Cupcakes sweeten ties between Cow Day, history
July 15 is Cow Appreciation Day, sponsored by the American Library Association. A gentleman by the name of Emmett Lee Dickinson established the day in the late 1800s as a tribute to poet Gelett Burgess.
As Presque Isle has an important historic event related to a cow, the Presque Isle Historical Society is celebrating the day by distributing cupcakes with cow-shaped sprinkles to its board members.
When the Revolutionary War ended, no boundary was established between what is now the Province of New Brunswick and the State of Maine, society officials explained. This didn’t really become an issue until Maine achieved Statehood in 1820 and began giving out free land grants to encourage settlement. At the time, there were about 12,000 acres of timber-rich land being claimed by both the United States and Canada. Timber at that time was very important as it was the main building material, the primary source of heat, and was the material used to build ships and their masts as well.
In 1828, two incidents took place in northern Maine that may have led to The Aroostook War in 1839 and ultimately the establishment of the final border between Maine and New Brunswick with the Webster-Ashburton Treaty in 1842. One of these incidents started with a cow.
The “Incident of Arnold’s Cow” took place in 1828 in Maysville. Maysville was the town between Caribou and Presque Isle and was annexed by Presque Isle in 1883. This “incident” is important to international and national as well as local history. If Canada had gotten its way and all 12,000 acres, Maine’s northern border would have ended at Mars Hill.
A Maysville farmer by the name of Joseph Arnold had a cow that his neighbor Mr. McCready kept trying to claim as his own. McCready called in the Canadian constable to settle the matter. The constable arrived with five armed men and forcibly took the cow.
This act enraged the men of Maysville, who felt very strongly that this was Maine territory and that the constable had no jurisdiction here. As a result, 13 men took up arms and went after the constable and his men. The Maysville men caught up with the constable, disarmed him and his deputies, took the cow, and escorted the Canadians to what they felt was the border, advising them not to return.
Because of its significance in determining the last border of our country, The Aroostook War could arguably be the last battle of the American Revolution.
