Raid on York (1692)

Last updated
Raid on York (1692)
Part of King William's War
CandlemasPlaque.jpg
Memorial plaque in York, ME
Date24 January 1692
Location 43°08′38″N70°39′02″W / 43.14389°N 70.65056°W / 43.14389; -70.65056
Result French and native victory
Belligerents
Royal Flag of France.svg  New France
Acadia
Abenaki
New England combo flag.svg New England Colonies
Commanders and leaders
Chief Madockawando, Father Louis-Pierre Thury [1]
Sr. de Portneuf [2]
Preble, John Harmon, [3] Alcock, and Norton
Strength
200–300 Abenaki and Canadiens
Casualties and losses
Unknown 75 killed and 100 prisoners [4] Abenaquis reported killing or capturing 187 people [2]

The Raid on York (also known as the Candlemas Massacre) took place on 24 January 1692 [5] [6] during King William's War, when Chief Madockawando and Father Louis-Pierre Thury led 200-300 natives into the town of York (then in the District of Maine and part of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, now in the state of Maine), killing about 100 of the English settlers and burning down buildings, taking another estimated 80 villagers hostage. The villagers were forced to walk to Canada, New France, [1] where they were ransomed by Capt. John Alden Jr. of Boston (son of John Alden and Priscilla Mullins of the Plymouth Colony). One of those taken captive was a young Jeremiah Moulton, who would later gain renown during Father Rale's War. [7]

Contents

Capt. Floyd wrote that "the houses are all burned and rifled except the half dozen or thereabout". Later in the same letter he adds "there is about seventeen or eighteen houses burned". [8] Forty-eight people were buried by Capt. Floyd, and the remaining number were young children whose names never appeared on the existing town records.

Amongst those killed was Reverend Shubael Dummer, the Congregational church minister; Dummer was shot at his own front door, while Dummer's wife, Lydia and their son, were carried away captive where "through snows and hardships among those dragons of the desert she also quickly died"; nothing further was heard of the boy. [9] The Indians set fire to all undefended houses on the north side of the York River, the principal route for trade and around which the town had grown. After the settlement was reduced to ashes, however, it was rebuilt on higher ground at what is today York Village.

Capt. John Flood, who had come with the militia from Portsmouth, found on his arrival that "the greatest part of the whole town was burned and robbed," with nearly 50 killed and another 100 captured. He reported that Rev. Dummer was "barbarously murthered, stript naked, cut and mangled by these sons of Beliall." [10]

There is a memorial plaque in York on a large stone where, according to the plaque, Abenaki Indians left their snowshoes before creeping into York and attacking the settlers.

See also

Related Research Articles

York is a town in York County, Maine, United States, near the southern tip of the state. The population in the 2020 census was 13,723. Situated beside the Atlantic Ocean on the Gulf of Maine, York is a well-known summer resort town. It is home to three 18-hole golf clubs, four sandy beaches, and Mount Agamenticus. From south to north, it is divided into the villages of Bald Head, York Village, York Harbor, York Beach and Cape Neddick.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Penobscot Indian Island Reservation</span> Indian reservation in United States, Penobscot

Penobscot Indian Island Reservation is an Indian reservation for the Penobscot Tribe of Maine, a federally recognized tribe of the Penobscot in Penobscot County, Maine, United States, near Old Town. The population was 758 at the 2020 census. The reservation extends for many miles alongside 15 towns and two unorganized territories in a thin string along the Penobscot River, from its base at Indian Island, near Old Town and Milford, northward to the vicinity of East Millinocket, almost entirely in Penobscot County. A small, uninhabited part of the reservation used as a game preserve and hunting and gathering ground is in South Aroostook, Aroostook County, by which it passes along its way northward.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">King William's War</span> North American theater of the Nine Years War

King William's War was the North American theater of the Nine Years' War (1688–1697), also known as the War of the Grand Alliance or the War of the League of Augsburg. It was the first of six colonial wars fought between New France and New England along with their respective Native allies before France ceded its remaining mainland territories in North America east of the Mississippi River in 1763.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">King Philip's War</span> 1675–78 war in New England

King Philip's War was an armed conflict in 1675–1676 between a group of indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands against the English New England Colonies and their indigenous allies. The war is named for Metacom, the Pokanoket chief and sachem of the Wampanoag who adopted the English name Philip because of the friendly relations between his father Massasoit and the Plymouth Colony. The war continued in the most northern reaches of New England until the signing of the Treaty of Casco Bay on April 12, 1678.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dummer's War</span> Conflict between the New England Colonies and the Wabanaki Confederacy (1722–25)

Dummer's War (1722–1725) was a series of battles between the New England Colonies and the Wabanaki Confederacy, who were allied with New France. The eastern theater of the war was located primarily along the border between New England and Acadia in Maine, as well as in Nova Scotia; the western theater was located in northern Massachusetts and Vermont in the frontier areas between Canada and New England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Dummer</span> Politician in colonial Massachusetts

William Dummer was an American-born politician and colonial administrator who spent the majority of his life in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. Dummer served as the colony's lieutenant governor from 1716 to 1730, including an extended period from 1723 to 1728 when he acted as governor. He is remembered for his role in leading the colony during Dummer's War, which was fought between the British New England Colonies and a loose coalition of Indian tribes in modern-day New Hampshire, Maine, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Alden (sailor)</span> Convicted in the Salem witch trials

Capt. John Alden Jr. was a Colonial soldier, politician, merchant, and sailor born in the Plymouth Colony. He was a well-known public figure in his time but is now chiefly remembered as a survivor of the Salem witch trials, of which he wrote a much quoted and studied account.

Madockawando was a sachem of the Penobscot, an adopted son of Assaminasqua, whom he succeeded. He led the Penobscot on the side of the French against the English during King William's War.

Richard Dummer was an early settler in New England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeremiah Dummer (silversmith)</span> American silversmith and painter

Jeremiah Dummer was an American silversmith, painter, and engraver. He created the first paper currency in the Connecticut Colony, and his son Jeremiah Dummer was involved with the foundation of Yale University.

Rev. Shubael Dummer was an American Congregational church minister who was killed in the Raid on York in York, Massachusetts Bay Colony. Described as a man of "beautiful Christian character", Dummer founded the First Parish Congregational Church of York, the oldest church congregation in what is now the U.S. state of Maine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raid on Wells (1692)</span> Action of King Williams War

The Raid on Wells occurred during King William's War when French and Wabanaki Confederacy forces from New France attacked the English settlement at Wells, Maine, a frontier town on the coast below Acadia. The principal attack (1692) was led by La Brognerie, who was killed. Commander of the garrison, Captain James Converse, successfully repelled the raid despite being greatly outnumbered.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Pemaquid (1689)</span> Action of King Williams War

The siege of Pemaquid was a successful attack by a large band of Abenaki Indians on the English fort at Pemaquid, Fort Charles, then the easternmost outpost of colonial Massachusetts. The French-Abenaki attack was led by Jean-Vincent d'Abbadie de Saint-Castin and Father Louis-Pierre Thury and Chief Moxus. The fall of Pemaquid was a significant setback to the English. It pushed the frontier back to Casco (Falmouth), Maine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Norridgewock</span> Massacre of Wabanaki people at Norridgewock, Maine, during Father Rales War in 1724

The Battle of Norridgewock was a raid on the Abenaki settlement of Norridgewock by a group of colonial militiamen from the New England Colonies. Occurring in contested lands on the edge of the American frontier, the raid resulted in a massacre of the Abenaki inhabitants of Norridgewock by the militiamen.

Dummer is a surname of Old English origin. It means those from Dummer, Hampshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Richmond (Maine)</span> Massachusetts colonial fort near present-day Richmond Village, Maine

Fort Richmond was a Massachusetts colonial fort near present-day Richmond Village, Maine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Military history of the Maliseet</span>

The Maliseet militia was made up of warriors from the Maliseet of northeastern North America. Along with the Wabanaki Confederacy, the French and Acadian militia, the Maliseet fought the British through six wars over a period of 75 years. They also mobilized against the British in the American Revolution. After confederation, Maliseet warriors eventually joined Canada's war efforts in World War I and World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northeast Coast campaign (1746)</span>

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.

The First Abenaki War was fought along the New England/Acadia border primarily in present-day Maine. Richard Waldron and Charles Frost led the forces in the northern region, while Jean-Vincent d'Abbadie de Saint-Castin worked with the tribes that would make up the Wabanaki Confederacy. The natives engaged in annual campaigns against the English settlements in 1675, 1676, and 1677. Waldron sent forces so far north that he attacked the Mi'kmaq in Acadia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johnson Harmon</span> British army officer (1675-1751)

Colonel Johnson Harmon was an army officer in colonial America. He led the expedition during Father Rale's War that killed Father Sébastien Rale in the Battle of Norridgewock. Harmon was heralded as a hero upon his return to Boston. New England Officer and historian Samuel Penahallow proclaimed the attack was "the greatest victory we have obtained in the three or four last wars."

References

  1. 1 2 York, Maine Settlers Killed by Abnaki Chief Madockawando 25 January 1692 Archived 14 July 2014 at the Wayback Machine , retrieved 2 January 2013
  2. 1 2 Villebon, p. 36, March 18 [ permanent dead link ]
  3. Harmon Genealogy )
  4. William Williamson. The History of the State of Maine. p. 629
  5. Baker Emerson W. and James Kences, Maine, Indian Land Speculation, and the Essex County Witchcraft Outbreak of 1692 Archived 2012-02-22 at the Wayback Machine Maine History, volume 40, number 3, Fall 2001 (pp. 159-189)]
  6. Sewall, Samuel, The Diary of Samuel Sewall: Vol. 1, 1674-1708, Farrar, Straus & Girous: New York, 1973, p. 287, note: This is the date of the Old Style, Julian Calendar. The date New Style, Gregorian is 3 Feb. Candlemas is traditionally celebrated by the Church of England on 23 January or the Sunday between 18 and 24 January (In the Catholic Church day is marked on January 23, forty days after Christmas). Two days after the attack Samuel Sewall recorded in his diary: "Tuesday, Jan. 26, 1691/2 [New Style February 5], ... This day...news was brought of an Attack made by the Indians on York."
  7. Stewart, Alice R. (1974). "Moulton, Jeremiah". In Halpenny, Francess G (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography . Vol. III (1741–1770) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
  8. Banks, Charles Edward, History of York, Maine, successively known as Bristol (1632), Agamentious (1641), Gorgeana (1642), and York (1652). With contributions on topography and land titles by Angevine W. Gowen. Sketches by the author. (Baltimore, Regional Publishing Company, 1967 reprint of first edition: Charles E Banks, Boston, 1931 [Vol.1]... page 295
  9. Dummer, Michael (June 2005). The Family of Dummer; chapter 5 "Richard and Early Days in New England" (7th ed.). p. 26.
  10. Norton, Mary Beth (18 December 2007). In the Devil's Snare. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Archived from the original on 2011-07-08. Retrieved 2 January 2013.

Further reading