 At one point, Navy Island, upriver from Niagara Falls, which was and remains Canadian territory, was occupied by a sizeable army of Patriot Hunters.Tensions escalated when a force of Upper Canada militia seized a Hunter vessel, "Caroline", in the Niagara River and burned it.Although officially opposed to the actions of the Patriot Hunters, the United States government soon found that most of its local agents and officials were either themselves members of the Lodges or complicit in their activities.