American residents of British Columbia celebrate the…

American residents of British Columbia celebrate the United States' purchase of Alaska in 1867, but having American territory to their north and south causes British residents' fears for the future of their colony to grow.

Two American military officers, who had traveled throughout British Columbia for two months while arranging for supply of occupation troops in Alaska, write a detailed report to Washington in November 1867 of their belief that a majority of residents support annexation.

They claim that "[i]t did not become necessary in a single instance to broach the subject of the cession of that territory to the United States, for it was the constant theme of conversation".

Employees of the Hudson's Bay Company are said to be especially supportive, although they and many others cannot make their opinion public because of fears of being denounced as disloyal.

A majority of British Columbians will never publicly support American annexation, however, and support for joining Canada will grow over time.

Accusations that "American gold" and "American greenbacks" fund "renegade Englishmen" likely hurts annexation support; whether the US officers' belief of the existence of widespread covert support is correct, by October 1867, annexation no longer appeared as a topic in British Columbia newspapers or documents.