Jeremiah O'Brien (1744 – September 5, 1818) was an American military officer who served in the American Revolutionary War. Born in Kittery, Massachusetts, he captured the British schooner in the Battle of Machias, renaming her Machias Liberty before leading the successful raid on Saint John. O'Brien was subsequently commissioned into the Massachusetts State Navy at the rank of captain, though he was captured by the British in 1780 and imprisoned in England. Escaping to France and then to North America, O'Brien was commissioned as colonel into the Massachusetts Militia. Six ships have been named in his honor.
Early life
Jeremiah was the eldest son of Irish immigrants Morris and Mary O'Brien. He was born in Kittery, District of Maine in 1744. His family moved to Scarborough, Maine and settled in Machias, Maine in the 1760s to engage in lumbering. They owned two sawmills. Maine was a part of Massachusetts at the time.
American Revolution
Reports of the battles of Lexington and Concord reached Machias by early May 1775, leading Jeremiah and Benjamin Foster to rally Machias residents at Job Burnham's tavern. Machias merchant captain Ichabod Jones sailed his ships Unity and Polly to Boston with a cargo of lumber and purchased food for sale in Machias. British troops encouraged Jones to deliver another cargo of lumber for construction of their barracks in Boston. Admiral Samuel Graves ordered HMS Margaretta, under the command of James Moore, to accompany Jones' ships to discourage interference from Machias rebels. When the ships reached Machias on 2 June 1775, Capt. James Moore saw the town's liberty pole and ordered it removed. The Machias townspeople refused to remove the pole and to load the lumber. Foster plotted to capture the British officers when they attended church on 11 June, but the British escaped capture and retreated downriver aboard Margaretta. On 12 June Jeremiah pursued Margaretta aboard Jones' ship the Unity. Foster intended to participate in the packet boat Falmouth. But after the Falmouth ran aground, O'Brien and his five brothers, Gideon, John, William, Dennis and Joseph, and men of Machias took the Unity and went on alone.