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=== Raid on Northfield and Rutland, Massachusetts ===
=== Raid on Northfield and Rutland, Massachusetts ===
To defend against these attacks, the English built [[Fort Dummer]] (near present-day [[Brattleboro, Vermont]]) in 1724.
To defend against Gray Lock attacks at Northfield and Rutland, the English built [[Fort Dummer]] (near present-day [[Brattleboro, Vermont]]) in 1724.<ref>A history of the town of Northfield, Massachusetts: for 150 years, with an ... By Josiah Howard Temple, p. 195</ref>


=== Battle at Norridgewock (1724)===
=== Battle at Norridgewock (1724)===

Revision as of 10:03, 20 October 2010

Dummer's War
Date1722–1725
Location
Northern New England and Nova Scotia
Result Skirmishing ceased by 1725.
Belligerents
New England Colonies
Mohawk		 Wabanaki Confederacy
Abenaki
Pequawket
Mi'kmaq
Maliseet

Dummer's War (1722–1725), (also known as Lovewell's War, Father Rale's War, Greylock's War, Three Years War or the 4th Indian War) was a series of battles between New England and the Wabanaki Confederacy (specifically Mi'kmaq, Maliseet, and Abenaki), who were allied with New France.[1] The war took place in the three northernmost British colonies - Nova Scotia, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts (which included present-day Maine and Vermont).[2] The root cause of the conflict was tension over the ownership of these regions.

The war was commemorated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow with his poem, "The Battle of Lovells Pond", and by Nathaniel Hawthorne with his story, "Roger Malvin's Burial".

Historical context

The war occurred as a result of an expansion of New England settlements along the Kennebec River (in present-day Maine) and of the movement of more New England fishermen into Nova Scotia waters (particularly at Canso). The Treaty of Utrecht (1713), which ended Queen Anne's War, had facilitated this expansion. The treaty, however, had been signed in Europe and had not involved any member of the Wabanaki natives. None had been consulted, and they protested through raids on British fishermen and settlements.[3] For the first and only time, Wabanaki would fight New Englanders and the British on their own terms and for their own reasons and not principally to defend French imperial interests.[4] In response to Wabanaki hostilities toward the expansion, the governor of Nova Scotia, Richard Phillips, built a fort in traditional Mi'kmaq territory at Canso, Nova Scotia (1720), and Massachusetts Governor Shute built forts on traditional Abenaki territory around the mouth of the Kennebec River: Fort George at Brunswick (1715); St. George's Fort at Thomaston (1720); and Fort Richmond (1721) at Richmond.[5]

These fortifications escalated the conflict. A Jesuit missionary named Sébastien Rale (Rasles) was stationed at Norridgewock, while an Abenaki named Gray Lock led raids against the encroaching New England settlements. In the fall of 1721, the Abenakis burned the farms and killed livestock in the settlements around Casco Bay.[6] Governor Shute chose to launch a punitive expedition against Father Rale at Norridgewock in March 1722. While the New England Rangers were unsuccessful in capturing Father Rale, they plundered the church and Rale's cabin.[7] In response, on June 13, the Abenakis raided Brunswick, a British settlement at Merrymeeting Bay near the mouth of the Kennebec River.[8] In early July 1722, 500-600 natives laid siege to Fort St. Georges at Thomaston, Maine for twelve days. Five New Englanders were killed as were twenty natives.[9] Following this raid, Brunswick was raided and burned.[10]

In Nova Scotia, the Mi'kmaq raided the new fort at Canso (1720). Under potential siege, in May 1722, Lieutenant Governor John Doucett took 22 Mi'kmaq hostage at Annapolis Royal to prevent the capital from being attacked.[11] In July 1722 the Abenaki and Mi'kmaq created a blockade of Annapolis Royal, with the intent of starving the capital.[12] The natives captured 18 fishing vessels and prisoners from present-day Yarmouth to Canso. They also seized prisoners and vessels from the Bay of Fundy.

As a result of the escalating conflict, Massachusetts Governor Samuel Shute officially declared war on the Abenaki on July 22, 1722.[13] Lieutenant Governor William Dummer, after whom the war is named, took the position of acting Governor the following year in 1723.

Northern New England theatre

Battle at Georgetown (1722)

On September 10, 1722, 400 or 500 St. Francois and Mickmak Indians, fell upon Arrowsick, Georgetown, Maine. Captain Penhallow discharged musketry from a small guard. Three of the natives were wounded and one killed. This defense gave the inhabitants of the village time to retreat into the garrison. The Indians, then falling upon the cattle, killed fifty head, and set twenty-six houses on fire. In a new assault upon the fort, the natives made no impression. The New Englanders lost one man. At night, arrived Col. Walton and Capt. Harman, with thirty men, who were joined by about forty from the garrison, under Captains Penhallow and Temple. The New Englanders attack the natives until they were overwhelmed by the number of them and retreated back into the garrison, eventually leaving the natives to retire up the river.[14] On their return to Norridgewock the natives also attacked Fort Richmond at Richmond, Maine.[15]

1723 Campaign

In the present-day state of Maine, the natives carried on a guerilla war against the New Englanders in which there were 13 raids against New Englanders. On March 9, 1723, Coronel Thomas Westbrook lead 230 men to the Penobscot river and went approximately 32 miles upward to present-day Old Town, Maine, next to the Indian Island. They marched through the woods for days and found a large native fort (70 yards by 50 yards, with 14 foot walls surrounding 23 wigwams). There was also a large chapel (60x 30 feet). The village was vacant of people and the soldiers burned it to the ground.[16]

In April 1723, there was a raid on Falmouth who mistook Chubb to be Captain Harmen, killed him. On April 19, 1723, Scarborough was raided in which Roger Deering, his wife, two other inhabitants and two soldier were killed. Taken captive were three adults and three of Deerings children.[17]

In May 1723, the natives killed two people in a raid on Berwick, one at Wells and two on the way to York.

August and September 1723, there were raids on Saco, Dover, Rutland, and Northfield.[18] Captain Heath and 13 men including two Mohawks met with 30 natives in the battle at Richmond. They killed two and drove off the rest. One New Englander was killed and two wounded.

In a raid at Mount Desert, one Capt. Cogswell and his crew, were surprised and taken, in October, at Mount-Desert, as they were stepping ashore; and about the same time, Smith and Bailey were killed at Cape-Porpoise, one on Vaughan's Island, and the other on die seashore, not far from the site of the old meeting-house.

On December 25, 1723, 60 Natives laid siege to St. Georges fort for thirty days. But Capt. Kennedy, the commanding officer held out till Col. Westbrook arrived and put the enemy to flight.[19]

Spring 1724 Campaign

During the spring of 1724, primarly in present-day Maine, natives killed, wounded or imprisoned over 30 New Englanders in ten raids. On March 23, the fort at Cape Porpoise was attacked and a seargent was killed. On April 17 a farmer was killed at Black point, while his two sons were imprisoned at Norridgewock. In Kennebunk harbor, a sloop was taken, and the whole crew was put to death. About the same time, three men were killed at a saw-mill on the same river. At Berwick, in May, a father was killed, one of his children was imprisoned while the other was escaped being scapled but was seriously wounded. Another man also survived a scalping attempt although his body was badly mangled. One other person was killed.[20] On May 1, 1724, on the St. George's river Captain Josiah Winslow and thirteen men were ambushed by natives in over 90 natives in 30 canoes.[21] The natives Tarrantine’s were reported to have lost over 25 warriors. On May 27 at Purpooduck, the natives killed one man and wounded another. On the same day, a man was killed at Saco.

July 17 at Spurwick, one Englander was killed and one native.[22]

During this campaign, assisted by the Mi’kmaq from Cape Sable, Nova Scotia, the natives also engaged in a naval campaign. In just a few weeks they had captured twenty-two vessels, killing 22 New Englanders and taking more prisoner. (p. 127) They also made an unsuccessful siege of St. George’s Fort.

Raid on Northfield and Rutland, Massachusetts

To defend against Gray Lock attacks at Northfield and Rutland, the English built Fort Dummer (near present-day Brattleboro, Vermont) in 1724.[23]

Battle at Norridgewock (1724)

Battle at Norridgewock (August 1724): Death of Father Sebastian Rale

In August 22 1724, 100 Massachusetts rangers under Captains Jeremiah Moulton and Johnson Harmon arrived at Norridgewock, Maine to assassinate Father Sébastien Rale and destroy the settlement. Rale was killed in the opening moments of the battle, a leading chief was killed and the rangers massacred nearly two dozen women and children.[24]. The English had casualties of two militiamen and one Mohawk. [25]

Raid on Winnipiscogee Lake

On December 10, 1724, Captain John Lovewell along with a company of rangers killed two Abenakis.[26]

Lovewell and his militia company (often called "snowshoe men") of 30 men left Dunstable on their first expedition in December of 1724, trekking to the north of Lake Winnipesaukee ("Winnipiscogee Lake") into the White Mountains of New Hampshire. On December 19, 40 miles (64 km) north of Winnipesaukee, the troop came upon a wigwam, where they killed and scalped an Abenaki man and took an Abenaki boy captive in response to the abduction of two men from Dunstable and the ambush and killing of eight others by Abenaki warriors. The company was paid 200 pounds for the scalp (150 pounds plus 50 pounds over and above).

Battle at Wakefield

In February 1725, Lovewell made a second expedition to the area and killed another ten Indians near Lake Winnipesaukee.[27]

On February 20 they came across a recently inhabited wigwam and followed tracks for some five miles. On the banks of a pond at the head of the Salmon Falls River in the present town of Wakefield, New Hampshire they came upon more wigwams with smoke rising from them. Some time after 2:00 AM Lovewell gave the order to fire. A short time later ten Indians lay dead. The Indians were said to have had numerous extra blankets, snowshoes, moccasins, a few furs and new French muskets, which would seem to indicate that they were on their way to attack frontier settlements. Preventing such an attack is probably the true success of this expedition.

Early in March Lovewell's troops arrived in Boston. They paraded their Indian scalps through the streets, Lovewell himself wearing a wig made of Indian scalps. The bounty paid was 1000 pounds (100 per scalp).

Raid on Fryeburg

During his last expedition, Lovewell died in a fight against the Pequawket tribe at Fryeburg, Maine, on May 8, 1725.

The third expedition consisted of only 46 men and left from Dunstable on April 16, 1725. They built a fort at Ossipee and left 10 men, including the doctor and John Goffe, to garrison the fort while the rest left to raid the Abenaki town of Pequawket, now Fryeburg. On May 9, as the militiamen were being led in prayer by chaplain Jonathan Frye, a lone Abenaki warrior was spotted. Lovewell's men waited until the warrior was close and fired at him but missed. The Abenaki returned fire, killing Lovewell. Ensign Seth Wyman, Lovewell's second in command, killed the warrior with the next shot. Chaplain Frye then scalped the dead Indian. The militia had left their packs a ways back so as to be unencumbered by them in battle. Two returning war parties of Abenaki led by Paugus and Nat found them and waited in ambush for the returning militia. Eight men were killed in the first volley by the Indian warriors. The battle continued for more than 10 hours until Ensign Wyman killed the Indian war chief Paugus. With the death of Paugus the rest of the Indians soon vanished into the forest. Only 20 of the militiamen survived the battle; three died on the retreat home. The Abenaki losses except for Paugus are unknown. The Abenaki deserted the town of Pequawket after the battle and fled to Canada.

Nova Scotia theatre

Battle at Jeddore Harbour (1722)

The first battle of Dummer's War happened in the Nova Scotia theatre.[2] In response to the blockade of Annapolis Royal, at the end of July 1722, New England launched a campaign to end the blockade and retrieve over 86 New England prisoners taken by the natives. One of these operations resulted in the Battle at Winnepang (Jeddore Harbour), in which thirty-five natives and five New Englanders were killed.[28] Only five native bodies were recovered from the battle, and the New Englanders decapitated the corpses and set the severed heads on pikes surrounding Canso's new fort. [29]

Raid on Canso (1723)

In 1723, the village was raided again by the Mi'kmaq, who killed five fishermen. In this same year, the New Englanders built a twelve-gun blockhouse to guard the village and fishery.[30]

Raid on Annapolis Royal (1724)

The worst moment of the war for the capital came in early July 1724 when a group of sixty Mikmaq and Maliseets raided Annapolis Royal. They killed and scalped a sergeant and a private, wounded four more soldiers, and terrorized the village. They also burned houses and took prisoners.[31] The British responded by executing one of the Mi'kmaq hostages on the same spot the sergeant was killed. They also burned three Acadian houses in retaliation.[32]

As a result of the raid, three blockhouses were built to protect the town. The Acadian church was moved closer to the fort so that it could be more easily monitored.[33]

Aftermath

Peace treaties were signed in Maine in December 1725 and in June of the following year in Nova Scotia. Unlike the Maine natives, the Mi'kmaq and Maliseet of Nova Scotia refused to declare themselves British subjects.[34] The war had been as much a native victory as it was a British one. The British were forced to acknowledge that the natives had a right to possess their land.[35] The peace in Nova Scotia would last for eighteen years.[36]

References

Sources
  • The history of the state of Maine: from its first discovery, A.D ..., Volume 2 By William Durkee Williamson. 1832. The history of the state of Maine
  • John Grenier. The Far Reaches of Empire. University of Oklahoma Press. 2008
Endnotes
  1. ^ The war had little organized leadership, and was mostly a series of skirmishes. Exactly which of these should be considered part of the war remains a matter of dispute.
  2. ^ a b The Nova Scotia theatre of the Dummer War is named the "Mi'kmaq-Maliseet War" by John Grenier. The Far Reaches of Empire: War in Nova Scotia 1710-1760. University of Oklahoma Press. 2008.
  3. ^ William Wicken. "Mi'maq Decisions: Antoine Tecouenemac, the Conquest, and the Treaty of Utrecht". In John Reid et al (eds). The Conquest of Acadia, 1710: Imperial, Colonial and Aboriginal Constructions. University of Toronto Press. 2004. pp. 96
  4. ^ William Wicken, p. 96
  5. ^ The history of the state of Maine: from its first discovery, A.D ..., Volume 2 by William Durkee Williamson. 1832. p.88, 97. The French claimed the same territory on the Kennebec River by building churches in the Abenaki villages of Norridgewock and Medoctec further up the Kennebec River. (See John Grenier. The Far Reaches of Empire. University of Oklahoma Press. 2008. p. 51, p. 54)
  6. ^ Faragher, p. 163
  7. ^ John Grenier, p. 55
  8. ^ Grenier, p. 55; William Williamson, p. 114
  9. ^ Grenier, p. 59; William Williamson, p. 115
  10. ^ William Williamson, p. 116
  11. ^ Grenier, p. 56
  12. ^ Beamish Murdoch. History of Nova Scotia or Acadia, p. 399
  13. ^ A history of Nova-Scotia, or Acadie, Volume 1, by Beamish Murdoch, p. 398
  14. ^ William Williamson, p. 119
  15. ^ William Williamson, p. 119
  16. ^ (William Williamson, p. 120)
  17. ^ (William Williamson, p. 123)
  18. ^ (William Williamson, p. 123)
  19. ^ (William Williamson, p. 125)
  20. ^ (William Williamson, p. 125)
  21. ^ (William Williamson, p.126).
  22. ^ (p. 127)
  23. ^ A history of the town of Northfield, Massachusetts: for 150 years, with an ... By Josiah Howard Temple, p. 195
  24. ^ John Grenier, p. 84
  25. ^ The Boston authorities gave a reward for the scalps, and Harmon was promoted. Harmond was known for his bloodthirsty attitude towards the Indians. In 1715, male members of the Harmon family massacred Native Americans at a pow-wow in York, Maine. The local minister, Samuel Moody, stated that God would punish the Harmons so that there would be no more males to carry on the name.
  26. ^ John Grenier, p. 65
  27. ^ John Grenier, p. 65
  28. ^ Beamish Murdoch. A history of Nova-Scotia, or Acadie, Volume 1, p. 399
  29. ^ Geoffery Plank, An Unsettled Conquest, p. 78
  30. ^ Benjamin Church, p. 289; John Grenier, p. 62
  31. ^ Faragher, John Mack, A Great and Noble Scheme New York; W. W. Norton & Company, 2005. pp. 164-165.
  32. ^ Brenda Dunn, p. 123
  33. ^ Brenda Dunn, pp. 124-125
  34. ^ John Grenier, p. 70
  35. ^ John Grenier, p. 71
  36. ^ John Faragher, p. 167

External links

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