We now come to the greatest event in the history of our state and nation, the American Revolution. We have heard and read so much about the colonists throwing off the yoke of the “mother country” that it would seem to be necessary to determine who is entitled to the credit of being called the “mother country.”
Washington, Lee, Franklin, Custis and others, all men of English descent, tell us that one-half of the continental army was Irish. Galloway, Mountjoy and Robertson reported to England the same fact. Galloway stated to a committee of the British House of Commons that: “There were scarcely one-fourth natives of America; about one-half Irish, the other fourth were English and Scotch.” We do not claim that Galloway’s testimony was entirely trustworthy, and it is only quoted here in corroboration of the testimony of the others.
In the story of the part played by the Irish Rhode Islanders in the Revolution I have carefully omitted names of doubtful origin and have confined myself to those whose nationality cannot be questioned.
In 1765 Rhode Island opposed the Stamp Act. In 1766 a Liberty Tree was planted in Newport. In 1768 a similar event took place in Providence. In 1772 the “Gaspee” was attacked in the Providence River. Her commander was wounded and Dr. Henry Sterling, an Irishman, lent him assistance. In 1775 James and Alexander Black, two Irishmen, were leading merchants in Providence. On May 4th, 1776, the people of Rhode Island formally renounced allegiance to England, two months before the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia.
The records in the State House and elsewhere show that some three hundred soldiers of Irish birth or extraction enlisted from this state. I have been conservative in my estimates and have excluded names which may have been English, Irish or Scotch, as Carpenter, Chester, etc., although, as we have seen, these were as likely to be Irish as anything else. A detailed list of these names may be found in Murray’s “Irish Rhode Islanders in the American Revolution.” That publication also gives the names of the Irish who enlisted in the Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Connecticut regiments. These add several hundred more. In this collection of names we find Bennets, Boyds, Carrolls, Caseys, Cooneys, Daleys, Donohues, Dorrances, Fitzgeralds, Gallaghers, Hanleys, Hogans, Larkins, Mahoneys, McCarthys, McDonalds, McNamaras, Murrays, Morans, O’Briens, Murphys, Sullivans, Tracys, Watsons and Wrights. We also find the three Irish fighting names: Kelly, Burke and Shea. These are only some of the names found which include about every Irish name imaginable.
Likewise we find the names Blake, Bowen, Carr, Cummings, King, Harvey, etc., but these are of doubtful origin and are not claimed by us.
Henry E. Knox, one of Washington’s generals, the son of an Irishman, visited Rhode Island in 1776 and laid out certain forts at Newport.
At the beginning of the war Washington ordered two invading armies into Canada. One of these was commanded by Richard Montgomery, a native of Raphoe, County Donegal, Ireland. The other was commanded by Benedict Arnold. In these armies were many Irish Rhode Islanders. Captain Simeon Thayer of Providence organized a company for the expedition. In it were John Barrett, John Carrell, Edward Connor, Thomas Garey, Patrick Hannington, James Hayden, Cornelius Higgarty, Edward Mulligan, John Ryan, Patrick Tracy and James Welch.
Captain Ward of Westerly also had a company on the expedition and this included Thomas Dougherty and John Hickey. Captain Topham of Newport had many Irish in his command. In this campaign every regiment from the colonies contained numerous Irish soldiers, as shown by the muster rolls.
In the spring of 1776 Washington ordered General Sullivan to the support of the armies in Canada, assigning six regiments to his care. Owing to the death of the commander-in-chief before Quebec the mission of Sullivan was a failure. Sullivan’s regiments contained a large number of Irish soldiers, but as we are concerned only with the Irish in Rhode Island it is not necessary to mention all their names here.