Northeast Coast Campaign (1676)

The Northeast Coast Campaign (1676) happened during King Philips War and involved the Wabanaki Confederacy raiding English settlements along the New England/ Acadia border in present-day Maine. In the first month, they laid waste to 15 leagues of the coast east of Casco. ^[1] They killed and captured colonists and burned many farms, blunting the tide of English expansion. The Campaign of 1676 led the English to abandon the region, retreating to Salem.^[2] The Campaign is most notable for Richard Waldron entering the war, the death of Chief Mogg and the attack on the Mi’kmaq that initiated their involvement in the war.

Historical context

Jean-Vincent d'Abbadie de Saint-Castin was ordered by the Governor of Quebec to organize all the natives "throughout the whole colony of Acadia to adopt the interests of the king of France.”^[3] Historian Georges Salagnac writes that, “One may reasonably suppose that Saint-Castin began to exercise his talents as a military counsellor on the occasion of this war.”^[4] The people of Boston thought Castine was influencing the Wabanaki strategy and supplying them with superior equipment. The Campaign of 1676 followed the Northeast Coast Campaign (1675).

The Campaign

On Augusta 11, led by Simon, led an attack Falmouth, killing or capturing 34 English. (130). In August 13, 1676, the Wananak attacked Richard Hammond’s fortified house in present-day Woolwich, killing fourteen, while two escaped.^[5][6] The following day, natives raided the best fortified settlement in the region, the trading post of Thomas Clarke and Thomas Lake near Woolwich on Arrosic Island, killing Thomas Lake and others while Sylvanus Davis escaped.^[7] (See Clarke and Lake Company Archeological Site). (Major Waldron arrived the following February and found Lake’s body frozen and sent it to Boston to be buried. He also removed two cannon.)^[8] Several weeks later, on September 2, the Wabanaki secured a garrison on Jewells Island in Casco Bay.^[9]

Natives attacked a settlement at Sheepscot River at Merrymeeting Bay in Maine in August 1676. William Phips rescued local settlers by bringing them on board his ship, forgoing his cargo of lumber. Although he was financially ruined (the Indians destroyed the shipyard and his intended cargo), he was seen as a hero in Boston.^[10]

In September 7, 1676, Richard Waldon betrayed a large number of the Wabanaki who believed they were meeting with him to establish a peace, when he ambushed them, killing many and selling others into slavery.^[11]

September 24, they raided Wells, killing two and then again the next day killing one. The same day, September 25, they raiding York, killing 40 people.^[12]

On October 12, 1676 at present-day Scarborough (formerly Black Point), led by Chief Mugg Hegone, the Wananaki laid siege to the garrison, which was immediately abandoned by the English.^[13]

Waldron gave the order to seize all the Indians "of the East" who had been raiding the New England villages along the border with Acadia. On November 9, 1676 (old style), English militia stopped at Machias and took nine natives captive. They sailed to Cape Sable (Nova Scotia) and 17 Mi’kmaq members of Mi’kmaq families were taken captive, including the local chief and his wife. They were taken as slaves and sold to the Portuguese in the Azores.^[14]

Natives also destroyed Fort Pemaquid during the Campaign.

Afterward

The campaign was followed by the Northeast Coast Campaign (1677).

References

Texts

• Geoffrey Plank. An Unsettled Conquest. University of Penn.
• Edwin A. Churchill. Mid-Seventeenth-Century Maine: A World on the Edge.
• Daniel R.Mandell. King Philip’s War: Colonial Expansion, Native Resistance, and the End of Indian Sovereignty.
• Eric Schultz and Michael Tougias. King Philip’s War: The History and Legacy of America’s Forgotten Conflict. Vermont: The Countryman Press. 306.