Aroostook War

Disputed border

The Treaty of Paris (1783) ended the Revolutionary War but left the boundary between British North America and the United States unclear. Massachusetts began issuing land grants in its District of Maine, including areas already claimed by the British. A collaborative survey team located the mouth and headwaters, and in 1798 the commission decided the southernmost portion of the boundary from the mouth of the St. Croix to its source at the Chiputneticook Lakes. The commission did not finalize the border north of the lakes, which was described as running in a straight line north to the highlands separating the Saint Lawrence River watershed from southern watersheds, nor did it resolve claims to islands in Passamaquoddy Bay.

During the War of 1812, the British occupied most of eastern Maine for eight months, intending to annex it as New Ireland. The Treaty of Ghent re-established the 1783 boundary line, and a commission resolved most island issues, though Machias Seal Island remains formally disputed. A British commissioner's recommendation that the northward line end at Mars Hill was rejected.

Posses, arrests, and the mobilization of militia

By 1835, the British had backed away from an earlier agreement known as the Dutch compromise and put forward a different border proposal, which the Americans turned down. The United States then suggested that Maine might accept the Saint John River as the dividing line, but the British rejected that offer. The following year, Maine conducted a special census, and when Penobscot County census taker Ebenezer Greeley started counting people in the upper Aroostook River area, New Brunswick’s Governor John Harvey had him arrested. Officials in New Brunswick then sent letters accusing Maine’s governor of bribery and warning that they would use military force if Maine kept trying to govern the Aroostook River and its tributary basins.

In response, Maine’s Governor Robert Dunlap issued a general order declaring that a foreign power had invaded the state. In March 1838, Maine demanded a survey based on the American claim and asked the federal government to enforce it, but Washington refused, only authorizing a survey for possible fortifications. Maine’s legislature set aside $800,000 for military defense, while Congress gave the president authority to call up the militia with a $10 million budget. Nova Scotia, meanwhile, voted $100,000 to help defend New Brunswick.

During the winter of 1838–1839, lumberjacks from both sides cut timber in the disputed area, leading to the Battle of Caribou and other clashes. On January 24, 1839, Maine’s legislature authorized newly elected Governor John Fairfield to send land agent Rufus McIntire, the Penobscot County sheriff, and a volunteer militia posse to the upper Aroostook to arrest New Brunswickers. The posse left Bangor on February 8, set up camp where Saint Croix Stream meets the Aroostook River, and began seizing lumbering gear and sending captured lumbermen back to Maine for trial. Learning of this, a group of New Brunswick lumbermen broke into the Woodstock arsenal, armed themselves, formed their own posse, and captured McIntire and his assistants in the night, hauling them in chains to Woodstock for an interview.

American and British governments step in

During Congressional debates on 2 March 1839, Representative Francis Ormand Jonathan Smith of Maine outlined events and communications since 1825, declaring that Maine would defend its territory alone if the national government chose not to. President Martin Van Buren assigned Brigadier General Winfield Scott, then involved in the Cherokee removal, to the conflict area; he arrived in Boston in early March 1839. Additional information arriving through April and May 1839 kept Congressional debate lively until Congress authorized a force of 50,000 men and appropriated $10 million, placed at the disposal of the President in the event foreign military troops crossed into US territory during the summer 1839 recess. Maine initially committed three thousand to ten thousand militia to the conflict.

Sir John Harvey had supervised Winfield Scott during his time as a prisoner of war during the War of 1812, and the President and his advisers saw that relationship as a point of mutual respect. Pursuant to the terms of the truce for administration within the disputed area, the Maine Legislature on 6 April 1839 created an armed civil posse. On advice of Brigadier General Scott, Maine issued General Orders to recall the militia in May and June 1839 and replace them with the armed civil posse. The office of the Maine state land agent led the armed civil posse with Deputy Land Agent William Parrott at Fort Fairfield and Captain Stover Rines at Camp Jarvis on the Fish River.

The United States Army began the permanent structure of Fort Fairfield in April 1839 and Fort Kent in October 1839. Major R. M. Kirby commanded Hancock Barracks post near Houlton with three companies of the U.S. 1st Artillery Regiment. Four companies of the British 11th Regiment of Foot marched from Quebec City to build a barracks across the Saint John River from Fort Kent. New Brunswick armed every tributary of the Saint John River that flowed from the Aroostook Territory with regular and militia soldiers.

Settlement

Neither side wanted a war that would badly hurt their trade. The dispute was settled by Daniel Webster and Alexander Baring, the first Baron Ashburton, through the Webster–Ashburton Treaty of 1842. This agreement fixed the boundary between Maine, Canada, and New Brunswick, as well as the borders between British North America and New Hampshire, Michigan, and Minnesota.

The United States received 7,015 square miles, while Britain got 5,012 square miles. The British kept the northern part of the contested area, including the Halifax Road, which gave them year-round overland military access between the Province of Canada and Nova Scotia. The U.S. government paid Maine and Massachusetts $150,000 each for the lost land and for costs incurred while Maine’s armed civilian posse ran the truce period.

Webster used a map that American Jared Sparks found in the Paris Archives. Benjamin Franklin had supposedly drawn a red line on it, and the map showed the disputed area belonged to the British. This helped convince Maine and Massachusetts to accept the deal. When criticized later for hiding the map, Webster said he did not think it was very urgent to tell Lord Ashburton about it.

Ashburton agreed, saying no fair reproach could be made. The British Foreign Office, without Ashburton’s knowledge, hid a different map called “Mitchell’s map,” which generally supported the American side. Some people claim British officials faked the Franklin map to pressure the American negotiators, because that British map placed the entire disputed area on the American side.

Did You Know?

• The tensions leading up to the Aroostook War are referenced in the 1835 short story 'The Squatter' by John Neal.
• In 1830, New Brunswick militia entered a meeting hall in Madawaska and threatened to arrest any resident attempting to organize for incorporation into Maine.