Northeast Coast Campaign (1745)
| Northeast Coast Campaign (1745) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of King George's War | |||||||
 Commander Samuel Waldo | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 New England |
 French colonistsWabanaki Confederacy | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Commander Samuel Waldo (Falmouth)[1] Captain Jonathan Bean Captain Mochus[2] Captain Thomas Bradbury (Saco)[3][4][5] Jabez Bradbury (Fort St. George, Thomaston) |
Colonel Morris † Captain Sam † Colonel Job[6] | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 625 |
unknown | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| approximately 30 persons killed or captured | unknown | ||||||
The Northeast Coast Campaign (1745) occurred during King George's War from 19 July until 5 September 1745. Three weeks after the British Siege of Louisbourg (1745), the Wabanaki Confederacy of Acadia retaliated by attacking New England settlements along the coast of present-day Maine below the Kennebec River, the former border of Acadia. They attacked English settlements on the coast of present-day Maine between Berwick and St. Georges (Thomaston, Maine), within two months there were 11 raids - every town on the frontier had been attacked.[7] Casco (also known as Falmouth and Portland) was the principal settlement.
Background
After the two attacks on Annapolis Royal in 1744, Governor William Shirley put a bounty on the Passamaquoddy, Mi’kmaq and Maliseet on Oct 20.[8] The following year, during the Campaign, on August 23, 1745, Shirley declared war against the rest of the Wabanaki Confederacy – the Penobscot and Kennebec tribes.[7] In response to the New England expedition against Louisbourg which finished in June 1745, the Wabanaki retaliated by attacking the New England border.[2] 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.[2] Massachusetts established forts along the border with Acadia: Fort George at Brunswick (1715),[9] St. George's Fort at Thomaston (1720), and Fort Richmond (1721) at Richmond.[10] Fort Frederick was established at Pemaquid (Bristol, Maine).
The campaign
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The Campaign began when, on July 19, Mi’kmaq from Nova Scotia, Maliseet and some from St. Francois attacked Fort St.George (Thomaston) and New Castle.[11] They set fire to numerous buildings; killed cattle and took one villager captive.[12][13] They also killed a person at Saco.[14] At the same time, Penobscot and Norridgewock attacked Fort Frederick at Pemaquid.[15] They took captive a woman, which alarmed the garrison but she escaped. The same month they killed a boy at Topsham and a man at New Meadows.[16] In the same month, 30 Wabanaki attacked North Yarmouth and killed a man. At Flying-point they killed three members of a family and taking a daughter prisoner to Canada. During this raid on Flying-point, they also killed one man, made another prisoner, while another escaped.[17] St. Georges garrison at Thomaston was attacked again and one company of men was killed, while three other men were taken captive.[17] Near the garrison, two women were captured: one was taken to Canada, while the other escaped.[2] They attacked Scarborough and one man killed.[6] Then at Sheepscot they attacked and killed two and wounded one.[6] On Sept 5 tribes of the Confederacy attacked Thomston (St. Georges) for the third time, killing and scalping two people.[6]
Aftermath
In response to these events, Shirley sent more troops and munitions to the Maine frontier over the winter, anticipating the Wabanaki Campaign in the spring of 1746.[18] There were nine raids in the Campaign of 1746 and 12 raids in the Northeast Coast Campaign of 1747.[18]
Notes
- ↑ Folsom, p. 242
- 1 2 3 4 Williamson, p. 239
- ↑ Folsom, G. (1830). History of Saco and Biddeford: With Notices of Other Early Settlements, and of Proprietary Governments, in Maine, Including the Provinces of New Somersetshire and Lygonia. A. C. Putnam. p. 243. Retrieved 2015-04-01.
- ↑ "Bradbury memorial. Records of some of the descendants of Thomas Bradbury, of Agamenticus (York) in 1634, and of Salisbury, Mass. in 1638, with a brief sketch of the Bradburys of England. Comp. chiefly from the collections of the late John Merrill Bradbury, of Ipswich, Mass". archive.org. Retrieved 2015-04-01.
- ↑ Maine Historical Society (1995). Collections of the Maine Historical Society. 4. Heritage Books. p. 147. ISBN 9780788401725. Retrieved 2015-04-01.
- 1 2 3 4 Williamson, p. 241
- 1 2 Williamson, p. 240
- ↑ Williamson, p. 217-218
- ↑ Fort George replaced Fort Andros which was built during King William's War (1688).
- ↑ The history of the state of Maine: from its first discovery, A.D ..., Volume 2, by William Durkee Williamson. 1832. p.88, 97.
- ↑ "Correspondence of William Shirley: Governor of Massachusetts and Military". archive.org. p. 258. Retrieved 2015-04-01.
- ↑ Williamson, W.D. (1832). The History of the State of Maine: From Its First Discovery, 1602, to the Separation, A. D. 1820, Inclusive. 2. Glazier, Masters & Co. p. 256. Retrieved 2015-04-01.
- ↑ "Correspondence of William Shirley: Governor of Massachusetts and Military ... Governor Shirley letter to Captain Bradbury, July 22, 1745". archive.org. Retrieved 2015-04-01.
- ↑ Folsom, p. 243
- ↑ Williamson, p. 236
- ↑ Williamson, p. 237
- 1 2 Williamson, p. 238
- 1 2 Williamson, p. 242
References
- "History of York County, Maine. With illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers"
- Correspondence of William Shirley
- History of Saco and Biddeford: with notices of other early settlements, and ... By George Folsom
- The history of Portland, from 1632 to 1864: with a notice of previous By William Willis book
- William Durkee Williamson. The history of the state of Maine: from its first discovery, A. D ..., Volume 2
- Johnson, Michael; Smith, Jonathan (2006). Indian Tribes of the New England Frontier. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84176-937-0. OCLC 255490222.