Narrative and Critical History of America, Vol. 5 (of 8): The English and French in North America 1689-1763
History
Narrative and Critical History of America, Vol. 5 (of 8): The English and French in North America 1689-1763
America -- Discovery and exploration; America -- History; United States -- History
Col. John Winslow planned, in 1754, on a point half a mile below
Teconick Falls, the structure known as Fort Halifax, according to the
extent shown by the dotted line in the annexed cut.[451] Winslow’s
letter to Shirley, with the plan, is in the _Mass. Archives,_ and both
are given in North’s _Augusta,_ pp. 59, 60. The fort was completed
the next year by William Lithgow, as shown by the black part of the
cut, the rear flanker, forming the centre of the original plan,
having been built, however, by Winslow. This block-house measured 20
× 20 feet below, and on the overhang 27 × 27 feet. The narrower of
the large structures was the barracks, also raised by Winslow, but
removed by Lithgow, who built the other portions.
[Illustration: FORT HALIFAX.]
The cut follows a reconstruction-draft, made by Mr. T. O. Paine,
which is given by North (p. 62). The flanker nearest the river is
still standing, and the upright planks on the side, as shown in the
annexed cut, mark the efforts which have been made of late to secure
the timbers. In the Maine Historical Society’s _Collections,_ vol.
viii. p. 198, is a history of the fort by William Goold, as well as
the annexed cut of a restoration of the entire fort, drawn by that
gentleman from descriptions, from the tracings of the foundations,
and from the remaining flanker. The preceding volume (vii.) of the
same _Collections_ had contained “materials for a history” of the
fort, edited by Joseph Williamson,—mainly documents from the _Mass.
Archives._ A journal of the march of Capt. Eleazer Melvin’s company
in Gov. Shirley’s expedition to the Norridgewock country, when Fort
Halifax was erected in 1754, kept by John Barber (May 30, 1754-Aug. 17,
1754), is in _N. E. Hist. and Gen. Reg._, 1873, pp. 281-85. Cf. further
in Williamson’s _Maine_, i. 300; Hutchinson’s _Massachusetts_, iii. 26.
A plan (1754) of the Kennebec River forts, by John Indicott (measuring
3-8/12 × 1-5/12), is noted in the _Catalogue of the King’s Maps_ (i.
580), in the British Museum. The forts on the Kennebec, and the chief
localities of that river, are described by Col. William Lithgow in
1767, in a deposition printed in the _N. E. Hist. and Geneal. Reg._,
1870, p. 21. Lithgow was then fifty-two years old, and had known the
river from childhood.
[Illustration]
In 1752, when there was some prospect of quieting the country, and
truck houses were built at Fort Richmond and St. Georges, William
Lithgow and Jabez Bradbury were put in charge of them.
[Illustration]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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