As attention becomes focused on the 200th anniversary of Arnold’s March to Quebec, to be observed next summer, we shall hear much about the Norridgewock Indians and their missionary Father Rasle, whose death had occurred half a century before Arnold’s army reached Old Point.<\/p>\n
Within the last ten years was published Emma Clark’s History of Madison. In that book are interesting references to the Indian settlement at Old Point. It tells us that Father Druillettes in 1646 was the first white man ever to set foot on that part of the Kennebec. He died at Quebec in 1679, at the ripe old age of 86.<\/p>\n
It was in 1695 that Father Rasle reestablished the mission at Old Point. In 1705, during the English and French conflict known as Queen Anne’s War, the Massachusetts Col. Bay government sent A. Hilton, with 270 men to attack the Indian village and capture Rasle. When Hilton’s men arrived, they found the village deserted, but the raiding party burned chapel and wigwams. In 1721, the Massachusetts General Court declared they considered the Norridgewoek Indians as rebels against the lawful British government, and decreed their destruction.<\/p>\n
In 1723, another abortive attack was made on the village. Warned in time, Rasle escaped into the forest. But the raiders seized his Abnaki dictionary and other papers. The end came in 1724, when a final raid succeeded and Rasle was killed. About those events the Madison history makes this comment: “The history of the Indians on the Kennebec is nearly a blank for 25 years after the departure of Father Druillettes. Amid the throes of war, and for reasons more political than religious, Father Rasle was sent to reestablish the old mission. He came from Quebec by the well travelled route of the Chaudiere and over the Height of Land to the Dead River. He stopped on his way at wigwams on Lake Megantic. Arriving at Old Point, his already long contact with Great Lakes Indians, made him easily welcome by the Abnaki. The old Indian name for Old Point was Nanrantsouak. From this came the modern name of Norridgewock. Old Point was a strategic village. The circling river with the falls above, and mellow land suitable for corn, made it a spot of seclusion from the English, while the Sandy River made it accessible from the Androscoggin.<\/p>\n
“The Fourth Indian War saw the first attempt to seize Father Rasle. In 1721 the General Court resolved to remove the Jesuit priest, who was regarded as the manufacturer of troubles. In December, after the streams were frozen over, Col. Westbrook led a battalion on showshoes up the Kennebec to Old Point, with orders to take Rasle prisoner. They found the place deserted. Rasle had fled into the forest leaving books, papers, and humble treasures. Those were seized and carried away as booty. Among them was the Abnaki dictionary which Rasle had been compiling laboriously for a quarter of a century. Also taken was his strong-box, in which he kept sacred emblems of the church.<\/p>\n
A letter to him from the French Governor of Quebec was interpreted by the raiders as proof of his hostility to the Massachusetts government.<\/p>\n
“The Indians took the attack as a hard blow and they were determined on vengeance. Up to that time the Norridgewocks were one of the few tribes that had not been involved in Indian attacks on the white settlements.<\/p>\n
“In the following September, a band of Norridgewocks and other Maine tribes, 500 strong, descended upon the English settlement of Georgetown at the mouth of the Kennebec. The people got timely warning and took refuge in the fort. However, the Indians destroyed 40 dwellings and killed numerous cattle.<\/p>\n
“The English considered Rasle as having almost magic power over the Old Point Indians, and thus was a malign influence that was a major cause of the destruction at Georgetown. The Massachusetts government offered a reward of $200 for him, dead or alive.”<\/p>\n
With such inducement, Capt. Harmon undertook to capture Rasle in February 1723. His party left Fort George at Brunswick, taking an unfrequented route via the Androscoggin and Sandy rivers. They failed to get through because a sudden thaw swelled the streams.<\/p>\n
“Later in the same month, a party under Captain Moulton did get through to Old Point, only to find the place deserted and no tracks in the snow. Rasle’s cabin was again stripped of books, papers and removable articles. Among the loot was another letter from the French governor urging Rasle to ‘push on his Indians with all zeal against the English.’<\/p>\n
“In the summer of 1724 it was decided to make a fourth attempt to capture Rasle. Gathering at Fort Richmond, a few miles below Cushnoc (modern Augusta) the troop set out up the Kennebec in 17 whaleboats on August 19. At Ticonic Falls, they left the boats under a guard of 40 men. On August 21, they started the March to Old Point, 20 miles away. They met and killed the Indian Chief Bomazeen and captured his squaw.<\/p>\n
“The soldiers forded the river to the east side and approached the Indian village. From a nearby height, Capt. Harmon thought he saw smoke of an encampment, so he led part of the troop in that direction. Meanwhile Moulton led 100 men directly toward the Old Point village. Near it he placed two small detachments in ambush, and rushed forward with an assault party. They saw the first Indian since their arrival coming out of a hut. Seeing the soldiers, he raised the war cry and sprang for his gun. The Indians rushed from their huts in terror and dismay. The attack was a complete surprise. Always before, the English had attacked in winter, taking advantage of the frozen streams. They were not expected in the summer. The soldiers poured their volleys indiscriminately, killing many. The survivors scattered for shelter in the woods and encountered the murderous ambushers.<\/p>\n
“Father Rasle ran from the dwelling to the village cross. A few followers gathered around him. The soldiers, spying the priestly dress, raised a cry for his destruction. Selecting his breast for their target, they sent a shower of bullets that laid him lifeless beside his mission cross. Seven of his followers fell with him. Thirty Indian men, women and children lay dead. Not a single Englishman was hurt.<\/p>\n
“The grave of Father Rasle was never forgotten, but was always kept green as long as aily remnant of the Norridgewock tribe was left on the ruins. In 1775 Arnold saw there what he called ‘a priest’s grave’ but no remains of the once important Indian village.”<\/p>\n
Such is Emma Clark’s account in her History of Madison. Mention by her of an incriminating letter to Rasle from the French Governor of Quebec led me to ancient records to ascertain just what that letter said. A translation of it, never questioned as inaccurate, reads as follows: “Quebec, Sept. 25, 1721. If your Indians have taken sincere resolution not to suffer the English on their lands, they ought not to stop abusing them, but by all means see that they do not return. I will send your people ammunition and will continue with other help they want. I will inquire of the Father Superior how I shall deal with those of your village who were attached to the English. I will make those degraded ones sensible of how much I am discontented with their conduct.”<\/p>\n
To make this a charge against Father Rasle of plotting and instigating raids on English settlements is hardly logical.<\/p>\n
Further light is thrown on Rasle’s death by Allen’s History of Norridgewock, written at a time long ago, when there were people still living who remembered Arnold’s Expedition of 1775. Allen says, “The policy of the French and English toward the Indians was very different. By adopting Indian ways and supplying their wants, the French were regarded by the red men as friends. The visible and tangible ceremonies of the Catholic Church, shown by the Jesuit missionaries, were attractive to the savage mind.<\/p>\n
“On the other hand, the English attempted to exercise authority by force – cheated in trade, and seeing their lands taken by settlers, and their sons seized as slaves, the Indians hated the English.”<\/p>\n
That passage makes it clear that Allen thought the British were more to blame than the French for the Indian troubles. But Allen ignored a very important difference between the attitude of the two nations toward America. The British government fostered and approved of colonies, and between 1620 and 1640 several thousand Englishmen had come to America’s shores. On the contrary, the tiny French settlements on the St. Lawrence had great trouble getting support from France. The King and his government had no interest in American colonies. Their sole interest was the fur trade. The fewer Frenchmen it took to get the profitable furs to France, the better the government liked it.<\/p>\n
Therefore, one reason why the French at Quebec tried to use the Jesuit missionaries was that they badly needed the Indian allies. Greatly outnumbered by the English settlements, the only way they could wage war against them was with the help of friendly Indians, at least until the French court awakened to the need of sending ships and troops from France. When that finally occurred, it was only to face defeat on the Plains of Abraham, and so all Canada became a British possession.<\/p>\n
Allen concludes his account with these words: “Father Rasle was 67 years old when he died. He did give his life in defense of his church. He may have been unscrupulous as to the means he took to make his faith prevail. If he deceived the Indians, it was for the church; if he took up arms, it was to smite the enemies of his God. The good and the great reviled him, but they should have kept silent. While he was quietly tending his flock at Old Point,the Protestant ministers of New England were fanning the flames of witchcraft and religious intolerance. It is for them without sin to cast the stones.”<\/p>\n
Year: 1975<\/p>\n\n
Read the script for “Little Talks” program #1039, Broadcast on February 16, 1975<\/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":[42942,35296],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9523"}],"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=9523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9523\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}