In the American War of Independence, the naval war is often overlooked. When some engagement like John Paul Jones’s raids on England or the Battle of Chesapeake Bay are often studied, smaller engagements are overlooked. One such engagement is the Battle of Machias, dubbed the Lexington of the Sea by James Fenimore Cooper and the extraordinary career of the American commander Captain Jeremiah O’Brien.

Jeremiah O’Brien was born circa 1740 in Kittery in what was then Massachusetts and is now Maine. His family were Irish immigrants who had come to Maine in pursuit of the lumber trade. O’Brien’s family settled in the down east port of Machias where O’Brien became a naval captain.

When news of Lexington and Concord reached Machias, the towns people sided with the Patriot Cause and at the local tavern resolved to take action in support of the revolution. With Boston under siege by the Patriot militias, the British army was running out of provisions one of them being firewood. In order to resupply the British, local loyalist merchant Ichabod Jones agreed to send his two ships Polly and Unity full of wood to Boston. The British in return agreed to protect Jones’s ships with the six gun frigate Margaretta.

Local Patriots lead by militia colonel Benjamin Foster and O’Brien decided to take action. Initially Foster planned to seize the British officers at church, but they escaped aboard the Margaretta. The local patriots then resolved to overtake the merchant ships and the Margaretta.

In order to get the ammunition required, two young ladies, Hannah and Rebecca Weston traveled 16 miles to retrieve pewter silverware to make ammunition. Hannah was only 17 and pregnant with her first child at the time of her journey.

Hannah Weston is pictured above in her old age. She lived to 97.

With the ammunition ready, the patriots launched their assault. First O’Brien captured the Unity and turned it into his ship. From here the local patriots chased Margaretta, armed with pitchforks and hunting rifles. Fosters ship ran ground and could not pursue Margaretta, so the task was left up to O’Brien.

O’Brien caught up with Margaretta and a fierce battle ensued. The Patriots fired into Margaretta’s hull and the Margaretta’s men threw grenades at O’Briens ship. Then a member of O’Briens crew mortally wounded the captain of Margaretta and his men were able to overpower the ship. It was the first time British colors were struck at the hands of Americans. For this the Battle of the Margaretta was dubbed the Lexington of the Sea by author James Fenimore Cooper.

O’Brien would become a hero for his actions and would go on to lead a successful raid against Nova Scotia. O’Brien and his men would form a small fleet out of the captured ships that would protect the coast around Machias for the rest of the war. In 1777 the British attempted to take Machias, but were swiftly repelled by the towns men.

O’Brien would go on to serve as customs collector for the Port of Machias and would die a hero in 1818. The Battle of the Margaretta would mark the first naval action of the War of Independence and would serve as a blow to British morale in the opening phases of the war at the hands of renegade Mainers.

This Post was Written by Adam Danberg