and in their desperation they wo uld have put their feelin gs aside and made a deal, as they had before, if Jones had handled the situation with any sensitivity. Bur he did nor. N o doubt em boldened by the armed schooner riding at anchor within easy gunshot of rhe town , Jones circulated an agreem ent that "required the signers to indulge Capt Jones in carrying Lumber to Boston, & to protect him and his property.... " Only those who signed would be allowed to trade for th e salt pork and Bour. The people of M achias were understandably furi ous at these coercive tactics, so much so that Jones felt compelled to have M oore move the Margaretta fa rther upriver to a place where "her G uns would reach the H ouses." 1he people of Machias considered themselves "nearly as prisoners of war," trapped between their loathing of Jones and the British government he worked for on the one hand, and the very real possibility of starving on the other. They held meetings at the public house in M ach ias, Burnham Tavern, and discussed rhe m atter. After a few days they grudgingly voted to cooperate with Jones. Jones could not leave well enough alo ne. Once rhe provisio ns were landed from his sloops, he announced that he wo uld distribute them only to those people who had supported him. Furious, rhe m en who had been slighted "determined to rake Capt Jones, if poss ible, & put a final stop to his supplying the Ki ng's troops with any thing." Foremost am ong the rebel leaders were Benjamin Foster, a lieutenant in the local militia and business partner of
In June of 1775, the citizens ofMachias gathered at job Burnham's tavern as they grappled with the difficult decisions before them with regards to lcabod ]ones's threats. Burnham Tavern (above) has been preserved as a museum and is open to the public in the summer.
SEA HISTORY 123 , SUMMER 2008
'Machias, Maine, 1896." On 12 June 1775, as the British were being chased down the river, their only chance of escape was to reach the op en ocean, still several miles away. M argaretta's captain, James Moore, would have to navigate the winding river and then Machias Bay before the Atlantic would come into view. An uncontrolled jibe crippled the schooner, denying her crew the time they needed to reach the relative safety of open water. They would not make it. Icabod Jones, and thirty-on e-year-old Jeremiah O 'Brien. Word was sent to rhe nearby settlements, and soon m en fro m all aro und had gathered in the woods near rhe O ' Brien homestead to plo t their move. June 11 was a Sunday, and the men correctly guessed rhar Moore and Jones would be at Sunday services, where they might be easily nabbed. In the early afternoon, "thirty M en in Arm s and many m o re went to the M eeting House there to rake up Icabod Jones and Captain Moore," according to a witness . Seared in rhe pew with Jones and Moore were rhe Margaretta's first officer, a young midshipman named SrillinsBeer, and Jones's nephew, Stephen Jones. The fo ur men were apparently unaware of rhe hostili ty they had engendered, or ar least were convinced that the colonists would not molest them fo r fear of the M argaretta's guns or of losing the provisions that Jones brought. Suddenly, over rhe sound of the preacher's voice, came the din of an approaching m ob, and the men realized at last how wrong they were. Jones "looked out of the Window & saw a N umber of People Arm ed making toward the H ouse." The doors to the meeting house burst open and O 'Brien, Foster, and the angry m en of Machias can1e charging down the aisle. Moore, SrillinsBeet, and the Joneses leap t to their feet and, "alarmed that they were pursued by Armed Men, jumped our of rhe W indow and escaped." The midshipmen, res plendent in their long blue coats and white waistcoat and breeches, raced to rhe waterfront, rhe sho uting m ob close behind them . They managed to get aboard Margaretta "before their pursuers (who were very numerous) came up with them ." Icabod Jones ran in rhe other direction and d isappeared into the thick fores t
rhar crowded around rhe settlement. Of the fo ur, only Stephen Jones was apprehended. O nce back aboard the Margaretta, Moore sent a message ashore telling the people rhar "he was determined to do his duty whilst he had life; & that, if rhe people presumed to stop Capt Jones's vessels, he wo uld burn the town ." Ir was a bold threat from a midshipman with only twen ty m en and a schooner armed with swivel guns, and the men of M achias were not impressed . They ordered Moore to "strike to rhe sons of Liberty and come on shore," bur Moore declined. One of]ones's sloops, likely rhe Unity, lay at anchor down stream. A band of m en rowed o ur to rhar vessel, boarded her, and bro ught her up river where they anchored her close to the town wharf, downstream of rhe Margaretta. For a few hours, a tense and uneasy truce fell o n rhe town, as each side waited for the o ther to make a move. Midshipman M oore was rhe first to act. Around 8:30 in th e evening, he quietly weighed ancho r and let the Margaretta drop downriver toward the Unity, bur the Americans, who had gone ashore, took to their boars and reached her fi rst. They swarmed over Unity's low sides and let go the anchor cable. The sloop was swept up in the current and ran aground in the soft mud near rhe shore. Margaretta cam e to anchor no mo re than fi ftee n yards from the grounded sloop. Arm ed men swarmed to the shoreline, while others climbed into boars and canoes and pulled for a spot near where tl1e British schooner swung at her anchor. Som eone hailed M idshipman M oore, "desiring him ro strike to rh e So ns of Liberty, th reatening him with death if he resisted." Moore refused to surrender, and rhe shoo ting began .
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