~ The Old Sachem ~ King William’s War

By Bill Stewart

Last week, I wrote about King Philip’s War in which the Massachusetts Bay Colony along with their partners, Narragansett Indians, fought against the Wampanoag and their compatriots. This week, we look at the second war of the colonies – named King William’s War. From 1620 on, colonists and Indians did not get along well, and frequent raids were brought by both sides, culminating in loss of life by both sides.

England and France went to war and carried the Atlantic colonies along with the war in Europe. That meant that the English colony, Massachusetts Bay Colony, battled the French outposts to the north as both sides wanted plenty of land in the Americas. In Europe the war was known as the Nine Years War (1688 to 1697). The French territories were known as New France and their followers included the Wampanoag Indians.

The English along with the colonists wanted to erase the French forces from their northern areas, including Acadia along the Kennebec River in southern Maine. The “Peace of Ryswick” that ended the European battles in 1697 had little to do with the Americas, so that outposts of New France, New England and New York remained unchanged in their areas of influence.

The English were of the opinion that the treaties and agreements ending King Philip’s War were not being adhered to and the Indians of the area, principally the Wampanoag, were pushed by the French to carry on their battles with the colonies.

The campaign started on August 13, 1689, when Baron de St. Castin forces attacked New Dartmouth, now Newcastle, and killed a few settlers. A few days later they killed two people in Yarmouth, then in Kennebunk they killed two families.

Meanwhile, in England, King William III and Mary II replaced James II as rulers in England. When the news reached the colonists, an uprising against the English by a mob in Boston overthrew the English Governor, Sir Edmund Andros. St. Castin and his forces raided Dover, New Hampshire, and nearby locales.

Major Benjamin Church led a force of 250 patriots to defend a group of settlers in Falmouth against the Wabanaki confederacy. The Indian forces killed 21 of Church’s forces, but Church successfully forced the Indians to retreat.

In the winter of 1690, Count Frontenac, of New France, began attacking English settlements in New Hampshire and Maine. The raid on Salmon Falls in New Hampshire killed 34 colonists and another in Falmouth, Maine, killed 200.

Sir William Phips led English forces of 2,200 troops in an assault on Quebec and Fitz-John Winthrop led a force against Montreal – both failed.

Eventually a peace treaty was signed in 1694, but St. Castin led a naval battle in the Bay of Fundy, later attacking Haverhill in Massachusetts. On October 30, 1697, the war ended with the Treaty of Ryswick. The borders of New France, New England and New York remained unchanged, but claims of some of the disputed territories were unresolved , which later led to Queen Anne’s War in 1702.

(Editor’s Note: Bill Stewart, who is better known to Saugus Advocate readers as “The Old Sachem,” writes a weekly column – sometimes about sports. He also opines on current or historical events or famous people.)