Massacre of Wabanaki people at Norridgewock, Maine, during Father Rale's War in 1724
The raid effectively ended Abenaki resistance on the Kennebec River, opening the region to New England colonial settlement.
Key Facts
- Date
- August 23, 1724
- Colonial force size
- 200 militiamen
- Abenaki killed
- approximately 80
- Scalp bounty on Râle
- £100
- Conflict
- Father Rale's War
- River location
- Kennebec River, Maine
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Colonial authorities sought to curtail Abenaki power and French Catholic influence in the contested Kennebec River region. The Massachusetts provincial assembly placed a £100 scalp bounty on Jesuit priest Father Sébastien Râle and offered additional bounties on Abenaki scalps, incentivizing a military strike to limit French-allied Indigenous resistance and open the territory to New England expansion.
In August 1724, Captains Johnson Harmon, Jeremiah Moulton, and Richard Bourne led roughly 200 New England colonial militiamen in a raid on the Abenaki village of Norridgewock on the Kennebec River. The attackers killed approximately 80 Abenaki inhabitants, including prominent figures, and slew Father Sébastien Râle, destroying the Catholic mission and scattering the village's survivors.
The destruction of Norridgewock broke organized Abenaki resistance in the lower Kennebec Valley. New England settlers rapidly moved into the region in the war's aftermath, establishing permanent communities and effectively ending Abenaki territorial control there. The raid is regarded as a turning point in Father Rale's War and accelerated the dispossession of the Wabanaki people from their homelands.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Johnson Harmon, Jeremiah Moulton, Richard Bourne (Brown).
Side B
1 belligerent
Bomazeen (sachem), Welákwansit (Mog, sachem), Father Sébastien Râle.