You will be agreeably surprised with the number of Irish-Americans among the great men of Tennessee. Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk, Davy Crockett, Sam Houston (I think Andrew Johnson), and General John Adams were Irish-Americans.
The father and mother of General John Adams came direct from Ireland and settled in Nashville. Their son was graduated from West Point. When the last war began he gave his services to the C. S. A. He was a gallant and brave soldier. His death on horseback on the top of the Federal breastworks at Franklin was as remarkable a piece of heroism as the war witnessed.
HUGH CARGILL, A FRIEND OF LIBERTY.
BY THOMAS F. O’MALLEY, SOMERVILLE, MASS.
Hugh Cargill was born in Ballyshannon, Donegal, Ireland, about 1739, and came to Boston in 1774, “in connection with the British troops”[[25]]—probably a soldier in one of the regiments. Concerning his early life in Boston little is known other than that he soon espoused the cause of the patriots and left the British service. April 19, 1775, found him at Concord, Mass., with the Provincial forces. When the enemy fired the court house and endangered the records, Cargill, with one Bullock, assisted in removing them to a place of safety.[[26]]
The events of that day hastened the recruiting of companies and the formation of regiments. Cargill at once joined Capt. Abishia Brown’s company which had been raised in the region around Concord and Lexington. His military experience and training made him a valuable man in the newly-organized command, and he was at once made a non-commissioned officer, being the fourth in the list of sergeants of the company.[[27]]
Captain Brown’s company was attached to Colonel Nixon’s Middlesex County regiment and was one of the few companies of that command engaged at Bunker Hill.
At the conclusion of his service in the army Mr. Cargill settled in Boston and engaged in the business of a taverner or inn-keeper. In the first Boston Directory (1789) he is described as a “retailer” with a place of business on Cambridge street. After many years of close application to business, and by careful management and economy, he accumulated considerable money.
In 1790 he purchased from David Hyde the estate in which he carried on his business.[[28]] The property consisted of a two-story house on the westerly side of Cambridge street and bounded southerly on Alden lane. In 1798 at the time of the levy of the direct tax it was valued at $3,300.[[29]]
While in business, Mr. Cargill was active in the affairs of the community and was especially interested in the local fire companies. On April 26, 1786, he was proposed to the selectmen, by Capt. Edward Ridgeway, for membership in his engine company, and “approved.”[[30]] Ridgeway’s company was known as No. 6 and was a noted one at that time. Cargill remained with this company for some years, for as late as 1790 we find his name on the list of members returned to the selectmen.[[31]]