The siege of Pemaquid occurred 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 ...
when French and Native forces from
New France
New France (french: Nouvelle-France) was the area colonized by France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Great Britain and Spa ...
attacked 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 ...
), a community on the border with
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 ...
. The siege was 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 ...
and
Baron de St Castin between August 14–15, 1696. Commander of
Fort William Henry
Fort William Henry was a British fort at the southern end of Lake George, in the province of New York. The fort's construction was ordered by Sir William Johnson in September 1755, during the French and Indian War, as a staging ground for ...
, Captain
Pasco Chubb, surrendered the fort. Iberville killed three of the soldiers and sent the other 92 back to Boston.
The victory at Pemaquid was one of the most significant the French had during the war. The siege resulted in a
retaliatory raid by New England forces on Acadia.
Historical context
During much of the seventeenth century, 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 ...
) was the most northern coastal settlement of
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...
, and Pentagouet (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 ...
) was the most southern
Acadian settlement, a colony of
New France
New France (french: Nouvelle-France) was the area colonized by France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Great Britain and Spa ...
. 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 ...
, the area became a battleground as the French and English fought to determine the boundaries of their empires. In 1689
Baron de St Castin and the
Wabanaki Confederacy
The Wabanaki Confederacy (''Wabenaki, Wobanaki'', translated to "People of the Dawn" or "Easterner") is a North American First Nations and Native American confederation of four principal Eastern Algonquian nations: the Miꞌkmaq, Maliseet ( ...
(
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 ...
)
captured and burned down
Fort Charles, the wooden stockade fort at Pemaquid. They killed 200 British at the fort and surrounding area.
By 1692, the English regained control of the region, and
Sir William Phipps ordered construction of
Fort William Henry
Fort William Henry was a British fort at the southern end of Lake George, in the province of New York. The fort's construction was ordered by Sir William Johnson in September 1755, during the French and Indian War, as a staging ground for ...
to replace Fort Charles (the original fort built in 1677 by order of Governor Andros). The English built Fort William Henry as a fortress to protect the northern boundary of New England. The fort was the largest in New England. The Massachusetts government used one third of its budget to build the fort. The fort was built with stone and mortar. There were eighteen cannon mounted in the gun ports of six-foot thick walls that rose ten to twenty feet above the ground. The fort was rebuilt under the direction of Captain
John March with the assistance of
Benjamin Church.
The commander of the fort was Captain Pasco Chubb. He violated an assembly that was held under a flag of truce, by killing a number of the Abenaki chiefs who were present (including
Chief Aspinquid). D'Iberville knew that he would require both a land-based cannon assault and war ships to conquer the fort. Led by
Saint-Castin, the Abenaki Nation joined forces with D'Iberville at Pentagouet.
Siege
On August 14, D'Iberville led a force of 500 in the siege of Fort William Henry. Five hundred warriors descended onto Fort William Henry in their canoes. The warriors surrounded the fort, thereby pinning the English inside. This strategy allowed D'Iberville to enter the harbor and unload his cannons. D'Iberville arrived with three French ships. They immediately began to lay siege to the fort. Captain Chubb refused to surrender. The assault went on until the afternoon of the next day. In the terms of his surrender, Chubb arranged for his men to be escorted to
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
and exchanged for French and Indian prisoners held there.
Aftermath
D'Iberville and the natives continued on to the English colony of
Newfoundland and raided many villages in the
Avalon Peninsula Campaign. Major Church retaliated for the siege by going to Acadia and engaging in the
Raid on Chignecto. Chubb was tracked down by the natives two years later in his home in Andover and was massacred along with his family.
External links
Betrayal at Fort William Henry
References
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Abenaki
Pemaquid
Pemaquid 1696
Bristol, Maine
Pemaquid 1696
Pemaquid
English colonization of the Americas
King William's War
Military history of Acadia
Military history of Nova Scotia
Military history of New England
Native American history of Maine
Native American history of New Hampshire
Pre-statehood history of Maine
Pemaquid 1696
Pemaquid 1696
1696 in North America
1696 in Massachusetts
1696 in New France
Mi'kmaq in the United States