to punish as
severely those who are ignorant as those who have
knowledge." The judgment prevailed. But then Judge
Almy inquired : '' How many stripes shall your wife
receive? " Simon promptly replied : '* Double, because
she had knowledge to have done better."

Judge Almy, out of regard for Simon, remitted his
wife's punishment entirely. Simon seemed much dis-
turbed, but at the time he said nothing. Soon after,
however, he remonstrated very severely against the de-
cision of the judge, saying that his wife had had a chance
to learn better. " To what purpose," said he, " do we
preach a religion of justice if we do unrighteousness in
judgment? "

This event took place when Simon was an aged man,
and when, by the power of Christianity, his character

128 i

may have been greatly changed. Like so many of the I

wary old sagamores, Simon survived all the fierce and '

bloody wars in which he invariably " graced battle's
brunt," and died at a very great age, probably in hope
of happy hunting grounds hereafter.

1

i

XL THE STORY OF BARON CASTINE.

IN 1667, at about the time when the treaty of Breda
was ratified, and the region of the Penobscot passed
again into the hands of the French, the old fortified
peninsula, 'Biguyduce, where D'Aulneyhad reigned, had
another well-born Frenchman as its lord. Jean Vincent,
Baron de St. Castin, Casteins, or Castine, as the name
is variously written, but soon known to the province of
Maine as Baron Castine, appeared among the Tarratines,
or Penobscot Indians, soon obtained great influence over
them, and settled at 'Biguyduce, which is now known
by his name.

Born at Beam, at the foot of the Pyrenees, and pos-
sessed of both wealth and rank, he showed an early
taste for a soldier's life, and entered the French army.
When very young he served with distinction against
the Turks, and this obtained for him an appointment as
colonel in the king's bodyguards. From this office he
was transferred to the command of a noted regiment,
known as the Carrignau Salieres. He came to the New
World through the influence of the governor general
of New France, and, with his troops, was ordered to
Quebec.

At the close of the war the regiment was disbanded,
and, for some reason now unknown, the brave and am-

STO. OF MAINE — 9 129

I30

I !!

mm

^'p^'

bitious soldier was discharged from the king's service.
Whether this so greatly imbittered him as to have been,
alone, the cause of his subsequent singular course of
life, or whether there were other mysterious and more

secret reasons, will prob-
Al ably never be known.
\0/(v He remained in the

wilderness, and, as La
Hontan, the French
v^ ^ \ C-MP'-^<- ^y traveler and histo-
^^^<r^*Lm\ ^-^^ rian says, '* threw
himself upon the sav-
ages." For the first
years of his abode among
the savages, he lived
in such a manner as
to secure their es-
teem " to a higher
degree than words
can describe."
He did not live altogether as a
"^ ^;j^ savage among the savages. He built
himself a comfortable and commodious
house on the peninsula, suitable for a dwell-
ing and for trading purposes also, and he
entertained constantly the Jesuit mission-
''^h aries, as D'Aulney had done; for while. he
JiMUS'l was a more liberal Roman Catholic than his
^' predecessor, he was devout and very punc-
tilious in his religious observances. Few men in the his-
tory of our country have had a more romantic career.

131

He learned to speak with ease the Indian tongue of
the tribe he had joined, the Abenaques, who were said
to have come from broken tribes that had migrated from
Maine to Canada, He kept himself supphed with fire-
arms and ammunition, with steel traps and blankets, and
plenty of the tinsel and beads always especially desired
by the savages ; and, besides making them presents, he
opened a valuable trade with them in these articles, re-
ceiving furs and skins in return, always at his own
prices. " By degrees," says La Hontan, " he accumu-
lated a fortune, which any other person would have
appropriated to his own benefit by retiring with two
or three hundred thousand dollars in solid gold coin."

But Castine made no other use of his wealth than to
buy merchandise, which he presented as gifts to his
brother savages, who, returning from their hunting ex-
peditions, presented him with beaver skins of triple their
value. He taught the Indians the use of firearms and
some of the arts of war, which afterwards gave them a
great advantage over other tribes ; and this, together with
his Roman Catholic religious ceremonies, always deeply
impressive and attractive to the Indian temperament,
made them regard him almost as a god.

His finst wife was the daughter of Madockawando,
sagamore of the Tarratines, or Penobscot Indians. He
had many daughters ; they were all advantageously
married to Frenchmen, and each received an ample
dowry. He had one son, known as Castine the
Younger, whom we shall hear of later. The baron
seemed always thoroughly contented with his lot. His
wild life apparently suited his tastes, and he en-

132

joyed, while he never abused, his supremacy over the
Indians.

He conformed himself in all respects to the manners
and customs of the savages. He dressed himself and
his family after the Indian fashion, and they all spoke
the Indian tongue. But he was never able, even with
the help of the Jesuit missionaries, to convert any of
them to Christianity. The Indians' apparent devotion
to the church was nothing deeper than a childish and
superstitious fondness for its ceremonials. And yet the
devoted Jesuit priests bore all the hardships of exile,
and were never discouraged ; for they " considered the
baptism of a single dying child worth many times
more than the pain and the suffering of dwelling with
this people."

Baron Castine, having so great power over the Indian
tribes, and having accumulated so much wealth, was
highly regarded by the governors both of New England
and of Canada, and his favor was sought by all the colo-
nists. But he was not always left in peaceful posses-
sion of his beautiful peninsula of 'Biguyduce.

The Dutch, at war with the English, were making
desperate efforts to secure settlements in the New
World. Having just recovered the fort at New York,
they were seized with an ambition to possess them-
selves of some of the strongholds in the province of
IMaine, and they dispatched an expedition against Baron
Castine's 'Biguyduce.

Before the Dutch fleet reached the Penobscot, a treaty
of peace was signed between England and Holland, and
it was forced to turn back. But this attempt turned the

133

attention of Andros, governor of New England, to the
value of the French possessions in Maine, and he was
moved to make an attempt to seize the fortress of
'Biguyduce. He sailed in a well-equipped frigate under
command of Captain George, and landed in the harbor,
directly beneath the old fort and the dwelling of the
baron. As soon as he arrived he sent to Baron Cas-
tine, by a lieutenant, due notice that the governor
of New England was on board the warship, and ready
for an interview if the baron desired one.

But the baron was far too wary to risk being taken
prisoner in that way. He had already gathered together
his family and taken shelter with them in the deep
woods behind the fort, leaving his possessions at the
mercy of the unexpected visitors.

The Englishmen seized the household furniture, fire-
arms, ammunition, and coarse cloths, and put them on
board the frigate; but they in no wise injured the
baron's Roman Catholic altar, chapel service, pictures,
ornaments, or buildings.

Governor Andros had brought with him carpenters
and materials to repair the fortification and make it a
strong garrison. But it had been originally constructed
in greater part of stone and turf, and was so far crum-
bling to decay that he finally decided to abandon the
undertaking and the place. Stopping at Pemaquid on
his return, Governor Andros had a parley with the
Indians, in which he told them never to follow nor yet
fear the French.

To a Tarratine sachem he said : " Tell your friend
Castine that if he will render loyal obedience to the King

134

of England every article taken from him shall be re-
stored at this place," But the baron had no liking for
either English or French, and was determined to be
his own master. He wished, also, to be master of the
Indians, and they were always willing to be his loyal
subjects.

In the beginning of King William's War the great
chief Madockawando, whose daughter was Castine's
wife, was an advocate of peace, and engaged to negoti-
ate a treaty, in which Egremet of Machias, another great
chief, and the three Etechemin tribes would probably
have joined had not the movement been prevented by
Baron Castine. He also encouraged and fortified the
Indian fighters b}^ furnishing every one of them with a
roll of tobacco, a pound of powder, and two pounds of
lead. When the fatal assault was made upon Falmouth
and Fort Loyal (at Casco Neck), the attacking party,
consisting of Frenchmen from Quebec and Algonquin
and Sokokis Indians, was reenforced by an unknown
number of Indians from the eastward, under Castine and
Madockawando.

The whole were seen to pass over Casco Bay in a
great flotilla of canoes. These eastern (Penobscot) In-
dians had been trained bv Castine in the arts of war,
and under his command were a formidable body of
soldiers.

The French and Indians were successful at the first
onslaught. They rushed into the town of Falmouth,
and fell furiously upon all the fortifications except Fort
Loyal. All the people who could not escape into the
fort were killed.

135

After making a courageous defense through the day,
the volunteer soldiers and the townsmen found that
their ammunition was nearly exhausted, and having no
hope of recruits or supplies, they sought shelter, under
the cover of darkness, in the public garrison. The next
morning the attacking party, finding the village aban-
doned, plundered the houses and set them on fire, and
then stormed the garrison.

A gallant defense was made by the garrison ; the
attempt upon it failed, and much havoc was made in the
ranks of the enemy by the fort guns. Repulsed in open
warfare, the French and Indians made their way into a
deep ditch, or gully, where they were secure from shots,
and began to work toward the fort, for the purpose of
undermining its walls.

For four days and nights the}^ worked incessantly ;
they were then within a few feet of the fort, and they
demanded its surrender.

The brave defenders of the garrison were exhausted
by fatigue and anxiety. Their captain had received a
mortal wound. More than half their number were killed
or wounded. They were utterly despairing of relief or
reenforcement from without, and they began a parley
which resulted in terms of surrender.

By these terms it was agreed that all within the gar-
rison should receive kind treatment, and be permitted
to go into the nearest provincial town under the pro-
tection of a guard.

It was Baron Castine who raised his right hand and
swore by the everlasting God that these conditions should
be faithfully observed ; but it was Burneffe, the French

I ^6

commander, who was severely blamed by Frontenac,
the governor of Canada, for the breaking of the oaths.

In a most shocking manner
were the solemn promises dis-
regarded. When the gates
were opened, the seventy
prisoners,including women
and children, were re-
ceived with taunt and
insult. The French
allowed the savages
cruelly to murder the
women and children
and the wounded men.
The four or five men who
were unwounded the en-
emy took with them, on

a march of twenty-four days,

-'..^i'h^->U }yjl ^o Quebec.

In all the battles in which he engaged
Castine seems to have fully shared the
fierceness and brutality of the savages.
But his son, Castine the Younger, was
a man of noble character as well as
of unusual ability. In Queen Anne's
War he served among the French,
and was sent with dispatches to Gov-
ernor Vaudreuil in Canada.

This was after Port Royal had
fallen into the hands of the English ;
and Castine's companion was Major

137

Levengston, an officer of the English army. Their
mission was to inform Governor Vaudreuil that Acadia
" had been taken by the Enghsh ; that all its inhabit-
ants, except those within the pale of Port Royal,
were prisoners at discretion ; and that if the barbari-
ties practiced by the savages under his control were
not discontinued, reprisals would be made or retaliation
inflicted upon the French of Nova Scotia."

The messengers, young Castine and Major Leveng-
ston, set out with three Indian guides. They went first
to 'Biguyduce, where Castine spent a few days with his
family, and where Levengston was most hospitably re-
ceived. They then paddled up the Penobscot River in
their canoes to the island of Lett (now Oldtown), where
they found fifty canoes and twice as many Indians, be-
sides women and children.

They remained there several days, and during their
stay a prisoner, taken shortly before by the Indians at
Winter Harbor, had, in hunting with the Indian who had
him in charge, made his escape, carrying off both the
Indian's canoe and gun. The exasperated Indian had
vowed to kill the first white man whom he saw, and as
soon as he met Levengston he seized him by the
throat, and would have dispatched him with a single
stroke of his hatchet, had not Castine nobly thrust him-
self between them.

Castine's admixture of Indian blood not only increased
his influence over the savages, but gave him the physi-
cal hardihood and endurance necessary for the prolonged
exposures and perils of warfare in the wilderness. The
messengers were for forty-two days in the woods be-

138

fore they reached Quebec. The day after they set out
Levengston's canoe was upset, his gun and his supphes
were sunk, and one of the guides was drowned.

It was now December, and when the ice began to
form, the other canoe became leaky and unsafe. So
they were forced to leave it and make the remainder of
the journey by land.

They traveled by the compass, and the weather was
much of the time stormy or foggy. For nineteen con-
secutive days they did not see the sun. Their track
lay over mountains, through dreary swamps thick with
spruce and cedars, and for many days they waded knee-
deep in snow.

Six days before they could by any possibility reach a
human habitation, they had consumed all their provi-
sions, and were forced to subsist upon the leaves of wild
vegetables, the inner bark of trees, and the few dried
berries which they occasionally found. When at last
they reached Quebec, Castine was the only one not
wholly overcome by the hardships of the journey.

The mission was, after all, unsuccessful. They
brought back only a letter from Governor Vaudreuil,
in which he said :

" Never have the French, and seldom have the In-
dians, treated their English captives with inhumanity.
Nor are the French, in any event, accountable for the
behavior of the Indians. But a truce, and even a neu-
trality, if the English had desired it, might, long since,
have terminated the miseries of war. And should any
retaliatory measures be adopted by the English, they
will be amply revenged by the French."

139

Castine had performed his mission faithfully, al-
though his sympathies were, of course, entirely with
the French. But not for many years after that was
there to be any peace between the French and the
English claimants of American territory.

The younger Castine, who was a chief sagamore of
the Tarratine (Penobscot) Indians, held also a commis-
sion from the French king. He was the grandson of
Madockawando, the mighty Tarratine chief, and he
himself married an Indian wife, and had a son to
whom he gave the French name of Robardee or
Robardeau. He had also a daughter, whose son. Cap-
tain Sokes, was a noted chief of the Penobscots. The
younger Castine himself preferred to wear always the
Indian dress, although he sometimes appeared in the
elegant uniform of an officer of the French army.

He was a man of great magnanimity and of a high
sense of honor ; and the confidence reposed in him by
the English in making him the companion of Leveng-
ston through the wilderness was well placed. A man
of foresight and good sense, he perceived how these
wars wasted away the Indians, and he bade earliest
welcome to the songs of peace. " He thought his tribe
happy only when they enjoyed the dews and shades
of tranquillity."

In I 72 I he was "improperly seized" at 'Biguyduce
and carried to Boston, where he was detained for several
months. No reason wliatever is given or suggested for
this strange proceeding, but it seems probable that
Castine, who, like his father, strongly objected to inter-
ference, may have been moved by it to desert the colo-

140

nies ; for he went the next year to Beam, his father's old
home in the Pyrenees, claimed as his inheritance his
father's honors, fortune, and seignioral rights, and re-
turned no more.

Whether the role of a French nobleman suited him
better than that of an Indian chieftain, whether, in the
splendor and gayety of the French court, he ever longed
for the untrammeled life of the wilderness, for the wig-
wam fires and the dusky faces of his kindred, there are
no records left to tell us.

M'

XII. A MAINE SINDBAD.

ANY a Maine boy has had a story worth the
telhng-, even in those old days when privation
and struggle for existence were the common, almost the
universal, lot. Energy and unyielding grit were devel-
oped in the hard conditions of life, as well as in unself-
ish heroism and patriotism. There were many greater
heroes and patriots than William Phips ; but his were
such strange fortunes for a Yankee boy that we read
them as we read an ''Arabian Nights " tale ; and whether
we think him a reckless adventurer, or a planner and
performer of shrewd business enterprises, we may, at
least, always admire his tireless energy.

There were twenty-six children in the Phips family,
who lived in the little settlement of Woolwich, on the
Kennebec, and twenty-one of these were sons. Twenty-
one reclaimers of the wilderness, twenty-one defenders
against the Indians, — that was the way in which they
reckoned sons in those days. The elder Phips was a
gunsmith by trade. He had emigrated from Bristol,
England, while the colonies were yet very new, and
taken up his residence on their outskirts. William, who
was born on the 2d of February, 165 1, must have
thought, in his earliest years, that the universe was com-
posed of wilderness and wild Indians.

141

142

He was one of the youngest of the twenty-six, and
his father died when he was but a lad. The boy had no
opportunity even to learn to read, but, as soon as he

was old enough, was set to

,., — ^ tending sheep, and he

i'^'^'^-'- followed this unambi-

tious and unexciting

calling until he was eighteen.

But Woolwich was on the river,

and the forests contained much

fine timber, and so the settlers

;4vi^^'w^'^^\ ^ y itHitf' had early taken to shipbuilding
"^^ Mu i?vt'i|. ?*Miift The sheep-tender had a restlesj

.>'>mM

and roving spirit, and when he saw

the ships sail off to distant and unknown

shores his heart burned within him. No

one, however, would take him as a sailor; and so, as

the next best chance in life, he apprenticed himself to

a ship carpenter.

Apprenticeships were long and dreary in those days.
For four years young William Phips served his master,
and the only relief he found from the uncongenial and
monotonous labor was in an occasional coasting trip.
His serving time being over, his friends tried to induce
him to settle down in the ship-carpentering line at
home ; but the ancient divine Cotton Mather, who was
his friend, says that " visions of future greatness had
already visited him and tempted him to seek, in the
great, untried world, the fulfillment of his dreams."

Even in his sheep-tending days he was accustomed
to boast to his companions that he was ** born for better

143

things;" and his after career shows quite plainly that
he had the visionary mind, which is not apt to be a
fortunate characteristic, and which is seldom allied to
such force and energy as he possessed. This force and
energy would almost assuredly have brought him suc-
cess of some kind ; it was his adventurous spirit and his
visionary mind that determined the very unusual char-
acter of the success.

Finding that no good luck came in his way, he tried
to find it by going to Boston. This was in 1673, when
he was twenty-two years old. There he worked at his
trade of ship-carpentering for about a year, and in his
leisure time learned to read and write. And there he
married the widow of a merchant named Hull. She was
many years older than he, and she possessed a small
fortune. He used this pecuniary advantage to extend
his business, and made a contract to build a vessel for
some Boston merchants on Sheepscot River, near the
mouth of the Kennebec. He had launched the ship, and
was preparing to load it with lumber for the Boston
market, when an Indian attack on the Sheepscot settle-
ment forced him to change his plans. The settlers,
fleeing from their burning homes and the merciless
savages, took refuge on board Phips's new ship, which
lay in the river.

So, instead of carrying a cargo of lumber, lie imme-
diately sailed away with the unfortunate settlers, and
landed them, free of charge, in Boston. This failure of
his plan caused him financial difficulty; but his sanguine
temperament preserved him from despondency, and he
always prophesied loftiest greatness when his fortunes

144

were at their lowest ebb. When his wife's views of the
future were gloomy, he would confidently assure her that
he should " yet have the command of a king's ship, and
would buy her a fair brick house in the Green Lane of
North Boston."

He had credulity enough to mistake his own sanguine
expectations for mysterious presentiments. But he was
not wholly a dreamer of dreams and a seer of visions.
He never ceased to try with might and main to get
the king's ship and the fair brick house ; but for the
next ten years he seemed to come no nearer to success.
He built ships and made short trading trips, with only
sufficient success to keep him from want ; and if he was
engaged in any more ambitious schemes, they came to
nothing.

About 1684 there was a sudden, exciting opportunity
to acquire great wealth, which was stirring the imagina-
tions and arousing the greed of all the European nations.
Spain had received a great influx of wealth from her
colonies in the West Indies and South America, and it
had come in the tangible, intoxicating shape of coin and
bullion. Secret expeditions and open piracies were un-
dertaken to secure a share of Spain's wealth.

The British sailors were the most daring, and there
were many semipiratical expeditions from England, like
Drake's and Raleigh's. This was the time of Robert
Kidd's career, and it has even been asserted that Eng-
lish lords and earls were associated with that famous
pirate.

This Spanish wealth gave rise to a mania for hunting
for mines of gold and silver; it was the cause of the

145

settlement in Virginia, made by a division of the Plym-
outh Company, and we have read how a returned In-
dian captive cunningly misled the English by a fiction
of gold and copper mines.

Exaggerated reports were spread abroad of the treas-
ure which was transported in galleons from the West
Indies and South America to Spain, and every account
of a wreck aroused wild hopes of recovering the treas-
ure. This was the sort of thing to attract the man into
whom our visionary Maine boy had developed.

Somewhere about the Bahama Islands, a Spanish
vessel, laden with treasure, had been wrecked, and
Phips made a voyage in search of the wreck in his own
small vessel. He found the wre(5k, but the value of the
treasure recovered from it was not sufficient to pay the
expense of the voyage. Before he returned he had
heard of a vessel, far more heavily laden with gold, that
had been wrecked, more than half a century before, near
Porta de la Plata.

During all the fifty years the sunken treasure had
been a fireside and a fo'c's'le tale, but no resolute effort
had been made to find it. Phips had the spirit, but not
the funds, for the undertaking. So he set out for Lon-
don, to try to interest the English government in the
recovery of the treasure. That he should have suc-
ceeded has always been considered a marvel. A Yan-
kee sea captain, without influence, education, or prop-
erty, he was appointed, before the year was ended, to
the command of the Rose Algier, a ship equipped with
eighteen guns and ninety-five men, to search for the
sunken treasure. One version of the story is that Phips

STO. OF MAINE — lO

146

found access to the king himself, who loved a ship and
a sailor, and was himself of a romantic and adventurous
turn.

However this may have been, the Rose Algier and
her bold commander sailed away, unprovided with
proper implements to prosecute the search for the
treasure, and with no pilot who knew where the ship
went down.

The crew that he had shipped was a lawless one,
eager for Spanish treasure, but unused to the discipline
of a warship. The irksome restraints and the fruitless
searching for treasure in the depths of the ocean soon
wearied and discouraged the sailors. Phips was obliged
to contend with open* mutiny, and the demand that the
ship should be used for a piratical expedition against
small Spanish settlements and Spanish ships.

For a time his courage and determination held the
mutineers in check ; but at length the reckless sailors
came armed to the quarter-deck, and attempted to com-
pel him to adopt their plans of piracy.

Phips, unarmed, and taken by surprise, was yet able
to make prisoners of several of the leaders of the mutiny,
and to frighten the others into submission. Soon after-
wards the ship was found to need repairs, and Phips was
obliged to anchor at a small and uninhabited island. It
was necessary to make an encampment on shore for the
ship's stores, which had to be removed on account of
the repairs.

The ship was careened by the side of a great pro-
jecting rock, and a little bridge built to the shore. This
enabled the mutinous crew to retire to the woods and

147

form, in privacy, a new plan. They agreed to return
to the ship in the evening, overpower Phips and the
seven or eight men who were with him, and put them
ashore upon the barren island ; then the mutineers,
who were nearly a hundred in number, would take
possession of the ship, and use it for any piratical ex-
pedition they might choose.

Only a slight chance, or Providence, prevented the
success of the wicked scheme. The conspirators de-
cided that the carpenter, who was on board the vessel,
would be a necessary, and probably a willing, member
of their party. They invented a pretext to send for
him ; and when he came, and they found him somewhat
reluctant to join them, they threatened him with instant
death. He pretended to accede to their demands, but
when he returned to the ship for his tools, they sent two
or three men with him as a watch and guard. Once on
board, he feigned a sudden illness, and ran down to the
cabin for medicine.

There he found the captain, and hastily whispered to
him the danger. Phips's orders to him were to return
to the shore with his guard, and to pretend that he was
in full agreement with the mutineers. The rest was to
be left to Phips.

He called to him the faithful few who remained with
him upon the vessel, and gave them their orders. It
was now within two hours of the time when the muti-
neers would return from the woods to carry their das-
tardly plan into execution. They had carried several
guns on shore ; and from these Phips ordered the
charges to be taken. All the other ammunition, was

148

removed to the ship. Then the bridge was hurriedly
taken up, and the ship's loaded guns were trained to
command the approach to the encampment.

When the mutineers appeared from the woods, Phips
hailed them, and warned them that they would be fired
upon if they came near the stores. The bridge was then

laid again, and the faithful sailors began to remove the
stores to the vessel. The mutineers were told that if
they did not keep at a distance they would be abandoned
to perish upon the island — the fate they had planned for
the captain.

The mutineers had no ammunition, and therefore
could make no resistance ; and so all they could do was
to throw down their arms and profess their penitence
and their willingness to abandon their piratical scheme.
They were finally allowed to return to the vessel, but
they were deprived of their arms, and a strict watch was
kept over them.

149

Phips, feeling that it was not safe, with this crew, to
spend any more time groping in the ocean for the old
Porta de la Plata wreck, now sailed to Jamaica and dis-
charged most of his crew, shipping a small number of
such other seamen as were to be found. He felt that the
ill success of his venture was due to the fact that he had
no exact knowledge of the place where the Spanish ves-
sel was lost. He therefore sailed to Hispaniola, where
he found an old Spaniard who knew the precise locality
of the sunken treasure. It was a reef of rocks a few
ieagues to the north of Porta de la Plata. Phips imme-
diately returned to Porta de la Plata and searched about
the reef vainly for some time. Before he was ready to
abandon hope, the condition of his ship, leaky and not
half manned, obliged him to return to England.

The English admiralty appreciated his persevering
efforts and the skill with which he had managed the
mutinous crew, but it would not again fit out a national
vessel for his undertaking. It was generally considered
a visionary scheme. The story of sunken treasure near
the Porta de la Plata reef sounded like an old wives' tale.
But Phips persisted. When the government failed him,
he resorted to private individuals, and finally induced a
few English gentlemen, one of whom was the Duke of
Albemarle, to fit out a vessel and to give him the com-
mand. This company obtained of the king a patent,
giving it the exclusive right to all wrecks that might be
discovered, for a certain number of years.

This time there were proper implements for making
submarine researches, at least so far as they had been
invented in those days. Phips is said to have contrived

ISO

and made with his own hands some of the drags and
hooks.

When he reached Porta de la Plata, he built a stout
rowboat, using the adz himself, with his crew. Seizing
an opportunity when the sea was unusually calm, he sent
eight or ten men, with some Indian divers, to examine
the reef, while he remained on the ship. The water
was deep about the reef's precipitous walls, and very
clear, and the men hung over the boat's side, straining
their eyes to catch a glimpse of some fragment of the old
ship said to have lain there for more than half a century.

But there was no wreck to be seen. They sent the
Indian divers down at different places, all in vain. They
were about to leave the reef, when one of the sailors saw
a curious sea plant growing in a crevice of the rocks, and
sent one of the divers to get it. The diver found in the
same spot several old ship's guns. The other divers
went down at once, and one brought up a great ingot
of silver which proved to be worth £200 or iJ"300.
Excited and overjoyed, they placed a buoy over the
spot and returned to the ship.

Phips, prepared by sad experience for disappoint-
ment, was incredulous of their report until they showed
him the ingot. "Thanks be to God! " he cried. "We
are all made."

Every man on board at once set to work groping and
grappling for the sunken riches, and in a few days they
had drawn up treasure of the value of ;^300,ooo. They
had found, first, that part of the wrecked ship where the
bullion was stored ; afterwards they found bags of coin
which had been placed among the ship's ballast.

The bags had become crusted so thickly with a cal-
careous deposit that they had to be broken open with
irons. When they were burst open, out poured the
coins in a golden shower. There were precious stones,
also, of much value.

This great good fortune proved to be very ill fortune
to a friend of Phips, who had come in a small vessel to
his assistance. He was a sea captain of Providence,
Rhode Island, named Adderley, and he had by chance
been of some help to Phips in the former voyage. With
his small crew he managed to load his vessel, in a few
davs, with treasure to the value of several thousand
pounds. This sudden, unexpected wealth overthrew
the poor captain's reason, and he died insane a year or
so afterwards.

Before Phips had wholly explored the wreck, his pro-
visions became exhausted. But the men were so en-
chanted with their good fortune that they refused to
leave the spot until their hunger made the gold seem
valueless. On the last day of their search they brought
up about twenty heavy lumps of silver.

The Providence captain and his crew were obliged to
take an oath of secrecy, and to promise that they would
content themselves with what treasure they had already
found. But what with the poor captain's insanity and
the crew's imprudent boasting, the secret leaked out ; a
Bermudan ship visited the wreck, and when Phips went
back, every ounce of treasure had been carried away.
Phips suffered great anxiety in getting his vast treasure
to port ; but he finally landed it safe in England.

When the profits were divided and the seamen had

152

their promised gratuity, there remained as Phips's share
only about ;^i 6,000. King James expressed great sat-
isfaction with the results of the enterprise, and in recog-
nition of Phips's services he bestowed upon him the
honor of knighthood.

The Woolwich sheep-tender was now Sir William
Phips. He was requested to remain in England, with
the promise of an honorable and lucrative position in
the public service ; but his heart was drawn to his na-
tive New England. The Massachusetts colony, to which
Maine now belonged, was distressed. Her charter had
been taken away, and her governor. Sir Edmund An-
dros, was imperious and grasping.

Increase Mather, then president of Harvard College,
undertook a voyage to England to plead the cause of
the colony, and immediately found a champion for his
cause in the person of the new knight. Sir William Phips.
Sir William had reputation at court and was thought to
l^v,.,./|ll enjoy the king's personal favor; and such

advantage as was gained by Ma-
ther's mission is un-
doubtedly to be as-
cribed to Phips's
influence. But when
Phips applied direct-
ly for the restoration
of its former privi-
leges to tlie colony,
King James replied :
''Anything but that,
Sir William!"

I

Unable to succeed in this great object, Sir William
was determined to be of service to his country in some
way. He seems to have been really patriotic, and, no
doubt, also cherished a desire to enjoy his wealth and
honors at home, where he had been advised to stick to
sheep-tending and ship-carpentering.

When a lucrative position under the commissioners of
the navy was offered him, he applied for the office of
sheriff of New England instead. He received this, and
sailed in the summer of 1688 for New England. He
found, when he arrived in Boston, that his patent as
sheriff would not secure him the possession of the office,
Governor Andros and his party being determinedly op-
posed to him. But he built for his wife the fair brick
house in Green Lane, which he had promised her five
years before. The name of Green Lane was changed
to ''Charter Street," in compliment to Sir William. His
house stood at the corner of Charter and Salem streets.
It was later used as an asylum for boys, but was demol-
ished many years ago.

His wife had her fair brick house, and the Duke of
Albemarle sent her a present of a gold cup, whose
value is variously stated at from one to four thousand
dollars. We hear of her again in the dreadful witch-
craft times, when Sir William, after fighting bravely
through the Indian wars, had come to be captain
general and governor in chief of the province of
Massachusetts Bay, in New England. Then it was in-
timated that the governor's good lady was a witch ; for
when she was solicited for a favor in behalf of a woman
committed on accusation of witchcraft, and in prison for

154

trial at the next assizes, she granted and signed a warrant
for the woman's discharge.

When Sir Wilham became governor of Massachusetts,
his good fortune began to wane. He was continually
annoyed by the defects of his early education, although
his knowledge of human nature and his confidence in
his own powers concealed many imperfections. It is
said that his signature looked always like the awkward,
unformed hand of a child.

He was unpopular, and knowing the disesteem in
which he was held, he became peevish and irascible. On
more than one occasion he used his cane upon officers
who failed to agree with him. He often expressed a
wish to "go back to his broadax again." Complaints
against him were preferred to the king, who refused to
condemn him without a hearing, but ordered him to
come to England to defend himself.

His friend Cotton Mather declares that Sir William
was assured that he should be restored to his governor-
ship. B.ut the disaffection against him was so great that
this is improbable. It is certain that he remained in
England, and his scheming mind was soon filled with
new enterprises.

One was a plan to supply the English navy with tim-
ber from the great primeval forests of Maine. The
undertaking is said to have been feasible, and Phips was
thoroughly well fitted to carry it out. The other plan
was to go on another search for shipwrecked treasure,
and, indeed, the desire for this exciting sort of adven-
ture had never wholly left his eager mind.

A ship with the Spanish governor Bobadilla on board

155

had been wrecked somewhere near the West Indies.
Phips proposed to have the Duke of Albemarle's patent
renewed to himself, and to try his fortune again. But
in the midwinter of 1695 ^^^ took a cold which resulted
in a fever, and caused his death in the forty-fifth year
of his age. He was buried in the Church of St. Mary
Woolnoth.

XIII. MAJOR WALDRON AND THE INDIANS.

THE province of Maine had now (1678) been pur-
chased by Massachusetts, and, as the struggHng
settlers were still distressed by hostile Indians, the Gen-
eral Court of Massachusetts sent an army of a hundred
and thirty English and forty friendly Indians to their
relief. They came from Natick, and when they reached
Dover they were incorporated with Major Waldron's
troops. Major Waldron was a famous Indian-fighter,
and had the reputation of being " one of the most per-
fidious and unscrupulous cheats in his treatment of the
Indians." When they paid him what was due, he would
fail to cross out their accounts, and exact payment
again and again. In buying beaver skins by weight, he
insulted and exasperated the Indians by insisting that
his fist weighed just one pound.

When their opportunity for revenge came, it was not
likely that the savages would forget. But, in justice to
the major, it must be said that in the first infamous
treachery shown to the Indians in this campaign he was
not the leader.

He had sent a messenger to four hundred Indian

warriors, inviting them to come to Dover to confer, in

a friendly manner, upon a possible treaty of peace,

pledging his honor for their safety.

156

157

They came readily. Their own tribes were beginning
to dwindle ; the Massachusetts colony, growing strong,
would send more and more soldiers to the aid of the
Maine settlers. And they had always a lurking fear
that the white man, with his many inventions, was the
favorite child of the Great Spirit, and that, in spite of
Squando and Simon and the other Indian seers, it was
they, instead of the English, who were doomed to de-
struction.

Peace was what the wiser among them really desired.
But the burning and slaughtering of the Indians, and
their merciless torturing of their captives, had been very
recent, and were very fresh in the minds of the English,
and they would have fallen upon them with furious
slaughter if Major Waldron had not restrained them.
He had pledged his sacred word that they should come
and go in safety. The men made a dastardly plan, and
although Major Waldron held out against it for a while,
it is to be feared that his natural inclinations were with
them from the first. Certain it is that he finally yielded,
and one of the most infamous acts of treachery against
the Indians of which the white settlers were ever guilty
was perpetrated at this Dover conference. The Indians
were invited by the English to engage with them in a
sham battle. At a given signal there was to be a grand
discharge of all the guns. The Indians guilelessly dis-
charged their guns, while the English soldiers followed
their secret instructions to load their muskets with balls
and not to fire. Then they fell upon the helpless In-
dians, disarmed them all, and took them prisoners.

Some of the Indians who were known to have been

•58

always friendly to the whites were set at liberty ; but two
hundred of the too confiding' warriors were sent as

prisoners to Boston. There all
those convicted of taking
life were executed, and
the others were sent to
the West Indies or other
foreign countries and
sold as slaves. Many
colonists approved of
this deed, and the
government also sus-

'( tained and abetted

It.

.^•fe^, The day after their

'A sham-battle exploit,
V 3- ^ the troops under Ma-
'^'' ^'> jor Waldron em-
barked in a vessel for
Falmouth, and at
Casco, whence the
inhabitants had all
been driven by the Indians, they established a garrison.
Some of the settlers were emboldened by this protec-
tion to return to their homes, but the Indian attacks
and depredations still continued.

Seven men who ventured upon Munjoys Island, to
kill some sheep that had been left there, were slain
by the Indians, although they were armed and defended
themselves desperately.

In October the English returned to the Piscataqua,

159

leaving about sixty men in the garrison. They had
been gone but two days when a company of a hundred
and twenty Indians, under the leadership of Mugg, a
famous chief, made a furious attack upon the garrison.

Mugg had been very friendly with the EngHsh and
had lived some time among them. " He was the prime
minister of the Penobscot sachem, an active and a
shrewd leader, but who, by his intimacy with the Eng-
lish families, had worn oflf some of the ferocities of the
savage character."

Mugg called upon the inmates of the garrison to sur-
render, promising that they should be allowed to leave
the place unharmed, with all their goods. Captain
Henry Jocelyn, who commanded the fortress, unhesi-
tatingly left it to confer with Mugg, placing himself
completely in the power of the Indians. His confidence
in Mugg was not misplaced, for no treachery whatever
was practiced by the Indians. But a very curious thing
happened.

He returned unharmed to the fort, but only to find,
to his great astonishment, that all the inmates, except
those of his own household, had availed themselves of
the Indians' permission to depart with their goods.
They had hastily gathered together their household
effects and taken to the boats, and were already at a
good distance from shore.

Jocelyn, who had not accepted the offered terms,
finding himself thus abandoned and helpless, had no
alternative but surrender.

Mugg seems always to have dealt fairly in trade and
in war, but not always to have been able to control his

i6o

wily and treacherous allies. A naval expedition sent
to Richmans Island for the rescue of some settlers who
had taken refuge there, and for the removal of their
property, was attacked by an Indian force that greatly
outnumbered it. A part of the sailors were on board
ship, and others on shore. The Indians immediately
shot those on shore, or took them prisoners, and those
on the vessel's deck were assailed by so furious a fire
that they were forced to go below. Then the Indians
cut the cables, and a strong wind blew the vessel ashore.

The Indians shouted a threat to set the vessel on fire
and burn the sailors to death unless they surrendered.
Captain Fryer, the commander of the expedition, had
been seriously wounded, and lay bleeding and helpless
in the cabin. There were eleven in the vessel's hold,
who agreed to surrender, upon condition that they should
be allowed to ransom themselves within a given time
by the payment of a certain amount of goods.

The Indians accepted the terms, and released two
of the prisoners, that they might obtain the ransom.
They returned with the goods before the appointed time,
but the Indians with whom they had made the terms
had gone away. Other Indians had the remaining
prisoners in charge, and they killed one of those who
had returned with the ransom, took the goods, and re-
fused to release the prisoners.

The chieftain Mugg was very angry with the treach-
erous Indians. He was anxious for war to cease, and
ventured to Piscataqua as an emissary of peace from
Madockawando, his superior sagamore.

Mugg carried with him to Piscataqua Captain Fryer,

lOI

who was dying of his wounds, and restored him to his
friends. He promised that the other prisoners should
at once be set at hberty. Mugg was immediately given
a passage to Boston, where, in behalf of Madockawando
and another great chief, Cheberrind, he concluded a
treaty. The treaty did not please all the Indians, which
was not strange, for in it the English seem to have
claimed everything and granted nothing.

It was agreed that all hostilities should cease ; that
the English should receive full satisfaction for all dam-
ages they had suffered; that all prisoners and all ves-
sels and goods which had been seized by the Indians
should be restored ; that the Indians should purchase
ammunition only of agents appointed by the govern-
ment ; and that certain Indians accused of crime should
be surrendered for trial and punishment. In concluding
the treaty, Mugg said: " In attestation of my sincerity
and honor, I place myself a hostage in your hands till
the captives, vessels, and goods are restored ; and I lift
my hand to heaven in witness of my honest heart in
this treaty." Madockawando ratified this treaty, and
fifty or sixty captives were restored to their homes.

But the Canibas tribe, on the east bank of the Ken-
nebec, remained hostile, scorned the treaty, and refused
to release their captives. They were a powerful tribe,
and were regarded by the English as very shrewd and
sagacious. The site of their ancient village, opposite
the mouth of Sandv River, is still shown. It is a fertile
intervale, beautiful for situation. The ruins of their
Roman Catholic chapel long remained, and its bell,
weighing sixty-four pounds, was found in the ruins, and

SrO. OF MAl.XK II

l62

presented to Bowdoin College. To the Canibas tribe
went Mugg, to try to persuade them to accept the treaty
and release their captives. But he was not altogether
successful.

A pleasant story is told of one of Mugg's good deeds
just before he sailed on his mission to the Canibas. A
young man named Cobbet, the son of a clergyman of
Ipswich, was among the captives found at Penobscot.
He had been disabled by a musket wound, and, in that
condition, delivered over to one of the most brutal and
ferocious of the savages. Mugg, who had friendly re-
lations with many of the English, had met the young
man before, and, instantly recognizing him in the keep-
ing of his cruel master, called him by name.

** I have just seen your father in Boston," he said,
" and I promised him that his son should be restored to
him. You must be released, according to the treaty."
Madockawando and an English captain were stand-
ing by. The old chief knew that Cobbet's fiendish

master would not allow
him to go alive without
a ransom, and he
quickly turned to
the English captain,
and begged him to
give, as a ransom, a
gayly ornamented

y^-i

military coat which
he had at hand. The captain delivered up the coat
forthwith to the grimly satisfied savage, and young
Cobbet was sent in safety to his home.

i63

An expedition consisting of two vessels, with ninety
Englishmen and sixty friendly Natick Indians on board,
was sent by the General Court to Casco and the Ken-
nebec, to subdue the Indians in those parts, and to de-
liver the English captives detained in their hands. One
vessel was commanded by Major Waldron, and the other
by Major Frost. They made their first landing at Mare
Point, in Brunswick.

The Indians who met them as they stepped on shore
were led by Squando and Simon the Yankee-killer.
Simon denied all accusations of intended hostilities, and
declared that the Indians desired only peace, and had
sent Mugg to the English for that purpose. The next
day an unfortunate occurrence occasioned fresh diffi-
culties. A large fleet of canoes was discovered rapidly
drawing near to the vessels, and at the same time the
log house of a settler was seen to be in flames.

The English naturally supposed that the Indians had
begun, in their usual way, to burn, pillage, and butcher.
A company of armed men was immediately landed, and
commenced a fire upon the Indians. The Indians re-
taliated. When at length a flag of truce was raised,
the sagamores explained that the house took fire acci-
dentally. They also declared that they had meant to
return the captives, according to the treaty, but the
weather had been so cold and the snow so deep that
they had been unable to do so. The English, who could
not be said to have covered themselves with glory in
this enterprise, again set sail and crossed the wintry
seas to the western shore of the Kennebec, opposite
Arrowsic Island, where they landed.

164

There half the men were set to work building a gar
rison. With the remainder of his men, in the two ves-
sels, Major Waldron sailed to Pemaquid, where it had
been arranged that a council should take place. He
met there several sachems with Indians from various
tribes.

Major Waldron called upon these Indians to help the
Ensflish to subdue the Indians who still remained hos-
tile and refused to release their prisoners. One of the
old sagamores replied : *' Only a few of our young men,
whom we cannot restrain, wish to enter upon the war-
path. All the captives with us were intrusted to our
keeping by the Canibas tribe. For the support of each
one there are due to us twelve bearskins and some good
liquor.

The liquor was promptly forthcoming, and ransom
was offered, but as yet only three captives were
released.

As the council met again in the afternoon, Major Wal-
dron,who had previously suspected treachery, discovered
some weapons where the Indians had concealed them.
He seized a weapon and brandished it furiously, crying
out that they were perfidious wretches, who had meant
to rob and then kill them. This may or may not have
been true ; the savages were certainly often guilty of
treachery. At all events, a wild panic followed. The
Indians, unarmed, fled in dismay, and were pursued by
armed men from the vessels, who mercilesslv shot them
down.

Some of the Indians threw themselves into a canoe
and pushed off in it. The canoe was upset, and five

i65

were drowned, while the rest were captured in trying
to escape. Two chiefs and five other Indians were
shot dead. Megunnaway, an old chief, was shot, after
being dragged on board one of the vessels by Major
Frost and one of his men.

Majors Waldron and Frost returned to Arrowsic,
carrying with them much plunder in the shape of goods
and provisions taken from the Indians. One author-
ity says, somewhat ambiguously, that the provisions
** amounted to a thousand pounds of beef."

At Arrowsic they shot Indians and took an Indian
woman prisoner, sending her up to the Canibas, the
stubborn keepers of captives, to demand an exchange.

Leaving forty men in charge of their garrison on the
mainland, they returned to Boston, boasting that they
had not lost a single one of their number. But the dis-
astrous result of their expedition had been to exasperate
the Indians and inflame them to greater violence.

This exasperation of the Maine Indians was increased
when their ancient traditional enemies, the Mohawks,
were hired by the'English to help make war upon them.
They immediately planned to destroy all the important
points in Maine that they had not already laid waste.

They adopted their old method of shooting down
from ambush every white person within range. They
shot down and instantly killed, in this way, nine visitors
to the Arrowsic garrison. The holders of the fort were
terror-stricken, and abandoned the place, distributing
themselves about at stronger garrisons.

At York and Wells the savages shot down men at
work in the fields and standing in their cabin doors.

1 66

Women and children dared not venture out of their
houses, lest they should be carried away captive. The
men whom they took prisoners they put to death with
horrible tortures. The garrison at Black Point was a
strong one. For three days and nights the force under
Lieutenant Tappan fought bravely in its defense. The
great chieftain Mugg was here instantly killed. This
was a severe blow to the Indians, who were always seri-
ously affected by the death of their chiefs ; and Mugg
was one of those for whom they cherished a supersti-
tious reverence. It was perhaps in reprisal for the loss
that they renewed their fiendish tortures upon their cap-
tives. After the death of Mugg the Indians abandoned
their attack on the Black Point garrison. But the end
was not yet ; and there was soon to take place there
one of the fiercest and bloodiest battles of the long
warfare. Two months afterwards the Black Point gar-
rison was reenforced. A company consisting of ninety
white men and two hundred friendly Natick Indians
was sent there by the General Court.

The Indians had prepared an ambuscade, and the
white men allowed themselves to be entrapped. Cap-
tain Benjamin Swett and Lieutenant Richardson, the
officers in command, were brave but reckless men. The
Indians sent out a decoy which drew the ninety white
men from the fort; then they feigned a retreat, and the
English guilelessly pursued them until they were hedged
in by a swamp and a thicket, both filled with Indian
warriors. The hidden foe made a frightful onslaught.
Lieutenant Richardson was instantly killed ; and Cap-
tain Swett, wounded and fighting still, until exhausted

i67

by loss of blood, was cut to pieces by an Indian's toma-
hawk. Sixty of the men were killed.

On the [2th of August, 1678, the English commis-
sioners met Squando and the sagamores of the Kenne-
bec and the Androscoggin tribes, and sorne simple arti-
cles of peace were drawn up and agreed upon.

The hostilities were to cease. All captives on each
side were to be surrendered without ransom. Every
English family was to pay one peck of corn annually
as a quitrent for the land it had gained from the In-
dians ; and Major Phillips of Saco, who had very exten-
sive possessions, was to pay one bushel each year.

Peace was heartily welcome, for Maine's losses and
suffering in the war had been very great. Two hundred
and sixty had been killed or carried into captivity, and
the wounded were unnumbered. A hundred and fifty
captives were, after months of suffering, restored to
their friends.

So King Philip's War was over, in Maine as well as
in Massachusetts, and for ten years the Maine settlers
enjoyed comparative peace and security. But in 1688
difficulties between the French and the English aroused
the Indians, who allied themselves with the French, to
fresh hostilities. And they had not forgotten their
old grudge against Major Waldron. The French and
Indians had captured the strong fortress at Pemaquid,
and then seized Falmouth and Newcastle. At Saco
they were repulsed, but they surprised the settlement
at Dover, and killed the inhabitants ruthlessly.

A great company of them attacked Waldron's house,
frantic in their desire for revenge upon their old enemy.

i68

Waldron was now eighty years old, but still strong and
of undaunted courage. With his sword he defended
himself, and drove the Indians from room to room until,

at last, one struck
him down, from
behind, with his
hatchet. Then

they seized him,
and dragged him
into the living
room, setting him
upon a table in
his own armchair.
While he sat there,
they ordered a
supper prepared
for them, and ate
it, while they
jeered at him. When
they had finished, they
took off his clothes, and sub-
mitted him to dreadful torture.
They gashed his breast with knives,
and said mockingly, "So I cross out my account! "
They cut off joints of his fingers, saying, " Now will
your fist weigh a pound? "

When they had amused themselves sufficiently in this
way, they allowed him to fall upon his own sword, and
thus end his torments. It was said that Major Waldron
had, in his time, seized, and sent as slaves to Bermuda,
a hundred Indians.

XIV. LOVEWELL'S WAR.

THE story of Maine from 1675 to 1725 was only the
old one of constant war with the Indians. King
William's War, Queen Anne's, the French and Indian,
were only continuations of the dreadful bloody struggle.
And yet the undaunted settlers hailed every interval of
peace, like that which followed the treaty of Utrecht, in
I 7 13, and set to work with renewed courage to build up
the province. It was hoped that the Indians had been
subdued when, in one terrible battle, in which the de-
voted Jesuit missionary was killed, the whole powerful
tribe of Norridgewocks was blotted out.

The Indians had, indeed, been driven from their
fastnesses, but many desperate bands lurked about
the frontiers, ready for any opportunity of murder or
pillage.

A regiment of several hundred men was raised to
range the country in the region which was the favorite
hunting and fishing ground of the savages. But the
wily Indians, ever on the watch, were seldom caught.
They skulked in the forests as warily as the wild beasts,
and were almost as swift of foot as the deer. Massa-
chusetts, in which Maine was then included, had gone
to such desperate and, it must seem to us, brutal
lengths in her war upon the savages as to offer ** to

169

I/O

all volunteers who, without pay or rations, would em-
bark, at their own expense, in the search for scalps, a
bounty of £ioo for each one taken." A bounty of
;^I5 was offered for the scalp of every Indian boy of the
age of twelve years.

This was in 1725, almost a hundred years after the
settlement of Boston. In December of that year, Cap-
tain John Lovewell, who had, before that time, been a
doughty Indian-fighter, went on an expedition, with
thirty men, to Lake Winnepesaukee, in New Hampshire.
They killed and scalped one Indian, and captured an
Indian boy ; and for these deeds they received, in
Boston, the bounty promised by law.

Later in the winter, Captain Lovewell, this time with
forty men, came upon some Indian wigwams on the
shore of a small lake, since called Lovewells Pond, near
Salmon Falls. There were ten Indians there, just re-
turned from the hunt, and soundly sleeping around their
camp fires.

The English stole upon their sleeping victims silently,
and fired simultaneously upon them, instantly killing
nine and wounding the tenth. When the wounded
Indian attempted to escape, a powerful dog, which the
Englishmen had brought with them, pursued and held
him until he was dispatched with the settlers' hatchets.
Encouraged, apparently, by his scalps and his
^1,000, Lovewell set out again, in the middle of April,
in quest of more. He took with him forty-six volun-
teers, thoroughly armed ; but it is related that, from the
severity of the march and the hardships of the way,
three of the company gave out and returned home. A

171

chaplain accompanied the party. He was a young theo-
logical student, named Jonathan Frye, a recent gradu-
ate of Harvard College.

On the side of Great Ossipee Pond, in New Hamp-
shire, about ten miles beyond the western boundary of
Maine, they built a small fort, which was already needed
as a hospital, — eight of the men being too ill to go any
farther, — and also as a place of retreat if they should
be obliged to flee from the enemy.

The sick men were left here, with a surgeon and a
guard of three men, and the company again took up the
march. At Fryeburg, a distance of twenty-two miles
from their fort, they encamped for the night. They
were on the shore of Lovewells Pond, and only about
two miles from them was the Indian village of Peg-
wacket.

In the morning, while engaged in their devotions, —
for it was their invariable custom to have morning
prayers, — they were interrupted by the report of a
gun. Moving cautiously to the water's edge, they saw,
across the pond, a mile away, an Indian hunter, who
had fired at some game. He was valuable game indeed
to them ; fair game, too : by the law of the land his
scalp was worth five hundred dollars.

It is not pleasant to relate, but, just from their pray-
ers, the party set out to catch him. In a little pine
grove, free from underbrush, they threw off their packs,
and left tliem in a heap ; the tall pines were a landmark,
and they could easily find them again.

Keeping near to the shore of the pond, yet skulking,
in savage fashion, behind the trees, they came within

IJ2

shooting distance of the Indian. He was quite unaware
of their approach, and was sauntering along, looking for
birds, of which he had a few, already shot, in his hand.

The eager Englishmen fired upon him too hurriedly,
and every gun missed its aim. He sprang behind a tree
and took a survey of the enemy. Then he took de-
liberate aim and fired at the leader, Captain Lovewell,
inflicting a dangerous, but not a mortal, wound. Ensign
Wyman fired almost simultaneously, and the Indian
fell dead.

They scalped him, and supporting their wounded
leader as well as they could, they returned to the little
clearing where they had left their packs.

Meanwhile a band of Indian warriors, led by the
great chiefs Paugus and Wahwa, returning from an ex-
pedition down the Saco River, came, by chance, upon
the little pine grove and the packs. It w^as easy to see
that the owners meant to return for them. It was also
easy to tell the number of their owners by counting the
packs. It was not difficult for the keen eyes of the sav-
ages to discover the path upon which the Englishmen
had gone, and by which they would probably return.

Around the little clearing they ranged themselves in
ambush, and awaited their victims. The Englishmen
were marching easily along, probably well satisfied with
their morning expedition, when the Indians rushed upon
them from their ambush, with their terrible war whoops.
These Indians, having often visited the western settle-
ments of Maine, and been on friendly terms with Cap-
tain Eovewell and his men, were loath to kill their
former friends, and preferred to take them captive.

They might have shot every man from ambush, but, in-
stead, they came out and presented their guns. Then
the English, aroused to renewed courage, poured forth
a deadly fire from their guns, and killed two or three
Indians.

Instantlv the Indians, who outnumbered their ene-
mies two to one, sprang back into the natural ambus-
cade, and, completely surrounding the English, poured
upon them a slaughtering volley. Nine men, including
Captain Lovewell, fell dead, and two more were severely
wounded.

The survivors, including the two badly wounded men,
made their way to the pond, only a few rods awa}-.
Here there was a bank five feet high, and a sandy beach,
and no Indian ambush was possible. The bank was a
rampart to protect them from the Indians' bullets, and
from behind it, for eight hours, they fought with the
courage of despair.

They knew that they could not long hold out, but,
with their small number, flight was hopeless. They had
no provisions, and their packs, with their extra supply
of ammunition, had been seized by the Indians. Their
fate seemed certain, yet they fought on ; and in a brief
cessation of hostilities, while the Indians seemed to be
holding a council. Ensign Wyman stole stealthily into
the forest and shot and killed one of the chiefs.

Even after that, one of the chiefs came within hailing
distance of the rampart, and shouted: ** Will }ou have
quarter? " The English probably understood their foes
well enouo-h to know that, after thev had killed so
many of theni, especially after Ensign Wyman's shoot-

174

ing of the chief, there would be no quarter, but only
torture to the death for them. So they answered des-
perately : " We will have no quarter but at the muzzles
of our guns."

It was a strange contest, for, as it continued, both
sides concealed as far as possible from each other, the
deadly enemies often talked together, calling each other
by name, as if their relations were the most friendly.

John Chamberlain stepped down to the water to wash
his gun, which had become too foul to use, at the same
moment tliat Paugus, the Pegwacket chief, jumped over

the bank for the same
purpose. Both men
were of f^reat stature
and of heroic cour-
age, and both leaders
in the wars. Paugus
could speak English,
and the two men were
well acquainted, and
had been on friendly
terms. Paugus, in-
stantly loading his
'^^^^'k"^ gun, said quietly to
his former friend : " I
shall now very quick kill you! " "Perhaps not," re-
turned Chamberlain, whose gun, in charging, primed
itself. With his words came a flash, a report, and the
Indian chief fell dead.

The English were helpless and at the mercy of the
savages, for their ammunition was neariy exhausted.

175

And yet, at nightfall, the Indians withdrew. It is not
improbable that the Indians had expended all their
ammunition, of which they could obtain supplies only
by tedious journeys through the forests to Canada.
Forty of the Indians were killed outright, and eighteen
mortally wounded.

Of the English there were twenty-two survivors, and
of these two were mortally wounded and were left to
die alone. They could not be moved ; and to stay with
them meant almost inevitably death, by horrible torture,
at the hands of the Indians. Eight others were badly
wounded, and all were enfeebled and half famished.
They w^ere forced to leave the dead unburied and take
up their painful march, in the midnight darkness, desti-
tute of tents, of food, of any covering for the injured, or
any means of dressing their wounds.

Chaplain Frye, although mortally wounded, toiled
along for a mile or more, and then gave up the struggle
for life. " I cannot take another step," he said. " Here
I must die. Should you ever, through God's help, reach
your homes, tell my father that I expect in a few hours
to be in eternity, but that I do not fear to die."

Struggling on through the forest, the remnant of
Lovevvell's men divided themselves into three companies
in an effort to conceal their trail from the Indians, whose
war whoops they constantly expected to hear. It was
supposed that the savages had gone to Pegwacket for a
fresh supply of ammunition. If this was so, they prob-
ably failed to find it, for they gave up the pursuit, and
sixteen of Lovewell's men reached the fort, after a
journey of three or four days through the woods.

176

All through the sufferings of the journey the pros-
pect of the security and comforts of the fort had sus-
tained them ; but when they reached it, to their keenest
disappointment they found it abandoned. It was learned
afterwards that the feeble holders of the garrison had
fled for their lives, when one of Lovevvell's men, escap-
ing when the savages first rushed upon tliem in the
grove, had appeared at the fort with the frightful news.

To the great relief of the fugitives, some provisions
were found in the garrison, which the men in their hasty
flight had left behind them. When they had eaten and
rested as well as they could, expecting every moment
to hear the yells of the coming savages, they resumed
their painful march, and fourteen of them finally
reached their homes.

This Peewacket battle is said to have had such an
effect upon the Sokokis tribe that they were never
again the valiant warriors they had been before. They
wandered away from their " pleasant and ancient dwell-
ing places," and " the star of the tribe, pale and declin-
ing, gradually settled in darkness."

A poet of those days celebrated " Lovewell's Vic-
tory," as it was called, in a ballad whose quamt sim-
plicity shows curiously the primitive old times, when it
did not provoke a smile. We give a few of the many
verses :

THE BALLAD OF LOVEWELL'S VICTORY.

Anon there eighty Indians rose,

Who'd hid themselves in ambush dread;

Their knives they shook, their guns they aimed,
The famous Paugus at their head.

177

Good heavens! they dance the powwow dance.

What horrid yells the forest fill!
The grim be;ir crouches in his den,

The eagle seeks the distant hill.

"^ What means this dance, this powwow dance?"
Stern Wyman said. With wondrous art

He crept full near, his rifle aimed,

And shot the leader through the heart.

John Lovewell, captain of the band,

His sword he waved that glittered bright;

For the last time he cheered his men
And led them onward to the fight.

"Fight on, fight on ! " brave Lovewell snid ;

'' Fight on while Heaven shall give you breath ! "
An Indian ball then pierced him through.

And Lovewell closed his eyes in death.

'Twas Paugus led the Pequ'att tribe ;

As runs the fox would Paugus run,
As howls the wild wolf would he howl,

A large bearskin had Paugus on.

Ah ! many a wife shall rend her hair.

And many a child cry, " Woe is me,"
When messengers the news shall bear

Of Lovewell's dear-bought victory.

Lovewell was dead, and his little company killed or
scattered ; but the war that they had inaugurated con-
tinued for three years, until two hundred of the Maine
settlers had been killed or carried into captivity, and the
native tribes had dwindled away and lost all their brav-
est warriors. Oldtown, the old island of Lett, far up the

STO. OF MAINE 12

178

Penobscot, where the Indians had their strongest fort
and a pleasant Httle vihage dear to their hearts, had
been, in 1723, captured by the Enghsh and wholly de-
stroyed.

Colonel Thomas Westbrook, who commanded the
expedition against the Indian stronghold, made the
following official report of his proceedings. He first
describes the prosperous settlement and the fine build-
ings which the French and Indians had erected, and
continues: "We set fire to them all, and by sunrise
the next morning they were all in ashes. We then re-
turned to our nearest guard, thence to our tents. On
our arrival at our transports, we concluded we must
have ascended the river about thirty-two miles."

The Indians wandered back to their once beautiful
island and their desolated homes, but they had no
heart to try to rebuild. The grasp of the powerful
English was upon them, and the}^ understood, at last,
that no Indians could withstand it. They were half
famished, for they could scarcely obtain ammunition for
hunting ; and if they planted corn, even in remotest re-
gions, the determined English would find their trails
through the forest, and trample their harvests in the
dust.

A bitter belief in the surx'ival of the fittest was enter-
ing the Indian's always fatalistic mind. Squando had
foretold the destruction of the white man, but it had
become easy to see, now, that he was the favored child
of the Great Spirit. It was the Indian who was doomed.

Down iiie western banks of the river the despoiled
savages wandered from their beautiful Lett. They must

179

settle upon the shore, for they were forced to subsist
upon fish; yet there the Enghsh could easily swoop
down upon them with their ships and the great whale-
boats which they were constantly fitting out.

At Bangor, then the primitive forest, they rebuilt
their village. It was a delightful place. A high bank
sloped gently to the Penobscot, and the Kenduskeag
slipped peacefully down through the woods to the
greater river. There were probably French families
with them, as there had been at Lett, for some of the
houses had cellars and chimneys, which at that time no
Indian dwelling had ever had.

The Indians had always affiliated much more readily
with the French than with the English, and in this case
there was the bond of a common religious faith ; for the
Lett Indians were all Roman Catholic. In fact, it was
probably their natural adaptation to the Roman Catho-
lic faith that had first drawn them to the French.

''The French are our friends," they said. "They
advocate our rights, and become, as it were, one with us.
They sell us whatever we want, and never take away
our lands. They send the kind missionaries to teach us
how to worship the Great Spirit ; and, like brothers, they
give us good advice when we are in trouble. When we
trade with them w^e have good articles, full weight, and
free measure. They leave us our goodly rivers where
we catch fine salmon, and leave us unmolested to hunt
the bear, the moose, and the beaver where our fathers
have hunted them. We love our own country, where
our fathers were buried, and where we and our children
were born. We have our rights, as well as the English ;

i8o

we also know, as well as they, what is just and what is
unjust."

Besides the French houses in the new village on the
Penobscot, there were about fifty of the Indian huts
which had replaced their ancient wigwams, to the entire
loss of the picturesque, and a doubtful gain of the com-
fortable. They built a church also, the French and
Indians together, of which we hear only that it was
*' commodious," and that the cross on its roof made it
a sightly object from the river. Better, perhaps, for the
Indians if it had been less ** sightly," for their village
was soon discovered by their enemies. At the Rich-
mond garrison, a hundred miles to the south, the
settlers heard of this new village of the Indians, and
Captain Heath, the commander of the garrison, with a
company of men, marched across the country from the
Kennebec to destroy it.

It made no dilTerence to the valiant Captain Heath
that the thoroughly subdued and weakened Indians had
made proposals for a peace conference. The Indians
received warning, in some way, of the approach of the
enemy, and the whole population deserted the village
and fled to the forest. The attacking party found not
an Indian, but they burned every dwelling and the
church, and laid waste the newly planted cornfields.

The Indians made their way back to Lett, and rebuilt
their homes on the island that had belonged to their
fathers, — one of the few ancient Indian settlements in
America that remain in possession of the Indians to this
day. In spite of all Indian overtures for peace, the war
continued. The English seem to have adopted, almost

i8i

by common consent, a policy of extermination, and an
Indian was as much lawful game as a wild beast. Even
when a few chiefs with a flag of truce approached Fort
St. George, at Thomaston, to sue for peace, they were
fired upon by a detachment from the fort, and one of
them was killed.

Young Castine, of whom we have heard before, always
a friend of peace, and of great influence in maintaining
friendly relations between the Indians and the English,
was fired upon from an English sloop, while fishing in
a small sailboat of: Naskeag Point (now Sedgwick). He
had with him in his boat his young son, the grandson
of an Indian chief, and Samuel Trask, a Salem boy, taken
captive by the Indians, whom he had kindly ransomed.

They made for the land and took shelter there, when
the captain of the sloop raised the white flag, and called
to Castine that the shooting had been a mistake.

Incapable of suspecting such base treachery as this
proved to be, Castine, with the two boys, immediately
rowed out to the ship. As soon as they stepped on
board, young Trask was seized, and the captain said to
Castine: "Your bark and all it contains are a lawful
prize. You yourself are justly my prisoner. You may
think yourself well off to escape without further moles-
tation." One of the crew accompanied Castine and
his son to the shore, and there attempted to kidnap the
boy. Finding it impossible to rescue the boy otherwise,
Castine shot the rascal dead, and with his son fled to the
woods.

In spite of outrages like this, the Indians continued
to sue for peace.

l82

Two commissioners from Boston were met at Fort St.
George by thirteen Indian chiefs, who declared that
they came for peace, and wished to recall all their
young men from the war. Councils were appointed,
and one of them, at Boston, in which four great saga-
mores from the Eastern tribes participated, lasted for
more than a month.

The great grievance of the Indians was that their
hunting grounds, the lands which had belonged to their
fathers before them, had been seized. They had also
been defrauded of them by those who had given fire
water to the Indians, and when their wits were gone had
made them sign any contracts they chose. The deadly
fire water frenzied the Indians and made them utterly
reckless. Loron, one of the chiefs, wrote to Governor
Dummer : " Do not let the trading houses deal in rum.
It wastes the health of our young men. It makes them
behave badly, both to your people and to their own
brethren. This is the opinion of all our chief men. I
salute you, great governor, and am your good friend."

The Indians had no way to enforce their claims to
their lands, and were obliged to submit to any terms of
peace that the English chose to make. The Dummer
treaty was an unconditional surrender on the part of the
Indians. It was signed on the 1 5th of December, 1725,
and continued in force for many years. By its terms
the government of Massachusetts was authorized to
arrange all intercourse between the English and the
Indians. If any Indians refused to ratify the treaty, the
chiefs in council pledged their tribes to join the English
and force the off"enders to submit.

1 83

A fuller council was held at Falmouth, July 30, 1726.
Forty chiefs were there, representing nearly all the
Maine, Canada, and Nova Scotia tribes. They were
accompanied by a large number of Indians of their

'm.

% i

various tribes. The lieutenant governors of Massachu-
setts and New Hampshire, representing the English, were
attended by a brilliant retinue of soldiers. The Indians
carried themselves with great dignity, and the scene is
said to have been very impressive. Wenemonet, a great
sagamore, and twenty-six of his tribe signed the treaty.
At the close of the conference, a banquet was given
in the great tent erected for the council on Munjoys
Hill. The Indians are said to have immediately flocked
to the settlements when peace was established, as happy
as children, and apparently quite forgetful of the terri-
ble tragedies that had been enacted, and of their own
great losses.

i84

Lovewell's War was practically the end of Maine's
troubles with the Indians. The colony suffered some-
what during the French and Indian War, but the old
power of the savages was never regained ; and when,
in 1763, a treaty of peace was signed between France
and England, Maine entered upon a season of security
and prosperity.

i

XV. THE FIRST NAVAL BATTLE OF
THE REVOLUTION.

IN the days just before the Revokition, Machias was
a scattered settlement, extending for several miles
along the Machias River, and thence out upon its
branches, East, West, and Middle rivers. There were
already many mills, and the sixteen seven-acre lots of
the first mill-owaiers formed the nucleus of the village.

It was not a large settlement, but it was a very patri-
otic one. The battle of Lexington had been fought, and
its echoes had reached Machias and set the liberty-
loving blood of its townspeople all aflame. The wnse
and prudent town fathers felt not a little anxiety about
their exposed situation, with British New Brunswick
adjoining them on the one hand, an unbroken wilder-
ness on the other, and their seacoast w^holly exposed to
the bombardment of any enemy that might assail them.
But there was one resolve alike in the breasts of the
prudent fathers and the reckless, hurrahing youngsters:
the "Britishers" should never find Machias an easy
prey.

A liberty pole had been erected on the village green, and
thither the townspeople resorted to talk over the affairs
of their Httle borough, the fishing trade and the lumber
trade, the state of health and the state of religion, and

185

i86

now the much more exciting themes of taxes and
tyranny, and the possibiHty of throwing off the British
yoke. The boys resorted to the common, also, and
punctuated the patriotic speeches of their elders by ear-
splitting hurrahs whenever Deacon Libbee, said to have
been the austere guardian of the proprieties both in
"meeting" and out, raised his stout hickory cane as a
signal that such indulgence was in order.

On a sunshiny June morning, the June of that mem-
orable year, 1775, the Polly and the Unity, two sloops
well known in Machias, hove in sight upon the glitter-
ing blue of the bay. They were Ichabod Jones's vessels.
Ichabod was a trader, and had brought a stock of much-
needed goods and provisions of various kinds to Ma-
chias ; and he had also brought his family, who had
been sojourning in Boston.

An accustomed and a welcome sight were the Unity
and the Polly, but on that day they were convoyed by
a rakish little armed schooner, the Alargaretta. She
carried four light guns and fourteen swivels, and she was
commanded by a midshipman in the British navy named
Moore, who was a nephew of Admiral Graves, com-
mander in chief of British naval forces in Massachusetts
waters.

The town fathers looked one another in the face, and
their hearts thrilled with a vague apprehension.

When Ichabod Jones landed, he sought his nephew
Stephen, and, with a disturbed face, went off with him
to his house, a house which is standing to this day.
much altered and enlarged, at the lower end of Center
Street. Stephen Jones was a military man, but fie

I

187

became, after the colonies had attained to independence,
chief justice of the Court of Common Pleas. It was
soon made known that Ichabod Jones did not mean to
unload his cargo unless he could be assured that he
would be allowed peaceably to carry a cargo of lumber
to Boston. He asserted that he had been able to brine
them the stores only by making an agreement with the
British at Boston to return with the lumber; and here
was the armed British vessel on hand to see that the
agreement was carried out.

The Machias people needed the stores very much,
and Ichabod Jones was, after all, their townsman, and
it is uncertain what they might have decided to do if
the commander of the Margarctta, who is variously de-
icribed as " a youngster," " a stripling," and " a snip of
a boy," had not ordered the liberty pole to be taken
down, and tlireatened to fire upon the town if his order
was not obeyed.

A town meeting was held. The town fathers en-
deavored to face calmly the grave problem before them.
Benjamin Foster made the first speech, and although
it did not absolutely counsel defiance, it had a warlike
ring. Benjamin Foster was a man of substance, and a
leader in the affairs of church and state. He had, also,
the largest military experience that was represented in
the town, having fought in the ranks at the capture
of Louisburg, in 1745, and later, under General Aber-
crombie, in the French and Indian War. He had come
to Machias in 1765, established himself on East River,
and built a sawmill there. His brother, Worden Foster,
was already there, having come as the blacksmith of the

i88

settlers in 1763. Both brothers were men whose opin-
ion had weight, and when it was a question in which
military matters were involved, the whole town hung
upon Benjamin Foster's words. But when he had fin-
ished speaking, there was a dissenting voice.

It was David Gardner, an elderly and dignified
Quaker, who arose and spoke impressively. " Has thee
reflected, Benjamin Foster," he said, *' that the British
commander will assuredly fire upon the town if the pole
remains, and mayhap will kill the women and children ? "

There was a hush upon the little assembly as the men
weighed David Gardner's solemn words and faced the
dread alternative. They thought, doubtless, of their
small garrison house, and of the httle militia company,
organized in 1769, with Judge Jones as captain and
Benjamin Foster as lieutenant; the feeble defense, the
raw mihtia, would be unavailing against the enemy's
powerful guns.

**Then, David Gardner," said Benjamin Foster, slowly,
" will you help to cut the liberty pole down? "

The peaceable old Quaker blazed suddenly into wrath.
He used wicked and un-Quaker-like language, which it
would never do to set down here. He hoped some-
thing might happen to him if he would. He said that
Benjamin Foster " might do his own dirty work."

Then there was wild cheering, and as soon as it had
sufficiently subsided for any one to be heard, Sam Hill,
a tall lumberman, shook his sledge-hammer fist and de-
clared that he would inflict summary punishment upon
any one who attempted to cut down the liberty pole.

Captain Moore, the young of^cer in command of the

1 89

Margarctta, would have been glad to retract his threat,
but he feared that by doing so he should lose the respect
of his men.

Ichabod Jones, who still had hopes of selling his
goods and securing his lumber, persuaded the captain
to withhold hostilities until the larger and fuller town
meeting appointed for the 14th of June should have
taken place.

Meanwhile the little town looked about it for means
of defense and resistance. The leading townsmen met
together privately, by agreement, in the woods on the
west bank of the Machias River, about a mile below the
village. Bold were the counsels of veteran Benjamin
Foster. He proposed making prisoners of the officers
and men of the British ship and taking possession of the
Margaretta and of the still partly laden sloops of Icha-
bod Jones.

The more cautious argued that it was only by allowing
Ichabod Jones to load and depart, as they had voted,
that they could be assured of stores to keep them from
starvation hereafter. They were too small a force to give
themselves to reckless deeds. But the O'Briens took
sid^s with Benjamin Foster, and they were a power in the
towi\. Six stout and brawny fellows they were, sons of
Morris O'Brien, an Irishman born on the famous old
river Lee, near Cork. Colonel Jeremiah O'Brien was
the eldest of the brothers and the leader with Benjamin
Foster in this movement.

All the counsels of timidity or prudence were defeated
by the impetuous daring of Foster and O'Brien. A
dramatic little scene was enacted there, in the woodS;

190

when Benjamin Foster impulsively stepped across a
brook — as an ancient leader crossed the Rubicon — and
called upon every man who was in favor of the seizure

of the British cutter and the two sloops to follow him.
There was a determined rush of the bolder spirits to his
side at first ; then the others came, lingeringly, doubt-
fully, but at last every man had crossed the brook.

David Gardner kept away from this meeting, lest he
should be tempted wholly to forget his Quaker princi-
ples, but later he gave a private word of advice to Colo-
nel O'Brien. " Let me whisper a word in thine ear,
Friend Jeremiah," he said. " If thee intends to board
the Margarctta, thee must remember not to strike her
amidships, unless thee art minded to do her an injury;
for verily that schooner is weak in the waist, and the
Unity, with her solid bow, would be apt to crush her."

191

After the brook was crossed, the next thing was to
agree upon a plan of attack. The following day was
Sunday, the i ith of June. The English officers would
be at church, and it was proposed to seize them there.
Benjamin Foster was a devout man, but he had no ob-
jection to mingling this sort of fighting — for the defense
of sacred rights and liberties — with his praying.

The church was a rude building, twenty-five by forty
feet. The townsmen surrounded the church, hiding
their guns, and a part of them went in to the service as
usual. John O'Brien hid his gun under a board in the
church, and sat on the bench behind Captain Moore,
ready at a given signal to seize him.

Parson Lyman was probably acquainted with the plot.
He was a native of Nova Scotia, but an ardent Whig.
It is related that he read with great unction the hymn:

''O Lord, to my relief draw near,

For never was more pressing need;
For my deliv'rance, Lord, appear,
And add to that deliv'rance speed."

But Parson Lyman's colored servant, London Atus,
had not been taken into the confidence of the planners
of this attack, and this proved to be a disastrous over-
sight. For London, sitting humbly by the rear window,
caught sight of Foster's armed company crossing a foot-
bridge that connected two islands on the falls, and with
a great outcry jumped out of the window.

The British officers, of course, took alarm, and followed
Atus. Ichabod Jones, who was also to have been
taken prisoner, fled, and hid himself in the woods. The

192

British reached their vessel before the armed force had
reached the church, and Captain Moore at once weighed
anchor and sailed down the river. Foster and O'Brien
immediately planned to seize Ichabod Jones's sloops and
chase the Margaretta.

The Polly was unavailable, probably because still too
heavily laden, but the O'Briens took possession of the
Unity ^ and before Sunday night had mustered a volun-
teer crew of about forty men. Foster went to East
River and secured there a schooner and a volunteer crew.
The schooners from both villages proceeded down river
early the next morning, but, unfortunately, the East
River schooner got aground and lost her share in the
battle.

It seemed a forlorn hope that pursued the British
cutter in the Unity. Only half of the forty men had
muskets, and for these only three rounds of ammuni-
tion. The other men had armed themselves with axes
and pitchforks. And they were in pursuit of a vessel
armed with sixteen swivel guns and four four-pounders,
and with a full complement of disciplined men ! As they
sailed down the river, the Unity s little force organized
itself. Jeremiah O'Brien was captain, and Edmund
Stevens lieutenant.

Their little store of ammunition would be utterly
wasted in long shots ; their desperate plan was to bear
down upon the Margaretta and board her. Then the
contest would be decided upon her deck.

There was anxious looking for the East River schooner
and her brave commander, whose counsels had led to
this bold enterprise ; but they could not wait. It has

193

been said that for desperate courage no feat in all the
Revolutionary War, and scarcely in any war, can match
this of the handful of Machias settlers.

When the Unity reached the broad river below Ma-
chiasport village, the Margaretta came in sight. As
soon as they were within hailing distance Moore shouted,
" Keep off, or we fire ! " Stevens shouted defiance, and
O'Brien demanded surrender.

Instead of firing, Moore set all his sails, and with a
favoring breeze tried to escape. He has been accused
of being both hasty and cowardly in this action, and
certainly seems to have deserved one, at least, of the
charges. He stood out to sea, and the Unity followed
him closely. A shot was fired from the Margaretta^ and
one man on the Unity fell dead.

The Unity answered with all her strength in a volley
of shot. The two vessels came together, and John
O 'Brien leaped on board the Margaretta; then they
swung apart, and O'Brien was left on the enemy's deck
alone.

The English fired seven muskets at him without in-
juring him ; but wdien they charged upon him with their
bayonets, he jumped overboard and swam to his own
ship.

The next move was to try Yankee pitchforks against
British bayonets. Captain O'Brien ran the bowsprit of
the Unity through the mainsail of the Margaretta, and
twenty of his men, armed only with pitchforks, rushed
upon her deck.

It was their one desperate chance, for all their ammu-
nition was used up. One of the twenty men was killed,

STO. OF MAINE — 13

194

one mortally and another seriously wounded. Of the
Margaretta' s men five were killed or mortally wounded.
One of the first to fall was Captain Moore, shot
through by two musket balls. The Margaretta' s helms-
man was killed, and the cutter *' broached to" and was
run into. The others killed were Captain Robert
Avery, an impressed American skipper, and two ma-
rines.

It is uncertain how many were wounded. John
O'Brien reckoned the British list as ten killed and ten
wounded, but it is doubtful whether there were so
many. When Captain Moore was killed, the officer
next in command, a midshipman named Stillingfleet,
fled below for his life, and gave up the ship. If the
English had known that the Americans had exhausted
their ammunition, the issue might even then have been
different.

Great was the rejoicing at Machias when the Unity
came into port with her prize, although it was mingled
with sorrow for the slain. Among the heroes of the
day had been Richard Earle, the colored servant of
Colonel Jeremiah O'Brien, whose courage had been so
great in the most trying moments as to make atonement
for the costly stupidity of another of his race in the
morning.

A pleasant little story of girlish pluck is told in con-
nection with this story of the early Revolutionary heroes.
In making preparations for the proposed Sunday cap-
ture of the British officers, the Machias men had sent a
messenger to Chandlers Mills for powder and ball. The
men of that settlement had all gone to Machias, but two

195

girls, Hannah and Rebecca Weston, seventeen and nine-
teen years old, procured thirty or forty pounds of am-
munition, and brought it to Machias through the deep
woods, finding their way by means
of a line of blazed trees.

The sloop Unity was sup- ;

plied with bulwarks, and ; I

the armament of the
Margarctta was trans-
ferred to her. She
was renamed, very
appropriately, the
Mac Idas Liberty,
and commanded by
Colonel Jeremiah
O'Brien.

For three or four
weeks the Liberty
cruised off the
coast, trying to capture
the Diligence, an Eng-
lish coast-survey vessel.
At length the Diligence
came into the lower harbor,
and her officers and a part of her crew landed at Bucks
Harbor, to try to discover the fate of the j\Largarctta.

They were surprised and taken prisoners, and the
next day the Liberty, commanded by Colonel O'Brien,
and the Falmouth packet, commanded by Benjamin
Foster, captured, without resistance, the Diligence and
her armed tender.

■•^

.^^

196

Thus Machlas early did its share in the great strug-
gle for American independence, and on the 26th of
June the Provincial Congress passed a vote of thanks to
Colonel Jeremiah O'Brien and Benjamin Foster, and the
brave men under their command, for their heroic ser-
vices to the country, and placed at their disposal the
two sloops and the British schooner which they had
captured.

XVI. THE BURNING OF FALMOUTH.

NOT to Machlas only, but to all the settlements of
Maine, had the news of the battle of Lexington
come like a bugle call. The people of York heard of
it on the evening of the day when it was fought, and
the very next morning a company set out from that
town to march to Boston. It consisted of sixty men,
with arms, ammunition, and knapsacks full of provi-
sions. It was the first company organized in Maine for
the Revolutionary War.

Falmouth (now Portland) was the town next in order,
sending a strong company on the 2ist, two days after
the battle of Lexington. Biddeford came next, with a
full regiment under Colonel James Scammon, who had
seen military service and was a very able and popular
man. Within a few days thousands of men had left
their farms, forgetful of seedtime, and ready to sacrifice
their lives, if need be, to protect their country's liberty.

Falmouth was the most important town in Maine.
It was the shire town of Cumberland county, and a
customhouse was located there. There was a large party
of royalists in Falmouth — crown officers and their polit-
ical allies and friends ; but among the great majority of
the people there was an intensely patriotic feeling.

The Stamp Act of 1765 had been resented m Fal-

197

mouth by the burning of the odious stamps, which had
been brought by an EngHsh vessel and stored in the
customhouse.

In 1774, when the port of Boston was closed by the
British, the bell of Falmouth meetinghouse was muffled
and solemmly tolled from sunrise to sunset. When the
tax was imposed upon tea, a gathering of the townspeople
passed a resolution to buy no more tea until the act
that laid a duty upon it was repealed.

The meetings were usually held in Mrs. Greele's little
one-story tavern, which long remained an historic land-
mark. A society called the American Association had
been formed in the different settlements of Maine, whose
purpose was to interfere with the tyrannical monopoly
of trade and manufactures by the English. A Fal-
mouth royalist. Captain Samuel Coulson, a violent op-
poser of the patriots, had built a large vessel and sent
to England for materials, sails, rigging, and stores. The
patriotic Americans had resolved that no English goods,
with the oppressive duties demanded, should be received
on their shores.

So when, in May of the eventful year 1775, a vessel
arrived in Falmouth with Captain Coulson's goods, the
committee of the association met and decided that the
goods should forthwith be sent back to England. Cap-
tain Coulson determined to land his supplies. He ap-
plied for British aid, and a sloop of war, the Canseati,
commanded by Captain Mowatt, was sent to Falmouth to
his assistance. This Captain Mowatt, being a prudent
man, hesitated to arouse the wrath of the people by
resorting to violent measures. While he hesitated, the

199

people were not Idle. A company of fifty men, all skilled
in the use of arms, had been raised in Brunswick for the
purpose of seizing the Canseaii. The company came in
boats, under command of Colonel Samuel Thompson, a
man of reckless daring, and encamped, under cover of
night, in the woods on Munjoys Hill.

On the morning after the company's arrival, Captain
Mowatt, the surgeon of the Caiiseaii, and the Rev. Mr.
Wiswall, the Episcopal clergy-
man of Falmouth, were ^r^-^'
taking a walk to-
gether upon the hill. 'M-^^.isH^:^
The reckless Cap-
tain Thompson
seized Captain
Mowatt and the

-If %

surgeon.

and

held them pris-
oners. Then
there was wild
excitement and
dismay, for the
town was at the mercy
of the Caiisecui' s guns, and the second officer of the ship
threatened that if the prisoners were not released before
six o'clock he would open fire.

The excited townspeople were all in the streets;
women ran about weeping and praying; every country-
man's cart was piled high with household goods and
with women fleeing with their children.

A committee of prominent citizens demanded of Colo-

200

nel Thompson that he should save the town by freeing
the prisoners. But he declared that there was war
between America and Great Britain, and they were his
rightful prisoners. However, he at last made the con-
cession of releasing the captives, on parole, for the night,
they promising to return to the encampment at nine
o'clock the next morning. Two Falmouth townsmen
pledged themselves as sureties of the two prisoners.

They did not appear in the morning, and the two sure-
ties were arrested and held prisoners all day, without
food. When Thompson sent to the Canscan to inquire
why the parole had been broken, Mowatt returned an-
swer that his washerwoman had heard that he was to
be shot as soon as he appeared on shore.

Meanwhile, from all the little settlements around,
companies of militia were marching to the relief of Fal-
mouth. When they reached there, a court martial was
established to discover who were in sympathy w^ith the
enemy. The Rev. Mr. Wiswall was one of the sus-
pected, but declared, under oath, that he believed in re-
sistance to British aggressions, and was released. No
avowed royalists seem to have been discovered, for none
of those who were questioned were condemned.

The soldiers were riotous, broke into Captain Coul-
son's house, and made free with his wines. Then an in-
toxicated soldier fired at the war ship, and Uvo bullets
penetrated her hull. Only a musket w^as discharged
from the Caiiseau in return, and by that no one was hit.

Colonel Thompson still held the sureties. Colonel
Freeman and General Preble, and kept them on bread
and water. In the midst of the terror and confusion,

20I

Thursday, the iith of May, was observed as a day of
fasting and prayer. But besides fasting and praying
they succeeded, on that day, in capturing one of Mow-
att's boats. He threatened to burn the town unless
the boat were restored, but Thompson's men returned to
Brunswick the next day, and carried the boat with them.

On the following Monday Captain Movvatt sailed, in
the Canseaiiy for Portsmouth, with Captain Coulson and
his new vessel. But he left threats of direful venge-
ance behind him. On the 8th of June a British war
ship of sixteen guns, the Senegal, anchored in Falmouth
harbor. Four days afterwards the Senegal's errand
became evident, for Captain Coulson came in his new
ship and anchored beside her, hoping that by the aid of
her threatening guns he would be able to secure the
masts for his ship.

But the Provincial Congress had, by this time, passed
a law to prevent Tories from taking their property out
of the country, and Coulson was not allowed to take his
masts. He departed again, under convoy of the SeJte-
gal, and quiet reigned until the i6th of October.

That was a day memorable in the annals of the little
provincial town. Early in the morning five vessels ap-
peared in the harbor. The Canseau was the leader;
behind her came the Cat, a large war ship, with a bomb
sloop and two armed schooners. A strong head wind
served to keep them off all that day, but on the next
they were all anchored in the harbor, their formidable
broadsides bearing upon the defenseless little town.
An officer from the fleet, bearing a letter, under a fla
of truce, landed at the foot of what was then King Street

cr

202

The whole town turned out and followed him quietly,
but in great excitement and suspense, to the town
house, where he deliv^ered the letter. The British cap-
tain's epistle was ridiculously ungrammatical and ill
spelled, but its dreadful meaning was clear: " You have
long experienced Britain's forbearance in withholding
the rod of correction. You have been guilty of the
most unpardonable rebellion. I am ordered to execute
just punishment on the town of Falmouth. I give you
two hours in which you can remove the sick and the
infirm. I shall then open fire and lay the town in ashes."
A stupefying dismay overcame the people for a few
moments. They felt that the calamity was too terrible
to be real. Then they began to realize that there was
not a moment to lose.

A committee of three was appointed to visit Mowatt
and discover whether, by any possible means, the ca-
lamity could be averted. The three men chosen were
Episcopalians and supposed friends of the English.
But Mowatt was not to be moved. He had already
risked the loss of his commission, he declared, by his
humanity in giving them warning. His simple and ex-
plicit orders were to anchor opposite the town with all
possible expedition, and then burn, sink, and destroy.
The order, doubtless, proceeded from Admiral Graves,
who then commanded the port of Boston.

The committee endeavored to make Mowatt realize
the extreme cruelty of his order. The sick and dying,
the feeble women and children, would be shelterless, in
the fields and woods, in the chilling autumn night. The
Tory families, who had adhered persistently to the

203

British government, would suffer with the rest. Per-
sonal feeling should enter into the captain's considera-
tion for them, for they were his friends and had shown
him much hospitality.

Mowatt showed some shame in view of the brutal
deed which he was called upon to commit, and he at
length consented to delay the bombardment until nine
o'clock the next morning, provided that the people
would reduce themselves to an absolutely defenseless
condition by surrendering to him all the cannon and
small arms and ammunition in the place. If eight
small arms were sent to him before eight o'clock that
evening, he would understand that his terms were
accepted, and he would postpone the burning of the
town until he had time to receive further instructions
from Admiral Graves.

The committee told him that the people would prob-
ably refuse to accept the humiliating terms; but there
was nothing to be done but to return to the town and
communicate them to the anxious assemblage in the
town house. A chorus of determined noes was the
answer of the patriots. But, for the sake of gaining
time, they sent the eight small arms to Captain Mowatt,
with a message that they would summon a town meet-
ing early in the morning and give him their final answer
before eight o'clock.

But at the town meeting the first decision was hero-
ically confirmed. At eight o'clock the next morning
the same committee of three carried the message to
Mowatt that the arms would not be surrendered.

At nine o'clock the signal of England's ruthless venge-

204

ance was run up to the masthead of all the vessels of
the fleet, and the terrific bombardment began. All day
long, until six in the evening, the dreadful storm of
bombs, cannon balls, shells, bullets, and grapeshot fell
upon the town, and one hundred men were landed in
boats to fire any buildings that might escape the shot
and shell.

Falmouth was then already a fine town. It had four
hundred dwelling houses, some of them expensive and
handsome, churches, a library, and several fine public
buildings. Most of the buildings were of wood, and the
town was soon a roaring sea of flame. Two hundred
and seventy-eight homes were in ashes, and the whole
number of buildings destroyed was four hundred and
fourteen. Many hundred persons were reduced to the
most extreme distress.

The losses amounted to an enormous sum of money
for the time and place. In the desolated town the
General Court soon after began to erect a small garrison
with a battery of six cannon, and sent four hundred
soldiers to help to protect the Maine coast.

Falmouth recovered itself very slowly, at first, from
the terrible blow, but after prosperity came with peace,
the gain of the town, in its beautiful and healthful loca-
tion, was very rapid. In i 786 it was divided, and the
peninsula and several of the islands in the harbor were
incorporated into a town, to which was given the name
of Portland.

XVII. A HAIRBREADTH ESCAPE.

GENERAL PELEGWADSWORTH,whowas born
in Duxbury, Massachusetts, and was graduated
from Harvard College in the class of i 769, raised a com-
pany of minutemen immediately after the battle of Lex-
ington, and was the second officer of the expedition sent
against 'Biguyduce, the old fortress that had so much to
do with the fortunes of Maine from the beginning.

A strong fort had been built there by the British,
that they might command the entire valley. Mowatt,
the ruthless destroyer of Falmouth, had been assigned
to the 'Biguyduce station, with a fleet of three war
ships. The General Court of Massachusetts sent an
expedition, consisting of nineteen armed vessels and
twenty-four transports, to capture the fort. The fleet
carried three hundred and forty-four guns and an abun-
dance of all needful munitions of war. But the enter-
prise proved a total failure, owing, it was thought, to
the lack of skill of its commander.

The land force, under the command of Generals Lovell
and Wadsworth, was managed very ably, but there was
no adequate support from the fleet. The garrison had
an opportunity to send to Halifax for aid, and a formi-
dable fleet of British vessels entered the harbor on the
14th of August, and practically annihilated the Ameri-

205

206

can fleet. It was a most humiliating defeat, and the
commander was pronounced incapacitated from ever
after holding a commission in the service of the state ;
but Generals Lovell and Wadsworth were relieved from
any share of blame.

The vessels of the American fleet having been all cap-
tured or burned, the marines were forced to retreat
through the wilderness to the Kennebec, suffering great
hardships on the way. The General Court sent three
hundred soldiers to the protection of Falmouth, two
hundred to Camden, and a hundred to Machias. The
command of this eastern division was assigned to Gen-
eral Wadsworth, whose headquarters were at Thom-
aston.

The general lived in a secluded place, on the banks of
a little stream, in Thomaston. Six soldiers guarded
the family, which consisted of General Wadsworth, his
wife, a son of five, a baby daughter, and a Miss Fenno,
a friend of Mrs. Wadsworth.

It became known to the English at 'Biguyduce that
the general was but feebly defended, and Lieutenant
Stockton was sent, with a party of twenty-five men, to
capture him. It was in the dead of winter and bitterly
cold.

The English soldiers reached General Wadsworth's
house at midnight. When the sentinel rushed into
the house to give the alarm, the soldiers discharged a
volley of bullets through the open door. They sur-
rounded the house, smashed the windows, and battered
down the doors, and fired into the sleeping rooms of
the family.

207

General Wadsworth, armed with a brace of pistols and
a flintlock musket, fought bravely and fiercely. But
defense was hopeless against so many. Driven to close
quarters, the general defended
himself with a bayonet until
he was shot through the
arm rendered helpless,
and obliged to sur-
render. A brutal sol-
dier would have shot
him down if an officer
had not pushed aside
the gun.

So fierce had been the
contest that nearly all the
guard were wounded, as
well as the general, one
being in such torture
from a wound that he
begged to be shot.
Fortunately, not one
of the women or chil-
dren was struck by
the hailstorm of bullets.
The genera] had sprung
from his bed, and had no
time to dress himself. After his surrender one of the
English officers went into his room with a lighted candle
and helped him to dress. His wound was so painful that
he was unable to wear his coat, and a blanket was thrown
over him to protect him from the extreme cold. His wife

208

was not allowed to examine o^ dress tne wound, but a
handkerchief was bound about it tostay the flow of blood.

The house was on fire, and the general, as he was
hurried away, had to endure not only the pain of his
wound, but the greatest anxiety for the fate of his family.
His little son was missing, but was afterwards discovered
to have buried himself in the bedclothes, where he was
quite safe from the flying bullets.

Two of the wounded British soldiers were placed upon
General Wadsworth's horse, while he, although weak
from loss of blood, was forced to walk. After strug-
gling along for a mile, his strength failed him utterly,
and they left one of the wounded soldiers, who was ap-
parently dying, at a house by the way, and placed the
general upon the horse, behind the other soldier. When
they reached the shore ofT which the vessel, an English
privateer, lay at anchor, the captain cried out to the
general furiously : " You accursed rebel, go and help
them launch the boat, or I will run you through with
my sword ! "

General Wadsworth answered with dignity : " I
am a prisoner, wounded and helpless. You may treat
me as you please." But Lieutenant Stockton was
less of a brute than this. He promptly silenced the
fellow, assuring him that his conduct should be reported
to his superiors. " The prisoner is a gentleman," he
said. *' He has made a brave defense. He is entitled
to be treated honorably."

Upon the vessel General Wadsworth was given a
berth and made as comfortable as was possible under
the circumstances.

209

The vessel reached 'Biguyduce the next day, and the
prisoners were greeted upon the shore by a throng of
British officers, sailors, and soldiers, with shouts of rage
and scorn. They had to be protected by a guard from
the violence of the British mob, as thev were marched
half a mile to the fort. But once there, General Wads-
worth was very kindly treated, having his wounds
dressed by a surgeon.

General Campbell, commander of the fort, expressed
great admiration of the defense that General Wadsworth
had made against such heavy odds, and assured him
that the captain of the privateer who had insulted him
should m.ake him a suitable apology. He dined at the
commandant's table, was given a comfortable room, and
was supplied with books and writing materials.

There w^as an encampment of American soldiers at
Camden, and Lieutenant Stockton sent for him to that
station, only four miles from the place where he had
been taken prisoner, a letter to his wife, and another,
under a flag of truce, to the governor of Massachusetts.
Within two wrecks he learned that his family was safe.

It was five weeks before he was able to move. He
asked permission to leave the fort on his parole, but
this, although a customary privilege, was denied him.
After he had been a prisoner for two months his wife
and Miss Fenno were allowed to visit him.

He discovered, about that time, that he was to be sent
to England to be tried as a rebel. Such was the bru-
tality \\\\\\ which the British were now treating their
American prisoners that being sent to England meant,
almost certainl}^ being sent to the gallows.

STO. OF MAIX.E — I 4

2IO

His companion on this unhappy journey was to be
Major Benjamin Burton, who had been recently cap-
tured, and was imprisoned in the same room with General
Wadsworth. Major Burton was a brave man, and by
his courage had especially aroused the animosity of the
British officers. To him, as well as to General Wads-
worth, transportation to England would mean consign-
ment to the gallows.

In this desperate situation they formed a desperate
plan of escape. They were in a grated room within
the fort, and guards were stationed at their door. The
walls of the fort, twenty feet high, were surrounded by
a ditch. Sentinels were posted upon the walls and out-
side the gates of the fort. Beyond the ditch were more
guards, who patrolled through the night. The fort was
built upon a peninsula, and a picket guard was placed
at the isthmus, the only point where escape to the main-
land was possible.

General Wadsworth was familiar with everything in
and around 'Biguyduce, and he knew the odds they
would have to encounter; but feeling their situation to
be hopeless unless they could escape, the prisoners took
their one desperate chance to do so.

Their room had a pine-board ceiling, and in some
way they had become possessed of a penknife and a
gimlet. Working with these early and late, whenever
it was possible to do so and avoid detection, in three
weeks they had cut out a panel in the ceiling large
enough for a man to crawl through. To conceal each
cut as it was made, they covered it with a paste made
of bread moistened in their mouths. When the aper-

211

ture was large enough they were forced to wait, in
sore suspense, for a night of favoring darkness and rain.

On the 1 8th of June the night came. The storm
began with thunder and Hghtning.
At midnio^ht there was a furious \
o^ale, with floods of rain, and even \ Vvti
the sentinels sought shelter. The
prisoners removed the panel
which they had cut out, and then
lifted themselves up through
the aperture into an entry-
way above. They groped
theirwayalongin utter dark-
ness, and before long, unfor-
tunately, became separated.

Wadsworth at length reached
the top of the wall, having made ^i
his way, providentially, into a path ^Si^mf'

used by the soldiers. Fastening the
blanket which he had brought with
him to a picket, he lowered himself
until he could safely drop into the
ditch. In the howling wind and
beating rain he crept cautiously
along between the sentry boxes,
and reached in safety the open field.
On the shore of the back cove
was an abandoned guardhouse, where th
two friends had agreed to meet if they
should become separated. General Wads
worth made his way in the darkness, over rocks

212

and through a little wilderness of brush heaps and
stumps, until he reached the guardhouse.

Here he waited for half an hour, hoping in vain that
Major Burton would join him. He was finally forced
to the conclusion that his friend was lost, and sadly
went on to try to save himself.

It was low tide, and he was able to wade across the
cove, a mile in width, though the water was above his
waist. He found a road which he had himself caused
to be cut for the carrying of cannon when stationed at
'Biguyduce, and struggled on until, at sunrise, he was
about eight miles beyond the fort.

The sun rose clear above the wrecks of the storm, and
the most gladsome sight that it showed to the general
was the friend whom he had given up for lost follow-
ing close upon his footsteps. It is easy to imagine how
joyful must have been the meeting. But there was no
time to be lost, for the enemy was doubtless by this
time in hot pursuit.

They fortunately found a boat upon the shore, and
in it they crossed the river, landing on the western
bank just below Orphan Island. They had but just
landed when they caught sight of a boat of the enemy,
evidently in pursuit.

With a small pocket compass as a guide, they made
their way southwesterly through the woods, and, after
three days of severe struggle, reached an American
settlement, where they obtained horses and easily fin-
ished their journey to Thomaston.

' General Wadsworth removed to Portland at the close
of the war, and built the first brick house in the town.

213

He was the maternal grandfather of Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow, and in this brick house the poet passed his
youthful days. General Wadsworth was the first rep-
resentative to Congress from the Cumberland district.
He died, in 1829, at the age of eighty-one.

XVIII. THE BRITISH AGAIN IN MAINE.

THIRTY years had passed since the close of the
Revolutionary War, and Maine had enjoyed her
long-foLight-for and hard-won peace and been greatly
increased and prospered. But she had to have her share
in the crisis of a difficulty with England which had
lasted long and become unendurable.

Forced to acknowledge the independence of the colo-
nies, Britannia still claimed to rule the wave, and con-
stantly inflicted outrages upon our commerce and im-
pressed our seamen for her navy.

Aroused by more and more flagrant offenses of this
kind, the American Congress, on the i8th of June, 1812,
passed an act declaring that war existed between the
United States and England. To meet the expenses of
the war, a tax of $74,220 was levied upon Maine, and it
is said that more soldiers were enlisted in the district
of Maine, according to its population, than in any
state of the Union. There were over twenty thousand
men, all in marching order, ready to do Maine's share
in another struggle for liberty.

A British brig carrying eighteen guns and a crew of
a hundred and four men had been, for a long time, the
scourge of our coasts. No gallant merchant ship, no
modest coaster, was safe from the depredations of the

214

215

Boxer. Captain Blythe, who commanded her, was a
daring young EngHshman, only twenty-nine years old.
There lay at anchor in Portland harbor the American
brig Enterprise, commanded by Captain Burrows, who
was only twenty-eight.

The Boxer cruised off Portland harbor for the pur-
pose of drawing the Enterprise into an encounter. It
was a fierce and bloody fight which took place between
the two vessels on the 5 th of September, 18 14, at
three o'clock in the afternoon.

They were very near together and poured a deadly fire
into each other. Within half an hour both young cap-
tains lay dead upon the bloody decks and the Boxer
had struck her colors. Her defeat was utter, for she had
lost, besides her captain, nearly half her crew. On the
Enterprise but two were killed and twelve wounded.
The Enterprise returned victorious to Portland the next
day, bringing the Boxer as her prize.

The public rejoicing was great, although it was
mingled with sorrow over the death of the brave young
Burrows. The officers were buried side by side with
military honors.

The whole Atlantic coast was declared by the British
in a state of blockade, and was infested by the enemy's
cruisers. Any American vessel upon the seas was liable
to be stopped by threatening guns from a British war
ship, and an officer would board her and select from her
crew any American seamen, and drag them on board the
British man-of-war. If resistance were attempted, the
British officers did not scruple to use club and sword
* to compel submission. Even our armed vessels were

2l6

searched, and were fired upon if they resisted. More than
six thousand men were taken from American vessels
and forced to man British guns.

The British claimed that Moose Island, upon which
the fortified town of Eastport was situated, belonged to
them by virtue of the treaty of 1783. On the iith of
July, 1 8 14, a British fleet of five war vessels and three
or four transports arrived at Eastport, anchored beside
the fortifications, and demanded their surrender. It was
a powerful fleet. The Rainilies, having on board the
commodore, Sir Thomas Hardy, was a seventy-four-
gun ship. The Martin, Rover, Brcame, and Terror were
large ships carrying heavy guns ; there was a bomb ship
also, and the transports carried a great force of men.
It is no wonder that the little town was appalled and
hopeless when the surrender of the fort was demanded
in five minutes. Major Putnam, the commander, was
a man of reckless courage. His reply to the British
was : '* The fort will be defended against whatever force
may be brought against it." But the whole town re-
monstrated again.st the hopeless resistance to a force
which could destroy it in an hour, and Major Putnam
was compelled to strike the fort's flag.

The British flag was hoisted oyer the fort. The com-
modore took possession of the town, with all its public
property, and seized all the American soldiers and forced
them on board the British ships.

The inhabitants of Moose Island, and of all the other
islands in Passamaquoddy Ba\% were ordered to assemble
at the Eastport schoolhouse on the sixteenth day of the
month, and then and there take the oath of allegiance

217

to the King of England, or else within seven days to take
their departure from the islands. Nearly two thirds of
the inhabitants submitted to this demand, feeliny^ them-
selv^es utterly helpless to resist.

On August 26, a still more powerful British fleet set
sail from Halifax to the Maine coast to reduce its hardy
and defiant sons to submission to the British rule.

This fleet consisted of three seventy-four-gun ships,
two frigates, two war sloops, an armed schooner, a
large tender, and ten transports. The troops embarked
numbered nearly three thousand men. Some authorities
give the number as six thousand ; it is certain that there
were two regiments, two companies of a third regiment,
and a detachment of royal artillery. The fleet was
commanded by Lieutenant General Sir John Sherbrooke,
governor of Nova Scotia.

When, on the i8th of September, this powerful fleet
cast anchor in Castine harbor, it was evident that resist-
ance was useless. The garrison blew up its small bat-
tery and fled, and the British took undisputed possession.
One of the officers, with a force of six hundred men,
crossed the bay and seized and plundered Belfast, re-
turning after this exploit to Castine.

Everywhere the quiet little towns were wholly un-
prepared for war. In all Massachusetts only about six
hundred regular troops were to be found, and beyond
the Penobscot, in September, 18 14, hardly a full com-'
pany could have been collected. The able-bodied vot-
ing male population of the counties of Kennebec and
Hancock, on either side the Penobscot, was about
twelve thousand. And the powerful British troops met

2l8

with little or no resistance. A few days before Sher-
brooke's descent upon Castine, the United States ship
Adams, a heavy corvet, carrying twenty-eight guns,

which had escaped
from the British at
Chesapeake Bay
and had been cruis-
ing some months at
sea, struck on a reef
at lie au Haut, and
was brought into
the Penobscot Riv-
er in a sinking con-
dition.

Captain Morris,
who commanded
the Adams, took her up
_- the river about twenty-

five miles to Hampden, near
Bangor, to repair her. General
Sherbrooke, on occupying Castine,
sent a force of six hundred men up to
Hampden, in boats, to capture and de-
stroy the Adams, while he occupied Belfast with an-
other regiment. Captain Morris's crew numbered prob-
ably only about two hundred men, but he placed great
dependence upon aid from the militia. When he heard
of the approach of the British he hastily put his guns
in battery and prepared to defend tlie ship.

On the morning of September 3, in a thick fog, the
British boats sailed up the river and announced them-

219

selves by firing at peaceful citizens on the east side
of the river, in Orrington. They fired a cannon ball
through the house of Mr. Lord, near the ferry, killing
a man named Reed. A little farther up the river they
fired a cannon ball which came so near the head of Mr.
James Brooks as to blow his hat oflf. He had with him
the children and the cattle, escaping to the woods. An-
other cannon ball went through the meetinghouse, and
there is set down in the annals of the Orrington (Meth-
odist) Quarterly Conference this record: " September 3,
1 8 14. The British troops coming up the river prevented
O. M. [Quarterly Meeting]. They shot a cannon ball
through the meetinghouse this day."

The little hamlet of Hampden was panic-stricken.
" The sons of Revolutionary sires at Hampden had
never seen battle," says an old record. " Their white-
haired fathers were too old for the fray. Besides, the
councils of New England had decided the war unneces-
sary and wrong. The United States made no demands
and rendered no aid." Eastport fell in June, Washing-
ton and Alexandria a month later, Castine and Ban-
gor in September.

In an hour Hampden was entirely in the power of the
enemy. They plundered property, killed cattle, abused
the inhabitants, and burned their vessels. They spared
only those vessels for which money could be extorted
from their owners.

Robert Barrie, the commander of the British fleet, was
insolent and brutal. When a committee of citizens
waited upon him_ and begged him to treat the commu-
nity with more humanity, he replied angrily : " I have no

220

humanity for you. My business is to burn, sink, and
destroy. Your town is taken by storm. By tlie rules
of war we ought to lay your village in ashes and put its'
inhabitants to the sword. But I will spare your lives,
though I mean to burn your houses."

But an order came from General Sherbrooke not to
burn the houses. So the fleet proceeded up the river to
Bangor, and took possession of the place without en-
countering any resistance. All public or private prop-
erty upon which hands could be laid was regarded as
lawful spoil.

The British crossed the river to Brewer and burned
all the shipping there. It was a reign of terror in all the
region about Bangor, but a gala occasion for the British
officers, who disported themselves about the neighbor-
hood of the city, wearing uniforms glittering with gold
lace, and making themselves especially free with side-
boards and cellars, which, in those days, it was the
fashion to keep well stocked.

Across the river, in Brewer, a party of officers at-
tempted to force the hospitality of General Blake, an old
soldier of Revolutionary fame. But the general fore-
stalled them and dispensed liquors from his sideboard
with the stately courtesy of a gentleman of the old
school. To one of them he was so extremely polite
that the officer remarked in surprise:

** Perhaps you do not know who I am, sir. I am a
British officer. I am General Gosselin ! "

" I know you are," returned the old general, his in-
dignation getting the better of his politeness, '* and
curse the goose that hatched you! "

'21

There were many humors of the tryini,^ and discour-
aging situation, as there is, almost ahvays, a hghter side
to the dark things of hfe.

General Sherbrooke had
no orders to occupy the
country west of the Pe-
nobscot ; so, after a
hundred and ninety-
one of the principal
citizens of Bangor
had been compelled
to sign a document
declaring themselves
prisoners of war and
promising not to
serve against the Brit-
ish government unless
exchanged, the fleet de-
scended the river to Frankfort.

Here the British officers contented themselves with
seizing forty oxen, a hundred sheep, and all the poul-
try and produce that they could lay hands on.

On the 9th of September they returned to Castine,
which was made a port of entry. Several ships of war
guarded the harbor, and twenty-two hundred troops
were placed there in garrison. All the province of
Maine east of the Penobscot was then in Sherbrooke's
hands, and the inhabitants of the Kennebec valley
feared that he would overrun and lay waste their coun-
try in the same manner that he had ravaged the Penob-
scot shores.

222

The British commander organized a provincial gov-
ernment for the territory, and all male inhabitants over
sixteen were forced to take the oath of allegiance to the
King of England. " A hundred miles of our seacoast
passed quietly into the hands of King George."

At Hampden a customhouse was opened for the
introduction of British goods. Castine, the headquar-
ters of the British, became very gay socially. Many of
the English officers were gentlemen, and endeavored to
relieve the monotony of life in the little Maine town by
gentlemanly amusements. A theater was opened, and
there were balls, at which many a Castine maiden first
learned to trip the light fantastic toe ; for dancing was
an amusement that had been frowned upon by the
sober-minded settlers.

The gay times that were enjoyed " when the British
were at Castine " have been the theme of many a grand-
mother's reminiscences in that region. Castine re-
mained to all intents and purposes a foreign port. It
was the only place in the United States which was al-
lowed to hold any commercial relations whatever with
England or her colonies, and many cargoes of European
merchandise were brought there.

Upon the principle of international law that neutral
vessels must be allowed to enter our harbors, large
quantities of merchandise which had been imported into
Castine were continually carried away from there, in a
Swedish schooner, to Hampden, where Mr. Hook, the
United States collector of customs, had established his
office, and there duly entered under our laws.

This traffic was so extensive that duties amounting to

223

one hundred and fifty thousand dollars were received at
Hampden during a period of five weeks, and from
twenty to forty teams were constantly engaged in trans-
porting goods across the country.

A little company of militia from Northport captured,
near Castine, a sloop with her cargo of cloth and silks,
which brought seventy thousand dollars at auction.

American paper money not being current, traders from
Boston and other points would pick up Eastern bills and
require their exchange for gold and silver. The result
was that every bank in Maine was soon obliged to sus-
pend specie payment.

An inveterate smuggling, for which the long stretch
of unguarded territory afforded great opportunity, was
carried on, and all sorts of schemes were invented to
elude and deceive the revenue officers.

Wagons with double bottoms, affording a hiding
place for silks and laces, were a favorite device. A
sheriff of Hancock county, living in Ellsworth, on his
way to Boston stopped for the night at Wiscasset. The
peculiar appearance of his wagon excited suspicion, and
upon examination two bottoms w^ere found, between
which was concealed a quantity o'f valuable English
merchandise, which was seized and condemned.

As the smuggler occupied a high office and was a
prominent member of the Federal or anti-war party, the
affair attracted widespread attention, and the following
jocular allusion to it appeared in the Boston " Patriot "
of November 9, 1814:

" The Double-bottomed Wagon : The next trip Mr.
Sheriff Adams takes to Castine we would advise him to

224

make use of an air balloon, as there appears to be no
safety in traveling by land. The double-bottomed
wagons are not safe from the grip of James Madison's
sentinels ; but in an air balloon there will be perfect
safety, as the officers of government are not permitted
to travel in the air nor to make seizures there."

After sleighing commenced, sleighs with false backs
and fronts, and pungs with false bottoms, became favor-
ite vehicles with the smuggling community. It was not
unusual to see a large, portly gentleman drive up to the
tavern door just at dusk, order his horse to be put up,
and after taking supper retire for the night, leaving or-
ders to be called early in the morning. He invariably
came from the East. A rigid examination of him and
his surroundings would have led to the discovery, prob-
ably, that the plump saddle on his horse's back was
stuffed with sewing silk; that silks and satins were
hidden between the two backs and fronts of his sleigh ;
that the false crown in his hat concealed a pound or
more of needles, and that his trunk contained nothing
but a lot of old newspapers. The lean, lank, shadlike
guest who appeared in the early morning would hardly
be recognized as the portly gentleman of the preceding
night, and the increase in the weight of his trunk dur-
ing the night was truly miraculous. Travelers of this
character invariably took the back route from the Penob-
scot for the West ; all the revenue officers were stationed
on the shore route.

As the duties established on imports at Castine ranged
from five per cent, ad valorem to forty-three cents per
gallon on spirits, the amount of revenue collected there

225

must have been large. This seems to have accrued to the
province of Nova Scotia, for, in 1816, Lord Bathurst,
the Secretary of State for the Colonies, authorized the
expenditure of duties levied at Castine on such local
improvements as the governor should suggest.

From the customs receipts collected at Castine, in
18 14- 15, i^i,ooo was granted to aid the military li-
brary at Halifax, and ^^9,750 toward the establishment
of a college at Halifax. This was the foundation of
Dalhousie College (now University), with buildings lo-
cated on a public square of the city, departments of art
and science, and a faculty of ten professors, — all from
duties levied on the Yankees by the British at Castine.

On the 24th of December, 1814, was signed the
treaty of Ghent, by which peace was established be-
tween Great Britain and the United States. The news
reached this country on the iith of February, 18 15,
and was received with great demonstrations of joy all
over the country. On the 25th of April the British
troops evacuated Castine, after having occupied it for
eight months. Old 'Biguyduce, after its varied fortunes,
was once more Yankee soil, and has remained so ever
since.

STO. OF MAINE— 15

M

XIX. MAINE IN THE CIVIL WAR.

AINE'S part in the Civil War was similar to that
of many another state — she simply did her best.
But that best was such an astonishing thing for a state
of her resources, that the bare and cold statistics thrill
her children's hearts with pride, and may well furnish
excuse for a little boasting.

She sent 72,945 men to the battlefields. The num-
ber killed in the army list (we have none of the navy
or marine corps) amounted to 7,322.

Maine furnished thirty-two infantry regiments, three
regiments of cavalry, one regiment of heavy artillery,
seven batteries of mounted artillery, seven companies
of sharpshooters, thirty companies of unassigned infan-
try, seven companies of coast guards, and six companies
for coast fortifications ; 6,750 men were also contributed
to the navy and marine corps. The amount of bounty
paid in the state was $9,695,620.93. The value of
hospital stores contributed was $731,134. Bangor
boasted that she raised the first company of volun-
teers that enlisted in the United States. But the first
company which filled its ranks and was accepted by the
governor was the Lewiston Light Infantry. In the small
town of Cherryfield the names of fifty volunteers were

upon the enlistment roll in four hours after it was opened.

226

227

Maine had an enrolled militia of about sixty thousand
men, but in the " piping times of peace " there had been
no drilling, and the militia was unarmed and unorgan-
ized. And yet the first and second regiments sent from
Maine were so thoroughly armed and equipped as to
receive especial praise from the Secretary of War.

The Second Maine had the fortune to grace battle's
brunt on eleven hard-fought fields in the course of two
years. In the battle of Manassas, where the Union
army was completely routed and forced to flee, the
Second carried itself with an undaunted courage that
reflected great credit upon the state.

At Bull Run the Second was also to the fore. A pri-
vate letter written to friends at home says : " The brav-
ery of our boys is the theme of every one. All fought
well, so well that it would seem difficult to particularize,
but the boys speak so warmly of the conduct of Lieu-
tenant Gurnsey, Captain Sargent, Lieutenant Casey, and
Peter Welch, that I know it will give no offense to others
to name them. Of young Gurnsey the boys say he is
'a little brick.' The regiment charged up a hill on a
twenty-gun battery. At the top of the hill was a Vir-
ginia fence, only a few paces from the battery. Gurnsey
commanded the left wing of his company, and, with a
revolver in one hand and his sword in the other, he
charged up the hill to the fence, on the top of which he
leaped and, waving his sword, cried to his boys to fol-
low him. Twice he led his men to the fence, but the
murderous fire caused them to fall back and throw
themselves on the ground behind an eminence, to shield
themselves from the storm of iron hail. It was by this

228

<p,^,)^^'/ V - / ,4iy0

Ii, i«ii»<'

battery that the Ellsworth Zouaves were cut up. I
noticed that young Gurnsey's clothes were covered with
blood. His right-hand man was shot by his side.
' Then,' said he, ' I was mad, and would have reached
that battery had we not been ordered back.'

*' Peter Welch, I am told, rushed in and took two
prisoners and brought them off, then went back, under
a terrible fire, and brought off some of our wounded.
At one time, when the regiment was forced to retire
after a charge. Colonel Jameson said to his men : ' Who
will go with me to the rescue of the wounded?' Six
brave fellows followed him into the very jaws of death.

" Little can you imagine how our hearts swell to our
brave boys for their heroic conduct in this fight."

But the history of these brave deeds is only the his-
tory of hundreds of others. Volumes could be filled

229

with heart-thrilling examples of individual heroism.
*' Maine in the War " has been written, and we, at least,
know these examples partially. To particularize, in so
limited a space as these '* Stories of Maine " afford, is to
be unjust. The aim is only to cite cases where Maine,
thrown into the thickest of the fight, showed her mettle.

The Fourth Maine did duty in almost all the great
battles that were fought during its term of service. At
Fair Oaks, Malvern Hill, and Williamsburg, it rendered
especially efficient service, as well as at Chancellorsville,
where its commander, Major General Berry, was killed.

The Fifth was another fighting regiment, and proved
its valor by taking more prisoners than it ever had men
in its ranks, — an almost unprecedented record. At the
close of the battle in which the Union forces won Wil-
liamsburg and Yorktown, the Seventh Maine was visited
by General McClellan and complimented for its gallantry.

" Soldiers of the Seventh Maine," he said, " I have
come to thank you for your bravery and good conduct
in the action of yesterday. On this battle plain you
and your comrades arrested the progress of the advanc-
ing enemy, saved the army from a disgraceful defeat,
and turned the tide of victory in our favor. You have de-
served well of your country and of your state ; and in
their gratitude they will not forget to bestow upon you
the thanks and praise so justly your due. Continue to
show the conduct of yesterday, and the triumph of our
cause will be speedy and sure. In recognition of your
merit you shall hereafter bear the inscription ' Williams-
burg ' on your colors. Soldiers, my words are feeble,
but from the bottom of my heart I thank you ! "

230

With the Third Maine Regiment, commanded by Gen-
eral O. O. Howard, originated the brilliant and laugh-
able operation known as the Stovepipe Artillery. The
regiment was encamped within sight of the enemy's lines,
in Virginia. Some of the men took a piece of stovepipe
from a church, mounted it upon wheels, and ran it up to
the top of a hill. It was a sport that relieved a little
the horrors of war to see the enemy open a furious
cannonade upon the inoffensive stovepipe.

The Third's fighting was as successful as its fooling.
After a hard-fought battle, when the regiment was re-
duced to one hundred and ninety-six rifles and fourteen
officers, General Sickles said : " The little Third Maine
saved the army to-day.'*

The capture of Morris Island is said to have been
largely due to the daring and skill of the Ninth Maine
Regiment, and the finely drilled Eleventh had the honor
of having been the first to pass and the last to leave
the Chickahominy.

The Fifteenth was the Aroostook regiment, and the
men were forced to show their hardihood in the perils
of the Mississippi swamps. In one year it lost three
hundred and twenty-nine of its number, without being
engaged in a battle. It had many of the hardships and
sufferings without any of the glory of war, but its
men showed the patient endurance which is sometimes
the highest heroism.

The Twelfth Maine distinguished itself by the capture
of two batteries of six thirty-two pounders, with a stand
of colors, a great quantity of ordnance stores, and Con-
federate currency to the amount of eight thousand dol-

231

lars. The War Department ordered the captured colors
to be retained by the regiment as a trophy of its bril-
Hant victory.

The heroism of the Maine soldiers in the minor bat-
tles of the war has naturally been less widely published.
At the battle of Brandy Station the First Maine Cavalry
made for itself a glorious record. The cavalry had not
been highly esteemed, but on that day it saved the brig-
ade under Kilpatrick, and when the fight was done re-
ceived his hearty thanks for its services.

Brandy Station is on the Orange and Alexandria
Railroad, which crosses the Rappahannock River about
fifty miles southwest of Washington. It is a small
place, about five miles from the river, and near Cul-
peper. A fine, old-fashioned mansion, half a mile from
the station, was the headquarters of the rebel general
Stuart.

In front of the house was a beautiful lawn, and be-
hind it was woodland. A heavy force of artillery, cav-
alry, and infantry, upon the sloping grounds, faced the
daring riders. They pressed up the hill and along its
brow, an irresistible force that drove the enemy before
it, dashed at the battery, and captured it, cutting down
such of the gunners as remained. It was the first bat-
tle of the regiment, and the men were wild with excite-
ment and flushed with success. A mistake was made,
here, in not carrying off the battery ; but Colonel Douty
planted a Union flag at the guns, and urged his men for-
ward upon the enemy, leaving the guns unmanned.

As the Union men rushed after the retreating foe,
from the woods on the other side of the upland came

232

other Confederate troops that seized upon the guns, and
when Colonel Douty turned from the enemy's scattered
and flying forces, he saw another detachment of them
manning the guns and apparently mustering in strong
force to hold the field.

The bugle rang out again the signal to charge, and as
they rode back they saw the wide, sloping plain filled
with fleeing Union troops and hotly pursuing Con-
federates.

A steady, deadly fire was pouring from the guns, and
mingled with the thunder of the artillery, with the rattle
and the roar, was the wild, piteous cry of the horses as
their flesh was torn by the bullets. There were shouts
of combat and shrieks of the wounded and dvinQ;. And

233

between these dreadful sounds came the tread of the
horses of the flying cavalry — flying as if the day were
lost. Again the bugle rang out, and again the battery
was charged, — a deed of desperate courage.

The " History of the First Maine Cavalry " thus re-
cords it : " The last charge brought them to a point in
the valley between two hills, west of the battery and
directly under its guns. At this critical moment it was
discovered that they were completely surrounded and
cut off from all support, while the Confederates were lit-
erally swarming on every side. The gunners on the hill
were waiting to pour death through their devoted ranks.
Lieutenant Colonel Smith was now in command, as
Douty and some of the officers had been separated from
the regiment during the hand-to-hand fight at the bat-
tery, and he saw only one avenue of escape. The men
were formed and moved directly toward the battery as
if inviting attack. For a moment they dashed on, and
when it was seen that the guns had been sighted and
were about to be discharged, the order was given to
swing to the right. In an instant after came the can-
nons' roar, but not a man or a horse fell. The grape
and canister tore along the left flank, plowing the
ground vacated but an instant before."

At this moment of reprieve the glistening of bayonets
was seen on the edge of the woods, and an orderly cross-
ing the field was hailed with the question, '* What are the
troops in sight along the woods? "

'* The Sixth Maine," was his answer ; and it was echoed
along the ranks with a wild shout of joy. The danger
was over since the Sixth Maine had come to the rescue.

234

The Sixth, the lumbermen's regiment, was placed on
record by its gallant colonel as a temperance regiment
before it reached the field. As it passed through
Philadelphia, a halt was made near some liquor shops.
The proprietors were requested by the colonel not to
sell liquors to his men, but they paid no attention what-
ever to the request. Colonel Knowles forthwith sent
a squad of soldiers to shut up the shops, and placed a
guard over the persistent rumsellers. He was imme-
diately waited upon by a company of Quaker City
fathers. " Friend Knowles," they said, " thy conduct
meets our approval. We will back thee up if necessary."
At Fredericksburg the Sixth made a noble record for
itself. The supporting regiments on the right and left
had broken under the terrific fire, and the enemy
turned its attention to the Sixth Maine and the Fifth
Wisconsin.

Its entire fire was poured upon the ranks of the two
regiments, and their destruction seemed imminent. But
when they were expected to waver and break, there
came, instead, a wild cheer, and a desperate rush upon
the enemy's fortifications; and in four minutes from
the time of attack the victory was won. The flag of
the Sixth was the first to float from the enemy's battle-
ments. The Tenth passed through great perils and
hardships, being always in the thickest of the fight. In
the valley of the Shenandoah it performed most notable
service and showed great heroism.

The men of the Thirteenth, Colonel Neal Dow's regi-
ment, were among those that sufl^ered the most severely
and showed heroic fortitude. They endured first the

235

almost tropical heat of Ship Island, and then were sent
to Texas, where toilsome marches, malaria, and priva-
tions greatly reduced their ranks. Colonel Dow himself
suffered the horrors of a Southern prison.

Perhaps no Maine regiment endured more of the hard-
ships of war, while receiving none of its emoluments,
than did the Twenty-third. Most of the time of service
was spent in guarding Washington. A fine company of
men, socially and intellectually, they gave themselves to
the severe labors of digging rifle pits and redoubts, of
performing picket duty and building barricades.

What the perils and hardships of war were may be
understood from the records of the gallant Twenty-
fourth. Nine hundred strong and able-bodied men en-
listed, and but five hundred and seventy returned, and
yet npt one was killed in battle. This regiment served
at the siege of Port Hudson.

The Twenty-seventh, the York county regiment,
showed its patriotism by remaining for the protection of
Washington after its term of service had expired.

The Twenty- eighth and Twenty- ninth regiments had
their share in the fiercest battles of the war, as did also
the Thirtieth, with an added share of terrible experience
in the marsh lands of Louisiana.

The Thirty-first plunged at once into the terrible
battles of the Wilderness, and lost in one of the first
engagements, in killed, wounded, and missing, two hun-
dred and ninety-five men.

The Maine Sixteenth had been left without proper
clothing or camping outfit. The men had suffered in-
credible hardships from exposure to the cold, from

236

hunger, and • from a toilsome march, when they were
plunged into the thickest of the terrible fight at Fred-
ericksburg. They fought with desperate courage. Of
four hundred and fifty men only two hundred and twenty-
four survived the battle. "Whatever honor we can
claim in that contest," said General Burnside, ''was
won by the Maine men."

Battlefield at Gettysburg.

The Twentieth won perhaps its greatest honors at
Gettysburg, as did the Fifth Mounted Battery, which had
before shown desperate courage in the bloodiest battles ;
and it was a Maine regiment, the Eleventh, under Gen-
eral Howard, that repulsed the foe and turned the tide
of battle at that famous fight. The story of the battle
has been told too often to warrant a repetition, but they

237

were unfading laurels that the sons of Maine won that
day. It was the Twentieth Maine that chanced to be
in line when the Southern army, flying from the defeat
of Richmond and Petersburg, found before them the
alternative of surrender or utter annihilation.

So Maine may boast as her share in the great Civil
War that she raised the first company of volunteers, and
that to her troops the surrender of the Confederate army
was made, — but these were small things, indeed, in com-
parison with the years of heroic endeavor that came be-
tween. And for one story of bravery that is told a
hundred remain untold ; and greatest, often, was the
heroism shown when the day was not won, and no one
has had the heart to preserve the full details of the
losing fight.

XX. ANECDOTES OF THE HEROES OF

MAINE.

THERE is another hero of the Civil War whose
fame should not be allowed to perish utterly.
Major joined the Tenth Maine at Portsmouth, New-
Hampshire, on the 6th of October, 1861, the regiment
being then on its way to the seat of war. His previous
career was not then known to his new comrades, but it
was thought, from the aptitude that he showed for sol-
diering, that he had at least smelled gunpowder and
had probably a war record. He followed Captain
Emerson, of Company H, into the car, and was imme-
diately adopted by that company, and they bestowed
upon him his title " Major." He was a Newfoundland
crossbreed dog, black, and weigliing nearly one hun-
dred and ten pounds.

From that October night when he joined Company
H, he shared all its vicissitudes, sometimes showing-
more than human patience and endurance, and an intel-
ligence that almost seemed to comprehend the motives
and necessities of army movements, until the 8th of May,
1863, when the regiment was mustered out of service.

Major's earliest service as a soldier consisted of picket

duty at the Relay House, where the regiment was first

stationed. No matter where his company might be

238

^39

stationed, he was always among the most advanced of
the pickets, and was fiercest when a Confederate dog
attempted to cross the Hne.

He was the recipient of much attention from the whole
regiment and from outsiders. When rations were scan-
tiest. Major never lacked his full share with the rest ;
and when Thanksgiving deli- _-. -
cacies from home reached . ^■, • , ,

the regiment he feasted
upon the best. But
no cajoling and no
dainties would induce
Major to recognize or
be friendly to a per-
son belonging to any
other company than
his own.

Unlimited was hisde-
votion to Company H,
but he bore himself with
haughty reserve to the world
outside. Only once did he unbend from his severe ex-
clusiveness, and that was in a very sore strait. During
General Banks's retreat from Winchester, Major was so
crippled by the long march that he could hardly walk.
Lono- marches had often fallen to the lot of the Tenth,
but there were limits even to Major's powers of endur-
ance. He lagged behind and came near being taken
prisoner, the enemy making a cowardly and cruel attempt
to " cut off his rear."

When he had been two days within the rebel lines,

240

Major met a member of Company F, in his own regi-
ment. He had never before condescended to acknowl-
edge as acquaintances the members of Company F ; but
he recognized their superiority to Confederates, and fol-
lowed the soldier of Company F, and succeeded in
reaching the camp in safety. He then proceeded to
seek out his own company, and declined the acquaint-
ance of any other, as before.

Major was never found in the rear ranks, and at An-
tietam and Cedar Mountain he kept his place through
all the charges in advance of the front ranks.

Major had one reckless habit which placed his life in
unnecessary jeopardy and impaired his usefulness. When
the regiment was stationed upon the railroads he would
chase the trains. He would dash madly after them,
barking loud enough to drown the engine's shriek. He
evidently regarded a railroad train as the worst of Con-
federate foes. At length he was struck by an engine
and thrown several feet, and was so seriously injured
that it was feared he could not recover. This finally
convinced Major that it was no part of a soldier's duty
to try to stop a train.

It was learned that, before he joined the Tenth, Major
had served out a three months' enlistment with the First
New Hampshire Regiment and been slightly wounded
in the battle of Bull Run. He returned home, but evi-
dently had a soldier's heart, and, soon tired of the
monotony of private life, he seized the first opportunity
that offered to return to the field. When Captain
Emerson retired from the command of the company, he
presented the dog to Lieutenant Granville Blake.

241

A fine collar was provided for Major, on which was
engraved the leaf indicative of the dog's rank, and the*
names of the battles in which he had been engaged.
Lieutenant Blake took Major home to Auburn with him,
and he remained there until his master was commis-
sioned captain of Company H, Twenty-ninth Maine,
when he returned to the army, and identified himself
with this company as he had done with the first.

At Mansfield, Louisiana, on- the 8th of April, 1864,
Major found his last battlefield. A Confederate musket
ball missed a higher aim, and found its way to the dog
hero's heart. He died a soldier's death, truly honored
and lamented.

Perhaps it will not be disrespectful to Major's faith-
fully treasured memory to add to this brief chronicle of
his career a few of the humorous happenings that cheered
the toils and hardships of the " boys" he loved.

There were valiant sons of Erin from Maine among
the boys, and one of them was asked by another
Maine man to help him from the field after a battle.
He had the proverbial warm heart of Erin's sons, and
although the bullets came whizzing upon them, he
helped him to mount and strapped him to his horse,
afterwards mounting his own and riding on before.
As they rode, the head of the injured man was shot off ;
but Pat rode on, all unaware of the fatality. When
they arrived at the doctor's quarters, Pat explained that
he had brought the man to have his leg dressed. " But
his head is off ! " cried the doctor. " The bloody liar! "
exclaimed Pat, looking behind him for the first time;
" he told me he was only shot in the leg! "

STO. OF MAINE — 16

242

In tlie Tennessee mountains a company of soldiers
came upon an old woman contentedly smoking on her
cabin doorstep. " Secesh? " queried one of the soldiers,
as they stopped for a drink of water. The old woman

slowly and decidedly shook
her head. " You

must be Union,
then," he per-
sisted,insomesur-
prise. The same
slow and deliber-
ate shake of the
head was her re-
sponse. "I'm a
Baptist," she said, in a
slow drawl. " I've al-
ways been aBaptist, and
I 'low I'll stick to it."
There was a colonel
of the First Maine Cavalry who was arbitrary and exact-
ing, and not at all a favorite with either officers or men,
whom he expected to rule as he had been accustomed
to rule his backwoodsmen and river drivers.

When the regiment was ordered to the front, the offi-
cers came to the conclusion that war and the colonel to-
gether would be more than they could endure, and they
waited upon the governor and told him that the}^ should
resign unless the colonel was removed. Of course the
colonel was invited to hand in his resignation, and did
so. Before this happened, he had one day placed the
entire band in the guardhouse for some slight breach

243

of military decorum. The band determined upon re-

venge.

The next Sunday the regiment was ordered out for
church. On such occasions the coJonel Hked to make
a great display. He had secured a hall in the city, and
every Sunday services were held there. The men
had fine overcoats and new uniforms, with top-boots
and gloves. The colonel had given orders that the
band should play while marching by the statehouse,
and again as they approached the hall. On this
occasion the first part of the order was carried out.
Martial strains thrilled the hearts of all listeners, and
drew eager throngs to gaze upon the splendor of the
troops. But in dead silence they marched toward the
hall. In great wrath the colonel sent an orderly for-
w^ard to learn the cause of this disobedience of his order.
The band was frozen up! That was the answer which
the band orderly gave, and it was repeated to the colo-
nel. He swore like a trooper, and when the hall was
reached and the soldiers and the large congregation were
seated, he ordered the band to go to the stove, thaw out
their instruments, and " play that tune," which they did,
while the chaplain and the congregation waited and
looked on, the former struggling for a becoming serious-
ness, the latter with more or less open merriment.

Later, during the war, the colonel, showing a forgiv-
ing spirit, visited the regiment, and was tendered a sere-
nade by the band, which played two tunes. When they
had finished, the former colonel made them a speech, in
which he said, among other pleasant things: "It is my
opinion that the climate hereabouts is much better for

244

your business than that of Augusta, as I observe you
can here play two tunes without freezing up! " The
boys gave three cheers, while the band responded with
the then new and popular air, " Right You Are, Old
Man."

While the Tenth Regiment was in Portland, in 1861,
there was difficulty in keeping the men together, and a
squad was kept constantly on the lookout for stragglers.
One of these parties came upon a countryman who, for
purposes of comfort or adornment, had put on a part
of the uniform of the old First Regiment. He was im-
mediately seized and dragged off, although he protested
lustily that he was not a soldier. He begged to be al-
lowed to sell his load of wood and take care of his
cattle, but his inexorable captors dragged him off to
camp, leaving an officer in charge of his team ; and it
was a long time before he succeeded in proving that
he did not " belong to the show." While those who
did not belong were sometimes seized in this way,
there was, now and then, one who would escape across
the lines and be heard from no more. One such who
returned and demanded a pension was greeted by his
captain with this very pertinent remark : " If I were
such a coward as you, I should be ashamed to look a
pine tree in the face! "

i

XXL THE EMMA AND THE "LEAPING

TARANTULA."

THE Alabama, Captain Raphael Semmes, was a
Confederate cruiser which, during the Civil War,
carried on the piratical business of seizing American
vessels hailing from the North, in whatever waters she
found them. She was a handsome, rakish craft, painted
black, and of a racing speed. Semmes, a reckless ad-
venturer, was proud of his ship, and boasted that no
vessel could escape the " Leaping Tarantula," as he called
it. He was, in fact, so daring and so successful in his
raids that his ship became a haunting terror to Northern
merchantmen carrying their cargoes to foreign ports.

The Eiiuna, a stanch Maine vessel, commanded by her
owner, Captain Jordan, was at Singapore, witli a cargo of
coal, when a report was spread abroad that the '' Scourge
of the Seas," which was the name the seafaring folk gave
to the Alabama, had been seen in those waters; more-
over, that she had seemed to be upon the Emma's track.

245

246

Captain Jordan remained at Singapore a few days,
and discharged a part of his coal. Then lie sailed for
Bombay, and left there the remainder of his cargo. Be-
fore leaving Bombay he also took a certain wise pre-
caution, becoming in the master of a ship that might fall
into the clutches of the "Tarantula." He had heard at
Bombay that the Alabama had followed him to Singa-
pore and had there seized and carried away some of the
coal that he had left.

Now, the track of the Finiua lay along the Malabar
coast; but Captain Jordan, knowing that the Alabama
was likely to lie in wait there, shaped his. course far out
to sea. A close watch was kept, but although there were
many steamers in those waters, there was no black, rakish
Confederate cruiser to be seen. He had begun to con-
gratulate himself on his safety, when, one morning, what
was thought to be an English steamer appeared very near
the Emma, under full sail. It was scarcely daylight when
she was sighted by the Yankee vessel. When the sun
rose she was only half a mile away, and she ran up the
American flag.

That was better yet : the stranger was a countryman
and friend, thought the Yankees. Aloft went the stars
and stripes from the Emma, in response. As the brilliant
tropical sunlight fell upon her, it showed her to be a
handsome, jaunty steamer, probably of American build.
The captain and crew of the Emma were pleased and
proud to meet a fine American steamer in the far-ofT
foreign seas.

The captain called his wife to come and see her, but
Mrs. Jordan was not yet ready to leave the cabin. The

247

roar of a gun came from the stranger — the port gun to
windward. That was a signal to " heave to," and the
Yankee crew obeyed it, doubtful as to what it might
mean. When this was done, a boat was lowered from
the strange steamer. It came swiftly and steadily over
the smooth sea, and as Captain Jordan surveyed it
through his glass, a slow-creeping fear leaped suddenly
into certainty.

He called down to his wife in the cabin: " Pack up
your things as quick as you can, and be ready to go!
The ' Tarantula' has got her claws upon us!"

He had been deceived by the appearance of the
steamer, but he knew that the lapstreak boat now near-
ing them was of English build and belonged to no
steamer that had a right to hoist the stars and stripes.

There was not a moment to lose. The rowboat was
manned by a powerful crew and was almost upon them ;
and, like a crouching beast of prey, the black ship lay
just ahead.

Mrs. Jordan gathered together her treasures with
trembling hands. The cozy little cabin, her home for
many months, would soon be invaded by the pirate
crew. The rowboat came alongside, and an officer
mounted to the deck of the Emma. The message that
he delivered was brief and businesslike :

" You are commanded by Captain Semmes of the
Alabama to take your papers and go on board his ship
at once."

Captain Jordan obeyed, since there was, clearly,
nothing else to be done. The Emma was the helpless
prey of the armed pirate ship. Captain Semmes received

248

him with none of the decent courtesy due to a con-
quered foe. He was in especially bad humor when he
learned that the Emma carried no freight, as he had
expected to capture a fine cargo.

He assured Captain Jordan that in twenty minutes he
should burn the Emma. In that time the captain might
bring off his wife and his crew, if he could. He would
be so magnanimous as to allow him one trunk of cloth-
ing, and the sailors one bag each.

The whole crew of the Alabama, nearly a hundred
and fifty men, were let loose upon the Emma, to plun-
der and destroy at their will. They made a carousal of
their opportunity, and drank all the liquor they could
find.

They dressed themselves in Mrs. Jordan's clothing, and
they crowded into the cabin and sang vulgar songs to
the accompaniment of a wild jargon on the parlor organ,
which had hitherto been sacred, in all the Emma s
voyages, to Sunday evening hymns.

Their orgy was the more reckless because of their
disappointment and disgust at finding no money. Cap-
tain Jordan had, most fortunately, sent home from
Bombay all his cash, amounting to over twenty thousand
dollars ; but when he told them this they refused to be-
lieve it, and pulled up the ship's planks and overhauled
the ballast in search of it.

Maddened by the liquor and the disappointment, they
seemed at length to be seized with a mania of destruc-
tion. They cut and hacked the cabin furnishings and
smashed the dishes. With these diversions thrown in,
it took all day to remove the valuable ship's stores to

249

the Alabama, and the ship was not abandoned and fired
until evening.

Captain Jordan, his wife, and the crew had been re-
moved to the Alabama. Before the last of the Ala-
bama's crew left, the broken furniture was piled up in
the cabin and fired, and then a match was applied to the
forward part of the ship.

There was a dead calm that night, and the Alabama
had to lay to, with the burning vessel close at her
stern. Captain Jordan
and his wife watched,
through the night,
the slow destruction
of their ship.

At first there
were only volumes
of smoke, so black
and heavy as to hang
like a pall over the
sea, through which,
now and then, there
shot a fork of light-
ninglike flame.

Thencameaburst
of flame through the
cabin woodwork,
and this made asud-
den swift flight to the rig-
ging. The tropic sun had

beaten upon this for many days, and the tar was in a
highly inflammable condition. Outlined upon the black

250

smoke was, for a moment, a dazzling display of fire-
works. The small ropes were a network of flame. It
was a wonderful spectacle, but those who loved the
Emma saw it through their tears.

When the vessel threw her head into the air, hung
for a moment, like a living thing that dies reluctantly,
and was then sucked down into the mighty deep, there
was a long sigh of relief that the agony was over,

Semmes did not intend to be burdened long with his
prisoners. As soon as they came within reach of land, he
sent them ashore in boats. It was a barren land where
they were left ; the shore was inhabited by a few uncivil-
ized natives, and there was a rampart of dreary black hills
in the background. Captain Jordan begged to be taken
to a port from which it would be possible to make his
way home, or, at least, not to be left beyond the bounds
of civilization ; but all in vain. " We want to get rid of
you as soon as possible," was Semmes's reply. " You
must make ready to go ashore."

Through a rough and stormy sea the Alabama s cap-
tives were rowed to the barren shore, where they were
deserted. ^Yv^ Alabama waited only for her boats, which
could not return until the ebb tide, and then the aban-
doned victims of the ** Scourge of the Seas" saw^ her
disappear, under steam and full sail, down the horizon.

Captain Jordan and his companions found it difficult
to make the natives understand their signs, but they were
treated by them with a kindness which was strongly in
contrast with the barbarity of the pirate crew ; and when
at length they succeeded in making the savages com-
prehend their desire to get to a distant port, they will-

^5i

ingly took them in their canoes a distance of a hundred
and fifty miles, a difficult and dangerous voyage.

They made a port where it was possible to make
connections with Bombay, and in due time they reached
that city in safety. There they obtained money and
made their way to Europe, and thence safely home to
America.

XXII. SOME OF MAINE'S RESOURCES.

FOR a hundred and thirty years Maine was a sort of
adopted daughter of Massachusetts, and, devastated
as she was by the long and bloody French and Indian wars,
she doubtless stood in need of such protection as Mas-
sachusetts could and did bestow upon her. But there
were, nevertheless, great disadvantages in this depend-
ence. Massachusetts, although in general kind and con-
siderate, was sometimes more domineering and more
selfish than anybody but a bad stepmother can be.
The independence which she grudgingly granted might
have been attained much earlier but for Maine's inward
dissensions.

The question of separation had become a party
issue, the Republicans contending for independence, the
Federalists adhering to Massachusetts. The changes
of political nomenclature are confusing, and unusually
so in this case, where one of the parties adopted the
name of its original opponents. It was in reality the
nationalists who came to be called Federalists. They
held to the unity of the nation, as opposed to a con-
federacy. The old federals, supporters of the idea of
the confederation, were afterwards, with Jefferson for
leader, known as Republicans, later as Jeffersonian

Democrats, finally simply as Democrats.

252

253

In 1820 the point was carried and the separation
made. The connection had been carried on, throucjh
all the years of pioneer struggle, with more or less of
good will and family affection, and it was severed in
mutual friendship and respect.

The new state of Maine had a population of nearly
three hundred thousand, and both wealth and population
immediately increased. She has not steadily increased in
population. Lumber and shipping, her great sources of
income in the past, have declined, and yet her increase
in wealth has gone steadily on. The place of the lum-
bering interest was taken by the comparatively new

industry of cotton manufacture. Iron-working, boot-
and shoemaking, flouring mills, woolen factories, and

254

leather-making came instead of the building of ships.
And more recently than these there has come, espe-
cially in the Aroostook highlands, a skilled husbandry,
which has sometimes been thought Maine's great and
fatal lack.

It was not nature's churlishness, not even the restless
spirit of youth and the unaccountable human instinct
that makes the West draw like a magnet, that left her
such a painful legacy of untamed woodland and aban-
doned farms; it was not a lack of energy — the people
of Maine have never been accused of being lazy ; but,
rather, the failure to apply to agriculture the skill and
enterprise, the fertility of resource, necessary to success
in any other calling.

More than fifty years ago the " hermit of the A roostook "
saw the resources of that fertile and beautiful region
and prophesied of its future. The " American Whig
Review" of September, 1847, tells of a traveler on his
way down the St. John to New Brunswick, who stops
for a night, having heard that the Aroostook is " fa-
mous for salmon and scenery." He accepts the hospi-
tality of a hermit who has lived alone, for years, near a
beautiful waterfall on the river. "The valley is one of
the most beautiful and luxuriant in the world," says the
hermit, who has once been a traveler and lived among
men ; " the only thing against it is that nearly five
miles of its outlet belongs to the English government.
The Aroostook River is one of the most important
branches of the St. John. Its general course is easterly,
but it is exceedingly serpentine, and, according to some
of your best surveyors, drains upward of a million acres

255

of the best soil in Maine. Above my place there is
scarcely a spot that might not be navigated by a small
steamboat, and I believe the time is not far distant when
your enterprising Yankees will have a score of boats
here, carrying their grain to market. Before that time
you must build a canal or a railroad around my beauti-
ful waterfall.

" An extensive lumbering business is now carried on
in the valley, but its future prosperity must depend upon

its agriculture. Already are the river banks dotted with
well-cultivated farms, and every year is adding to their
number. The soil is rich and alluvial; the staple crop
is w^heat. Grasses flourish here, and the Aroostook
farmer w^ill yet send to market immense quantities of
cattle. The climate here is not so severe as has been

256

supposed. The heavy snowfall prevents the ground
from freezing to a great depth."

This was written ten years after the famous Aroostook
War, and five years after the settlement of the boundary
question by the Ashburton treaty. The English had
previously claimed much more than the five miles of the
river's outlet which disturbed the hermit's mind.

XXIII. THE ''AROOSTOOK WAR."

BY the treaty of 1783, which closed the Revolution-
ary War, one half of the river St. John belonged to
Maine. But at the end of the War of 18 12 Great Britain
claimed both banks. The town of Madawaska, an Amer-
ican settlement of log huts, extended for nearly twenty
miles along the eastern bank of the river. The inhabitants
were chiefly of French descent, refugees from Acadia
when that place came into possession of the British.

The English authorities in the vicinity remonstrated
against the sending of a representative from this town
to the legislature of Maine, which they claimed as Eng-
lish territory, and tried by force of arms to prevent it.
In June, 1837, an agent sent by Congress to Madawaska
to take the census and to distribute certain surplus
money which had accumulated in the United States
Treasurv was arrested bv a British constable.

The prisoner was carried to the nearest English shire
town ; but the sherifT there regarded the proceeding as
high-handed and reckless, and refused to receive the
prisoner, who returned to Madawaska and continued to
take the census and distribute the money.

When Governor Harvey of New Brunswick heard of
the matter, he ordered the agent to be rearrested and
lodged in Fredericton jail, on the ground that the dis-

STO. OF MAINE— 17 257

258

tribution of money was a bribe to the people to remain
loyal to the United States. There was an outburst of
indignation, all over Maine. Governor Dunlap issued an
order announcing that the state had been invaded by a
foreign power, and the militia was called upon to hold
itself in readiness for active service. There was a great
mustering of forces on both sides and a wild excitement,
which was soon allayed by the liberation of the impris-
oned agent in response to a message from President Van
Buren. Both parties agreed to refer the matter to arbi-
tration ; and so- there was no Madawaska war.

But the boundary question had not been settled.
After the War of 1812 it had been referred to King
William of the Netherlands, who decided it in a way
that was satisfactory to no one and much displeased
the people of Maine. The United States government,
dreading war, offered Maine a million acres of land in
Michigan in exchange for the territory that she would
lose. But it was her Aroostook that Maine wanted, and
not land in far-away Michigan. So she declined the
offer, and further negotiations were attempted, too long
and too tiresome to relate.

The territory in dispute came to be regarded as no-
man's land, and was the prey of reckless plunderers.
Much of its most valuable lumber was taken away.
The robbery was carried to such an extent that the
state legislature, in secret session, ordered a force
raised of two hundred volunteers to drive oft' the tres-
passers and destroy their camps.

A Bangor company marched to Masardis (then Town-
ship No. 10), and easily captured the lumbermen and

259

their teams. But as they advanced to the mouth of the
Little Madavvaska, the captain of the company, and
several of his men, were taken prisoners and carried off
in a sleigh to Fredericton jail. Then three hundred
of the trespassers armed themselves and bade defiance
to the Yankees. And Governor Harvey of New Bruns-
wick ordered out a thousand militiamen to protect what
he declared was British territory, at the same time send-
ing a communication to the governor of Maine, at
Augusta, demanding the recall of the American troops
from the Aroostook, ** over which territory he was
authorized to hold exclusive Jurisdiction, by military
force if necessary."

A great wave of indignation swept over the state of
Maine. A draft of ten thousand men from the militia
was made, and they were ordered to be ready for im-
mediate action, and eight hundred thousand dollars was
appropriated for the protection of the public lands.
Within a week ten thousand American soldiers were
either in Aroostook county or on the march there. It
was midwinter and bitterly cold, and they were strik-
ing and picturesque in red shirts and pea-green jackets
above their regular uniforms. A white background of
unbroken snow set off the gay habiliments of these
Aroostook soldiers, as they " fared forth to war."

Congress was aroused to the passing of a bill that
authorized the President to raise fifty thousand troops
for the support of Maine— provided that the governor
of New Brunswick fulfilled his threat— and appropriated
ten million dollars to meet the expense.

General Scott and his staff were sent to Augusta,

26o

with the message that he was " especiahy charged to
maintain the peace and safety of the entire northern
and eastern frontiers."

Supported by a great force of troops, General Scott
was in a position to make peace, if that were possible,
and his earnest efforts were at length successful. Gov-
ernor Harvey of New Brunswick pledged himself that,
since negotiations for a peaceful settlement of the
boundary question were in progress, he would not take
military possession of the territory.

Governor Fairfield of Maine, on the other hand, prom-
ised that he would not, without further instructions, dis-
turb any of New Brunswick's Madawaska settlements.
This brought peace for the time, and the Aroostook
region, which had hitherto formed a part of Washington
and Penobscot counties, was constituted a county by
itself, under its original name. Two years later the
question was definitely and amicably settled under the
agency of Lord Ashburton, then British ambassador to
to the United States. A considerable tract of land, but
of little value except to Great Britain, because of the
need of free communication between her provinces of
New Brunswick and Canada, was surrendered by Maine.
The United States received, in return, land of much
greater value on the borders of the Great Lakes; and
Congress voted to Maine one hundred and fifty thou-
sand dollars for the surrender.

So what has been called ** the bloodless Aroostook
War," and laughed at a little, sometimes, as quite un-
necessary and somewhat farcical, was no war at all, but
a determined and altogether self-respectful manifesta-

26l

tion on the part of Maine that she was " fit for the fight,"
if she were forced into it for the protection of her rights.
This rich and alluvial Aroostook has become the home
of a Swedish colony. As the Northmen were the first,
so the Swedes are the latest voyagers to Maine. With
industry and enterprise they are more than fulfilling the
hermit's prophecies for the Aroostook's future in the way
of agriculture. From the vast forests of that region
came the lumber for the fine ships, in the days when
Maine was known as the builder of some that were equal
to anv in the world.

XXIV. THE SHIPS OF MAINE.

THE Flying Scud, acknowledged to be the fastest
clipper the world has ever seen, was a Maine vessel.
On one day — and this performance is recorded in the
government office at Washington — slie made nearly five
hundred miles, a speed that almost matches that of
an Atlantic " greyhound " of this day. The Scud was
built at Damariscotta, by Metcalf & Co., in 1859 or i860,
and was intended for the tea trade, at a time when it
meant a small fortune to bring to port the first of the
new crop.

The Dash was built at Porters Landing, by the Porter
brothers, John and Seward, merchants doing business
ni Portland. The record of this little craft was, as her
papers remain to show, one which even fancy has not
improved upon, although vessels of this character have
been a favorite with novelists. The Ai'iel of Cooper
was not the equal of this Maine craft. The DasJi was
unique in her inception. At that time the modern plan
of drafting vessels was practically unknown, and the
solid model of to-day was not dreamed of. The way
they built vessels then was simply to lay a keel, set up
a stem and sternpost, and fill in between with frames,
shaping the hull by the eye as the work progressed.

Of course the two sides of the vessel were seldom of

262

263

exactly the same shape, so that a vessel would often sail
faster on one tack than she would on the other. But it
was years before the shipbuilders adopted a more exact
plan. However, the builders of the Dash meant to have
a vessel that could show the highest rate of speed. They
knew that a vessel that was to run the gantlet of Eng-
lish war ships must be a " flier," and they went to work to
build one. They began with a model, the first ship's model
that Maine ever knew. It was not like the solid models
by which ships are built nowadays. It was the skele-
ton of half a vessel, made by nailing upon a back-
board pieces of wood cut to represent halves of frames,
and tacking rib-bands of wood upon them. These they
trimmed and cut until the lines of the hull were perfected
and what seemed to be the required shape for speed had
been secured, and then they laid the keel.

Only a few rotten piles now remain of the wharf where
the DasJi was launched; the yard where so many fine

Model of the Dash.

vessels were built has long since been overrun by grass;
but this rough model of the DasJi has been carefully pre-
served as an heirloom, and is now in the possession of
the namesake of one of these builders.

This model, which was in the Maine exhibit at the

264

World's Fair, shows that the sharp floor Hnes of the
modern yacht are not of recent origin. This vessel,
built in 181 2, might easily be mistaken for one of the
Burgess class, but for its almost perpendicular sternpost.
The bow is sharp and thin, the run begins amidships, and
all the floor timbers are at an angle much sharper than
those of any merchant craft of to-day.

The DasJi was not originally designed for a privateer.
But for years both English and French vessels had
troubled the Americans, and when the embargo was
ordered no ordinary craft could venture to sea. Ships
lay dismantled at the wharfs, and the merchant marine
of the United States was literally paralyzed. West
India products naturally sold at exorbitant prices, and
immense profits were to be made out of risky voyages.
So, when war was declared, the Porters built the Dash, to
operate much like the blockade runners of our Civil War.

The United States was then practically without a navy,
but five craft that could be properly classed as fighting
ships being then in existence ; while England had more
than eighty vessels regularly cruising in these waters,
and sometimes showed more than a hundred sail in the
North Atlantic.

The superiority of American ships and the skill of the
American sailor had already been proved, and Yankee
confidence felt equal to the emergency. The Dash was
rigged as a topsail schooner, a style never seen in these
days. She slipped down to Santo Domingo unobserved,
disposed of a cargo at good prices, loaded with coffee,
and was well on her way home when she was sighted
by a British man-of-war, which sent her a cannon-ball

265

invitation to come about and await the pleasure of his
Majesty's representative.

The captain simply piled on canvas, threw overboard
enough of the cargo to let his little schooner take her
racing form, and took not French, but Yankee leave of
the Englishman.

The strain to the DasJi nearly took out her foremast.
Her master had discovered that a little alteration would
improve her sailing qualities, so a heavier spar was put
in the place of the injured foremast, and square sails w^ere
added, making the Dash a hermaphrodite brig. A tre-
mendous spread of light sails was given her, and then
she was ready to get aw^ay from anything that John Bull
was likely to send across the sea. The Dash had no
sheathing ; copper was too costly ; but to prexent the
bottom from becoming foul, she w^as given a coating of
tallow and soap just before she sailed, — which was good
while it lasted.

She was chased by war vessels on her second \oyage,
one of them a seventy-four-gun ship, but sailed away from
them ; although once, at a pinch, she was forced to sacri-
fice her two bow^ guns and part of her deck load.

So far the Dash's duty had been only to get away
from her enemies, but now^ tlie fighting fever was upon
the American sailors. It had been decided that it was
better fun to take cargoes out of the enemy's ships than
to run aw^ay from them, and cheaper than to purchase
cargoes in ports. And so the little Dash was fitted out
as a privateer. Two eighteen-pounders took the place
of her small broadside guns; the "long tom," which
was mounted amidships, was retained.

266

With a larger crew she started out, determined to
capture any British merchantman that was sighted.
But the first vessel she met was a man-of-war, and
she was obliged to resort to her old trick of running.
The next was a cruiser of about her own size, which
she vanquished, carrying a fine cargo to port. Then
she encountered the armed British ship Lacedccinonian
and captured her, together with the American sloop
which she was carrying off in triumph. A little later,
being chased by a frigate and a schooner, she out-
sailed the frigate and whipped the schooner. Her cap-
tain at that time was William Cammett, a man whose
merits President Lincoln long afterwards recognized
by making him inspector of customs at Portland. The
Dash went on taking cargoes and prizes, until she was
the pride of Portland and the detestation of the British
men-of-war, who could no more catch her than they
could catch a will-o'-the-wisp.

She was placed under the command of Captain John
Porter, a young brother of the owners, who was only
twenty-four years old, but had already made a record on
the quarter-deck. Within a w^eek from the time he left
port he had recovered the American ^nwdiit^v Armistice,
which had just been taken by the English frigate Pac-
tolas, and in another week had added two brigs and a
sloop to his list of prizes. In the space of three months
he sent home six prizes.

Under Captain Porter's command the Dash reached
the height of her fame. She had never known a defeat,
had never even been injured by an enemy's shot, and it
was claimed that she had not her equal in speed. It

26']

was esteemed a high honor to belong to her crew, and
there was great competition for the privilege. In the
middle of January, 1815, the Dash set out upon her last
cruise.

The crew were unaware that a treaty of peace had
been signed between Great Britain and the United States,
and were eager for more glory and more prize money.
The light canvas was crowded upon the tall, tapering
masts, and the rakish craft was dashing up and down the
harbor, but had to wait for the coming of the captain,
who was taking lea\'e of his young wife. A signal gun
had summoned him, but he waited for a second, as if
with a presentiment of the long parting.

What little more is known of the DasJi is told bv the
crew of the CJiamplain, a new privateer which had
waited in the harbor to try her speed against that of
the Portland champion on an outward cruise.

Leaving the harbor together, the two ships took a
southerly course. Gradually the Dash drew away to
the front, and at the close of the next day was far ahead.
A gale came on, and the last seen of the DasJi she was
shooting away into driving clouds of snow, which soon
hid her from sight.

The master of the CJiamplain altered his course,
through fear of the Georges Shoals, and rode the gale
safely ; but the DasJi was never heard from again. It
is probable that Captain Porter failed to estimate his
speed correctly and was upon the shoals before he sus-
pected danger.

For months and even years those whose loved ones
had gone out in the Dash refused to believe them lost.

268

But never a piece of wreckage reached the shore, no
floating spar or spHntered boat ever appeared to offer its
mute testimon)^ The vessel had as completely disap-
peared as if she had been one of her own cannon balls
dropped into the sea, and only time-stained records of
her successful voyages remain, with the ancient model,
as mementos of the famous Yankee privateer.

Any one who wishes to see the Dash's record can
find the ancient papers at the Portland customhouse ;
and the record is indeed a proud one.

The largest and most powerful ocean towboats ever
built were made by the Morse Towage Company, at Bath.

It was proved that these boats were stanch enougli for
any service, and of a remarkable speed for their build,
when the R. M. Morse, the first one built, pursued the
Leary raft in a northeasterly gale that drove almost

269

everything else to shelter. Another large vessel built
at Bath was the barge Independent, carrying a cargo of
five thousand tons, the largest of its kind ever con-
structed.

The fishing vessels built in Maine have often proved,
at the dangerous Banks, their superiority to all others.

The Oeean CJiief, built at Thomaston by C. C. Mor-
ton & Co., was a half -clipper intended to prove that a
vessel may have cargo capacity and fleetness too, and
she was a great success. The Governor Robie, built at
Bath by William Rogers, not many years ago, was of the
best oak, and her experience has been regarded as a proof
of the superiority of wooden vessels over iron ones. She
weathered a three days' storm on the rocks (ofif Cape
Elizabeth, where an iron ship would ine\itably have
gone to pieces.

The Gold Hnnter, built at Brewer, was the stanch ship
that was first to " round the Horn " carrying miners
bound for the California gold fields. She had been built
for other things, but just before the day set for her
launching the news of the great gold discoveries on the
Pacific coast reached Bangor. Immediately the ship
carpenters were set to work to divide off httle state-
rooms between her decks, and soon she was ready to
take as passengers a hundred and thirty-two men, the
first of the famous forty-niners.

Maine's ancient glory as a builder of ships may never
return to her, although, while her great river leads from
almost unlimited tracts of primeval forest straight to the
sea, "the road of the bold," we need not despair of it.
Even her cotton and iron manufactures may fail, but

270

while she has her rocks and her cold — the best climate
possible for the formation of ice of commercial value —
we may hope that she will yet call home her enterprising
sons who have strayed away from her, and take her place
in the foremost rank of wealth-producing states, as she
now ranks among the first in the production of many
things that are better than wealth.

XXV. MAINE'S FAMOUS HUMORIST.

M

^^

AINE'S distinguished sons are the distinguished
sons of the nation; their names are known to every
boy and girl in the country. Hamhn, Fessenden, Mor-
rill, Washburn, Clifford, Hale, Frye, Reed, Milliken,
and Boutelle, — every one in the country knows enough
of their history to know that Maine claims them ;
Chief Justice Fuller, too, r
and Naval ' Secretary

Long. That General O. P ■

O. Howard, the military
hero, is a son of Maine
has been published far
and wide, and that Blaine
adopted the state as his
home and reflected upon
her all the glory of his
mature years. And who
does not know her roll
of celebrated authors —
Longfellow, the Ab-
botts, Miss Jewett, Mrs.
Spofford, and many others whose names occur to every
one? She claims even Hawthorne as a graduate of
Bowdoin College and a sometime resident, and we have

271

General O. O. Howard.

272

Longfellow.

all been told that Mrs. Stowe wrote '* Uncle Tom's Cab-
in " under the shadow of Bowdoin's walls.

But with her long roll of
honor — to which are added
sculptors and painters of noble
repute — Maine has almost for-
gotten, or has allowed others
to forget, her claim to the
greatest wit of his time, " Ar-
temus Ward." His genuine
and spontaneous humor sa-
vored richly of the Maine soil,
and yet, strangely, it found its
highest appreciation in Eng-
land. At home, in Maine,
they seemed always a little chary of acknowledging how
funny Artemus really was. A quick wit is a common
inheritance, even in far-away rural regions of Maine.
The deacon who beats all the " city fellows" at check-
ers has also a quaint and droll crispness of speech which
his serious views of life are allowed to modify only on
serious occasions. And the reckless, loitering urchin,
who knows where the trout bite better than he knows
the way to school, will astonish you with keen views on
important points and with the incisive wdt with which
he expresses them.

There is undoubtedly only one Artemus, but he
may have been, nevertheless, only the consummate
development of a type familiar at home and conse-
quently less highly valued there than abroad. Moreover,
his humor depended somewhat upon bad spelling, a sort

273

of wit which degenerates so easily into vapidity or coarse-
ness that it is not apt to be highly considered. But
Artemus Ward's wit never degenerated; it was such
spontaneous, bubbhng fun that the spelHng struck one
as quite natural and inevitable.

His first lecture in England w^as delivered in the
Egyptian Hall to a large and enthusiastic audience.
The heat was very great when he appeared, as he wrote,
for the first time in England, " be4 a C of upturned
faces;" it was so oppressive to a man in his state of
health that he felt constrained to remark, " When the
Egyptians built this hall I wish they had not forgotten
the ventilation."

His English visit was a great success, but he closed it
and his life together at the early age of thirty-two,
followed by the sincere regret of friends and admirers
in all walks of life. He flashed like a brilliant meteor
across the sky of American literature, emerging from
obscurity, having a brief but brilliant career, and then
vanishing. His cometlike career induced questions as
to his history. People wanted to know something about
the gifted American who had so entertained them by
his spontaneous and original humor. His extraordinary
devotion to his aged mother added a romantic interest
to his personality. He loved money, only for her sake ;
in his utter devotion to her he was willing to sacrifice
any taste or ambition.

Charles Farrar Browne was born at Waterford, Maine,
in 1836. He early left home to seek his fortune, and
the first employment at w^hich he tried his hand was
setting type on the " Carpet Bag," a comic paper pub-

STO. OF MAINE — 18

2 74

lished at Chelsea, Massachusetts. The " Carpet Bag"
has been chiefly known to fame as the vehicle for the

funny sayings of " Mrs.
Partington"(B. P. ShiUa-
ber). At the time when
''Charley Browne" be-
gan his work as compos-
itor, Seba Smith, another
Maine humorist, was its
editor.

After he had set up the
"Carpet Bag" jokes for
a while, young Browne
essayed one upon his own
account. He disguised
his writing and offered it
as an anonymous contri-
bution. The editor of the " Carpet Bag " knew a joke
when he saw one, and the young compositor set it up
the next day for publication.

He removed, soon after, to the little town of Tiffin,
Ohio, where he found an opportunity as a reporter as well
as compositor. But there either his roving disposition
declared itself or he wished to be rid of typesetting.
He migrated to Toledo, where he abandoned his trade
and became a fully fledged reporter.

His forte showed itself, at once, as humorous satire,
and before long his witty and caustic paragraphs in the
Toledo " Commercial " attracted attention, which led,
in 1858, to an invitation to the staff of the Cleveland
** Plaindealer." He was then but twenty-three years

Artemus Ward.

2/5

old. He liad, until then, used no distinctive signature,
but he adopted the nom de plume of " Artemus Ward,
Traveling Showman from Baldwinsville, Injianny."
He advertised his show as comprising, among other
interesting objects, " 3 moral Bares, a Kangaroo
('tw^ould make you lafT yourself to deth to see the little
cuss jump up and squeal), wax figgers of Genl. Wash-
ington, Capt. Kidd, Genl. Taylor, Dr. Webster, and
other celebrated piruts and murderers." In this style
he was unique, and the great army of his imitators
seem only toilsome laborers who never succeed in
manufacturing anything that approaches his fresh fun.

" He can scarcely be said to have had any models,"
says Mr. Northcroft, " although Artemus himself de-
clared that in the beginning Seba Smith's w^ork served
him to some extent as a pattern."

" Some kind person has sent me Chawcer's poems,"
writes Artemus. "Mr. C. had talent, but he couldn't
spel. It is a pity that Chawcer, who had geneyus, was
so unedicated."

We find, soon afterwards, that he has gone to New York
cityand is editing** Vanity Fair," the American" Punch."
But it is from the " Plaindealer " that his success may be
dated. His nomadic nature asserted itself, and editorial
duties were an irksome round. He planned a lecturing
tour with the then fashionable panorama as an adjunct.
Finding that his finances would scarcely warrant his
investing in an expensive panorama, he bought a poor
and cheap one, and announced on his program: "The
panorama illustrating Mr. Ward's lecture is rather worse
than panoramas usually are."

276

On appearing before his audience he would gravely
announce his subject, then tell what he called a little
story, which, with jokes, would last about an hour and
a half. He would then gravely remark, " I now come
to my subject." Pulling out his watch with apparent
embarrassment, he would say, " But I have exceeded
my time! " and would dismiss his audience with a con-
fusion which seemed absolutely genuine.

There were always a few grave faces, people who
could not or would not see the point of his jokes ; so he
inserted in his program this notice : " Mr. Ward will
call on the citizens of London, at their residences, and
explain any jokes in his narrative which they may not
understand." While in England he wrote a series of
letters to " Punch," which are among his best efforts.

He had been very severe upon the Mormons, and he
went among them to lecture, feeling some doubt as to
his reception. But on his return he announced that the
Mormons were not such '' unprincipled retches " as he
had described. " Their religion is singular," he said,
" but their wives are plural. Brigham Young is an
indulgent father and a numerous husband. He is the
most married man that I ever saw."

The showman's free-and-easy fun is never coarse or
irreverent of sacred things. He says himself, " I rarely
stain my pages with even mild profanity. It is wicked,
in the first place, and not funny, in the second."

The London "Times" said: "His humor is utterly
free from offense. Not only are his jokes irresistible,
but his shrewd remarks prove him a man of reflection as
well as a consummate humorist."

277

No man had nivore real reverence than the mocking
showman, or greater fineness and dehcacy of sentiment,
as is shown by his devotion to his mother. What he
said in his dehciously funny interview with Prince
Napoleon was quite seriously true : he '* bleeved in
morality, likewise in meet'n'-houses."

These are the reasons he gives for asking personal
questions about the emperor. " I want to know how he
stands as a man. I know he's smart. He's cunnin', he's
long-headed, he is grate. But onless he is gcwd he'll
come down with a crash, one of these days, and the
Bonypartes will be busted up ag'in! Bet yer life."

Thoroughly characteristic of his effortless wit is the
story of his appearance before his wife after some sup-
posed great change in his looks. " * Maria, do you know
me?' I asked," says Artemus. " 'You old fool, of course
I do ! ' answers Maria, crisply. I perceived at once that
she did."

He died of consumption when he was but thirty-two,
regretted and beloved, as his friend Robertson says, by
all who knew him.

In the record office at Paris, the shire town of Oxford
countv, Maine, is the will of Artemus Ward, made in
England just before his death. It was in some respects
a " goak," and is pathetic because it shows signs of being
a forced one, the first of that kind of which its author
was ever guilty. It is inscribed on two heavy sheets of
parchment, about two feet square, in old iMiglish text,
decorated with capitals and flourishes that it must
have taken hours to fashion. The instrument begins:
** This is the will of me, Charles Farrar Browne, known

278

as Artemus Ward." The testator directs that his body
be buried in Waterford lower village, and bequeaths his
library to the best scholar in Waterford upper village,
and his manuscripts to R. H. Stoddard and Charles
Dawson Shanley. After a few minor bequests to his
mother and other relatives he gives the balance of his
property, which he intimates is considerable, to found an
asylum for worn-out printers. Horace Greeley is to be
sole trustee, and his receipt is to be the only security
demanded of him. The printer's asylum, was a joke, as
he knew that the property he left was scarcely sufficient
to pay the minor bequests. The parchment was sent to
the Oxford probate court in a tin box, secured by a
padlock and stamped with the British coat of arms.

He was of quaint appearance, having a long, lank
figure and rugged features. He always wrote his
jokes sitting with his long legs hooked up on the arms
of his office chair, and generally in convulsions of
laughter, although when he delivered himself of the
jokes in public he was as grave as a judge.

An old friend writes of him: "Charley's was a
gentle and beautiful spirit. And I always think that
just such wit as his could have blossomed nowhere but
in Maine."

" It is better not to know so much," says the show-
man, ** than to know so many things that ain't so!

School Histories of the United States

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