of the Island and Fort of Plymouth, and his friend, the Earl of Southampton, the illustrious friend and patron of Shakespeare. In May, 1606, the Lord Chief Justice of England, Sir John Popham, having become associated in the enterprise, sent out Captain Haines, "in a tall ship belonging to Bristol and the river Severne, to settle a plantation in the river of Sagadahoc," but from the failure of the master to follow the course ordered, the ship fell into the hands of the Spaniards by capture, and the expedition failed of success. In August of the same year, a ship sent out by Sir Ferdinando Gorges, under command of Henry Challong, for the same purpose, the two designed to form one expedition, shared a similar fate. So that in consequence of these mishaps, Virginia was occupied prior to Maine. The expedition of Captain Newport, to the Chesapeake, which sailed December 19th, 1606, landed at Jamestown, May 13th, 1607.

On the 31st of May, 1607, the first colony to New England sailed from Plymouth for the Sagadahoc, in two ships, one, called the "Gift of God," whereof George Popham, brother of the chief justice, was commander; the other, the "Mary and John," which Raleigh Gilbert commanded, on board which ships were one hundred and twenty persons, for planters. They came to anchor under an island, supposed to be Monhegan, the 31st of July. After exploring the coast and islands, on Sunday, the 9th of Aug., 1607, they landed on an island they called St. George, where they had a sermon delivered unto them by Mr. Seymour, their preacher, and returned aboard again. On the 15th of Aug., they anchored under Seguin, and on that day the "Gift of God" got into the river of Sagadahoc. On the 16th, both ships got safely in and came to anchor. On the 17th, in two boats, they sailed up the river,- Captain Popham in his pinnace, with thirty persons, and Captain Gilbert in his long boat, with eighteen persons, and "found it a very gallant river; with many good islands therein, and many branches of other small rivers falling into it," and returned. On the the 18th, they all went ashore, and then made choice of a place for their plantation, at the mouth or entry of the river, on the west side, (for the river bendeth towards the nor-east and by east), being almost an island, of good bigness, in a province called by the Indians, "Sabino," so called of a Sagamore, or chief commander, under the grand bashaba.

On the 19th, they all went ashore, where they had made choice of their plantation, and where they had a sermon delivered unto them by their preacher, and after the sermon the President's commission was read, with the laws to be observed and kept.

George Popham, gent., was nominated President.

Captain Raleigh Gilbert,

James Davies,

Richard Seymour, Preacher,

Captain Richard Davies,

Captain Harlowe,

were all sworn assistants; and so they returned back again.

Thus commenced the first occupation and settlement of New England, and from which date the title of England to the new world remained unquestioned. At this place they opened a friendly trade with the natives, put up houses, and built a small vessel, during the autumn and winter.

On the 5th of February, 1608, George Popham died, and his remains were deposited within the walls of his fort, which was named Fort St. George.

We necessarily pass over the next two hundred and fifty years of history. Congress having made an appropriation for a fort at the mouth of the Kennebec, the ancient Sagadahoc, the following correspondence, copied from the files of the War Office, shows the action of the Secretary of War in the matter, and the fitness of the name selected for the new fort, which is called FORT POPHAM:

"TO THE HON. SIMON CAMERON, Secretary of War:

The undersigned, citizens of Maine, respectfully request that the new fort to be erected at the mouth of the Kennebec River, in Maine, may be named FORT POPHAM, in honor of Captain George Popham, brother of the learned Chief Justice Popham, of England.

Captain George Popham, as the Governor of the first English Colony in New England, built a fort at or near the site of the proposed fort, in the year 1607, where he died, February 5th, 1608, and was buried, being the first person of his race whose bones were laid beneath the soil of New England, and whose grave will be approriately marked by the fort that rises over his place of burial.

[Signed]

JOHN A. Poor,.
POOR,
REUEL WILLIAMS.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 18, 1861."

This proposal for a name was favorably received at the Engineer Bureau, by General Totten, who laid the matter before the Secretary of War.

On the 23d of November, General Cameron acted on the foregoing petition, and entered thereon :-"Name approved.

SIMON CAMERON, Secretary of War.

WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington, Nov. 23, 1861."

It has been proposed that a memorial stone, with an appropriate inscription, be inserted in the wall of this new fort, and this event made the occasion of a public celebration, commemorating not only the first settlement of New England, but doing honor to the memory of the man, who led to it, the first British Colony, and who, after honorably discharging the duties of his office, and presenting a report, in the form of a letter, to the King, dated Fort St. George,

December 13th, 1607, here laid down his life, the first man of the English race whose bones are laid beneath the soil of New England.

The 19th of August, 1607, Old Style, corresponds to the 29th of August of the present calendar. The day on which, with religious services, they dedicated the spot and inaugurated their government, is appropriately fixed upon for the proposed celebration. This year the anniversary day falls on Friday, August 29th.

The following programme having been prepared by the part of the Executive Committee, to whom the charge of this portion of the arrangements had been entrusted, was advertised in the newspapers of the State, and distributed in the form of handbills:

HISTORICAL CELEBRATION AT FORT POPHAM, AUGUST 29, 1862.

THERE will be a public celebration of the founding of the first British Colony on the shores of New England, under the authority of the Royal Charter of April 10th, 1606, at the site of the ancient Fort St. George, on the Peninsula of Sabino, at the mouth of the Kennebec River, which will take place on Friday, August 29th, 1862, the two hundred and fifty-fifth anniversary of the inauguration of the first civil government on these shores.

SPECIAL TRAINS, leaving Portland and Augusta at 7 A. M., will be run over the Kennebec and Portland Railroad, leaving Brunswick at 8 A. M., connecting at Bath with the steamers running to and from the site of Fort Popham, returning to Portland and to Augusta, stopping at the intermediate places on the same evening after the celebration services are completed.

Excursion tickets over the railroad will be sold at half price, or $1.25 down and back. From Brunswick and Topsham, fifty cents for tickets both ways. Trains will also run over the Androscoggin Railroad at half price, connecting at Brunswick with the trains to Bath. Fares from all other intermediate stations at half price; and on the steamers, twenty-five cents.

Tickets admitting parties upon the parade of the fort and to the collation will be thirty-seven cents. Parties arriving on the ground by the other modes of conveyance will also be furnished with tickets to the grounds of the celebration and to the collation at the same price. The collation will be spread in the great tent, and no one admitted to it without a ticket.

The Hon. C. J. Gilman of Brunswick will be chief marshal of the day, with assistant marshals, who will assign places to the various parties admitted to the grounds, and within the tent. At 101⁄2 o'clock A. M., the chief marshal will call to order and announce the objects and purposes of the celebration.

The Hon. William Willis, President of the Maine Historical Society, will then

make a brief historical statement, and invite the Rev. George Burgess, D. D., Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of Maine, to conduct the religious services in those forms of the church made use of at the time of the founding of Popham's Colony. Printed forms will then be distributed.

The service concluded, the President of the Historical Society will invite his Excellency, Israel Washburn, Jr., Governor of Maine, to cause the Memorial Stone to be put in place, by the consent of the United States Government, in accordance with the request of the Maine Historical Society. Accepting this trust with an allusion to the historic importance of the occasion, Gov. Washburn will invite Leonard Woods, D. D., President of Bowdoin College, to take charge of the work.

Addressing Gen. Totten or Capt. T. L. Casey, the officer in charge, and receiving in reply the assent of the government, Dr. Woods will invite the Masonic Fraternity to cause the Memorial Stone to be put into its place, with the appropriate forms of their ancient order. Hon. Josiah H. Drummond, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Maine, will then proceed with the ceremony, and its conclusion will be followed by appropriate music. This will be followed by an address by John A. Poor, Esq., of Portland, the orator of the day.

From the fort the company will march to the pavilion, where Judge Kent of Bangor will preside, assisted by vice-presidents, one from each county, as follows:

In response to appropriate sentiments, speeches will be made by eminent men from different parts of the United States and the British Provinces.

Per Order of the Executive Committee,

EDWARD BALLARD, Secretary.

following Toasts,

By subsequent arrangements the committee agreed on the the order to be changed as circumstances to each of which they invited responses from distinguished gentlemen in different parts of the United States and of British North America :

might require,

TOASTS FOR THE POPHAM CELEBRATION.

The 19th of August [O. S.], 1607, - ever memorable as the day that witnessed the consummation of the title of England to the New World, by the formal occupation and possession of New England, under the Royal Charter of April 10, 1606.

The President of the United States.

The Queen of Great Britain.

The Memory of George Popham, who led hither the first English Colony; became the head of its government by the election of his companions, and left his bones to mingle with the soil of New England, upon the Peninsula of Sabino. The Memory of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, the Father of English Colonization in America.

Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, — patron of Letters and of American Colonization; the friend and associate of Sir Ferdinando Gorges; whose joint labors procured the Royal Charter of April 10, 1606; the basis on which rests the title of our race to the New World.

Sir John Popham, the able, learned, and upright Chief Justice of England, by the appointment of Elizabeth; under the shadow of whose great name was laid the foundation of the Colossal Empire of the Western World.

Maritime Adventure and Discovery, illustrated by the men of Bristol and the Severne; whose Cabots and Gilberts pointed the way to the northern shores of the New World. The name of Raleigh Gilbert shall ever be honored for his fidelity in conducting to these shores the colony of Popham.

The Memory of Sieur de Champlain, the fearless navigator and accomplished statesman; the first to explore and designate these shores; whose plans of empire, more vast and sagacious than any of his time, failed of success only through the short-sightedness of his sovereign, in allowing the Atlantic shores of New England to fall into the hands of his rivals, thereby changing the history of the New World.

Richard Vines, the faithful friend of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, whose occupation of the country, to the time of his appointment as Deputy Governor of the