From adversity these people became in time more tolerant towards their fellow sufferers, the Catholic portion of the population, and were finally moulded into a remarkably fine and self-reliant type of men. Those who emigrated to the colonies were well fitted to help lay the foundation of the American Republic, and those who remained behind proved sturdy patriots. A little more than one hundred years ago they originated in Belfast the United Irishmen movement, and they were the first to make the demand for religious tolerance in Ireland, that their Catholic countrymen might be free to worship God according to the dictates of their conscience.
During the last century, Maine, New Hampshire, the greater part of Vermont and west Massachusetts, west Pennsylvania, a large portion of Maryland, the western part of Virginia, between the Blue Ridge and the Alleghany mountains, into North Carolina, along the French Broad river, to the upper part of South Carolina, and into the territory now forming Tennessee and Kentucky, with a part of the northwest territory, to the north of the Ohio river, and which then belonged to Virginia, was largely, and in some sections was entirely, settled by Irish, who did not change their names before or after leaving Ireland. From the latter circumstance the course of settlement can be traced by the surnames of the first settlers, and the indications are rendered all the stronger by the names of so many settlements which clearly indicate the localities in Ireland whence these people came.
It can be claimed that some of these Irish emigrants were of English descent from some period more or less remote. This was doubtless true, but they became Irish by birth, and were no longer in sympathy with English interests, or they would not have left the country. Notwithstanding the severe penalties, which were so long in operation, for “taking up with the Irishy,” the fate of many of the invaders was the same after each invasion. In time they yielded to the charms of the Irish women, and their progeny became often more Irish than those from the original Celtic stock. The descendants of many a Cromwellian soldier can be found in Ireland and abroad, who are to-day bitter and uncompromising foes to England’s rule in Ireland, and are a potent check to her influence elsewhere.
I have found reported among the debates in the Irish Parliament, a speech by the Hon. Luke Gardiner, delivered April 2d, 1784, on Irish Commerce, and from which I quote: “America was lost by Irish emigrants. These emigrations are fresh in the recollection of every gentleman in this house. I am assured, from the best authority, the major part of the American army was composed of Irish, and that the Irish language was as commonly spoken in the American ranks as English. I am also informed it was their valor determined the contest, so that England had America detached from her by force of Irish emigrants, etc.”
I find in Marmion’s work, “The Ancient and Modern History of the Maritime Ports of Ireland,” some interesting facts bearing upon a portion of the exodus to this country.
In 1771, 1772, and 1773, over twenty-five thousand emigrants left Belfast, and other ports in that immediate neighborhood, for the American colonies, in consequence of having been evicted from one of the estates of the Marquis of Donegal, in Antrim.
Marmion states, “The emigrants were chiefly farmers and manufacturers who, it was calculated, by converting their property into specie, which they took with them abroad, deprived Ulster of one fourth of its circulating medium, which then consisted altogether of specie; and also a portion equal thereto to the most valuable part of its population.”
Could Robert Morris, the financier of the Revolution, enlighten us as to the effect from bringing this amount of specie into the country, we would realize that the benefit was an incalculable one, and it is a matter of surprise that writers of our history have not noted so important a circumstance.
What credit we had in this country after the paper money had depreciated, was based upon this specie throughout the greater part of the Revolution. Among many instances to this purpose was its use in moving the army to Virginia with such expedition as to ensure the capture of Cornwallis, which event contributed more to the termination of the war than any other; and without the credit based on this specie the struggle would have terminated long before the alliance was made with France.
The Irish people throughout this country were with few exceptions in sympathy with the cause of the colonies, and immediately after the battle of Bunker Hill thousands among them entered the army, but particularly such was the case with these emigrants from the north of Ireland, who, from their continuous service and discipline, became a mainstay of the organization until the end of the war. These Irishmen, who had settled in Pennsylvania, turned out chiefly under the command of Col. Edward Hand and Col. William Irving. They were both Irishmen, and had served as surgeons in the British service, the first in the army and the latter in the navy.