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He left to Lemuel Cleveland the care of his house at Portland Point, and leased all his lands and buildings at the mouth of the river to Major Studholme for £60 per annum. The presence of the garrison at Fort Howe did not entirely prevent the Machias marauders from interfering with the loyal inhabitants of St. John, and Messrs.
All this time Pierre Tomah was trying to make terms with the British and was much dejected that he could not carry his tribe with him. Allan now donned the garb of an Indian chief, resolved to wear it to Machias.
On Sunday, July 13th, a party of about 480 Indians men, women and children embarked in 128 canoes. The journey to Machias occupied three weeks and the party had a sorry time of it. The midsummer heat was excessive, the mosquitoes abundant, provisions scanty and the lowness of the streams greatly retarded the progress of the canoes.
Anna and Rebecca Weston, carrying a big basket between them, ran along the path that led from their home to the Machias River. It was a pleasant May morning in 1775, and the air was filled with the fragrance of the freshly cut pine logs that had been poled down the river in big rafts to be cut into planks and boards at the big sawmills.
Now I will tell you the story of how the United States flag was raised for the first time on the island of Cuba during the war; and I will tell it in the words of Ensign Willard, of the Machias, the officer who performed the deed. It was done while the fight was going on in Cardenas harbor.
The Captain ran in for the purpose of getting some one to pilot the sloop to Halifax, but to his great disappointment could find no one willing to go. He had neither money nor goods to offer in payment for the service of a pilot. The day following he set sail for Machias, ten leagues distant, in the hope of securing some person at that place willing to assist him in the passage to Halifax.
It was a quaint old town, which had seen better days. The big lumber-mill that had once kept it busy was burned down, and the business had slipped away to the prosperous neighbouring town of Machias. There were nice old houses with tall pillars in front of them, now falling into decay and slipping out of plumb.
On the 25th of April, 1781, he was so unfortunate as to be betrayed by his guide, and was captured near Machias with six of his men. He was sent to Boston and put aboard the prison ship.
In the year 1779 many of the Indians at Machias and Passamaquoddy began to waver in their adherence to the Americans and to imagine they would fare better by withdrawing from John Allan and returning to their old haunts on the River St. John. Allan wrote in the autumn of this year, "The unsteady conduct of the Indians has obliged me to use every means to prevent their going to St. Johns.
The Amphitrite, the first of the fleet, lying close to shore, steamed out after the Machias, and then followed in order the Nashville, the Wilmington, the Castine, the Cincinnati, and the other boats of the fleet, save the monitors Terror and Puritan, which were coaling, the cruiser Marblehead, the despatch-boat Dolphin, and the gunboat Helena.
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