Fort Pentagouët (Fort Pentagoet, Fort Castine, Fort Penobscot, Fort Saint-Pierre) was a French fort established in present-day

Castine, Maine Castine ( ) is a town in Hancock County in eastern Maine.; John Faragher. ''Great and Nobel Scheme''. 2005. p. 68. The population was 1,320 at the 2020 census. Castine is the home of Maine Maritime Academy, a four-year institution that graduate ...

, which was the capital of

Acadia Acadia (french: link=no, Acadie) was a colony of New France in northeastern North America which included parts of what are now the The Maritimes, Maritime provinces, the Gaspé Peninsula and Maine to the Kennebec River. During much of the 17t ...

(1670–1674). It is the oldest permanent settlement in New England. Its commanding position at the mouth of the Penobscot River

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...

, a lucrative source of

furs Fur is a thick growth of hair that covers the skin of mammals. It consists of a combination of oily guard hair on top and thick underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching the skin; the underfur acts as an insulating blanket t ...

and

timber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, w ...

, as well as a major transportation route into the interior, made the peninsula of particular interest to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

an powers in the 17th century. Majabagaduce (as the

Abenaki The Abenaki ( Abenaki: ''Wαpánahki'') are an Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands of Canada and the United States. They are an Algonquian-speaking people and part of the Wabanaki Confederacy. The Eastern Abenaki language was pre ...

name would be corrupted) changed hands numerous times with shifting imperial politics. At one time or another, it was occupied by the French,

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Plymouth Colony Plymouth Colony (sometimes Plimouth) was, from 1620 to 1691, the first permanent English colony in New England and the second permanent English colony in North America, after the Jamestown Colony. It was first settled by the passengers on the ...

La Tour

Castine was founded in the winter of 1613, when

Claude de Saint-Étienne de la Tour Claude de Saint-Étienne de la Tour ( 1570 – after 1636) was born in the province of Champagne, France and came to Acadia in 1610 after suffering heavy losses as a ship's captain.trading post A trading post, trading station, or trading house, also known as a factory, is an establishment or settlement where goods and services could be traded. Typically the location of the trading post would allow people from one geographic area to tr ...

to conduct business with the

Tarrantine The Tarrantines were a band of the Mi'kmaq tribe of Native Americans inhabiting northern New England, particularly coastal Maine. The name ''Tarrantine'' is one of the words the Massachusett people used to refer to the ''Mi'kmaq The Mi'kmaq (a ...

Indians (now called the

Penobscots The Penobscot (Abenaki: ''Pαnawάhpskewi'') are an Indigenous people in North America from the Northeastern Woodlands region. They are organized as a federally recognized tribe in Maine and as a First Nations band government in the Atlantic ...

). After the trading post was established at Castine, a raid by English captain

Samuel Argall Sir Samuel Argall (1572 or 1580 – 24 January 1626) was an English adventurer and naval officer. As a sea captain, in 1609, Argall was the first to determine a shorter northern route from England across the Atlantic Ocean to the new English ...

Mount Desert Island Mount Desert Island (MDI; french: Île des Monts Déserts) in Hancock County, Maine, is the largest island off the coast of Maine. With an area of it is the 52nd-largest island in the United States, the sixth-largest island in the contiguous ...

in 1613 signaled the start of a long-running dispute over the boundary between French Acadia to the north and the English colonies to the south. There is evidence that La Tour immediately challenged the English action by re-establishing his trading post in the wake of Argall's raid.

Captain John Smith John Smith (baptized 6 January 1580 – 21 June 1631) was an English soldier, explorer, colonial governor, Admiral of New England, and author. He played an important role in the establishment of the colony at Jamestown, Virginia, the first pe ...

charted the area in 1614 and referred to French traders in the vicinity. In 1625,

Charles de Saint-Étienne de la Tour Charles de Saint-Étienne de La Tour (1593–1666) was a French colonist and fur trader who served as Governor of Acadia from 1631–1642 and again from 1653–1657. Early life Charles de Saint-Étienne de La Tour was born in France in 1593 to H ...

erected a fort named Fort Pentagouët. English colonists from the

seized it in 1629, and made it an administrative outpost of their colony.Faulkner and Faulkner, p. 219

Aulnay

From 1635 to 1654,

Charles de Menou d'Aulnay Charles de Menou d'Aulnay (''de Charnisay'') (–1650) was a French pioneer of European settlement in North America and Governor of Acadia (1635–1650). Biography D'Aulnay was a member of the French nobility who was at various times a sea capt ...

de Charnisay defended his private commercial interests at Fort Pentagoet. In 1635, it was retaken by the French and again incorporated into Acadia; Governor

Isaac de Razilly Isaac de Razilly (1587 – 1635) was a member of the French nobility appointed a knight of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem at the age of 18. He was born at the Château d'Oiseaumelle in the Province of Touraine, France. A member of the French ...

sent

de Charnisay to retake the village. In 1638, Aulnay built a more substantial fort named Fort Saint-Pierre. While he had other ventures in Acadia, Fort Pentagoet was his major outpost on the frontier with New England.

Emmanuel Le Borgne Emmanuel Le Borgne de Belle-Isle (1610 – 5 August 1675) was the governor of Acadia in 1657–67 and was the claimant to the estate of Charles de Menou d'Aulnay who had governed Acadia until his death. Le Borgne was a highly successful merch ...

with 100 men raided the settlement in 1653. Major General Robert Sedgwick led 100 New England volunteers and 200 of

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three K ...

's soldiers on an expedition against Acadia in 1654. Before taking its capital Port Royal, Sedgwick captured and plundered the French settlement at Pentagouët. The English occupied Acadia for the next 16 years and Fort Pentagouët saw very little use.

Capital of Acadia

From 1670, when Acadia was returned to the French, Fort Pentagouët became the Capital of Acadia under two Governors

Hector d'Andigné de Grandfontaine Hector d'Andigné de Grandfontaine (bap 17 May 1627 – 6 July 1696) was a French naval officer who served as the governor of Acadia from 1670–1673. Grandfontaine was baptised in France and became a Knight of Malta. He was captain of a compan ...

(1670–73) and Jacques de Chambly (1673-74), both formerly of the Carignan-Salières Regiment. (Saint-Castin had already set up his near-by trading post three years earlier in 1667). Castine hist

During the Franco-Dutch War (1674), Pentagouët and other Acadian ports were captured by the Dutch captain Jurriaen Aernoutsz who arrived from New Amsterdam, renaming Acadia, New Holland. The Dutch turned the fort's cannon on its own walls and destroyed most of it after the second

siege A siege is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or a well-prepared assault. This derives from la, sedere, lit=to sit. Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict characteriz ...

. Saint-Castin himself retook it in 1676 and renamed the town Bagaduce, a shortened version of Majabagaduce.

The Habitation of Saint-Castine

BaronDeStCastin1881byWill H Lowe Wilson Museum Archives

From 1667, after the Treaty of Breda, until 1700, Saint-Castin, former ensign at Fort Pentagoet, re-established French authority nearby at a small trading post that formed a nucleus of a new French and Indian habitation. French authorities dispatched the Baron Jean-Vincent de Saint-Castin to take command of Pentagouët. The baron married an Abenaki woman, the daughter of the

sachem Sachems and sagamores are paramount chiefs among the Algonquians or other Native American tribes of northeastern North America, including the Iroquois. The two words are anglicizations of cognate terms (c. 1622) from different Eastern Al ...

Modockawando. She adopted the French name Mathilde and bore him 10 children.http://www.acadiansingray.com/Appendices-Acadian%20Marriages.htm White,''Dictionnaire Acadiennes'' The baron became a widower and then married another Abenaki woman named Marie Pidiwammiskwa who bore him two additional children. Castine soon became a force in colonial trade and diplomacy. After 1677, Saint-Castin returned to his trading post within a village of 160 Etchemin Indians - two European buildings within a settlement of thirty-two wigwams.

King William's War

, held in slavery by

Madockawando Madockawando (born in Maine c. 1630; died 1698) was a sachem of the Penobscot, an adopted son of ''Assaminasqua,'' whom he succeeded. He led the Penobscot on the side of the French against the English during King William's War. Biography The Penobs ...

for attempting to escape, were tortured by fire, compelled to eat their noses and ears and then burned to death at the stake" (Se
John Gyles' captivity narrative, p. 10-11
. During

King William's War King William's War (also known as the Second Indian War, Father Baudoin's War, Castin's War, or the First Intercolonial War in French) was the North American theater of the Nine Years' War (1688–1697), also known as the War of the Grand All ...

, Castin's settlement was plundered by English Governor Sir

Edmund Andros Sir Edmund Andros (6 December 1637 – 24 February 1714) was an English colonial administrator in British America. He was the governor of the Dominion of New England during most of its three-year existence. At other times, Andros served ...

in 1688. In response, Saint-Castin led an Abenaki war party to raid the English settlement at Pemaquid (present-day

Bristol, Maine Bristol, known from 1632 to 1765 as Pemaquid (; today a village within the town) is a town in Lincoln County, Maine, United States. The population was 2,834 at the 2020 census. A fishing and resort area, Bristol includes the villages of New Har ...

) in August 1689. During the

Siege of Pemaquid (1689) The siege of Pemaquid (August 2–3, 1689) was a successful attack by a large band of Abenaki Indians on the English fort at Pemaquid, Fort Charles, then the easternmost outpost of colonial Massachusetts (present-day Bristol, Maine). The French ...

, one of the captives the Maliseet took back to their main village,

Meductic Meductic is a small village located along the Saint John River in southern New Brunswick, approximately 33 kilometres southeast of Woodstock. Meductic's mayor is Lance Royden Graham. History During the Expulsion of the Acadians, the village wa ...

, was John Gyles, who created one of the few

captivity narratives Captivity narratives are usually stories of people captured by enemies whom they consider uncivilized, or whose beliefs and customs they oppose. The best-known captivity narratives in North America are those concerning Europeans and Americans ta ...

to come out of Nova Scotia/Acadia. John Gyles' brother James was also captured by the Penobscot and eventually taken back to Fort Penobscot where he was tortured and burned alive at the stake. In 1692 the village was again seized by the English, when Major Benjamin Church destroyed the fort and looted the settlement. With the return of Baron de Saint-Castin and his sons to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, the settlement became sparsely occupied.

Queen Anne's War

During

Queen Anne's War Queen Anne's War (1702–1713) was the second in a series of French and Indian Wars fought in North America involving the colonial empires of Great Britain, France, and Spain; it took place during the reign of Anne, Queen of Great Britain. In E ...

, in response to the French

Raid on Deerfield The 1704 Raid on Deerfield (also known as the Deerfield Massacre) occurred during Queen Anne's War on February 29 when French and Native American forces under the command of Jean-Baptiste Hertel de Rouville attacked the English frontier settl ...

in February 1704, New England Colonel Benjamin Church raided Castin's settlement (then known as Penobscot) before moving on to raid other Acadian villages at present-day St. Stephen, New Brunswick, Grand Pré,

Pisiguit Pisiguit is the pre-expulsion-period Acadian region located along the banks of the Pisiquit River from its confluence with the Minas Basin of Acadia, which is now Nova Scotia, including the St. Croix River drainage area. Settlement in the region ...

(present-day

Windsor, Nova Scotia Windsor is a community located in Hants County, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is a service centre for the western part of the county and is situated on Highway 101. The community has a history dating back to its use by the Mi'kmaq Nation for sev ...

), and Chignecto. St. Castin's daughter was taken in the raid.Benjamin Church, Thomas Church, Samuel Gardner Drake. The history of King Philip's War ; also of expeditions against the French and Indians in its Eastern parts of New England, in the years 1689, 1692, 1696 AND 1704. With some account of the divine providence towards Col. Benjamin Church.p. 261

References

;Endnotes ;Texts * Faulkner, Alaric, and Gretchen F. Faulkner. 1994. Fort Pentagoet and Castin's Habitation: French Ventures in Acadian Maine, Chapter 10 in Norumbega: Maine in the Age of Exploration and Settlement, Emerson W. Baker, Edwin A. Churchill, Kristine L. Jones, et al. editors, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, pp. 217–240.
Fort Pentagouet. Collections of the Maine Historical Society, Vol. 4, 1893. p. 113

External links

Alaric Faulkner. Maintenance and Fabrication at Fort Pentagoet 1635-1654: Products of an Acadian Armorer's Workshop

Images of Fort Pentagoet
* Roberts, Robert B., Encyclopedia of Historic Forts: The Military, Pioneer, and Trading Posts of the United States, Macmillan, New York, 1988, 10th printing, {{ISBN, 0-02-926880-X, page 369
George Augustus Wheeler. Fort Pentagoet and the French occupation of Castine. Maine Historical Society, 1893, p. 113
Acadian history History of Maine Military history of Acadia Pentagouet 1613 establishments in the French colonial empire Pentagouet King William's War