Eastward from the Kennebec the long peninsula of Pemaquid Point
stretches to the sea, between John's Bay and Muscongus Bay, and far
out beyond it, off the western entrance to Penobscot Bay, is Monhegan,
the most famous island on the New England coast. It is twelve miles
off the Point, and the surface rises into highlands. Monhegan appears
upon the earliest charts made by the first navigators, Champlain
naming it in 1604 and Weymouth coming there the next year to trade
with the Indians of Pemaquid before he ascended the great river, which
he said was called Norumbega, and about which there was long so much
mystery and wonder in Europe. Smith was there in 1614, it was
colonized in 1618, in 1621 it sent succor to the starving Pilgrims at
Plymouth, and in 1626 two proprietors bought the island for £50. It
had a stirring colonial history, and on account of its location its
grand flashing beacon-light is a landmark for the mariners coasting
along Maine or entering the Penobscot. Yet it has barely a hundred
people to-day, mostly fishermen, though its isolation has manifest
advantages, for it is said to have no public officials, and to be the
one place where there are no taxes. In fair sight of each other, over
the blue sea, are the highlands of Monhegan and the rocks and coves of
Pemaquid Point, the great stronghold of early British colonial power
in Maine. Rival French and English grants covered the whole of Maine,
and at the outstart the English took possession of the Kennebec, and
the French of the Penobscot. The colonists were in almost constant
enmity, as also were the Indians upon the two rivers, the warfare
continuing a hundred and fifty years, until after the Revolution. The
English made Pemaquid Point their fortified outpost, while the French
established old Fort Pentagoet, afterwards Castine, as their
stronghold on the Penobscot. The earliest settlement at the mouth of
the Kennebec was made in 1607 by Chief Justice George Popham, who came
there with one hundred and twenty colonists in two ships, named the
"Mary and John" and the "Gift of God." They founded Fort St. George,
and built the first vessel on the Kennebec, the "Virginia" of thirty
tons, but Popham dying the next year, they became discouraged and
abandoned the colony.
Pemaquid saw constant disturbances. Weymouth, when he traded there in
1605, kidnapped several Indians and carried them back to England. The
fierce Abenaquis from Penobscot Bay attacked the place in 1615 and
massacred all the Wawenock Indians who lived there. Then the old
Sagamore Samoset appeared upon the scene, the same who welcomed the
Pilgrims to Plymouth. He lived near Pemaquid, and told them at
Plymouth his home was distant "a daye's sayle with a great wind, and
five dayes by land." He sold Pemaquid to the first English colonists
in 1625 by deed, his sign manual upon it being a bended bow with an
arrow fitted to the string, ready to shoot. They saw the strategic
importance of the place and built a small fort in 1630. Then a pirate
came along, captured and plundered the settlement, holding it until an
armed ship from Massachusetts recaptured it in 1635, the pirate being
hanged. Then stronger forts were built, and Fort Charles was
constructed in 1674, but in King Philip's War the French and Indians
attacked it, driving out the people, who escaped by boats to Monhegan.
Again, in 1689, the Abenaquis from old Pentagoet, under their chief
Madockawando, captured it with great slaughter, destroying the works.
The English in 1693 once more took possession, this time building a
stone fort regarded as impregnable and said to be the finest work then
in New England. French frigates soon attacked it and were repulsed,
and its fame was great throughout the colonies. But the French and
the Abenaquis were bound to defeat its possessors, and in 1696 the
former with a fleet and the latter under Baron de Castine again
attacked, and captured it with a horrible massacre, all the survivors
being carried into captivity. The English did not reoccupy the Point
for some time, but in 1724 they repaired the ruined fort, and deciding
that a place of so much importance must be held at all hazards, in
1730 Fort Frederick, the great defensive work of Pemaquid, was built,
and a town grew around it. The French and Indians made unsuccessful
attacks in 1745, and again in 1747. Thus fiercely raged the battle
between the rival possessors of the Penobscot and the Kennebec, and
the ruins of this last and greatest work, Fort Frederick, have been
the place where for years the antiquarians have been delving for
relics, much as they do in Pompeii. It was an extensive exterior
fortress with an interior citadel, located upon a slope rising from a
rocky shore and controlling the approach from the sea. A high rock in
the southeastern angle, forming part of the magazine, is the most
prominent portion of the ruins. A martello tower stood in front on the
sea-beach, but is now pulverized into broken fragments. A graveyard,
several paved streets, and cellars of buildings have been disclosed.
The final destruction of Fort Frederick was by the Americans in the
Revolution, to prevent its becoming a British stronghold, and its last
battle was in 1814, when a force in boats from a British frigate
attacked the Point, but were repulsed with heavy loss. Its present
condition is thus described in the mournful ballad of _Pemaquid_:
"The restless sea resounds along the shore,
The light land breeze flows outward with a sigh,
And each to each seems chanting evermore
A mournful memory of the days gone by.
"Here, where they lived, all holy thoughts revive,
Of patient striving, and of faith held fast;
Here, where they died, their buried records live,
Silent they speak from out the shadowy past."