Northeast Coast Campaign (1677)

The Northeast Coast Campaign (1677) happened during First Abenaki War (the northern theatre of King Philips War) and involved the Wabanaki Confederacy raiding colonial American settlements along the New England Colonies/Acadia border in present-day Maine.[1] The Wabanaki killed and captured colonists and burned many farms, blunting the tide of colonial American expansion.[2]

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.”[3] 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

In February 1677, for the second time, Richard Waldron betrayed the Wabanaki by offering a peace conference in which he disarmed and seized the native leaders.[4] This event led to the first migration of Abenaki to St. Francis (Odanak).[4] In April Simon raided York and Wells, killing ten New England colonists.[4]

On May 14, 1677, the settlers having returned, Chief Mugg Hegone and his forces again laid siege to present-day Scarborough. The siege lasted three days, the Wabanaki killed three soldiers and captured a fourth. On the third day, Mugg was killed and the Wabanaki militia then ended the siege. They then went on to raid York and Wells again, killing seven.[4] As they withdrew, they again raided York on June 29, 1677 the Wabanaki militia ambushed large force of American soldiers and their natives allies near Scarborough. The Wabanaki killed 60 men in total.[5][4] That summer the Wabanaki stole 20 fishing boats off Maine.

On July 18, 1677, at Port La Tour, Nova Scotia, about 80 Mi’kmaq attacked 26 New England fishermen who were in five fishing vessels. The natives boarded the vessels, stripped the men of their clothing, tied them up, leaving them on deck until nightfall, when they commanded them to set sail towards Penobscot River, in Maine (close to Castine). A few hours later, while still in harbour, the captain was able to regain control the natives. While some natives escaped, the New Englanders imprisoned some of the natives, taking them to Marblehead, Massachusetts where they were tortured and stoned to death by a group of women.[6][7]

Retaliatory raids by the colonists on native villages were unsuccessful.[4]

Afterward

The war ended the following year with signing of the Treaty of Casco (1678) at Fort Charles, Pemaquid.[8]

References

1. Scott, Tod (2016). "Mi'kmaw Armed Resistance to British Expansion in Northern New England (1676–1761)". Journal of the Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society. 19: 1–18.
2. Mandell (2010), p. 81.
3. Salagnac, Georges Cerbelaud (1979) [1969]. "Abbadie de Saint-Castin, Jean-Vincent d', Baron de Saint-Castin". In Hayne, David (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. II (1701–1740) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press. citing “Mémoire des services rendus par les sieurs de Saint-Castin, père et fils, dans le pays de Canada en la Nouvelle-France,” drawn up in 1720 by Jean-Vincent’s son, Bernard-ANSELME
4. Mandell (2010), p. 133.
5. Schultz & Tougias (1999), p. 314.
6. ""Such Was the Tumultation These Women Made": The Women of Marblehead Wreak Revenge Upon Indian Captors, 1677". History Matters.
7. Axtell, James (October 1974). "The vengeful women of Marblehead: Robert Roules's Deposition of 1677". William and Mary Quarterly. 3rd series. 31 (4): 647–652. doi:10.2307/1921608.
8. Otis, James (1902). "The Treaty of Casco". The Story of Pemaquid. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Company. pp. 73–76.

Texts

• Churchill, Edwin A. (1994). "Mid-Seventeenth-Century Maine: A World on the Edge". In Emerson W. Baker; Edwin A. Churchill; Richard S. D'Abate; et al. (eds.). American Beginnings: Exploration, Culture, and Cartography in the Land of Norumbega. University of Nebraska Press. pp. 241–260. ISBN 0-8032-4554-8.
• Mandell, Daniel R. (2010). Baltimore, Maryland (ed.). King Philip's War: Colonial Expansion, Native Resistance, and the End of Indian Sovereignty. Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-9948-5.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Plank, Geoffrey (2001). An Unsettled Conquest: The British Campaign Against the Peoples of Acadia. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0-8122-0710-1.
• Schultz, Eric B.; Tougias, Michael J. (1999). King Philip's War: The History and Legacy of America's Forgotten Conflict. Countryman Press. ISBN 978-1-58157-701-3.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)