"We have been requested," they said, "by the governor of Quebec, to secure an intelligent prisoner, who is capable of giving information respecting the plans of the English."

Winter came, with
Military expeditions
There was almost a

In conducting him through the wilderness to Quebec, they treated him with the utmost kindness, liberally sharing with him all the provisions they could procure.' unusual severity, and great depth of snow. had engrossed the energies of the people. famine. The whole civilized world was thrown into commotion by this miserable war, commenced by that scourge of humanity, Frederick of Prussia. Hundreds of thousands perished on the battle-field and in the gloomy hospital. More homes were desolated, and widows and orphans made, than can be numbered. There was miscry everywhere, happiness nowhere; and all this merely to decide whether one individual or another should sit upon the throne of Austria. The imagination could scarcely create a more astonishing record of folly and of crime, than the history of the human race presents.

The treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, signed Oct. 7, 1748, gave peace to the world. Several of the chiefs of the Maine Indians met the governor in the council chamber at Boston, on the 23d of June, 1749. There was quite a numerous delegation, representing mainly the Kennebec and the Penobscot, tribes. One of the chiefs, addressing the governor, said,

"We speak from our hearts the words of sincerity and truth. We have brought with us other credentials than our own hearts. These brothers present know that the voice of peace makes the Indians everywhere smile and rejoice." 2

A general council of the chiefs to meet the Massachusetts commissioners was appointed to assemble in Falmouth. The commissioners, five or six in number, were attended by a military guard of about fifty men. We know not how many Indians attended. Nineteen chiefs signed the treaty of peace. It was essentially the same as the "Dummer Treaty." It was called the "Submission and Agreement" of the tribes. When such a storm has been raging over life's ocean, it takes

1 Williamson, vol. ii. p. 253.

a Williamson, vol. ii. p. 268.

some time for the billows to subside. Vagabond white men continued to shoot the Indians. In vain the natives appealed to the legal tribunals for redress. "Certain it is, that whenever a white person was tried for killing an Indian, even in times of profound peace, he was invariably acquitted, it being impossible to impanel a jury on which there were not some who had suffered by the Indians, either in their persons, families, or estates."

Predatory bands of savages from Canada, accustomed to plunder, continued for a time their banditti excursions, killing, plundering, and burning. "But it was manifest that the instances of mischief were principally acts of mere revenge committed by stragglers and renegadoes, unencouraged probably by any tribe. The sagamores of Penobscot, and even of Norridgewock, declared that they had no share in the late rupture, and expressed strong desires of immediately renewing their former trade and connections with the English."1

The intelligent Indians could not look upon the continued encroachments of the English without anxiety. Though conscious that this could not be prevented by any force of arms which they could wield, they made frequent and earnest appeals to the government, in vindication of what they deemed their rights. Permanent and steadily increasing settlements were established at Woolwich, Edgecomb, Bath, Dresden, Bowdoinham, Topsham, and many other places. Strong fortifications were arising at many important points.

It is supposed that the whole population of Maine, in 1744, was from twelve to fifteen thousand.2 Falmouth was the largest town in the Province. The hunting grounds and fishing sites of the natives were fast passing from them. Soon after this, the English claimed all the land from the Kennebec River east to the Sheepscot, and as far up the Kennebec as Norridge wock. They were taking possession of the territory, and strengthening themselves in it. Gov. Shirley, with several commissioners, met a number of the sagamores at Fort Richmond. There is something pitiable in the tone of the chief Indian speaker on this occasion. He said,

1 Williamson, vol. ii. p. 272.

2 Smith's Journal, p. 137.

"Here is a river which belongs to us. You have lately built a new gar rison here. We now only ask that you will be contented to go no farther up the river than this fort. We live wholly by this land, and live but poorly. The Penobscot Indians hunt on one side of us, and the Canada Indians on the other. Therefore do not turn us off this land. We are willing that you should hold possession of all the lands from this fort downward to the sea."

The governor exhibited deeds, signed by Indian chiefs, in proof that the English had purchased the lands. Ongewasgone replied, and without doubt very truthfully,

"I am an old man, and yet I never heard any of my ancestors say that these lands were sold. We do not think that these deeds are false; but we apprehend that you got the Indians drunk, and so took advantage of them, when you bought the lands."

At the close of this conference one of the chiefs said, "I would add one word more. Our young men are very apt to get drunk. We entreat you to give orders to Capt. Lithgow, not to let any one of them have any more rum than one quart in two days."1

The question as to the title to the lands, the English decided in their own favor, declaring that they had been deeded to them by the Indians. Of course the Indians felt deeply aggrieved. The first town incorporated, within what was called the territory of Sagadahoc, was Newcastle, so named from the Duke of Newcastle, who was secretary of the king, and was deemed friendly to the colonies.

There were increasing dissatisfaction and murmurs with individual Indians. It was also asserted that the French were endeavoring to incite them to renew hostilities. The most convenient route from Quebec to the eastern provinces of Maine, was to follow up the Chaudière about a hundred miles, then to cross the unbroken wilderness through an Indian trail, a distance of about fifty miles, to the Kennebec, near the mouth of Dead River. This point was about fifty miles above the Indian settlement at Norridgewock. It was apprehended that the Indians far away upon these upper waters of the river, gathering from Maine and Canada, and aided by the French, might

1 Journal of the Rev. Thomas Smith, pp. 153, 154.

establish a general rendezvous, and make raids upon the lower
settlements. No such attempt was, however, undertaken, and
there is no evidence that such was ever contemplated. Subse-
quent events render it much more probable that the rumor was
started by designing men, as an excuse for taking possession of
the lands on the upper waters of the river, by erecting forts.

The governor ordered six companies to be organized ready to
march at the shortest notice. He also issued the severe com-
mand, that, should any Indians of Norridgewock be guilty of
any mischief, the troops should advance upon their village,
utterly destroy it, and either kill or capture every member of
the tribe. The government ordered a very strong fort to be
built at Teconnet, on the eastern bank of the Kennebec, at the
junction between that river and the Sebasticook.
This was
making an advance from Fort Richmond, thirty-five miles up
the river, into the territory which the Indians claimed as their
own, and from which they had so earnestly entreated that they
might not be driven. This fort was garrisoned by eight hun-
dred men.
In anticipation of another war with the French and
Indians, an alliance was formed by the English with the
Mohawks, the fiercest warriors on the continent.

The great and terrible struggle was approaching between the
two most powerful kingdoms on the globe, France and England,
for the possession of this continent. France was beginning to
rear her forts from the Lakes to New Orleans, intending to hold
control of the majestic valleys of the Ohio and the Mississippi,
and to shut up the English upon the narrow border east of the
Alleghanies. England was resolved to drive the French from
Canada, and to take possession of the whole country. In the
awful conflict which ensued, not only the poor Indians were
doomed to be crushed, but thousands of humble European emi-
grants suffered woes the very recital of which tortures the soul.

1 History of Maine, by William Williamson, vol. ii. p. 297.

CHAPTER XX.

THE OLD FRENCH WAR, AND THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION COMMENCED.

The Upper Kennebec explored-New Forts built-War with the Indians Renewed-English Atrocities-War between France and England -- Feebleness of the Indians — Incorporation of Towns-Efforts of England to Enslave America-The Stamp Act - The Tea Tax- Battle of LexingtonPatriotism of the People of Maine - Scenes in Falmouth-Visit of the British Sloop-of-War - Capture of Capt. Mowatt - His Threats.

FIVE

IVE hundred troops were sent up the Kennebec River to explore the carrying-places between that river and the Chaudière. It was ascertained that no fort had been attempted in that region, by either the French or the Indians. The site selected by the English for the new fort was beautiful. It was three-quarters of a mile below Teconnet Falls. It was built of solid timber, twenty feet in height, and sufficiently capacious to accommodate a garrison of four hundred men. The name given this structure was Fort Halifax.

Two other forts, quite similar in strength, were built farther down the river, each of them on the eastern side. One was at Cushnoc,1 now Augusta, near the eastern end of the present bridge. They gave it the name of Fort Western. The other was about a mile above the northern end of Swan Island. It was called Fort Shirley.2 From Fort Western to Fort Halifax was a distance of eighteen miles, through a pathless and uninhabited wilderness. The governor ordered a road to be cut through the forest suitable for wheel carriages. Arrangements

1 This name is sometimes spelled Cushenoc.

2 As this was situated in the plantation of Frankfort, it was sometimes called Fort Frankfort.