Historian Georges Cerbelaud Salagnac writes that Castine and the Abenaki "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."[2] The official records indicate natives killed or captured 260 English. The villages of
Cape Neddick,
Scarborough,
Casco,
Arrowsick,
Pemaquid and several others were destroyed. The war cost the colonial government £8,000.[3]
Historical context
Jean-Vincent d'Abbadie de Saint-Castin was sent from
Quebec at the outset of the war with the governor's 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. 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."[2] The people of
Boston thought Saint-Castin was influencing the Wabanaki strategy and supplying them with superior equipment.
The war
In the
Northeast Coast Campaign (1675) the Wabanaki Confederacy raided 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.[5] Settlers deserted community after community, leaving only the settlements south of the
Saco River to maintain an Anglo presence in the region.[6]
In the
Northeast Coast Campaign (1676) the Wabanaki Confederacy raided English settlements along the New England/Acadia border in present-day Maine. In the first month, they laid waste to 15 leagues of the coast east of Casco.[7] They killed and captured colonists and burned many farms, blunting the tide of English expansion. The Campaign of 1676 led the English to abandon the region, retreating to
Salem.[8] 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.
Natives attacked a settlement at the
Sheepscot River near
Merrymeeting Bay in Maine in August 1676. Notably, Sir
William Phips rescued local settlers by bringing them on board his vessel, 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.[9]
In the
Northeast Coast Campaign (1677) the Wabanaki Confederacy raided English settlements along the New England/Acadia border in present-day Maine. They killed and captured colonists and burned many farms, blunting the tide of English expansion.[5]
Afterwards
In response to King Philip's War and
King William's War (1689–97), many colonists from northeastern Maine and
Massachusetts temporarily relocated to larger towns in Massachusetts and
New Hampshire to avoid Wabanaki Indian raids.[10]
The fighting ended in the northern theatre with the
Treaty of Casco (1678). Natives assassinated both Charles Frost and Charles Waldon in King William's War. Phips would initiate an attack on the capital of Acadia,
Port Royal.
Conflict continued for decades in Maine, New Hampshire and northern Massachusetts. In response to King Philip's War, which stemmed from New England expansion onto native land, the five Indian tribes in the region of
Acadia created the
Wabanaki Confederacy to form a political and military alliance with
New France to stop the New England expansion.[11] During the next 74 years, six colonial wars between New France and New England, along with their respective native allies, took place, starting with
King William's War in 1689. (See the
French and Indian Wars,
Father Rale's War and
Father Le Loutre's War.) The conflict was over the border between New England and Acadia, which New France defined as the
Kennebec River in southern Maine.[12]
^Churchill, Edwin A. (1994).
"Mid-Seventeenth-Century Maine: A World on the Edge". In Emerson W. Baker; Edwin A. Churchill; Richard S. D'Abate; et al. (eds.). American Beginnings: Exploration, Culture, and Cartography in the Land of Norumbega. University of Nebraska Press. p. 258.
ISBN0-8032-4554-8.