1675-78: Pometacomet's Resistance aka King Philip's War, 1st Anglo-Abenaki War

The violence that beset New England between 1675-76, called Pometacomet’s Resistance by many Indigenous Peoples, marked a catastrophic turning point in Native/Anglo relations. The Wampanoag Sachem Pometacomet and Native allies attempted to rebalance power in response to an unrelenting colonial project of land encroachment and violations of Indigenous sovereignty. During this period, the first official scalp bounties were issued by Massachusetts authorities for Native peoples’ scalps After Pometacomet was killed and dismembered, colonial authorities placed his severed head on a pole at the entrance to Plymouth Colony where it remained in public view for two decades.      

The violence ripped through the Dawnland after colonists accused the Wabanaki of allying with Pometacomet, murdered the infant son of Sagamore Squando, and demanded the surrender of firearms. This ended a tenuously peaceful coexistence between northern tribes and colonists, devastating Wabanaki communities and furthering refugee diasporas, enslavement, and land dispossession. The war’s Northern Front stretched from Piscataqua to Kennebec. Raids mainly took place on the coast, but also impacted interior Wabanaki territories from the White Mountains to Penobscot and Machias, reaching to Ktsitekw, the St. Lawrence River.

This period of violence in the Dawnland subsided with the Treaties of Pemaquid in 1677 and Casco Bay in 1678. Kennebec leaders wrote to the Governor and Council at Boston, that despite ongoing violence and deceit, their “minds” were “always for peace.” Wabanaki leader Madosquarbet further asserted Indigenous territorial sovereignty: "Now we hear that you say you will not leave war as long as one Indian is in the country. We are owners of the country & it is wide and full of Indians & we can drive you out."  

These treaties are vital in the history of diplomacy, which created terms for the return of English settlers to the Dawnland coast, requiring recognition of Wabanaki authority and an annual tribute payments. Violations of these agreements sowed the seeds of ongoing Indigenous resistance to protect the Dawnland and restore broken relations, leading to a series of conflicts (known as the Anglo-Abenaki Wars), which lasted until the mid eighteenth century.

Delucia, Memory Lands, 2018, 46; Brooks, Our Beloved Kin, 2018, 48-50; Brooks, "The Treaties at Pemaquid and Cascoak," 2019; Brooks, " Unbinding the ends of War," 2019; Brooks, " William Waldron's Defense," 2019; Saxine, Properties of Empire, 2019.

     1688-1699: 2nd Anglo-Abenaki War aka Castin's War, King William's War

Shortly after peace treaties ended the first Anglo-Abenaki war, colonial authorities began issuing grants for Indigenous homelands without consent, interfering with fishing, hunting and subsistence territories. These violations led to renewed violence, during which many Dawnland Wabanaki allied with the French against the English, in what was known as Castin's War (King William's War in Europe). During this conflict more than half a dozen scalp bounty acts were issued by Massachusetts.

Wabanaki and French warriors struck Maine towns in 1688, driving colonists from east of Falmouth (now Portland). Baron de St. Castin, who lived with his Wabanaki wife Mathilde and family in a Etchemin village of 160 on the Bagaduce River, was targeted by the English. Castin helped launch counter-attacks on English settlements, joined by Wabanaki warriors. Major Benjamin Church (who had hunted Pometacomet) arrived by sloop to Fort Loyal and after a "fierce fight," drove the Wabanaki from the area.

Shortly following a cease fire negotiated by Wabanaki leaders in 1693, Massachusetts Governor William Phips negotiated the unauthorized Madockawando deed for large tracts of Native territories, without the consent of authorized Penobscot leaders. This became the cornerstone of land controversies for the next sixty years, as the English continued to violate the Indigenous vision of the common pot (land and resource sharing). By 1696, Wabanaki and allied forces drove the aggressive newcomers out of the lower Kennebec, reclaiming much of the Dawnland. The treaty of Ryswick ended the war in 1699, and the village of Norridgewock became the southern boundary of New France.

Brooks, Our Beloved Kin, 2018, 3-4. Saxine, Properties of Empire, 2019, 35-37, 53-55; Maine Memory Network.

                    1702-13: 3rd Anglo-Abenaki War aka Queen Anne's War

The Wabanaki attempted to remain neutral at the start of Queen Anne's War between England and France. In 1703, a diplomatic delegation of leaders warned the English of impending attacks by French and Native allies and attempted to negotiate a peace treaty with Massachusetts Governor Dudley at Casco Bay. These gestures were betrayed when the English declared war on all eastern Abenaki and Pennacook and murdered a prominent relative of the Baron de Saint-Castin and Mathilde, daughter of Madockawando, an influential Penobscot leader (who participated in the Treaty at Pemaquid).                                             From 1702-1713, violence by English, French and Native forces deeply scarred the Dawnland. The English increased payment for scalp bounties, amounting to premiums for killing Wabanaki who occupied lands sought by the colonial government and settlers. For many, scalp hunting expeditions became a significant source of income, starkly manifest in the many bounty acts issued and claimed in a few short years. In addition to physical violence, ongoing violations of territorial treaties and the common pot further endangered Wabanaki homelands, subsistence and survival.                                               In 1713, the Treaty of Utrecht ended the war and the Wabanaki signed the Treaty of Portsmouth, which excluded the contested 1693 Muscongus land deed. Native communities sought to secure legitimate deeds, regain their lands and regulate new land sales, while welcoming limited settlement and trade. Speculation increased, however, as wealthy Boston investor companies claimed war torn lands on the Maine frontier. Governor Phips's adopted son and future lieutenant Governor, Spencer, sold land from the fraudulent "Muscongus Patent" to Boston proprietors, breaking the treaty and renewing conflicts.

Haefeli and Sweeney, Captors and Captives, 2003, 87-89; Saxine, Properties of Empire, 2019, 49-50, 55-56; Ball, "Grim Commerce," 2013, 92-112; Maine Memory Network.