The Lexington of the Seas
On the nineteenth day of April, 1775,
the intrepid farmers of Lexington fired the "shot heard around
the world," and on the twelfth day of June, five days before the
battle of Bunker Hill, a sturdy Irishman on the easterly coast
of the province of Maine, with a handful of brave lumbermen,
river drivers, farmers and sailors, their hearts burning with
the same flame of patriotism, successfully fought the first
naval battle of the American Revolution, captured the first
British war vessel, was the first to haul down the British flag
and bring to death the first of her captains of the sea, in that
great conflict for human rights.
One whose name will be forever
interwoven with the story of that stirring event was Capt;
Ichabod Jones. In 1765 he was a ship-master living in Boston.
During that summer he made a trip in a schooner, eastward,
stopping at Mount Desert. While in that port he learned of the
Machias settlement and went there, where he disposed of his
cargo to good advantage, loaded his vessel with lumber and
returned to Boston.
He made other voyages from Boston to
Machias and subsequently entered into a partnership with
Benjamin Foster and others and built a saw mill. All this time
he was in command of one or two vessels engaged in the lumber
trade between Machias and Boston.
He did an increasing and thrifty
business until 1774 when the English Parliament passed the
"Boston Port Bill" which prohibited merchandise of any kind from
being landed at, or shipped from wharves of Boston.
The spring of 1775 found him at Machias,
loading his two sloops, the Unity and the Polly, with lumber;
but giving Captain Horton of the Polly orders to touch at Salem
and Cape Ann instead of Boston for a market, and, failing there,
to proceed to some port in Connecticut.
On arriving at Salem Captain Horton
found the whole coast in an uproar and ready for almost anything
except trade and lumber, so he put into the port of Boston where
he met Captain Jones. These two then concluded to return at once
to Machias with their families, their own household goods and
also a quantity of merchandise for the people there who had
become in a great measure destitute by reason of the unsettled
state of business. In order to leave Boston Harbor, Captain
Jones was obliged to have a permit from Admiral Graves, granted
only upon condition that he return from Machias to Boston with
lumber which the British desired to purchase for barracks for
troops, and he also must submit to making the trip under the
protection of an armed schooner, the "Margaretta."
Captain Jones feared the ire of the
Machias patriots when they should discover him in their port
under the protection of the English flag. However, the two
sloops, convoyed by the armed Margaretta flying the British
flag, sailed into Machias Harbor, June 2, 1775.
For some time past the inhabitants had
been lounging around the shores and wharves, waiting and
watching for the return of Captain Jones' sloops with the
much-needed provisions.
Their feelings of consternation may be
imagined when they discovered that their friend of the seas,
whose coming for days they had awaited with anxious hearts, was
escorted by a British war vessel flying the hated British flag.
Whether they had knowledge that the Massachusetts patriots had
begun a revolution before Captain Horton informed them, or not,
they certainly knew it then and the fire of revolt was kindling
in their breasts.
Exactly what was the final cause for the
battle which ensued is somewhat uncertain. Perhaps the citizens
of Machias feared that the lumber then being loaded on Jones'
sloops was intended for the use of the British troops, and were
determined that the Polly and Unity should never return to
Boston with their cargoes. However, after due deliberation in
open town meeting, it had been voted to permit this to be done
and it is probable that the permission would have been carried
out in good faith had not the captain of the Margaretta
unnecessarily provoked a quarrel with the inhabitants in
ordering them to take down their liberty pole; for the people of
Machias had done what hundreds of other little communities
throughout the colonies were doing, erected a "Liberty Pole."
This was a tall, straight pine tree with a tuft of verdure at
the top, the best emblem they had at command of the flag for
which they desired to fight, live and die.
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Burnham Tavern, Machias
Where Plans were made to Capture the Margaretta
and the Two Sloops |
One thing is certain, the culmination of
their suspicions, fears and apprehensions resulted in the
formation of a plan to prevent the return of the sloops to
Boston, laden with lumber.
Benjamin Foster and Morris O'Brien and
his sons, with some others, favored taking possession of the
partly laden sloops of Captain Jones and making prisoners of the
officers and men. While their counsels were divided, Foster and
the O'Brien finally prevailed. It is said that Foster, weary of
debate, crossed a stream known as the O'Brien brook, near which
they were standing and called out to all who favored the capture
of the Margaretta and the two sloops to follow him, and in a few
moments every man stood by his side.
A plan of attack immediately was agreed
upon. This was on Sunday, June 11, 1775. It was known that the
English officers would attend the religious services of good
Parson Lyon in the meeting-house that morning and it was decided
to surround the church and seize them during the services.
Before the meeting opened they had quietly secreted their arms
in the building, John O'Brien hiding his musket under a board
and taking his seat on a bench directly behind Captain Moore,
ready to seize him at the first alarm. This well prepared scheme
would undoubtedly have been successful if they had taken the
Negroes of the community, or at least one of them, into their
confidence.
London Atus was a colored man, the body
servant of Parson Lyon, and, while the parson himself and about
every other member of the congregation, except the intended
victims themselves, had knowledge or suspicion of what was
afoot, Atus was entirely innocent of the dynamic atmosphere
about him. From his hiding place in the Negro pew he could see
armed men, Foster's band, crossing a foot-bridge and coming
toward the meeting-house. He gave an outcry and leaped from the
window, wild with excitement. This broke up the meeting and the
officers, believing that an attempt was being made to entrap
them, followed the example of the Negro and made their escape.
They hastened to their vessel and by the
time Foster's force reached the meeting-house they were aboard
their vessel and weighing anchor, and Jones, who was to have
been made a prisoner, fled to the woods where he remained
secreted for several days.
They then resolved to seize Jones'
sloops and pursue the cutter. One of these, the Polly, was not
in available condition, but they took possession of the Unity,
and during the remainder of Sunday and that night, made
preparations for the attack. They sent scouts to the East River
village and neighboring plantations for volunteers, arms and
ammunition.
A messenger was dispatched to Chandler's River to procure powder
and balls and as the men of that settlement were all absent two
girls, Hannah and Rebecca Weston, nineteen and seventeen years
old, procured forty pounds of powder and balls and brought them
to Machias, a distance of twenty miles, through the woods,
following a line of blazed or "spotted" trees, but did not
arrive there until after the battle was over.
In the early dawn of the following
morning, June 12th, the expedition started down the river in
pursuit of the Margaretta. The crew of the Unity numbered about
forty, and one-half of these had muskets with only about three
rounds of ammunition; the rest armed themselves with pitchforks,
axes, heavy mauls, etc. For provisions they had a small bag of
bread, a few pieces of pork and a barrel of water. They chose
Jeremiah O'Brien as captain and Edmund Stevens, lieutenant.
Understanding that they had no powder to waste, they determined
to bear down on the enemy's ship, board her and decide the
conquest at once.
The Unity was well into the bay when the
Margaretta was first sighted off Round Island and, being the
more rapid sailer, was soon along her side. The helmsman of the
Margaretta, who was Captain Robert Avery, had fallen from a shot
fired by an old moose hunter by the name of Knight, on board the
Unity, and an immediate volley of musketry from her deck
astonished and demoralized the enemy. The bowsprit of the Unity
plunged into the Margaretta's mainsail, holding the two vessels
together for a short time. While they were in this position, one
of the 'Brien brothers, John, sprang upon the Margaretta's deck,
but the vessels suddenly parted, carrying the audacious John
alone on board the British vessel. It is said that seven of her
crew instantly aimed and fired muskets at him, but he remained
unscratched. They then charged upon him with their bayonets and
again he escaped by plunging overboard and amidst a storm of
bullets from the enemy, regained his own vessel.
Captain O'Brien then ordered his sloop
along-side of the Margaretta. Twenty of his crew were selected
to board her, armed with pitchforks, and a hand-to-hand conflict
on her deck resulted in the surrender of the Margaretta to the
Americans, and Jeremiah O'Brien hauled down the British ensign
flying at her masthead.
At about sunset the Unity returned,
proudly sailing up the bay and river to Machias village with her
valuable prize, reaching the wharf amid tumultuous cheering and
shouting of the people. They made a hero of Captain Jeremiah
O'Brien, as he certainly deserved for his brilliant achievement,
and the rejoicing continued until long past midnight. The news
of O'Brien's brilliant victory was heralded throughout the land
and it had a great effect in stimulating the colonists
everywhere to emulate his example.
John Francis Sprague
Note: So far as known. J. Fennimore
Cooper, in "The History of the Navy of the United States." was
the first writer to apply the name "Lexington of the Seas" to
this battle. - J. F. S.
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