About two miles offshore from Fort Machias/O'Brien, near Round Island, is the site of what is locally claimed to be the
First Naval Battle of the American Revolutionary War, the
Battle of Machias, fought between citizens of Machias and a British warship, the
Margaretta. Unfortunately, the Battle of Machias was actually the
second naval battle of the war, the first taking place on May 14, 1775 at Fairhaven, Massachusetts, the
Battle off Fairhaven, in which the Dartmouth whaling sloop
Success captured a pair of vessels previousy captured by the British.
The Battle of Machias took place on June 11-12, 1775 with the British sloop tender
Margaretta being captured by the townspeople at the cost of one man killed and six wounded, one of which later died of his wounds.
Here is a recounting of the battle, taken from informational plaques at the fort.
Fort Machias was built at Machiasport in 1775 on Machias Bay at the mouth of Machias River, shortly after the beginning of the American Revolutionary War. The fort is one of a very few in Maine which were active in the American Revolution, the War of 1812 and the Civil War. Captured and burned by the British in 1814, the fort was returned in 1818. Rebuilt in 1863, the fort was renamed Fort O'Brien.
Originally a four gun battery, the fort was built at the mouth of Machias River to protect the town from the evil British, continuing in service throughout the war. During the War of 1812 it was again pressed into service, still as a four gun battery, captured and returned. Again, this time during the Civil War, the fort came into service, this time being rebuilt beside the ruins of the old fort, with a complement of five guns.
Today the site of the fort is a State of Maine Historic Site and a State Park, as well as a National Historic Place. The park is open daily from 9:00 A.M. to sunset.
The first nonnative inhabitants of Machiasport were traders of the
Plymouth Company who established a trading post here in 1633. This was, at the time, French territory so, naturally, the post was sacked by the French the very next year. By 1770 the area was under British control and 80 petitioners were granted land here by the Massachusetts General Court. Originally part of Machias, Machiasport was then set off and incorporated as Machiasport in 1826.
A 2 foot wooden railroad, one of the first in the state, came from Whitneyville to Machiasport through the woods toward the “Dike by the Clam Factory”. The Lion engine hauled lumber to Machiasport to put on ships. The Port Village included two sardine factories, boat house, store, Gates House, and Cooper House, Liberty Hall, post office, fire station, schoolhouse, and the First Congregational Church. Wooden sidewalks can be seen in the many post cards of the day.
From Machiasport Village
Today more a tourist village than anything, there is no longer a railroad, a lumber industry, or even a fishing fleet here. The town consists of a long string of houses lining both sides of Port Road (Highway 92), with a combination town hall/fire hall and a post office next door. The First Congregational Church, built in 1828, still stands in the village, surrounded by Church Hill Cemetery on the shore of Machias Bay.
Also in the village is one National Historic building, the old town hall, today known as
Liberty Hall. It is a beautiful Italianate style building constructed in 1873 at a cost of about $8,000. Since its construction it has been used as Town Hall, Grange Meeting Hall, Pocahontas and Redmen Meeting Hall, the site of vaudeville shows, theatre productions, political rallies, basketball games, town festivals and suppers and Town Meetings.
The entry from the American Guide Series book
Maine: A Guide 'Down East' follows.
Right on this road is MACHIASPORT (alt. 80, Machiasport Town, pop. 825), 4
m., a typical Maine coast village where lumber shipping is now the chief activity.
When news of the battle of Lexington reached this part of Maine in early May, 1775, Ichabod Jones, who had left Massachusetts because of the increasing dis- turbance to business caused in part by the Boston Port Bill, hastily left for Boston to secure his personal property. The Boston Port commander, however, refused to allow him to take his boat out of the harbor except to return to Maine for lumber to be used in building barracks for the increasing number of British soldiers. The armed schooner 'Margaretta' was sent along as a convoy to enforce the order.
Meanwhile, public opinion in Machias had been inflamed and Captain Moore of the 'Margaretta' found a Liberty Pole in the little frontier coast town and citizens incensed at the idea of providing supplies for armies to be used against them. Led by Benjamin Foster and the fiery Irishman, Jeremiah O'Brien, the local citizens commandeered two boats, one of which, however, became stranded, and on June 12, 1775, closed in on the 'Margaretta'; in the fight that followed the British officer was mortally wounded and his boat captured. The following month the Machias men captured a British schooner from Nova Scotia. The British sent Sir George Collier with the 'Ranger' and three other boats to punish the rebels; Collier routed the local force from the breastworks they had hastily thrown up along the river and burned several buildings before his fleet moved on.
The capture of the 'Margaretta' has been called the 'first naval battle of the Revolution'; the battle itself was not important, but it provided the Revolutionary leaders in Philadelphia with a talking point in urging the establishment of a navy.
From Maine: A Guide 'Down East', Page 236