Assacumbuit, (1660–1727; many variant spellings, including Escumbuit, Nescambiouit and Nescambious), was a
Native American leader of the
Maliseet
The Wəlastəkwewiyik, or Maliseet (, also spelled Malecite), are an Algonquian-speaking First Nation of the Wabanaki Confederacy. They are the indigenous people of the Wolastoq ( Saint John River) valley and its tributaries. Their territory ...
tribe of 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 predom ...
who was knighted by
Louis XIV
, house = Bourbon
, father = Louis XIII
, mother = Anne of Austria
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
, death_date =
, death_place = Palace of Vers ...
of
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
in 1706.
King William's War
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 ...
, he was first associated with the French in the siege of Fort St. John led by
Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville
Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville (16 July 1661 – 9 July 1706) or Sieur d'Iberville was a French soldier, explorer, colonial administrator, and trader. He is noted for founding the colony of Louisiana in New France. He was born in Montreal to French ...
in 1696-1697 during the
Avalon Peninsula Campaign. Even after the war was officially ended, Abenaki raids on the English colonists continued. On March 4, 1698 Maliseet Abenaki Chief
Escumbuit Assacumbuit, (1660–1727; many variant spellings, including Escumbuit, Nescambiouit and Nescambious), was a Native Americans in the United States, Native American leader of the Maliseet tribe of the Abenaki who was knighted by Louis XIV of France i ...
led a group of 30 Native Americans in an attack on
Andover, Massachusetts
Andover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It was settled in 1642 and incorporated in 1646."Andover" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th ed., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 387. As of th ...
, the last and most severe Native attack on this town.
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 ...
, he participated in the
Northeast Coast Campaign. In early 1705 he was again in Newfoundland, where he participated in the
Siege of St. John's and other French and Native American attacks against English colonial holdings.
[ Later that year he was invited to France as part of France's bid for an alliance with his tribe. He returned to America in 1706.] He fought in the 1708 Raid on Haverhill
The Raid on Haverhill was a military engagement that took place on August 29, 1708 during Queen Anne's War. French, Algonquin, and Abenaki warriors under the command of Jean-Baptiste Hertel de Rouville descended on Haverhill, then a small fron ...
.
Fearsome reputation
His reputation among the English colonists of New England was notorious—they called him a "bloody devil", and accused him of killing many women and children.
Texts
*''Abenaki Warrior: The Life and Times of Chief Escumbuit'', Alfred E. Kayworth, 1998
See also
* Island Pond (Rockingham County, New Hampshire) - Escumbuit is namesake of island in the pond
References
External links
National Plaques and Monuments - Nescambious
People of Queen Anne's War
1660 births
1727 deaths
17th-century Native Americans
Abenaki people
Native American leaders
Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada)
Military leaders of the War of the Spanish Succession
People of the Nine Years' War
Military history of Acadia
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