First Abenaki War

The First Abenaki War (also known as the northern theatre of King Philip's War) was fought along the New England/Acadia border primarily in present-day Maine. Richard Waldron and Charles Frost led the forces in the northern region, while Jean-Vincent d'Abbadie de Saint-Castin worked with the tribes that would make up the Wabanaki Confederacy. The natives engaged in annual campaigns against the English settlements in 1675, 1676, and 1677. Waldron sent forces so far north that he attacked the Mi'kmaq in Acadia.[1]

Historian Georges Cerbelaud Salagnac writes that Castine and the Abenaki "displayed consummate skill at it, holding in check at every point, from the Penobscot River to Salmon Falls, N.H., and even beyond, 700 regular troops, and even inflicting humiliating defeats upon them."[2] The official records indicate natives killed or captured 260 English. The villages of Cape Neddick, Scarborough, Casco, Arrowsick, Pemaquid and several others were destroyed. The war cost the colonial government £8,000.[3]

  1. ^ Williamson (1832).
  2. ^ Salagnac, Georges Cerbelaud (1979) [1969]. "Abbadie de Saint-Castin, Jean-Vincent d', Baron de Saint-Castin". In Hayne, David (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. II (1701–1740) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
  3. ^ Williamson (1832), p. 553.