Location of Township and some of its Early History

From 1920 publication, "Hinckley Township or Grand Lake Stream Plantation"

By Minnie Atkinson

Almost in the center of the old Passamaquoddy land lay a tangled chain of lakes and streams like trinkets of silver on the deep green of the earth. Largest of all the lakes was Witteguergaugaum, now called Grand Lake and next largest was Genesagenagum, renamed Big Lake. Between these two and projecting broadly to the east and north was the wilderness that became Hinckley Township. Into Grand Lake the water of 32 other lanes and ponds flows. Three streams empty in Big Lake, thence through Long and Lewey lakes and by way of the St. Croix river the water flows to Passamaquoddy Bay. The largest and middle of these streams is Grand Lake Stream. It has two waterfalls and is full of little rips. Nearly all of it is within the borders of Hinckley. It is three miles long, and runs almost diagonally across its southwestern corner. Bonney Brook, the easterly stream of the three, is entirely therein. The third outlet, Little River, lies in the township to the west. The southern extremity and an eastern cove of Grand Lake and the northwestern part of Big Lake are in Hinckley.

How - and where - the Passamaquoddies traveled

The chief settlement of the ancient Passamaquoddy tribe (once called Sabbayk and by the French classed with the Penobscot and Micmack Indians as Etchemins) was near the bay, but members of the tribe made frequent migrations up into this region. Sometimes as many as twenty families would paddle up through the lakes, one family in a canoe, one canoe behind each other - a long, silent, single line. When the travelers reached the head of Big Lake - if they were going still further - they would carry the canoes, inverted over the heads and resting on the shoulders of the men, along the east bank of the Grand Lake Stream to Grand Lake. An Indian carry, so much used that even the rocks are worn, was thus made across the corner of the township. Favorite camping places were upon the west bank of stream near Grand Lake and upon the lower eastern shores of the lake. In the former place many Indian relics have been found. Sometimes the Indians pushed to the head waters of Grand, or the the further lakes. In the autumn and winter these trips were hunting expeditions. When deer were sought the hunters, equipped with snow shoes, skimmed over the snow easily in the chase, but the deer sank through the snow, were speedily exhausted and easily killed with clubs. Often wolves would come down from the northern forests and drive away the deer for many seasons. At such times the tribe would suffer from hunger. The migrations in the spring, in later times, were often for the purpose of making sugar.

Clashing with the Mohawks

Sometimes Mohawks made incursions into the Passamaquoddy land and attacked these peaceful camping parties. At the head of Grand Lake is a narrows which connects it with Pocumpass Lake. It is called "The Thoroughfare." Fragments of tradition tell of an attack by Mohawks upon a party of Passamaquoddies at this point. A number of Indian graves on the east shore are said to contain the bodies of warriors who fell in the battle. Many arrowheads and other weapons are still found on the spot.

The story of the battle runs thus:

When the terrifying cry of the Mohawks rang through the woods the surprised Passamaquoddies defended themselves desperately. So fierce was the ensuing onset that a brook, trickling into the lake in the midst of it, ran red and thus received a baptism of blood, and a christening for it has since been called Blood Brook. With the coming of darkness the din and slaughter of battle halted. In the night the remaining remnants of Passamaquoddies fled in canoes down the lakes to a point on Big Lake called Peter Dana's Point, in honor of one of the more notable chiefs, or governors, of the tribe. The Mohawks had no canoes. The fugitives hoped they could not follow. Nevertheless lookouts were stationed on high land an in the tops of trees. A day of anxiety work on. Late in the afternoon there was a cry of alarm. Above the tops of the trees on the west side of Grand Lake a flurry of dead leaves rose in an ominous and advancing cloud. The sign was easily read. The Mohawks were coming and so rapidly that the wind of their passage drove the leaves upward. The Passamaquoddies took to their canoes and disappeared from the spot, hurrying to one of the remote recesses of this remarkable and intricate system of lakes and streams where the Mohawks could not find them.

Another and still more fragmentary tradition tells of the final combat in the warfare with Mohawks. This version of it was told some time ago by Nicholas Lola, a chief of the tribe, to one of his white friends. Indians of a former generation were fond of telling their traditions and would become excited in the recital.

This fight began at Loon Bay on the St. Croix River, and showed excellent generalship on the part of the Passamaquoddies - if the maneuver was not incited by some adventurous white man, probably a Frenchman. A few fighters were placed in advance of the main body of Indians. Their duty was to fall back and entice the Mohawks to follow them. The main body of Passamaquoddies also constantly fell back, the taunting savages in front of them, drawing the Mohawks on.

"They go back and back," said Nicholas Lola. "They all go back to narrow part of Grand Lake and there we fight!"

To stimulate the warriors to frantic enthusiasm just before the final battle, the Medicine Man of the tribe dressed himself in a bear skin. Going a little in advance of the army he told them to shoot arrows at him. If he turned and came back to them it would be a sign that they would be defeated in battle, but if he went toward the enemy they were to follow and they would win.

"That fellow," said Nicholas Lola, "he look just like a bear. We shoot arrows; he run forward and we lick 'em good."

Although no dates are attached to these stories, if the events are historical, they probably occurred more than 250 years ago when Mohawks terrorized so many white settlers and Indian tribes in eastern Canada and northern New England.

Allegiances with the settlers

After the discovery of America this north eastern part of the continent fell into the possession of the French. Jesuit Missions were established in eastern Maine, Nova Scotia and Canada, and the Indian owners of Hinckley soon became converts to the Catholic faith. When the English obtained possession of the strip of land between the Penobscot and St. Croix rivers, in the early part of the 17th century, it, like the rest of Maine, was annexed to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The Indians here helped somewhat in the war made on settlers who early pushed as far east as the Kennebec River. They took an active part in the Revolutionary War on the American side. Washington was held in almost sacred esteem by them. He sent letters to each of three tribes in the vicinity - the Penobscot, the Passamaquoddy and the St. John - exhorting them to faithfulness in the American cause. The Passamaquoddy tribe still treasures its letter. Delegates of these three tribes went to Watertown to meet the Massachusetts Council. Through their spokesman, Ambrose St. Aubin, chief of the St. Johns, they promised to adhere to the American cause, but asked in return a favor.

"We want," said St. Auburn, "a black gown, or French priest. Jesus we pray to: and we will not hear any prayers from Old England."

So carefully had Massachusetts put up barriers against Catholics that it was some time before a priest was procured for them.

Col. John Allan was "Superintendent of Indian affairs in the Eastern Department and Commander of the Port of Machias." The Indians were greatly attached to him. An account of their activities during this war belongs to the history of Machias, but it is pertinent to say that if they had not been zealous assistants in the defense of that place, all of the territory east of the Penobscot River would have been lost to Maine. Notwithstanding the "artful guiles of the enemy" to win their help they did, with very few exceptions, remain faithful to the American cause.

Water trails

The old Indian routes - one starting at the Passamaquoddy Bay and following the western branch of the St. Croix River, the other starting from Machias and following the Machias River and short portage to Big Lake - over these lakes and carries to the Passadumkeag River were the inland routes to the Penobscot River. They were constantly used during the war. Col. Allan sometimes sent his dispatches this way and thus westward to Massachusetts. Once very important ones were captured on the Penobscot River by British agents. Col. Allan himself was nearly captured on one of these lakes. He was traveling on skates when "he was set upon by a party of Indians in the service of the British, also mounted on skates. They gave chase and closely pressed him for a mile or two, when coming to an open place, a channel of water, he gave a tremendous jump and landed safely on the other side." (From "Historical Magazine, " July 1869.)

On a spot near the Grand Lake Stream carry there is a lonely grave where a soldier, possibly of this war, was buried. Whether he was American or British is not known. From Eastport upward along the west bank of the Passamaquoddy Bay are many graves of Indians who fell defending this eastern territory.

In 1793 Col. Allan writes in his report on the Indian tribes: "On the lakes you will find numbers of Indians from Canada, St. Johns, Penobscot and the Mickmack Country, pursuing their several employments agreeable to the seasons. Some constant residents, and many of them for years not seen on the sea coast, being perpetually on the move."

The Indian owners of Hinckley also took part in the War of 1812. There are traditions that some of the command of John Brewer, Brigadier General of Militia in Washington County, came up through the Township over the old carry.

A few years ago, near this carry, a copper coin was found which was dated 1776. On one side was a likeness of George III, on the other an effigy of an Indian on a prancing horse. The Indian's right arm was upraised, and in his land a long spear was poised. Near the feet of the horse was a coiled rattlesnake with its head uplifted. The coin was about the size of a Canadian penny, and had a hole in it. It had evidently lain in the ground a long time. It may have been dropped by a soldier or of one of these two wars, or, as it surmised, it may have been struck as a medal for the Indians, and dropped by one of them.

When in the last months of the War of 1812 the English troops held all the land east of the Penobscot River and administered the civil government from Bangor, the Indians did, for a short time, once more fall under the sway of the disliked England. England proposed to make of this conquest a separate province of the Canadian government, and to call it New Ireland. When the Treaty of Ghent was signed, however, Hinckley and the rest of eastern Maine were once more saved to the United States.

Maine's natives: The Passamaquoddies

Oneida Indian Nation's links to Native American Sites, including news, chat, a language page, and more.

The NativeWeb home page seeks to "provide a cyber-place for Earth's indigenous peoples." With legal information, newsletters and journals, childrens sites, historical material and lots of good links.

Brown ash basketry from the University of Maine's Hudson Museum. Their exhibit is on display in Caribou, Maine, through December, 1997.

Coil basketry and Quill decoration, a craft mastered by the Passamaquoddies, is explained on NativeTech.

A map with the locations of many of the tribes of the east and south, including the Passamaquoddies.

The Penobscot Primer Project at the University of Maine is a computerized Native American language resource for teaching and research, with audio clips.

The American Indian Tribal Directory from the American Indian Heritage Foundation.