Broken Peace in Maine

In what is now modern Maine, an attack was launched on the Brackett settlement, located on Casco Neck (once known as “Deering Oaks” in Falmouth, ,now Portland, ME). What had been a stretch of peace was broken by the killing of a cow belonging to Captain Anthony Brackett on August 9. This event led to a streak of attacks, which began on August 11. A reported six Indigenous men operating under the leadership of an Indigenous man named Simon, who was from the Piscataqua region, attacked the farm belonging to Captain Brackett. (1) After killing at least one of Brackett’s children and taking the remaining members of the family captive, the men moved on to target several additional nearby settlements. This same day, a group of Abenaki led by Squando attacked the nearby Cleve’s Neck, also at what is now Portland.

Also on August 11, Indigenous people fleeing from the English and the war made their way across the Connecticut River near Springfield, Massachusetts and began travelling towards New York, where Governor Edmund Andros was offering refuge.

1. The tribal affiliation of Simon and his men is unclear. Some written materials suggest that they were Wabanaki while others claim that they were Androscoggins. The attack on Brackett farm has been mentioned in Reverend William Hubbard’s The History of the Indian Wars in New England from the First Settlement to the Termination of the War with King Philip in 1677, from the Original Work by the Rev. William Hubbard (1677), vol. II: 138-39, n167.

2. For more on King Philip’s War in Maine see Christopher J. Bilodeau, “Creating an Indian Enemy in the Borderlands: King Philip’s War in Maine, 1675-1678.” Maine History Vol. 47, no. 1 (2013): 10-41.