Show MR arx BARBARIC WARFARE A civilized community that gave scalp bounties Bount leiL SI alnea we His historic torio old forts and their former rort fort western weste now a modem tenement in augusta me on the east side of the nenn ebee river stands a building bail ding called fort western which is one hundred and aad thirty nine years old and built on the same point of land where once stood the famous new plymouth trading house in 1628 at windsor me near waterville Wat erville according to the boston II herald erald can bo be seen ano another ther fort halifax erected the same year both silent and eloquent reminders of ye olden da days Ys of bitter strife Arife and struggle the first f maine fort port fort st george was erected in 1607 and followed by forts richmond shirley george and i others around which cluster his historical borica 1 events of thrilling interest in 1754 gov shirley was informed that the french were building a fort at a noted carrying place of the indians on the head waters of the thell Kennebec enne bec and he commissioned capt north 0 of f the fort at pemaquid Pema quid and fletcher of st georges fort to start with a sufficient armed guard and request any chief officer thus engaged to remove from f rom the ground with his soldiers as being within the jurisdiction of his bis majesty the king of great britain the same month a party of sixty indians supposed to be spies appe appeared aXed at fort richmond and were insulting and threatening the french were active in persuading the indians to prevent further settlement on the river promising favor to those who would unite with them and threatening vengeance on all who should interpose between the indians and the english in the emergency which thus arose the general court de aided that the french should at all events be prevented from making any settlements on the river or at the car ayi g places at its head and as the richmond fort was in a precarious state it was demolished and a new one built at Ti connet and named fort halifax hal septembers september 3 it was garrisoned by one hundred men under command of capt W lithgow during the building of this fort a committee of the plymouth company was engaged in erecting a fort on the east side of augusta to be called fort western the main building which is the one th that a t still rema remains in s is Is one hundred feet long thirty two tw 0 fee wide and sixteen feet high and is buix of timber making solid walls twelve inches thick A road was then made between forts halifax and western and was the first military road constructed ted tea in maine in the fall of 1754 a message was sent the governor from fort halifax stating that the indians had fallen upon a party of six of the garrison sent out to el draw raw logs and killed one man and captured four others one only escaping to the fort this act of barbarity and trea treachery eber Y on the part of the in indians di ans together with the information that the french with the indians were preparing to malse make an attack upon the forts necessitated the of the garrison and four hundred and sixty men were vere detailed from the independent companies to be held in reading 4 to immediately march to the relief of the forts on the first approach of the enemy the french and indian war was finally declared the following year and large inducements were Lff offered cred to volunteer un teer companies of recruits to take part two hundred dollars was promised for every indian scalp and two hundred and fifty dollars for each captive to individuals one hundred dollars for a scalp and one hundred and ten dollars for a captive particular attention was paid to the defuse defense to the eastern frontier companies of scouts were established along the seacoast from saco to and forts western and halifax were garrisoned with eighty men and well supplied with stores the forts between the kennebec and st SL georges were also put in a state of defense and the friendship of the tarratine Tar ratin indians cultivated but their bitter rancor was aroused when james cargill of newcastle received a cornei commission ion to raise a company of scouts who on the first day of july made an excursion for the purpose of obtaining the government price for scalps when ne near or owls head a party of tarratine Tar ratin indian hunters bunters were discovered without stopping to inquire whether they were friends or enemies they were d deliberately e liber shot and their scalps secured on their return they met margaret da rgaret moxa a friendly with her child A volley was fired upon them killing mother and child cargill was apprehended and tried on charge of murder but discharged after a confinement of two years the war ended in 1759 when the tha indians deserted by their french allies proposed peace fort western is now familiarly tamil famil arly termed the old fort and years ago was converted into a tenement house despite these modern changes the S structure t c ture still bears many of its old characteristics and even to the casual observer bears the evidences of its early and stirring history |