The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-02-28

a gentleman of judgment and discretion, of cool nerve and indomitable will, born to command" organized at once for cf- fensive warfare.
 His force consisted of thirty-five picked men, selected from among the shipbui'd- CTS and sailors of Machias. Full of met tie and afdor, young in years, keen or eye, strong of limb, and compact of body; brave and generous, every soul Of them. with the health of salt air in their checks and the love of country In theii hearts: "disdaining fortune" buoyant Tn hope, and proud in their own self-esteem, each a veritable Hotspur. putting on tho | 'idauntless spirit of resolution" impa- tient of wrong and weary of oppression; daring to do all that mortal man could do 10 redress their grievances, this Spar | tan band under the skillfui generalship ! of the gallant OBrien, rushed, as 1t weTcs from the very summit of the mount of defiance and quickly seized and unloadcd one of the lumber-laden sloops and equipped her for battle, arming her wfth | the old guns from the blockhouse, and slowing away in her hull the powder which Mary Chandler had brought to them through the mazes of thick for est.
 Sailing into the bay as the rays of the early fuDENlH8 HHnt BAtQcu thC CaStoAh h sky, "dire was the clang'' as the two crafts ranged alongside one another and exchanged dreadful shots. Soon the schooner's foresail rattled to the deck and all was over with her, for, closing in upon her and holding her fast, Jeremiah OBrien, at the head of his thirty-five Down Easters." boarded and captured her. .s
 Another traditional but doubtless the more nearly correct version of this naval engagement is substantially as follows: After the news of the battle of Lexing- ton reached Machias the towns people erected liberty pole. and the fact having been communicated to the British author tiles. the sloop Margaretta. under the command of Lieutenant Moore of the English navy. was directed to proceed from Boston to Machias to investigate the matter.
 On the arrival of the Margaretta her commanding officer notified the town off, cials that the pole must come down or he would open fire on the settlement. A hurried caucus of the leading citizens was held. without apparently reaching any satisfactory conclusion.
 The fact, however, developed later, was that the meeting had determined to keep the pole intact. This led to the expedition
  garetta. It was contemplated to use two vessels. one of which was the lumber sloop Unity, belonging to Tory mer- chant named Jones; and with this object in view it was seized by the Americans at the wharf at Machias, was manned by | about forty young republican sympathiz- CTS from the village, commanded by Jere- miah O'Brien. and alone participated in the battle. The other vessel which it was proposed to utilize was the Falmouth Packet. commanded by Benjamin Foster but this craft on the way down the bay went aground. Both the Unity and the Falmouth Packet were sloops proper that Is to say, vessels with one mast each. and were. respectively, of about eighty tons burden. The crew of the Uni ty consisted of thirty-five men, and she had on board twenty fowling pieces. with 3 rounds of powder and ball; 13 hay forks. numher>of axes, a small bag of bread, a few pieces of pork, and a barrel of wa ter; the last thing being mounted was a wall piece on the bitts of the windlass. ' The Margaretta was known as ''sIoop of war" but was in reality a schooner. with four 6-pounders, twenty i-pound swivels fired from the rail. wall pieces, 70 muskets, boarding bikes and axes. 3 boxes or hand grenades. with an ample supply of powder and ball. She was man. ned by two commissioned officers, with 3e petty officers and men, and was of about 100 tons burden.
 The father, Dennis O'Brien, insisted un- on going with the expedition, but was per- siiaded not to do so on account of his age. Joseph. the younger brother was forbid den to go because he was too young, and Jeremiah locked him up in a corn house or wood shed to keep him safe until the sloop had gotten off and was underway. Joseph, however. in some manner secured his release and became a stowaway on the Unity until she was we'll down the bay and when he appeared on deck N was toc late to put him ashore: so that all the six brothers. Jeremiah, Gideon. John, Will | liam. Dennis and Joseph were on tn, Unity during the engagement The Uni ty made a direct course for the Margaret ia, and after a fierce fight lasting somt twenty minutes. captured her, and Jere miah pulled down the flag Lieutenant Moore, of the Margaretta, was killed or deck during the action. With him wert five killed or mortally wounded and ter disabled. while of the Americans two were killed and four wounded The report oi Il this affair was made to the Congress of ! Massachusetts Bay June H. I775. by the committee of Machias, and on June 9e 1775, Congress passed resolutions of thanLs
 to Jeremiah O'Brien and Benjamin Eos.
 ter for their action, and declared that:
 ''said s1oops, their appurtenances and cargoes, remain in the tender hands O,
 said Captains O'Brien and Foster and tn, men under their command for them tC use and improve as they shall think mos for their account and the public advan