fakit1g the Fight to Sea: Machias at1d the First Sea Fight of the A~ericat1 Revolutiot1
r
by Jam es L. N elson
h e day after the fighting erupted at suffering from a fo od shortage brought on Lexington and C oncord, the Siege of by drought. At that time, a wealthy Machias m erBoston began. In less than twenty-four hours, the chant and Tory named Icabod Jones was five thousand or so British troops and living in Boston . Jones had already done camp followers in Boston, as well as the a good business, "Supplying this [British] civili an population , found themselves cut G arrison wi th W ood Lumber &c fo r his off from the rest of M assachusetts and the Majesty's use." Jones now approached Gage bounty of supplies that the colony had w ith a proposal to acqui re and sell firewood hitherto provided. "Very great Pains have to the British. H e either kn ew o r suspected been taken to starve the Troops and the that the people of M achias were dangerousFriends of Government in Boston," wrote ly short on supplies and believed that their General Thomas Gage, who was both the pred icam ent would make them mo re flexBritish commanding officer and the chief ible in their choice of tradin g partners. 1 h e civil authori ty. The real fight for the next resulting transaction could be benefi cial to year would be a fight, not fo r gro und, but all, particularly, of course, to Icabod Jones. After meeting with Jo nes, Gage wro te for supp lies and materiel. It was a war that would be fou ght largely at sea, and the to Admiral Samuel G raves, commander of opening salvo was about to take place in the British fleet in Boston, explaining that the m erchant "has my permission to carry the remote wilderness of eastern M aine. Of the many shortages in Boston, one Twen ty Barrels Pork, and Twen ty Barrels of the most severe was a lack of firewood, Flour," to Machias in exchange fo r muchnecessary to boil salted meat, the staple needed wood. Jo nes understood that, hungry or not, food of the besieged ci ty. As it happened, Boston was not the only place on the sea- the people of M achias might make tro uble. board starving for supplies. In the far-off, H e concluded that "an Arm ed Vessel's betiny settlem ent of M achias, M aine-which ing sent there .. .m ay have good effect." The had lots of firewood- the population was recent actio n at Lexingto n and Concord
had apparentl y taught hi m nothing abou t the advisabili ty of trying to stron g-arm his fellow Americans. The armed vessel G raves chose to accompany Jones's sloops was the schooner Margaretta, commanded by a midshipman named James Moo re. Though m anned with twenty sailors chosen from the flagship Preston, she carried only swivel guns, mounted on the rails, and muskets, pistols and cutlasses fo r the crew. M argaretta was no t much by Royal Navy standards, bur Graves figured she was enough to overawe som e backwoods colo nials. And it all might have gone off sm oothly if Icabod Jones had no t m anaged to m iscalculate and blunder at every step.
Machias Sot1s of Liberty O n 2 June the little convoy consisting of Jones's sloops Unity and Polly, acco mpanied by the Margaretta, arrived at M achias . Word of the fi ghting at Lexington and Concord had recently reached the far-off town and, like most Americans, the people there were in no mood to trade with any fri end of the British army. Nevertheless, they were also desperate fo r provisions,
GRAND BANKS
ATLANTI C
O CEAN
s 0 50 I OOkm '-'-'-'-' 50
24
100 mi
SEA HISTORY 123, SUMMER 2008