<\/p>\n
To return to the familiar subject of Fort Halifax, I want today to tell you what the minutes of the Governor’s Council of Massachusetts Bay tell us about this old fort on the Kennebec.<\/p>\n
On January 23, 175~ then at the little settlement at Cushnoc, now Augusta, William Lithgow, informed the Council that he had learned a French fort was being erected at the head of the Kennebec. The Council instructed Lithgow to enlist a number of men and, under direction of John North of Cushnoc, to proceed up the river and ascertain the facts.<\/p>\n
On August 5, 1754, Governor Shirley and members of the Council assembled at Falmouth (now Portland) to confer with General Winslow, who had himself been up the Kennebec. The purpose of the meeting was to consider Winslow’s recommendation, whatever it should be. Winslow advised a fort at Ticonic Falls. With consent of the Council, the Governor then ordered a fort to be built there and named Fort Halifax, in honor of the Governor’s British patron, the Earl of Halifax. At the same time the Governor ordered a road to be cut through the woods on the east side of the Kennebec between Fort Halifax and the storehouse which the new proprietors of the Kennebec Purchase had agreed to put up at Cushnoc.<\/p>\n
On October 17, 1754, Governor Shirley reported to the Massachusetts General Court in these words: “I caused forces and workmen to proceed up the Kennebec to build a new fort there, and I ordered 500 men to reconnoiter the head of that river and the Great Carrying Place between the Kennebec and the Chaudiere. I picked upon the spot or fork between the Sebasticook and the Kennebec for the site of Fort Halifax. The Sebasticook empties into the Kennebec 3\/4 of a mile below Ticonic Falls, 37 miles above Fort Richmond, 50 miles from the Penobscot, and 31 miles by water and 22 miles by land from Norridgewock. The head of navigation on the Kennebec is at Cushnoc, and the Plymouth Company have agreed to build a storehouse there of hewn timber, 100 by 32 feet, and a blockhouse 24 feet square, mounted with four cannons supplied by the Province, the place to be called Fort Western.<\/p>\n
“I directed that a road be cleared for wheeled carriages from Fort Western to Fort Halifax at Ticonic. Fort Halifax can contain 400 men, and is to be garrisoned by 100 troops.<\/p>\n
“I also placed a strong redoubt on an eminence to overlook the country and the road, and mounted two small cannon on a swivel.<\/p>\n
“I found no French settlements.<\/p>\n
“I formed a route by expresses by whaleboats between Falmouth and Ticonic, by which orders can be sent to Ticonic in about 24 hours.<\/p>\n
“I visited both Fort Halifax and Fort Western. The Norridgewock Indians, though at first hostile, declared their consent to our making settlement on the river. I left 100 men at Fort Halifax and 20 at Fort Western.”<\/p>\n
On November 6, 1754, a dispatch from Fort Halifax informed the Governor that Indians had attacked a party sent out from the garrison to get logs for use in constructing the fort; that the Indians had killed and scalped one of the party and had captured four others. Only one had escaped back to the fort to tell the story. The Governor then ordered the Province sloop, with the Fort Halifax commander aboard, not to deliver the presents they had for the Norridgewocks until it was ascertained whether those Indians had any part in the attack.<\/p>\n
On November 24, 1754, a hundred pairs of snowshoes and as many moccasins were sent from Boston to Fort Halifax.<\/p>\n
On December 10, 1754, a man captured by the Indians and taken to Canada, obtained his freedom and returned to Fort Halifax. There he reported that the French planned to attack the fort with a force of 500 French and Indians assembling at Quebec. The Halifax commander asked the Governor to order the captains of independent companies in different parts of Maine to send to Fort Halifax sufficient numbers to make a total defending force of 500 men. The Governor complied. He also ordered a scouting party to go to the Great Carrying Place, and that provisions, ammunition and all other necessities be speedily sent to Fort Halifax, and to put the fort in the best possible state of defense.<\/p>\n
December 21, 1754. The General Council did not approve the necessary funds to carry out the Governor’s orders immediately because they considered the winter so far advanced that transportation of the supplies would be too difficult. The Commissary General reported to the Council that he had provided 20 blankets and other items since September.<\/p>\n
On December 23, the Council voted that the Governor should send his representative to Fort Halifax with special authority to strengthen the garrison, including manning the redoubt on the hill as to make the place secure in all parts exposed to approach of an enemy. The next day 20 double beds and 40 single blankets were sent to Fort Halifax. All winter provisions were gradually accumulated at the mouth of the Kennebec, awaiting transportation to Fort Halifax when river conditions would permit. On May 19, 1755, a force of 150 men from Sir William Pepperell’s regiment, and 150 more from other regiments in York County, furnished with arms and ammunition,were ordered to escort the assembled provisions to Fort Halifax.<\/p>\n
On June 17, the Governor learned that the independent companies had refused the service. Consequently he ordered a draft of York County inhabitants. Matters dragged along until August 13, when 30 men were finally assembled to guard the transport of supplies to Fort Halifax and remain at the Fort to guard the workmen during the completion of its construction.<\/p>\n
The next spring, in April 1756, another guard was assembled to take provisions to both Fort Halifax and Fort Western. The Governor was also urged to supply Fort Halifax with two cannon, nine pounders, and a suitable quantity of grapeshot, provided they could be spared from other garrisons in the Province. Captain Lithgow, then in charge of final construction, was ordered to give an account of the cost of clapboarding and shingling the main buildings at Fort Halifax.<\/p>\n
In messages to the General Council in 1754, Governor Shirley had explained why Fort Halifax was built where it was situated. He wrote: “The only known communication which the Penobscot Indians have with the Norridgewocks is through the Sebasticook. The passage from the Penobscot River to Quebec is down the Sebasticook to the Kennebec, and up that river to the Great Carrying Place, and thence to the Chaudiere. A fort at Ticonic thus cuts off the Penobscots not only from the Norridgewocks, but also from Quebec. As the river is not navigable for sloops above Cushnoc, a storehouse must be erected there, which the Plymouth Company propose to build. A road between Cushnoc and Fort Halifax make transportation by wheeled vehicles possible in one day.”<\/p>\n
The Governor also explained why Fort Halifax was built down at the junction of the rivers rather than on Sand Hill. He said: “As Fort Halifax is overlooked by a hill from behind, I wanted to place the fort there, but I found it would take three teams of oxen five months to carry stone sufficient to the top of the hill, thus making completion impossible earlier than next summer, and at double the cost on lower ground, I ordered General Winslow to build the fort on the point of land between the rivers. To avoid a surprise attack by land I have, however, built at the top of the hill a strong redoubt of two stories, 20 feet square, and have there mounted two small cannon, two pounders, with swivel, and have placed there a guard of twelve men.”<\/p>\n
During the winter of 1754-55 the garrison and workmen at Fort Halifax suffered much hardship. On January 9, 1755, Captain Lithgow wrote to Governor Shirley: “The soldiers at Fort Halifax are in deplorable condition for want of shoes, clothing and bedding. We have scarcely 30 men who are well enough and clothed enough to cut and haul wood to the fort. The snow is three feet deep, and the men must pull the heavy sleds through it. We have only four weeks allowance of bread, one barrel of rum and one of molasses, and we cannot get other supplies from Fort Western through this deep snow. It would take 50 men and 10 yoke of oxen two days to break the road open, and then it would fill up again, in some places with drifts 15 feet high. The road will never be of much use until this country is settled. Nor can we get goods up the river because of the treacherous ice. We will, however, do our best to subsist until you can give us help.”<\/p>\n
In February 1755, Lithgow reported that, to complete the fort would require 450 tons of timber, 50,000 shingles, 40,000 bricks, and a great quantity of stone, and that no brick could be made until spring. Furthermore no stone could be obtained nearer than the west side of the river in what is now the town of Sidney. Lithgow added: “I have been obliged to allow the men who hauled firewood and stores a certain quantity of rum, without which it would have been impossible to get the work done.”<\/p>\n
On April 19, 1755, Lithgow told the Governor: “I have determined to make the wall of the redoubt five feet thick, of squared timber locked together with ties. This will cost less than a double wall filled with earth. I have at last got enough timber to build a square fort of 80 or 90 feet. With the help of the small blockhouse that General Winslow erected before I took command, I now propose to join the fort and the large blockhouse that contains the cannon. The picket fence that encloses the buildings is 800 feet long.”<\/p>\n
The last Indian scare at Fort Halifax was reported by Lithgow on May 23, 1757.<\/p>\n
He wrote to the Governor: “Some hunters heard a great yelling of Indians five miles above this fort and supposed their number to be large. Five of the hunters are said to have been captured by the Indians. I duly warned the settlements down the river. On its return journey, the boat with my messenger was attacked by Indians ten miles below the fort. Two of my men were wounded. The crew behaved gallantly and returned the fire. They killed one Indian and the savages then retreated.”<\/p>\n
Such are some interesting facts I have not previously given on this program about old Fort Halifax at Winslow.<\/p>\n
Year: 1974<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Read the script for “Little Talks” program #1027, Broadcast on November 24, 1974<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":405,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1203,35296],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9493"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/405"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9493\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}