Kennebec Dispute 1634

Kennebec Dispute 1634 was a deadly fight in 1634 between traders of Plymouth Colony and nearby Pistacaqua Colony over indian trading rights on the Kennebec River in Southern Maine territory. Afterwards two prominent leaders of Plymouth (John Alden (c1599-1687) and John Howland (1592-1672)) were implicated in Massachusetts Bay Colony but eventually released.

Pistacaqua Colony
Pistacaqua Colony was an English settlement made circa 1629 on the Pistacaqua River near Portsmouth, New Hampshire and the border between present date New Hampshire and Maine.


 * John Hocking (c1595-1634) - died on the Kennebec River

Plymouth Colony
Plymouth Colony was the famous English settlement founded in 1620 by the pilgrims on the Mayflower. Plymouth Colony was soon in great debt and eventually all the pilgrims sold their company shares to a group of eight men, including Howland and Alden, who hoped to run some colony business, payoff their debts and make a profit.

One business venture was the exclusive legal right to trade with indians further north up the Kennebec River in present day Maine.


 * John Alden (c1599-1687) - leading figure at Plymouth
 * John Howland (1592-1672) - leading figure at Plymouth
 * John Irish
 * Thomas Savory
 * William Reynolds
 * Moses Talbot (c1610-1634) - killed on the Kennebec River

The Dispute
In 1634, Alden and Howland discovered some men (John Hocking (c1595-1634), two men and a boy) from the Piscatacaqua Colony with a barge tied down upriver on the Kennebec.

Howland went up to Hockings and his men and asked them to leave which they refused. Howland stated he would not allow them to remain and Hocking remained defiant with "foul speeches". Howland ordered three of his men (John Irish, Thomas Savory and William Reynolds) to cut the cables holding the barge in place so that the river current would wash it away. But the current was too strong and they could only cut one cable.

Then they sent Moses Talbot in a canoe to finish the job. But as he was cutting cables, Hocking stormed across the deck of the barge with guns in hand and shot Moses in the head at point-blank range, killing him instantly. Then "one of the fellows which loved him well could not hold, but with musket shot Hocking, who fell down dead and never spake a word." Alden was present with Howland for the entire episode.