Joseph Frye was a renowned military leader from colonial Maine

Maine

Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...

.

Born in Andover, Massachusetts

Andover, Massachusetts

Andover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It was incorporated in 1646 and as of the 2010 census, the population was 33,201...

, he obtained the rank of general in the Massachusetts militia

Massachusetts militia

Militia of the Colony and later Commonwealth of Massachusetts.-List of Massachusetts militia units of the American Revolution:*Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts *Cogswell's Regiment of Militia...

 after serving in King George's War

King George's War

King George's War is the name given to the operations in North America that formed part of the War of the Austrian Succession . It was the third of the four French and Indian Wars. It took place primarily in the British provinces of New York, Massachusetts Bay, New Hampshire, and Nova Scotia...

 and the French and Indian War

French and Indian War

The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...

. For services during that conflict, the Massachusetts General Court

Massachusetts General Court

The Massachusetts General Court is the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The name "General Court" is a hold-over from the Colonial Era, when this body also sat in judgment of judicial appeals cases...

 in 1762 granted him a township on the Saco River

Saco River

The Saco River is a river in northeastern New Hampshire and southwestern Maine in the United States. It drains a rural area of of forests and farmlands west and southwest of Portland, emptying into the Atlantic Ocean at Saco Bay, from its source. It supplies drinking water to roughly 250,000...

 which had once been the Sokokis Abenaki village of Pequawket

Pequawket

The Pequawket are a Native American subdivision of the Abenaki people who formerly lived near the headwaters of the Saco River in Carroll County, New Hampshire and Oxford County, Maine...

. In 1777, the plantation was incorporated as Fryeburg, Maine, named in his honor. Frye is best known for the role he played expanding the colonial frontier into lands formerly held by both the French

French people

The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...

 and Abenakis. He is regarded as the successor of John Lovewell

John Lovewell (Junior)

John Lovewell was a famous Ranger in the 18th century who fought during Dummer's War . He lived in present-day Nashua, New Hampshire...

, and also an enemy of Molly Ockett

Molly Ockett

Molly Ockett was a Native American woman of the Abenaki nation who lived in the regions of northern New Hampshire and Maine during colonial times. Her Abenaki name meant "Singing Bird", but she was also baptised and given the name Mary Agatha...

, leader and sage among dispossessed Algonquian peoples

Algonquian peoples

The Algonquian are one of the most populous and widespread North American native language groups, with tribes originally numbering in the hundreds. Today hundreds of thousands of individuals identify with various Algonquian peoples...

.

Frye served in the early stages of the American Revolutionary War

American Revolutionary War

The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...

, first as a major general of Massachusetts militia, and then briefly as a brigadier general in the Continental Army

Continental Army

The Continental Army was formed after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War by the colonies that became the United States of America. Established by a resolution of the Continental Congress on June 14, 1775, it was created to coordinate the military efforts of the Thirteen Colonies in...

. He resigned on April 23, 1776, because his age made him ill-suited for active duty.