On the west:
During the Revolutionary War he distinguished
himself greatly. He filled the various
commands entrusted to him with skill
and gallantry. When unable to fight
on the ocean he obtained command of a
Company of Volunteers
and fought against the
enemy on land.
Among his exploits was the capture, upon
May 29TH, 1781, of two English vessels,
the Atalanta and Trepasa, after a
hotly contested action with his own
ship, the Alliance.
On the north:
In January, 1776, he commanded
the brig Lexington, the first regular
cruiser that got to sea under the authority
of the Continental Congress and the vessel
that first carried the American flag
upon the ocean.
On March 18, 1895, the Hibernian Society for the Relief of Emigrants from Ireland, now the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, presented the City of Philadelphia a copy, by Colon Campbell Cooper, of Gilbert Stuart's portrait of Commodore Barry, to be placed in Independence Hall. Hon. Edwin Stuart, President of the Society and Mayor of the City and now [1908] Governor of Pennsylvania, presided and accepted the portrait on its presentation by General St. Clair Mulholland, who declared Commodore Barry to have been "one of the most illustrious of Ireland's sons, a brilliant child of the wind and waves, a heroic warrior of the sea who never knew defeat, the Father and Founder of the Navy of the United States. The Navy that from the beginning has been the admiration and model of all the nations of the earth."
STATUE OF COMMODORE BARRY, INDEPENDENCE SQUARE, PHILADELPHIA
On March 22, 1902, the torpedo boat destroyer the "Barry" was launched at the Neafie & Levy's shipyard. It was "christened" by Miss Elizabeth Adams Barnes, the great-great-grandniece of Commodore Barry and daughter of Captain John S. Barnes, U.S. Navy, retired, of New York City.
In July, 1902, Hon. M.E. Driscoll, of Syracuse, New York, proposed a Bill in the National House of Representatives appropriating fifty thousand dollars "to erect in Washington a monument inscribed
"JOHN BARRY
"The Father of the American Navy."