The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1912-09-12
and others remained at the hotel to take
their ease or write letters home.


In the afternoon an excursion was
made to Pemaquid, place celebrated in
the history of New England as one of
the earliest and most important settle
ments on the coast. Sir Edward An
dros, governor of New York, and later
of New England, ruled in this part of
Maine from 1874 to 1852. In order to
secure English control of New York
(New Amsterdam), he transported many
OF the Dutch settlers from that place to
Pemaquid. Here some of them were
sent TO garrison Fort Charles. This
structure stood at the southwestern
angle of the village, in such position
as to command the entrance to the har-
Dor. Gyles in his Tragedies of the
Wilderness" says that he built city,
at the mouth of Pemaquid River, and
named it jamestown in compliment to
the proprietor, the Duke of York, subse-
quently James |. The government of
the region was for many years located
here. The great number of old cellers
that have been found, and some paved
spaces as of a street, from time to time
discovered beneath the soil, seem to cor
roborate this statement. Gyles also
says that Andres built fort here, which
he named Fort Charles, and garrisoned
with "a considerable number of soldiers "
In the spring of 1875 King Philips war
broke out in Massachusetts, and by
autumn had extended to Maine. The
attitude of the Indians toward Pemaquid
was threatening. By the untiring exer-
tions of Abraham Shurt, magistrate
and very influential man at Pemaquid,
the chiefs of the, tribes dwelling at the
heads of the rivers were induced to meet
him in council. He promised them just
remuneration for the furs which had
been stolen from them, and security
from future aggressions, The savages
had great confidence in his probity, and
the destruction Of Pemaquid and the
neighboring settlements was for a time
averted. Neither side wholly observed
their pledges; and several measures
We're adopted by those having control in
Maine, the most important of which was
the orders for the seizure of every In
dian "known to be man-slayer, traitor
or conspirator" A shipmaster having
got possession of one of these warrants
decoyed several Indians of this region on
board, and carried them away with the
intention of selling them as slaves.
Shurt had warned the Indians of the
designs upon them but to no effect, and
the warriors made no discrimination in
their rage. A murderous attack was at
once made upon all the settlements and
trading stations along the coast, and
they were destroyed relentlessly. "Pema-
quid, the center of civilization in the
Wilderness-one of the first born cities
of the New Word-was to meet its
doom. The torch was applied, and the
infant city soon enveloped in one devour-
ing mass of flame" The settlers re-
turned at the close of the war in 1878;
but the settlement had scarcely been
placed on a comfortable footing when
the English Revolution of 1888 began,
and England was again at war with
France. The colonies of each nation in
America We're quickly involved, and the
savages again burned with rage against
the English. Pemaquid was attacked
by the French and Indians and destroy
ed; the fort being battered down, and
most OF the inhabitants either killed or
taken prisoners. In 1892 the place was
again in the control of the English; and
Sir William Phips, a native of this
region, and first governor Of Massa-
chusetts under the second charter, COM
menced its reconstruction; erecting
strong stone fort on a point of land
whose extremity is marked by large
rock. Though so strong, the fort was in
1896 captured by the French by means
of artillery, from the vessels and on the
opposite shore During Lovewell's war
Q722-6) the fort became rendezvous
for the returned inhabitants of Pemaquid
and vicinity though considerably decay
ed. Col. Dunbar repaired it in 1880;
but during the war of the Revolution it
was destroyed, lest it might become a
stronghold of the enemy. An engage
ment between the British and the Pema-
quid people actually occurred in 1914, but
need not be referred to here.
We have extracted this information
from the Gazetteer because even Howard
Owen, the oldest member of the party,
has no personal recollection of these
historical events. The press party had
a pleasant sail over to Pemaquid from
Christmas Cove and on arrival were met
by Mr.. j. H. Garland, who conducted
them to the old fort and showed them
the old paved streets, the ruins of cellars,
the shipyard, the wharf and the ancient
burying ground, in which there were
tombstones bearing quaint Inscriptions.
AS usual on their return to Holly Inn
they reported to the member of the
party who had spent the afternoon be-
fore an open fire trying to thaw out, that
it was the s'most delightful trip they had