King William’s War, 1688-97 (St. Castin’s War) The Struggle between New England and the French and Wabanaki Indians

King William’s War, (1688-1697) was a 17th century American colonial-era,border conflict fought in Acadia and New England. It was colloquially named after one of the principal antagonist leaders, Jean-Vincent d’Abbadie de Saint-Castin, a French military officer who married a woman of the Penobscot Native-American Indian Nation. In 1688, The authoritarian colonial Governor of New England, Edmund Andros raided Saint-Castin’s trading estate at Pentagouet (modern-day Castine, Maine) in his absence, comprehensively plundering it. This violent act naturally raised Saint-Castin’s anger, so when in the following year, the ’Nine Years War’, broke out in Europe a political motivation was created which endorsed this personal grudge. The French, whose expansionist policies had started the war in Europe, encouraged Saint-Castin to set lose his indigenous allies among the Wabanaki Confederacy upon the borders of the English settlements. Saint-Castin, in concert with the Penobscot Chief, Madockawando instituted savage guerilla assaults upon against English outposts along the Maine frontier.Working alongside French commander Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville, Saint-Castin’s forces successfully besieged and destroyed the heavily fortified English stronghold of Fort Pemaquid. Saint-Castin became a wanted man with several attempts made to apprehend him. The Treaty of Ryswick ended all hostilities in a stalemate, boundaries were re-established but long held animosities remained. Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket.