Beadle's Dime Novels No. 142: The Sagamore of Saco

The Sagamore of Saco (Beadle's Dime Novel No. 142)

This historical romance, authored by E. Oakes Smith, is set in early colonial Maine circa 1618. The narrative centers on Sir Richard Vines, a Tory and Episcopalian settler who established himself at the head of the Pool near Saco, and his daughter Hope. When Sir Richard's ward, young John Bonyton—described as a headstrong "renegade"—passionately pursues Hope as a wife, declaring he will reform his wild ways, Sir Richard refuses him. The governor reveals Hope is "incomplete in mind" and urges John to go to England instead to support the royalist cause against Cromwell. The plot establishes colonial tensions between Puritan and Episcopalian settlers. A secondary story, The Swamp Scout by W.J. Hamilton, depicts Revolutionary War-era action involving the legendary Swamp Fox Marion and his partisan fighters in South Carolina swamps, searching for militia leaders.