The first naval battle of the American Revolution was the Battle of Machias. In his "History of the Navy of the United States of America" James Fenimore Cooper dubbed this engagement "the Lexington of the Seas". This battle, which occurred in June 1775 at Machiasport after townspeople refused to provide the British with lumber for barracks, led to the capture of the armed schooner HMS "Margaretta" by settlers under Captain Jeremiah O'Brien and Capt. Benjamin Foster.