Turning Back the Fenians: New Brunswick's Last Colonial Campaign

Richard Wilbur is the author of The Rise of French New Brunswick and
H.H. Stevens, 1878–1973 and co-author of Silver Harvest. His latest
book is Horse-Drawn Carriages and Sleighs: Elegant Vehicles from New
England and New Brunswick.

Dallison begins the eighth volume in the New Brunswick Military Heritage
Project series with an account of the genuine threat of 30,000 Fenians
who gathered across the border in Calais, Maine, in 1865. He moves on to
a detailed account of the cooperative roles played by the British
military garrison stationed in the province and the local militia on the
one hand, and the major role played by New Brunswick Lieutenant-Governor
Sir Arthur Charles Gordon on the other. In fact, Gordon is the key
player in this story, working quickly and successfully to arouse local
politicians to help finance a moribund militia while keeping up an
almost daily correspondence with British military authorities and the
consular services in the United States.

The main efforts were centred on Saint John, where the local defences
were soon bolstered by a Royal Navy squadron from Halifax and the border
communities of St. Andrews and St. Stephen. As a retired army colonel
with a strong academic background in Canadian history, Dallison is
clearly at home detailing the rapid expanse of military administration.
He provides brief but lively descriptions of local conditions such as
the disruptive role played by an overbearing St. Andrews politician and
would-be militia commander. He also brings out the ongoing antipathy
between New Brunswick Protestants and Catholics while showing how they
put aside their differences to fend off the Fenian invasion that
fortunately never took place.

There are no footnotes in this small volume, but the author’s select
bibliography and acknowledgements indicate that his research was
extensive and put to excellent use. His book includes a glossary of
terms and a helpful list of “Key Personalities in the Fenian
Crisis.”