The "Caroline" affair (also known as the "Caroline" case) was a diplomatic crisis beginning in 1837 involving the United States, Britain, and the Canadian independence movement. It began in 1837 when William Lyon Mackenzie and other Canadian rebels, with support from US citizens, fled to an island in the Niagara River, in the ship "Caroline". British forces crossed the Niagara River, to board and capture the vessel where it was moored, at Schlosser's Landing, in US territory. Shots were exchanged and one U.S. citizen, a watchkeeper, was killed. British forces set fire to the "Caroline" and set it adrift in the Niagara River, about two miles above Niagara Falls. Sensationalized accounts of the affair were published by contemporary newspapers.