Fort Loyal
| Fort Loyal | |
|---|---|
| Portland, ME | |
 Fort Loyal on Falmouth Neck; map by Henry Barnsley, 1763 | |
| Type | Fort |
| Site information | |
| Controlled by | Great Britain |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1678 |
| In use | 1678-1690, 1742-1763 |
| Materials | log palisade |
| Battles/wars | Battle of Fort Loyal |
| Garrison information | |
| Past commanders | Edward Tyng, Sylvanus Davis |
| Garrison | 15 |
Fort Loyal was a British settler refuge and colonial outpost built in 1678 at Falmouth (present-day Portland, Maine) in Casco Bay. It was destroyed in 1690 by Abenaki and French forces at the Battle of Fort Loyal. Fort Loyal was repaired in 1742 before King George's War and rearmed again in 1755 for the French and Indian War. After the removal of the French threat in 1759, the fort seems to have been demolished sometime before 1775.[1]
The peninsula was first settled by the English in 1632 as a fishing and trading village named Casco. When the Massachusetts Bay Colony took over Casco Bay in 1658, the town's name changed again to Falmouth. In 1676, the village was destroyed by the Abenaki during King Philip's War. English colonists returned two years later when peace resumed.
Fort Loyal was built in 1678 in the center of Portland at the foot of present-day India Street to protect the town from future attacks from the French and Indians. Colonel Edward Tyng was the commandant of Fort Loyal, Maine, 1681–82 and 1686–87 (He was later appointed to command Fort William Henry and then governor of Port-Royal 1691).[2]
During King William's War, a raiding party of French and Native allies completely destroyed the English settlement at Portland in the Battle of Fort Loyal (1690).
Fort Loyal was rebuilt in 1742 before King George's War and then repaired during the French and Indian War in 1755.[3] After the fall of Quebec in 1759 removed the threat of French and Indian attack, the fort no longer had a purpose and seems to have been torn down before the Burning of Falmouth by the British in 1775.
Reverend Thomas Smith described the 1759 celebration at the fort in Portland upon the arrival of news that Quebec had fallen: "The cannon were fired at the fort yesterday and today. Mr. Mayhew's house was illuminated, and small arms fired in the evening, upon further and more authentic news of the victory at Quebec."[4]
Fort New Casco
After the destruction of Fort Loyal, Massachusetts built a palisaded fort in Falmouth, Maine on Casco Bay in 1698 after the conclusion of King William's War. Fort New Casco was built at the behest of local Abenaki who desired a convenient place to trade and sharpen tools, while the British sought to foster better relations with the Indians and pull them away from the French sphere of influence. A 1701 meeting between local Abenaki-Pequawket and Massachusetts officials cemented an alliance between the two. A pair of stone cairns were then erected to symbolize the new partnership. The nearby Two Brothers Islands later received their name from this now long-forgotten monument.[5]
Unfortunately this peace would last less than three years, with the inauguration of Queen Anne's War in 1702. Governor Joseph Dudley held a conference at New Casco with representatives of the Abenaki tribes on June 20, 1703, trying to convince them not to ally with the French.
His efforts were unsuccessful, as the fort was besieged only two months later by Abenaki chiefs Moxus, Wanungonet, Assacombuit and their French Allies in the Northeast Coast Campaign (1703). John March was the commander of the fort.[6] vastly outnumbered English were relieved by the armed vessel "Province Galley", which dispersed the Abenaki and the some 500 French with its guns. The natives killed 25 English and took many others prisoner.[7]
Major Samuel Moody became the commander of the fort in 1707.[8]
Peace returned in 1713 with the Treaty of Portsmouth. When the resettlement of present-day Portland began in 1716, the Province of Massachusetts ordered that the fort at New Casco be demolished rather than maintain it.Fort New Casco's site today lies opposite Pine Grove Cemetery on Route 88.[9]
References
- ^ Robert B. Roberts, Encyclopedia of Historic Forts: The Military, Pioneer, and Trading Posts of the United States, Macmillan: New York, 1988, 10th printing, ISBN 0-02-926880-X, page 367
- ^ http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/tyng_edward_1680_91_1E.html
- ^ William Willis, History of Portland, 431
- ^ The last mention of the fort I could find: W.M. Willis, Journals of the Rev. Thomas Smith and the Rev. Samuel Deane(Portland: 1849), 74.
- ^ http://w3.salemstate.edu/~ebaker/earthfast/earthfastpaper.html
- ^ William Willis. History of Portland, p. 313
- ^ William Willis. History of Portland, p. 312
- ^ William Willis, p. 317
- ^ George J. Varney, Gazetteer of the State of Maine (Boston: 1881), 226-8.