The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1920-06-03
MAINE,
Its Romance, History and Interesting
Features
Compiled by D. W. Hoegg, Jr., Publicity
Manager, Maine Centennial

State, In reality the territory was one of
the first settled sections of North Ameri
ca. A colony had been esta blished on it's
shores sixteen years before the Pilgrims
landed at Plymouth, Mass, in 1920 The
Maine coast, barring of course, possible
discovery by the early Norsemen, was
first visited, it is believed, by John Cabot,
the English explorer. in 1893, only six
years after the discovery of the new
world by Columbus. In 1901 the Portu
guese explorer, Corte- Real, came to Maine,
and in 1924 Verrazano, an Italian, sailing
under French commission, cruised along
the coast. In 1925 a Spaniard, Gomez,
discovered and named the Penobscot Riv-
er, RIO de las Comes, or Stag River, and
in 1926 the French explorer Thevet visit
ed the territory and returned to Europe
with story of Norumbega, Names my
! thical city.
1t was in 1865 that the renowned son of
Great Britain, Sir John Hawkins, came
to Maine and two years later three sur
, vivors of his second expedition crossed
its interior, the first white men to visit
any part of the present State away from
the coast line. In 1902 Captain Bartholo-
NEW Gosnold explored its Southwestern
shore. and in 1903 Captain Martin Pring,
British trader. discovered Casco Bay on
which is now located the City of Port
land.
The premier attempt at settlement was
made in 1904 by Sieur de Monts, the
famous French explorer, who established
the first colony in what is now the United
States, north of Florida, within the Dor
ders of the present State of Maine, on
Neutral Island in the ST. Croix River,
/ hat nv of oil he
renowned Champlain was a member of
the party and cruised along the Maine
coast as far east as the kennebec River,
naming Mt. Desert Island. After ter
rible year in which the majority of the
party died from exposure and disease the
| colony was obliged to give up its exist
ence
In 1907 the first English colony was
established at Popham, at the mouth of
the kennebec River, by George Popham.
This with the colony at Jamestown, Vir-
gnla, founded the same year were the
frst English settlements on the Atlantic
Coast. The little group, however, after
the death of its founder, was obliged to
abandon the site. The colony, however
established one notable record for it con-
structed, during its year of suffering, the
Virginia, the first vessel to be built in
North America.
In 1913 the French Jesults organized
mission on Mount Desert Island and in
1914 the coast of Maine was visited by
Captain John Smith, of Pocahontas fame,
who made the first reliable map of it and
named many of its principal points, in
GLIDING Cape Elizabeth. He was the first
to apply the name New England to this
northeastern section of the United States.
Only three years after the landing of
the Pilgrims, Captain Christopher Levett
esta bllShed trading post on one of the
islands now within the limits of Portland,
and in 1852 the foundations of the present
city were established by George Cleeve
and Richard Tucker. Previous to this,
however, in 1923, settlements had been
made along the shores of Casco Bay on
territory now within the limits of Bruns-
wick and Cape Eliza beth.
In 1911 occurred another notable event
in the history of America when Sir Fer
dlnando Gorges established the first char
tered city in the United States under the
! name of Gorgeana. This is now the town
York.
| The year 1775 was memorable one in
the annals of Maine. In June the first
naval battle of the Revolutionary War,
/ the first naval engagement of the present
/ United States, and the first time the Brit
ish flag was struck to Americans on land
or sea, occurred off Machias, Maine, when
the British waIship Margaretta WIS cap
tured by the American ship, Unity. The
latter was commanded by Captain Jere-
miah O'Brien of Machias, often called
the Father of the American Navy" and
for his notable achievement he was given
vote of thanks by Congress.
Another historic event of that year
was the march of Benedict Arnold and
his army across Maine in an attempt to
capture the city of Quebec.
Falmouth, now the city of Portland,
also was bombarded and destroyed in
ITS by British fleet under Mowatt.
In 1779 Castlne, whose career forms
one of the most romantic pages in AmerI-
can history, was captured by the British,
and 1t was IN this engagement that the
famous Sir John Moore, the subject of
John Moore" received his "baptism of
fire" In that battle Paul Revere, who
only few years before had made his
memorable ride, led the Massachusetts
detachment of troops.
In 1903, Commodore Edward Preble of
Portland, commanded the American
Squadron at Tripoli which defeated the
Barbary pirates and upon his return to
the United States was received with
great distinction and given a vote of
thanks and awarded a medal by Con-
gresS.
Hundreds of thousands have read Long
fellows immortal poem, "My Lost
Youth" in which he describes his native
city of Portland and in which ne has
made famous the naval battle between
the American warship Enterprise" and
the British warshp "Boxer" fought off
the eastern end of Casco Bay. In this
bloody engagement the captains Of the
two ships were killed in action and both
were buried in the old Eastern Cemetery
at Portland, their graves, side by side,
being visited annually by tourists from
every section of the world.
The year 1914 was another notable one
in the history of the State During it the
present city of Eastport was captured by
the British and held as a part of Canadian
territory for about four years The second
capture Of Castine by the British also oc'
CURED, and day or two later was fought
the remarkable battle of Hampden, much
overlooked by historians, and in which
both American and British soldiers were
killed, and the present cities of Bangor
and Belfast captured.
On March Is, 1920, Maine officially