This article is published in the Spring/Summer 2025 AMMV News Magazine by Patrick Cotter
The American Revolutionary War began on April 19, 1775, at the battles of Lexington and Concord in the Province of Massachusetts. In early May 1775, reports of the battles and the colonial militia’s victory over British forces reached the townspeople of Machias in the Province of Maine (with a population of 818 in 1790). Though the village of Machias was more than 300 miles away from the battles, the townspeople were determined not to be intimidated by the British ships sent from Boston to obtain lumber and other supplies from their village.
