Battle of Pequawket facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Battle of Pequawket |
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| Part of Father Rale's War | |||||||
 Death of Chief Paugus |
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| Belligerents | |||||||
| Abenaki |  New England Colonies |
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Paugus † | John Lovewell † Seth Wyman |
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| Strength | |||||||
| approximately 66 | 33 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| unknown | 13 dead, 9 wounded | ||||||
The Battle of Pequawket is also known as Lovewell's Fight. It happened on May 9, 1725, during a conflict called Father Rale's War. This war took place in northern New England. Captain John Lovewell led a group of colonial rangers. They were looking for bounties offered for enemy scalps. Chief Paugus led the Abenaki people. The battle happened at Pequawket, which is now Fryeburg, Maine. This fight was part of a larger conflict. It was about New England settlers moving onto lands along the Kennebec River in what is now Maine.
This battle was the last big fight between the English and the Wabanaki Confederacy during Governor Dummer's War. People remembered Lovewell's Fight for many years. It became an important local story. It even inspired famous writers like Nathaniel Hawthorne. Some local histories make the battle seem more important than it was. For example, an English attack on the Abenaki village of Norridgewock in August 1724 was probably more important. That event helped bring the Abenaki to peace talks. But the Norridgewock attack is less remembered. This is because it involved a harsh attack on Native American villagers.
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Why the War Started: Dummer's War
The Treaty of Utrecht (1713) ended Queen Anne's War in Europe. This treaty allowed New England settlements to grow. However, Native American tribes of the Wabanaki Confederacy were not part of this treaty. They were not asked about it. So, they protested when settlers moved onto their lands. They raided British fishing boats and settlements.
For the first time, the Wabanaki fought the New Englanders and British for their own reasons. They were not mainly fighting for French interests.
To respond to these attacks, the Governor of Nova Scotia, Richard Philipps, built a fort. This was in Mi'kmaq territory at Canso, Nova Scotia, in 1720. Massachusetts Governor Samuel Shute also built forts. These were on Abenaki land at the mouth of the Kennebec River. The French also claimed this land. They built churches in Abenaki villages like Norridgewock and Medoctec. These forts and churches made the conflict worse.
Lovewell's Ranger Trips
In September 1724, some Native Americans captured two men from Dunstable. A group of ten men went to find them. One man, Josiah Farwell, warned them about a possible ambush. But the group rushed ahead. They were ambushed, and eight men were killed. The others were captured, except for Farwell, who escaped.
Because of these attacks, people wanted to fight harder. The government offered money for enemy scalps. This encouraged volunteer groups to form. It also saved the colony money on raising troops. John Lovewell quickly formed a group of volunteer rangers. They were not part of the official army. They were a private group. Lovewell's grandparents had been killed by Native Americans. He gathered thirty men, and they chose him as their captain. Lovewell chose Josiah Farwell as his second-in-command. Lovewell and Farwell went on three trips to find enemies from December to May.
The Battle of Pequawket
Lovewell's third trip had only 47 men. Many of them were new to ranging. They left from Dunstable, New Hampshire (now Nashua, New Hampshire) on April 16, 1725. An Indian guide and another man could not continue. They returned to Dunstable. When another man got sick, they built a small fort at Ossipee, New Hampshire. Ten men stayed there to guard it. This included the sick man, the doctor, and John Goffe. The rest of the group went to raid the Abenaki village of Pequawket. This village was near the Saco River.
On May 9, 34 rangers were praying. Their chaplain, Jonathan Frye, was leading them. They saw a single Abenaki warrior hunting by the lake. The rangers thought he might be a decoy. They suspected a larger Abenaki force was nearby. Still, they decided to hide their bags and move carefully. Lovewell's men waited until the warrior was close. The warrior fired his gun, wounding Lovewell and another man. The rangers then fired and killed the warrior.
Meanwhile, an Abenaki war party found the rangers' hidden bags. They saw they had more warriors than the rangers. So, they set up an ambush. When the rangers returned for their bags, the Abenaki fired at them. They attacked the front and back of the line. Lovewell was killed in the first attack. Eight other rangers also died. Lovewell's lieutenants, Josiah Farwell and Jonathan Robbins, were badly wounded. Ensign Seth Wyman took command. He organized the rangers' defense for the rest of the fight.
After the first shots, the battle became a shootout. Fighters on both sides hid behind trees. The rangers were outnumbered. They had to be careful not to be surrounded. Trees did not offer cover from the sides or back. So, the colonials slowly moved back to the lake. This protected their rear. Then they moved east to a spot they had passed earlier. Here, the lake protected them from the south. A swollen stream (now called Fight Brook) was on the east. Flooded land was to the north. Fallen trees were to the west. Even though they were surrounded, they kept the enemy further away. This made it harder for the enemy to shoot accurately.
During the battle, the Abenaki war chief Paugus was killed. People disagree about who shot him. Some say John Chamberlaine shot him. Others say Seth Wyman killed him. After Paugus died, the remaining Abenaki warriors soon left the forest.
An Abenaki Story of the Battle
This story of the Battle of Pequawket comes from a daughter of Powack. Powack was a chief of the Penobscot people. The Penobscot were allies of the Abenaki. This story was passed down for many generations before being written.
Powack wanted peace with the English. He called a meeting and then went to the Pequawkets as a messenger. Powack took his daughter and her future husband, Little Elk, with him. While they were with the Pequawkets, Paugus arrived. He was not a Pequawket. He came to gather warriors for a raid against the English. He led all the warriors down the Saco River to English settlements in Maine. The villagers who stayed behind fished at the south end of Saco (Lovewell) Pond. The raiding party later returned. They were heading back to the village. On the way, the Penobscots heard gunshots from the battle.
"Paugus told Powak he found the white men's bags. He counted the bags. He knew he had more warriors than the white men. So he attacked."
Powack and Little Elk stayed near the battle. All the Abenaki who were not fighting went around the battle to return to the village.
"Long after the moon was up, only a few warriors came to the village. They said Paugus was killed. Powak was killed. Little Elk was killed."
The remaining Pequawkets moved to Canada. Powack's daughter went with them. She stayed until she found someone to take her back home.
What Happened After
Only 20 of the rangers survived the battle. Three more died while retreating home. We do not know how many Abenaki were lost, except for Chief Paugus.
The Abenaki left the town of Pequawket after the battle. They moved to Canada (New France).
Lasting Impact
- Over a hundred years later, famous writers wrote about Lovewell's Fight. These included Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (in his poem "The Battle of Lovells Pond"), Nathaniel Hawthorne (in his story "Roger Malvin's Burial"), and Henry David Thoreau (in his book A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers).
- The lake where the battle happened is now called Lovewell Pond. A stream leading to it is named Fight Brook. Paugus Bay in Laconia, New Hampshire, and Mount Paugus in New Hampshire were named after Chief Paugus. The town of Fryeburg was named after Joseph Frye, not the chaplain Jonathan Frye. Joseph Frye received land there much later.
- At the north end of Lovewell Pond in Fryeburg, there is a small monument. It honors the English rangers near where the battle took place. It is on Lovewell Pond Road. This is near its meeting point with Battleground Road and Island Road.
Images for kids
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Death of Chief Paugus
