The Journal of Captain William Pote, Jr, during his captivity in the French and Indian War, from May 1745 to August 1747 [Edited by J. F. Hurst.] (Morris Map [of the northern English settlements in America] .)

Front matter

THE JOURNAL OF CAPTAIN WILLIAM POTE, JR. Bellin's Plan of Annapolis Royal. From Charlevoix's " Nouvelle France." THE JOURNAL of Captain William Pote, Jr DURING HIS CAPTIVITY IN THE French and Indian War from May, 1745, to August, 1747 0XEW-YOT{K Published by DODD, MEAD & COMPANY MDCCCXCVI Copyright, 1895, by Dodd, Mead & Company. THE DEVINNE PRESS. CONTENTS PAGE Account of the Pote Journal ...... xi Historical Introduction ...... xxi The Journal of Captain William Pote, Jr. . . . i A List of Prisoners Names died while I was in Quebec 165

Appendix

. 1. The Pote Family . . . . . . .169 II. John Henry Bastide ...... 173 III. Captain David Donahew ..... 174 IV. Colonel John Gorman . . . . . 175 V. John Paul Mascarene . . . . . .176 INDEX . .179 ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE BELLIN'S PLAN OF ANNAPOLIS ROYAL. From Charlevoix's " Nouvelle France " . . . frontispiece ITINERARY. Showing the route over which Pote was carried to Quebec ....... xi PORTRAIT OF SIR WILLIAM PEPPERRELL. From the Original Painted by John Smybert in 1751 . . . xxx ANNAPOLIS ROYAL. From Des Barres's "Atlantic Neptune "......... 1 A PLAN OF THE CITY AND FORTIFICATIONS OF LOUISBURG. After Gridley 72 PORTRAIT OF GOVERNOR WILLIAM SHIRLEY. From Drake's "French and Indian War" . . . 150 VIEW OF QUEBEC. From Popple's Map . . . 1 54 FACSIMILE PAGES OF THE ORIGINAL POTE JOURNAL 164 BASTIDE'S PAY-BILL TO POTE.

From the Original Manuscript . . . . . . . .166 CHARLES MORRIS'S MAP OF THE NORTHERN ENGLISH COLONIES AND FRENCH NEIGHBORING SETTLE- MENTS, 1749. From the Manuscript Draft in the Lenox Library ........ ITINERARY SHOWING THE ROUTE OVER WHICH CAPTAIN POTE WAS CARRIED TO QUEBEC. ACCOUNT OF THE POTE JOURNAL By John Fletcher Hurst. While in Geneva, Switzerland, in August, 1890, I acquired a manuscript volume which, at first sight, seemed of uncertain value. That it was complete, contained the names of the author and of the first owner after the author, with the proper date, gave a fair basis for satisfactory study. 1 began an ex amination of the book, and soon found it to be the interesting and valuable manuscript journal of a keen-eyed prisoner from Maine, in the Five Years' French and Indian War (1744-48).

This journal was written and signed by Captain William Pote, Jr., of that part of Falmouth, Maine, now known as Woodford's. Being satisfied as to the general character of the manuscript, I waited until my return to the United States for further examination and for the judgment of experts in Americana. Messrs. George H. Moore, Wilberforce Eames, and Charles L. Woodward, of The Tote Journal New York, and others whose opinion of colonial Americana had long been recognized, read the Journal, and confirmed my early surmise of its ex treme importance. Afterwards I concluded to publish it, that others might share the benefit of this sole source of many important facts concerning the brave band of Americans who had been captured by the French and Indians in that war which first gave confidence to the English colonists, and made possible the deliverance of Canada from French domination.

Captain William Pote, Jr., was master of the schooner Montague, engaged for the time in carrying artificers and supplies for the repair and defense of the Fort of Annapolis Royal, an important English stronghold in the Five Years' French and Indian War. He was captured, with his vessel, by the French and Indians, on May 17, 1745, in Annapolis Basin, be tween Goat Island and Scotch Fort on the shore, about five miles from Annapolis Royal. He was skillful in both surveys and seamanship, and his capture was a serious loss to the English cause in Canada. He was taken by a circuitous route to Quebec, was there kept in prison two years, released July 30, 1747, and conveyed by vessel under a flag of truce to Cape Breton. On August 14, 1747, he arrived at Louisburg. The Tote Journal At the time when Pote was released in Quebec from his long captivity, his Journal escaped confisca tion by being concealed on the person of one of the female prisoners, who, after the release, handed it back to the author.

On one of the fly-leaves is the autograph of the chief-engineer of Nova Scotia, John Henry Bastide, in whose employ Pote was when captured, and to whom he reported on his arrival at Louisburg, after his release at Quebec. At the end of the Journal is the author's name, in his own hand writing — William Pote, Jr. The only other narratives ever published of this captivity by prisoners were kept by two of Pote's fellow-captives — Rev. John Norton and Mr. Nehemiah How. These accounts were printed shortly after ward, and have appeared in later editions. They were mere tracts, however, of forty and twenty-two pages respectively. Norton and How were not captured with Pote, but became his fellow-prisoners only at Quebec. Their meager narratives, therefore, run parallel with Pote's full account only in so far as their common residence in Quebec is concerned.

For all the preceding part of the captivity we are dependent entirely on Pote's Journal. The Pote Journal is a manuscript volume of 234 closely written pages, and 6^ x 4% inches in size. It is written on firm paper, the ink being so good as to present The Tote Journal clearly the entire original manuscript. The Journal was recorded in a blank-book, the binding of which has been singularly well preserved. While some accounts of the war make mention of Pote as a participant, and finally a captive, it is now first known, through the discovery of his complete Journal, that he kept a minute record of his experi ences, and of the important events of the war. It supplies many missing links, and reconciles contra dictions which had hitherto defied the student of American Colonial History. In addition, it throws full light on entire departments of that important struggle between the French and the English for the possession, not of Canada alone, but of North Amer ica in general.

It records incursions related to Pote by the captives themselves ; gives memoranda of marriages, illnesses, deaths, and many other minute facts relating to the captives ; and contains the best and fullest account of Donahew's exploit in Tatme gouche Bay. There is a strong genealogical element pervading the whole narrative. Indeed, the latter part of the Journal is occupied with a list of the per sons who died during the two years of the captivity. This hitherto unknown treasury of genealogy is of absorbing interest and value to New England families, so many of which were represented in this large band of captives. The Tote Journal The Journal itself proves Pote to have been very observant, thoroughly loyal to the English cause, and educated far beyond the average shipmaster of his time. He was above all a surveyor, and a record of several of his surveys is still in existence.

This accounts for his close observation, generalintelligence, and accurate comprehension of distance, and gives greatly increased value to his Journal. His use of geographical names is not uniform, his orthography varies through many grades of inaccuracy, while he habitually defies all the canons of punctuation. I have thought it best to preserve his text exactly as he left it, as a faithful picture of the literary humors and charming infirmities of the heroic men who saved North America to Anglo-Saxon civilization. Pote's quiet humor is seen throughout his entire Journal, and, while it adds a vivid freshness to the account, it does not in the least sacrifice the truth. I have been unable to discover the complete his tory of the Journal during the century and a half of its total oblivion. All that I could learn from the book seller, at the time of its purchase, was, that it was last in the possession of an English family by the name of Carteret, living in Geneva, and that when this family was broken up by death, about twelve years ago, the manuscript was one of the books which were scattered at the time, and, with them, The Tote Journal became the property of the owner from whom I acquired it.

My conjecture is, that it originally came into the possession of John Henry Bastide, by Pote's own gift to his superior officer, that it remained with the Bastide family, in England, after the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748), which put an end to the Five Years' French and Indian War, that it constantly remained in possession of that family until, in recent years, some member of the family removed to Ge neva and became a part of the English colony there, and that the Pote Journal thus continued to be an un observed treasure in the domestic library. Among the illustrations I have thought it best to provide a facsimile of two pages of the original manuscript, portraits of Governor William Shirley and Sir William Pepperrell, old views of Quebec and Annapolis Royal, contemporary plans of Louis burg and Annapolis Basin, a facsimile of an original pay-bill from Bastide to Pote, and, more particularly, a reproduction of the excellent Morris map, done by pen, now in the Lenox Library, and, so far as known, now for the first time published.

A separate map will give the line of march of the band of prisoners composing the Pote party, from their capture until they reached Quebec. That nothing might be wanting to the proper re- The Tote Journal production of the Pote Journal, I have secured the best assistance within reach. Mr. Victor H. Paltsits, of the Lenox Library, has brought to this undertaking the rare benefit of his taste as an Americanist and skill as a genealogist. He has prepared the Historical Introduction, the annotations, all of the Appendix except "The Pote Family," and the Index. Mrs. Underhill A. Budd, of New-York, through the kind offices of the Rev. Cornelius B. Smith, D.D., of New York, has permitted her excellent portrait of Sir William Pepperrell, painted by Smibert, to be photo graphed. Mrs. Budd is the great-great-great-grand daughter of Sir William , the hero of the siege of Louis burg.

The officers of the Lenox Library have allowed me to publish the Morris map, to reproduce some rare views and plans, and to use important MSS. in the Chalmers Papers. Mr. Wilberforce Eames, the librarian, has given the benefit of his advice and ex perience in matters relating to the mechanical repro duction of the Pote Journal, and has granted the loan of books of his own collection, which have been of great help in preparing the notes. The Messrs. Kelby, librarians of the New York Historical Society, have placed at disposal some important books on our Colonial history. The Hon. J. Phinney Baxter and Mr. L. B. Chapman, of Portland, Maine, have aided The Tote Journal in securing facts relating to the local history and genealogy of the Pote family. To all these persons 1 desire to express sincere thanks for their kind cooperation in giving the Pote Journal a setting worthy of its high place in American Colonial literature.

The i 50th anniversary of the surrender of the famous fortress of Louisburg has recently been cele brated, — namely, on June 17, 189s. The ceremonies took place at Louisburg, under the management of the Society of Colonial Wars, assisted by representatives of other historical organizations. On this occasion a monument, erected on the site of the King's Bastion, one of the ruined redoubts, was unveiled. The Hon. Everett Pepperrell Wheeler, a lineal descendant of Sir William Pepperrell, delivered the address, in which he said: "This memorial points upward to the stars, and away from the petty jealousies that mar the earth. It will tell, we trust, to many generations, the story of the courage, heroic fortitude, and manly energy of those who fought behind the ramparts as well as of those who fought behind the trenches."

It must be regarded a remarkable coincidence that this celebration of the one hundred and fiftieth anni- The Tote Journal versary of the surrender of Louisburg to the brave American colonists should occur at almost the same time with the first public announcement of the ex istence of such an illustrative contemporary record as the Pote Journal, and of its publication in full, pro vided, as the endeavor has been, with all needful historical helps. Washington, September 7, HISTORICAL