1724 — Aug 23, Massacre, colonial militia attack Abenaki village, Norridgewock, ME ~80-100

lornajarrettblanchard August 23, 1724

–80-100 Blanchard.[1]

–50-100 Santoro, Nicholas J. Atlas of the Indian Tribes of North America. 2009, p. 37.

— ~80 Abbott, John S. C. The History of Maine. 1875, p. 314.

— <80 Holmes, Rev. William. Ltr. dated Aug 30, 1724; in Allen. History of Norridgewock.[3]

— >80 Penhallow. The History of the Wars of New-England with…Eastern Indians. 1726, 104

— 80 Thompson. History of Vermont, Natural, Civil…in Three Parts. 1842, Part II, p. 6.

— >77 Grenier. The First Way of War: American War Making on the Frontier, 1607-1814.

— 27 Scalps. “Harmon returned to Falmouth with 27 scalps, including ‘the Fyars.’ P. 49.

–>50 Bodies that were swept down the Kennebec before they could be scalped.[4]

— 27-50 Wikipedia. “Battle of Norridgewock.” 12-7-2012.[5]

— 30 Father de la Chasse, Superior-General of the Missions in New France, ltr. 10-29-1724.[6]

— 30 Massachusetts Historical Collections, V.7, p. 254; in Allen. History of Norridgewock.

— 28 Scalps taken to Boston for bounty. (Rev. William Holmes in Allen 1849, pp. 38-41.)

— 26 Wikipedia. “Norridgewock.” 1-3-2013 and 2-25-2018.

Narrative Information

Abbott: “On the 19^th of August, 1724,[7] a party of two hundred and eight men,[8] accompanied by three Mohawk Indians, left Richmond Fort,[9] opposite Swan Island, for an attack upon Norridgewock. The troops ascended the river in seventeen whale-boats. The next day they reached Teconnet, now Winslow, where they landed. Forty men were left to guard the boats; the remainder of the party commenced a rapid march, on the morning of the 21^st, through the woods to strike the foe by surprise. The party was led by Capts. Harmon[10] and Moulton.[11] Towards the evening of that day they overtook the noted chief Bomoseen, with his wife and daughter.[12] The chief and his child were both shot; the wife was taken captive.[13]

“It was a little after noon of the 22d when the soldiers came in sight of the village. The party was divided into three bands of nearly equal numbers, so as to encircle the village, and cut off all escape. Two of these were placed in ambush, while the remainder were marshaled for an impetuous charge. There is considerable diversity in the details of the narratives which are given of the massacre which ensued. After examining several different accounts, the writer thinks the following as impartial as any which can now be given: —

“The thickets which surrounded the village were so dense that the assailants were not discovered until they poured in a volley of bullets upon the wigwams and their inmates. Immediately, with loud shouts, the English rushed upon their victims. The consternation was terrible. The only thing thought of was escape by flight. There were but about fifty men in the village. It is evident that nothing like a defence was attempted, since the Indians were skilled marksmen, and yet not an Englishman was shot.

“The savages endeavored only to save their aged men, their wives, and their children. In a tumultuous mass, the women and children shrieking, they rushed towards the river. The encircling foe cut off escape in every direction. Though the water was low, in the channel it was six feet deep, which precluded the possibility of wading across. The husbands and fathers endeavored, by swimming, to aid the helpless. A dreadful slaughter took place. Those placed in ambush rose, and all rushed forward, hurling a storm of bullets upon the crowded assemblage of men, women, an children struggling in the water.

“The deed was soon accomplished. Many were drowned, and many pierced by bullets were swept down by the stream to their watery graves. It was estimated that about eighty were slain. This seems a small number when we reflect that nearly two hundred practiced soldiers were discharging their guns as rapidly as possible upon them, taking deliberate aim. The awful deed of slaughter was soon accomplished. The pursuers returned to the village, where they found Father Rasle [Rale] in the parsonage. As he came forward to meet them, a shower of bullets pierced his body, and he fell dead.[14]

“The slain, such as could be found, including Father Rasle, were scalped, and the soldiers retired. Gradually the Indians who had escaped returned to their utterly desolated homes. Even the stoicism of the savage was overcome, as he gazed upon the smouldering ruins, and the gory bodies of his relatives and friends, men, women, and children, which were strewed around….The tribe was destroyed….” (Abbott, John S. C. The History of Maine, from the Earliest Discovery of the Region by the Northmen Unitil the Present Time. 1875, pp. 312-314.)

Allen: “Norridgewock is an Indian name, signifying smooth water between the rapids or falls; when the place was first discovered by the Europeans, this name was appropriated by the natives to that portion of the river which flows through the town.” (Allen 1849, p. 2.)

“There were five tribes in Maine, when first discovered by the Europeans, all classed under the general name of the Abenaquis. Of these, the Canabais, afterwards called the Norridgewocks, were the most formidable in war.” (Allen 1849, p. 11.)

“An expedition was sent against the Norridgewocks, under Capt. Harmon, in February, 1723, which proved unsuccessful….At length, more energetic councils prevailed, and effectual measures were taken to break the power of the Norridgewocks. In August, 1724, two hundred and eight men, under the command of Captains Harmon and Moulton, were sent to the headquarters of this warlike tribe. Proceeding up the Kennebeck, they landed at Winslow, left their boats with a guard at that place, and then marched cautiously along the banks of the river. When they approached the enemy, the force was divided; a part making a circuit, so as to enclose the village. Most of the warriors were absent on an expedition, while destruction was about to fall upon their wives and children. It was nearly noon, when th unsuspicious natives were thus surrounded by their enemies. A few soldiers discovered themselves to the villagers; a young Indians seeing them, gave the war whoop, and rushed into his cabin for a musket. The alarmed inhabitants immediately sized their weapons, and fired upon the invaders, but so precipitately, that no damage was done. The English soldiers, as they had been directed, reserved their fire until they were within pistol shot, when the slaughter of the savages was terrific. Their ranks were broken, and they fled to meet the fire of the whites, who were advancing from above the village. Hemmed in on every side, men, women and children rushed to the river, and were shot down indiscriminately in the water.

“Orders had been given that Rasles[15] should be taken alive; but the excited soldiers could not be restrained; as the priest made his appearance, he was pierced with the bullets of the English. Thus fell the aged pastor amidst the carnage and destruction of his slaughtered flock. The church was plundered of its plate, and burned with the cabins of the Indians; and to make the work of destruction sure, the standing corn on the intervals was also cut down and burned.

“There is a manuscript account of this transaction, in the hand-writing of Rev. William Holmes, who was at this time the minister at Chilmark, Mass. In his journal, under the date of Aug. 30, 1724, he says:

I heard lately, that we had obtained a considerable advantage over the Eastern Indians, at Norridgewock. Captain Harmon, with one hundred and six men[16] under his command, came to Ticonet on the 10^th of August. There he left his boats, and forty men to guard them. Upon his arrival at Norridgewock, Aug. 12 {old style}, 1724, about noon, finding the Indians secure in their houses, he ordered twenty-two men to discover themselves to them first; while the rest had so posted themselves, that the Indians could not avoid them, but by running into the river. The number of fighting men among them was reckoned to be sixty, besides women and children. When they came out of their houses, they gave a prodigious shout, in token of defiance of so small a number, and fired upon them, but without doing any damage. Upon the appearance of the rest of the army, they fired two vollies more, and then took to the river with their women and children, having lost about twenty of their number on the spot, without so much as one man killed or wounded on the side of English. They were fired upon in the water, with great slaughter. It is thought that the number killed and wounded cannot be less than eighty. The scalps of twenty-eight of them were brought to Boston; of which number, their priest’s and Bombazin’s[17] were two. (Allen 1849, pp. 38-41.)

Allen notes that after the survivors buried their dead they bade “farewell forever to that home of their childhood, endeared to them by so many associations. Their place and their tribe were alike destroyed – the few survivors mingled with the Penobscots and others – and the name of the Norridgewocks was blotted from the register of Indian tribes.” (Allen 1849, p. 42.)

“The following account of the massacre is recorded in the 7^th vol. Mass. Hist. Collections, p. 254.

On the 23d of August, {O. S. 12^th} 1724, several hundred men came to Nanrantsouak. In consequence of the thickets with which the village was surrounded, and the little care taken by the inhabitants to prevent a surprise, the invaders were not discovered until the very instant they made a discharge of their guns, and their shot had penetrated the Indian wigwams. There were not above fifty fighting men in the village. These took to their arms, and ran out in confusion, not with any expectation of defending the place against an enemy already in possession, but to favor the escape of their wives, their old men and children, and to give them time to gain the other side of the river, of which the English had not then possessed themselves.

The noise and tumult gave Father Rasles notice of the danger his converts were in. Not intimidated, he went out to meet the assailants, in hopes to draw all their attention to himself and secure his flock at the peril of his own life. He was not disappointed. As soon as he appeared the English set up a shout, which was followed by a shower of shot, and he fell near a cross, which he had erected in the middle of the village, and with him seven Indians who had accompanied him to shelter him with their own bodies. The Indians, in the greatest consternation at his death, immediately took to flight, and crossed the river some by fording and others swimming. The enemy pursued them until they entered far into the woods; and then returned, and pillaged and burnt the church and the wigwams. Notwithstanding so many shot had been fired, only thirty of the Indians were slain, and fourteen wounded. After having accomplished the object, the English withdrew with such precipitation that it seemed rather a flight than a victory. (Allen 1849, Appendix, 251.)

(Allen, William. The History of Norridgewock: Comprising Memorials of the Aboriginal Inhabitants and Jesuit Missionaries, Hardships of the Pioneers, Biographical Notices of the Early Settlers, and Ecclesiastical Sketches. Norridgewock: Edward J. Peet, 1849.)

Kayworth and Potvin: “In late summer of 1724, the English decided to change their tactics. All of their previous raids on Norridgewalk [sic] had been designed to catch Rale and the Indians in their winter quarters. In early August 1724, a two hundred-man force made up of English volunteers and Iroquois braves went up the Kennebec in seventeen whaleboats. The four captains who led the party were Harmon, Moulton, Brown and Bene — all experienced bush fighters. They disembarked from the whaleboats near Brunswick and went forward on foot. During their march they had an encounter with a well-known Norridgewalk war chief called Bomazeen who had killed an Englishman a few days earlier. The English killed him as he was trying to make his escape across a river. In this same encounter they killed Bomazeen’s daughter and captured his wife. Penhallow wrote that Bomazeen’s wife cooperated with the English, and she briefed the English on conditions at the Norridgewalk village. With Iroquois warriors in the English party, it is little wonder that the Indian woman decided to talk. Encouraged by the information they got from her about the state of preparedness in her village, the raiders proceeded quickly to the target. On August 12^th they approached within two miles of the village without being detected. With Chief Bomazeen gone from the village, security measures were lax. Captain Harmon with a contingent of forty men went to investigate the smoke they saw coming from a cornfield. At the same time Captain Moulton crept closer to the village with one hundred men. When they reached the perimeter of the village, Moulton divided his men into three squadrons of thirty men each, an he ordered the remaining tem men to guard the baggage. He positioned the two squadrons on this left and right flanks placing them in a position to ambush the escape lanes. He and his thirty men got within pistol shot before they were discovered by the Indians, who Penhallow described as being in ‘amazing terror.’ Snatching up their guns the Indians fired wildly and ineffectively, and in their headlong flight, they ran into the muzzles of the two squadrons that lay in ambush. Many were slain on the spot, some escaped in their canoes, and others who attempted to swim the river were drowned in the rapids and falls downstream….”[18] (Kayworth and Potvin. The Scalp Hunters: Abenaki Ambush at Lovewell Pond, 1725, pp. 84-85.)

Penhallow: “The number in all that were killed and drowned were supposed to be eighty, but some say more…” (Penhallow, Samuel. The History of the Wars of New-England with the Eastern Indians, or a Narrative of their Continued Perfidy and Cruelty, From the 10^th of August, 1703, To the Peace Renewed 13^th of July, 1713. Cincinnati: Re-printed from the Boston Edition of 1726, with a Memoir, Notes, and Appendix, for W.. Dodge, by J. Harpel, 1859, p. 104.)

Santoro: “Father Rasles was killed, along with fifty to a hundred Indians, in a surprise attack by the English in 1724 that and burned the village Norridgewock on the upper Kennebec River, and his body mutilated – an act which threatened to bring the French Canadians actively into the war. Survivors of Norridgewock fled to Canada.” (Santoro, Nicholas J. Atlas of the Indian Tribes of North America and the Clash of Cultures. Bloomington, IN: iUniverse, 2009, p. 37.)

Thompson: “From the year 1720 to 1725, a very destructive war was carried on between the eastern Indians and the New England provinces. The French and English were at this time at peace; but the French missionaries, and the governor of Canada himself, were actively employed in instigating the Indians to hostilities. In the progress of this war the English made a successful expedition against the Indian town of Norridgewok [sic], where they slew the Jesuit missionary, Rasles, and 80 Indians, and destroyed the town….” (Thompson. History of Vermont, Natural, Civil and Statistical, in Three Parts. 1842, Part II, p. 6.)

Sources

Abbott, John S. C. The History of Maine, from the Earliest Discovery of the Region by the Northmen Unitil the Present Time. Boston: B. B. Russell, 1875.

Allen, William. The History of Norridgewock: Comprising Memorials of the Aboriginal Inhabitants and Jesuit Missionaries, Hardships of the Pioneers, Biographical Notices of the Early Settlers, and Ecclesiastical Sketches. Norridgewock, ME: Edward J. Peet, 1849. Google preview accessed 2-25-2018 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=2XgUAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Calloway, Colin G. (Compiler and Editor). Dawnland Encounters: Indians and Europeans in Northern New England. Hanover and London, University Press of New England, 1991. Google preview accessed 2-25-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=f7K-UM3zsEcC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Charland, Thomas. “RALE (Râle, Rasle, Rasles), SÉBASTIAN,” The Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Vol. II, 1701-1740. Accessed 2-25-2018 at: http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/rale_sebastien_2E.html

Dawnland Voices. Writing of Indigenous New England. “‘Signature, Treaty of Portsmouth’ (1713) by Bomoseen.” Contributed by Rebecca Howard, UNH. Accessed 2-25-2018 at: http://dawnlandvoices.org/collections/items/show/266

Kayworth, Alfred E. and Raymond G. Potvin. The Scalp Hunters: Abenaki Ambush at Lovewell Pond, 1725. Boston: Branden Books, Inc. 2002. Google preview accessed 2-25-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=d2RLCgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Penhallow, Samuel. The History of the Wars of New-England with the Eastern Indians, or a Narrative of their Continued Perfidy and Cruelty, From the 10^th of August, 1703, To the Peace Renewed 13^th of July, 1713. Cincinnati: Re-printed from the Boston Edition of 1726, with a Memoir, Notes, and Appendix, for W. Dodge, by J. Harpel, 1859. Google preview accessed 2-25-2018 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=sD0TAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Santoro, Nicholas J. Atlas of the Indian Tribes of North America and the Clash of Cultures. Bloomington, IN: iUniverse, 2009.

Thompson, Zadock. History of Vermont, Natural, Civil and Statistical, in Three Parts. Burlington, VT: Chauncey Goodrich, 1842. Google preview accessed 2-3-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=8BUzAQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Wikipedia. “Battle of Norridgewock.” 12-7-2012. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Norridgewock#cite_note-13

Wikipedia. “Fort Richmond (Maine),” 11-29-2017 edit. Accessed 2-25-2018 at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Richmond_(Maine)

Wikipedia. “Jeremiah Moulton.” 1-31-2018 edit. Accessed 2-25-2018 at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremiah_Moulton

Wikipedia. “Johnson Harmon.” 2-18-2018 edit. Accessed 2-25-2018 at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnson_Harmon

Wikipedia. “Norridgewock,” 1-3-2013. Accessed at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norridgewock

Additional Resources

Calloway, Colin G. The Western Abenakis of Vermont, 1600-1800: War, Migration, and the Survival of an Indian People. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1990. Google preview accessed 2-25-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=EB2Q1un0tzkC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Carroll, Brian D. From Warrior to Soldier: New England Indians in the Colonial Military, 1675-1763. Doctorial Dissertation, University of Connecticut, Jan 2009. OpenCommons@UConn copy accessed 2-25-2018 at: https://opencommons.uconn.edu/dissertations/AAI3393034/

Grenier, John. The Far Reaches of Empire: War in Nova Scotia, 1710-1760. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2008. Google preview accessed 2-25-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=TXoCBQAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q=norridgewock&f=false

National Park Service. National Registry of Historic Places Inventory — Nomination Form. “Old Point & Sebastian Rale Monument.” Washington, DC: NPS, U.S. Department of the Interior, 10-2-1972, 5 pages. Accessed 2-25-2017 at: https://npgallery.nps.gov/pdfhost/docs/NRHP/Text/73000147.pdf

Williamson, William D. The History of the State of Maine; From its First Discovery, A.D. 1602, to the Separation, A.D. 1820, Inclusive (Vol. I of II). Hallowell: Glazier, Masters & Smith, 1839. Google preview accessed 1-12-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=YL8MAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

[1] We are using Kanes and Santoro for the high-end of our range. We use Abbott, Holmes (in Allen), Penhallow and Thompson for low-end (should also note that Grenier notes over 77). As can be read in Abbott’s narrative below, he believed that “about eighty slain…seems like a small number.” As he notes there were over 200 soldiers shooting into the village and river, with so little resistance that not a single white was killed. [In that a guard of perhaps as many as 40 were left at the boats, it is possible that the English militia numbered approximately 160 (not including Native allies).] Several accounts note that there were on the order of 50-60 warriors present, with a greater number “on an expedition.” If one assumes 2-3 women, children and elderly for each warrior and at least 100 warriors (at least 50 present and at least 50 not present) then one derives the estimate of 200-300 women, children and elderly present. If the above reckoning is a reasonable approximation, then including the warriors, there must have been on the order of 250-350 people present. It was written that not more than fifty escaped. If this is accurate, then there may well have been over 100 fatalities. Perhaps, though, more than fifty escaped. Nonetheless, 28 scalps were brought back, and several accounts note that many men, women and children were killed in the river (one account has it as on the order of 50). Additionally two natives were killed on the way to Norridgewock. Most accounts acknowledge it was a slaughter or massacre which included many unarmed women, children, and elderly, including those seeking to escape via the Kennebec River.

[2] Kates writes that “as many as 100 Indians and Father Rasles” were killed.

[3] This is killed and wounded. The letter states that “about twenty” Norridgewocks were killed in the first volley, that there was a “great slaughter” of men, women and children attempting to escape via the river, and that 28 scalps were brought back to Boston.

[4] Grenier in The First Way or War, who writes (p. 49) writes that “Harmon later lamented that the river’s swift current washed over 50 Indian bodies downstream before the rangers could retrieve them for scalping.”

[5] Two numbers probably reflect the hands of two contributors, one noting that “at least 50 bodies went down the stream before the rangers could retrieve them for their scalps,” in addition to the death of most of the 31 warriors who stood their ground to fight, while a second notes in a side box that there were 27 Native fatalities.

[6] Quebec-written letter reprinted in Calloway. Dawnland Encounters: Indians and Europeans in Northern New England. 1991, pp. 81-83.

[7] New Style dating.

[8] Another account, from the French priest La Chasse, in a letter of Oct 29, based presumably upon information from a Native witness, has it that the New England force were about 1,100 men strong. (Charland. “Rale…” Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Vol. II (1701-1740).)

[9] “Fort Richmond was a British colonial fort near present-day Richmond Village, Maine. The Pejepscot Proprietors and the Massachusetts Bay Colony built the fort in around 1720 on the western bank of the Kennebec River in response to Indian raids which eventually led to Dummer’s War.” Wikipedia. “Fort Richmond (Maine), 11-29-2017 edit; citing Henry O. Thayer. “Fort Richmond, Maine” in Collections and Proceedings of the Maine Historical Society, 2^nd series, volume 5, page 135. Portland, ME: Maine Historical Society, 1894.

[10] “Col Johnson Harmon (Harman)(c. 1675-1751 was an army officer [militia] in colonial America….Harmon was from York [Maine].” Wikipedia. “Johnson Harmon.” 2-18-2018 edit.

[11] “Jeremiah Moulton (b. York Massachusetts (now in York, Maine), 1688, d. York, 20 July 1765) was a New England militia officer and member of the Massachusetts Council. As a boy, during King William’s War, Moulton’s parents were killed and he was taken captive in the Raid on York (1692). He was eventually released and served in Father Rale’s War at Fort Richmond (Maine).” (Wikipedia. “Jeremiah Moulton.” 1-31-2018 edit.)

[12] Bomoseen was an Abenaki Sachem (leader) “Known best for leading the attack on Oyster River Plantation in 1694, he was a man revered by his Abenaki tribesmen and loathed by the British….What is often excluded in these accounts is the expansionist culture of the British settlers, who had begun invading Abenaki territory many years earlier. While the Abenaki people witnessed the land they once knew drastically altered by colonization, they took action to save their tribe from devastation by adapting to European war customs and forming an alliance with the French…” (Dawnland Voices. Writing of Indigenous New England. “‘Signature, Treaty of Portsmouth’ (1713) by Bomoseen.” Contributed by Rebecca Howard, UNH.)

[13] Cites: Samuel G. Drake. Book of the Indians, book iii, p. 111.

[14] Abbott footnote: “`Great brutality and ferocity are chargeable to the English in this affair, according to their own account; such as killing women and children, and scalping and mangling the body of Father Rasle.’ – Drake’s Book of the Indians, book iii, p. 119. Charland’s entry in The Dictionary of Canadian Biography (Vol. II, 1701-1740) for “RALE (Râle, Rasle, Rasles), SÉBASTIAN,” notes that his scalp [and presumably others] was “taken to Boston to be redeemed.”

[15] A Jesuit priest who lived in the village at the time and amongst the Abenakis for over thirty years. Allen writes that “He was thoroughly educated, and wrote the Latin with classical purity. He made himself fully acquainted with all the Indian dialects, and prepared a dictionary of the Abenaquis language, which is preserved in the library of Harvard College. He taught many of the Norridgewocks to write, and held a correspondence with some of them, in their own language.” (Cites: Willis. History of Portland, Part II, page 34.)

[16] Allen footnote: “Also 102 men under Moulton.”

[17] Chief of the village.

[18] No sources are cited or otherwise provided.