ARTICLE IX.

MATERIALS FOR A

HISTORY OF FORT HALIFAX:

BEING COPIES AND ABRIDGEMENTS OF DOCUMENTS IN THE OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF THE COMMONWEALTH,

BOSTON, MASS.

MADE BY

JOSEPH WILLIAMSON, Esq.,

OF BELFAST.

FORT HALIFAX.

FROM COUNCIL RECORDS.

1754, Feb. 8. [Vol. 2, page 327.] A letter was received from William Lithgow, dated January 23, concerning a French fort said to have been erected at the head of Kennebec River. Lithgow was instructed to enlist a number of men, and a commission of instruction was prepared for John North to proceed up that river, where said fort stands, and upon discovery thereof, to demand of the chief officer by what right they had taken possession of that land.

1754, Aug. 5. Council at Falmouth, where was awaited the return of Major General Winslow, who had been up the Kennebec. His Excellency having communicated to the Board the several letters he had received from him, and having asked the advice of the Council in relation to the place for building the new fort proposed to be built on the Kennebec River: Advised, that his Excellency give orders for building said fort, (which he proposed to call Fort Halifax) on an eminence near a fork of land at Taconick falls, and that a strong blockhouse be erected on the same fork of land: Advised, that his Excellency give orders that a road be cut through the woods on the main land between Fort Halifax and the storehouse at Cushnock.

1754, Oct. 17. [Vol. 18, page 281. Extracts from Governor Shirley's speech.] I caused the forces and workmen

to proceed to Kennebec River, for building a new fort there, and ordered the five hundred men to reconnoitre the head of that river, and the great carrying-place between that and the Chaudière. The French Jesuit at Penobscot strove to prevent those tribes from meeting me. I pitched on the spot or fork between Sebesticook and Kennebec for Fort Halifax; the former empties three-fourths of a mile from Taconnet* Falls, thirty-seven above Richmond Fort, fifty miles from Penobscot, and thirty-one miles by water and twenty-two by land from Norridgewock. The head of navigation on the Kennebec is Cushenoc, and the Plymouth Company have concluded to aid in building a house there of hewn timber, one hundred feet by thirty-two, and a blockhouse twenty-four feet square, mounted with four cannon. I directed a road to be cleared for wheel carriages from Fort Western at Cushenoc to Fort Halifax at Taconnet. The latter can contain four hundred men, and is to be garrisoned by one hundred. I also placed a strong redoubt on an eminence to overlook the country road, mounted with two small cannon and a swivel. I found no French settlements. A report that war had been declared in England against France prevailed there. I tarried some time with a quorum of the Council at Falmouth, and formed a route for expresses by whaleboats between Falmouth and Taconnet; could send orders to Fort Halifax in about twenty-four hours. I visited Forts Halifax and Western. The Norridgewocks, though at first averse, declared their consent, in a formal treaty, to our making settlements on the river. I dismissed the men before Oct. 17, except one hundred and twenty, viz., one hundred at Fort Halifax, and twenty at Fort Western.

1754, Nor. 6. [Vol. 18, page 314.] Dispatches by express from the commanding officer at Taconnick, Fort Halifax, inform the Governor that Indians fell

*Ticonic is now the mode of spelling.

upon a

party of that garrison, sent out to load with logs for the use of the fort, at a small distance from it, killed and scalped one of the soldiers, and carried off four men as prisoners, one only escaping to the garrison. "This," in the language of Governor Shirley, "is an act of treachery "and barbarity in the Indians, which gives a new aspect to "our affairs and interests in the Eastern parts, and requires "new measures for our security. I have stopped the Prov"ince sloop, with the commander of Fort Halifax on board, "till it was determined what orders ought to be given on "the occasion. The sloop being loaded with the winter "stores for the several forts in the eastern parts, must go "forth to St. Georges and Pemaquid to be discharged of "some part of her lading before she will be able to go to "Cushenoc, with the stores for Fort Halifax. It is deter"mined not to send the presents to the Norridgewocks and "Penobscots, till satisfaction is obtained that they were not "concerned in the late attack upon the English near the "garrison at Taconnet on the Kennebec River."

1754, Nov. 21. Six thousand pounds raised for payment of the forces in the late expedition to Kennebec. One hundred pairs of snowshoes, and as many of moccasins to be sent to Fort Halifax.

1754, Dec. 10. News by a captive who had purchased his freedom, and come from Canada, that the French had formed the design for attacking Fort Halifax with five hundred French and Indians, who were assembling at Quebec before he left Montreal. It was proposed to send to the Captains of the independent companies in the eastern parts to detach and assemble, in all, five hundred men to be ready at the fort to meet the enemy. Five cohorn mortars are to be sent there.

1754, Dec. 11. [Vol. 2, p. 371.] Advised, that his Excellency send forthwith to the commander of Fort Halifax the advice he has received of the designs of the French

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