generally refusing to assist federal government efforts to prosecute the war. Strong was part of a chorus of Massachusetts (and more broadly New England) Federalists who complained that in "Mr. Madison's War" the federal government was trampling state and individual rights. He adhered to the view that state militia could not be required to serve under regular army command. When the first such requests were made by U. S. Army General Henry Dearborn, Strong refused and was backed by the Governor's Council as well as the Supreme Judicial Court. He argued that there was no need to call out the militia because invasion was not imminent. Because of his stance against regular army command, the state was denied a shipment of arms that was instead diverted to frontier areas and the war theater. Strong also took no particular actions to prevent widespread smuggling along the state's frontiers with the neighboring British provinces. Strong's opposition to regular army control was more nuanced than that of neighboring Connecticut Governor John Cotton Smith, who ensured that his militia always remained under state command. Strong was more concerned that the state militia not be used except in defense of the state's borders, and he compromised on the issue of command. In 1812, not long after refusing General Dearborn's request, he authorized the dispatch of militia companies to the state's eastern district (now Maine) under U.S. Army command. With the British naval blockade tightening and threatening the state's coastal communities in early 1814, Strong authorized Brigadier General Thomas H. Cushing to command militia forces in the defenses of Boston Harbor, subject to reasonable limitations. Cushing was transferred to Connecticut, and General Dearborn again commanded the regular army forces in Massachusetts. Dearborn interpreted the agreement Strong had made with Cushing to apply statewide and began reorganizing militia companies to conform to regular army practices. This engendered ill will among the militia, and Strong refused to place additional levies under Dearborn's command. The defense of Maine, however, proved problematic. Strong's aide William H. Sumner negotiated an agreement with the Army command for the defense of Portland, but the ironically Republican-dominated district militia objected, first to the idea of serving under any regular army leadership, and then to serving under a relatively low-ranked officer (a lieutenant colonel) who was given command of Portland after the agreement was signed. Several units of local militia refused the perform their assigned