About the time the English and French began to explore the northern coast of Atlantic America, what had been mostly friendly trading interactions between the Tarrentines and the other coastal New England nations turned to violence. The Etcheman west of the Kennebec (Penobscot, Kennebec) and the southern Almouchiquois would ally, form the Mawooshen Confederation, and become the sworn enemies of the Tarrentines.
The arrival of French fur traders in the St. Lawrence Valley stimulated a crisis among the Indigenous nations that lasted over 25 years. A growing scarcity of fur-bearing animals intensified inter-tribal competition, and a major power imbalance arose when the French provided the Tarrentines with firearms.
While there are few European eyewitness reports of these battles, Champlain and Lescarbot published numerous accounts of the Indigenous participants. During the Champlain and Poutrincourt excursions along the Maine coast, Lescarbot writes that in 1606 at the village of Chouacoet near Saco Bay, Almouchiquois chiefs Marchin and Onemechin “brought Monsieur de Poutrincourt a Souriquois [Mi’kmaq] prisoner, and therefore their enemy, whom they freely handed over to him” (Biggar, 1928: 99).
During the same visit, Champlain told of two Sagamos who came there from the east in their own shallot, an Etchemin named Messamouet and a Souriquios [Mi’kmaq] named Secoudon. These two Tarrentine had come to trade with French merchandise gained by barter, even though they were traditional enemies of the Almouchiquois. After a long oratory by Messamouet, he made presents of kettles, axes, knives, and other manufactured articles, to which Onemechin gave him back Indian corn, squashes, and Brazilian beans. This produce did not altogether satisfy Messamouet, “who departed much displeased because he had not been suitably repaid for what he had given them, and with the intention of making war upon them before long…” (Bigger, 1922: 395-396). After this encounter, Secoudon stayed with Champlain’s expedition while Messamouet returned to Nova Scotia.
During Champlain’s return voyage, as he passed Great Wass Island on the coast of Maine, a group of Eastern Etchemin informed Secoudon that a Mi’kmaq chieftain named “Iouaniscou and his companions had killed some other [Armouchiquois] and carried off some women as prisoners, and that near Mount Desert Islandthey had put these to death.” (Biggar, 1922: 426). When Champlain dropped Secoudon off at St. Croix after the voyage, Champlain reported that the Etchemin chief returned with scalps he had obtained at Cape Cod, although the details of how these were obtained are not given.
In the autumn of 1606, the murders of Iouaniscou were avenged by the Etchemin with the murder of the Mi’kmaq Panonias, who had guided Champlain the previous summer. He was killed by Mawooshen warriors in the Penobscot Bay area. After his death, the Eastern Etchemin chief Ouagimout of Passamaquoddy Bay asked Bashaba, the grand chief of Mawooshen, for Panonias’ body. The body was then delivered by Ouagimout, wrapped in moosehide, to a Mi’kmaq encampment near Port Royal. Membertou, Panonias’s father-in-law and grand chief, welcomed Ouagimout and presented ritual gifts of mourning to Panonias’ relatives. Panonias was then buried on an island near Cape Sable.
In response, Membertou, with 500 warriors, attacked the town of Chouacoet, that Champlain had previously visited on July 1607, killing twenty people, including two grand chiefs, Onmechin and Marchin. The Tarrentine also suffered losses in this raid, including Chief Ouagimout of Passamaquoddy Bay, who was grievously wounded, and Chief Secoudon. who was killed.
Membertou conducted his attack as a surprise offensive. He appeared before the Abenakis unarmed, pretending that he wanted to negotiate, and then, he and his men seized hidden weapons and attacked. Membertou’s force was composed of Mi’kmaqs from his band and Messamouet’s, along with Eastern Etchemins from the St. John River under Chief Secoudon and from the Passamaquoddy Bay area under Chief Ouagimout (Prins and McBride, 2000).
Thus began what has been called the Tarratine or Mi’kmaq Wars, where bands of Tarrentine warriors in fleets of canoes and shallops began raiding Mawooshen villages, killing people and taking captives along with corn, furs, and moose hides. These wars culminated with the slaughter of the Mawooshen grand chief Basaba in 1615. This was followed by the great plague (“Great Dying’) of 1616-19. An estimated 2,500 out of 7,500 eastern Etchemins died, while as many as 9,000 out of 12,000 western Etchemins perished. The Almouchiquois must have also suffered staggering casualties.
Even after the collapse of the western Etchemin, Mik’maq raids against the Amouchiquois continued until as late as 1631. However, the Tarrentine entrepreneurs’ fortunes declined rapidly after Europeans appeared in the Gulf and began trading directly with local fur producers.
Illustration: Alan Syliboy’s portrait of Grand Chief Henri Memberton that was presented to Queen Elizabeth the Second on 28 June 2010 by Grand Chief Benjamin Sylliboy and placed on permanent display in Government House Halifax.
Bibliography:
Biggar, H. P. (1922). The works of Samuel de Champlain. Vol. 1: 1599 – 1607. The Champlain Society.
Prins, H. E. L., & McBride, B. (2007). Asticou’s Island Domain: Wabanaki Peoples at Mount Desert Island 1500-2000. Acadia National Park. Ethnography Program. National Park Service.
Catalysts of trade and exploration 