which beset Phips and Winthrop, the latter of whom commanded the land expedition, their failure was due.

It is not the purpose of this work to give a particular account of the wars, which culminated in the subjugation of the Eastern tribes by the English, but only to touch upon a few points, which lead toward this event, and particularly to explain the reasons which caused the destruction of Norridgewock, the hotbed of an influence, which imperilled the existence of English civilization in New England. From the failures of the expeditions against Canada by Phips and Winthrop, the war dragged on with varying fortunes to both sides. Both were poor and both bitterly hostile to each other.

While the French king, lulled by his mistresses and sycophants into thoughtlessness of the terrible import of his acts, wrote to Frontenac to excite the sav ages to continue their murderous warfare against the English settlements, and ordered presents to be made to them for their encouragement, he haggled over the cost of the war, and postponed the undertaking of his scheme against New York, on account of the expense he had already sustained.1 War parties, however,

1 Memoire du Roi aux Sieurs de Frontenac et de Champigny. Collection de Manuscrits, etc., vol. 2, PP. 51-54; Ibid., p. 82, et passim.

of savages and coureurs de bois, many of whom were half breeds, if anything more ferocious than the sav ages themselves, led by Frenchmen, desolated the frontier settlements. The savages, if left to themselves, would soon have made peace; indeed, not long after the capture of Port Royal by Phips, several of the chiefs entered into an agreement with the English to meet and arrange a treaty, but this they were not permitted to do. Presents were heaped upon them by the French commander, and their avarice was excited by promises of booty, which would be to them "plus d'avantage qu'à la chasse;" nor was this all; Father Thury lent his powerful aid, and exhorted them to continue the war upon the English, which the French minister had declared should be made "sans relache."

"1

1" Comme vostre principal objèt doibt estre de faire la guerre sans relasche aux Anglois, il faut que vostre plus particulière occupation, soyt de détourner de tout aultre employ, les François qui sont avec vous, surtout de faire aulcun commerce que pour leur subsistance, en leur donnant de vostre part un sy bon exemple en cela qu'ils ne soyent animez que du désir de chercher à faire du profit sur les ennemis.

Je n'ay aussy rien à vous recommander plus fortement que de mettre en usage tout ce que vous pouvez de capacité et de prudence, affin que les Canibas ne s'employent qu'a la guerre, et que par l'économie de ce que vous avez à leur fournir ils y puis

It was in the dead of the winter of 1692, that Thury with one hundred and fifty of his Christian converts left their village on the Penobscot to accomplish their design on the few remaining settlements of Maine. Soon they were joined by a howling band from Father Bigot's mission on the Kennebec, and for a month pursued their difficult way on snowshoes through the pathless wilds, which lay between them and the doomed settlements. On the night of February 4th, while the candles were being lighted in the rude dwellings of York, and the humble cotters were gathering about their firesides unsuspicious of danger, the savages, like wolves, were crouching in the thick woods, which fringed the slopes of Mount Agamenticus, eager to spring upon their prey.

Several of the houses were fortified for defense, and a watch was probably kept, which may have deterred the savages from making a night attack; any. how, they kept under cover through the long, cold night. As the day dawned, the snow began silently to fall. The door of one of the cabins opened and a boy, with the visions of youth in his brain and the joys of life all untasted before him, came forth with

sent trouver leur subsistance et plus d'avantage qu'à la chasse." Lettre du Roy au Sieur de Villebon, Collection de Manuscrits, etc., vol. 2, p. 83.

his axe. Soon he was busy at his task, when suddenly he was seized by rough hands, forced to answer a few fierce questions, and then his head was split open with a hatchet, and he was left dying on the new fallen snow, while the savages, dividing into two parties, rushed upon the village. Men, women and children were alike butchered, even infants in the cradle were not spared, says Villebon, approvingly.1

The venerable minister of the town, the Rev. Shubael Dummer, a man eminent for learning and piety, was preparing to mount his horse to visit in the neighborhood, when he was shot dead at his door." We will not follow the harrowing details of this affair farther, nor follow the fortunes of the war.

1" Nos Sauvages se sont mis en action, le Sieur de Villieu les y a accompagnez et Monsieur de Thury. Ce coup est très advantageux parce qu'il rompt tous les pourparlers de paix et que l'on doibt compter qu'il n'y aura plus de retour entre nos Sauvages et les Anglois, qui sont au désespoir de ce qu'ils ont tué jusques aux enfans au berceau." Resume d'une lettre de Monsieur de Villebon au Ministre. Collection de Manuscrits, etc., vol. 2, p. 158.

2 The Rev. Shubael Dummer was born at Roxbury, Mass., Feb. 17th, 1636, and graduated at Harvard College in 1656. He was ordained as the first settled minister of York in 1673. He married the daughter of Edward Rishworth, and at the time of the attack on York, Feb. 5th, 1692, had faithfully and

One can be certain that the French missionaries in Maine were active in inciting the savages to warzealously performed his ministerial duties for nearly twenty years. When hostilities threatened, it is said that he was urged to leave York, but refused, preferring to share the dangers of those, whom he had "converted and edified by his ministry." He was just about mounting his horse to make a pastoral visit in the neighborhood when he was shot, and his wife and son taken prisoners. Quite contrary to their usual custom, several old women and small children, who were taken prisoners and appeared unable to take the long journey to Canada, were permitted to remain behind alive when the Indians took their departure. Among these was the delicate wife of the dead minister. Her son, however, was a prisoner, and the half frantic widow returned to the Indian camp after her release to beg the savages to release her boy. This was refused, and she was sent away; but motherly affection prompted her to make another attempt, and she again returned to beg for her son's release. Her prayer was refused, and she was told that as she wanted to be a prisoner her wish should be granted. She had, therefore, the satisfaction of accompanying her son; but the hardships of a mid-winter march through the wilderness without shelter and almost without food were too severe for her, and she soon died. Mather thus sings of the slain pastor:

DUMMER the shepherd sacrificed,

By wolves because the sheep he priz'd.
The orphan's father, church's light,
The love of heav'n, of hell the spight."

Vide Magnalia Christi Americana, vol. 2, p. 612 et