Andrew Brown Jr.
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Andrew J. Brown Jr. (abt. 1658 - 1723)

Lt Andrew J. Brown Jr.
Born about [location unknown]
Ancestors ancestors
Husband of — married [date unknown] [location unknown]
Descendants descendants
Died at about age 65 in Arundel, York, Massachusetts Bay Colonymap
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Profile last modified | Created 8 May 2014
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Biography

Burial AFT 4 Jul 1723 Arundel, York, ME Alternate Name Birth Name Andrew Brown [Lieutenant] Birth Name Junior Andrew Brown

Andrew settled on a 150 acre farm on Mill Creek near Oak Hill which included an Indian mill for grinding corn. This farm was sold to Robert Elliot in 1699.

In 1675 Andrew and his brother John while in Boston were impressed to go on an expedition to the Kennebec with Capt. Thomas Moore and upon their return they were assigned to garrison duty at Black Point where they stayed nine or ten months being released in July 1677 when the garrison was abandoned and went to Boston.

The following wonderful article A Doleful Slaughter Near Black Point- The Battle at Moore's Brook by Sumner Hunnewell, was published in The Maine Genealogist in May and Aug. 2003:

"Three ships of war lay off the coast of Black Point on 29 June 1677. They had arrived the day before and in them were an ancient major, a newly commissioned captain, and men gathered from towns of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Traveling from Massachusetts by foot were English and Indians following their beloved lieutenant. Many were impressed, obligated to fight far from their home in the service of the government. Some had taken part in fighting southwards and westwards during the King Philip’s War. Others were culled from the refugees of Maine, finding themselves with no work in Massachusetts. In some cases, the town fathers who sent them thought that these youths were to be impressed for service locally, not along the war-ravaged coast of Maine where they found themselves now. The enemy they sought were the natives of the land who, after years of peaceful relations with the settlers, began settling disagreements with powder and shot and, at closer quarters, fire, war club, and tomahawk. Black Point was an important English rendezvous location throughout this war, the easternmost settlement in the province of Maine, while all else to the east was laid to waste.

King Philip’s War in the colonies of Connecticut, Plymouth, and Massachusetts spilled over into Maine, but the attacks there were not (for the most part) orchestrated from without. Years of trading abuse, misunderstanding, and illegal actions by the settlers took their toll and few were spared. By mid-1677 when the ships were anchored off Black Point, peace was around the corner, but many would not live to see it. Scarborough, of which Black Point was only a part, had seen enough of Indian warfare not to enjoy any of it. For two years now settlers were slain, fled for their safety, or taken captive. Houses and outbuildings had been burned and crops destroyed. The town was abandoned in the fall of 1676. Without a shot being fired, Captain Joshua Scottow’s well-fortified garrison on the neck was given up to Mogg, one of the most influential of Maine’s Indians of the time, known as both an ambassador and agitator during the war. The aged statesman, Henry Jocelyn, who once owned much of the land in Scarborough, had been taken prisoner. The garrison was looted but not destroyed and, after the reoccupation of the garrison by Massachusetts’s Lieutenant Bartholomew Tippen and his men, settlers returned to the town. In March 1677 almost thirty families had returned to the town but their condition was poor. The Indians attacked again in May but in this latest battle for the fort Mogg and half a dozen of his confederates were killed in a frontal attack, Tippen firing the shot to kill him. The Indians, many of their leaders gone, withdrew from the town for awhile, wreaking havoc down the coast as they did so.

But this was a morning in June, the enemy of the English had returned, and the alarm was given. A small band of Indians had been spotted moving half a mile away east of the ferry, which serviced Black Point and Blue Point. Having said their morning prayers, the soldiers marched forth, ninety to one hundred men. Twenty were under the command of Major Clarke, a man nearly 70, who stayed behind. Friendly Indians alongside English soldiers and their leader, Lieutenant Richardson, were in one party, probably at their forefront. English and friendly Indian soldiers from the remaining ships marched on under the command of Captain Swett. To protect what they called their own, garrisoned townsmen joined in rank, probably led by their town’s savior and garrison commander, Lieutenant Tippen. As they marched with their backs to the sea, they traveled the pastured land of the neck. The lands to the left sloped down to the mouth of the river where, by water’s edge, lay the now unused fishing stages and the evaporating pools. Beyond this, across the broken lands of the marsh, lay Winnock’s Neck with its chalky bright clam heaps marking the feasting place for the local natives. The men marched through the fields past the blooming English roses that Henry Joceyln’s brother, John Josselyn, wrote about during quieter days. The desolation of the cultivated land they walked through was complete: blackened fields, houses, and barns burned the year before.

Major Thomas Clarke was a wealthy man who had suffered losses of his own along these coasts. He was well acquainted in commerce and warfare having been the senior partner with Captain Thomas Lake of a large trading post at Arrowsic (Georgetown), further eastward along the coast. For years their company had dealt peacefully with the natives. Although the outpost was well protected, less than a year before the Kennebec Indians forced their way in, taking the inhabitants unawares. Many were killed, including Lake, and the place was ransacked.

Clarke was old by this time, near his allotted three score and ten, when he arrived at Black Point. He had received a commission on the same day of Swett’s departure; his role was counselor to Swett and envoy from the government. Besides having men under his command, the government had given him authority to do as he saw fit. Circumstances would drive his actions.

Captain Benjamin Swett came to this new land when he was a boy, settling in Newbury, Massachusetts, with his family. He was well educated and forthright. In his twenties, he married Esther Weare and entered military life. Swett was his own man and on more than one occasion (with dutiful respect) signed petitions to the Council in Boston regarding military affairs. As were many of his contemporaries, he was a strong advocate of self-determination and the ability to petition the government without retribution. Swett and his family left Newbury to settle in Hampton, New Hampshire, where he and his wife raised ten children. Here Swett grew in prominence among its citizenry. He became a leader of the community, holding a variety of offices. With the coming of the war, Swett would have many challenges; utmost was to protect his own town of Hampton. Chroniclers tell of the few skirmishes that occurred in his town, which was not visited by the wholesale slaughter or destruction shared by many towns of that time. Whether by Swett’s diligence or the Indians’ indifference, Hampton was spared for the most part until 13 June 1677 when four men were killed outside of town.

Swett was not always there to help protect his town. During the war he had already served as an ensign in the Essex regiment under Captain Gardiner and fought at the famous Great Narragansett Fort Fight in December 1675. The ensign was soon promoted to lieutenant after Gardiner died during the battle. He probably took part in "The Hungry March" in the attempt to attack the Indians in the heart of the winter the month after, the soldiers in such need that they had to eat their horses. There must have been such a feeling of safety in Hampton that in the Spring of 1677, towards the end of the war, Swett was requested to go to Wells to bolster the garrison there.

It may have passed through Swett’s mind as he marched with his men at Black Point that exactly two months earlier, while at Wells, he had experienced Indian tactics of stealth over outright attack. Espying an Indian in the distance, Swett dispatched eleven men to pursue him whereupon they fell into ambush. Two were killed immediately and one was mortally wounded. Reinforcements were sent out, which resulted in the death of six Indians. Some satisfaction could be gained from this but it was a lesson hard learned.

Swett was a very competent soldier but he knew that many men left home and hearth never to return. No doubt this was a concern when he took friends aside before his departure from Hampton. If he were to die, he wished it to be known that he wanted his wife to live in comfort and to receive a double portion of his estate, a decision that was not common at that time.

The new captain must have felt very confident as he led his troops. All of his men might not have the experience of hardened soldiers but he had men in numbers. These were not a few soldiers garrisoned at Wells where the posture was defense. He now had a small army at his command of English and Indians, the latter skilled at discrete warfare, reputations unimpeachable when fighting alongside the English, while in the distance lay a small band of the retreating enemy.

Lieutenant James Richardson was the son of one of the first English settlers of Massachusetts and a founder of Woburn. The second-generation Richardsons formed many military ties. James, the youngest son, was the brother of Captain Josiah Richardson and James at 19 married Bridget Henchman, daughter of the famous Captain Thomas Henchman. He followed his brother and settled in Chelmsford, which over time had extended to include the Christian Indian village of Wamesit. In his thirties, he was entrusted to supervise the Indian settlement.

Lieutenant James Richardson was distinguished in his military career and with his evenhandedness with the Christian Indians under his responsibility. On many occasions when the townsmen of the area would quickly blame the Indians and seek to do them harm, Richardson would juxtapose himself—sometimes to no avail—as the English settlers would wreak undeserved vengeance on the innocent. The friendly Indians either escaped from a hostile environment by flying into the wilderness or to the enemies of the English. Others were rounded up by the government and placed on Deer Island in the fall of 1675. On the island they lived a miserable existence until commanders with foresight realized the need to reinstate the use of Indian scouts. A few scouts’ unwavering loyalty and bravery liberated their people in the spring of 1676. Employing some of the released natives, the government had ordered that a garrison be built at Pawtucket Falls (Lowell). Forty Indians and eventually the garrison were to be put under Richardson’s command. These natives were severely limited in where they could live or travel in Massachusetts. It was fitting to call on Richardson to lead the expeditionary forces inland with a band of Indians and English. In the summer of 1675 at Brookfield he had proven himself an able leader as he and the other lesser officers repelled an attack on a garrison in which they took refuge while their commanding officer lay dying within. His bravery came second to his devotion to the Wamesit Indians. He had proven time and again to be faithful to them. Trust was given for trust and they loved him for it. He was a defender of them when falsely accused by the nearby settlers.

Richardson impressed into service English soldiers from his own Middlesex County and gained help from the Wamesit Indians. In order to raise men for Richardson’s force, the government allowed an incentive of 20 shillings bounty for each enemy scalp and twice that for any enemy they could make their prisoner. Of the Scarborough townsmen who could have participated, there are seven that can be identified positively.

John McKenney may have been a captured Scottish soldier, indentured to Massachusetts after the battle of Dunbar where Cromwell had routed the Scots sympathetic to Prince Charles. By 1664 he was in Scarborough and there he settled having received a grant of land in 1668. Although he got into a row with Captain Scottow, the owner of the garrison, McKenney supported the captain while others in the town spoke against him. McKenney and his family fled the war and became refugees in Salem.

The Libbys were a large farming family and the patriarch, John, had four sons in the garrison: James Libby, Samuel Libby, Henry Libby, and Anthony Libby. All were probably planters like their father. Anthony was also a carpenter. James, Samuel, and Henry were in their thirties while Anthony was in his late twenties. They lived with or near their father about two miles from the garrison, but this was all gone now, burned by the Indians at the start of the war. When Mogg took the garrison in October 1676, all but Henry were living near it. Most of the Libby family took refuge in Boston. However, all four brothers returned to Black Point as soldiers. Henry and perhaps the others volunteered to accompany Lieutenant Tippen to regain the fort taken by Mogg but they were not allowed. Instead Henry and possibly his brothers were impressed to go with Captain Moore and were later left at the Black Point garrison where conditions were mean, the garrisoned men becoming sick (some dying) for want of good clothing. Andrew Brown Jr. and John Brown, both in their twenties, were at the garrison at the time of arrival of Clarke, Swett, and Richardson. The Brown family settled in Scarborough where the progenitor, Andrew Sr., was a large landowner, receiving 500 acres in 1651. Far from the safety of the coastal garrison in Scarborough, the family’s house and cattle were destroyed. Andrew, his wife, and family of nine children were in hard straits, living as refugees in Boston, making due but finding no way to make a livelihood for two years. Andrew Jr. and John had been impressed in November 1676 to go to the Kennebec with Captain Moore and were released to the Black Point garrison afterwards.

The initial objective of the government of Massachusetts was a military one. Massachusetts’s hope was that it could get help from the other United Colonies, Plymouth and Connecticut. The Great Swamp Fight proved how the concerted efforts of these colonies could work well to their benefit. In December 1675, a combined army of over one thousand men and Indians of the United Colonies marched and took the Narragansett swamp fort, turning the tide of the war. Therefore, on the first of June 1677 it was decided by the Council sitting in Boston to solicit the help of her sister colonies to once again answer the constant attacks now happening at the Eastward. The Massachusetts Council hoped to raise 200 Indians and less than 100 English for the venture, using the agreed-upon quotas filled by all three colonies. However, there would be no help from the other colonies. Massachusetts would have to fight alone. The number of men raised was around 120. The number of English gathered far outnumbered the friendly Indians in this army.

The deployment of the forces would be approached in two ways. Richardson would take his men to range the woods between the Merrimack and Piscataqua Rivers. To encourage his men, they were to be allowed 20 shillings for every enemy scalp and twice that for any prisoners taken. After a while, they would march up the coast of Maine until they reached Black Point. Clarke and Swett would take a seaward route with the bulk of the army in three ships. The rendezvous date was set at June 26th. The ships left Charlestown on the 25th but something must have impeded the swiftness of their journey, because they did not arrive until the 28th. Once gathered at Black Point, they were to receive news from Lieutenant Tippen about the movement of the enemy. Clarke was to help decide what to do based on the information gathered about the Indian forces. He could either counsel that much of the army travel by foot back down the coast trying to rout out the Indians and relieving the garrisons as they passed through or, if the conditions were right, to travel to the headquarters of the Indians to destroy them. It has been intimated that headquarters were on "the falls of Taconick on Kennebeck river; where it was said the Indians had six forts, well furnished with ammunition." It seems more likely that the headquarters that the combined army was to attack was Ossipee (or "Pegwakick"), which Captain Walderne and later Captains Hunting and Sill set upon, destroying the formidable fort the previous winter, rather than Taconnet. Barring a change in plan, Swett and Richardson were to march down the coast and not up it. It seems unlikely that they would have tried to attack Taconnet on the Kennebec, since they anticipated a contingent from New York to reside further up the coast but in the vicinity of that river. The appearance of the Indians on the plain would drive the decision to attack here and now. What was to be done after would be settled when the men returned. The other reason for this mission was political and could be summed up in a single place name—Pemaquid. Overlapping claims for Pemaquid rankled not a few in the competing governments of Massachusetts and New York (who represented the claim over Pemaquid by the Duke of York). In December 1676, the government of New York sent ships to Boston and Piscataqua to offer succor and draw off to New York any of those who were driven out of Pemaquid. This Massachusetts would not allow. Massachusetts abandoned Pemaquid in April, its soldiers ill equipped to maintain it against any Indian enemy.

Although Massachusetts and New York were at odds over Pemaquid, Massachusetts sent a delegation to Albany in May and were given "very Curteous enterteinment." Gifts were exchanged there with the Mohawks, the dreaded enemies of the Eastern Indians, who promised to pursue the Eastern Indians up to the Kennebec River. Assuming that the Mohawks would be in Maine by the time the forces were gathered under Swett and Clarke, provisions were granted by Massachusetts for their well being and, when it was time to load the ships commanded by Clarke and Swett, one hundred bushels of Indian corn were hauled aboard. The governor of New York, Edmond Andros, who would live long enough to become the hated and jailed governor of Massachusetts, saw the benefit of reestablishing the fort at Pemaquid and the profits to be made from the fisheries there. Noting that everything eastward of Black Point had been either abandoned or destroyed, he sought to flex the ducal muscle and (along with the New York council) decided on June 9th to restore Pemaquid. Captain Anthony Brockholes was provided with sailing orders four days later to occupy and fortify it. They were to further the Duke’s interests by making peace with the Eastern Indians of Maine and reopen the lucrative trading and fishing operations. New York’s intentions were presented to Massachusetts, who now had thrust upon them the trouble and inconvenience of two powers—the natives, who were seen as the enemies, and the men of New York, who were seen as usurpers. Knowing the strategic as well as economic importance of Pemaquid, Massachusetts made its plans to send Clarke to treat with those in charge there, and attempt to make peace with the natives of the eastern part of Maine and redeem captives held by them. Andros believed the rendezvous at Black Point occurred because Massachusetts heard of New York’s preemptive reclamation of Pemaquid, but it is obvious that the plans of the Bay Colony were in place well beforehand and New York’s actions only added to the complexity of the situation.

Massachusetts, in order to make her expectations clear, drew up a communiqué and sent it with Clarke: New York would neither interfere with the prosecution of the plans to attack the Indians by the Massachusetts forces nor would they deal with the Indians themselves, which would put to disadvantage the Massachusetts government. When he was to arrive at Pemaquid, it was to be delivered to Captain Nichols there.

Andros’s hopes were not only to reoccupy but also to populate Pemaquid with men more sympathetic to the crown or antagonistic towards the government of Massachusetts. He also suggested that the four ships, which he sent forth, stop at the Piscataqua and offer positions to three influential men there. The first of these was Major Nicholas Shapleigh, a Quaker sympathizer. The second was Reverend Robert Jordan, whose holdings in Scarborough and along the Spurwink River were formidable but abandoned. The third was the esteemed Henry Jocelyn of Black Point. All three men had been thorns in the side of the Massachusetts government since that body’s long arm reached up the coast of Maine. The Massachusetts government in the past had imprisoned both Shapleigh and Jordan, and Shapleigh just three years before. One of these three men took the opportunity to go aboard and sail to Pemaquid.

As the men marched, behind them lay plentiful Saco Bay. On their left-hand side were the crescent sands of Saco, Blue Point, and Dunstan. To the right lay the woods of the neck and further on the plains where once the families lived by farming and husbandry, much of their efforts destroyed the year before. An expanse of marshland spread ahead of them where freshwater springs and the sinuous Nonesuch River wound its way. As the men marched in two or three files, the land gave way to an expanse of marshland on their left, while the land rose before and to the right of them. It took less than half an hour to march to the vicinity of Moore’s Brook, a small waterway that led down to the marsh. They were about two miles from the safety of the garrison, finding themselves upon an open plain—a bush here and there to break up the landscape. As the men started crossed over Moore’s Brook and started up the hill on the other side, the Indians attacked.

The English were not outnumbered, but the surprise was their undoing. Squando laid his trap well.

The war whoop, which today seems relegated to myth, was very real and, for those less resolute soldiers, must have struck them with terror. Up came the Indians from behind the bushes and up from the marshland to their left, across the plain from their right. What had started as pursuit of a few Indians turned into a full pitched battle.

The initial slaughter on the side of the English must have been horrific. Lieutenant James Richardson was cut down soon after the first volley along with others of his men. English and friendly Indians fell wounded or dead; others tried to carry the wounded to safety, but shelter was two miles away and they were facing an enemy that knew the territory well. Some badly wounded English found ways to hide. Some men, many of those who served with Swett before, must have held their ground. There is no doubt that some of the men, inexperienced soldiers, "shifting for themselves," left their comrades to bear the brunt of the attack. There is good reason to believe that the friendly Indians stood their ground and there is no record that shows any treachery or perfidy on their part. The townsmen had shown their lack of resolve earlier with their encounter with Mogg the preceding year, but how they reacted now is not known. Soon the English and friendly Indian ranks were thrown into disarray.

Swett, showing great courage, rallied what men he could again and again, and made a torturous retreat towards the garrison on the neck. The rout had turned into a tremendous defeat and by the time Swett was within sight of the garrison, he had suffered many wounds and was bodily taken by the Indians and hewn to death. Of the nearly one hundred men who left the garrison, less than half a dozen came back without a scratch. Nineteen out of twenty of Major Clarke’s men were cut down. A doctor treated those who returned wounded. Fifty to sixty of the New England forces were dead or mortally wounded, including eight friendly Indians.

The Indians made quick work of the wounded men left on the field. If any were found, they were undoubtedly dispatched. There are no records of any captives being taken. Why the victors left the scene we do not know. It was thought that Squando fled to Canada. Early in the morning soldiers went from the garrison to rescue the wounded and recover the dead.

Thomas Dutton from Billerica described the battle in a petition for assistance from the government months afterwards:

Bilerikye this (1)st of 8th [October]: (1678)
To the honered govener & the Rest of the honered members of the Generall Court now sitting in boston : this 2:8:1678

The petetion of Thos Dutten Junr: most humbley sheweth: thatt som time in June : 77 : I was imprest into the contrey serves from Billeriky : & was sent with sum others to the estward : under the Command of the honered major clarke esqr & the wise providence of the allwise god : so ordered if I was in tht fattall scirmish : In which capt swett : tht worthey comander : was slaine : and allmost all his officers : with about 50 men besids & : 21 more that were wounded [to my best Rememberance] of which my self was one : I was shott therow the side of my belle : and thorow my left knee & so fell doun wounded amongst the rest not able to help my self : I being of a child lame one my right thigh my hipp bone was putt out of Joynt and never sett againe so if I was now lame one both sides : beside the shott which went thorow my side: as aforesd : I therefor hid my self amongst amongst [sic] the bushes: not being able to stand nor goe : the battell being over : the indians came forth out of the swamp and one of them espied me in a bush : and seing my gonne in my hand : aprehended more danger thn there was : and spake to the rest and they all ran away the which I perceiveing : with much deficoltie : crept into the swamp and Covered my self with mudd & dirt : the Indians qicklie returned to the place to look for me : & fiered into the bush where the indian did se me : & they sought diligentlye for me : but It pleased the lord : they coold nott find me : then in the night after all was still : I crept out of the swamp towards the gareson about a mile & a halfe and whatt with my bleeding and great paine : I was not able to goe one rodd farther : it was the more deficolt for me to creep becase I was shott thorow one of my knees: but there I laye doune & thought I must dye before mornig but the lord who ordereth all things acording to the counsill of his own will : so ordered tht an other wounded soldier came bye me : in the night a letle before daye : and so took my condetion to the Capt of the gareson : who sent forth men imediatelye : and found me and brought me into the gareson who had much adoo to keep life in me : & I was sent by the first opertunitye to salem : where I came upon the 2nd of July : from tht time till the : 28th : of Janeuary I Remained under the hands of docter welds : as will appeare by his certeficate which I gave it to to [sic] the honured counsell

More English and friendly Indians from Massachusetts died in this one military action in Maine than at any other time during the war. It was a devastating blow to the colony and once again the men of Essex County bore the brunt of the casualties. Some of the wounded Essex men were shipped to Salem, where nineteen arrived on July 2. Others arrived in Boston. At Salem Dr. Barton and Dr. Welds, physicians of long standing, tended them. Some soldiers were paid for their service, others were not. They or their towns bore the cost of their medical expenses.

Already feeling vulnerable, since four men were killed outside the town two weeks before and upon hearing the news, the Hampton town fathers wrote to the Governor immediately asking for a suitable replacement for their worthy Captain Swett. Swett’s wishes were granted and his wife, Hester, was given twice her portion of his estate. She married Swett’s ensign the following March.

Lieutenant Richardson’s wife Bridget’s sorrow increased when their seven- year-old daughter died three months later. She received solace, no doubt, from her family and her husband’s, many with military ties. She remarried in October 1679.

The slain men were probably buried in a mass grave, which was a common occurrence during this and other Indian wars. A burying ground lay beyond the ferry and it may have been there where they were interred or they may have been buried close to the battle scene.

Honord: Sr._ :Salem: the: 4th:July 1677.— Vndrstanding, pr doctor Barton, tht yor: honoer desires, & Expected, to receiue a pticular acctt. of the mens names tht are wounded, as alsoe the place they belong to, wth the manner of their wounds, have accordingly, made Inquiry, & Sent you acctt as followeth— English Daniell: Dike: of Milton : through the Arm boan Splintrd
//Ben : Rockett of Medfield . two Shots In thigh
//Jacob: parker of Chensford: shott through the shouldr.
//Tho: Dutton of Bellricke: shott In the knee & belly
//Jno: Mechenne, of Blackpoint: throug the brest & back
//James Veren of Salem: Through the upr: part of thigh
//Anthony waldern Salem: In the neck
//Morgan: Joanes of Newberry: through the thigh—
//Caleb : pilsberry of Newberry: In the back
//Israell Hunewell of Ipswich In the Legg & Shoulder
Indians //Jno- Nuckwich: In the knee Juncture—
//Nathanll: penumpum.— In the thigh—
//Abraham Speen, through both the thighs
Acctt: of the Slaine In this County, Soe far as wee Can gather is— Salem// Nath: Hun
//peter: petty—
James : Ford—
Andivr Jno.- parker .-
James: parker
Jno: phelps:
Daniell Blackead Ipswich //James : Burbee ——
//Samll : pooler
//Jn : poland
//Thom : Burnum
Marblehead: Tho. Edwards
Samll. Beal
Richard Hurls
Joseph : Morgan
Rowly : Nick : Richardson
—— philip : Hutton
Beurly James Mansly
Ben : Morgan
Francis Lawrance Cape an: Vincen : Davis —
Nathaniell Knights
Lin One man wch was all they sent – [Second page]
Sr- This acctt: is the best tht att prsant Can giue yor: honor:, as for the other Counties wee Can ~
Enforme noe other waies, butt tht Major Clark sent on shoar nineteen-twenty men where of nine-
teen Slaine—wch is all att prsant butt humbleSeruice to you—Rest.- Yor Honors most humble Seruants to Command
Jno: Curwin :
Jno Price When the news reached the Governor and Council of Massachusetts, it was a devastating shock. Familiar with most of the events of the war, Increase Mather still made this entry in his diary: June 29. A doleful Slaughter near Black Point. Tis thot that 50 persons were slain. There were near 100 soldiers, it is questioned whether there were so many of the Enemy. They fought in a plain, not above 5 (or thereabouts) of ours tht came off without being either slain or wounded. Our soldiers, some of thm basely ran away wh occasioned the slaughter. The Enemy strangely bold & courageous. So tht there never was a more solumn rebuke since the War begun. Massachusetts in her pious way of confronting such tragedies as seen at Black Point held a day of humiliation. The failure of the English can be attributed to many factors. The most obvious was marching into an ambush so far from help. The story of King Philip’s War is littered with the bodies of men, whose commanders found themselves in such a predicament. It has been stated that Swett did not have time to harden and sharpen his soldiers. He had only three days to prepare men who had arrived from over a dozen different towns, as they were all requested to be in Charlestown at one o’clock on the 22nd in order to sail on the 25th, expecting to be at Black Point the next day. This hurried pace may have been due to Massachusetts’s resolve to rush what men it could, a smaller force, without waiting for Connecticut or Plymouth to be persuaded to send men. Later Massachusetts would write a scolding letter to the government of Connecticut for its lack of assistance in the cause to defend the Eastward. Another reason to send men hastily may have been the knowledge that Pemaquid had been taken by New York and the new owners’ inevitable overtures towards peaceful relations with the Indians about the Kennebec in order to reopen the fisheries and trade there. In his diary, John Hull, treasurer of the Bay Colony, does not write only about Swett’s army on their way to Maine. He wrote: "Soldiers sent to Black Point; Major Thomas Clarke, with three vessels, both thither and to Kenibeck, to treat with Captain Nicolds from New York." Another complaint was that the men were inexperienced to handle the attack. Of the men identified and records that can be found, just over 20 English had some experience as soldiers either on the field or in the garrison, which seems to uphold the comment. It is safe to assume that the friendly Indians were well versed in war. This would make less than half of all the Massachusetts force (and Black Point garrison recruits) known to have some military experience; the average age of the English soldier from Massachusetts was around 24. Richardson’s death early on must have been a crushing blow for the friendly Indians and it is perhaps their unwillingness to leave the field that led to so many of their deaths. The men running from the field of battle only made circumstances worse in what would have been otherwise evenly matched armies. Major Clarke, taking what men he could, left Black Point and made his way to Pemaquid, where he expected to find the New York soldiery. Upon arriving he was not disappointed by this assumption. Four New York ships lay off the coast. A rebuilt and well-armed fort lay before him. His own soldiers were a little over half of what greeted him. He related the story of the skirmish at Black Point to the commanders of the fort and presented the letter of the Governor and Council. Upon meeting the leaders of the fort, Clarke may have been surprised, if intelligence had not reached him in Boston already, that standing before him was Henry Jocelyn, Esq., late of Black Point and now Justice of the Peace and in the employ of the governor of New York. The communication between the envoy and the new residents was cordial and Major Clarke returned to Boston with a letter explaining the intentions of New York to make peace with the Indians thereabout. It was either this time or later in the weeks of negotiations that, adding insult to injury, Clarke’s ship was destroyed at sea. The Indians throughout Maine were not a single fighting force and towards the end of the war, the eastern Indians about Pemaquid disowned any allegiance or alliance with Squando. These Indians felt ill used, betrayed, and mistreated but were involved with the early attacks on English settlers. Much of their grievances lay in the mistrust of Major Waldron of Cocheco. After the encounter at Black Point, they were disavowing any of the recent bloodshed, placing the bulk of the blame on Squando and the "damrallscogon" Indians. They said that Squando did not want peace. It was this mood that found them more willing to parley with New York and Massachusetts. By the middle of July, the commanders of Pemaquid had made peace with the Indians of the Kennebec. However, at that time "Squando would not consent to the peace, but vndrstanding the resolution of the other sachems aboute a conclusion of the peace . . . Imediatly falls vpon 7 or 8 captives & kills them. & flyes in his prson to Canada." Massachusetts sent other envoys to Pemaquid to make peace with the Indians. Their expectations of the help of New York were great, including their requirement that before any peace was settled that the ketches stolen from Salem in July would be returned. After two weeks of negotiations, Captain Scottow exchanged prisoners and made peace with all of the Indians that August, including Squando. In April of the following year, another peace was made with Squando and other Indian leaders at Casco. From that time to his death, there was no recorded enmity between Squando and the English who dealt with him. Six years after the fight at Moore’s Brook, Scottow wrote to Increase Mather about the fate of Squando, the Sagamore of Saco, the man who defeated the English at Moore’s Brook: In the latter end of the last yeare, (82) he left Sacho, & went to Casco, & from thence towards the French, prtending his removall was because of disorder of drinking among the Indians, which he could not reforme. In the begining of last winter news was brought to vs that he had hung himself, being some time before dumpish & melancholique, he having formerly told the Indians, & allso did then tell his wife that God told him if he hung himself, he should the next day liue againe, & never should die more. Which God he said was the Englishman’s God, & did appeare to him frequently, soe as he could see him when he would. He was a man of a grave & ponderous spirit, & much reformed in his course in abstinence from rum, strong drink, tobacco, plurality of wives, & gñally was a man of a courteous & civill conursac˜on towards the English (except in times of war). He was a strict observer of the Saboth, from even to even, & gñally would not out in that day, & hath told myself & others that this course & reformac˜on of his was the effect of his vision of the English man’s God’s apping vnto him after a great fit of sicknes; who came to him as a Minister, in blacke clothes, & told him if he did soe as above he should be happy & goe upwards, but if he did not, he should goe downeward & be miserable. Mather uses much of this letter to describe Squando but, unlike Scottow, cannot help himself to draw his own conclusions upon Squando’s conversion: Concerning Squando, the Sachem of the Indians at Saco, the story of him is upon sundry accounts remarkable. Many years ago, he was sick and near unto death, after which he said, that one pretending to be the Englishmans God appeared to him in the form of an English minister, and discoursed with him, requiring him to leave off his drinking of rum, and religiously to observe the Sab- bath-day, and to deal justly amongst men, withal promising him that if he did so, then at death his soul should go upwards to an happy place; but if he did not obey these commandments, at death his soul should go downwards, and to be for ever misterable. But this preteneded god said nothing to him about Jesus Christ. However, this apparition so wrought upon Squando, as that he left his drunkenness, and became a strict observer of the Sabbath-day; yea, so that he alwayes kept it as a day of fast, and would hear the English ministers preach, and was very just in his dealing. But in the time of the late Indian war, he was the principal actor in the bloody tragedies in that part of the countrey. The last year the pretended Englishmans God appeared to him again, as afore, in the form of a minister, requiring him to kill himself, and promising him that if he did obey, he should live again the next day, and never die more. Squando acquainted his wife and some other Indians with this new apparition; they most earnestly advised him not to follow the murderous counsel which the spectre had given. Nevertheless, he since hath hanged himself, and so is gone to his own place. This was the end of the man that disturbed the peace of New-England." Andrew was back in Scarborough in 1681 where he was taxed 2/. In 1687 he received 500 acres at Black Point from Henry Watts and petitioned Governor Andros to have his grant surveyed and laid out to him again.(1) In 1690 war again broke out with the Indians and the French and Andrew was sick with small pox, his home being defended by his father and friends after most of the settlers had left. After he recovered he moved to Chebacco (Essex), MA staying for several years. From the paper of Edward Randolf of about 1680: "Men that are enemies to M Gorges interest, living in the province of Mayne... Andrew Brown of Black Point... these are men of indifferent estates and are led by maj Pembleton & of the same independant way, understanding but little but what he tells them in law or gospell."(2) Andrew probably came to York in connection with the military protection of the town soon after the massacre. On 10 Aug. 1696 he bought 17 1/2 acres on the north side of the York River from Henry and Sarah Wright of Boston.(3) In 1699 he sold 150 acres in Scarborough to George Vaughan and 172 acres to William Cotton Sr.(4) Andrew bought land on Cooper Lane in 1699 in partnership with Lewis Bane and two years later they divided it.(5) Andrew lived in a garrison house from 1697 until 1713 on the northeast side of the York River on Cooper Lane on the west side of the road leading to the Mills.(6) By order of his Excellency Governor Joseph Dudley, a committee was directed to make a survey of all the frontier garrison houses in Maine in 1711 and they reported the following for Andrew's garrison with the assignments of persons to repair to each in time of danger or alarm: "Yorke... No. 10 Andrw Browns... Families 4, Men Inhab 4, Souldiers 1, Souls 22."(7) In 1701 he was assigned a "hind seat in the gallery" of the church.(8) Andrew moved to Saco in 1717 and then to Arundel in 1719. He sold his property in York in 1719 to Diamond Sargent.(9) While in Saco he bought 100 acres at Cape Porpoise "the ancient seat of Rowland Young" from Samuel Hill of Charlestown and in 1720 with Thomas Perkins he bought 50 acres "being the south-west corner of Montague's neck". Joseph Storer and Andrew built a mill in Arundel and was listed as a proprietor on 22 June 1721.(10) On 1 Aug 1721 Andrew and Sarah gave to their sons Andrew and Allison 40 acres of land, 4 acres of marsh, 1/3 of his interest in the saw mill and undivided lands, mill privileges and common lands in Arundel.(11) Andrew was an Ensign in 1687 and was called Lieutenant in the town records. He was a selectman in 1684, 1687, 1688, and in 1719, he was on the grand jury in 1698, 1699, 1704, and 1705.(12) The inventory of his estate was filed 2 Apr 1726 and on 9 May 1726 John & Elizabeth Stagpole, Samuel and Mary Carr, and John and Katherine Lassell released all their rights in their father's lands to their brother Allison Brown.(13)

Sources

  • (1) Doc. Hist. of Maine- VI, 184
  • (2) Ibid- IV, 314-5; Maine Pioneer Settlements: Old York- Herbert Milton Sylvester, Boston, 1909- p.289
  • (3) York Deeds- VI, 110
  • (4) Ibid- VI, 72; XII, 1, 24
  • (5) Ibid- VI, 109-10
  • (6) History and Genealogy of the Stackpole Family- Everett S. Stackpole
  • (7) MA Archives- Vol.71, pp.871-6
  • (8) History of York, Maine- Charles E. Banks, Calkins Press, Boston, 1931- Vol. I, p. 277
  • (9) York Deeds- IX, 165
  • (10) Ibid- VIII, 266; IX, 209; X, 271; XII, 14
  • (11) Ibid- XI, 71; XIII, 72
  • (12) Genealogical Dictionary of Maine & New Hampshire- p.114
  • (13) York Probate- No.1992-3
  • (14) Vital Records of York, Maine- NEGHR- Vol. 110, p. 175 (July 1956)
  • A Doleful Slaughter Near Black Point- available at the Hampton, NH web site at: http://www.hampton.lib.nh.us/hampton/history/military/mooresbrook.htm
  • The Ancestry of Sarah Miller 1755-1840- Walter G. Davis, pp.54-8
  • The York Militia Co. 1642-1672- John D. Bardwell, 1972
  • History of Biddeford and Saco- George Folsom, Alex Putnam, Saco, 1830- p.203
  • Scarborough Becomes a Town- Dorothy Shaw Libbey, Wheelwright Co., Portland, 1953
  • Col. Banks' notes- York Historical Society


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Categories: Arundel, Maine