In 1812, St. Andrews was a young town founded not long before by Loyalists from New England fleeing the American Revolution. A modest fortification, Fort Tipperary, had been built in 1808 above the town, but citizens feared it did not provide enough protection for the harbour and river from privateering raids. The town quickly built three batteries, and because military engineers considered them ineffective and possibly a threat to the town if hostile forces captured them, blockhouses were built to defend each battery. Military infrastructure was usually financed by the British government or military, but as war with the United States loomed, government and military officials in St. Andrews disagreed about the need for the investment, so local merchants Robert Pagan and Christopher Scott privately raised the necessary funds with the expectation that the British military would probably reimburse the construction costs. While First Nations allies fought alongside British regulars and Canadian Militia in Upper and Lower Canada, the Passamaquoddy, Penobscots, Mi’kmaq and Wolastoqiyik (Malecite) Nations declared that they would take no part in the War of 1812, though they would undoubtedly have defended their lands if New Brunswick had faced an enemy invasion. No invasion was launched during the war. St. Andrews and the blockhouse stand within the traditional territory of the Passamaquoddy people, who were among the first Aboriginal people to come into contact with Europeans and who know St. Andrews as Qonasqamkuk, meaning “at the sandy or gravelly point”.