Western Hemisphere 41
Narrative: Canadian troops seized and burned the Caroline, an American ship that
was being used to supply Canadian rebels who had taken refuge on an island in the
Niagara River. American troops were moved to the border in response.
Coding changes: End Date changed from January 5, 1838.
MID#15
Dispute Number: 15
Date(s): February 1, 1839 to March 1, 1839
Participants: 2 United States of America/200 United Kingdom
Outcome (and Settlement): Compromise (Negotiated)
Fatalities: None
Narrative: This is the Aroostook War between the United States and the British in
Canada. Though a bloodless confrontation, tensions were high, troops were mobi-
lized, and the prospect of violence between local militias for both sides was very real.
The boundary between the United States and the British Canadian provinces of New
Brunswick and Quebec was at the heart of the dispute. There was a contested territory
called the (unrecognized) Republic of Madawaska (present day Madawaksa County
in New Brunswick) that Maine considered part of its state, pushing the border close to
the St. Lawrence River. Meanwhile, the British claimed everything north of the 46th
parallel north, including almost all of the Valley of St. John.
Nonmilitarized incidents between the two sides in the contested territory date back
to the late 1820s, but the militarized confrontation began in 1839.
Ebenezer Greeley was sent by Congress into the contested Madawaska region
to perform a census for a congressional refund. Greeley was arrested and taken to
Fredericton. Sir John Harvey, governor of New Brunswick, threatened more action
against Maine if it continued to exercise control over the territory, while Maine inter-
preted the act as an invasion by a foreign power. Violence, mostly between American
and New Brunswick lumberjacks in the contested region, ensued, but no official acts
of war took place. Rather than fight, both Maine and New Brunswick sought arbitra-
tion. The arbitration resulted in the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842.
Coding changes: Start Date changed from January 1839. End Date changed from
March 23, 1839.
MID#373
Dispute Number: 373
Date(s): January 1846 to June 15, 1846
Participants: 200 United Kingdom/2 United States of America
Outcome (and Settlement): Compromise (Negotiated)
Fatalities: None
Narrative: The United States was actively expanding its borders and had just recently
annexed Texas (with Texan consent). Northern Democrats, suspicious of the domestic
political effect of the annexation—southern slaveholders had favored the annexa-
tion—encouraged further encroachment into the Oregon Territory to balance political
interests in Washington. The territory was mutually held by both the United States and