Reprint from - History of Camden and Rockport Maine - Reuel Robinson

Sturdy as were the early settlers (of this area of Maine) in their physical and moral characteristics, they were no less sturdy in their patriotism. The rule that "mountaineers are always freemen," did not find an exception in the case of the Camden forefathers. Their natures were cast in the same mould as the rugged mountains among which they lived, and the free air of their forest-environed homes bred in them a love of liberty and a spirit of resistance to the tyranny of the despotic rulers across the sea. When the fire of the Revolution, long smouldering, had burst into flame at Lexington, and the "embattled farmers" at Concord "fired the shot heard round the world," its echoes reverberated among the hills of Camden, and awakened our first settlers to the gravity of the situation and found them ready to do their utmost to repel the invader should he land upon their shore or to shoulder the flint- lock and march to the front if called to do so ; and during the whole course of the war the men of Camden, with few exceptions, were among its most earnest supporters. Camden was not the scene of any great battle, and on account of its then isolated situation it did not at once feel the effects of the contest being carried on in the older part of the colony, but it was not long before parties of British and their Tory sympathizers began to make excursions to our shores, to steal the settlers' sheep, cattle, and other property and often to destroy what they could not carry away. When on these looting expeditions the British came in barges which were called "shaving mills," and their depredations aroused the righteous wrath of our early settlers, who often proved too much for the robbers. There are several stories, often related in the old days, which illustrate these plundering raids of the enemy, as well as the fearlessness and uncompromising character of the Camden forefathers. They relate to that period of the Revolution before any troops were stationed at Camden, and the settlers had to depend upon themselves to defend their property from marauders, and some of them are of sufficient interest to be recorded here.

Robert Jameson when a boy, had a schoolmate by the name of Pomeroy, who, in later years, had also gone to sea with him. When the Revolutionary struggle commenced, Pomeroy, then living at Friendship, became a Tory, and knowing Jameson to be a strenuous patriot, undertook to guide a "shaving mill" to Clam Cove to depredate his property. The barge, guided by Pomeroy, reached Jameson's Point late in the forenoon, and landed a force of nineteen men near Mr. Jameson's log house, seized him as he was mowing in his field, and carried him aboard the barge. Some of the company went into his house and brought away two guns, two firkins of butter and other things of value. Another party shot his oxen and killed his pigs which they dragged to the shore, quartered without taking off the hides, and carried them on board their barge. They then told Jameson that he was free to go home. Under those circumstances most men would have hurried away as soon as possible. Not so Jameson ! His heart, which knew no fear, was burning with rage at the loss and indignity he had suffered, and with a determination to get revenge if possible. His seaman's eye had detected an American privateer in the fog near Owl's Head, and thinking that an opportunity to avenge himself was at hand, he resolutely refused to leave the barge. The privateer approached within two miles of Clam Cove, when Jameson, notwithstanding he was ordered to hold his tongue, loudly hailed it, but the increasing density of the fog prevented the privateer's attention being attracted. The British then offered to take him with them if he would join in their predatory expedition, which offer he contemptuously rejected and said he hoped the privateer would take them that he might wreak his vengeance upon them. Deciding that he was a dangerous man to have with them, they peremptorily ordered him to go ashore, which he as peremptorily refused to do. They then brought his wife aboard the barge to persuade him to go ashore peaceably, but he persistently adhered to his determination to remain aboard as long as there was a chance of the privateer returning to the place. As night was approaching they decided to remain in the Cove until morning and allow their unwelcome guest to stay on board. The morning's light showed no traces of the privateer, and seeing no hope of immediate redress, Jameson strode ashore declaring, as the barge sailed away, that his wrath would be forcibly visited upon the head of the base Pomeroy, when next they met. The story is not complete without the sequel which took place a few years later after peace was declared, when Pomeroy went as pilot to Bangor on board a Waldoboro vessel commanded by Paul Jameson, Robert's brother. On the return trip down river with a cargo of lumber, the vessel put into Clam Cove. While there Robert learned that Pomeroy was on board and told his brother, the captain, that he proposed to have satisfaction, before he left, for the loss and insults he had received. His brother's efforts to dissuade him were of no avail. His injury had rankled in his breast too long and he would not forego his long contemplated revenge. Taking his musket, loaded and with fixed bayonet, he went on board in the absence of the captain, and finding Pomeroy, told him the purpose of his visit. Pomeroy in great fear begged his forgiveness, but regardless of his entreaties, Jameson pitched into him with his fists and lay him unconscious upon the deck and would doubtless have made an end of him but for the interference of others. When leaving to go on shore Jameson gave his fallen enemy a thrust with his bayonet to ascertain if he were dead. He proved to be alive, however, and the captain hearing of the trouble went on board his vessel and hurriedly sailed away. The people of Camden held Pomeroy in so great contempt, and were so indignant at his unforgotten treachery and treason, that no notice was taken of the assault, and the matter ended.