By Paul Sylvain

“The British are coming! The British are coming!” 

On April 19, 1775, the first shots of the American Revolution were exchanged between British troops and the citizen army called the Minutemen at Lexington Common and North Bridge in Concord, Massachusetts. On June 12 — one week shy of two months later — Machias patriots, armed with a few rifles, pitchforks, and clubs, would claim their rightful place in history by chasing after and capturing the armed British schooner HMS Margaretta near Round Island in Machias Bay.