“Must come down!” repeated O’Brien, with warmth. “Those words are easily spoken, my friend. You will find, I apprehend, that it is easier to make than it will be to enforce a demand of this kind.”
“What! Am I to understand that resistance will be made? Will the people of Machias dare to disregard an order, not originating with me, but the government whose officer I am?”
“The people of Machias,” replied O’Brien, “will dare do anything in maintenance of their principles and rights!”
“It is useless to bandy words,” rejoined the officer, a little nettled at the determined spirit manifested around him; “my orders are peremptory, and must be obeyed. That liberty pole must be taken down, or it will be my painful duty to fire on the town!”
From that rash act, however, Moore was dissuaded by a mutual friend; and the liberty pole stood until it “rotted down!”
To John O’Brien, so it is said by some writers, belongs the honor of proposing, at a meeting of the Machias patriots, held in a private house soon after the notable gathering in the Burnham Tavern, that Captain Moore be seized while attending the village church, on the following Sunday; after which, in accordance with the well-conceived plan there agreed upon, the “Margaretta” was to be captured, also. In compliance with young O’Brien’s expressed wish, he was chosen to be the principal actor in the proposed seizure of Moore.
John O’Brien, as he subsequently stated, hid his gun under a board, before entering the church. He was expected, at a signal to be given by one of the patriots outside of the church, to personally seize Captain Moore, when his compatriots were to come to his assistance. So far as young O’Brien was concerned, the preliminaries were well carried out. Because of the vigilance and prompt action of the British officer, however, the plan for the seizure miscarried. Receiving timely warning of the trap into which he was being lured, he escaped from the church by way of a low, open window. On reaching his vessel, he was quickly assisted on board by an officer awaiting his arrival; and, after firing a few shots over the villagers’ heads, for intimidation, he dropped down the river to a place of safety.
When it had been resolved by a few of the bolder spirits of Machias to attack and capture the “Margaretta,” by pursuing and boarding her, John O’Brien and his five brothers, Jeremiah, Gideon, William, Dennis and Joseph, were among the party of about thirty-five who sailed down the Machias River in the lumber sloop “Unity,” on that extremely hazardous undertaking. After the little American sloop had entered Machias Bay, and the “Margaretta” had been sighted, Jeremiah O’Brien was unanimously chosen to the command of the “Unity.”
“The first man who boards her (the “Margaretta”) shall be entitled to the palm of honor,” said Captain Jeremiah O’Brien, soon after taking command of the lumber sloop.
After the “Margaretta” had been sighted in Machias Bay, where she was becalmed, the American sloop was brought alongside of her. As the two vessels came together, the rigging of the “Unity” became entangled with that of the British vessel. The two vessels had no sooner touched, than John O’Brien, who was standing at the bow of the “Unity,” leaped aboard the “Margaretta.” Almost at the same moment, the American sloop, having no grappling-irons, the vessels suddenly parted and young O’Brien was left alone on the quarterdeck of the British schooner. Seven Britishers almost simultaneously fired at the intrepid Yankee boarder; but he was unhurt. The Britishers then charged upon O’Brien with their bayonets; and to save his life he jumped overboard and started to swim to the Yankee sloop, which had then drifted about seventy-five feet away.