The following information was assembled from numerous sources and cannot be used directly as proof of Qualifying Service or Lineage.
It is considered a research aid and is intended to assist in locating sources that can be used as proof.
State of Service: MA
Qualifying Service: Patriotic Service
Birth: 01 Jun 1738 / York / ME Death: 09 Aug 1823 Penobscot / Hancock / ME
Qualifying Service Description:
Captured and accused of being a spy for the rebels by the British at Fort George in Castine, Maine in 1779 and held prisoner on the Bristish Ship "North" at Castine for some weeks
Additional References:
Magazine of History, Number 11, pg 28;
George Wheeler, History of Castine, Penobscot and Brooksville, pg 200-1;
Aaron Banks and his family were held prisoners on a British warship in the Castine, Maine harbor during the Battle of the Penobscot in August 1779. He was accused by the British as a spy for the Patriots and for consenting to the burning of his house by the Patriots. His home was on the battlefield between the British warships in the harbor and Fort George on high ground and could be occupied by soldiers from the British fort.
The first we know of him is that at the age of twenty-one, he enlisted in the Provincial army for the defense of the Colonies against the Indians and French. He was under the command of Captain James Cargill and, early in the season of 1759, was with his company ordered to Wasaumkeag point to assist in building the fortification there called Fort Pownal. While there, Governor Pownal desired to see the ruins of Castine's fort at Bagaduce, now Castine and ordered Capt. Cargill, with twenty of his men, prepared the sloop Massachusetts for the expedition. They landed with Banks and others and viewed the ruins of the French settlement, houses, fields, and orchards wasted by the ruthless hand of war. Banks liked the place so well that he resolved when he obtained his discharge from the army that he would make his home in Bagaduce (now Castine). Phil Perkins, Castine historian, believed that Aaron Banks' home was at or near the northeast corner of Court and Dresser Streets.
John Peters' survey of 1787 shows Aaron Banks' property as a strip from the Bagaduce estuary to Penobscot Bay, including Blockhouse Point, generally including (or fronting the east side of) Tarrantine (formerly Broadway) Street. Aaron was born on 1 June 1738 in York County, Maine (then Massachusetts), and died on 9 August 1823 near Castine.
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