1795 PENOBSCOT CHIEF'S SCEPTRE, DISPLAYED AT THE

Root Club with a cluster of figures: bear, eagle, turtle, pike and owl, unusual design with band of bark, with binder of documentation, letter of authentication, handwritten note, came out of the Green Collection, Florida. 24 1/2" long, 9 1/4" head. In addition to the Smithsonian Exhibit of 1972-74; the club has been exhibited at the Maryland Academy of Science 1969-1970; Maine Historical Museum 1997; The Hudson Museum of Maine, 1999, and many others.Smithsonian ID no. L293 1972, part of the H.B. Greene Collection loaned to the Smithsonian in 1971 for an exhibition titled "Design Is", featuring historical Native American cultural items. The "Vital Records from Stoneham, Massachusetts, to the end of the year 1849" records the early history of this club. Republished in 1918 by the Essex Institute of Salem, Mass., it recounts the story of the "Chief's Sceptre Club" as part of "An Indian man who was barborously shot by some murderous persons". Also includes letter from Mrs. Green that reads: "During the late 1700s small towns were being settled in Massachusetts, they were familiar with Indians camping near ponds, erecting wigwams, hunting, etc. Such a location was Stoneham, Mass. near 'Spot Pond'. An Indian named Crevay and his wife camped near the pond for a November night. Both of the St. Francis tribe, they were shot by four renegade white men. Two of the men (one named Livermore) were caught and then executed, one received hard labor for life and one escaped justice. It is recorded that among Crevay's belongings was this King's Sceptre (club)." The St. Francis Indians were actually Androscoggin from Vermont and New Hampshire. As they moved south they settled in the area of Lake St. Francis, hence the name given them by French Ecclesiastics. Most of the tribe was killed in 1759 during the attacks of the French and Indian War. The survivors joined the Penobscot", (who carried this style of root club).