History Of Eddington for Eddington Bicentential Committee 1976-Reflections From Eddington:

The history of Eddington really begins with an account of the life and adventures of the Revolutionary hero, Col. Johnathan Eddy. This exceptional man was born in Norton, Massachusetts, 1726. There he lived until 1755 where he was spoken of as "gentleman." He served in the "French War" and following that he helped erect Fort Halifax and other fortifications along the Kennebec River in the year 1754.

Before going furthur with this account it would be well to recall that this area was still part of the crown colony of Massachusetts. The Eastern lands beyond the east banks of the Penobscot River to Machias was an area prctically untouched by human settlement. This teritory had never been formally claimed by either the French or English.

In 1758 Govenor Pownal of the Massachusetts Colony came to the Penobscot River to locate sites for the erection of forts. He came up the river to a point near the mouth of the Kenuskeag Stream and, as he relates to his diary:

"landed on the east side of the river with 136 men and proceded to the head of the first falls' about four and a quarter from the first ledge. Clear land on the left for about four miles - At the head of the falls - buried a Leaden Plate with the following inscription: May 23, 1758, Province of Massachusetts Bay - Dominion of Great Britain, - Possession confirmed by T. Pownal, Gov. Erected a flagstaff, - hoisted the King's Colors and saluted them."

In consequence of this act of Gov. Pownal the territory between the Penobscot and the St. Croix was saved to the United States by the treaty of 1783.

The precise spot where Gov. Pownal buried the leaden plate and took possession was without doubt upon the land of Col. Eddy which he recieved under this grant and where he afterwards settled. Many have been interested in the present whereabouts of this leaden plate. Searching has been fruitless because of flowage caused bu construction of a dam lower down the river and by subsequent erosion. There seems to be no indication of distance from the water's edge in Gov. Pownal's account.

In this same year {1758} Gov. Pownal authorized Johnathan Eddy to "beat drums within this province, for enlisting volunteers for His Majesty's service," referring to him as Capt. In 1758 he {Capt. Eddy} raised a company for the Reduction of Canada in a regiment under the command of Thomas Dety, Esquire.

During 1759 he kept a daybook which these excerpt are taken:

"Whereas the itch increases among the soldiers of this garrison, the officers are earnestly recommended to procure brimstone and what else may be needed to cure it and put a stop to it. June 30. Divine service to be attended once every Sunday by all garrison not on duty. July 3. Rum will not defend the soldier from inclemency of the weather nor the attacks of stinging insects, with which this country very plentifully abounds, as clothes would, and besides too much strong water intoxicates the brain."

"July 21. Men shall not eat their molasses with their victuals but brew it into beer. Sept. 30. Officers and private soldiers having been accustomed to gaming at cards in the barraks, such gameing is forbidden and to be suppressed."

He was discharged in 1760 and returned to Norton, Mass. where he remained until 1763 when he bought land in Fort Cumberland, Nova Scotia." It seems that after the fall of the famous French fortress at Louisburg, the Acadians, or French neutrals, were driven out of Nova Scotia, leaving a great deal of rich farmlands vacant. Many of these unfortunate Acadians wandered south to the area around Louisiana and Alabama. Their story is made memerable by the poem "Evangeline," written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Gov. Charles Lawrence made seductive offers of these rich lands to emigrants from the Massachusetts province. Many shiploads from Boston, Plymouth, Rhode Island, and New London emigrated to the promised land in Nova Scotia. Johnathan Eddy and his family were among these.

Johnathan Eddy lived for ten years at Chignecto Bay where he aquired a great deal of influence and prominence, becoming sheriff of the county.

Upon the outbreak of the Revolutionary War he went to Gen. Washington to see if troops might be raised to bring Nova Scotia into the United States; the Commonwealth of Massachusetts helped him somewhat in his project, but it is doubtful if he got any significant aid from the Continental Congress.

On the twelfth of November, 1776, he led a detachment of 72 men including some St. Johns' Indians in an attack on Fort Cumberland. Wiliamson, Maine historian, tells the story thus:

"To ascertain the true condition of the fort he sent Captain Zebulon Rowe, who visited and thoroughly examined it without exciting suspicion. Eddy next persuaded by threat and promises of rewards about 150 men; and with a number of them porceded to Chepody Hill in the nightimt and took a captain, a sergeant, and fourteen men prisoner. The third night afterwards, he and a party of twenty-five men attacked a vessel of 100 tons as she lay aground, and made prize of her. She had on board six hundred barrels of pork and beef, a ton of candles, fifty firkins of butter, seven hundred new blankets, and two hogsheads of rum, all intended for the garrison - a part of which was retaken.

The fort embraced about an acre of ground. Its entrenchments were fifty feet in width - the slope twenty-five, and the embankment within eight feet in height - and the breadth on top four feet. On the outside were logs and pickets stretched along the slope, which might be rolled down with utmost ease and with great violence upon any assailants. Collecting his whole force, he approached the fort in a cloudy night. Sept 27 by three parties; one attempted to scale the banks by using ladders while others made a furious assault. But Col. Grham, commander of the fort, having been apprised of the attack and reinforced, made a brave defense, killed several of the invaders and completely repulsed the rest."

Carolyn A. Wood