A Brief History
On May 25, 1738, a treaty was finally signed, ending the war between Maryland and Pennsylvania known as The Conojocular War, or Cresap’s War.
Digging Deeper
The war had started in 1730 over boundary disputes, and escalated over the next few years to the point where military forces became involved in 1736 and 1737.
The treaty, ordered by King George II, had ended the shooting war, but the boundary dispute lasted all the way until 1767 when the Mason-Dixon Line became recognized as the boundary.
The colonial governments of Pennsylvania and Maryland became embroiled in the dispute when settlers from each colony started crossing the Susquehanna River back and forth and creating settlements in what was perceived to be each other’s territory. Questions about legal claims to the land, private ownership deeds, land taxes, and law enforcement in the disputed areas precipitated violence.
The first violence consisted of an incident where 2 Pennsylvanians taking a ferry across the river attacked the ferryman, Thomas Cresap (hence the name, Cresap’s War). Maryland had been infringing on the west side of the river into Pennsylvania territory based on a self serving interpretation of the charters for each colony. Cresap had been given 500 acres by the Maryland government in land claimed by Pennsylvania.
Much of the conflict centered on Cresap, an obvious opportunist that engaged in bullying and thuggery among the settlers, using ruffians as his gang and rewarding them with land.
In a strange turn of events, a 1774 dispute known as Lord Dunmore’s War (Virginia vs. Shawnee and Mingo tribes) is also known as Cresap’s War because of the involvement of the son of Thomas Cresap, Michael.
So how did the war become known as the Conojocular War? This name came from the Conejohela Valley (of course!) where the disputed lands were.
Question for students (and subscribers): Do you think there will ever be another war fought between two or more American states? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Martiny, Richard J. Military Beginnings: Early Development of American and Maryland Forces. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2014.
The featured image in this article, a map by Kmusser illustrating Cresap’s War, is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license.
You can also watch a video version of this article exclusively at https://thearmchairhistorian.uscreen.io/programs/conojocular-war-1_1mp4-b6acb8 on Armchair History TV.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="2365 http://www.crackedhistory.com/?p=2365">56 Comments
Fascinating! I never knew about this piece of history, and I have lived about a mile from the Mason Dixon line all my life.
I never learned about any of this or heard about in all the history classes I have taken. I think it is very interesting to learn/read about.
AM
I was aware that the treaty did not resolve the conflicts; however, I had never learned about the Mason-Dixon Line that was used as the boundary.
HD
I wonder why this truly first “civil war” has been left out of many history books growing up? The battling itself didn’t last very long, so maybe it wasn’t deemed “worthy” of being considered a war to many historians.
N.W.
This is crazy I never knew this ever happened. Why was it left out of history books? Its really the first civil war.
I couldn’t imagine living in a time where there are no land boundaries yet. I am so lucky to be able to know when I am crossing into the next state and knowing that I can safely drive across. I couldn’t imagine being shot over it.
Interesting how much people don’t know about this war.. GW
It is crazy how this war in not well known. I’m sure it was frustrating for the new colonists just trying to settle and build homes.
The names of the wars are very creative. Also, it is very interesting that not many people know about this war.
I had never heard of this war, so it was an interesting read. I wonder why this isn’t taught in school. It seems like an important event.
Cresap even after being evicted from the area he was in continued to do the acts that he was doing before he was taken out which shows he was a bit ruthless.
This war is very interesting and I have never heard of it before. It is surprising just how much can come out of a dispute over land.
It’s interesting to see the lengths that people go to to get what they want, no matter what it is.
This is the first time that I have heard of this war. I find it interesting to see how people go about disputed land
Reading about little disputes and wars like this make me thankful for the time that I live in where we do not have to deal with things like this. It is also satisfying to me that in today’s society we do not have to deal with disputes over land like this.
This article is very interesting! I had never heard anything about this before!
Since the war started over property disputes, do you think that history will repeat itself with the Israeli Palestinian Conflict?
No distinguished borders really causes some issues. I’m glad that for the most part we have these borders put in place, even if Trump doesn’t believe we do 😉
I had no idea of this war between MD and PA. It is quite interesting to think about how exactly state boundaries were declared originally.
Something I have never heard of but still interesting on the violent way they decided to end their land dispute.
I have never heard if this war until reading about it. I think it is interesting to read about different wars any why/how they started.
I have honestly never heard of this event. Interesting how two single states had a miniature war over border disputes without much outside involvement.
This was a war over land, but I never have heard of it before. Cool to read about.
I had never heard of this. I find it interesting that Thomas Cresap started a war and then his son had one named after him!
i have never heard of this, so it was intersting to read about something new.
I was surprised to learn that some states had actually gone
to war with each other.
It’s strange that they made such a big deal about being on each other’s territory. They should of left each other be and tried to compromise something!
I have never heard of this war before. Interesting that a war would break out over territory issues. Times have definitely changed.
Like the other commenters, I have never heard of this war. In fact, I actually am surprised to see that there were conflicts between state territories! I never realized that territory issues even existed between settlers residing in different states since they were all of similar descents.
It surprises me that I have never heard about these disputes before. This just shows how individualistic the first colony’s were.
Like the others that have responded, I also hadn’t heard of this conflict until now. When you think of this period, it is difficult to imagine the colonies fighting within themselves. I think it is ingrained in us to believe that they all were a united front due to the Revolutionary War.
This is really surprising to me that states went to war before. When I think of war, I think of a conflict between two countries so it is frightening to think it could happen so close to home.
The two territory’s fighting does not surprise me but I am surprised that there are not more wars within the states because of certain products that can only grow in certain areas. The states are not like in todays world where we use currency and enforce the law. Back then Cresap and others took what they wanted by force and war.
It is interesting to see the word war used between two states. Even though we were not a nation at the time it still seems odd. It would be interesting to know about other major state disputes.
This article highlights just how controversial borders were between the colonies. I would not be surprised if other conflicts occurred during this time period other than Pennsylvania and Maryland.
Similar to other commenters I haven’t heard of this war before. Setting boarders for counties or even states seems like a complicated and full of controversy task. It is really interesting though that there was war between two states. To be honest, when I think of war and boarders I think of countries fighting, not states of similar origins.
It seems like almost any war early in history is over a dispute of land. People are very protective of where they are from, and rightfully so. Land meant agriculture and livelihood most of the time.Poor Cresap was just a victim because he was settled on his land given to him by the government.
At that time land was everything to people. It was their way of having a social status because it either meant that you had the money to buy it or that you could utilize the land for farming and in turn making money off the land. I’m not surprised that wars started from disputes of land.
Since land was very important to the people at this time, it is not surprising that a war broke out. If people were greedy for land, they should be allowed to have it in both territories but would have to pay any dues that was required to own land for both locations. This could have been a possible solution for them instead of a war breaking out. The good part is that there was a resolution about eight years after it all started.
Land is a commodity that every person wants. It gives you a place to live, a potential source of food, wealth, protection, etc. Also all the land around us is owned by somebody. So when there is a fresh “unclaimed” tract of land ready for the taking in the colonies, I’m not surprised that some states went to war over its ownership.
First time I am every hearing about this and I am from Pennsylvania. Everyone wanted land then though I can see why there were disputes for it but no the less I did not know there were small wars for it.
I’ve never heard of the conjuncular war and I did not know there was ever a war flight between Pennsylvania and Maryland. I wonder, how many men and women were killed over these land disputes? Or was it only a legal battle over land?
I wonder what other territory disputes went on during this time. These small disputes between different states were probably fairly common because the states back then wanted more land and were adamant about defining their borders.
The creation of the Mason-Dixon line was a good end to the border dispute. Since there was no clear border before this line, of course people were settling and using the land in the area. No one knew the correct border so everybody wanted to make personal claims to the disputed areas of land. This is my first time hearing about this, as well.
I can imagine that disputes like this for land was a common occurrence during these times. Everyone wanted to call land their own and over stepped boundaries while doing so. I would love to hear some other stories similar to this one. I have never heard of this war before reading this article.
I never heard of the Conojocular War. It is interesting to read about the wars that occurred over land. It was a great issue back then and the people felt it was important to determine boundaries and claim the land that was rightfully their own. They stood up and fought for what they believed was theirs.
I feel these wars happened a lot back then over land, especially land that hasn’t really been settled on that much. It’s a good issue though to have war over, because land is one of the biggest resources
Was this really a war, or just a dispute? Was Cresap the only man injured? Were there any casualties?
I wonder what would have happened if the 2 Pennsylvanians did not attack Cresap. Many wars learned in the past have been over land, which this is no different, I just have never heard of this one! Learn something new everyday!
Crazy that a fight between three men turned into a battle that lasted for so many years. This is the first time hearing of this war, it’s interesting to learn about wars or disputes that shaped our country into was it is today.
I’ve never hear of this war and it seems as though it wasn’t much of a war. Rather it was just a dispute between a few individuals.
The only war I knew of between states was the Civil War. This amazes me that their was actually a war between two states!
Later that century, another conflict erupted in my hometown of Erie, PA. Pennsylvania and New York argued over the Erie Triangle. Connecticut also wanted the land as part of their Western Reserve (Cleveland area). The Erie Triangle conflict resulted in no armed war thankfully. Thank you Pennsylvania for standing up to your greedy neighbors (NY and MD)!
With due respect, this is a rather superficial treatment of the event(s). It is an interesting series of acts precipitated by the crown’s arbitrary awarding of proprietorships in a land where the prescribed boundaries were not yet understood. The maps which existed were poor at best and rivers often used as boundaries with no idea where those rivers lay. Some today feel Cresap and his “associates” were in fact sort of covert operators on behalf of Lord Baltimore. “Awarded” for their actions with land bounties in western Maryland – when this didn’t work out. Calvert’s original boundary, the 40th degree line elicited one of the most gutsy responses in history when the apprehended Cresap, being paraded through the streets, for all he knew to be hanged, was asked how he liked Philadelphia. To which he replied, “Why it’s the finest city in MARYLAND!”
It is superficial because the article is one page, not a book! Hopefully it is enough to pique the interest of people that are not familiar with the circumstances and they can read more about it.
Yes, I realize the need to be brief. It’s just a very interesting event in an even more interesting period, none of which get’s the exposure deserving of it. My comment was not a poke at you. My apologies if I offended. That said, the Penns (the son’s not Wm) have sort of a dubious history of land schemes.