Battle of Pequawket

Battle of Pequawket
Part of Father Rale's War
Death of Chief Paugus
Date 9 May 1725 (O.S.) Location Pequawket (present-day Fryeburg, Maine) 44°01′16″N 70°56′10″W / 44.021°N 70.936°W / 44.021; -70.936 Result British colonial victory[1]
Belligerents
Abenaki	New England Colonies
Commanders and leaders
Paugus †	John Lovewell † Seth Wyman
Strength
Approximately 66	33
Casualties and losses
Unknown	13 dead, 9 wounded

The Battle of Pequawket (also known as Lovewell's Fight) occurred on May 9, 1725 (O.S.),^[a] during Father Rale's War in northern New England. Captain John Lovewell led a privately organized company of scalp hunters, organized into a makeshift ranger company, and Chief Paugus led the Abenaki at Pequawket,^[b] the site of present-day Fryeburg, Maine. The battle was related to the expansion of New England settlements along the Kennebec River (in present-day Maine).

The battle was the last major engagement between the English and the Wabanaki Confederacy in Governor Dummer's War. The fight was celebrated in song and story for at least several generations and became an important part of regional lore—even influencing the stories of Nathaniel Hawthorne in the early 19th century as well as other writers. Its importance is often exaggerated in local histories, as arguably the August 1724 English raid on Norridgewock was probably more significant for the direction of the conflict and in bringing the Abenaki to the treaty table. But the Norridgewock raid, also celebrated in song and poetry, has been less well remembered, probably because it was essentially a massacre of Indian civilians by New England forces.^[2][3]

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).