“Three of the O’Briens, Jeremiah, John and William, continued in the naval service of the republic until the close of the war. Jeremiah was appointed to the command of The Liberty, and his brother William served under him as lieutenant. ‘For two years this vessel and another did good service on the northern coast, affording protection to American navigation, after which they were laid up.’ Jeremiah, with others, then fitted out a twenty-gun letter-of-marque, called the Hannibal, manned by one hundred and thirty men.
“She took several prizes; but at length falling in with two British frigates, she was overhauled after a chase of forty-eight hours and captured. O’Brien was first confined in the Jersey prison-ship, otherwise known as the Hell, at the Wallabout, where the Brooklyn navy yard now is. At the end of about six months he was sent to Mill prison, England, whence he succeeded in effecting his escape about a year later. He retired after the war to Brunswick, Me., where, at the age of over fourscore, he furnished the details of his brave achievements to a generation which had shamefully forgotten him and them.
“John O’Brien was more fortunate than his gallant brother. From a journal kept by him the following extracts are taken: On June 9, 1779, he sailed in the armed schooner Hibernia. On June 21, he took an English brig and sent her in. On June 25, he had an engagement with a ship of seventeen guns, from three till five o’clock p. m., when a frigate came up and the Hibernia was compelled to leave her anticipated prize and was pursued by the frigate till midnight. O’Brien had three men killed and several wounded in this fight. On July 7 he took a schooner, and sent her to Newburyport. On the day following, in company with Captain Leach of Salem, he took a ship carrying thirteen four-pounders; a few hours after, a brig; and then a schooner laden with molasses. On July 11, he took a brig in ballast, and then chased and captured another. He adds that if he and Captain Leach had not parted in a fog they could have taken the whole fleet. Capt. John O’Brien was never captured by the enemy. No trace is found after the capture of the Hannibal, of Lieut. William O’Brien. He was most probably among the 11,000 victims of British cruelty, whose corpses were buried, or flung on the shores of the Wallabout.”
JOHN BARRY.
Distinguished naval officer; born in Wexford County, Ireland, 1745. At the outbreak of the Revolution he abandoned “the finest ship and the finest employ in America” to enter the service of the republic; was appointed by Congress, in 1776, to prepare for sea a fleet which sailed from Philadelphia, Pa.; rendered brilliant service while commanding successively the U. S. S. Lexington, the U. S. S. Raleigh, and the U. S. S. Alliance; was publicly thanked by Washington; became senior officer of the navy; died at Philadelphia, 1803.
THE SOCIETY’S FIELD IN CALIFORNIA.
BY JAMES CONNOLLY, CORONADO, CAL.
The American-Irish Historical Society is national, broad and comprehensive. To those familiar with the way in which our race has been misrepresented or omitted in some histories of California, nothing more is needed than the mere fact of the existence of such a society as ours as an inducement to their taking an interest in it. But there are the great majorities on the other hand who have little time to look into such matters in out of the way places, before whom I wish to place the more important purposes and scope of the Society.
Probably no great incentive to the study of the latter phases of this Society is needed than the fact that during its short existence it has been extended to over thirty states of the Union and to the District of Columbia. Most or all of the men who first conceived the need and then issued the call for its organization are of national reputation in the several walks of life. The first meeting was held at the Revere House, Boston, Jan. 20, 1897. Rear Admiral Richard Worsam Meade was then elected the first president-general. With seven generations of American ancestry back of him, and brother of the hero of Gettysburg, it would have been hard to find a more representative man of the race for that office than he.
In thus honoring him the Society was doubly honoring itself. The race that gave the new United States navy Commodore Jack Barry, might as well supply a rear admiral for president of this Society in 1897. The strides forward during the intervening century have been certainly great. And to-day the race stands as firmly and fearlessly as it did then, for freedom. Theodore Roosevelt, governor of the Empire state, who is so distinguished in literature, war and statecraft that it would be hard to tell in which he most excels, is among the members.