New Ireland was aCrown colony of theKingdom of Great Britain twice established in modern-dayMaine after British forces captured the area during theAmerican Revolutionary War and again during theWar of 1812. The colony lasted four years during the Revolution, and eight months during the War of 1812. At the end of each war the British ceded the land to the United States under the terms of theTreaty of Paris and theTreaty of Ghent, respectively.
In 1779 the British adopted a strategy to capture parts of Maine, especially around Penobscot Bay, and transform it into a new colony to be called "New Ireland". The scheme was promoted by exiled LoyalistsJohn Caleff (1725–1812),[1][2]John Nutting (fl. 1775–1785)[3][4][5] and Anglo-Irishman William Knox (1732–1810).[6][7][8] It was intended to be a permanent colony for Loyalists and a base for military action during the war.[9]
On 30 May 1779, eight British ships of war left from Halifax with 640 troops.[10] Under the command of GeneralFrancis McLean, the ships entered Castine's harbor, landed troops, and captured the village. They began erectingFort George on one of the highest points of the peninsula. Alarmed by this incursion, theCommonwealth of Massachusetts sent thePenobscot Expedition led by Massachusetts generalSolomon Lovell and Continental Navy captainDudley Saltonstall, seconded by GeneralPeleg Wadsworth. ColonelPaul Revere was given charge of the ordnance. The military expedition consisted of a fleet of 19 warships and 25 support ships, carrying 344 guns in total.
Although badly outnumbered, McLean and his British forces (the74th Regiment and the82nd Regiment) withstood the 21-day siege and the Americans were routed by the arrival of British reinforcements under the command of Collier. The Patriots, having been blocked from escaping by sea by the Royal Navy, burned their ships near present-day Bangor and walked home.[11] New England was unable to dislodge the British despite a reorganized defense and the imposition of martial law in parts of Maine. Some of the most easterly towns declared themselves neutral and remained uninvolved in the war.[12] The battle was one of the greatest British victories of the war. The failedPenobscot Expedition, which cost the revolutionaries eight million dollars and 43 ships, proved to be the greatestAmerican naval defeat untilPearl Harbor in 1941. The British 74th Regiment heldMajabagaduce until the end of the war.
The British established a fort, under the command of Campbell, protecting about 30 houses occupied by Loyalists attracted to the area. The fort housed captured American privateers and received trade fromHalifax andNew York. The guide who led the loyalists to the fort was discovered, tried by a court-martial under Major Burton, condemned and executed under the direction of Major GeneralJames Wadsworth. A party of 25 Loyalists subsequently went to Wadsworth's quarters and took him prisoner. He eventually escaped on 15 June 1781.[13][14] New Ireland was ceded to the Americans as part of the Paris peace settlement. Saltonstall and Revere were latercourt-martialed, charged with cowardice and insubordination; the boards found Saltonsall guilty, but acquitted Revere.
At the end of theRevolutionary War, many American Loyalists in the area migrated eastward to the CanadianMaritimes, some towing their houses behind their boats. Subsequently known asUnited Empire Loyalists, they crossed the newly establishedinternational boundary line of theSt. Croix River and establishedSt. Andrews, one of the oldest towns inNew Brunswick. In addition, manysoldiers of the 74th chose to be disbanded in St. Andrews (last muster May 24, 1784), and took up land grants there along with the Loyalists, rather than return to Britain.[15] After the peace was signed in 1783, the New Ireland proposal was abandoned. In 1784 the decision was made to split New Brunswick off from Nova Scotia and made it into the desired Loyalist colony. It was planned to be named "New Ireland", but these plans fell through and it was instead named New Brunswick.[16] TheTreaty of Paris that ended the war was ambiguous in defining the boundary between Maine and the neighbouring British provinces of New Brunswick (Sunbury County, Nova Scotia) and Quebec.
The New Ireland colony and the Penobscot expedition was fictionalised in the 2010 novelThe Fort by British author Bernard Cornwell.
During theWar of 1812, from his base inHalifax, Nova Scotia, in August and September 1814, Lieutenant GovernorJohn Coape Sherbrooke of Nova Scotia sent a naval force and 500 British troops under the command of Vice AdmiralColpoys to conquer Maine and re-establish the colony of New Ireland. In 26 days, they succeeded in taking possession ofHampden,Bangor, andMachias, destroying or capturing 17 American ships. They won theBattle of Hampden and occupied the village of Castine for the rest of the war, rebuilding Fort George, occupying a former American fort, and building three new forts there.[17] Like the Revolutionary War, the goal was to incorporate Maine into Canada; George F.W. Young, a retired Saint Mary's University history professor, said that the British “wanted to extend the border back down to what they thought was the historic frontier.”[18]
TheTreaty of Ghent returned this territory to the United States. The British left in April 1815, at which time they collected £10,750 obtained from tariff duties at Castine. The brief life of the colony yielded customs revenues, called the "Castine Fund", which were subsequently used to financea military library in Halifax and foundDalhousie College.[19] Dalhousie University has a street named "Castine Way".[20]
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