Northeast Coast campaign (1677)
The Northeast Coast Campaign (1677) happened during King Philips War and involved the Wabanaki Confederacy raiding English settlements along the New England/ Acadia border in present-day Maine. They killed eighty colonists and burned many farms, blunting the tide of English expansion.[1] Settlers deserted community after community, leaving only the settlements south of the Saco River to maintain an Anglo presence in the region.[2] Historian Georges Cerbelaud Salagnac writes, that Castine and the Abanaki “displayed consummate skill at it, holding in check at every point, from the Penobscot River to Salmon Falls, N.H., and even beyond, 700 regular troops, and even inflicting humiliating defeats upon them.”[3]
Historical context
Jean-Vincent d'Abbadie de Saint-Castin was sent from Quebec at the outset of the war with the Governors orders to organize all the natives "throughout the whole colony of Acadia to adopt the interests of the king of France.”[4] After Saint-Castin had settled among the Abenakis, King Philip (Pometacom) and his warriors ravaged New England in 1675 [see CHURCH]. Historian Georges Salagnac writes that, “One may reasonably suppose that Saint-Castin began to exercise his talents as a military counsellor on the occasion of this war.”[5] The people of Boston thought Castine was influencing the Wabanaki strategy and supplying them with superior equipment. The Campaign followed the Northeast Coast Campaign (1775).
Campaign
In Febrary 1777, Waldon again betrayed the Wabanaki by offering a peace conference in which he disarmed and seized the native leaders. (133) This event led to the first migration of Abanaki to St. Francis (Odanak). (133) In April Simon raided York and Wells, killing ten English. (133).
In May 14, 1777 the English having returned, Chief Mugg Hegone and his forces again laid siege to present-day Scarborough. The siege lasted three days, the Wabanaki killed three soldiers and captured a fourth. On the third day, Mugg was killed and the Wabanaki militia they ended the siege. They then on to raid York and Wells again, killing 7 (133). As they withdrew they again raided York On June 29, 1777 the Wabanaki militia ambushed large force of English soldiers and English-allied natives near Scarborough. The Wabanaki killed forty English and 20 English-allied natives. (314; 133) That summer the Wabanaki stole 20 English fishig boats off Maine.
On July 18, 1677, at Port La Tour, Nova Scotia, about 80 Mi’kmaq attacked 26 New England fishermen who were in five fishing vessels. The natives boarded the vessels, stripped the men of their clothing, tied them up, leaving them on deck until nightfall, when they commanded them to set sail towards Ponobscot River, in Maine (close to Castine). A few hours later, while still in harbor, the New England captain was able to overthrow the natives. While some natives escaped, the New Englanders imprisoned some of the natives, taking them to Marblehead, Massachusetts where they were tortured and stoned to death by a group of women.[6][7] [8]
The English raids on native villages were unsuccessful. (133)
Afterward
The war ended the following year with a peace treaty.
References
- ^ Mandell, p. 81
- ^ (Churchill, p. 258)
- ^ Canadian Biography - Baron of St. Castine
- ^ Canadian Biography - Baron of St. Castine citing the “Mémoire des services rendus par les sieurs de Saint-Castin, père et fils, dans le pays de Canada en la Nouvelle-France,” drawn up in 1720 by Jean-Vincent’s son, Bernard-ANSELME
- ^ Canadian Biography - Baron of St. Castine
- ^ Deposition of Robert Roules
- ^ James Axtell. The vengeful women of Marblehead : Robert Roules's Deposition of 1677. William and Mary quarterly. 3rd ser., v. 31, no. 4 (Oct. 1974), p. 647-652
- ^ Robert Roule, Deposition, MS 252, Edward E. Ayer Collection, The Newberry Library, Chicago, IL., reprinted in James Axtell, “The Vengeful Women of Marblehead: Robert Roule’s Deposition of 1677,” William and Mary Quarterly 3rd. Ser., 31 (Oct., 1974), 650–52
Texts
- Geoffrey Plank. An Unsettled Conquest. University of Penn.
- Edwin A. Churchill. Mid-Seventeenth-Century Maine: A World on the Edge.
- Daniel R.Mandell. King Philip’s War: Colonial Expansion, Native Resistance, and the End of Indian Sovereignty.
- Eric Schultz and Michael Tougias. King Philip’s War: The History and Legacy of America’s Forgotten Conflict. Vermont: The Countryman Press. 306.