International incident: How Irish republicans planned to attack Campobello from the U.S.
While thousands were called, the damage was just a torched building and a stolen flag in 19th century incident
The New Brunswick Military History Museum's latest acquisition is a belated thank you for service to the country before it even existed.
The museum has been given a General Service Medal, which was awarded to a Campobello man for service during the Fenian raids in New Brunswick.
According to Bob Dallison, a Fredericton historian who wrote the book, Turning Back the Fenians, the medal was given out 30 years after the conflict, which took place in the 1860s in the year before Confederation.
"To get the medal you had to be a member who served during the Fenian crisis and you had to be alive,"Dallison said.
"The man that got the medal lived on Campobello Island and he served in the Third Battalion, Charlotte County Militia during the Fenian raids. And his name was Private John Almond Newman."
Who were the Fenians?
The Fenians were a group of Irish-Americans whose ultimate goal was Irish independence.
They attempted to accomplish this by trying to invade and occupy parts of British North America and essentially ransom them back to Britain in return for Irish independence.
While the Fenians and their raids were by and large localized in Upper Canada, in what is now Ontario, their paramilitary activities did extend to the east coast. Specifically to Campobello Island, which the Fenians sought to occupy in 1866.
Why Campobello?
New Brunswick, and Campobello in particular, was an attractive spot for Fenians.
The then-British colony wasn't as heavily defended as Upper and Lower Canada, and the island is a literal stone's throw away from Maine, where the Fenians congregated.
"We only had one British regiment stationed here in the province and a quarter of our population was Irish of descent and surely anybody with Irish blood would support them, so that's why they picked Campobello Island," said Dallison.
New Brunswick at the time was also dealing with a surge of anti-Confederation sentiment, which the Fenians believed would help their cause.
Hereward Senior, a McGill historian, wrote in his 1991 book, The last invasion of Canada, that the group wanted to occupy Campobello to give themselves an independent headquarters so they could interact with other states in much the same way the Confederate States of America did in the Civil War.
"With the [Confederates] in mind, the Fenians hoped to seize and hold a bit of British territory that would become the headquarters of the Irish republic," said Senior.
No secret
The Fenians were anything but secretive of their intention to march on Campobello and used it partly as propaganda.
The movement didn't escape the newspapers, with The Globe reporting, "marching armed men toward the frontier is an act of war, which the American government must suppress, if they intend to do duty towards their neighbours."
While the Fenians were essentially an armed military group operating outside the United States' neutrality, the Americans found themselves unable to condemn the group.
"With congressional elections on the way, the Irish vote was an important consideration," said Senior.
There was also the just recently concluded Civil War and the British government's complicated relationship with the Confederates.
While the British maintained an official neutrality, many businesses didn't adhere to this and dealt directly with the south, making some Maine residents less than sympathetic to their New Brunswick neighbours.
"Our neighbours had no charity for our people when we were in trouble, and labouring night and day to save the country from ruin and civil war," an editorial in The Ellsworth American said.
"It was then that we needed sympathy and a kind word, and most of all strict neutrality, but instead we got laughed at, jeered and the cold shoulder."
Several New Brunswickers fought on the side of the Union army during the Civil War, and the province served as a terminus for the Underground Railroad.
The not-so epic encounter
In April of 1866 about 500 weapons were sent to Eastport, Maine, aboard a former Confederate ship and about 1,000 Fenians set up along the Maine-New Brunswick border.
They would be met by a combined total of 5,000 forces loyal to Britain.
In the end, fighting was minimal, with the Fenians burning down a customs building on nearby Indian Island and stealing a Union Jack.
"The few shots exchanged in this encounter were the only warlike gestures of the whole affair," said Senior.
Proving the value of Confederation
While the Fenians were counting on the Maritimes' then-opposition to confederation, it may have had the opposite effect.
Senior said the raids helped turn the tide of public opinion in Nova Scotia, where recruits boarded ships to fight for the British against the Fenians.
In New Brunswick, they may have led to a pro-Confederation government.
Before the raids, Samuel Leonard Tilley, a pro-Confederation premier was defeated in a general election by the anti-Confederate Albert James Smith.
But in the election held after the skirmish, the tables were turned and pro-Confederate Peter Mitchell won.
"Once he got into power, he said, we're back into the Confederation business," said Dallison.
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With files from Information Morning Fredericton
