The Margaretta Story
June 12, 1775
During the Revolutionary War the citizens of Machias had what some call the "Lexington of the Sea". It was the first U.S. Naval Battle and the beginning of the United States Merchant Marine. In fact, a couple of years ago the Merchant Marine changed their flag to reflect this story and made a DVD about it.
After the battles of Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts against the British, Captain Ichabod Jones, who had been bringing supplies to Machias for years and had invested in a local sawmill, asked British Admiral Graves if he could remove his furniture, family, and other possessions from Boston to Machias. The Admiral agreed to allow him to move and bring supplies to Machias citizens in exchange for lumber so that the British could build barracks in Boston. To make sure this deal would go through, the British Admiral sent Captain Moor, his nephew, in the British tender the Margaretta to accompany Captain Jones schooners the Unity and the Polly to Machias.
The people of Machias had heard of the Battles of Lexington and Concord by the time the two ships arrived into port on June 2, 1775. Captain Jones went through town and told the people of the deal with the British but many people didn't like the idea. He told Captain Moor that he was having difficulty convincing the citizens to relinquish lumber for supplies so Captain Moor had him return and tell them that only those who allowed this to take place would get supplies. It had been a very long, hard winter with many of the citizens extremely weak and starving because they had to subside on nothing but clams they could dig out of the banks of the Machias River. The citizens met at the Burnham Tavern to discuss this agreement and decided, because of Lexington and Concord, they would stand up and fight with their fellow colonists even though it meant possible starvation for their families. So instead of agreeing to the British demands they erected a liberty pole.
The liberty pole commemorated the Minuteman victory at Lexington and Concord. They found the very best pine tree, reserved for masts of King George's Royal Navy, and shaved it clean of all branches, except for a tuft at the top to display their strong feelings of anti-authority.They planted this liberty pole at the top of a hill across from the meeting house, and one of the first things you would see coming up the river.
Captain Moor was furious and demanded it be removed or he would fire upon the town. So again the citizens met, this time in a wooded area near a brook. At one point Benjamin Foster asked the men who was with him who would jump across the brook and stand for liberty against the British. Crossing this "Maine Rubicon" they displayed courageous action for the cause of liberty.
They devised a plan to capture Captain Moor. The following Sunday, June 11, 1775 they would go to the church while Captain Moor was at the service and they would take him and his men prisoners. While they were on the way to the church, the Rev. Lyon's slave, London Atus, (who later would account of the naval battle to the Provincial Congress in Boston) did not recognize the men coming up the hill from the window and yelled a warning, then jumped out a window. The British soldiers quickly left the church, went back to their ship and sailed down the river a ways. Meanwhile, those same forty men took over the Unity and the Polly. Later that evening Captain Moor returned to Machias and slipped the cable on the Polly rendering it grounded. The next day, June 12, 1775, the men on the Unity sailed down the river to catch up to the Margaretta. Once they caught up, they sailed right to it's side and jumped aboard fighting the British with nothing more than a couple of guns (most men didn't own guns), axes, pitchforks, and other farming or lumbering tools they had. When Captain Moor himself was seriously wounded, his Lieutenant quickly surrendered the ship to the citizens.
The men brought the wounded to town and Captain Moor to the Burnham Tavern where he later died. Word was sent to Boston to General Washington and the Massachusetts Provincial Congress that this battle had taken place. The Provincial Congress agreed to issue a commission to the ship and found Jeremiah O'Brien suitable to command it. By this time, the Margaretta had already been renamed the Machias Liberty. From June 30, 1775 to the end of the Revolutionary War, this ship guarded the Machias Bay.
If this battle had gone the other way, all of these men would have been hung for being pirates. So we call it the "Margaretta Story" because it was our local citizen pirates "prize" for a job well done. That was the first sea battle in the history of the U.S., the beginning of the Massachusetts State Navy, and the beginning of the Merchant Marines. Even today most people do not know this story unless they live here. Our town currently only has 2500 people in it and back then it only had about 50 families.
Fast forward to 2004 when twelve citizens gathered together and finally started the Machias Historical Society and at the same time, the Margaretta Days Festival to honor these brave ancestors and to teach our children their rich heritage. The festival is all in the period of 1775 except for crafters which are required to have hand-made items. We have re-en actors and encampments, demonstrators of daily life back then, music, food, a parade, and in general a pretty good time.
