Original roll in Massachusetts Archives, Volume XV, page 83. Total, 50 men. All had guns, but 34 furnished their own, and 19 had cartridge boxes. Shirts were charged the men 8s. 3d. each. Those from York were allowed 80 miles travel, from Berwick the same, excepting Caleb Ford, who was allowed two miles more. Those from Sanford 100 miles, Georgetown 150 and Mount Desert 230.

CAPT. JESSE DORMAN'S COMPANY.

Capt. Jesse Dorman, of Arundel, was the son of Jabez Dorman, who came from Boxford, Massachusetts, to Arundel, now Kennebunkport, about 1715. Capt. Dorman's wife was Eunice Averill, a daughter of Samuel and Ruth (Watson) Averill. Her father

was cast away on Mount Desert and drowned in 1747. Their eleven children were Josiah, Israel, Elizabeth, Daniel Towne, Abiel, Daniel Shackley, Stephen, Jedediah, Sarah, Jesse, Jr., and Thomas. Three of his sons served in the army. In 1793, a violent tornado unroofed his house, and he with his bed and bedding were blown several rods from the house. He died about the year 1800

Capt. Dorman was a lieutenant in Gen. Abercrombie's army at Lake George when Lord Howe was killed and the army met with a crushing defeat, in 1758. He was then in command of a company, and was struck in the breast by a musket ball, the force of which was checked by a silk handkerchief which he had placed inside of his vest for convenience in wiping his face. He enlisted in Col. Scamman's regiment May 3, 1775, and was commissioned June 2. His name appears among the soldiers at Louisberg, in 1745, with Sir William Pepperrell.

"A Muster Roll of ye Company under ye Command of Capt. Jesse Dorman in Collonell James Scammons Regiment To the First of August 1775."

Original roll in Massachusetts Archives, Volume XIV, page 75. Total, 60 men.

Those from Arundel

were allowed 110 miles travel, Wells 108, and Biddeford 117. Fifty-five had guns and 7 bayonets which they furnished themselves, and 49 had cartridge boxes. Shoes were charged to the men at 6sh. 8d. and they had £2 advance wages.

The story of the regiments of the period of the rebellion against England in the Revolutionary war, gives us to-day a lesson in the indignation felt by our patriot forefathers against the mother country for her injustice to them as colonists. They felt the justice of their cause and believed, sooner or later, it must prevail. Trusting in Providence, they buckled on their armor, and with little money and but a quarter of a pound of powder to a man, they began what then appeared an unequal contest. Events forced them to declare their independence, and through many a long month and year, they struggled on and on, exhausting their resources more and more, passing through many periods of despair, until their heroic efforts were crowned with success. The records of nearly every town meeting show their solicitude for the approval of their posterity. No people have had more noble and unselfish ancestors than ourselves, so let us emulate their examples and make our country what they intended it to be, a paradise of freedom.

CAPT. JOHN WILSON AND SOME
MILITARY MATTERS IN MAINE

IN THE WAR OF 1812-15.

BY REV. HENRY S. BURRAGE, D. D.

Read before the Maine Historical Society, October 27, 1896.

THE war of 1812 was not regarded with favor by the people of Maine, especially in the seaport towns. They gave to the national government loyal support, however, and held themselves in readiness at all times to defend the more important points along the extended coast line of the state.

Some of the military papers of Capt. John Wilson of Topsham, who was stationed with his company at the mouth of the Kennebec on alarm occasions, during the years 1812-15, have been placed in my hands by his daughter, Mrs. A. W. Pendleton of Topsham ; and as these give us a glimpse of the military operations on the lower Kennebec at this period of our history, I have transcribed them, adding such additional facts as I have been able to gather.1

1 When the earliest fort on the present site of Fort Popham was erected is not now known. In the Frontier Missionary, by William S. Bartlett. page 233, it is stated: "An apology for a fort near the mouth of the river, armed with one can. non, which had been an alarm gun at Frankfort, was the only hindrance to a British fleet that might see fit to sail to the head of navigation." Mr. Bailey says that this fort was "a wooden blockhouse, with one gun, a four-pounder." Nor have I been able to learn, even from government officials, when the old fort at Hunnewell's Point, replaced by the present Fort Popham during the Civil war, was erected. That there was a fortification on this spot as early as 1809 is indicated in a letter written in March of that year by Capt. John Bering on taking command of old Fort Edgecomb, erected 1808-9, to guard the harbor of Wiscasset. In this letter, writing at Wiscasset, Capt. Bering said: "I have command at the mouth of the Kennebec River twenty-six miles west of Wiscasset, and on the Damariscotta, east twelve miles. I occasionally visit these forts." From a copy of this letter furnished by R. K. Sewall, Esq., of Wiscasset. This fort was known as "The Fort at Phipsburg."