A BRAVE MAINE IRISHMAN Sprague's Journal of Maine History VII AUG. SEPT. OCT. 1919 No. 2 pages 102-104 A BRAVE MAINE IRISHMAN The Honorable Daniel F. Cohalan, Justice of the Supreme Court of New York, in a syndicated article in the press of the country, entitled "Population of Ireland Ruined," and published in the Bos- ton American, July 31, 1919, says: He (the Irishman) was, as historians tell us, the first to raise the banner of revolt against England in this country. According to that scholarly volume "Hidden Phases of American History," by Michael J. O'Brien, 38 percent of the rank and file of Washington's army were Irishmen or sons of Irishmen--the most determined, the most unfaltering enemy England had in America. There is an exceedingly interesting, highly important - really amazing and bordering upon the impossible - chapter in the history of Maine, corroborative of Judge Cohalan's contention regarding the patriotism of the Irish race in America. Every patriotic son or citizen of the old Pine Tree State knows or ought to know this epic story by heart. And in this day of yearning and striving for a new birth in Americanism, it should be recited in every public or private school in Maine. One of the farthermost eastern English settlements in eastern Maine, in 1775, were dwelt quiet and peace loving descendants of Pilgrim and Puritan, was Machias with its humble homes and shops scattered along the green and grassy banks of the charming river of that name. For several days prior to Sunday June 11th, 1775, a British armed schooner of one hundred tons, the Margaretta, had been anchored and defiantly flying the British flag in Machias Bay. The sight aroused the ire of these backwoodsmen and rekindled in their breasts the same fires of patriotism, as, a few days before had impelled Paul Revere to carry his immortal message to the farmers of Lexington. The decision to attempt the capture of the Margaretta was made on the eleventh day, and on the morning of the twelfth the O'Briens and others sailed down the river. They were in the sloop Unity, while Lieutenant Benjamin Foster started from East Machias in a schooner, the Falmouth Packet, with a volunteer crew that he had gathered that morning, intending to sail down the East Machias river and join the Unity at the "Rim" to participate in the attack. It was, however, the misfortune of Lieut. Foster and his crew to get aground on their way down the river. Foster immediately despatched a messenger in the little fishing skiff to inform the Unity of his inability to reach them. The crew of the Unity, then within sight and in pursuit of the British vessel, held a meeting, voted not to turn back or await the coming of Foster, and elected Jeremiah O'Brien, Captain, and Edmund Stevens, Lieutenant. The Marga- retta was manned and officered by men trained to naval service, commanded by Captain Moore, and having an armament of four (some say ten) six-pounders, twenty swivels -- (short and thick guns firing a one- pound ball, and mounted on swivels placed on the vessel's railing), two wall pieces, forth muskets, forty cutlasses, forty pikes, forty boarding axes, two boxes of hand-grenades, and ten pairs of pistols with an ample supply of powder and ball. She was manned with two commissioned officers and thirty-eight warrant and petty officers and men -- forth in all. 1 The Unity had from forth to fifty men, but entirely untrained, never having had the slightest military or naval experience. Besides their brave hearts and strong arms, the following constituted the sum total of their preparedness for inscribing upon the scroll of men's great achievements the first chapter in the story of America's naval victories: twenty fowling pieces, with three rounds of pow- der and ball, thirteen hay forks, a number of axes, a small bag of bread, a few pieces of pork and a barrel of water; the last thing being to mount an old wallpiece that they had found somewhere in the village, on bits of the windlass. With only these unprepared raw sons of the woods and the sea coast, and with this crude and pitiable outfit, Jeremiah O'Brien in Machias Bay, on the coast of Maine, won America's first naval battle -- the "Lexington of the Seas," first thus named by J. Fennimore Cooper, in his "History of the United State Navy," -- and was the first American to haul down the British flag in the war of the American Revolution. A few years since the writer became interested in this wonderful accomplishment of these men of old Machias, examined what records and authorities were attainable regarding it and penned a brief article (see the Journal, Vol. I, pp. 157-164-175-184) and in it made these observations. In all the history of war, on land or sea, it is doubtful if there is a record of any adventure which exceed this one for dauntless courage and a bold defiance of death. Sometime, someone may undertake the task of compiling in one work how much this American Nation owes the Sons of Ireland. Their name is legion and their valiant deeds are inscribed on every page of our country's history. That fair "Emerald Isle," ever suffering from the blight of oppres- sion, has given us gallant heroes, brave and worthy, in our every war from the village green of Lexington to the tranquil waters of Manila Bay. And whenever that grand record is made up no name will receive more honor- able mention than he, who, in the rays of the rising sun of that bright June morning, on the waters of Machias River, was made commander of this perilous and desperate adventure. ____ 1Sherman's Life of Capt. Jeremiah O'Brien, p. 54. (c) 1998 Courtesy of the Androscoggin Historical Society ************************************************* * * * * NOTICE: Printing the files within by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. * * * * The USGenWeb Project makes no claims or estimates of the validity of the information submitted and reminds you that each new piece of information must be researched and proved or disproved by weight of evidence. 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