During the American Revolution, Germany was made up of more than 300 small regions. These regions supplied soldiers to the British to fight against America. The largest group came from Hesse-Cassel. Because of this, all the German soldiers fighting with the British were called Hessians.

King George III of Britain paid for the services of the Hessians because he didn't have enough soldiers for his army in America. The German soldiers, although often thought of as mercenaries, didn't get much in return for their service. Most of them only received basic necessities. The Prince of Hesse-Cassel, Frederick II, made a good deal by selling the services of 12,000 Hessians to the English.

In total, around 30,000 German soldiers fought for the British in North America. When they arrived, they found a large German-American community of almost 200,000 people. Many Hessians were tempted to desert the British and stay in this new land with its growing German population, so about 5,000 Germans chose to remain in America, while the rest went back home.

Between 1675 and 1763 there was a nearly continuous series of wars in Maine between the British and the French/ Indians (the term at the time for the Native People and the origin of the name "French and Indian Wars"). Both groups wanted Maine’s land and resources. The wars were related to conflicts in Europe at the same time.

In King Philip's War (1675-78), the English fought the French and Native People for Castine.

During King William's War (1688-99), the French and English fought over Acadia—included Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and much of Maine. The treaty ending this war resulted in the Natives deeding more land to the English. It caused a long-lasting misunderstanding between the Native and non-Native people.

Queen Anne's War (1703-1713) : In 1713 the Treaty of Utrecht between France and England gave all of Acadia to English. This caused more disputes between the English and the Native People over land. The French still held Quebec.

More wars resulted over the next 50 years: Dummer's War (1722-1727), King George's War (1744-1751), and the French and Indian War (1754-1763).

These years were devastating to settlers and Native People alike. From 1689 to 1713, not a single English home stood in Maine north of Wells.

English treatment of the Native People worsened the situation. They forced tribal leaders to sign land deeds that were misunderstood. The French encouraged the Native People to attack English settlers. English retaliation against the Natives included bounties on scalps.

The French encouraged Maine’s Native People to form the Wabanaki Confederation, making the English even more worried about protecting their settlements in Maine.

The English captured French Quebec in 1759, which led to the signing of the Treaty of Paris ending the French and Indian Wars. It also ended the French presence on the Maine coast, resulting in slow, but increased settlement of midcoast and downeast Maine after 1760. All of Canada was given to England. The British issued a proclamation promising Native People the right to keep all the lands they held at the end of the war. Bad feelings between the English and the Native People still existed, however, because the English continued to gradually move into and take over Native lands for farming and hunting.

Throughout these wars, Europeans on the coast of Maine created sparse but determined settlements of fishermen, traders, and lumbermen who paid little attention to official developments and proclamations of the English and French nobility. These small settlements of Scotch-Irish fishermen and farmers were the origins of Maritime Maine.

Mary Jane Smith, 1852
May 23rd: Today we had our first death, that of a small child from whooping cough. Bad Camp. Poor grass and no wood.

May 23rd: Today a division of opinion arose, some wanted to stay here, others to go on to a better place to camp so 6 wagons left including Hunt, Watkins, Craig, and Stroup who get out by themselves.

June 26th: This morning we overtook Mr. Hunt. He was by himself having been left by his company near Laramie. One of his children, Mr. Craig's wife, Mr. Watkins and a young man named Jones and a young man named Garrett had all died of Cholera. Garrett seems to have been traveling west with the Hunts.

Margaret A. Frink, 1850
Monday, July 8: It rained considerably during the night. Mr. Frink was on guard until two o’ clock, when he returned to camp bringing the startling news, that for some unknown cause, the horses had stampeded. We had no means of knowing whether it was the work of Indians or not, but it was useless to look for them in the darkness… (the animals were found the next morning) When we arose, we found the range of mountains covered in new-fallen snow. This is a beautiful valley, and when under settlement and cultivation, will be a delightful region… At half past ten we passed a village of Snake River Indians (Shoshone).

J.T. Kerns, 1852
July 18 Traveled up Thomas’ fork of the Bear river, twelve miles to the ford and encamped on the west bank. Country nice and streams full of fish. Some good farms might be made along here, as the valleys are rich and the mountains high enough to preserve an eveness of temperature and supply of sufficiency of timber.
July 19 This day drove 25 miles over a mountainous, picturesque country, possessed of rich valleys, beautiful springs, and streams abounding with fish. Timber is, however, scarce for to supply the demands of a farmer.

Medorem Crawford, 1842
May 16 Left camp at 1 o'clock E. drove 15 mi. and camped at 7 o'c. E. on the Sanafe rout, found water pleanty, wood & pasture scarce. In our company were 16 waggons & 105 persons including children & men over 18 years of age.

May 21 Mrs. Lancaster's only child a daughter 16 months old died 10 o'clock M the Doctor called the disease symptomatick fever accompanied with worms." After burying child we started and drove 6 miles.

Memory Tricks
Mnemonic—pronounced ni-mon-ik, the ‘M’ is silent—are memory devices or strategies to help you remember information. Below are some examples. Creating your own “memory tricks” will come in handy in a variety of situations (e.g., tests, trivia bowls, spelling, remembering lists). Everyone processes information differently so when formulating mnemonics, get creative and determine what works best for you.

A mnemonic for remembering how many days are in each month:

Thirty days hath September
April, June and November.
All the rest have thirty-one,
But February, it is great
And brings to us twenty-eight,
Unless it steps out of line
And brings to us twenty-nine (leap year occurs every four years)

“When two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking.”
This means that when there are two vowels in a row, the first usually has a long sound and the second is silent. That's why it's team, not taem; coat, not caot; and wait, not wiat. Remembering this rule will help you to put vowels in the right order.

The popular cheer  "'S' 'U' 'C' 'C' 'E' 'S' 'S' that's the way we spell success."

An acronym is a word or phrase that is made from the first letter of each word or phrase you are trying to remember.

RICE is a mnemonic for treating a sprain: Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation.

HOMES is a mnemonic for the five Great Lakes—Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior.

ROY G. BIV is a mnemonic for the seven colors of the rainbow—Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet.

A mnemonic for remembering the order of the planets is: My Very Excellent Memory Just Summed Up Nine Planets (this was used before Pluto was downgraded to no longer being a planet)

Desert vs. Dessert 
Desert is the hot, dry place where cacti grow. Dessert is the sweet treat you have at the end of a meal. You may want more than one dessert and it has more than one s. That will help you remember how to spell it. 

Foul vs. Fowl
It may be helpful to remember that the word fowl—birds raised with the intent to be used as food—contains the word ‘owl’. Since an owl is a bird and since the word fowl contains the word owl, associating it in this way may help you remember to write the word fowl and not foul when referring to birds.  

Principal vs. Principle
To distinguish principle from principal think of "the principal is your pal." 

Hear vs. Here
When you remove the ‘h’ in hear you are left with the word ear. As you know, your ear is what allows you to hear. You hear with your ear. 

Made vs. Maid
When you remove the ‘m’ in maid you are left with the word aid. Think of your maid as your aid, someone who helps you cook, clean, etc.  

Heal vs. Heel
When you remove the ‘thy’ in healthy you have the word heal. Since heal means to regenerate healthy tissue, it may be helpful to associate the word healthy with heal.
Heel (the bottom back part of the foot). Heel contains two consecutive vowels of the same letter ‘e’ and ‘e’. (Heal does not.) Foot also contains two consecutive vowels of the same letter, ‘o’ and ‘o’. It may help you to remember this so that you always associate the word heel with foot.      

The parents of your father and/or mother are your grandparents (your grandmother and/or grandfather) and their parents are your great grandparents. Your parents' brothers and sisters are your uncles and aunts. The brothers and sisters of your grandparents are often called your great uncles or great aunts, but this is incorrect. They are actually your grand aunts and grand uncles. The brothers and sisters of your great grandparents are your great grand uncles and great grand aunts.

You may have heard some cousins referred to as your 1st cousin, or 2nd cousin. You may have even heard of them referred to as your 2nd cousin once removed. These relationships aren't as difficult to figure out as it seems.

Mnemonics (the first m is silent) are tricks or strategies to help you remember information. A mnemonic can be a word, phrase, a rhyme, a song, or anything else you use to help you remember something. One mnemonic you know already is the alphabet song. This help kids remember the letters of the alphabet. Below are some other examples:

Knowing the mnemonic H.O.M.E.S. can help you remember the names of the Great Lakes: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Eerie, and Superior. This mnemonic uses the first letter of each lake to create another common word.

This mnemonic uses your knuckles to remember which months have 30 days and which have 31 (or 28). The higher bumps of your knuckles let you know a higher number should match, while the dips between your knuckles are lower, helping you remember a lower number corresponds with the dips.

The practice of tarring and feathering as punishment began in the 1100s when Richard the Lionheart began using it to punish thieves. It consists of removing a person's clothing, pouring hot tar on them and then covered with feathers that would stick to the tar. As you can imagine, the hot tar caused severe blistering and was incredibly painful to remove. The feathers made this even more difficult.

This form of intimidation and punishment was used extensively during the American Colonial Period, especially the 1760s when Patriots used it against Loyalists and British officials. Tar could easily be found in shipyards. Pine tar was applied between the boards in ships to make them water-proof. Most pillows of the time were stuffed with feathers, so they, also, were easy to obtain.

Tarring and Feathering was not usually fatal. The tar was painful and the feathers were intended to make the person appear comical. It was designed to embarrass and humiliate the victim. Sometimes, a person's clothing was left on when they were tarred and feathered as a lesser punishment or warning. Because the tar was heated to make it spreadable, it often caused blistering when applied to bare skin. When a victim tried to remove the tar, their blistered skin was also removed. This was, of course, incredibly painful, but the beatings and other tortures that frequently went along with tarring and feathering were often more life-threatening.

Tarring and feathering was successful. Tax collectors were often threatened. Though there are no records of a stamp commissioner being tarred and feathered, the threats were enough that when the Stamp Act tax went into effect in 1765, there were no stamp commissioners left in the colonies to collect it.

It was also successful in protesting the Townshend Duties which included the tea tax that led to the Boston Tea Party.

Other materials were used to exact the same punishment such as syrup instead of tar or cattails instead of feathers. John Robert Shaw described a tarring and feathering in his autobiography:

Plot is the series of events in a story that explain to the reader what is happening. One of the easiest ways to understand plot is to look at the mountain shaped plot diagram and think of story in terms of climbing a mountain.

Stage 1 - Exposition

• Exposition is at the base of the mountain or the beginning of the story. This is where the author sets up the story including characters, setting, and main conflicts.

Stage 2 - Rising Action

• The Rising Action occurs as you begin to move throughout the story. This is where conflicts start to build.
  

Stage 3 - Climax

• The Climax is the turning point of the story. You have reached the top of the mountain and you cannot go any farther, you have to turn and go down. Though this appears in the center of the mountain diagram above, the climax of a story often happens closer to the end.
  

Stage 4 - Falling Action

• Falling Action occurs after the climax as things start to work themselves out in the story. You are coming down the mountain just as you are coming down from the excitement or tension of the climax.
  

Stage 5 - Resolution

• The Resolution is the solution to the problem as you have reached the bottom of the mountain. The solution might not be what you want, but the conflict has been resolved.

Every story has a conflict - a struggle between two opposing forces. The conflict may be between two people or it may be between a person and some other force such as the weather, a problem, or even a problem a character has with themself. Since every story revolves around conflict,  it is important to understand the two kinds of conflict.

• Internal Conflict is a struggle that occurs within the main character. This struggle happens within the character's own mind.
  
• External Conflict is a struggle that the main character has with another character, with society, or with a natural force.