Maine Memory Network

Alexander Wadsworth Longfellow produced this map for a court case involving a textile mill on the Presumpscot River.

The map demonstrates a proliferation of dams and mills blocking fish migrations along the Presumpscot River in 1840, a legacy of Polin and Westbrook’s 1734 dispute.

Despite Wiwurna’s demands that the English cease building forts, this plan of the Kennebec River made by the Plymouth Company shows forts at Brunswick, Woolwich, and Richmond Fort. Houses dot the mouth of the Sagadahoc River and Merrymeeting Bay, near present-day Bath.

The traditional planting ground at the confluence with “Amosequanty River” (Sandy River) and the Wabanaki/French mission fort at Norridgewock are shown on the very top of this map.

Despite petitions by Wabanaki leaders to cease settlements and building forts in their homelands, the English continued to colonize Maine. The document notes locations of forts from the Saco River to the Kennebec River and their commanding officers, including Fort George in Brunswick.

This map was produced during a time of war, when the Wabanaki were pushing back against encroachments into the interior, specifically after declaring that forts were unwelcome. The Governor of Massachusetts declared war on the Wabanaki in 1722, during which Norridgewock village was attacked. The Treaty at Falmouth ended that war in 1726.

CAUTION: contains graphic and disturbing language

The forefathers of Portland hired mercenary scouts and paid bounties for “killing and captivating the Indian Enemy.” This contract promised a bounty “for every Captive or Scalp and of every Thing else they shall or may recover.”

Among the signers are Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s great grandfather Stephen Longfellow II, and Thomas Smith, minister of the First Parish Church in Portland from 1724 to 1795. Another signer, Samuel Waldo, was the owner of vast land claims extending to the Penobscot River, as well as lumber and mill businesses and had an economic stake in removing the Wabanaki from their homelands.