Free Republic

In June of 1775, citizens acting as merchant mariners captured the British schooner HMS Margaretta around Machias, Massachusetts (present-day Maine). That same month, General George Washington, with the help of merchant ship owner Colonel John Glover of Marblehead, Massachusetts, chartered and outfitted several ships to interrupt the British supplies. The marker at the base of John Glover’s statue in Boston states: “John Glover of Marblehead – A Soldier of the Revolution. He commanded a regiment of one thousand men raised in that town known as the marine regiment, and enlisted to serve throughout the war. He joined the camp at...

Before July 4th, 1776, let’s remember Captain Jeremiah O’Brien (1744–1818) commanded the sloop Unity when on June 12, 1775 she captured the British armed schooner HMS Margaretta in the Battle of Machias, the first naval battle of the American Revolutionary War. Under the command of Jeremiah O’Brien, thirty-one townsmen sailed aboard Unity armed with guns, swords, axes, and pitch forks and captured Margaretta in an hour-long battle. This battle is often considered the first time British colors were struck to those of the United States, even though the Continental Navy did not exist at the time. The United States Merchant...