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. It took place from July until September 1747, and formed part of King George's War.[2] The Wabanaki carried out 11 raids on English settlements on the coast between Berwick and St. Georges, with every town on the frontier being attacked.[3] Casco (also known as Falmouth and Portland) was the principal settlement.
Northeast Coast campaign (1747) | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of King George's War | |||||||
Commander Samuel Waldo | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
New England |
French colonists Wabanaki Confederacy | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Commander Samuel Waldo (Falmouth)[1] Captain Jonathan Williamson | unknown | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
625 | unknown | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
approximately 30 persons killed or captured | unknown |
The Northeast Coast campaign of 1747 followed those of 1745 and 1746.
Following two attacks on Annapolis Royal in 1744, Governor William Shirley put a bounty on the Passamaquoddy, Mi’kmaq and Maliseet on October 20.[4] During the campaign the following year, on August 23, 1745, Shirley declared war against the rest of the Wabanaki Confederacy – the Penobscot and Kennebec tribes.[3]
In response to the New England expedition against Louisbourg which finished in June 1745, the Wabanaki retaliated by attacking the New England border.[5] New England braced itself for such an attack by appointing a provisional force of 450 to defend the frontier. After the attacks began, they increased the number of soldiers by 175 men.[5] Massachusetts established forts along the border with Acadia: Fort George at Brunswick (1715),[6] St. George's Fort at Thomaston (1720), and Fort Richmond (1721).[7] Fort Frederick was established at Pemaquid (Bristol, Maine).
The Wabanaki Confederacy began their first raid on April 13 at Scarborough, killing two people and taking four prisoners.[8]
A militia of 50 Wabanaki raided Falmouth on April 21; they killed cattle and attacked Charles Frost’s family, taking captive his wife and six children.[8] Despite sending 26 men after them under Captain IIsley, they were unable to catch the Wabanaki and their prisoners.[8]
Captain Jordan’s company of 30 was posted from Falmouth to Topsham, leaving the town defenseless. The Wabanaki killed two women and a man. Crossing the Androscoggin River in canoes, they then killed two men and wounded a third; one woman escaped.[9]
On 26 May, 100 Wabanaki attacked Fort Frederick at Pemaquid.[9] The killed five soldiers and five recruits, and the other inhabitants were taken prisoner.
At Damariscotta, they took one prisoner, killing his wife and child.[9]
At Wiscasset, the Wabanaki again seized Capt. Jonathan Williamson.[9]
A company of 60 Wabanaki attacked Fort Frederick in early September, killing five guards before withdrawing.[10][11] At Fort Georges, they tried, unsuccessfully, to dig a tunnel into the fort.[11]
The Wabanaki took Frances Noble captive close to Fort Richmond in 1748. She wrote an account of her captivity.[12][13]
Wabanaki also killed a number of British at Fort St. Georges in the fall of 1748.[14]
- Folsom, p. 242
- Scott, Tod (2016). "Mi'kmaw Armed Resistance to British Expansion in Northern New England (1676–1761)". Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society. 19: 1–18.
- Williamson (1832), p. 240.
- Williamson (1832), pp. 217–218.
- Williamson (1832), p. 239.
- Fort George replaced Fort Andros which was built during King William's War (1688).
- Williamson (1832), pp. 88, 97.
- Williamson (1832), p. 251.
- Williamson (1832), p. 252.
- Brodhead, John Romeyn (1858). Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New York. Vol. 10. Albany: Weed, Parsons and Co. p. 127.
- Williamson (1832), p. 254.
- "Collections of the Maine Historical Society". Portland, The Society [etc.] January 29, 1831 – via Internet Archive.
- Brodhead, John Romeyn (1858). Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New York. Vol. 10. Albany: Weed, Parsons and Co. pp. 160, 163, 164, 172, 174.
Sources
- Clayton, W.W. (1880). History of York County, Maine: with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men and Pioneers. Philadelphia: Everts & Peck.
- Shirley, William (1912). Correspondence of William Shirley: Governor of Massachusetts and Military Commander in America, 1731-1760. New York: Macmillan Co.
- Folsom, George (1830). History of Saco and Biddeford: with Notices of Other Early Settlements, ... Saco: A.C. Putnam. p. 203.
- Willis, William (1865). The History of Portland, from 1632 to 1864: With a Notice of Previous Settlements, Colonial Grants, and Changes of Government in Maine. Portland, Maine: Bailey & Noyes.
- Williamson, William D. (1832). The History of the State of Maine: From Its First Discovery, 1602, to the Separation, A. D. 1820, Inclusive. Vol. II. Hallowell, Maine: Glazier, Masters & Company.
- Johnson, Michael; Smith, Jonathan (2006). Indian Tribes of the New England Frontier. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84176-937-0. OCLC 255490222.