Siege of Pemaquid (1689)

DateAugust 2–3, 1689

Location

Pemaquid (present-day Bristol, Maine)

Result French and Indian victory

Baron Jean-Vincent d'Abbadie de Saint-Castin

Date	August 2–3, 1689
Location	Pemaquid (present-day Bristol, Maine)
Result	French and Indian victory

Belligerents

Acadia
Abenaki

New England

Commanders and leaders

St. Castin and Father Louis-Pierre Thury
Chief Moxus

James Weems

Strength

100 to 300^[1]

18 to 30^[2]

Casualties and losses

Unknown

Possibly a total of 80 from both sides.^[3]

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-Abenaki attack was led by Jean-Vincent d'Abbadie de Saint-Castin and Father Louis-Pierre Thury and Chief Moxus.^[4] The fall of Pemaquid was a significant setback to the English. It pushed the frontier back to Casco (Falmouth), Maine.^[5]

The fort at Pemaquid was under the command of Lieutenant James Weems and was significantly under strength after most of its garrison had deserted in the wake of the revolt and overthrow of Governor Edmund Andros at Boston, Massachusetts earlier in the year. The complement of soldiers was reduced to thirty and many of these were in a mutinous state. The Indian force surrounded the fort, capturing or killing most of the settlers in the countryside about the fort. Lieutenant Weems provided a defense for a day, but after taking heavy casualties (Weems and 23 of the garrison having been wounded), he surrendered. The Abenaki allowed Weems and his men to return to Boston.^[6] On August 4, the Abenaki burned the fort and the nearby settlement of Jamestown.

Aftermath

References

↑ Parkman, Francis. France and England in North America, Volume II. The Library of America, New York, NY, 1983. p. 165-166. (Note: Parkman states 100. English accounts indicate between 200 and 300
↑ Parkman, Francis. France and England in North America, Volume II. The Library of America, New York, NY, 1983. p. 165-166. (Note: Parkman states 30 men along with Liet. James Weems defended the fort based on a certificate in the archives of Massachusetts listing the defenders. Governor Andros stated 18 men defended the fort. Weems' list has been brought into question as it may have been compiled in order to receive a grant in repayment for moneys he advanced to his soldiers.)
↑ Parkman, Francis. France and England in North America, Volume II. The Library of America, New York, NY, 1983. p. 165-166.(Note: La Mote-Cadillac stated eighty were killed on both sides but this may be an exaggeration.)
↑ Drake. The Border Wars of New England. p. 28
↑ Conquering the American wilderness: the triumph of European warfare in ... By Guy Chet, p. 81
↑ Webster, John Clarence. Acadia at the End of the Seventeenth Century. Saint John, NB, The New Brunswick Museum, 1979.
↑ In Castine, Maine, a plaque on Dyce Head Lighthouse Rd. says: UPON THESE HEIGHTS, in 1692, James Giles [brother of John Gyles], a boy, and an Englishman, taken at Casco [initially taken in the Siege of Pemaquid (1689)], held in slavery by Madockawando for attempting to escape, were tortured by fire, compelled to eat their noses and ears and then burned to death at the stake" (See John Gyles' captivity narrative, p. 10-11).
↑ Drake p. 37-38
↑ Raymond, p. 23
↑ Note in the History of Castine (p.32) author George Wheeler erroneously indicates that John's brother Thomas is tortured when he had in fact died in the attack (See John Gyles narrative)
↑ John Gyles narrative, p. 23

Texts

H.-R. Casgrain, Les Sulpiciens et les Prêtres des Missions étrangères en Acadie (1676–1762) (Québec, 1897), 31–48, 139–143 (extract from Thury’s account of the destruction of Pemaquid, from Charlevoix).
John Gyles captivity narrative
Paltsits, Victor. The Depredation at Pemaquid in August, 1689
Relation du Combat de Caribas par M. Thury, missionaire, 1689, vol. 1 Doc. pub. a Quebec, p. 478
Drake. The Border Wars of New England. p. 27

43°52′39″N 69°31′29″W / 43.8775°N 69.5247°W / 43.8775; -69.5247

Siege of Pemaquid (1689)

Aftermath

See also

References

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