=snip= > MAINE INDIANS IN THE REVOLUTION > > The following article signed "N. G." appeared in the > Eastport, Maine, Sentinel in its issue of June 2, 1897: Doubtless this was Nathan Goold, a noted ameteur historian of the day: > ftp://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/me/war/arw/indians/sj6p105.txt > This story is greatly misleading about the involvement of Indians with Capt. John Lane's company. Lane was given the promise he would receive a Captain's commision if he raised a company from the Penobscot Indians. He was successful in recruiting a total of five Penobscot Indians; viz -- Eneos, Lonseir, Sabatis, Matagoso and Sowanocket (as spelled in muster roll). They were enrolled 17 July 1775, presumably for the balance of the year; however, all five were dismissed on 15 Sep 1775. The company comprised a mix of settlers primarily raised at Buxton and "Penobscot" (the latter term covering all settlements from the islands to the head of settlement above Bangor). Patriotic blood then ran hot as the recruitment was shortly after they had received the news of the events at Machias and Bunker's Hill. Following a few incidents involving HMS 'Falcon' and the people of Gloucester in Aug 1775, this company was deployed as Coastal Guards on Cape Ann. Unpaid and undersupplied, the town of Gloucester supplied them blankets, etc., from public stores. By 31 Dec 1775, their blood was a cold as the weather. Less than 10% of the men re-enlisted. Folllowing the evacuation of Boston in March 1776, the company was merged into the 9th Continental Regiment under Varnum. The Ninth was commonly called "Varnum's Rhode Islanders." Lane resigned shortly after this merger; however, the enlisted troops served through the New York campaign of 1776. The Penobscots were the only Indian nation in Maine to honor their 1748 peace treaty during the second French and Indian War of the mid-/late-1750s. Likewise, they managed to stay militarily unengaged during the Revolutionary War although under Col. John Allan they scouted, etc. The best book on the subject is the late 19th century book of Frederic Kidder with a title something like "Military Operstions in Eastern Maine." Bob Brooks