Northeast Coast Campaign (1676)

The Northeast Coast Campaign (1676) happened during King Philips War and involved the Wabanaki Confederacy raiding colonial American settlements along the New England Colonies/Acadia border in present-day Maine. In the first month, they laid waste to 15 leagues (approximately 45 miles (72 km)) of the coast east of Casco.[1][2] They killed and captured colonists and burned many farms, blunting the tide of colonial American expansion. The Campaign of 1676 led the colonists to abandon the region, retreating to Salem, Massachusetts.[3] The Campaign is most notable for Richard Waldron entering the war, the death of Chief Mogg and the attack on the Mi’kmaq that initiated their involvement in the war.

For other uses, see Northeast Coast Campaign.

Historical context

Jean-Vincent d'Abbadie de Saint-Castin was ordered by the Governor of Quebec to organize all the natives "throughout the whole colony of Acadia to adopt the interests of the king of France."[4] 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 Castin was influencing the Wabanaki strategy and supplying them with superior equipment. The Campaign of 1676 followed the Northeast Coast Campaign (1675).

The Campaign

On August 11, led by Simon, led an attack Falmouth, killing or capturing 34 settlers.[6] On August 13, 1676, the Wabanaki attacked Richard Hammond's fortified house in present-day Woolwich, killing fourteen, while two escaped.[7] The following day, natives raided the best fortified settlement in the region, the trading post of Thomas Clarke and Thomas Lake near Woolwich on Arrosic Island, killing Thomas Lake and others while Sylvanus Davis escaped.[8] (See Clarke and Lake Company Archeological Site). (Major Waldron arrived the following February and found Lake's body frozen and sent it to Boston to be buried. He also removed two cannon.)[9] Several weeks later, on September 2, the Wabanaki secured a garrison on Jewells Island in Casco Bay.[1]

The Indians attacked a settlement at Sheepscot River at Merrymeeting Bay in Maine in August 1676. William Phips rescued local settlers by bringing them on board his ship, forgoing his cargo of lumber. Although he was financially ruined (the Indians destroyed the shipyard and his intended cargo), he was seen as a hero in Boston.[10]

On September 7, 1676, Richard Waldon tricked a large number of the Wabanaki who believed they were meeting with him to establish a peace when he ambushed them, killing many and selling others into slavery.[11]

September 24, they raided Wells, killing two and then again the next day killing one. The same day, September 25, they raided York, Maine, killing 40 people.[12]

On October 12, 1676 at present-day Scarborough (formerly Black Point), led by Chief Mugg Hegone, the Wabanaki laid siege to the garrison, which was immediately abandoned by the colonists.[13]

Waldron gave the order to seize all the Indians "of the East" who had been raiding the New England villages along the border with Acadia. On November 9, 1676 (old style), --American militiamen stopped at Machias and took nine natives captive. They sailed to Cape Sable Island (Nova Scotia) and 17 members of Mi’kmaq families were taken captive, including the local chief and his wife. They were taken as slaves and sold to the Portuguese in the Azores.[14]

Natives also destroyed Fort Pemaquid during the Campaign.

Afterward

The campaign was followed by the Northeast Coast Campaign (1677).

References
  1. Williamson (1832), p. 537.
  2. Scott, Tod (2016). "Mi'kmaw Armed Resistance to British Expansion in Northern New England (1676–1761)". Journal of the Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society. 19: 1–18.
  3. Schultz & Tougias (1999), p. 310; Mandell (2010), pp. 131-132
  4. Salagnac, Georges Cerbelaud (1979) [1969]. "Abbadie de Saint-Castin, Jean-Vincent d', Baron de Saint-Castin". In Hayne, David (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. II (1701–1740) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press. 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
  5. Salagnac, Georges Cerbelaud (1979) [1969]. "Abbadie de Saint-Castin, Jean-Vincent d', Baron de Saint-Castin". In Hayne, David (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. II (1701–1740) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
  6. Mandell (2010), p. 130.
  7. Schultz & Tougias (1999), p. 308; Mandell (2010), p. 131
  8. Schultz & Tougias (1999), pp. 309-310
  9. Schultz & Tougias (1999), p. 310
  10. Lounsberry, Alice (1941). Sir William Phips: Treasure Fisherman and Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. C. Scribner's Sons. pp. 23–26.
  11. Belknap, Jeremy; Farmer, John (1831). The History of New Hampshire. Dover: S. C. Stevens and Ela & Wadleigh. p. 75.
  12. Williamson (1832), p. 540.
  13. Schultz & Tougias (1999), p. 313; Mandell (2010), p. 133
  14. Plank (2001), p. 31.
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