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CANADA and the UNITED STATES, 1814-46 (6 of 7)

After Maine became a state in 1820 it began granting lands to settlers, lands in the valley of the Aroostook River, an area claimed by the British. During the winter of 1838-39, British lumberjacks entered the area to cut wood. A land agent arrived from the U.S. to expel them, and in February the British lumberjacks seized him. Maine sent 10,000 troops to the area. A militia in New Brunswick was called up, and the U.S. President, Van Buren, sent one of his generals, Winfield Scott, to the valley in hopes that Scott could settle the dispute peacefully. In March, 1839, a treaty was arranged by Scott between Maine and New Brunswick. Violence was averted, the U.S. troops suffering only one death, Private Hiram T. Smith, of an unknown cause.

The work of a boundary commission consisting of British and U.S. representatives resulted in the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842. The treaty gave 7,015 square miles to the United States, 5,012 square miles to the British and left them with overland military communications between New Brunswick and Montreal. Britain agreed to pay Maine and Massachusetts $150,000 each, and the U.S. reimbursed Britain for expenses incurred during the crisis.