3 November 1755
Massachusetts offers bounties for Penobscot captives and scalps
Province of Massachusetts Bay; Penobscot homelands in present-day Maine
Lieutenant Governor Spencer Phips proclaimed the Penobscot people enemies and ordered provincial subjects to pursue, capture and kill them. Citing a General Court vote, he announced payments to specified frontier forces: £50 for a male captive above twelve and £40 for a male scalp in that age category; £25 for a female captive or boy under twelve and £20 for their scalps.
Dates preserve the source’s precision. This entry is part of a selected historical record; its qualifications and sources are retained below.
Context / qualification
The November 3 proclamation specified service from November 1–25 and delivery of captives to Boston or scalps as evidence. It targeted women and children as well as adult men. These are promised rewards, not evidence of how many people were captured or killed or how much was paid. The text says above and under twelve; it does not explicitly resolve age twelve itself.
Sources
- Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States, chapter 4, p. 72; supplied print pages, edition/year unidentified
- Spencer Phips, proclamation of November 3, 1755, declaration, eligibility period and four reward clauses; Maine Indian Tribal-State Commission transcription ↗