A Rhode Island soldier, Patrick Tracy, participated with Montgomery in the assault on Quebec. He was of the company of Capt. Simeon Thayer of Providence, R. I., and was killed in the assault just mentioned. Cornelius Hagerty and Corporal James Hayden of the company were wounded. In a work on this invasion of Canada, reference is made to John M. Taylor, “keen as an Irish greyhound,” who was Arnold’s purveyor and commissary in the wilderness. Mention is also made of Lieut. William Cross, “a handsome little Irishman, always neatly dressed,” who commanded, on the Isle of Orleans, a detachment of some twenty men.
Among the land patents granted in New York under the English colonial government, was one to David Mooney, 1765. The tract was located in Washington County and comprised 2,000 acres. It was known as the Mooney patent. The Otsego patent, 100,000 acres, was granted to George Croghan and ninety-nine others, in 1769. Croghan is also mentioned in connection with other patents. Michael Byrne and others were granted the Stony Hill Tract, 18,000 acres, in 1768. It was located in Schoharie County. The Adaquataugie patent, 26,000 acres, in Otsego County, was granted in 1770 to Sir William Johnson, an Irishman, and others.
The rolls of the Third New York Regiment of the Line, during the Revolution, contain a large number of Irish names. They include Brady, Brannon, Burke, Burns, Butler, Condon, Connolly, Dempsey, Doherty, Dunn, Flynn, Garvey, Geraghty, Gillaspy, Hickey, Hogan, Kelly, Lyon, McCarty, McConnelly, McCord, McCormick, McCoy, McDermot, McGinnis, McGown, McGuire, Mackey, McLaughlin, McNeal, McQuin, Madden, Mahan, Moloy, Moore, Morris, Morrison, Mulholand, Murray, O’Connoley, Quigley, Riley, Ryan, Sullivan, Sweeny, Tobin, Wall, Welch and others. (Vide New York in the Revolution, by Comptroller James A. Roberts, Albany, 1898.)
Among Irish names found in Connecticut at early periods may be mentioned Brian Rosseter, Windsor, 1639; Thomas Dunn, New Haven, 1647; Lawrence Ward, Branford, 1654; Thomas Welch, Milford, 1654; John Mead, Stamford, 1656; Richard Hughes, New Haven, 1659; Edward Fanning, Mystic, 1662; Thomas Ford, Windsor, 1669; Richard Butler, Stratford, 1669; Hugh Griffin, Stratford, 1669; William Meade, New London, 1669; Thomas Sha (Shea), Sr., Stonington, 1669; Thomas Tracy, Norwich, 1669; Timothy Ford, New Haven, 1669; Jeremiah Blake, New London, 1681; James Kelly, New London, 1682; Owen McCarty, New London, 1693.
Gen. Walter Stewart, a Pennsylvania officer of the Revolution, was born in Ireland, about 1756. He settled in Philadelphia, Pa., espoused the cause of the Patriots, and in 1776 was commissioned captain. He was made an aide-de-camp to General Gates the same year. In 1777, Stewart was commissioned colonel of the Pennsylvania State Regiment of Foot, took part in the battles of Brandywine and Germantown, and retired in 1786 with the rank of brevet brigadier-general. In 1794, he was major-general of Pennsylvania state troops. General Washington was godfather to his eldest son. (Campbell’s History of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, Philadelphia.)
The Marquis de Chastellux in a tour through Connecticut, 1780, stopped at Litchfield. His host there was a Mr. Philips. The latter was, the Marquis tells us, “an Irishman transplanted to America, where he has already made a fortune; he appears to be a man skillful and adroit; he speaks with caution to strangers, and fears to compromise himself; for the rest he is of a gayer mood than the Americans, even a little of a joker, a kind but little known in America.” (From Voyages de M. Le Marquis de Chastellux dans L’Amerique, Septentrionale les annees 1780, 1781 and 1782; quoted by Rev. James H. O’Donnell in his History of the Diocese of Hartford.)
A prominent merchant in Philadelphia, Pa., at one period, was James Caldwell. He was a native of Ireland. He was a patriot of the Revolution, a member of the First City Troop, Philadelphia, and took part with it in the campaign of 1776–’77. Campbell’s History of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, Philadelphia, says that he was “one of the six volunteers of the Troop who accompanied Colonel Reed on December 30, 1776, from Trenton to reconnoitre the advanced posts of the enemy, and who captured twelve British soldiers during that expedition.” In 1780, Caldwell subscribed £2,000 to the bank that was organized to supply the Continental army with provisions.
Rev. Mr. Lyons, an Irish clergyman of the Church of England, who was located in Derby, Conn., was subjected to great abuse there because of his nationality. Writing to London, May 8, 1744, he says: “As soon as they had advice of my appointment, and from what country I came, and, indeed, before I arrived among them, they abused me, calling me ‘an Irish Teague and Foreigner,’ with many other reflections of an uncivilized and unchristian kind. It would be too tedious to record all the abuse and insults I have received in Derby.” (Church Documents of the Protestant Episcopal Church, quoted by Rev. James H. O’Donnell in his History of the Diocese of Hartford.)
Patrick Ward, a lieutenant, was one of the defenders of Fort Griswold, Conn., during the Revolution. The fort was attacked by the British during the raid conducted by Arnold, the traitor, and after a gallant resistance was captured by the enemy. The atrocities committed upon the surrendered and helpless garrison, by the British, constitutes one of the blackest chapters in the history of warfare. The event has ever since been known as the “Massacre of Fort Griswold.” Ward was one of the victims. On a stone over his grave was placed this inscription: “In memory of Mr. Patrick Ward who fell a victim to British cruelty in Fort Griswold, Sept. 6th, 1781, in the 25th year of his age.”
Felt’s Ecclesiastical History of New England mentions William Collins who, about 1640, accompanied a party of refugees from the West Indies to what is now New Haven, Conn. After a time these wayfarers dispersed “and some returned to Ireland.” Collins afterwards taught school at Hartford, Conn., and subsequently wedded a daughter of Anne Hutchinson who with her family had been banished from Boston, Mass., by the intolerant Boston church, because of her religious views. She took up her residence on the island of Rhode Island. Later, the family removed to territory under Dutch jurisdiction, where Mrs. Hutchinson, her son and her son-in-law (Collins) were killed by the Indians.