013 983 498 7 Hollinger pH 8.5 MiU Run F05-2193 THE SITE OF FORT SAINT GEORGE, Erected by CAPTAIN GEORGE POPHAM, in 1 607. By W. SCOTT HILL, M. D. : President of the Kennebec Natural History and Antiquarian Society. Read before the Society July 23, 1891. THE SITE OF FORT SAINT GEORGE, Erected by CAPTAIN GEORGE POPHAM, in 1 607. By W. SCOTT HILL, M. D., President of the Kennebec Natural History and Antiquarian Society. Read before the Society July 23, 1891 REPRINTED FROM THE KENNEBEC JOURNAL. THE SITE OF FORT SAINT GEORGE, Erected by CAPTAIN GEORGE POPHAM in 1607. The paper published herewith embraces the results of an excursion to the site of Fort Saint George by members of the Kennebec Natural History and Antiquarian Society, on July 4, 1S91 ; on which occasion a copy of the "Draught of Saint George's Fort," by John Hunt, from that important historical work the "Genesis of the United States," by Alexander Brown, lately published by Houghton, Mifflin & Co., was carefully examined and studied on the spot with a view to its probable definition of the site of Saint George's Fort. Although written by the President of the Society, the position taken by the author has been unanimously concurred in by all those who were present at the time the exploration was made. The precise spot on which stood the fort built by Capt. George Popham and his colonists, the first Eaglish fort north of Jamestown, Va., has been the subject of much research by antiquaries and with ap- proximate accuracy had been located on the south shore of Atkins' Bay, a small body of water in the present town of Phipps- burg, on the west side of the Kennebec, or as it was called by the eatly navigators, Sagadahoc river. This bay is an inlet from the river about half a mile wide, and one and a half mile, in length. The discovery and publication in 1890 of a draught of the fort purporting to have been drawn by one John Hunt in Oct. 1607 and sent to Philip III of Spain by his minister, Zaniga, in September, 1608, awakened a fresh interest in the sub- ject and our society selected tbat locality for its first Field Day investigations. The principal sources of information in regard to this fort prior to the discovery of the Zuniga draught in the Spanish archives, were Strachey's His orie of Travaile into Virginia Britannia, Gorge's Brief Narra- tion, the valuable but less known Relation of a Voyage to tbe Sagadahock, usually referred to as Popham's Journal, discov- ered and published by Rev. B F. De Costa in 1830, The Brief Relation of the Presi- dent and Council of New England, Capt John Smith's Generall Historic of Ne* England and the writings of the French Jesuit missionary, Father Biard. The Popham Journal was evidently writ- ten by one of the colonists and Strachey seems to have copied largely from it in his work. Whilst many important matters are minutely described, there is an omission of others which would be of great value to the historical student. Beginning with that part of the narrative most interesting to us, we find the colonists, the morning of Aug. 13, 1607, south of Saguin 'Which island lieth right before the mouth of the river Sagadahock south from it near two leagues." The place which the colonists fixed upon as the mouth of the river was about five miles north of Seguin and can be no other than the river opposite Popham beach of today. Continuing his narrative the journal says — "Sunday being the 16th of August, Capt. Popham sent h s shallop unto us for to help us in, so we weighed our anchors, and being calm, we towed in our ship, and came into the river Sagada- hook and anchors d by the 'Gyfte's" side, about eleven of the clock the same day" August 17th they sailed up the river in the shallop and boat fourteen leagues (erron- eously given forty by Strachey) in search of the most convenient place for their plan- tation. At 9 in the evening they started on their return to the ships and arrived at two o'clock the next afternoon. Immediately after their return they "went ashore and made choice of a place for our plantation which is at the very mouth or entry of the river Sagadahock on the west side of the river, being almost an island of good bigness." Strachey adds to this, "being in a province called by the Indians, Sabino." This peninsular projects from the west bank of the Sagadahock and is about three miles from the island of Seguin. It seems to comprise the land nearly surrounded by the waters of the Kennebec, Atkins' Bay and . the estuary known as Morse's River. The northern end of the high, rocky hill run- ning north and south through tnis peninsu- lar is called Sabino Head. Whilst they were on the shore "there came in three canoes but would not come near us but rowed up the river and bo passed away." The 19th they again went ashore where they had made choice for their plantation. The "20th of August all our company landed and there began to fortify." Of the location of the fort there is no further mention only incidentally ; neither does it tell the kind of land it was on, whether wooded or clear, or what the surroundings were. It could not have been a great distance from the river. The Bite of the fort or a part of it at least seems to have been clear land as the Jour- nal says : "Capt. Popham set the first spit of ground unto it, and after him all the rest followed and labored hard in the trenches about it " The next it speaks of "some in the trench and some for faggotts." In no place is there any description of the material used, the size or shape of the fort. It is always spoken of as "the fort." There is today probably no vestige or trace of the work and we are forced to conclude it was built of perishable material which has long since disappeared. That the material was found near the site is highly pro- bable and the structure itself a weak affair. Willis Bays it waa "a mere stock- ade to repel tbe aggressions of the Indians, which was probably the case though Gorges feared the intrusions of the French as shown in his letter of Dec 1, 1607 " As to the houses he speaks of them as lodgings Another writer, without giving hia authority says they were log bu r s. Where the trenches were, how wide, how deep and on how many Bides we are not told. The changes of nearly three cen turies have obliterated them bo far as known. That the fort was on Atkns' Bay there seems to be no well founded doubt. Strachey says: 'Sept. 5. The savages came into the entrance of the river and so unto us," implying that they were not at the fort when they entered the river but had to go farther to reach it. That it was on high land seems plainly intimated when in tbe same connection he says "tbey came up into the fort." That the beach was sandy we also know. The same author under date of Oct. 3, says : "There came a canon unto Borne of our people as they were fish- ing on the sand." Biard gives an account of his visit to it in 1611 He says: "Straight- way all our people landed desirous to Bee the fort of the English, because we had learned from the piths that no person was there At first they began to praise and extol the enterprise of the English, and to enum*ra r e the advantages of the place;" soon, how ever, he testifies they saw the situation was badly chosen, in a military view, as another fort, properly placed, would have cut them off from both the river and the sea. To recapitulate briefly the points known before the discovery of the Zuniga plan. Tbe fort was at the entrance of tbe river about two leagues above Seguin, and on the west side ; it was at a distance from the river shore ; it was on a high bank or bluff; the shore was Bandy and in a location where another fort could be built, cutting them off from the sea and river, which can but mean, that the colo- nists could not go with their vessels from their fort to the river to sail, either up or down, showing that a fort could be built which would command their fort and the water way to the river. With this preliminary sketch, we pass to the consideration of Zuniga's draught. It is a draught of a completed fort, with reg- ularly laid walls apparently of stone ma- sonry, with three gates, one water gate on the north side, a land gate on the east and west sides. The four Bides of the en- closure are desiginated by the four cardi- nal points of the compass. There is a trench around a portion of the west and south sides. The inside shows nine pieces of mounted ordnance, sixteen houses and buildings besides a store- house and church. In the southeast angle of the fort a high bluff or cliff, on the north half of the east side and on the north Bide high cliffs with navigable water at tbe base as shown by a vessel under sail. Just west of the cliff in the southeast angle of the fort a stream is represented running through the fort and emptying into the water on the north side. The direction of the stream is from south to north. A gar- den plot to the west surrounded by what appears to be an iron fence, completes the draught The scale is fifty feet to an inch. Length north to south 350 feet: breadth east to west 250 feet. In the upper left hand corner is the fol- lowing: "The draught of St. Georges fort erected by Captayne George Pop- ham, Esquier, oi the entry of tbe famous River of Stgadehock in Virginia taken out t>y John Hunt the viii of October in the yeare of our Lorde 1607." The draught, as already stated, was sent to Philip III of Spain by his miaister Zuniga in his letter of Sept 10, 1608 Who the draughtsman, John Hunt, was, we have no knowledge, or where he obtained the draught. If in Eng- land it could not have come from Sagada- h ick at that date, as the only building spoken of as finished at that time was the storeh iuse. This building appears to have been finished Sept. 26, as no mention is made of work on it after that time and the Mary and John was discharging her cargo of provisions the same day. From the re- cently published letters of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, we know the dates of the vessels' return. In all other naratives published no mention is made of the Gyfte after the Mary and John anchored by her side in the Sagadahock. August 16 1607. The Mary and John Bailed for Eogland soon aft r the 26th of Sept. 1607 and arrived in Plymouth harbor Dec. 1, of the same year. The Gyfte sailed Dec. 15. 1607 and arrived in Plymouth Feb. 7, 1607-8. With these facts before us we have to believe he was one of the colonists, which seems the only explana- tion at all plausible. The query naturally suggested is — is the draught genuine? Is it a correct delinea- tion of the fort as it stood Oct. 8, 1607? To this we have to answer in the negative. Comparing the descriptions given in the Popham Journal and by Strachey we find a very great discrepancy. The fort was not finished until long after that date. Tne houses were not built at that time. The number of pieces of artillery do not agree with the number given by Strachey ; he says there were twelve — the plan, nine. The number of houses and buildings given in Hunt's plan is 16 with a storehouse and church — Strachey says 50, which De Costa says is evidently a mistake for five, as after the vessels sailed for England there were only 45 persons left, and these men ; there were no women with the colonists. As for the material represented in the plan we know it could not have been brought over in the ships, whose combined capacity was only one hundred tons, nor is there any reason to suppose such was the case. Speaking of the expedition Sir Ferd. Gorges says : "Here upon Captaine Popham, Captaine Rawky Gilbert and others were Bent away with two Ships and an hundred Landmen, Ordnance and other provisions necesBarie for their sustentation and defence, untill other supply might bee sent " Strachey gives the number of days the men worked on the fort to Oct. 6th as twenty-five in- cluding two Sundays, and speaks of their finishing the fort after that date. It is not possible such an elaborate fort as is repre- sented in the draught was erected. Con- sidering the most important points, it ap- pears to have been drawn by one on the (pot who gave the correct topography, but the details of the fortification were drawn in that exaggerated style which characterized many other descriptions of the colonists doings. Believing the topog- raphy to be correct the society July 4, 1891, proceeded to Popham beach Landing at the steamboat wharf they at once com- menced the search for a spot having the prominent points given them in the draught, viz : a north shore with high banks and nav- igable water adjoining; on the east a high bank terminating in a high cliff inland, and level land to the south and west. In the draught the word "cliffe" seems to be applied alike to a high bank bordering on water and a high ridge of rock or earth inland. Going at once to the south shore of Atkins' Bay with a copy of Zuniga's draught, the party followed along the shore in a westerly direction until a steep ledge was reached. Here it corresponds, to the "cliffe" in the south-east angle of the fort, the road of today passing under the east side of the cliff and along the place corresponding to the posterna gate. The shore line indi- cated in the plan sweeps in an easterly direction from the north end of this ridge. From this ridge, to the north, is a level space with high banks on the east and north sides corresponding to the parts marked "cliffe" in the plan; on the south and west Bides a level tract several acres in extent, corresponding to that part through which the trench was dug on the south and west of the fort. The party having visited every part of this tract went a long distance along the east shore of the bay, but finding nothing indicated in the plan, retraced their steps towards the north shore of the bay. Crossing the field in an easterly direction, they came to what had apparently a long time ago been a stream running along near the west side of the steep ledge ; passing over this marshy place they clambered to the top of the cliff. From this point the whole ground is in view, though hav- ing several houses and other buildings on it, the outlines are plainly seen. It forms a bold promontory, with steep banks, standing out into the waters of At- kins' Bay. The sweep of shore line to the east, the Bandy shore, the high banks, the level land several acres in extent, all hav- ing the same contour as that given in the plan, and admirably situated for a planta- tion and fortification against foes whose weapons were arrows. The different parts of the promontory have the same points of compass as the corresponding parts in the plan. Looking across the bay to Cox's Head and Little Cox's Head we could un- derstand the force of Father Biard's criti- cism, that another fort could be built to cut them off from the river and the sea. No other place on Atkins' Bay corre- sponds in every particular to the Zuniga draught as does this one, and it was the unanimous opinion of the party who care- fully examined every point, that the exact location of Fort St. George had been iden- tified. . LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 013 983 498 7 f II II III 00 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 013 983 498 7 Hollinger pH 8.5 Mill Run F03-2193