ARTICLE: VALUABLE ‘FENIAN RAID MEDAL’ DONATED TO NEW BRUNSWICK MILITARY HISTORY MUSEUM

An important part of east coast history was remembered Wednesday at 5th Canadian Division Support Base Gagetown with the donation of a pre-Confederation military decoration.

The medal once belonged to a Campobello Island resident who more than 150 years ago helped turn back Fenian raiders looking to invade parts of New Brunswick.

John Almond Newman's Fenian Raid Medal, or General Service Canada Medal, bearing the image of the late Queen Victoria, was officially handed over to the N.B. Military History Museum at a ceremony attended mostly by past and present military personnel.

“That particular medal is important to the New Brunswick Military History Museum because it was the first type of military medal ever issued to a New Brunswick soldier,” Museum Manager David Hughes said in an interview. “This particular medal was issued to surviving soldiers who had participated in the defense during the Fenian crisis.”

The Fenians, a secret mid-19th century American-based Irish society, was created as a means of securing Ireland’s independence from the United Kingdom. Armed raids carried out by the group were designed to promote the cause by putting pressure on the British government.

Newman was on duty from April 17 to June 17, 1866, a time when an attack had been expected from hundreds of Fenians gathered along the Maine border between Eastport and Calais.?

“Their plan was to capture Campobello Island and hold it as part of a ransom for the freedom of Ireland,” the museum said in a news release.?

According to the museum, the donated Fenian Raid medal was one of only 47 given to members of the Third Battalion, Charlotte County Militia, which covered the islands in Passamaquoddy Bay, and was headquartered on Deer Island.

While the Fenians ultimately failed in its efforts to ransom Campobello Island, they sparked a revitalization of the New Brunswick Militia, including that of Charlotte County, the museum said in the release.?

“Following the raids in New Brunswick, Upper Canada and Lower Canada, the British provinces sought a closer union. Mutual defence was a major concern. From this, Confederation was born in 1867.”

The medal was donated by the Friends of the New Brunswick Military History Museum, a registered charitable organization.

“It’s a very rare medal,” Friends Director Gary Campbell, a retired major, told those gathered. It’s “a very scarce medal. There are not that many around.”

Retired major Harold Skaarup, a former honorary lieutenant-colonel for 3 Intelligence Company, and vice-president of the friends organization, said the newly acquired medal represents a valuable addition to the museum’s collection.

“This one earned by a Canadian soldier from New Brunswick in 1866 … is rare and part of our heritage,” Skaarup said. “It would be lost to us if we had not raised funds - in the neighbourhood of $800. Some collector would have got it. Now, it’s come to the museum and this is important.”

A member of the group became aware of its existence and a successful bid was made to purchase it, he said.

Skaarup said saving the province’s history is “what it’s all about.”

Bob Dallison, a retired lieutenant-colonel and author of the 2011 book, Turning Back The Fenians, gave an inspired presentation on the history of the Fenian movement. He praised the work done by Newman and other members of the militia.

“The militia became an important part of our society … and remains so today.”