A plaque here commemorates the site of Storer Garrison to remind visitors of the century of warfare between the British colonial settlers of the region and their French enemies who worked in concert with their Native American allies.

During the decades of fighting between the British and French, which involved local settlers and Native Americans on opposing sides, it was customary for the villages in threatened areas to fortify the most substantial house in the area as a garrison, providing a place of refuge for villagers should the French and their Native American allies launch an attack. This was the site of one such garrison, the home of Joseph Storer which included a palisade of heavy timbers about ten feet from the building. The house also had four turrets, one at each corner, which served as watchtowers.

In June 9, 1691, just one year after the garrison was completed, the Native American sachem Moxus led two hundred men in an assault on the inhabitants, led by Captain James Convers, Jr. This attack failed, but Madockawando, another native sachem, and an enemy of the English settlers promised revenge. My brother Moxus has miss'd it now; but I will go myself the next year, and have the dog Convers out of his hole.

On June 10, 1692, the same day that the first woman was executed in Salem, Massachusetts, having been convicted of witchcraft, frightened cattle came, some of them wounded, running toward the garrison, causing the local settlers to flee to its protection. Not far behind them, five hundred Native Americans, including Moxus, Madockawando, Egeremet, and Worumbo (Anasagunticooks), led by French commander Labocree attacked Storer Garrison and two sloops in the harbor a mile away.

The assault lasted two days and, despite the fact that only fifteen soldiers, another fifteen male civilians, and some local women defended the garrison, the assault failed to take it or the ships. Labocree was killed in the fighting while Captain James Convers, Jr., commander of the garrison, Massachusetts Governor Phipps promoted him to major after this encounter and put him in charge of all Massachusetts forces in the Province of Maine.

In 1904, the Sons of the American Revolution commissioned Artist William E. Barry of Kennebunk (1846-1932) to sculpt the plaque on the memorial here. The site is now under the management of Maine's Bureau of Parks and Lands.

State Parks Tagged With: Wells