Reuben Colburn arrived here, in what is now Pittston, Maine in 1761. He was 21 years old and full of energy, focus, and direction so it came as no surprise he was recognized as a natural leader within “Colburntown”, a tiny village which his family helped start.  The Colburns were no stranger to the hardships and success of frontier life.  Their family ancestry in New England dates back to the 1600’s when they were directly involved in the founding of the town of Dunstable, Massachusetts. Reuben came here with his entire family to be a part of that same type of venture, hence, Colburntown.  His family members were his; Father Jeremiah Sr., Mother, Sarah Jewell; 3 brothers, Jeremiah Jr., Oliver, and Benjamin; and 4 sisters, Sarah, Rachel, Lucy, and Hannah.  

The Colburn family had emigrated from North-Central Massachusetts and they’d done so under the invitation of Dr. Sylvester Gardiner, a wealthy land proprietor in the Kennebec Valley region. He was a physician by trade, but he made his money in real estate deals, importing drugs from Europe, and operating at least 1 hospital to address the ongoing Smallpox issue in and around the Boston area.  Dr. Gardiner moved from Boston to the Kennebec Valley region, in the District of Maine, in 1766.   He was here, in this region, physically.   So, while Sylvester Gardiner was a real estate mogul in this region he was also selling off large chunks of his land to new emigrants he had invited to settle the area.

I bring it up in that way because the Colburns were the heads of their burgeoning little village.  Their manner of carrying-on in their day-to-day lives mattered greatly to the people around them, who depended on them for leadership and survival. Reuben Colburn was surrounded by boat builders, but he was the only owner in a vast distance to have a shipyard large enough to become the primary place of employment for a dependent citizenry.  His opinions mattered greatly to a significant number within their relatively small population of Colburntown. 

Getting straight to the point – Real estate mogul and Kennebec Proprietor, Dr. Sylvester Gardiner was a wholly dedicated loyalist, which is someone loyal to England.  And Reuben Colburn, leader of tiny Colburntown, was a wholly dedicated patriot who encouraged a separation from England.  Reuben Colburn owned a shipyard – the Colburn Shipyard. He, like every other business owner and colonist in the new world, had been victimized to the point of oppression by England’s taxes and tariffs, and he had to watch all the best White Pines – on his own land – be branded with the king’s broad arrow, marked for the Royal Navy, cut down and carried off, all while he was a shipbuilder in need of the very same trees. The trees on his own land were being taken from him and England was still taxing the life out of him and his business.  His dedication to revolution did not come easy, nor did it come swiftly and there’s proof of this within the Colburn House itself.  

The English Crown had passed a law decades earlier in 1711 called the White Pine act, and it basically restricted anyone from cutting down trees that were more than 24 inches in diameter.  These trees would be branded with the king’s brand and cut down to serve as masts in the Royal Navy. The largest boards found in the Colburn House – which was built in 1765, Fifty-Four years after this law was passed – are measured to exactly 24 inches.

Meaning, up until a certain, and fairly sudden point, this family was dedicated to following the rule of law as England expected them to.

English oppression via taxes, tariffs, and the aggressive exploitation of all the best shipbuilding trees in the area led to a Royal disdain in the Colburn household. Reuben decided to make that known to all by staking a nice fat Liberty Pole in his yard, for all to see, including Dr. Sylvester Gardiner, the man who invited Jeremiah Sr., the Colburn patriarch, to help settle this patch of paradise on the Kennebec River. A Liberty Pole was a visual dissent against the British Crown and a very clear representation of the population’s political leanings. Gardiner and the Colburns couldn’t be more polar opposites, and there was slightly less loyalty in the community at-large for the former, than the latter.  Reuben Colburn’s shipyard was the heart and soul of this town’s economy. He put money in the hands of his townspeople, and indirectly, a roof over their heads and food on their table.  His influence was not to be underestimated.

As a matter of fact, Dr. Gardiner was exiled from the region in 1776 when the British fled Boston. He ran off to Canada, had to move back to England where he’d previously studied medicine, and his name was associated with other Loyalists in the Massachusetts Banishment Act of 1778.  So not only was he chased off by the very patriots he helped settle onto land he sold them, he also lost almost everything he owned, including all remaining lands still under his name when he fled.

Reuben Colburn was all-in when it came to the subject of separating from England, and so was the rest of his family.  His brother Oliver started a small local militia with the foresight that declaring independence was on the table and militias would be necessary to forge the way forward.  Oliver was a captain of this militia as was the eldest Colburn son, Jeremiah Jr., Younger brother Benjamin was a Lieutenant, but Reuben eventually rose to outrank them all, earning the title of “Major”.

Direct involvement in the Revolutionary effort by Reuben Colburn came in 1775 when King George decided Massachusetts Bay was in a state of rebellion and ordered Boston Harbor to be completely blockaded.  This single act threw the rebel cause into a next-level situation.  Planning for offensive missions were put into action, including and most importantly, the attack on Fort Ticonderoga which Benedict Arnold led. It was a success in that the mission goals were achieved; to take the fort and walk away with its cannons. The cannons were desperately needed to support the Revolutionary Cause. 

Benedict Arnold returned to Cambridge, Massachusetts and he immediately started looking for General George Washington, who was stationed nearby. He wanted another command.  He wanted a serious command and he wanted to make a real, and lasting, impact for the Revolutionary Cause.

At the same time, Reuben Colburn had arrived in Cambridge looking for a way to help the revolutionary cause in a manner that served the community he lived in.  His primary concerns were safety and continued economic stability, both of which were threatened within the past year.

In August of 1775 these two forces, Colburn and Arnold, wound up face to face and the beginnings of a plan to attack Quebec by way of the District of Maine was hatched.