FORT HALIFAX, 1754 Sprague's Journal of Maine History Volume 9, July, August, September, 1921; No. 3 page 132-134 (By Arthur W. Stewart.) In the early part of 1754 Governor Shirley gave orders "For the building of Fort Halifax on an eminence near a fork of land at Taconick Falls, and that a strong blockhouse be built on the same fork of land * * * and also that a road be cut through the woods on the mainland between Fort Halifax and the store- house at Cushnock." This location was at the confluence of Kennebec and Sebasticook rivers, and probably chosen as it was the only known way of communication between the Norridgewock and Penobscot Indians, and was the route travelled by the Penobscots in their journeyings to Quebec, and also because it was on the northern boundary of the Plymouth Company's grant, which document says: " It lyith within, or between, and extendeth itself from ye utmost limits of Comaseconty which joineth ye river Kennebeck towards the west- ern ocean, and a place, ye falls of Nequamkick, and ye space of fifteen English miles on either side of said river, and all of ye said river Kennebeck that lyeth within said limits." Captain William Lithgow, who commanded Fort Halifax, stated, "Nequamke Falls are five or six miles below Ticonic Falls." Five hundred soldiers were detailed for guard duty during the building of the fort. Governor Shirley gave the command of the troops and mechanics of the expedition to Captain John Winslow, who was made General of the Province. He was a great-grand- son of Edward Winslow who came over in the Mayflower, and commanded a trading expedition to the Kennebec one hundred and sixty years before. General Winslow's plan of the fort was as follows: In the center a blockhouse of two stories, twenty feet square on the ground and the second story twenty-seven feet square. Around this and fronting each of its corners were four one-story buildings to be used as barracks; these buildings were enclosed by palisades built of hewed timber and forming a square of one hundred and twenty feet, and the whole enclosed by eight hundred feet of palisades placed in the form of a star. This plan, however, was changed, at the suggestion of Captain Lithgow, who succeeded General Winslow, September 2, 1754. Captain Lithgow moved the four one-story buildings used as bar- acks and joined them in a line south of the blockhouse built by Winslow, which formed the northeast corner of the fort. In the opposite or southwest corner was another blockhouse built by Captain Lithgow, and of similar formation and dimensions as the other. In the northwest corner he erected a two-story building forty feet by eighty feet, which was sued as officers' quarters, storehouse and armory. South of the barracks was an entrance covered by a small house to be used by the guard. The whole was surrounded by a palisade joining the blockhouses in such a way that the occupants could command a view of all sides of the fort. A small redoubt was also built by Winslow on the top of the hill back of the fort and similarly enclosed; this was equipped with a swivel and two cannon. Captain Lithgow built a second block- house on the hill to command a view of the falls were consider- able fishing was done, and where a fishing party was attacked by the Indians. The cannon and ironwork for the arming of Fort Halifax were carried up the river on two gundalows, or scows, which drew about two feet of water, and were towed on their journey by the assist- ance of the soldiers who guarded them. The workmen employed in building the fort were Gershom Flagg, of Boston, who acted as foreman. He was a housewright and glazier, and was employed by Fort Richmond on the Kennebec, and Fort Pownall on the Penobscot. He was a member of the Plymouth Company, and was the ancestor of the Flaggs, Bridges, Norths, and Fullers, of Augusta; James Cocks, who was a captain in the Revolutionary army. He married a sister of Gershom Flagg and settled in Hallowell in 1762, where he became prominent in town affairs; Phineas Stewart, the great-grandfather of the writer of this sketch, who was born in Rowley, Massachuetts, in 1732, removed to Howardstown, which is now part of Skowhegan, Maine, in 1776; Stephen Gulliver, who settled in the vicinity of Waterville; Henry Hascoll, Thomas Clemons, Benjamin Easty, Jonathan Gibbs, Ralph Hemmingway, Edmund Savage, Nathaniel Sullivan and Urah Tucker as carpenters; John Edwards, William Parks and Robert Williams as masons; Abram Wyman as team- ster, and Jonathan Howland as cook. The compensation received by these men, when compared with the artisans' wages of the present, seem rather meager. The foreman received six shillings and eight pence, and the journeyman carpenter four shillings per day; the masons received sixty-six shillings and eight pence per month; the teamster two shillings and two pence, and the cook one shilling per day. The fort was not completed until 1775, and as we glance at the blockhouse built by General Winslow which is all that is left of Fort Halifax, few realize that it is less than one-tenth the size of the original, which was the strongest and most extensive fortress in the state in the seventeenth century. (c) 1998 Courtesy of the Androscoggin Historical Society ************************************************* * * * * NOTICE: Printing the files within by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. * * * * The USGenWeb Project makes no claims or estimates of the validity of the information submitted and reminds you that each new piece of information must be researched and proved or disproved by weight of evidence. 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