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New Ireland was a British colony established in Maine after British forces captured the area during the American Revolution and again during the War of 1812. The colony lasted four years during the Revolution, and eight months during the War of 1812. At the end of each war, treaties were signed and Britain gave the colony to America. == American Revolution == In 1779 the British adopted a strategy to seize parts of Maine, especially around Penobscot Bay, and make it a new colony to be called "New Ireland". The scheme was promoted by exiled Loyalists Dr. John Calef (1725–1812) and John Nutting (fl. 1775-85) and Anglo-Irishman William Knox (1732–1810). It was intended to be a permanent colony for Loyalists and a base for military action during the war.〔Robert W. Sloan, "New Ireland: Men in Pursuit of a Forlorn Hope, 1779-1784," ''Maine Historical Society Quarterly,'' 1979, Vol. 19 Issue 2, pp 73-90〕 In early July 1779, nearly three years after the American Patriots had declared independence from Britain, a British naval and military force under the command of General Francis McLean sailed into Castine's commodious harbor, landed troops, and took control of the village. They began erecting Fort George on one of the highest points of the peninsula. Alarmed by this incursion, the state of Massachusetts sent the Penobscot Expedition led by Massachusetts general Solomon Lovell and Continental Navy captain Dudley Saltonstall (seconded by Gen. Peleg Wadsworth and Col. Paul Revere was given charge of the ordnance). The military expedition consisted of a fleet of 19 armed vessels and 24 transports, carrying 344 guns. Although badly outnumbered, McLean and his British forces (the 74th Regiment and the 82nd Regiment) withstood the 21-day siege and the Americans were routed by the arrival of British reinforcements under the command of Collier. The Royal Navy blocked an escape by sea so the Patriots burned their ships near present-day Bangor and walked home.〔Woodard, Colin. (''The Lobster Coast'' ). New York. Viking/Penguin, ISBN 0-670-03324-3, 2004, pp. 139-140〕 New England was unable to repel the British threat despite a reorganized defense and the imposition of martial law in selected areas of Maine. Some of the most easterly towns tried to become neutral.〔James S. Leamon, "The Search for Security: Maine after Penobscot," ''Maine Historical Society Quarterly,'' 1982, Vol. 21 Issue 3, pp 119-153〕 The battle was one of the greatest British victories of the war. The failed Penobscot Expedition, which cost the revolutionaries eight million dollars, proved to be the greatest American naval defeat until Pearl Harbor in 1941. The 74th Regiment held Majabagaduce until the end of the war, when it was ceded to the Americans as part of the peace settlement. Saltonstall and Revere were later court-martialed, charged with cowardice and insubordination; the boards found Saltonsall guilty, but acquitted Revere. . At the end of the Revolutionary War, many American Loyalists in the area migrated eastward to the Canadian Maritimes, some towing their houses behind their boats. Subsequently known as United Empire Loyalists, they crossed the newly established international boundary line of the St. Croix River and established St. Andrews, one of the oldest towns in New Brunswick. In addition, many soldiers 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. After the peace was signed in 1783, the New Ireland proposal was abandoned. In 1784 the British split New Brunswick off from Nova Scotia and made it into the desired Loyalist colony, with deference to King and Church, and with republicanism suppressed. It was almost named "New Ireland".〔Ann Gorman Condon, ''The Envy of the American States: The Loyalist Dream for New Brunswick'' (1984)〕 The Treaty of Paris that ended the war was ambiguous about the boundary between Maine and the neighboring British provinces of New Brunswick (Sunbury County, Nova Scotia) and Quebec. This would set the stage for further fighting in the nineteenth century. The New Ireland colony and the Penobscot expedition was fictionalised in the 2010 novel The Fort by British author Bernard Cornwell. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「New Ireland (Maine)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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