A Tale of Three Colonels

By

Charles Francis

Early that morning, before opening his store, John Allan stood looking out to sea.
Campobello, the island that serves as the dividing point between Passamaquoddy Bay
and the Bay of Fundy, bulked clear in the bright morning sunlight but the waters
out towards Grand Manan were obscured by a fog bank rolling in with the tide.
Between Campobello and Treat's Island, which Allan owned and where he had his
store, a small pink was tacking up the bay. Allan wondered if it would make land
ahead of the fog.

In the time that passed since he had stood looking out to sea, Allan worked on his
ledger and waited on customers. At some point the fog arrived, blotting out the
sun and creating an other worldly atmosphere of swirling, gray dampness. Looking
out the window after putting another log on the fire, Allan saw a dog seeming to
materialize out of the mists barely five feet from the store only to disappear
after taking a few steps. Turning from the window, he went back to his desk and
his ledger. Suddenly the door swung open and a man in a sodden great coat and
broad-brimmed hat dripping beads of moisture stepped in, bringing tendrils of fog
along with him. As Allan looked at the man his brow creased with perplexity. There
was something about the man that had more than a hint of the familiar.

John Allan, or, more properly, Colonel John Allan, is one of the Patriot heroes of
the American Revolution. Born in Scotland's Edinburgh Castle, Allan came to Nova
Scotia as a child and lived much of his adolescence and early adulthood in
Cumberland Township at the head of the Bay of Fundy. Here he married Mary Patten
and began to raise a family. A respected member of the Tatamagouche region, he was
elected to the Nova Scotia Legislative Assembly in 1775. The next year his seat
was declared vacant by reason of non-attendance.

The reason for Allan's non-attendance at the sessions of the Nova Scotia
Legislature was simple. He was in active rebellion against George III: first by
attempting to wrest Fort Cumberland, one of the forts that commanded the Chignecto
isthmus, out of British hands. When the attempt failed, Allan, branded traitor,
fled to Machias in what is now the State of Maine. From there he continued on to
Boston to volunteer his services to the Patriot cause. All the while his family
was in Halifax, his wife in prison, separated from the children.

John Allan held the office of Superintendent of the (American) Federal

Government's Eastern Indian Department from the close of the Revolution until
1794. Prior to that he was appointed by Massachusetts as military commander of all
Indian tribes in the Commonwealth, which at that time included Maine. In that
capacity he was instrumental in securing the aid of the Penobscot, Passamaquoddy,
and Maliseet in wresting much of southwestern Nova Scotia from British hands. Had
it not been for Allan's efforts all of Maine east of the Penobscot River might
well be a part of New Brunswick. Now, as the retired colonel looked at the
dripping figure who had just entered his store, a glimmer of memory from his days
as a soldier serving under George Washington came to him.

The vaguely familiar figure looked as if he might once have been powerful. Though
he ran to fat, it was evident he had once been well muscled. Even though his
clothes were on the shabby side, he carried himself well. There was even something
reminiscent of the military in his bearing. His face, once he had taken his hat
off, showed remnants of strength of character that had suffered from too much
alcohol or perhaps even drugs. The man's eyes had a haunted look, constantly
shifting and seeming unwilling to meet Allan's quizzical look. Then the stranger
spoke.

"Colonel Allan, I wonder if I might purchase some supplies?"

With the sound of the man's voice, John Allan's mind went back in time some twenty
years to the summer of 1775 and Cambridge, Massachusetts, when General George
Washington had given him his orders to proceed to the eastern frontier to persuade
and organize the tribes there to fight the British. That same summer another young
colonel had received orders from General Washington to proceed east also. That
colonel's orders involved the most audacious plan of the entire war: an attack,
which, if successful, would add Quebec to the rebelling thirteen colonies. This
was the man who now stood in John Allan's store on Treat's Island. The man was
none other than Benedict Arnold.

Colonel John Allan is a legitimate American hero who earned commendations from
George Washington. Benedict Arnold is viewed as an American pariah for his perfidy
in turning over the plans for West Point to the British and for becoming a British
officer. At best he was treated as a social outcast in England as well as in the
Maritimes. That both men would spend a portion of their last years as near
neighbors and have business dealings is one of the great quirks of history.
Included in this bit of historic irony is that Colonel James Robertson Arnold,
Benedict Arnold's son and the man in part responsible for making the Citadel in
Halifax the true Gibraltar of the North, also visited Fundy's western shores to
see where his father and for a time the entire Arnold family lived in ignominy.

On the surface it would appear that Colonel John Allan and Colonel Benedict Arnold
were complete opposites. Yet the lives and careers of the two have some surprising
parallels.

John Allan and Benedict Arnold were almost of an age. Allan was born in 1746 and
died in 1805. Arnold was born in 1741 and died in 1801. Both men were shopkeepers
in civilian life. Allan ran a general merchandise store and Arnold an apothecary.
It is in their military careers, however, that one finds the greatest degree of
similarity, at least up until the time Arnold became a turncoat. Both colonels got
their first important assignments at the same time and both assignments were
centered in what would become the State of Maine. Arnold, however, failed in his
while Allan was successful up to a point. Arnold did not succeed in adding Quebec
to the rebelling thirteen colonies while Allan added a portion of Nova Scotia to
what is now Maine.

In part John Allan's assignment was to keep the eastern tribes from joining forces
with the British. In June of 1775, Allan brought a group of Penobscot leaders to
meet with the Massachusetts Provincial Congress in Watertown. The Penobscots, who
had been complaining of white settlers on their traditional lands, were persuaded
by Allan to aid the Patriot cause in exchange for needed provisions. Important as
this accomplishment was, it was Allan's work with tribes further to the east,
particularly the Passamaquoddy, that had the greatest impact.

To gain the support of the Passamaquoddy, Allan first negotiated a treaty with the
Maliseet and the Mi'kmaq. The treaty required these two tribes to try to persuade
the Passamaquoddy to provide troops for Washington's army. While most Maliseet and
Mi'kmaq were at best nominal allies to the Patriot cause, they did fulfill that
part of the treaty relating to the Passamaquoddy.

It must be understood that at this time communities on the western shore of the
Bay of Fundy were largely ignored by the government at Halifax. For example, when
Machias applied to Halifax for a town charter, it was refused. Machias then turned
to Massachusetts, which granted the request. Maugerville, one of the settlements
which would eventually serve as a foundation for St. John, was in even a more no-
man's-land set of circumstances. Although it tended to look to Massachusetts for
leadership, officials there viewed it as too far to the east to maintain close
ties. However, Colonel Allan did travel up the St. John River and gain support
from some Maliseet there, the most notable being the sub chief Pierre Tomah. It
was the Passamaquoddy, though, who were to prove Allan's chief bulwark.

In the summer of 1775, Machias forces captured several vessels out of Halifax,
including the armed schooner Margaretta. In retaliation Sir George Collier sent a
force of British regulars to occupy the town.

The British arrived expecting to overawe an unprepared local rabble. What they
found instead were armed earthworks. Upon landing and forming into ranks, the
soldiers marched on the defenders. Suddenly, as if from nowhere, Passamaquoddy
erupted with loud war whoops and charged the astonished troops, who turned tail
and fled back to their ship. From then on Machias was left alone.

For the rest of the war Allan's Passamaquoddy served as patrols and spies,
passing on information to Allan who in turn passed it on to General Washington.
Largely because of the Passamaquoddy the British stayed east of the St. Croix
River.

With the close of the war John Allan moved to Treat's Island, off Moose Island
where Eastport is today. There he opened his store and began a successful shipping
business.

With the withdrawal of the British from the thirteen colonies, Benedict Arnold and
his family moved to London. When he and his family were treated as outcasts there,
they returned to North America, living in Halifax and St. John, where Arnold
opened an apothecary. However, the New Brunswick Loyalists- New Brunswick had
become a province in 1786- didn't want anything to do with him either. In fact
they boycotted his business and then ransacked it. Finally Arnold separated from
his family and moved to Passamaquoddy Bay, an area that was neither clearly
British nor American. Eventually, he returned to London where he died.

James Robertson Arnold was a child at the conclusion of the Revolution. In 1788,
he became one of the first students to enroll at King's College in Windsor, Nova
Scotia. He went on to become an officer in the British army serving with the
Royal Engineers. From 1818 to 1825 he was stationed in Halifax, where, with the
rank of colonel, he was in charge of refurbishing the Citadel. While Colonel
Arnold only began the work and it was completed by his successor, the Citadel
began to take on the look that it has today while James Arnold was in command.

While he was in Halifax James Arnold sailed to St. John to visit the house he and
his family had lived in. What he thought during the visit is anyone's guess.

John Allan's store ledgers carry the record of the many transactions Benedict
Arnold made there. Perhaps the most ironic aspect of this Bay of Fundy tale is
that it involves two colonels who were branded as traitor. One, however, went on
to become a hero, the other to live in ignominy. Yet, the hero treated the outcast
with a degree of humanity that the outcast probably could not have found
elsewhere. As for Colonel James Robertson Arnold, he would seem proof that the
sins of the father are not passed on to the son.

Author's note: While the description of initial meeting of John Allan and
Benedict Arnold is purely conjecture, the only way Arnold could have gotten to
Treat's Island for supplies was by boat. Arnold's sojourn in Passamaquoddy Bay was
the lowest point in his life. Among other things his wife, the former Philadelphia
socialite Peggy Shippen, refused to live in the sordid condition's Arnold was
willing to accept there. Arnold's abuse of alcohol is documented. Extensive drug
abuse, while more a matter for speculation, is suspected.

As for Mary Patten Allan, she was eventually released from her incarceration in
Halifax. She and the Allan children were reunited with John Allan in
Massachusetts.