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Under His Own Flag: John Baker’S Gravestone Memorial In Retrospect, George L. Findlen

Maine History

John Baker is an enigmatic figure, half hero and half scoundrel His actions in raising the American flag on the north shore of the St. John River in July 1827, in defiance of British authorities, contributed to the tensions that resulted in the “Bloodless” Aroostook War in 1839, and this in turn provided the impetus for settling the U.S.-Canadian boundary along the St. John River according to the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842. Jn 1868 the State of Maine erected a monument of sorts to the memory of John Baker in a cemetery near Fort Fairfield. Pondering why the monument was …