Pittsburg NH used to be an independent nation

[mackler]

Here's some more "history I didn't learn in government school."

For three years in the nineteeth century, Pittsburg, NH was the capitol of a constitutional republic known as "Indian Stream."

The following is according to wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Indian_Stream

The American Revolutionary War ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1783, which attempted to define the border between the US and Canada.  The treaty referred to "the northwesternmost head of Connecticut River" but the Americans and the British disagreed about what that meant since the river has several tributaries.

Both the US and Britain claimed a certain ambiguous area.  Both the US and Britain sent tax-collectors and debt-collecting sheriffs into the ambiguous area.  Being taxed by one government is bad enough, but being taxed by two governments was more than the locals would take, and on July 9, 1832 (independence day) they formed the independent republic of "Indian Stream."  The citizens were known as "Streamers."

So what went wrong?   A certain Streamer supposedly had an unpaid hardware-store bill in Canada.  A British Judge sent a British Sheriff into Indian Stream.  The Sheriff arrested the Streamer and brought him to Canada to a debtor's prison.  The Streamers formed a posse, invaded Canada, shot up the Judge's house where their countryman was being held, and escaped him to freedom.  After this international incident, for some reason the Indian Stream Congress voted to be annexed by New Hampshire.  In 1835 the New Hampshire Militia occupied the area, and it ceased to be a independent nation.

[ThePug]

A similar thing happened on the around the disputed Maine-Canada border. The "Republic of Madawaska" wasn't quite as successful as Indian Stream, but one interesting thing is the name. "Madawaska" comes from the local Indian language, and means literally- "country of the porcupine".  I wonder if they had a similar symbolism in mind.

They even have their "own" flag, designed in 1938, though it has an American eagle on it. They fly it over the town hall of Edmundston, NB, whose mayor also takes the title "President of the Republic of Madawaska".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Madawaska