Editing Arrowsic, Maine (section)

==History==
The [[Abenaki]] people called the island Arrowseag, meaning "place of obstruction," a reference to Upper Hell Gate on the Sasanoa River. Until it was widened by the [[United States Army Corps of Engineers|Army Corps of Engineers]] in 1898 and 1908, the stretch was choked with [[boulder]]s and [[reef|ledges]]. Indian [[canoe]] passage would have been risky in the swift current between [[Merrymeeting Bay]] and Sheepscot Bay.<ref>[http://www.nae.usace.army.mil/water/topic.asp?mytopic=sasanoa Upper Hell Gate on the Sasanoa River] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090109102633/http://www.nae.usace.army.mil/water/topic.asp?mytopic=sasanoa |date=January 9, 2009 }}</ref>

In 1649, John Richards purchased Arrowsic from the [[sachem]] Mowhotiwormet, commonly known as Chief Robinhood. Richards then sold it in 1654 to Major Thomas Clarke and Roger Spencer, the latter selling his share in 1657 to Captain Thomas Lake. Clarke and Lake were [[Boston]] merchants, who built at Spring Cove on the island's northeast corner a [[stockade]]d [[trading post]] and [[blockhouse]] protected by at least two great guns. In 1658–1659, land was cleared for [[pasturage]], streets, a [[warehouse]], [[sawmill]], [[gristmill]], [[bakery|bake house]], [[blacksmith]] shop, [[barrel|cooperage]] and [[shipyard]]. Several large dwellings were erected, one called the Mansion House. Families and stocks of cattle were imported. The village became the local court of law, headquarters of the general council, and place of protection for settlers in the region.<ref name=Coolidge>{{Cite book  | last = Coolidge  | first = Austin J.| author2 = John B. Mansfield  | title = A History and Description of New England| publisher = A.J. Coolidge  | year = 1859| location = Boston, Massachusetts| pages = [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_OcoMAAAAYAAJ/page/n435 34]–35| url = https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_OcoMAAAAYAAJ| quote = coolidge mansfield history description new england 1859.  }}</ref>

But on August 14, 1676, during [[King Philip's War]], the settlement was destroyed. The evening before, an Indian woman appeared at the door of the Clarke and Lake fort seeking shelter. She was admitted, and in the dead of night quietly opened the gate. In rushed warriors, and in the [[Wiktionary:massacre|massacre]] which followed, 30 colonists were either killed and [[scalping|scalped]] or taken into captivity. Captain Thomas Lake, Sylvanus Davis and two others seized a [[canoe]] and paddled to Parker's Island (now [[Georgetown, Maine|Georgetown]]), where all but Lake escaped alive from their pursuers. As the warehouse was looted and village burned to ashes, a brave sported the captain's hat.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Thayer |first1=Rev. Henry O. |title=The problem of Hammond's Fort. Richard Hammond, his home and fort |journal=Collections and Proceedings of the Maine Historical Society |date=1890 |volume=1 |pages=261–294 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.319510024855799&seq=281 |series=2nd series}}</ref>

In 1679, returning settlers established a temporary settlement known as Sagadahoc on Stage Island, and petitioned the [[Massachusetts General Court]] for a permanent settlement on the southern end of Arrowsic Island. Governor [[Edmund Andros]] complied, granting 20 families Newtown. It was laid out with a [[common land|common]] and, by order of the governor in 1688, a small, square [[palisade]]d fort on the ridge at the southern end of the island. But [[King William's War]] broke out in May 1689, and by July, Newtown was destroyed and its garrison abandoned.<ref>[http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mesagada/arrowsic.htm Brief Description and History of Arrowsic, Maine]</ref>

Signed in 1713, the [[Treaty of Portsmouth (1713)|Treaty of Portsmouth]] brought a [[truce]] between the Eastern (Abenaki) Indians and English settlements. Newtown was reestablished in 1714, then incorporated in 1716 as Georgetown-on-Arrowsic, named after [[George I of Great Britain|King George I]]. Eventually, the town's boundaries were extended to include Parker's Island, Stage Island and the Plantation of Nequasset (present-day Georgetown, [[Phippsburg, Maine|Phippsburg]], [[Bath, Maine|Bath]], [[West Bath, Maine|West Bath]] and [[Woolwich, Maine|Woolwich]]).

During this time [[Fort Menaskoux]] was built and [[Samuel Penhallow]] was the commander. Beginning on August 9, 1717, [[Province of Massachusetts Bay|Massachusetts]] Governor [[Samuel Shute]] and Penhallow conducted a two-day conference on Arrowsic with delegates of various tribes, who arrived in a flotilla of canoes and encamped on Lee Island opposite the town. They objected to so many English forts in their territory, and Shute responded that he would build them wherever he thought necessary. Incidentally, the governor's boat ''Squirrel'' ran aground on what has been known since as Squirrel Point. All the Indians helped him get free.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080923172921/http://www.georgetownhistoricalsociety.org/Georgetown%20History%2010-07.html A History of Georgetown Island, Maine]</ref>

[[Image:Steamer Going Through Hell Gate, ME.jpg|thumb|right|Upper Hell Gate in {{circa|1906}}]]
In the summer of 1723 during [[Dummer's War]], Arrowsic was attacked by the [[Norridgewock]]s and their 250 Indian allies from Canada. Incited by French missionary [[Sebastien Rale]], they burned 37 dwellings and killed 300 cattle. The 40 inhabitants fled to the garrison, with only a child lost. When the fort could not be taken, the Indians disappeared upriver. During the [[French and Indian War]], on June 9, 1758, marauding Indians shot Ebenezer Preble and a workman as they tended his farm on the northern end of the island. They then attacked his garrison, killing his wife and carrying away their 5 children to be sold as servants in Canada. It would be the last Indian massacre on the [[Kennebec River]]; next year brought the [[Battle of the Plains of Abraham|Fall of Quebec]]. On February 17, 1841, Arrowsic Island was set off from Georgetown and incorporated as the town of Arrowsic.<ref>[http://preblefamily.org/Massacre.html The Preble Massacre – June 9, 1758]</ref>