Who is Don Pommeroy and Fred Burden from Stern Men and what is their importance?

Don is a bachelor lobsterman, known fool, and the milder brother of hot-headed Ira Pommeroy of Fort Niles Island. Fred a fiddler and lobsterman from Courne Haven. The fight, over whether Fred, hypothetically, could beat a five-foot monkey in a fight, lands Don in the hospital in a coma and Don being detained but not charged, since he too is badly beaten. Without learning details, Ira organizes a posse to attack Courne Haven and the two sides lock in a seven-month war that ruins the participants economically.