The Aroostook War

What if I told you that there was a war in Maine that never had a shot fired, would you know what war I was talking about? How about a war that had several blockhouses that were on rivers to stop boats from going up and down rivers, and had purposely created many forts to house the military, would you know then? What if this war determined the actual Canadian and American borders as they now are, would that help? Well, I am talking about the Aroostook War, which was a battle to determine the northern border of Maine. This conflict never had a shot fired, but was a true testament of clear determination by a resilient number of American people to remain being Americans.

After 1783, when the treaty of Paris, which was between the French and British, there was no great determination of the geographic boundary between, then the British colony of New Brunswick, New Brunswick Province and the District of Maine, which was a commonwealth of Massachusetts, at that time. This caused a boundary dispute, which intensified after 1820 when Maine became a state. Mainers started going to the Aroostook River valley, and encompassing regions and were granted homestead rights by the State of Maine. The major problem with this is that the Aroostook River ran into the Saint John River which is a major river running into the Bay of Fundy. Since this was the situation, the summer farmers from New Brunswick would go up the rivers while lumbering in the winter, then settle in on land that Maine said it owned.

In the February of 1839, the New Brunswick loggers seized an American Land agent that they claimed was trying to gain illegal jurisdiction over the designated area. This was the legitimate beginning of the conflict. The governor of Maine was Edward Kent, while New Brunswick's governor was Sir John Harvey. This is where the town of Fort Kent, Maine came from, as well as the name, Saint John River for the huge river that actually goes all the way to the Bay of Fundy. Both sides sent out their militiamen, and the U.S. Congress sent 50,000 men and approved $10,000,000.00.

In March of 1839, there was a formal agreement between Maine and New Brunswick which managed to avert and actual fighting. By 1842 there was a Webster-Ashburton Treaty that settled the borders.

As you look at the map provided New Brunswick was claiming down into middle Maine, while Maine was claiming on the other side of the Saint John River. Maine faired better by getting over seven thousand square miles and New Brunswick received a little over fiver thousand square miles.

There were several forts and barracks, as well as block houses built for this Aroostook War, but few still exist, except in the memories of books written. The Mainers even came up with a song as they marched north to meet the British, which I have included here. This I found while reading more information about this conflict, and it was supplied by Scott Michaud who wrote about the Aroostook War.

"THE AROOSTOOK WAR FIGHTING SONG"
(the tune is Auld Lang Syne)
We are marching on to Madawaska,
to fight the trespassers;
we'll teach the British how to walk
and come off conquerors.
We'll have our land, right good and clear,
for all the English say;
they shall not cut another log,
nor stay another day.
They need not think to have our land,
We Yankees can fight well;
we've whipped them twice most manfully,
as every child can tell.
And if the tyrants say one word,
A third time we will show,
how high the Yankee spirit runs,
and what our guns can do.
They better much all stay at home,
and mind their business there;
the way we treated them before,
Made all the nations stare.
Come on! Brace fellows, one and all!
The Red-Coats ne'er shall say,
we Yankees, feared to meet them armed,
so gave our land away.
We'll feed them well with ball and shot.
We'll cut these red-coats down,
before we yield to them an inch
or title of our ground.
Ye husbands, fathers, brothers, sons,
from every quarter come!
March, to the bugle and the fife!
March, to the beating drum!
Onward! My lads so brave and true
our country's right demands
with justice, and with glory fight,
for these Aroostook lands!
Bangor, Feb. 21, 1839