The Republican journal., 1911-12-28
The Story of Fort Pownall.

think will prove entertaining to such of your
of this section. This account of the building
of Fort Pownall at Fort Point agrees in the
main with that given in Williamson's History
of Belfast, published more than fifteen years
later. but goes somewhat more into detail in
certain respects. FEB.
BUILDING AND OCCUPANCY OF FORT POwNALL.
IA paper read before the New England His
toric-Genealogical Society, Oct. 5, 1859, by
Rev. Richard Pike, of Dorchester, Mass
The object of this paper is to give some ac-
count of the building and occupancy of Fort
Pownall near the mouth of the Penobscot
river. The subject has peculiar interest at
the present time, in the fact, that there has
been recently centennial celebration of the
event. From the building of that fort dates
the first European settlement of the whole val
ley of the Penobscot; region atSthe present
time sustaining a population of about sixty
thousand hardy, honest, enterprising people;
owning property to the amount of some twelve
millions of dollars. From very early period
in the settlement Of the country there had
been trading houses established on the PENN
sula of Bagaduce, now Castine, situated on the
opposite side of the bay into which the Penob-
scot opens. In 1926, six years after the land
ing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, trading
house was established. there by the colonies
for the purpose of trafficking with the natives,
and maintained for about ten years, when it
was finally abandoned, in the meantime having
been, on several occasions, robbed by the
French and Indians. In 1910, one D'Aulney, a
Frenchman, established himself on near the
same place, and built some Notifications He
was hardy and resolute man, and for num-
Der of years he exerted a powerful influence
all along the coast. In 1865 the Baron Cas-
tine, French nobleman, was sent to Canada
as an officer in the army. At the close of the
war, instead of returning to his native land,
he Joined the savages of this country, and
came and established himself at Bagaduce. In
1867, he married daughter of Maddawanda,
the powerful chief Of the Tarratines; the tribe
of Indians now known as the Penobscots. He
early attained great influence over his adopt
ed Acknowledged, and has left the repu-
tation of being watchful and dangerous foe
to the English. He accumulated large for
tune by trafficking with the natives, and late
in life returned to France, where he survived
but few years. He was succeeded at Baga
duce by his son, "Castine the younger" who is
represented to have been quite different man
from the father, and to have sought to cult
vate friendly relations alike with the English
md ha Init ho bad 9th
success in defending himself against their hos
tile incursions. His house plundered in
1903, and robbed of its most valuable articles.
At that time part of Maine, and the prov
ince east, called Acadia, were the objects of
fierce contention between the French and
English, each claiming the right of possession
and jurisdiction. In these brois both parties
sought to enlist the Indians in their interests,
but the French were the most successful.
The infant settlements west of the Penobscot
were constantly deprecated upon by these
savage allies of their foes, often and indeed
generally, instigated and led on by the French
themselves. SOLITARY habitations and even
neighborhoods and towns were stealthily
approached and suddenly assailed, and the in
habitants murdered and taken captive" The
Penobscot river was the avenue through which
these incursions were made. To shut up this,
avenue, and put stop to these incursions,
was a chief object in the building of Fort
Pownall.
The necessity of some such protection for
the people who were disposed to settle that
region had long been seen, but the undertake
ing was postponed from time to time, for one
reason and another; mainly, however,
count of the wars, in which the colonies were
almost all the time engaged, which had great
Nv exhausted their resources and wasted their
people In 1857, Thos. Pownall was made COVER
nor of Massachusetts,. He was man from all
accounts eminently qualified for the position he
held and for the work which the times de-
manded. This was during the period of what
is called "The French and Indian War" which
resulted in the capture of Quebec, and the
French possessions in North America falling
into the hands of the English. In 1885, Gov
ernor Pownall brought the subject of fortify-
ing the Penobscot before the legislature, and
strongly urged upon that body the duty of
making an appropriation. and of setting i'm
mediately about the work. The legislature re-
sponded to his appeal with spirit, and IRE
solved, March 23rd, that. 400 men be employed
under the Governors direction to take posses
sion of the Penobscot country and erect a
fertilization there" "The enlistments," says
the governor in journal which he kept at the
time, "were soon complete. The men being
arranged into four companies of hundred
each were put under the command of a
Colonel, and embarked at Boston, May 4th."
There is some discrepancy between this ac-
count of the day and the place of sailing of
the EXPEDITION and that CO ntained in semi
rhythmical journal, kept by one Joshua Baily
of Captain Israel Herrick's company of one
hundred men. This journal is still extant in
MS, and it's genuineness, believe, is unques-
tionable. The first entry in it is as follows:
Bradford. March the Thirty first day, in the
wear One Thousand Seven Hundred and Fifty
nine Then I, Joshua Baily voluntarily enlist
ed in his Majesty's service, for three months
to go to Penobscot under Captain Israel Her
rick On April goth at three o'clock in the
afternoon we marched to Newbury and
rived there at about fl We of the clock, and that
night we lodged aboard Capt. Braobury's
(sloop) and lay in the haroor of Newbury on
Sunday the 18th, and on Monday the Both at 9
IL - Al Il