Böcker av W.E. (Gary) Campbell

The Aroostook War of 1839, an oft-forgotten incident in the storied history of Canada-US relations, is a misnomer. It was an undeclared war with no real combat. Its underpinnings were a two-fold reaction to the 1793 Treaty of Paris -- which ended the American Revolutionary War but left the border between Maine (then part of Massachusetts) and British North America unsettled -- and the War of 1812, when parts of northern Maine were occupied by Britain. Concluding that a negotiated border might negatively afect their claim for the disputed territory, the Maine government set out to occupy the Aroostook River valley in early 1839. In preparation for armed conflict, British regulars, New Brunswick militia, and Maine militia were deployed in the dead of winter, laying the kindling for a third major Anglo-American conflagration. Although a truce negotiated in late March 1839 prevented the outbreak of hostilities, confrontations between the Maine volunteers and New Brunswick's warden, magistrates, and seizing officers continued. Ultimately, cooler heads prevailed and an agreement was reached, which resulted in the Ashburton-Webster Treaty of 1842. A multifaceted story of friction, greed, land grabs, and rivalry, this tale of a border dispute and near-war is an intriguing chapter in the history of Canada and the United States.

The Trans-Canada Highway winds along the Saint John and Madawaska rivers through New Brunswick and Quebec to the St. Lawrence River. It follows one of the oldest and strategically most important routes in North American history: the Grand Communications Route. For millennia, the Saint John River system had been a major artery in the vast system of lakes, rivers, and portages linking aboriginal communities. During the French and British colonial periods, and until the advent of rail travel in the 1870s, it remained the backbone of an overland route between the Atlantic Ocean and the interior of the continent. Today, the traveller along the Trans-Canada Highway can visit some of the forts that once defended this vital Road to Canada.