The Raid on Salmon Falls occurred on March 27, 1690, during King William's War and targeted the English settlement of Salmon Falls, located in present-day Berwick, Maine. The raid was led by Joseph-François Hertel de la Fresnière and his son Jean-Baptiste Hertel de Rouville, alongside Norridgewock Abnaki chief Wahowa. The attackers had originally intended to target the home of Edward Tyng at Fort Loyal, but altered their plans and instead attacked Salmon Falls.
During the raid, the village was systematically plundered and burnt. Thirty-four men were killed in the assault. Fifty-four people, predominantly women and children, were captured and subsequently carried away to Canada. Following the destruction of Salmon Falls, militia forces mustered from Portsmouth attempted to pursue the raiders but were repelled in a skirmish that occurred later the same day. After the engagement at Salmon Falls, Hertel continued his campaign by conducting additional raids against present-day Portland, Maine.
The raid demonstrated the vulnerability of English frontier settlements during King William's War and the capability of French-allied Abenaki forces to strike deep into English territory. The capture and destruction of Salmon Falls, along with the successful removal of captives to Canada, represented a significant blow to English colonial expansion in the region. The raiders' ability to evade pursuit and continue operations against Portland illustrated the challenges faced by colonial militia in defending dispersed settlements during this period of conflict.
European colonization of North America accelerated after 1600, with England, France, Spain, and the Netherlands establishing competing settlements along the Atlantic coast, the St. Lawrence River, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Mississippi Valley. The first permanent English settlement at Jamestown, Virginia (1607) struggled with starvation and conflict; the Plymouth colony (1620) and the Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630) followed. By the mid-1700s, thirteen English colonies stretched along the Atlantic seaboard, governed through a mix of royal charters, proprietary grants, and elected assemblies. The colonial economy depended on tobacco in Virginia and Maryland, rice and indigo in the Carolinas, and maritime trade in New England — all increasingly reliant on enslaved African labor after 1619. Conflict with Indigenous peoples over land was continuous, punctuated by major wars including King Philip's War (1675–1676) in New England and the Yamasee War (1715–1717) in the South. The French and Indian War (1754–1763), part of the global Seven Years' War, ended French power in North America and left Britain deeply in debt — triggering the taxation disputes that would lead to revolution.
34 men killed; 54 people (mostly women and children) captured
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