Madockawando

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Madockawando (* around 1630 in Acadia , today the US state of Maine , † October 1698 in Maine) was an upper Sagamore of the Penobscot , a tribe of the Eastern Abenaki . Madockawando was considered a great Sagamore and shaman with extraordinary skills.

The traditional residential area of ​​the Penobscot lay on both sides of the Penobscot River in Maine, belonged in the 17th century to the French colony of Acadia , which fell back to France from Great Britain through the Treaty of Breda . Madockawando had been adopted by Upper Sagamore Assaminasqua and was his successor after his death. His village was in Pentagouet, now Castine in Maine. The Abenaki believed that great Sagamores possessed special spiritual powers that enabled them to achieve extraordinary feats. Madockawando was a shaman and had a reputation for being a fortune teller, clairvoyant, magician and necromancer, which enabled him to act as a mediator between his people and the supernatural powers.

Around 1670, the French baron de Saint-Castin , an officer in the French army, came to Madockawando, who was very impressed by the young man. Saint-Castin was adopted by the Penobscot, a common practice among the Indians of North America, and lived with them for a time. In 1678 Saint-Castin married a daughter of Madockawando named Pidiwamiska and became chief of the Penobscot. In 1675 the King Philip's War broke out. The Penobscot under Madockawando's leadership had initially signed a peace treaty with the British in Boston on November 6, 1676, but later entered the war when one of their chiefs was killed by the British. Advised by Saint-Castin and led by Madockawando, the Abenaki developed remarkable martial skills and controlled the area from the Penobscot River south to Salmon Falls in New Hampshire . They destroyed numerous settlements and farms in the area and the colonists fled south. It was not until a peace treaty between the Abenaki and the British was concluded in Casco in 1678 that the farmers were allowed to return, but had to pay a kind of tax to the Indians.

The peace was short-lived as the King William's War broke out in 1688 . In the same year the British Governor of New York, Sir Edmund Andros , appeared with a frigate off Maine's coast, destroyed Fort Pentagout and sacked Saint-Castin's house. The Abenaki, now on France's side, had been equipped with French weapons by Saint-Castin and, under Madockawando's leadership, resumed raids on British settlements. When the British built Fort William Henry near Pemaquid, he sent messengers to Québec to bring this news to Governor Frontenac. In 1693 the British were able to win Madockawando for the conclusion of a peace treaty, but this could not convince his subchiefs, who were under the influence of French missionaries. The war on Maine's settlement border continued until 1699, a year after Madockawando's death in October 1698.

Saint-Castin was to be his successor as Ober-Sagamore, but had to return to France in 1701 because of an inheritance dispute. His son Bernard-Anselme - half Abenaki, half French - was commissioned in 1704 by the French governor Brouillan Montbeton to lead the tribe in place of his father. He never returned and died in France in 1707.

Individual evidence

  1. Madockawando - Chief and Shaman ( Memento of the original from July 13, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.judhartmanngallery.com
  2. Canadian Biographies
  3. Madockawando's biography
  4. ^ Bernard-Anselme de Saint-Castin

Web links