Talk:Battle of Machias

Liberty Pole
The Background section says the liberty pole anecdote was a much later invention. James L. Nelson's book has 11 pages about this battle, and does not mention a liberty pole. Unless someone comes up with a verifiable reference. I will delete the mention of the liberty pole in the narrative section. --DThomsen8 (talk) 19:43, 29 July 2009 (UTC)


 * While User:vincent pearse has helpfully debunked the story, he deleted my citation (of at least one modern occurrence of it, see this version) in the process, and left the background in a bit of a shambles. I think the story deserves to be mentioned, but it should be moved out of the Background and probably into a section of its own at the end.   Magic ♪piano 20:14, 29 July 2009 (UTC)


 * After reading my source several times, I decided to add it to the References section and cite it in the same way as the other references. There are several differences between Nelson's account, which is very well sourced, and this article as it stands.  Most importantly, the guns of the Halifax were believed by Admiral Graves to have been salvaged by the Machias residents, so the Margaretta arrived with the two merchant vessels, Polly and Unity. Also, Ichabod Jones engaged in very heavy-handed tactics with the residents, and that was what led to the attempt to capture the British midshipmen and Ichabod Jones, and the subsequent events.


 * As for the Liberty pole story, I think you are right about making it a separate section at the end. There is some editing effort required to get the sources correct, but I will handle that in steps, not all at one go. My difficulty is that I have only the one source, so I am unsure how to handle other problems with the article, such as those I have mentioned. --DThomsen8 (talk) 00:36, 30 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Feel free to make changes; while I wrote most of what is currently here, I don't claim to own it. At a minimum you should try to get access to Leamon and Miller in addition to Nelson, and Duncan wouldn't hurt.  Drisko I would discount -- there is much in his work that it is faulty, but I think he provides a useful local perspective at times.  There is enough discrepancy in some of the accounts that I recall having trouble reconciling them.  Have fun!  Magic ♪piano 01:38, 30 July 2009 (UTC)
 * I think I will leave this article alone for a while, just watch it, and see what others do. --DThomsen8 (talk) 10:58, 30 July 2009 (UTC)--DThomsen8 (talk) 10:58, 30 July 2009 (UTC)