Sprague's Journal of Maine History Vol. IV June, 1916 No. I pages 3-9 The Indians of Maine (From Backwoods Sketches)1 Section 10 of Chapter 13 Of the Revised Statutes of Maine, which chapter relates; to Indian affairs, reads; as follows: A tribal committee of the Penobscot tribe of Indians shall be chosen annually in the month of November to consist of twelve members of said tribe (the Penobscot). No member of said committee shall be less than twenty-one years of age six members thereof shall be chosen by the old party, so called, and six members thereof by the new party, so called, at separate meetings. There are now two tribes of this fast falling race in Maine who were once owners of all of our territory of our forests, mountains, meadows, rivers, lakes and descendants of the ancient Abnaki nation; namely the Penobscot and the Passamaquoddys. The former are located on Indian Island in Penobscot river, twelve miles above and the latter on Indian reservations in Washington county being known as Indian Township on the St. Croix river and also at Pleasant Point near Eastport Agents for these tribes are appointed by the Governor to hold office during his pleasure. Their reservations are under the supervision of these agents The law permits them to elect a governor lieutenant governor and a representative to the legislature on the first Tuesday of November biennially. The Penobscots were for many years under the lead of Baron de St. Castin and later of his son Aselm de Castin, known in history as "St. Castin the Younger". The Baron was the real founder of the tribe or rather he organized it into its present tribal government which has maintained, its autonomy, ever since. Bounties are paid to every Indian of the tribes for crops actually raised by them. The origin of the division among the members of the Penobscot tribe at Old Town which caused them to be formed into the two (1)Backwoods Sketches. by John Francis Sprague (Augusta, Maine, 1912) pp. 83-91. parties before mentioned, and which are recognized by the statute law of Maine, above quoted, is explained in "The Abnakis and Their History," Published in 1866 by Reverend Eugene Vetromile, who was for several years a priest of a Catholic church in Bangor. During this time the Penobscot Indians were directly under his charge. According to his account, more than half a century ago the tribe had a bad and corrupt chief, Atien Swassin. He was accused of drunkenness, adultery and other crimes and misdemeanors. He was called to an account in public council and convicted of these accusations, removed from office and another Indian was elected Sachem of the tribe. The friends and followers of the old Sachem were, however, loyal to him, so the tribe became divided and like the more civilized palefaces had two political parties. Those who had elected a new Sachem called themselves the New Party ; and others who stood by the old Sachem were called the Old Party. They immediately raised two liberty poles near each other and two flags waved in opposition. This schism became more and more intensified as time went on and quarrels, dissension's, and bitter fights were of frequent occurrence. Finally messengers were sent to Passamaquoddy, St. John, Coughnaquaga, St. Francis and other Indian tribes of Canada, inviting them to come to Old Town to participate in ail Indian war of the Island. Vetromile says: "With the exception of a few wicked Indians who joined the Old Party all the tribes not only refused to give them assistance, but advised them to desist from this evil design and make peace." The result was the "Great Fire Council" held in Canada by representatives from all of the other tribes. This Council denounced and severely censured the Old Party, although it had a staunch friend in Sachem Francis, of the Passamaquoddy Indians at Pleasant Point, who, Vetromile avers, denounced the New Party, rebuked them, and made every effort to bend the decision of the assembly in favor of the Old Party. The Great Fire Council sent two envoys to Old Town to urge peace, and they were ably seconded by their pastor, Father Bapst. The result of the conferences was ail agreement to abolish both parties, cut down both liberty poles, and forever after live in harmony and brotherly love. A day appointed for this general reconciliation and the removal of the two poles. This event was considered of such importance to the future welfare of the tribe that when the day arrived, not only Father Bapst was present, but also the Rt. Reverend John B. Fitzpatrick, Bishop of Boston, whose jurisdiction at that time extended over eastern Maine, was to be the master of ceremonies. The Bishop and priest had caused a large cross to be erected near the church upon which the Latin inscription which in English read, "I will pray that they may all be one." Piel Sakkis was the boss of the Old Party. He was wise and cunning. He may have learned political tricks from his paleface brothers. He made a proposition which all accepted in good faith, which was that the New Party cut down it pole first. This was done when the brawny red-faced choppers approached the pole of the Old Party, the wily Boss Sakkis with two of his lieutenants clasped the pole in their arms, exclaiming that it should never be destroyed. The committee of Indians selected to perform the work found that the Old Party pole could not be demolished without cutting the arms of the three Indians who were protecting it. The bishop and priest, finding that they could not persuade these leaders to carry out their agreement, ended the proceedings, denounced these three Indians for their duplicity and excommunicated them on the spot. Soon after Piel Sakkis and one of his comrades wrote letters of repentance and apology to the bishop and were subsequently absolved from the excommunication. From that time until today these two parties have existed on Indian Island and would have wrecked the tribal government had not the Maine Legislature stepped in and by legal enactment compelled them to regulate their tribal affairs by a council composed equally of members of each party. I have not been able from any local histories to fix the exact date when the Old and New Parties above mentioned were formed, but it was somewhere between 1848 and 1859, as I find in the "History of the Catholic Church in the New England States," by Very Reverend Wm. Burne, D.D., that Reverend John Bapst was, at the request of Bishop Fitzpatrick, sent to Old Town by the Jesuit Superiors of the Maryland Province in 1848 and that he continued his pastoral duties there until 1859, when he left Bangor. The Indians of Old Town Island are as a general rule, frugal and industrious, and like all of their dusky ancestors are makers of baskets of curious designs, fancy colors, and artistic workmanship. Like the once mighty and powerful Abnaki nation from which they have descended, they still love the woods, mountains, lakes and mighty flowing rivers of Maine, and spend much of their time in these domains. As a consequence, they are among the most skilled and faithful of all the twenty-three hundred registered guides of Maine and are always in demand among visiting sportsmen who make the canoe trips of hundreds of miles down the vast waterways of the Maine woods. During the summer while the men are pursuing this avocation one who visits any of the seashore resorts along the coast of Maine and Massachusetts will see Indian women and girls, many of them comely and attractive, in little stalls, selling Indian baskets and moccasins, miniature war clubs, canoes, snow shoes and a hundred and one similar trinkets, useful and ornamental, which they have made during leisure hours in their homes in their little village of Indian Island in the Penobscot River. The visitor to the village sees but little to remind him of anything different from the white man's village. Its modest and pretty little Catholic Church, schoolhouse and snug and tidy homes are like those of the palefaces, but one will meet on its streets of a darker visage, and he is saddened by the thought that they are only a remnant of a once majestic and powerful race of earth's inhabitants; a race which was doomed to fall and perish beneath the terrible march of preponderating forces. One can but see in this the most fearful evidence of the eternal law of the survival of the fittest, and yet one cannot help pausing for a moment and saying to himself, "How cruel is that law!" When the aboriginal people of Maine first came into historic view, we find them grouped by, the English into five tribes and occupying several principal river valleys. The Tarratines dwelt on the Penobscoct; the Wawenocks from Pemaquid to Sagadahoc; the Shokas (Sacos) from the Saco to the Piscataqua; and the Canibas (Kennebecs) from Merrymeeting Bay to Moosehead Lake. In the beginning of Indian History in Maine a personage called the Bashaba (1) presided on the Penobscot. Champlain (1605) met him there. Cabahis, a chief of less dignity, was Champlain's guide whom he took from the Penobscot, deserted his vessel on the St. George "because the savages of the Quinibequy were their enemies."At Saco Champlain "bartered a kidnapped Penobscot boy for the products of the country." The sceptre of the red man was his tomahawk; chariot was the birch bark canoe, and for three centuries the white man has copied its model but has never been able to improve upon the original design of the Indian. These dusky artisans had working tools made from stone, flint bone, and their weapons were stone-headed clubs, spears, bows and arrows. The religion of all of the descendants of the Abnakis was such as would in these days de denominated Spiritualistic. They believed in one Great Spirit (Ketchinwesk) who was the Master and ruler of all, and the source of all good things which came to them. They also believed in a evil spirit (Matchinwesk), who was the cause of all their disasters and tribulations. Their spirit land or Heaven, to which all good spirits would depart after death, was a place where there would be plenty of good fishing and hunting, and where no bad Indians nor wicked paleface s would molest or make afraid. this has been popularly known by writers of Indian history and tradition as the "Happy Hunting Ground." They saw manifestations of both the good and evil spirits and the spirits of their departed friends in storm and sunshine; in good (1) The Bashaba of Penobscot was a sort of prince superior in rank to the Sachems of the various Indian tribes. All the Sachems westward as far as Naumkeag (Salem, Mass), acknowledged subjection to him. He is frequently mentioned in the accounts of the first voyagers to New England, but was killed by the Tarrateens in 1615. There is no account of any other Indian chief in the North Atlantic country whose authority was so extensive. (See the Journal, Vol. 1, P. 47.) fortune and bad fortune; in the chase, in fishing, and in the result of battles. The wicked would receive punishment by being scalped and tormented by their enemies. But they also held to a theory of a "middle state" where in some manner they could be relieved and assisted by their living friends. Hence, when an Indian died they thought to do some good to his spirit by setting fire to his wigwam where he had died, killing his best dog, burying with his remains his bows and arrows, carrying victuals to his grave, singing, dancing, crying, etc. Undoubtedly this was one reason why the Roman Catholic religion appealed to them ore than did the mysticism of the Puritan, for their ancient traditions of this middle state were more in harmony with the dogma of purgatory and the offering of prayers for the repose of souls. The story of the Aborigines of Maine blends inseparably with the struggle that lasted for so long a period between France and England in the New World. The geological formation of Mt. Kineo, midway of Moosehead Lake, is silicious slate, or hornstone, and was so well adapted to the requirements of the Indians in the making of weapons and implements, that it is evident they came from many parts of the country to obtain this stone for these purposes. Traditions of Maine Indians, and especially of the Penobscots relate that many battles were fought at and around Mt. Kineo by different tribes who went there to secure this. Many hundreds of these arrowheads and spearheads have been found on the beaches at Kineo and other shores at Moosehead Lake. These children of the wilderness were nomadic in their habits, roaming over immense stretches of hunting grounds and continually traveling from river to river and lake to lake. Their wigwams were easily and quickly constructed of poles and bark and abandoned when the builders moved to another place. The sites of many of these encampments may now be identified by burned and crumbling rocks and other vestiges, and the debris of the weapon and tool makers. Evidence of many of these sites has been seen along the Penobscot and Kennebec and other rivers of the State. They indicate that there were at different times many encampments along the Kennebec, especially where are now Augusta, Gardiner and Waterville. In the absence of geographical names, a river to the Indians was a series of places where food could be procured at certain moons or in special manner. A range of mountains divided by them into the abode of different genii. The English were never successful in their dealings with the Indians, with the exception of Penn, Eliot, Jonathan Edwards and a few others. and it seems that the Puritan scholars and historians did not consider it of enough importance to make much of any record in regard to them; their language, their names of places or of mountains, rivers and lakes. The greater part of what they wrote of the red men related to their almost continuous warfare with them; what victories they achieved; and their own version of the cruelties of the Indians. Washington Irving, in his life of Philip of Pokanoket, expresses this idea and says: It is to be regretted that those early writers who treated of the discovery and settlement of America have not given us more particular and candid accounts of the remarkable characters that flourished in savage life. The scanty anecdotes which have reached us are full of interest; they furnish us with nearer glimpses of human nature; and show what man is in a comparatively primitive state and what he owes to civilization. ************************************************* * * * * 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. It is always best to consult the original material for verification.