The Revolution and Canada II

Notwithstanding the failure to capture Quebec in 1775 and early 1776, the Second Continental Congress authorized further attacks into Canada.  In 1777, it directed a Canadian turncoat, John Allan, to lead a Massachusetts militia unit in an attack on Saint John (now New Brunswick; then part of Nova Scotia).  The goal was an American presence in the western part of Nova Scotia in an effort to ally that province with the American cause.  American privateering activity had already taken its toll in the area.  On June 2, 1777 Allan and about 43 soldiers, including Indians, captured two of the town's leaders and gained a foothold, to be driven out by the end of June.  Nonetheless, Allan succeeded in turning the Maliseet Indians into allies.

The British built Fort Howe by the end of 1777 to protect the area from further incursion.  Below is a picture of the recreated blockhouse that stood nearby.

Chestnut Neck, Privateering and Terrorism

I had a prior post on Chestnut Neck, noting the role of foreign officers in the Continental Army.  This post takes a different look at the affair, which was the result of privateering activity by the Americans.  Jack Coggins, in Ships and Seamen of the American Revolution, notes that "[i]n a sense, a privateer was little more than a licensed pirate." Authorized by the Continental Congress, during the Revolution, privateers accounted for 800 commissioned vessels, far outnumbering the 198 commissioned vessels in the United States navy.

Here we see the view from Chestnut Neck across the Mullica River at the Jersey shore.

The Battle of Chestnut Neck makes us consider the rule of law and terrorism in the context of another time.    It has been suggested that the British deemed themselves, as we might put it today, to be fighting state-sponsored terrorism.  In an article on this topic, Professor Jesse Lemisch of John Jay College of Criminal Justice of the City University of New York has written that "[p]rivateers were denounced by the British in ways that resonate with the denunciation of terrorists that we hear these days."