226 THE THREE WAR-PARTIES. 



was a crusade against the enemies of God. They 

 made their vows to the Virgin before the fight ; 

 and the squaws, in their distant villages on the 

 Penobscot, told unceasing beads, and offered un- 

 ceasing prayers for victory. 1 



The war now ran like wildfire through the 

 settlements of Maine and New Hampshire. Six- 

 teen fortified houses, with or without defenders, 

 are said to have fallen into the hands of the enemy ; 

 and the extensive district then called the county 

 of Cornwall was turned to desolation. Massachu- 

 setts and Plymouth sent hasty levies of raw men, ill- 

 armed and ill-officered, to the scene of action. At 

 Casco Bay, they met a large body of Indians, whom 

 they routed after a desultory fight of six hours ; 

 and then, as the approaching winter seemed to 

 promise a respite from attack, most of them were 

 withdrawn and disbanded. 



1 Thury, Relation da Combat des Canibas. Compare Hutchinson, Hist. 

 Mass., I. 352, and Mather, Magnolia, II. 590 (ed. 1853). The murder of 

 prisoners after the capitulation has been denied. Thury incidentally con- 

 firms the statement, when, after saying that he exhorted the Indians to 

 refrain from drunkenness and cruelty, he adds that, in consequence, they 

 did not take a single scalp, and " tuerent sur le champ ceux qu'ils voulurent 

 titer." 



English accounts place the number of Indians at from two to three 

 hundred. Besides the persons taken in the fort, a considerable number 

 were previously killed, or captured in the houses and fields. Those who 

 were spared were carried to the Indian towns on the Penobscot, the seat 

 of Thury's mission. La Motte-Cadillac, in his Memoire mr VAcadie, 1692, 

 says that 80 persons in all were killed ; an evident exaggeration. He 

 adds that Weems and six men were spared at the request of the chief, 

 Madockawando. The taking of Pemaquid is remarkable as one of the 

 very rare instances in which Indians have captured a fortified place 

 otherwise than by treachery or surprise. The exploit was undoubtedly 

 due to French prompting. We shall see hereafter with what energy and 

 6uccess Thury incited his flock to war. 



