New Ireland (Maine)

New Ireland was a Crown colony of the United Kingdom established in modern-day 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 the United Kingdom ceded the land back to the United States under the Treaty of Paris and Treaty of Ghent, respectively.

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.

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 Commonwealth 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. 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.

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