One of the biggest problems Plimouth Plantation faced in its early years was a crippling debt it owed to investors bad suppliers back in England. fortunately,this was the period when beaverskin garments were in vogue so the Plantation turned to the fur trade to improve its finances. This involved setting up a post on the Kennebec River to trade for furs with the local Native Americans. But this new venture by Plymouth was challenged by a newer, younger settlement in Maine, the Piscataqua Plantation, and blood would be shed over it. My ancestor John Howland and fellow Pilgrim Father John Alden were involved in the incident.
I found the following account in a magazine article, "The Pilgrim Fathers on the Kennebec" by Emma Huntington Nason online in an Googlebook edition of New England Magazine, vol.30 March 1904.:
One of the first agents in command of the Plymouth trading-post was John Howland. Among all the notable men of the colony there was no one who bore a fairer record for bravery, efficiency and general usefulness than this sturdy youth from Essex County; and with his "military turn" and adventurous spirit Howland was well fitted for the administration of the business of the colony in this important location. He was, moreover, one of the company responsible for the public debt, and therefore especially interested in the success of the enterprise on the Kennebeck. We also find John Howland and John Alden frequently associated in the affairs of Plymouth ; and in May of the year 1634, while Howland was in command at Koussinoc, John Alden came from Plymouth to bring supplies to the trading-post. The spring trade was just then opening with the Indians. One by one the great canoes glided down from the head waters of the Kennebec laden with the hunters' spoils, and a very profitable season was anticipated. It was at this time, at the height of prosperity of the Plymouth company, that the tragic Hocking affair occurred.
It seems that the Piscataqua Plantation had become very jealous of the success of the Pilgrim traders who held complete and absolute jurisdiction over the territory in the vicinity of Koussinoc for fifteen miles up and down the river, thus controlling all the trade which came from Moosehead Lake; and having determined to secure a portion of this trade, Piscataqua sent John Hocking to intercept the Indian canoes as they came down from the lakes.
Hocking boldly sailed up the Kennebec and anchored above the Plymouth post. Howland at first went out in his barque and remonstrated with Hocking for thus infringing on the Plymouth rights, but receiving only abusive threats in reply, he ordered Hocking to drop below the Plymouth limits. Hocking refused, and Howland sent three men in a canoe to cut Hocking's cables. The old Plymouth records state that these men were "John Irish, Thomas Rennoles and Thomas Savory." They cut one of Hocking's cables and then, as their canoe drifted down the stream, Howland ordered Moses Talbot to get into the canoe and cut the other rope. Talbot accordingly went "very reddyly," and brought the canoe back within range of Hocking's vessel. Hocking, standing on deck, carbine and pistol in hand, first presented his piece at Thomas Savory; but the canoe swung around with the tide, and Hocking put his carbine almost to Moses Talbot's head. Then Howland, springing upon the rail of his barque, shouted to Hocking not to shoot the men who were only obeying orders, but to take him for his mark, saying that he surely "stood very fayre." But Howland's bravery was in vain for Hocking would not hear, but immediately shot Talbot in the head. Whereupon, "a friend of Talbot's, who loved him well," seized a musket and returned the fire; and Hocking "was presently strook dead being shott neare the same place in the head where he had murderously shot Moyses."
John Alden, although at the trading-post at the time this unfortunate affair took place, had no connection with it. He soon returned to Plymouth, and being in Boston a few weeks later, he was arrested and imprisoned by the Massachusetts magistrates to answer for Hocking's death. The Plymouth people were very angry at this unwarrantable interference in their affairs, and the indomitable Myles Standish at once started for Boston and effected Alden's release. Righteous Boston, however, insisted upon an investigation of the matter, and requested all the plantations, especially Piscataqua, to send delegates to the hearing. But after all their efforts none of the plantations invited, not even Piscataqua where Hocking belonged, manifested sufficient interest to send a representative. Winslow and Bradford appeared in behalf of Plymouth, and Winthrop and Dudley represented Massachusetts. Two or three ministers were also present, and after mature deliberation it was decided that the Plymouth men acted in selfdefense and that Hocking alone had been to blame. The sad story of this early tragedy on the Kennebec is relieved only by Howland's dash of bravery, and the touching loyalty of Talbot's friend "who loved him well"; but it is of especial interest in this connection because it proves that John Howland and John Alden were both at the Kennebec trading-post in 1634.-pp313-314
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