Fort Menaskoux

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Fort Menaskoux (previously known as Newtown Fort) was a British colonial fort in present-day Arrowsic, Maine.

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Early settlements on Arrowsic Island

The first major settlement on Arrowsic Island, located east of the Kennebec River and west of the Sasanoa River in what is now southern Maine, was established by Major Thomas Clarke and Captain Thomas Lake in the 1650s. Located in the north of the island on the banks of the Sasanoa, Clarke and Lake operated an extensive business and a small community, engaging in fishing, lumbering, the raising of cattle, and trade with the local Native Americans. [1]

On August 14, 1676, during King Philip's War, the Clarke and Lake settlement was attacked and destroyed by a band of Native Americans. The evening before, an Indian woman appeared at the door of the Clarke and Lake fort seeking shelter. She was admitted, and in the dead of night quietly opened the gate. In rushed warriors, and in the massacre which followed, 30 colonists were either killed and scalped or taken into captivity. Captain Thomas Lake, Sylvanus Davis [2] and two others seized a canoe and paddled to Parker's Island (now Georgetown), where all but Lake escaped alive from their pursuers. As the warehouse was looted and village burned to ashes, a brave sported the captain's hat. [3] The Clarke and Lake settlement site is now of archaeological interest. [4]

In 1679 Sir Edmund Andros, governor of the Province of New York, established a township called Newtown on the southern part of the island, to further a New York claim to the area. [5] It was laid out with a common and, by order of the governor in 1688, a small, square palisaded fort named Fort Newtown was built on the ridge at the southern end of the island. But King William's War broke out in May 1689, and by July, Newtown was destroyed and abandoned. [6]

Construction of Fort Menaskoux

Signed in 1713, the Treaty of Portsmouth brought a truce between the Eastern (Abenaki) Indians and English settlements. Newtown was reestablished in 1714, then incorporated in 1716 as Georgetown-on-Arrowsic, named after King George I. Eventually, the town's boundaries were extended to include Parker's Island, Stage Island and the Plantation of Nequasset (present-day Georgetown, Phippsburg, Bath, West Bath and Woolwich).

During this time Fort Menaskoux was built and Samuel Penhallow was the commander. Beginning on August 9, 1717, Massachusetts Governor Samuel Shute and Panhallow conducted a two-day conference on Arrowsic with delegates of various tribes, who arrived in a flotilla of canoes and encamped on Lee Island opposite the town. They objected to so many English forts in their territory, and Shute responded that he would build them wherever he thought necessary. Incidentally, the governor's boat Squirrel ran aground on what has been known since as Squirrel Point. All the Indians helped him get free. [7]

There was also a conference held with the Eastern Indians at the fort on August 11, 1718. [8]

Raids in Dummer's War

In the summer of 1723 during Dummer's War, Arrowsic was attacked by the Norridgewocks and their 250 Indian allies from Canada during the Northeast Coast Campaign. Incited by French missionary Sebastien Rale, they burned 37 dwellings and killed 300 cattle. The 40 inhabitants fled to the garrison, with only a child lost. When the fort could not be taken, the Indians disappeared upriver. The village was attacked again in 1724.

1758 raid

During the French and Indian War, on June 9, 1758,a band of Natives shot Ebenezer Preble and a workman as they tended his farm on the northern end of the island. They then attacked his garrison, killing his wife and carrying away their 5 children to be sold as servants in Canada. It would be the last Indian attack on the Kennebec River; next year brought the Fall of Quebec. On February 17, 1841, Arrowsic Island was set off from Georgetown and incorporated as the town of Arrowsic. [9]

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Northeast Coast campaign (1746)

The Northeast Coast campaign of 1746 was conducted by the Wabanaki Confederacy of Acadia against the New England settlements along the coast of present-day Maine below the Kennebec River, the former border of Acadia. during King George's War from July until September 1746. They attacked English settlements on the coast of present-day Maine between Berwick and St. Georges, within two months there were 9 raids - every town on the frontier had been attacked. Casco was the principal settlement.

Northeast Coast campaign (1747)

The Northeast Coast campaign of 1747 was conducted by the Wabanaki Confederacy of Acadia against the New England settlements along the coast of present-day Maine below the Kennebec River, the former border of Acadia. during King George's War from July until September 1747. They attacked English settlements on the coast of present-day Maine between Berwick and St. Georges, within two months there were 11 raids - every town on the frontier had been attacked. Casco was the principal settlement.

The Northeast Coast campaign (1724) occurred during Father Rale's War from March 1724 – September 1724. The Wabanaki Confederacy of Acadia attacked the coast of present-day Maine that was below the Kennebec River, the border of Acadia and New England. They attacked English settlements on the coast of present-day Maine between Berwick and Mount Desert Island. Casco was the principal settlement. The 1723 campaign was so successful along the Maine frontier that William Dummer ordered its evacuation to the blockhouses in the spring of 1724.

The Northeast Coast campaign of 1750 occurred during Father Le Loutre's War from 11 September to December 1750. The Norridgewock as well as the Abenaki from St. Francois and Trois-Rivières, Quebec raided British settlements along the Acadia/ New England border in present-day Maine.

The Clarke and Lake Company Archeological Site encompasses all that is left of a historic colonial settlement in Arrowsic, Maine. The site, located on the banks of the Sasanoa River on the northern part of Arrowsic Island, was the local headquarters of the business enterprises operated by Major Thomas Clarke and Captain Thomas Lake. Clarke and Lake were successful merchants and businessmen based in Boston, who at their height claimed more than 450 square miles (120,000 ha) of territory in the Kennebec River watershed, in addition to land holdings and business interests elsewhere. They acquired Arrowsic Island, and established their settlement c. 1654, eventually building a large manor house, warehouse, gristmill and sawmill, and numerous other outbuildings. They developed a small community on the island, with farms and shops, and managed the civic business of the area. Their business included trade with the local Native Americans, fishing, lumbering, and the raising of cattle for shipment to Boston.

Northeast Coast campaign (1756)

The Northeast Coast campaign (1756) occurred during the French and Indian War, in which the Wabanaki Confederacy of Acadia raided the British communities along the former border of New England and Acadia in present-day Maine.

References

  1. ↑ Baker, Emerson (1985). The Clarke & Lake Company: the historical archaeology of a seventeenth-century Maine settlement. Maine Historic Preservation Commission. pp. 1–14. OCLC   12953271.
  2. ↑ Stewart, Alice R. (1979) [1969]. "Davis, Silvanus". In Hayne, David (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography . Vol. II (1701–1740) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
  3. ↑ Rev. Henry O. Thayer, "The Problem of Hammond's Fort; Richard Hammond, His Home and Fort," Collections & Proceedings of the Maine Historical Society, Second Series, Number One; Published by the Society, Portland, Maine 1890
  4. ↑ Baker, p. 17
  5. ↑ Baker, p. 15
  6. ↑ Brief Description and History of Arrowsic, Maine
  7. ↑ A History of Georgetown Island, Maine Archived 2008-09-23 at archive.today
  8. ↑ "Collections, Historical and Miscellaneous and Monthly Literary Journal". Hill and Moore. 1831.
  9. ↑ The Preble Massacre -- June 9, 1758

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