Part III, Chapter IV: The Northwoods Revolution (I

The repeal of the Tariff of 1828 by the United States Congress in 1830 in an effort to appease rising southern unrest had rapidly reversed the trend of trade in southern states, and had thus accomplished this task in a few short months. As a result, it had eliminated any further thoughts of eventual secession from South Carolina courtesy of John Calhoun in great credit due to the normalization of agriculturally based economic affairs by March. However, its repeal had not eroded away the ideal of independence by the Council of the Northwoods or the Upper Midwest's fledgling North Star Republic. The Upper Mississippi River valley and Lake Superior still remained closed and blockaded at the hands of the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps, thus still eliminating any future traffic in or out of these widely regarded profitable waterways, which Northwoods settlers still relied on for fiscal livelihood. In addition, the initially harsh reaction by Jackson and the United States government at the onset of the Republic's declaration of its secession from the Union in late 1829 had complicated the entire affair to such a degree that the thought of the Republic's elected leaders or its constituents withdrawing from their proposal of independence due to the repeal of one of its primary "casus belli" was now deemed as impractical. Thus, in April, Carver and Pike had mutually concluded that regardless of Jackson's seemingly innocent efforts (although they were far from, as the President had become absolutely furious in Washington) to indirectly "barter" with the Republic - and even if these efforts persisted - the American public would still likely clamor for bloodshed if the revolution ended on American terms. They envisioned an enraged demographic who would most likely demand to gain "closure" to an event they had regarded as entirely too reckless and unnecessary. Jackson, who would soon be facing a reelection campaign for a second presidential term, would be happy to comply with their demands. In finality, they concurred that nothing, short of a treaty ending in favorable terms for the Republic, would end a foreseen desire of the American people to witness firsthand the Council and other regional secessionist advocates hanging from American gallows in Washington in the event of an unfortunate conclusion of hostilities. Furthermore, the majority of the Northwoods people, who had now fully accepted and embraced the thought of sovereignty, likewise envisioned and expected similar treatment in the event of a negotiated defeat, and predicted a brutal "occupation" that would follow, the conditions of which would naturally depreciate after the inevitable conclusion of a very public and biased trial of the region's once championed elected leaders.



This unlikely determination had also been emboldened due to hostile engagement in the Wisconsin frontier by Northwoods militia, whose members had already fired the first shots of the revolution in anger in the fall of 1829, prior to the Republic's official creation, against multiple American overland provisional convoys bringing supplies and payment to Fort Pike. By February of 1830 these continued and concentrated attacks had become more organized, and this in combination with the harsh Wisconsin winter had created an untenable situation for the Americans along the Mississippi River. The obvious benefit seen by American military planners to instead relocate the 5th Infantry Regiment eastward along the Illinois-Wisconsin Territory border in order to mitigate these attacks by shortening their supply lines also lead to the possibility for the Regiment to begin quelling the Revolution east of the Mississippi before continuing westward in a sequenced motion, which supported the adopted American military strategy of stomping out the revolution in a sweeping motion from the east, where there were less Northwoods settlers, to west, where there were far more. This adopted strategy ultimately lead to the Fort's abandonment in April of 1830, and Pike quickly seized the opportunity and captured the abandoned Fort a few short days later, eliminating the only federal installation in Minnesota. This early bloodless "victory," however, was offset by the dismal military state of the North Star Republic. Pike had been authorized through the First Federal Bank and the Council of the Northwoods to create one full standing and trained regiment, but by April had only been able to recruit roughly a company of rifles due to a multitude of obstacles. The proposed "1st North Star Infantry Regiment" of 3,000 men, which the Council had initially intended to field in full by summer of 1830, was thus only a regiment in name only and a fraction of its planned number, and was comprised chiefly of only 100 uniformed men.



The inherent difficulty of fielding a competitive military force on the Mississippi had not, however, lied in its financing. The First Federal Bank's creation in the winter of 1829 had become successful beyond premeditated measure, and the popular sale of North Star Republic war bonds in Saint Anthony Falls had lead to the ability for the Northwoods Council to have at their disposal a significant amount of funds in order to fund their war effort, which included paying the 100-some volunteers (in monthly increments according to rank) who had been recruited by Pike for their service. By March of 1830, a second physical establishment of the First Federal Bank had also been built in Duluth, and a third had likewise been built in Lake Pepin in order to gain funds from other Northwoods settlers who resided in these areas but who had not yet trekked north to Saint Anthony Falls, and saw proportionally equal and growing success in comparison to the original Saint Anthony Falls establishment. By April of 1830, Jean Rolette, the elected treasurer of the Bank, estimated that a staggering 9,000 war bonds in increments from one penny to an entire two Dollars had been sold through private investment. Due to the success of the bank, the Council had allowed contracted sewers to craft uniforms for the newly created members of its regiment in February, creating a professional appearance with a unique dark green uniform and did much to increase morale and espirit de corps of the tiny formation, who had subsequently been outfitted with these uniforms by April. The greatest obstacles to fielding the regiment, however, lied not in a lack of willing volunteers, as there were many, but lied firstly in training these Northwoods farmers and volunteers to become disciplined soldiers, as the Midwest frontier lacked settlers who had prior military leadership experience, and Pike could not feasibly train and command the entire regiment all by himself, although he had done this with his first initial 100 volunteers. More importantly, the issue lied in equipping these transformed soldiers with modern firearms. Only a quarter of the 10,000 protesters who had rallied to the Republic's cause by March of 1830 in Saint Anthony Falls had brought personally owned firearms with them, and it was clear that many of these firearms were outdated and lacked suitable ammunition, and would thus be ineffective against the coming American military counter-campaign. Pike, who had now established his military headquarters at the Fort of his namesake, consulted with Carver (who remained at the "seat of North Star government" in Saint Anthony Falls with the rest of the elected Council) to find a solution to the pressing issues.



At the Second Council of the Northwoods' conclusion in December of 1829, Stephen Carver, the Council's de facto leader, had outlined several key goals that the Republic had to meet by the end of 1830 in order to gain sovereignty from the United States, and one of these goals included foreign recognition of the Republic, focused mainly from Great Britain and France. Although Great Britain and France had been practically removed from the continent by 1814, they too had kept a watchful eye on the evolving situation in the Upper Midwest and the creation of the oddly regarded "North Star Republic." In January of 1830, Carver had received a request from both nations to send "peaceful international observers" to consult with the Republic's leaders, and Carver quickly and jubilantly responded with resounding agreement - even going so far as to give credit to divine providence for the requests. In February of 1830, Carver personally had welcomed both representatives to stay at his personal residence (which had humorously formerly been Pike's, but due to his absence had been "commandeered" by the Carver family) in an effort to make their stay in the austere region as comfortable and forgiving as possible. Claude Verdier from France and Richard Pakenham from Great Britain watched and observed as their jobs entitled, and marveled mostly at the Republic's efficiency, especially in regard to the establishment of their First Federal Bank and its successful sale of "war bonds," which the Republic's leaders were then using in turn to fund their revolution, as this premise had never before been implemented at its scale, even by western more "civilized" powers. Thus, by March, Pakenham and Verdier had sent back several reports to London and Paris, respectively, and both had detailed the Republic's efforts (in greatly embellished style) against the United States. Nonetheless, despite Carver's friendly relations with both "diplomats," he had not yet introduced the prospect of foreign aid to them, as waiting for the diplomats themselves to bring up the topic was regarded as much more beneficial.



Following the bloodless capture of Fort Pike in April, however, the continuing consultation from Pike regarding the Republic's "military" had lead Carver to muster the courage to finally bring the subject of foreign aid to the diplomatic discussion table, mostly due to Pike's impatience and perseverance to do so. Carver was quick to discount guarantees of independence, and wisely recognized that neither France nor Great Britain would be likely to recognize the Republic's sovereignty, as this would lead to harsh consequences economically from the United States, who had evolved into a major trading partner. Instead, Carver presented the possibility for both nations to possibly secretly fund the Republic's revolution through multiple different avenues of approach. He presented several options, but most importantly highlighted and requested help from both nations through shipment of modern firearms and foreign advisers to help train a standing military. In turn, he added that aiding the Republic's revolution would also lead to further trading opportunities for both nations, as a Northwoods victory through a negotiated treaty via a decisive military victory would ultimately lead to the nation's control of the entire Upper Mississippi River valley, Lake Superior and Lake Huron, and even possibly the Hudson Bay and the Missouri River, and all five very profitable waterways would as a result be free of American taxation and unpopular protectionist tariffs. Finally and most importantly, the creation of a sovereign republic who directly opposed the United States would lead to a balance of power on the continent, as the United States was completely unopposed due to its latest victory over Great Britain and its annexation of Canada in the War of 1812. Verdier and Pakenham, however, were both hesitant and unable to answer directly for their nations, but considered Carver's request with great interest, as their (so far) two month long stay had also fostered a healthy personal friendship. In April, the "observers" both responded that they had given and sent their recommendations to their respective nations, but again emphasized their inability to guarantee any response, positive or negative.



In May, the American military response to the "illegal secession of federal territory" had finally began in earnest on the southeastern border of the Wisconsin frontier. The United States 5th Infantry Regiment, which had abandoned Fort Pike earlier in April, had reorganized their efforts and had in turn captured a large swath of territory in the region, and had quickly established a large defensive perimeter around its gains. As a result, they had established a temporary headquarters and several encampments for their companies in order to support further military campaigns in the region throughout the summer and fall of 1830. Major General Alexander Macomb was appointed by Jackson to take overall command of the United States military's effort to crush the newly founded "Republic," as Winfield Scott was quickly disregarded as an option, as he was a personal friend of Pike, and thus Macomb arrived in the region by May 11th with the United States 2nd Infantry Regiment, which had recently been reallocated to the region after garrison duty in the South (where it had been previously located,) as this duty was regarded as no longer necessary due to the repeal of the Tariff of 1828 by Congress and the subsequent demise of southern agrarian dissent. Macomb, with 6,000 fresh and well equipped soldiers, began to press northwest towards Saint Anthony Falls from his consolidated southeastern corner of the territory in accordance with the "east to west" doctrine, and by the end of May had taken nearly a quarter of the Wisconsin territory with only minimal resistance, and as a result had easily positioned himself to take both Prarie du Chien and Green Bay by the end of June. Small amounts of Wisconsin based Northwoods militia patiently harassed the large American formations as they moved further into "Republic territory," but were nonetheless ineffective and accounted for only 10 American casualties by the end of the month.



Likewise in May, however, the American advance into Wisconsin was quickly offset by news that the British and French response to Carver's request for foreign aid had been secretly received in Saint Anthony Falls. Verdier and Pakenham quickly consulted with Carver and were happy to announce that both Paris and London had acknowledged the Republic's request to receive both arms and advisers, and had thus agreed to his proposal. However, both nations quickly emphasized in their statements that the shipment and eventual reception by the Republic of both assets (as London had agreed to send advisers, Paris firearms and ammunition) would take some time, as the American blockade of Lake Superior and the Mississippi would force British and French vessels to instead sail north into the Hudson Bay in an effort to avoid detection or, even worse, interception, and the offloaded materials and personnel would then have to trek overland south to the Minnesota frontier, where they could then be employed. As a result, Saint Anthony Falls could not expect the arrival of either advisers or firearms/ammunition until the winter of 1830, at the earliest. Carver and the Council, however, mutually regarded this delay as necessary, and optimally noted that the American closure of the Mississippi and Lake Superior had inadvertently caused British and French support to be diverted farther north, and thus also inadvertently mitigated the possibility for the United States to intercept or discover that Great Britain and France had agreed to support the "rebels" in the Upper Midwest, and as a result forbade the opportunity for a severe international incident to develop. Furthermore, it was to Carver's great relief that the two nations had also agreed to provide their clandestine support free of charge.



Pike (who had been appointed to the rank of General of the Armies of the North Star Republic) quickly began to rework the Republic's military strategy following the revelation that he could not expect foreign aid until winter. In essence, it focused on delay, as Pike knew that even after he had the ability to field a 3,000 man regiment he would never be able to challenge Macomb nor the United States Army conventionally, which numbered 6,000 strong in the Wisconsin theater alone. General Pike thus knew that the longer he could delay Macomb's advance through Wisconsin, the longer it would take Macomb to be in a position to siege and eventually take Fort Pike and as a result Saint Anthony Falls, which held both the largest concentration of Northwoods dissenters and the Republic's seat of government, and which if taken would undoubtedly end the war and the Republic. However, if Pike could delay Macomb long enough and fortify the Fort to such a degree as to render it unconquerable, he held the possibility to end the war in favorable terms for the Republic by way of decisive military victory, as Macomb would eventually have to commit to an assault on the Fort itself by summer of 1831 at the latest, especially if the war's end result - which was becoming a larger issue in Washington - directly effected Jackson's likelihood to be reelected for a second term in 1832. Pike had underwent a second recruiting effort in April to add another company of rifles, and was surprised by receiving nearly 2,000 applications to join the new formation, much to his delight, which further emboldened and emphasized that the ideal of Northwoods sovereignty was still very much alive. Nonetheless, a second company had been stood up and added to the 1st North Star Infantry Regiment, increasing the number of men in his formal command to 200, and they were deployed in haste to join the other half of the 1st Infantry at Fort Pike after they had been properly outfitted with uniforms by the end of May. Training and drilling of the two companies by the hands of Pike continued throughout the summer of 1830, although Pike remarked to Carver that his ability to control the discipline of both formations was difficult, as a student-to-teacher ratio of 200:1 was humorously impractical.