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==The Campaign==
==The Campaign==
Beaubassin led 500 of the [[Wabanaki Confederacy]]. A party of the Confederacy came from ([[Norridgewock]]), which was under the direction of Father [[Sebastian Rale]]. Rigaud de Vaudreuil said later that the Abenakis were added to the expedition after Father Rale had assured him that his Indians would be “ready to take up the hatchet against the English whenever he [Vaudreuil] gave them the order.”<ref>http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=1058</ref>
⚫
Beaubassin led 500 of the [[Wabanaki Confederacy]]. They divided into six battalions. On August 10, 1703, they coordinated their advance on the settlements and attacked simultaneously Wells, Cape-Porpoise, Saco, Scarborough, Spurwink, Purpooduck and Casco. <ref>The history of the state of Maine: from its first discovery, A. D ..., Volume 2 By William Durkee Williamson,, p. 42</ref>

⚫
They divided into six battalions. On August 10, 1703, they coordinated their advance on the settlements and attacked simultaneously Wells, Cape-Porpoise, Saco, Scarborough, Spurwink, Purpooduck and Casco. <ref>The history of the state of Maine: from its first discovery, A. D ..., Volume 2 By William Durkee Williamson,, p. 42</ref>


=== Wells ===
=== Wells ===

Revision as of 08:17, 22 January 2012

Northeast Coast Campaign
Part of Queen Anne's War
DateAugust 10-October 6, 1703
Location
Berwick, Maine to Falmouth, Province of Massachusetts Bay (present-day Portland, Maine)
Result French and Wabanaki Confederacy victory
Belligerents
 English colonists  French colonists
 Abenaki
Commanders and leaders
Captain Southack and Major John March. Alexandre Leneuf de La Vallière de Beaubassin
Moxus, Wanongonet and Assacombuit, Leneuf, Sampson
Strength
500 Indians
unknown Frenchmen
Casualties and losses
Raid: 300 persons killed or captured more than unknown

The Northeast Coast Campaign occurred during Queen Anne's War from 10 August until 6 October, 1703, when Alexandre Leneuf de La Vallière de Beaubassin led 500 troops made up of French and the Wabanaki Confederacy attacked the English settlements from Wells, Maine to Casco (present-day Portland, Maine), burning more than 15 leagues of New England country and killed or captured more than 300 persons.[1] [2]

Casco (also known as Falmouth and Portland) was the principal settlement which had been revived after being raided in King William’s War.


Background

Throughout the war, New France and the Wabanaki Confederacy were able to thwart New England expansion into Acadia, whose border New France defined as the Kennebec River in southern Maine.[3]. In 1703, Alexandre Leneuf de La Vallière de Beaubassin, who commanded a few French Canadians and 500 of the natives in the Wabanaki Confederacy, led attacks against New England settlements from Wells to Falmouth (present-day Portland, Maine).[4]

The Campaign

Beaubassin led 500 of the Wabanaki Confederacy. A party of the Confederacy came from (Norridgewock), which was under the direction of Father Sebastian Rale. Rigaud de Vaudreuil said later that the Abenakis were added to the expedition after Father Rale had assured him that his Indians would be “ready to take up the hatchet against the English whenever he [Vaudreuil] gave them the order.”[5]

They divided into six battalions. On August 10, 1703, they coordinated their advance on the settlements and attacked simultaneously Wells, Cape-Porpoise, Saco, Scarborough, Spurwink, Purpooduck and Casco. [6]

Wells

On 21 August (10 August,O.S.) Leneuf and his men made a surprise attack on the little town of Wells and took possession of it. (Canadian bio) The Wabanaki Confederacy raided Wells, killing or capturing 39, while wounding many others. (42). Another battalion raided Cape-Porpoise, while was a desolate community inhabited principally by unshielded fishermen. [7] (The following spring of 1704, after the Raid on Deerfield in February, the Wabanaki again attacked Wells, and York.[8] In 1712, the Wabanaki conducted another Campaign against these villages and towns. They killed or captured twenty-four people in three raids on three villages, one of the villages was Wells.[9])

Saco and Winter Harbor

At Saco, the Wabanaki killed 11 and took 24 captive. (Saco was raided two more times in 1704 and 1705, while Winter Harbor was raided two more times in 1707 and 1710.)[10] They overwhelmed the garrison in the Fort at Winter Harbor, forcing them to submit to terms of captutulation. (22)

Scarborough

As the Wabanaki Confederacy approached the fort at Scarborough, they sent a captive with a flag of truce. The commanding officer kept the captive and vigorously resisted a long siege — till he and his men were extremely exhausted, and on the verge of capture and he was relieved by a New England force. (23) Resettlement of Scarborough started in 1702 when seven settlers arrived from Lynn, Massachusetts and construction began on a fort located on the western shore of Prout's Neck's Garrison's Cove. This fort was commanded by Captain John Larrabee.

On 10 August 1703, five hundred French and Indians under command of the Sieur de Beaubassin made a sudden descent upon English settlements from Casco Bay (Portland) to Wells. The fort on Prout's Neck sat atop a bluff. When the French and Native Americans arrived, they were protected from gunfire by the overhanging cliff. They subsequently began tunneling into the bluff to breach the fort from below. Had it not been for a two-day downpour that made the disturbed bank slough, exposing the previously hidden excavators to snipers in the fort, the French and Native Americans might have been successful in their attempts to capture the fort and the eight people inside. However, Beaubassin retreated in search of easier prey.

Shortly after, on 6 October 200 Wabanaki went North of Falmouth to Black Point and killed or captured 19 settlers in the fields. Soon after the natives attacked the fort, which had a garrison of 8 men under the command of Lieutenant Wyatt. After a fierce resistance, the New Englanders retreated to a boat in the harbour. The Wabanaki then burned the fort.[11]

Spurwink and Purpooduck

The Wabanaki did the most damage to Spurwink and Purpooduck (Cape Elizabeth), in Falmouth. In Spurwink. principally inhabited by the Messrs. Jordans and their families, the Wabanaki killed or captured twenty-two.[12] At Purpooduck, there nine families settled at Spring Point. The Wabanaki killed twenty-five family members and carried away eight prisoners.[13] (312)

Casco

The garrison of 36 men at Casco (Falmouth) was commanded by Major John March.[14] (313). The fort was the “most considerable” fort on the eastern coast. (313) On August 10, 1703, under the leadership of Moxus, Wanongonet and Assacombuit, the Wabanaki appeared unarmed and sent him a message under a flag of truce; pretending they had some important matter to communicate. Apprehending no immediate danger, he proceeded with a guard of only two or three men. The Wabanaki ambushed March and and shot one of his attendents. A garrison of 10 men under Seargent Hook rescued March and they others. The Wabanaki killed two of March’s companions, Phippenny and Kent, in the altercation.

The Wabanaki withdrew and skulked around the peninsula for a week, setting fire to the houses. The rest of the Wabanaki battalions, bringing the total to 500 under the command of Beaubassin, arrived at Casco in 200 canoes to continue the destruction of the village (44, 314). They first took a sloop, two shallops and considerable plunder ; and encouraged by success, they attempted for two days and nights, to undermine the fort from the water side, as was done during King William’s War. On 19 August Capt. Southwick arrived on the Province Galley and relieved the siege.[15] The natives continued to stroll around Casco, they borded a store ship and killed the captain and three others, while wounding two others.[16]

On 26 September, Governor Dudley ordered 360 men to march toward Pegwacket, one of the natives principal head-quarters. Leading 300 New Englanders, Major March chased the Wabanaki back to Pegwacket. March killed 6 and captured 6. These were the first New England reprisals of the war.[17]

York

At the same time, under the leadership of Chief Sampson a group of Wabanaki went south of Falmouth to York and Berwick. At York, they killed the seven members of the Arthur Bragdon family as well as well as taking a widow and her daughter into captivity.[18] (The following spring of 1704, after the Raid on Deerfield in February, the Wabanaki again attacked and killed settlers at York.[19] In 1712, the Wabanaki conducted another Campaign against these villages and towns. They killed or captured twenty-four people in three raids three villages, on of the villages was York.[20])

Berwick

Another party moved on to Berwick, ambushing a group of five New Englanders, killing one, wounding another and three were taken captive. They then attacked the fort, under the command of Captain Brown. The New Englanders repulsed the attack, killing 9 and wounding 9 of the Wababaki. In retaliation, the natives took a man and burned him alive on a stake.[21]

Aftermath

In response to the Northeast Coast Campaign and the Raid on Deerfield, the governors of the northern colonies for action against the French colonies. Governor Dudley wrote that "the destruction of Quebeck [sic] and Port Royal [would] put all the Navall stores into Her Majesty's hands, and forever make an end of an Indian War",[22] the frontier between Deerfield and Wells was fortified by upwards of 2,000 men,[23] and the bounty for Indian scalps was more than doubled, from £40 to £100.[24] Dudley promptly organized a retaliatory raid against Acadia (present-day Nova Scotia). In the summer of 1704, New Englanders under the leadership of Benjamin Church raided Acadian villages at Pentagouet (present-day Castine, Maine), Passamaquoddy Bay (present-day St. Stephen, New Brunswick), Grand Pré, Pisiquid, and Beaubassin (all in present-day Nova Scotia). Church's instructions included the taking of prisoners to exchange for those taken at Deerfield, and specifically forbade him to attack the fortified capital, Port Royal.[25]

The following spring of 1704, after the Raid on Deerfield in February, the Wabanaki again attacked and killed settlers at Berwick, Wells, and York.[26]

In 1712, the Wabanaki conducted another Campaign against these villages and towns. They killed or captured twenty-four people in three raids on York, Kittery and Wells.[27]

Major John March himself would lead an expedition against the Acadia capital of Port Royal (1707).

French drew off a great number of Indian families from the Penobscot, Norridgewock, Saco, and Pequaket tribes, and settled them at St. Francois, in Canada, as a protection against the Iraquois Confederacy. These were called the St. Francois Indians.[28]

Notes

  1. ^ http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?id_nbr=914
  2. ^ Williamson, p. 44
  3. ^ William Williamson. The history of the state of Maine. Vol. 2. 1832. p. 27; Griffiths, E. From Migrant to Acadian. McGill-Queen's University Press. 2005. p.61; Campbell, Gary. The Road to Canada: The Grand Communications Route from Saint John to Quebec. Goose Lane Editions and The New Brunswick Heritage Military Project. 2005. p. 21.
  4. ^ Peckham, p. 62
  5. ^ http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=1058
  6. ^ The history of the state of Maine: from its first discovery, A. D ..., Volume 2 By William Durkee Williamson,, p. 42
  7. ^ The history of the state of Maine: from its first discovery, A. D ..., Volume 2 By William Durkee Williamson,, p. 42
  8. ^ Williamson, p. 45
  9. ^ Williamson, p. 55
  10. ^ (History of York County. 52-53)
  11. ^ Williamson, p. 44
  12. ^ William Williamson, p. 23
  13. ^ William Williamson, p. 23
  14. ^ William Williamson, p. 23
  15. ^ Williamson, p. 44
  16. ^ Williamson, p. 45
  17. ^ Williamson, p. 44
  18. ^ Williamson, p. 44
  19. ^ Williamson, p. 45
  20. ^ Williamson, p. 55
  21. ^ Williamson, p. 44-45
  22. ^ Haefeli and Sweeney, p. 191
  23. ^ Haefeli and Sweeney, p. 190
  24. ^ Melvoin, p. 229
  25. ^ Clark, p. 220
  26. ^ Williamson, p. 45
  27. ^ Williamson, p. 55
  28. ^ Willis, p. 311

References

  • The history of Portland, from 1632 to 1864: with a notice of previous By William Willis p. 311-316
  • Canadian Biography On line – Beaubassin
  • The history of the state of Maine: from its first discovery, A. D ..., Volume 2 By William Durkee Williamson,, p. 42
  • Calloway, Colin Gordon (1997). After King Philip's War: Presence and Persistence in Indian New England. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England. ISBN 9780874518191. OCLC 260111112.
  • Child, Hamilton (1883). Gazetteer and Business Directory of Lamoille and Orleans Counties, Vermont. Syracuse, NY. OCLC 7019124.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Clark, Andrew Hill (1968). Acadia, the Geography of Early Nova Scotia to 1760. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press. OCLC 186629318.
  • Haefeli, Evan (2003). Captors and Captives: The 1704 French and Indian Raid on Deerfield. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press. ISBN 9781558495036. OCLC 493973598. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  • Johnson, Michael (2006). Indian Tribes of the New England Frontier. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 9781841769370. OCLC 255490222. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  • Melvoin, Richard (1989). New England Outpost: War and Society in Colonial Deerfield. New York: W. W. Norton. ISBN 9780393026009. OCLC 17260551.
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