Searching for Justice on the Maine Frontier: Legal Concepts, Treaties, and the 1749 Wiscasset Incident

Two women came to the house of Samuel Denny, justice of the peace, in early December 1749 ¹ to report an unprovoked murder near Wiscasset, Maine. Their families had been attacked in the middle of the night; one woman's husband had been killed and the other woman's husband had been wounded along with a third man. Justice Denny contacted the local sheriff, issued arrest warrants, and requested government aid for the fourteen members of these families, left destitute as a result of the crimes. Within two days the sheriff had arrested five of six suspects and had discovered the body of the murder victim hidden under the ice in a small stream. Despite these immediate successes, Justice Denny feared "whether the matter would be properly managed" since the victims were Abenaki Indians and the suspects were Massachusetts citizens. ²

This Wiscasset Incident, as it became known, initiated a search for "justice" by both colonials and Indians. The death of one Indian and the wounding of two others prompted a diplomatic and legal crisis for Massachusetts's authorities, who strove mightily to provide justice through the colonial courts, as had been repeatedly promised for decades in treaties. However, many frontier settlers had other perceptions of appropriate justice, resulting in the release of some accused murderers by mobs and eventually frontier jury verdicts of "not guilty" on the murder charges. The various villages among the Abenaki Indians also differed over the appropriate concept of justice, dividing into factions based on whether the English were perceived as ultimate enemies or potential friends and trading partners. This complex situation, with four factions each seeking their own version of justice, ultimately led to a renewal of frontier warfare. ³

The Abenaki Indians inhabited the area south of the St. Lawrence River and north of the English settlements in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine. By the mid-eighteenth century, most Abenakis were concentrated in two villages, each with 150 to 160 warriors: Penawabskik on the Penobscot River in Maine and St. Francis near the St. Lawrence River in Canada. Norridgewock on the Kennebec River in Maine, Missiquoi on Lake Champlain in Vermont, and Becancour near the St. Lawrence River were minor villages, each with 40 to 60 warriors. In addition, there were some very small villages in Vermont, New Hampshire, and western Maine, and nearly all Abenakis spent part of the year in seasonal family band camps that were scattered throughout northern New England. ⁴

All of these villages consisted, wholly or in part, of refugees driven from their traditional homes further south by seventy-five years of frequent warfare with the English and the expansion of English colonial settlement. As a result, the most emotional and most critical issues for the Abenakis concerned the various aspects of their relations with the English. Confrontational Abenakis thought that English domination could be prevented only through repeated, unswerving resistance to every English abuse. Conciliatory Abenakis, on the other hand, believed that they could reach an accommodation with the English that would preserve their land and culture through mutually beneficial trade and peaceful coexistence. Those refugees who migrated to St. Francis or Becancour chose the protection and influence of the French and were primarily confrontational in their attitude toward the English. The inhabitants of Norridgewock and Penawabskik—and those who sought refuge with them—had mixed attitudes, but most had rejected the safety of Canada to preserve their autonomy on the Maine frontier. Most residents in these villages were conciliatory toward the English and sought to expand trade and maintain peaceful relations. ⁵

The issue of frontier justice in colonial New England has been touched upon by a number of authors who have argued the relative fairness or unfairness of Massachusetts's enforcement of its legal domination over the Indians. ⁶ Alden...