Popham Colony

The site of the 1607 Popham Colony in present-dayMaineis shown by "Po" on the map. The settlement at Jamestown is shown by "J".

ThePopham Colony—also known as theSagadahoc Colony—was a short-livedEnglish colonial settlementinNorth America.It was established in 1607 by the proprietaryPlymouth Companyand was located in the present-day town ofPhippsburg, Maine,near the mouth of theKennebec River.It was founded a few months after its more successful rival, thecolony at Jamestown.

The Popham Colony was the second colony in the region that would eventually become known asNew England.The first colony wasSt. Croix Island,near what is now the town of Calais. (St. Croix Island was settled initially in June 1604, then moved in 1605 bySamuel de Champlainto theBay of Fundy).Popham was abandoned after only 14 months, apparently more due to the death of patrons and the first colony president than lack of success in the New World. The loss of life of the colonists in 1607 and 1608 at Popham was far lower than that experienced at Jamestown.

The first ocean-going ship built by the English in theNew Worldwas completed during the year of the Popham Colony and was sailed back across theAtlantic Oceanto England. Thepinnace,namedVirginia of Sagadahoc,was apparently quite seaworthy, and crossed the Atlantic again successfully in 1609 as part of SirChristopher Newport's nine-vesselThird Supplymission to Jamestown. The smallVirginiasurvived a powerful three-day storm en route which was thought to have been ahurricaneand which wrecked the mission's large newflagshipSea VentureonBermuda.

The exact site of the Popham Colony was lost until 1888 when a plan for the site was found in the General Archives inSimancas,Spain. This plan exactly matches the location at Sabino Head near Maine'sPopham Beach State Park.Later archaeology in 1994 confirmed the location and the accuracy of the plan. The site is listed on theNational Register of Historic Places.

History

Founding

Popham was a project of the Plymouth Company, which was one of the two competing parts of the proprietaryVirginia Companythat King James chartered in 1606 to raise private funds from investors in order to settleVirginia.At the time, the name "Virginia" applied to the entire east coast of North America fromSpanish FloridatoNew Francein modern-dayCanada.That area was technically under the claim of theSpanishcrown, but was not occupied by the Spanish.

The Plymouth Company was granted aroyal charterand the rights to the coast between 38° and 45° N; the rival London Company was granted the coast between 34° and 41° N. The colonists were to plant first within their respective non-overlapping areas; the overlapping area between 38° and 41° would then go to the first company that proved "strong enough" to colonize it.

Colonists

The first Plymouth Company ship,Richard,sailed in August 1606, but the Spanish intercepted and captured it nearFloridain November.

The next attempt was more successful. About 120 colonists (all men and boys) leftPlymouthon May 31, 1607, in two ships. They intended to tradeprecious metals,spices,furs,and show that the local forests could be used to build English ships.George Pophamwas president of the colony and captain ofGift of God.Raleigh Gilbert—son ofSir Humphrey—was admiral (second in command) of the colony and captain ofMary and John.Neither of these men was a mariner and the ship's officers ofMary and JohnwereRobert DaviesandJames Davis.The ship's log and diary from the voyage and first 6 weeks of the colony is the main contemporary source of the information about the Popham Colony. (It was called "Popham" after its principal financial backer, SirJohn Popham.)The diary is kept inLambeth Museumin London. James Davis was later made captain of the ship built by the colonists,Virginia,which made at least two voyages across the Atlantic. Robert and James were most likely from a family of mariners from Devon, England.

Sir John Popham was theLord Chief Justiceof England, while Gilbert was the son of SirHumphrey Gilbertand half-nephew of SirWalter Raleigh.Other financiers included SirFerdinando Gorges,the military governor of Plymouth. Much of the information about the events in the colony comes from his letters and memoirs. Settlers included the Reverend Richard Seymour, grandson of Sir Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset and brother to QueenJane Seymour.Nine council members and six other gentlemen accompanied the expedition, while the rest were soldiers, artisans, farmers and traders.

In August they arrived at Pemaquid, returning a native, Skidwarres, who had been captured byGeorge Weymouthin 1605. TheGift of Godarrived at the mouth of theKennebec River(then called the Sagadahoc River) on August 13, 1607. TheMary and Johnarrived three days later. They quickly began construction of large star-shaped Fort St. George.

Fort St. George

John Hunt's map

Fort St. George, named for thepatron saint of England,was built on the headland of an area named Sabino, ten miles (16 km) south of what is nowBath, Maine,in the town ofPhippsburg.

On October 8, 1607, colonist John Hunt drew a plan of the colony. Hunt was listed in the colony register as"draughtsman".His map showed a star-shapedfortwith ditches and ramparts, and 18 buildings including theadmiral's house, achapel,astorehouse,acooperage,and aguardhouse.The plan for Fort St. George shows nine guns that ranged in size fromdemi-culverintofalcon.The plan was drafted when work on the site was just beginning, so it is unclear how much was actually built.

As a result of espionage, Hunt's map was sold to theSpanishambassador to London, Pedro de Zúñiga. The map then passed to KingPhilip III of Spain,in 1608.In 1888 it was discovered in the Spanish national archives.

Fort St. George was abandoned after 14 months of occupation. Most of the site is privately owned, but part of it is within the Fort Baldwin State Historic Site. Between 1994 and 2013 a number of archaeological explorations were done at the site.Archaeological excavations show some but not all of the buildings in the plan, and shallow ditches where defensive trenches are shown on the plan. No stonework was found, but many of the defenses are based on the natural geography.

Troubles begin

Popham and Gilbert sent survey expeditions up the river and west acrossCasco Bayand contacted theAbenaki,anIndiantribe belonging to theAlgonquian peoplesof northeasternNorth America.In a letter tothe King,Popham wrote that the natives had told them that the area was full of easily exploitable resources. However, the colony failed to establish cooperation with the tribe.

Late summer arrival meant that there was no time to farm for food. With inadequate supplies, half of the colonists returned toEnglandin December 1607 aboard theGift of Godand almost starved on the return trip and had to sell their cargo in theAzores.Others faced a cold winter during which theKennebec Riverfroze. Historical records indicate that fire destroyed parts of the storehouse and its provisions, but archaeological excavations indicate that other buildings were burned and not the storehouse. George Popham died on February 5, 1608.He is the only colonist known to have died (in contrast to Jamestown which lost half its population that year) although the Abenaki claimed that they killed eleven colonists and set fire to the site.Raleigh Gilbert became president of the colony at the age of 25.

The colonists completed one major project: the building of a 30-ton ship, apinnacethey namedVirginia.It was the first English ocean-going ship built in the Americas. The primary purpose ofVirginiawas for use in exploration of the area, but was later refitted and some of the colonists returned to England in it when the colony was abandoned. This was the beginning of a 400-yearshipbuildinglegacy in theBath, Mainearea.

In May 1608 a supply ship brought a message that Sir John Popham had died. The supply ship returned to England with a cargo. WhenMary and Johnreturned in September 1608, it brought news that Gilbert's elder brother John had died. Gilbert thus inherited the title and the estate ofCompton CastleinDevon.He decided to return to England and as no other leader was found, the colony decided to disband and the remaining colonists sailed home inMary and JohnandVirginia.(TheVirginiawould make at least one more Atlantic crossing, going to Jamestown the next year with theThird Supply,piloted by CaptainJames Davis.)

The colony lasted just 14 months. It is likely that the failure of the colony was due to multiple problems: the lack of financial support after the death of Sir John Popham, the inability to find another leader, the cold winter, and finally the hostility of both the native people and the French. Sir Francis Popham (son of Sir John) tried several times to reestablish the colony, but was unable to get the financial backing. The settlement of New England was delayed until it was taken up by refugees instead of adventurers.

Later developments

Site of Fort George in 2018

French colonist Jean de Biencourt with Father Pierre Biard visited the abandoned site in 1611. In 1624,Samuel Maverickalso visited the site and reported that it was "overgrown" but garden herbs could still be seen. In the 18th century the site was divided into farmland and several houses were built on the site.

During theAmerican Civil War,theUnionarmy builtFort Pophamin the area, directly on the Kennebec River at the mouth ofAtkins Bay(about 500 meters east of the Popham Colony site). In 1905 the U.S. Army builtFort Baldwinon Sabino Head just west of the site, but parts of the site were used for transport and storage. The state ofMainebought some of the area in 1924. Fort Baldwin was reactivated duringWorld War II.After the war, Fort Baldwin was returned to the state of Maine and is now part of the Fort Baldwin State Historic Site. Much of the Popham Colony Site is privately owned.

Modern excavations

The first excavations of the area in the 1960s were unsuccessful. In 1994, Jeffrey Brain of thePeabody Essex Museumconfirmed the site of the colony using Hunt's plan as a guide, and confirmed the accuracy of the plan. He began a larger excavation in 1997 and later uncovered the Admiral's house, the storehouse and a liquor storage building. He also proved that Hunt's map was very accurate for those buildings which were actually built. Parts of the fort, probably including the chapel and graveyard, lie on private property not open for digging and the fort's southern portion is under a public road. One major find in the later excavations was that iron smelting had been done in the Popham Colony, presumably using localbog iron.This might have been the earliest iron smelting in what is now the United States. The excavation was concluded in 2013.

Sources and further reading

• Richard L. Pflederer, "Before New England: The Popham Colony,"History Today,January 2005
• Tom Gidwitz, "The Little Colony That Couldn't,"Archaeologymagazine, March/April 2006
• Jeffrey Phipps Brain,Fort St. George: Archaeological Investigation of the 1607-1608 Popham Colony,Maine State Museum, 2007
• Jeffrey Phipps Brain,Fort St. George II: Additional Archaeological Investigation of the 1607-1608 Popham Colony,Maine State Museum, 2016
• Peter H. Morrison,Architecture of the Popham Colony, 1607-1608: An Archaeological Portrait of English Building Practice at the Moment of Settlement,M.A. thesis, The University of Maine, December 2002, accessed 2009-11-12
• John Wingate Thornton,Colonial Schemes of Popham and Gorges: Speech at the Fort Popham Celebration, August 29, 1862,1863

External links

• Popham, Maine's 'lost' colony, to get its modest due
• The Popham ColonySeries of videos on the archaeology of the colony.
• Maine's First Ship,a project to reconstruct the pinnaceVirginia

• The Popham Colony: a discussion of its historical claims, with a bibliography of the subjectatProject Gutenberg(Text from 1866)