Republic
of Indian Stream Indian Stream
constitutes Pittsburg Township in Coos County, New Hampshire, the northernmost
district in the state, with the Canadian border along it's northwestern
face. Settled by Europeans from the 1670's on the basis of two seperate
and overlapping landgrants, confusion over who the district belonged to
was increased by an ambiguously-worded treaty between Great Britain and
the United States which could be (and was) read to imply possession both
by the US and Britain. Both governments sent in tax collectors, causing
considerable ire among the residents, who eventually declared themselves
independent of both until the boundary dispute should be resolved. Matters
came to a head in 1835, when a resident was taken into custody by a British
sheriff over a hardware store debt - a mob of vigilantes invaded Canada
and shot up the judges home where the prisoner was being kept. The British
ambassador to Washington, being unwilling to go to war over a delinquent
store account, swiftly negotiated a settlement, and New Hampshire promptly
occupied and annexed the region. Pittsburg Township, at 282 sq. mi. (731
sq. km.), is the largest Township in the United States.
To Great Britain..........................1670's-1776
With New Hampshire during the Revolution....1776-1783
Disputed between Great Britain and the US...1783-1832
