Massachusetts colonial fort near present-day Richmond Village, Maine
Fort Richmond, Maine
Commander
William Lithgow (judge)
Fort Richmond was a Massachusetts colonial fort near present-day
Richmond Village, Maine .
History
The
Pejepscot Proprietors and the
Massachusetts Bay Colony built the fort in around 1720 on the western bank of the
Kennebec River in response to Indian raids which eventually led to
Dummer's War .
[1] Named for
Ludovic Stewart ,
1st Duke of Richmond , the fort included a
blockhouse ,
trading post , chapel, officers' and soldiers' quarters, all surrounded by a
palisade .
[2]
Captain
Joseph Heath (military officer) ,
Edward Shove ,
John Oulton , Captain
Jabez Bradbury ,
[3] Captain
John Minot and Captain
Joseph Bane (Bean)
[4]
[5] were the commanders of the fort.
[6]
[7]
William Lithgow (judge) and
Arthur Noble were also commanders of the fort by 1746. (Lithgow married Noble's daughter.)
[8]
[9]
Arthur Noble , Georgetown, Maine
During
Father Rale's War , following the battle at
Fort Menaskoux ,
Arrowsic, Maine , Fort Richmond was attacked in a 3-hour
siege by warriors from
Norridgewock (1722). Houses were burned and cattle slain, but the fort held.
Brunswick and other settlements near the mouth of the Kennebec were destroyed. The defense was enlarged in 1723 during Father Rale's War. On August 19, 1724, a
militia of 208 soldiers departed Fort Richmond under command of captains
Jeremiah Moulton and
Johnson Harmon , traveled up the Kennebec in 17
whaleboats , and
sacked Norridgewock , killing
Sébastien Rale .
Fort Richmond would be rebuilt in 1740.
William Lithgow (judge) was put in command from 1746 to 1754.
[10] In 1748, natives took
Frances Noble captive close to Fort Richmond. Frances Noble wrote her captivity narrative.
[11]
[12]
The fort was attacked by another tribe at Swan Island in 1750.
[13]
[14]
The fort was dismantled in 1755 when forts Shirley (also called
Fort Frankfort located close to Richmond at present-day
Dresden, Maine ),
[15]
Western and
Halifax were built upriver.
[2]
[16]
Commanding Officers
Also see
References
Endnotes
^ Henry O. Thayer, "Fort Richmond, Maine" in Collections and Proceedings of the Maine Historical Society (Portland, 1894), 2nd ser., 5:135.
^
a
b Coolidge, Austin J.; John B. Mansfield (1859).
A History and Description of New England . Boston, Massachusetts: A.J. Coolidge. pp.
281 –282. coolidge mansfield history description new england 1859.
^
a
b
"Bradbury memorial. Records of some of the descendants of Thomas Bradbury, of Agamenticus (York) in 1634, and of Salisbury, Mass. in 1638, with a brief sketch of the Bradburys of England. Comp. chiefly from the collections of the late John Merrill Bradbury, of Ipswich, Mass" . Portland [Me.] Brown, Thurston. 1890. Retrieved 2017-01-11 .
^
a
b Coleman, E.L. (1926).
New England Captives Carried to Canada Between 1677 and 1760 During the French and Indian Wars: Volume 1 ONLY . Heritage Books. p. 378.
ISBN
9780788445897 . Retrieved 2017-01-11 .
^ Bane spent many years in captivity after being taken during the raid on York (1692) (See
Williamson, p.664
^
a
b Maine Historical Society (1892).
Collections and Proceedings of the Maine Historical Society . The Society. p. 94. Retrieved 2017-01-11 .
^
a
b Williamson, W.D. (1839).
The history of the state of Maine: from its first discovery, A. D. 1602, to the separation, A. D. 1820, inclusive . Glazier, Masters & Smith. p.
154 . Retrieved 2017-01-11 .
^
a
b
"The New York genealogical and biographical record" . New York, New York Genealogical and Biographical Society. 1898. Retrieved 2017-01-11 .
^
a
b
"The New York genealogical and biographical record" . New York, New York Genealogical and Biographical Society. 1898. Retrieved 2017-01-11 .
^ Goold, W. (1881).
Col. Arthur Noble, of Georgetown. Fort Halifax. Col. William Vaughan, of Matinicus and Damariscotta: Papers Read Before the Main Historical Society . S. Berry. p. 206. Retrieved 2017-01-11 .
^ Drake, S.G. (1841).
Tragedies of the wilderness, or True and authentic narratives of captives who have been carried away by the Indians from the various frontier settlements of the United States, from the earliest to the present time... p. 166. Retrieved 2017-01-11 .
^
"Collections of the Maine Historical Society" . Retrieved 2017-01-11 .
^
"Collections of the Maine Historical Society" . p. 187. Retrieved 2017-01-11 .
^
"Collections, Historical and Miscellaneous and Monthly Literary Journal" . Retrieved 2017-01-11 .
^ SEWALL, R.K. (1859).
ANCIENT DOMINIONS OF MAINE . Elisha Clark & Company. p.
282 . Retrieved 2017-01-11 .
^
"Collections of the Maine Historical Society | Raid of 1750" . Retrieved 2017-01-11 .
^ Bane spent many years in captivity after being taken during the raid on York (1692) (See
Williamson, p.664
Texts
External links