 |
| Battle of Caribou | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 United States |  Canada | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| None | 2 wounded by black bears during confrontation | ||||||
| |||||||
The Battle of Caribou was a minor and ultimately bloodless skirmish between U.S. and British (Canadian) armed lumberjacks during the Aroostook War. It added to the growing tensions between the respective governments and encouraged the mobilization of local militias to the area, which nearly sparked an armed conflict.
The area that would become Caribou, Maine was valued for logging, and tensions over which government owned the territory in the vicinity of the Aroostook River flared during the winter of 1838–39. Lumberjacks from both Maine and New Brunswick each wished to harvest wood to the exclusion of their competitors from across the border, and by December 1838, competition coupled with fierce national pride led both sides to carry weapons for their own protection.
On December 29, 1838, New Brunswick lumberjacks were spotted felling trees on the estate that had formerly belonged to First Barbary War hero William Eaton. Eaton family members contacted American lumberjacks and other irregulars in the area, and an informal guard was deployed.[ citation needed ] On New Year's Eve, the New Brunswick woodcutters returned, and were promptly ordered to leave by the Eaton guard. Shouting began, and both sides drew firearms and prepared to fire. As this was occurring, however, a group of three Canadian lumberjacks were unexpectedly attacked by a black bear defending a small nearby cub. Though black bears are native to the area, they typically hibernate by that time of year, confusing the experienced outdoorsmen. The lumberjacks were able to shoot and kill the bear, but not before two of them suffered injuries. The Americans, assuming the shots were directed at them, fired several shots in retaliation. Though none of the Canadians were actually hit by fire, this coupled with the bear attack caused them to withdraw from the area. [1]
News of the encounter quickly spread to both sides. In Maine, Governor John Fairfield ordered the local militia to the site to arrest the "unruly wood thieves" in February 1839. The Canadian lumbermen responded by seizing the Maine Land Agent, and an international incident was sparked. Tensions remained high, with several arrests on both sides, until the Webster-Ashburton Treaty signed August 9, 1842, finally settled the issue. [1]
Aroostook County is a county in the U.S. state of Maine along the Canada–U.S. border. As of the 2020 census, the population was 67,105. Its county seat is Houlton, with offices in Caribou and Fort Kent.
Caribou is the second largest city in Aroostook County, Maine, United States. Its population was 7,396 at the 2020 census, and between the 2010 and 2020 census it was the fastest-shrinking city in Maine. The city is a service center for the agricultural and tourism industries, and the location of a National Weather Service Forecast Office.
Cyr Plantation is a plantation in Aroostook County, Maine, United States. The population was 78 at the 2020 census.
Presque Isle is the commercial center and largest city in Aroostook County, Maine, United States. The population was 8,797 at the 2020 Census. The city is home to the University of Maine at Presque Isle, Northern Maine Community College, Husson University Presque Isle, Northern Maine Fairgrounds, The Aroostook Centre Mall, and the Presque Isle International Airport.
The Aroostook War, or the Madawaska War, was a military and civilian-involved confrontation in 1838–1839 between the United States and the United Kingdom over the international boundary between the British colony of New Brunswick and the U.S. state of Maine. The term "war" was rhetorical; local militia units were called out but never engaged in actual combat. The event is best described as an international incident.
The Battle of Windsor was a short-lived campaign in the eastern Michigan area of the United States and the Windsor area of Upper Canada. A group of men on both sides of the border, calling themselves "Patriots", formed small militias in 1837 with the intention of seizing the Southern Ontario peninsula between the Detroit and Niagara Rivers and extending American-style government to Canada. They based groups in Michigan at Fort Gratiot, Mount Clemens, Detroit, and Gibraltar. The Patriots were defeated by British and American government forces, respectively.
The Aroostook River is a 112-mile-long (180 km) tributary of the Saint John River in the U.S. state of Maine and the Canadian province of New Brunswick. Its basin is the largest sub-drainage of the Saint John River.
The Republic of Madawaska was a putative republic in the northwest corner of Madawaska County, New Brunswick and adjacent areas of Aroostook County in the US state of Maine and of Quebec. The word "Madawaska" comes from the Miꞌkmaq words madawas and kak (porcupine). Thus, the Madawaska is "the country of the porcupine". The Madawaska River which flows into the Saint John River at Edmundston, New Brunswick, and Madawaska, Maine, flows through the region.
John Baker is the namesake of the towns of Baker Lake and Baker-Brook, New Brunswick, Canada, just west of Edmundston. He was a successful sawmill and gristmill businessman who became a well-known pro-American activist in New Brunswick and Maine during the 19th century and was nicknamed "the Washington of the Republic of Madawaska", which he had declared in response to the unwillingness of the Van Buren Administration in Washington to support Maine's claim to sizable areas of territory covering adjacent parts of the British colonies of Lower-Canada and New Brunswick, part of British North America. At least 22 years earlier, the War of 1812 had ended in a draw and had seriously depleted the US Treasury, demonstrating the will of Britain to engage in full warfare to guard British North America against US encroachment, including invasion of US territories and punitive raids. This had resulted in Washington adopting a policy of appeasement towards states with claims to British territories, which clashed with Maine's expansionist intentions that continued to simmer during the 1830s.
The Bangor and Aroostook Railroad was a United States railroad company that brought rail service to Aroostook County in northern Maine. Brightly-painted BAR boxcars attracted national attention in the 1950s. First-generation diesel locomotives operated on BAR until they were museum pieces. The economic downturn of the 1980s, coupled with the departure of heavy industry from northern Maine, forced the railroad to seek a buyer and end operations in 2003. It was succeeded by the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway.
The North Maine Woods is the northern geographic area of the state of Maine in the United States. The thinly populated region is overseen by a combination of private individual and private industrial owners and state government agencies, and is divided into 155 unincorporated townships within the NMW management area. There are no towns or paved roads.
John Fairfield was an attorney and politician from Maine. He served as a U.S. Congressman, governor and U.S. Senator.
Aroostook is a former village in Victoria County, New Brunswick, Canada. It held village status prior to 2023. It is now part of the village of Southern Victoria.
Caribou is one common name for the deer species Rangifer tarandus, also known as reindeer.
The history of New Brunswick covers the period from the arrival of the Paleo-Indians thousands of years ago to the present day. Prior to European colonization, the lands encompassing present-day New Brunswick were inhabited for millennia by the several First Nations groups, most notably the Maliseet, Mi'kmaq, and the Passamaquoddy.
Fort Kent, located at the confluence of the Fish and Saint John rivers in the town of Fort Kent, Maine, is the only surviving American fortification built during the border tensions with neighboring New Brunswick known as the Aroostook War. It is preserved as the Fort Kent State Historic Site, which features an original log blockhouse that is open for visits in the summer. The fort was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1969 and declared a National Historic Landmark in 1973.
Kennebec Arsenal is a historic arsenal on Arsenal Street in Augusta, Maine. Largely developed between 1828 and 1838 in part because of border disputes with neighboring New Brunswick, it was designated a National Historic Landmark District in 2000 as a good example of a nearly intact early 19th-century munitions storage facility. The arsenal property was garrisoned until 1901, after which it was turned over to the State of Maine as an expansion of the adjacent Maine State Hospital. The state for many years housed mental health patients there.
State Route 161 (SR 161) is part of Maine's system of numbered state highways. It runs 86 miles (138 km) from Fort Fairfield to Allagash. It begins at the Fort Fairfield - Andover Border Crossing along the Canada–US border to Dickey Road near the confluence of the Allagash and Saint John rivers.
Hancock Barracks was a 19th-century fortification near Houlton, Maine. It was an active United States Army post from 1828 to 1847.
The Maine Northern Railway Company Limited is a 258 mi (415 km) U.S. and Canadian short line railroad owned by the New Brunswick Railway Company, a holding company that is part of "Irving Transportation Services", a division within the industrial conglomerate J.D. Irving Limited.