Involuntary Americans: Scottish Prisoners in Early Colonial Maine

Carol Gardner; Recorded May 23, 2019 - Author Carol Gardner will discussed the lives of some of Maine's earliest European settlers: prisoners of war who were sent to Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts against their wills, in 1650 to 1651. As forced laborers and later, as free men, these soldiers left their marks on early New England society, and evidence of their existence is with us today. Dr. Gardner's latest historical narrative, THE INVOLUNTARY AMERICAN: A Scottish Prisoner's Journey to the New World , chronicles the life and times of Scottish foot soldier Thomas Doughty. Captured at the Battle of Dunbar, Doughty was shipped to Boston, sold to a Puritan industrialist in New Hampshire, and eventually established his own milling operation on the Saco River in Maine.