Battle of Machias

Battle of Machias (1775)
	Part of the American Revolutionary War
	; A 1776 nautical chart of Machias Bay; Machias is at the very top
Date	June 11–12, 1775
Location	Machias, Province of Massachusetts Bay44°41′04″N 67°22′59″W
Result	Patriot forces capture the schooner HMS Margaretta
Belligerents
Great Britain	Massachusetts Bay
Commanders and leaders
James Moore †	Jeremiah O'Brien; Benjamin Foster
Strength
schooner HMS Margaretta; about 40 Royal Navy seamen	Private sloops Unity and Falmouth Packet; 55 Massachusetts militia
Casualties and losses
5 killed; 9 wounded	10 killed; 3 wounded

The Battle of Machias (June 11–12, 1775) was an early naval engagement of the American Revolutionary War, also known as the Battle of the Margaretta, fought around the port of Machias, Maine.

Following the outbreak of the war, British authorities enlisted Loyalist merchant Ichabod Jones to supply the troops who were under the Siege of Boston. Two of his merchant ships arrived in Machias on June 2, 1775, accompanied by the British armed sloop HMS Margaretta (sometimes also spelled Margueritta or Marguerite), commanded by Midshipman James Moore. The townspeople of Machias disapproved of Jones' intentions and arrested him. They also tried to arrest Moore, but he escaped through the harbor. The townspeople seized one of Jones' ships, armed it alongside a second local ship, and sailed out to meet Moore. After a short confrontation, Moore was fatally wounded, and his vessel and crew were captured.

The people of Machias captured additional British ships, and fought off a large force that tried to take control of the town in the Battle of Machias in 1777. Privateers and others operating out of Machias continued to harass the Royal Navy throughout the war.

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