A River of Blood Two Centuries of Conflict Along the Kennebec

A River of Blood: Two Centuries of Conflict Along the Kennebec River is a true story of hope, violence, dispossession and settlment. The arrival of English settlers with European guns and goods drastically changed the Abenaki's life style from hunter/gathers to commercial hunters and trappers. The Abenaki's dependence on European goods quickly destroyed their economic independence and ultimately undermined their tribal governance and control of their lands.

The interactions of Europeans and Abenakis along the Kennebec were conflicted from the start. When the wars ended the Abenaki Dawnland had clearly become the Eastern District of Massachusetts, known as Maine.

Even with the best of intentions the struggles over who would occupy and use the Kennebec region would have been difficult. But intentions were not always good. Sometimes they were just evil.

What began as episodes of trade, violence and invasion became an existential fight for the Abenaki as English settlements expanded in the Dawnland.