Chapter XVIII: Introduction (12)

The first trace of the Irish in New England of which we have any record is found in the story of the “Mayflower.” In his book, “Brave Little Holland and What She Taught Us,” Rev. William Elliot Griffiths says: “In the Mayflower were one hundred and one men, women, boys and girls as passengers, besides captain and crew. These were of English, Dutch, French and Irish ancestry.” History has established beyond the possibility of doubt that Priscilla Mullins and John Alden were both Irish.

Plymouth was founded in 1620. William Bradford, governor of the colony, tells us that a ship arrived at Plymouth, 1626–7, and a large number of passengers, “cheefe among these people was one Mr. Fells and one Mr. Sibsie, which had many servants belonging unto them, many of them being Irish.”

In Winthrop’s Journal it is stated that on March 15, 1636, a ship arrived “called the Saint Patrick, belonging to Sir Thomas Wentworth, Deputy of Ireland, one Palmer, Master.”

Soldiers of Irish birth or extraction had made their mark in the colonies as early as the Pequot War, among them Darby Field and Daniel Patrick or Gilpatrick. Field is mentioned as having explored the White Mountains in 1642 with a band of Indians. (Winthrop’s Journal and Sketches of Early Irish Settlers by Linehan.)

It is now necessary to turn to the history of England for an explanation of why so many Irish came to this country, beginning in 1641, and why some of them did not bear Irish names.

In the reign of Charles First there occurred what is known as “The Revolution of 1641.” At that time many of the gentry of the west of Ireland held their lands under what parliament claimed a defective title. Charles, after promising the Irish that we would remove the cloud on their title, immediately went back on his word, and, in order to give his conduct some show of justification, had thousands of Irish men and women tried on an absurd charge of treason and their lands and goods confiscated. The history of England, gleaned from the records of the House of Commons, tells us that in two days over two thousand Irish were indicted, “tried,” convicted and sentenced for treason, or one for each one and one-half minutes in a working day of twelve hours; a fair sample of English “justice” in Ireland. The English army overran Ireland, slaughtered a very large number of men, women and children, besides shipping many thousands to New England as slaves. These exiles were obliged to change their names and adopt English names.

After the fall of Charles First, Cromwell started a similar crusade in Ireland. He also caused to be sent to the colonies many thousands of Irish boys and girls who were given names different from those of their fathers. Cromwell also shipped large numbers of adults to the colonies from Ireland where they were sold as slaves. In 1652, the Cromwell Commission recommended that “Irish women as being too numerous now be sold to merchants and transported to ... New England.” In 1653 Captain John Vernon contracted with Messrs. Selleck and Leader for 250 women of the Irish nation and 300 men “to transport them into New England”; these to be secured in the country within twenty miles of Cork, Youghal, Kinsale, Waterford and Wicklow.

The women thus sold into slavery were to be given in marriage to the colonists, as it was impossible to get English women to emigrate to the colonies willingly. Sales were conducted and each man paid for his wife as he did for his chattels at public auction. An interesting account of the manner of conducting these sales may be found in the histories of Virginia and in a popular book of fiction of a few years ago: “To Have and To Hold.”

So brisk was this trade for a time that finally the ship owners, in their greed, forcibly abducted some English women and children, and this led to the stopping of the traffic.

We see, therefore, some reason for the fact that many people of undoubted Irish origin did not bear Irish names, some of them taking the names of their owners, and others dropping their Irish names to save themselves from persecution. In addition to this, no ship could clear for the colonies from an Irish port. She must first proceed to an English port and thence outward. When she did clear all her passengers were required by law to adopt some name other than an Irish one. Lest I be accused of romancing I will quote the law of England of the time:

JAMES THOMPSON, ESQ.,

Of Louisville, Ky.

Vice-President of the Society for Kentucky.
]

“An Act that Irishmen dwelling in the counties of ... go appareled
like Englishmen, and wear their beards after the English manner, swear
allegiance, and take English sirnames; which sirnames shall be of one
town, as Sutton, Chester, Trim, Skyrne, Corke, Kinsale; or colors, as
white, black, brown; or arts or sciences, as smith, carpenter; or
office, as cook, butler, etc., and it is enacted that he and his issue
shall use this name under pain of forfeyting his goods yearly.”
(Paternalism with a vengeance. If the law had required him to wear a
monocle in his left eye the picture would have been complete, and
instead of building railroads he could have married an American
heiress.)

We can from this easily perceive the policy of England: to wipe out from the minds of the Irish all thoughts of nationality, and to exterminate the race.

Many of these exiles, of course, obeyed the law, as being along the lines of least resistance. The banished children did not even know their right names; and thus we see the names of Smith, Carpenter, Chester, Sterling, Kinsale, White, Butler, etc., borne by Irishmen. We shall also see that names distinctly Irish were found in Rhode Island at that period, demonstrating one of two things, or perhaps both: that many of the Irish were smuggled out of the country without touching at English ports, and that many others, on arriving in this country, resumed their original names.

The popular histories of England and the colonies make no note of these facts, but there is a more reliable source than the histories for confirmation of these assertions, and that is the records of England. It is one of the established customs of English law to sacredly preserve all papers of this character, and it is from these, even more authentic than histories, that we have discovered the facts.

Thomas Hamilton Murray, late Secretary-General of the American-Irish Historical Society, has compiled a list of Irish names in the records of Rhode Island, giving the years in which the men were known to have lived here. These are all strictly Irish names and exclude those of doubtful origin:

Larkin, Dunn, 1655; Casey, 1663; Kelly, Macoone, 1669; Heffeman, 1671;
Martin, Macarthy, Long, 1677; Devett, 1685; Malavery, 1687; Dailey,
1689; Linniken, 1690; Cary, 1693; Dring, 1696; Doyle, 1698; Higgins,
1699; Moore, 1700; Walch, Mitchell, 1703; Coursey, 1713; Murphy, 1718;
Lawless, 1720; Carty, 1721; MacKown, 1723; O’Harra, 1728; Phelon,
1730; Shay, Joyce, 1731; Connor, Cassidy, 1732; Gallagher, 1736; Lyon,
Mackey, 1737; Hurley, McCane, Sullivan, 1740; Whelan, 1741; McGonegal,
Delaney, Farrell, Mulholland, Rourk, 1742; Dempsey, Fitzgerald, 1743;
Hanley, Egan, McDonald, 1745; Donnelly, Tally, Byrn, 1747; Lanahan,
Maguire, 1750; O’Brien, Donovan, Barrett, 1751; Cavenaugh, Flynn,
Murray, Hickey, 1752; Hartagan, 1753; McMullen, 1754; Burke, 1755;
Dwyer, O’Neil, Ryan, 1756; Magee, Donohue, 1758; Sheehan, Hearn,
McGrath, 1759; Mullen, 1760; Gorman, Lary, Dermott, Fitzpatrick, 1761;
Dunphy, 1765; Carroll, 1768; Roach, 1773; Mahoney, Rohan, 1774.

These are all names of people who lived in Rhode Island prior to the American Revolution. When such a large number of names is found in the records it is but fair to assume that there were many others to us unknown and who lived and died without ever having their names recorded anywhere.

In the early history of New England there were of course no directories of names, few, if any, records of births, marriages or deaths, and practically the only time when men’s names were written was in time of war or public danger, and it is in war that we first find the names of any large number of Irishmen in Rhode Island.

THE IRISH IN KING PHILIP’S WAR.

King Philip’s War started in 1675 and was begun for the purpose of ending the rule of the white man in the colonies. Time will not admit of a detailed account of the part played by the Irish in that terrible conflict and only passing mention can be made.

Again taking the writings of Thomas Hamilton Murray (“Irish Soldiers in King Philip’s War”) we find the names of one hundred and fourteen men of undoubted Irish birth or descent. I have verified these names. The list excludes the names of doubtful origin. It is to be borne in mind that the men who wrote the names were, in many instances, guided largely by sound, owing to the inability of the bearer of the name to spell it correctly, or at all. The list follows:

Benjamin Barrett.
James Barrett.
John Barrett.
Peter Bennett.
William Blake.
John Bolen.
John Boyd.
Alexander Boyle.
John Brandon.
James Briarly.
Richard Brine.
Robert Bryan.
William Buckley.
Richard Burke.
Joseph Butler.
Phillip Butler.
Stephen Butler.
James Callan.
Daniel Canada.
John Cann.
James Carr.
John Cary.
Peter Cary.
John Casey.
John Clary.
Lawrence Clinton.
Joseph Collins.
Robert Corbett.
Richard Coy.
Timothy Cunnell.
John Davis.
Thomas Davis.
John Day.
William Day.
Hugh Drury.
John Drury.
James Ford.
Samuel Gary.
Thomas Gery.
John Gleeson.
Phillip Gleason.
John Good.
Daniel Gowen.
Matthew Griffin.
Richard Griffin.
John Hand.
James Harrington.
Lawrence Hart.
John Harvey.
William Harvey.
Sylvester Hayes.
John Healey.
Nathaniel Healey.
William Healy.
Daniel Herrington.
Joseph Holland.
James Hughes.
Matthew Hurley.
John Jackson.
Phillip Keane.
Lawrence Kellon.
Michael Kelly.
John Kennedy.
Henry Kenny.
Thomas Kenny.
Peter King.
John Lane.
Peter Lane.
John Larkin.
Edward Larkin.
Timothy Larkin.
Phillip Long.
John Lyon.
Thomas Lyon.
Charles Macarthy.
Daniel Magennis.
John Malone.
John Maloney.
William Manley.
Nicholas Manning.
Thomas Manning.
John Martin.
David Mead.
Peter Mellardy.
Daniel Moore.
Edward Moore.
Joseph Moore.
Patrick Moran.
Darby Morris.
Brian Murphy.
James Murphy.
Arthur Neale.
Jeremiah Neale.
Richard Nevill.
John Norton.
David O’Kelly.
James Read.
John Read.
Edward Reade.
John Riley.
James Ross.
Joseph Sexton.
Dennis Sheehy.
Thomas Tally.
Hugh Taylor.
Jeremiah Toye.
Daniel Tracy.
Daniel Warren.
Thomas Warren.
James Welch.
Phillip Welch.
Thomas Welsh.
Lawrence White.
Joseph Winn.

“Richard Brine” in the above list is undoubtedly Richard O’Brien, “Daniel Canada,” Daniel Kennedy; and “John Cann,” John McCann. There are many other names in the records who may have been Irish, like Owens, Stewart, etc., but these are not claimed.

One Henchman was among the captains of the colonists in the campaign against Philip at Mount Hope. In his command were Joseph Ford, John Barrett, Daniel Magennis, a corporal, John Good, John Cann, or McCann, Joseph Lyon, William Healy, Daniel Kennedy, John Moore, Patrick Moran, William Manley and others.

Henchman marched to Dedham, along with a troop of cavalry under Prentice, thence to Attleborough and Swanzey, where they joined Captain Mosley. All then proceeded against Philip at Mount Hope. In Mosley’s company were Richard Nevill, Joseph Sexton, Edward Reade, Samuel Lane, Richard Brine, probably O’Brien, Thomas Welch, Peter Lane and Philip Keane.

In Captain Wadsworth’s company were Matthew Hurley, James Ford, Robert Corbett, James Stuart and William Lyon.

Under Captain Lathrop were William Buckley, Edward Moore and Stephen Butler.

Major Willard’s command included Thomas Tally, Phillip Read, John Barrett, John Healy, Daniel Gowen, John Gleeson.

Joseph Winn was in Captain Wheeler’s company; John Riley, Thomas Davis, Sylvester Hayes and Arthur Neale, in Captain Appleton’s. John Lane, John and William Day served under Captain Poole.

It was also necessary to garrison the towns and settlements to protect the women and children from prowling Indians. Among those who did this perilous work were John Cary, James Carr, John Malone, John Larkin, Daniel Kennedy, Thomas Owen, Timothy Larkin, John Boyd, Thomas Welch, Joseph Griffin, Brian Murphy, James Harrington.

In Captain Davenport’s company were Nathaniel Henly, John Drury, Daniel Harrington, Jeremiah Toye, Patrick Moroney. Moroney is also mentioned as having served under Captain Oliver; and Cornelius Davis is reported in Mosley’s company.

In the Great Swamp Fight, which took place at South Kingstown on December 19, 1675, we find Captains Mosley, Prentice, Davenport, Appleton and Oliver, and as shown above, all these commands contained many Irish.

In that fight Philip had assembled an army of three thousand warriors, and had laid in his winter’s supplies, with the determination to hold his position. We find the colonists wading through fifteen miles of snow in the middle of winter and dislodging him; and if the history of the Irish race on the battlefield proves anything it is fair to assume that the Irish were not in the rear. The Swamp Fight was the beginning of the end to Philip’s hopes.

In March, 1676, one Captain Michael Peirce had an engagement with a band of Indians at Pawtucket. His force was wiped out and massacred. Two days later the Indians crossed the Seekonk River and fell upon the inhabitants of what is now Rumford. The old histories tell us that when the Indians approached “Ye Irishman, Robert Beers, was sitting at a window reading ye bible. He was warned of ye approach of ye Indians and told to fly. He refused to move, saying that ‘he who was engaged in ready Holy Writ would not be molested by ye enemy.’” The story goes on to say that “ye Indians, disregarding ye biblical injunction, incontinently scalped ye Irishman Robert.” Robert was a mason by trade, and is the first Irishman of whom we have any record in the present town of East Providence.

The war ended in 1676, on the murder of Philip at Mount Hope. The Indians had devastated the entire colony. Crops were destroyed, or had not been planted. There was neither food nor clothing. Nine hundred men had fallen. Homes had been razed and starvation stared the colonies in the face.

And here we see again of what the Irish are made. We see the people of Ireland collecting money, food and clothing and fitting out the ship “Katherine” and sending her to the relief of the colonies. History calls this the “Irish Donation.”

Freeman, the historian, in mentioning the fact, says:

“It is somewhat remarkable that from ‘divers Christians’ in England
and Wales no word of cheer greeted the suffering colonists, and no
contribution, save that of Ireland, is recorded in this dark and
perilous period.” Continuing he says: “It is worthy of particular
notice, to the honor of humanity, that in the time of the distress of
the Plymouth and Massachusetts colonies, by reason of the wars, when
few families remained that were not in mourning for the loss of some
relative, and whose pecuniary embarrassments pressed upon them, the
donation from Ireland to which we referred ‘for the relief of the
impoverished, distressed and in necessity by the war’ was received. We
record with pleasure this noble instance of benevolent sympathy.”

Bailies, in “History of New Plymouth,” says:

“Ireland was the only place in the British European dominions which
bestowed any relief on the suffering colony.”

For a full account of the above see “Bodge’s Writings on King Philip’s War”; Publications of the New England Historic, Genealogic Society; Histories of Rhode Island and the Colonies; Writings of Thomas W. Bicknell, and many other authorities therein cited.

In the records of the State of Rhode Island we learn that Michael Kelly was a prominent man in the island of Conanicut as early as 1667. Michael was apparently a Quaker, and was one of a committee of three formed in that year for the purpose of defence against the Indians.

One of the founders of the town of East Greenwich was Charles Macarthy. He was afterwards given five thousand acres of land by the General Assembly for services in King Philip’s War.

Matthew Watson, another Irishman, was one of the most prominent inhabitants of the town of Barrington as early as 1722. His history has been written by Mr. Bicknell.

The present town of Warren was named in honor of Sir Peter Warren, an Irishman.

Another prominent family in the life of Rhode Island from the beginning to the present is that of Dorrance. We shall meet them again.

THE IRISH AND BROWN UNIVERSITY.

What is perhaps the most interesting of all, interesting because it deals with the intellectual life of the state, is the story of the part played by the Irish in the founding and maintaining of our most noted institution of learning, Brown University.

I was always under the impression that if there was one institution in the making of which we Irish had no part, that institution was the college on the hill; and when I first read that the first money contributed for its founding was obtained in Ireland, I confess that I accused the writers of deserting the field of fact and entering the realm of romance. Subsequent investigation, however, convinced me that the claims of the Irish were established beyond peradventure, no less an authority than the records of Brown itself proving our case.

To go back a little before the founding of the college, history tells us of eight Irish schoolmasters who taught in Rhode Island during the eighteenth century. Rev. James MacSparran, Rev. Marmaduke Brown, Stephen Jackson, “Old Master” Kelly, Knox, Crocker, Terrence Reilly and John Phelan.

MacSparran was an Irishman who settled here about 1718. For forty years he was pastor of St. Paul’s Church in Narragansett, where he taught many pupils at his home, among them Thomas Clapp, afterwards President of Yale.

Rev. Marmaduke Brown, the son of Rev. Arthur Brown, a native of Drogheda, county Louth, Ireland, where his mother was also born, was the Rector of Trinity Church, Newport. He also had a school there. In 1763 he had a school of thirty, fifteen of each sex. He was a member of the first Board of Fellows of Rhode Island College, now Brown University.

Stephen Jackson, a native of Kilkenny, came to America in 1724. In 1762 he was living on Benefit Street. One of his grandsons was for years town clerk of the town of Providence, and one of his great-grandsons was Governor of Rhode Island.

“Old Master Kelly” taught school at Tower Hill, South Kingstown, for a great many years. Among his pupils was Oliver Hazard Perry, who, we claim, was the son of an Irish mother. I have not gone into the ancestry of Commodore Perry in detail, as the proper place for the treatment of that subject is the history of the Irish Rhode Islanders in the war of 1812.

“Before 1800, Messrs. Knox and Crocker, natives of Ireland, taught school at Bowen’s Hill (Coventry) and the neighborhood.” (Cole’s History of Washington and Kent Counties.)

Terrence Reilly and John Phelan were schoolmasters in the time of the Revolution, but after the founding of the college.

But the first man who ever caused the idea of a college to take definite shape was none other than the ablest educator of them all, the Irish bishop, George Berkeley, who was born in Kilkenny. He started for America in 1729 for the purpose of educating and Christianizing the American Indian. He arrived in Newport in the same year. His first idea was to establish a college in Bermuda, but he soon changed his plan and determined to establish it in this state. His plans did not mature and he returned to Ireland. Shortly after his return he sent to Yale College the best collection of books ever received in this country up to that time. He also gave to the college a deed of his farm of ninety-six acres in Rhode Island, to be held by trustees for the support of three scholarships, to be bestowed upon the best classical scholars. The Rhode Island farm was rented in 1762 for a period of 999 years, and the Dean’s Bounty, as the fund is called, is still in existence and devoted to the same purpose. He also contributed to the libraries of Harvard, King’s College (now Columbia University), and the Redwood Library of Newport. He was a famous scholar and poet and is best known as the author of the line:

“Westward the star of empire takes its way.”

William E. Foster, librarian of the Providence Public Library, says of him (in speaking of the founding of Brown): “By thus anticipating by a third of a century the actual establishment of a college in Rhode Island, his plans unquestionably had an important bearing on the steps leading up to it.”

In 1762 the Philadelphia Baptist Association determined to form a college in Rhode Island. Rev. Morgan Edwards and Rev. Samuel Jones were placed in charge of the movement. The institution was incorporated in 1762 and was at first in Warren. In 1770 it was removed to Providence and the name was changed to Brown University in 1804.

Doctor Guild in “The First Commencement of Rhode Island College” says: “It is a singular and well-known fact ... that the first funds of the college were obtained from Ireland, in guineas and half-guineas, from Mary Murphy, Susanna Pilson, Joseph Fowke and other members of Protestant churches and societies in Cork, Waterford, Belfast, Ballymony, Coleraine, Londonderry and Dublin. This may be accounted for when we learn that Mr. Edward’s first settlement in the ministry, before coming to this country, was in Cork, where he married his wife (Mary Nunn). The original subscription book, with genuine signatures, is one of the most interesting documents on file in connection with the history of the University.”

Morgan Edwards went to Ireland and England in 1767. The list of his Irish contributors is a long one, and not all were Protestants. There were several Catholic contributors, as shown by the histories of the families in Ireland, still extant. Some of those who contributed were Mary Murphy, Matthew O. Dwyer, Francis Macarthy, Humphrey Crowley, Samuel Neale, Mrs. Luke Kelly, Rachel Connor, John Reilly, James Martin, Samuel McCormick, James Brennan and many others.

In 1769–70, Rev. Hezekiah Smith solicited funds for the college in South Carolina and Georgia. Among his contributors were Malachi Murfee, Edward Dempsey, Charles Reilly, Patrick Hinds, James Welsh, Hugh Dillon, John Boyd, Matthew Roach, John Canty and many others.

Someone has said that the names on the payrolls of the publications controlled by James Gordon Bennett remind one of a Fenian Roster. With as much truth could it be said that the names of the contributors to Brown University in its infancy would be taken for the chief marshal and his staff in a St. Patrick’s Day parade in Providence.

William Edwards, son of Morgan, was graduated from Brown in 1776. Marmaduke Brown was a member of the first Board of Fellows. Another graduate of Brown and afterwards one of its Board of Governors was John Dorrance. George Dorrance and his two sons, George and James, came from Ireland between 1715 and 1720, and settled in the town of Foster. John graduated from Brown and was afterwards president of the Providence Town Council for sixteen years.

Time will not admit of any further treatment of the history of Brown and I will close this part by mentioning the names of only a few of the graduates of Irish birth or ancestry in its early history: James Sullivan, brother of Major-General John Sullivan, received the degree of LL. D. in 1779; John Meredith Read, LL. D., John Mackie, A. B. 1800, M. D. 1813; Andrew Mackie, 1814; Joseph Mulliken, 1817; John Sharp Maginnis, 1844; Joseph Moriarty, 1830; Mark D. Shea and James G. Dougherty, 1865.

We see from this brief account that the Irish race has done its part in the making of Brown. From its inception until today hundreds of its graduates of Irish birth or descent have left its halls and have gone forth into the world, doing honor to their race and to their _alma mater_. At present it numbers among its students many men and women of that race. The President of the Class of 1910 in the Women’s College is, I understand, a namesake of mine, Miss Lillian Ruth Cosgrove.

We are proud of the part played by our people in the history of Brown, proud of its sons and daughters of our race. We are confident that some day an Irish graduate of Brown will tell the world the whole story of the Irish chapter in the history of Rhode Island; and may we not hope that in the not far distant future we will see on the campus on the hill, along with the statues of Marcus Aurelius and others, a monument perpetuating the memory of the Irish men and women who made the dream of the Irish Bishop Berkeley a living fact.

IRISH RHODE ISLANDERS IN THE REVOLUTION.

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.

Sullivan was given command of the army in Rhode Island in 1778. Under him were Generals Lafayette and Greene, each commanding one-half of the army, with Sullivan Commander-in-Chief. The object of Washington was to emphasize the alliance with France by making a successful attack on the British forces, military and naval, aided by the French fleet. Every schoolboy knows the result of that campaign. How its complete success was rendered impossible by a storm off Point Judith and how Sullivan, Lafayette and Greene saved their forces from disaster by their masterly tactics. With Sullivan were his two brothers, James and Eben, and the muster rolls of the regiments in the Rhode Island campaign read like the Directory of the Ancient Order of Hibernians.

I have purposely omitted to go into detail as to the history of the two greatest Irishmen in the Revolution, Major General John Sullivan, and Commodore Barry, “the Father of the American Navy.” My object has been to record the deeds of the Irishmen who fought in the ranks rather than to try to add lustre to those two men. Enough has been written of them. Their story and their work are well known.

It is possible to mention the names of only a few Irish Rhode Islanders who took part in the different battles of the Revolution:

George Dorrance was an ensign in the Regiment of Providence in the
“Army of Observation.” George Dorrance, probably the same, was, in
1780, lieutenant of the second company of Scituate. Again we find the
name as captain, in 1781, in a regiment raised by act of the General
Assembly and again we read of a George Dorrance commissioned Major in
the Third Regiment of Militia.

Dr. Henry Sterling, the Irish surgeon, is stated as “being in hearty
sympathy with the revolution and aided the patriot cause with his
advice and professional services.” He was born in Londonderry,
Ireland.

Patrick Tracy of Thayer’s company was killed before Quebec and Hagerty
and Hayden were wounded. In Colonel Elliot’s regiment were John
McCarthy, Cornelius Sullivan, John McCoy, John Lyon and Daniel Conway.

Thomas Hughes, known as “gallant Thomas Hughes,” was Irish, a captain
in the Revolution and a major in the War of 1812. Many articles have
been written about him, and as there are some of his descendants
living today, who have told of him better than I can do, I will pass
him with this brief mention. Miss Mary A. Greene, one of his
descendants, is a prominent Rhode Island writer and scholar.

William Ennis became a sergeant in Sherburn’s command. William Lawless
was a captain. William McCoy was a quartermaster in Colonel
Christopher Greene’s command. Rev. Erasmus Kelly lost his household
effects in Warren by pillage. James Foster, a native of Dublin, with a
name that would not indicate his Irish origin, “enlisted for the war.”
John Harrington was an ensign in Sheldon’s company. Elizabeth O’Brien
was a nurse. The name “Ensign M. Carthy,” probably Ensign McCarthy,
appears as among those of Israel Angell’s regiment. John Tracy was an
aide-de-camp on the staff of General Glover on the island of Rhode
Island under Sullivan. William Lawless, probably the person mentioned
before, was made captain in 1778 under Colonel Crary. Edward Ross was
an ensign in the Second Infantry Company of Westerly. William Creed
became a captain. John Larkin was, in 1776, a member for Hopkinton of
the “committee to procure arms and accoutrements.”

In the Rhode Island regiments at Yorktown were Dennis Hogan, sergeant;
John Butler, sergeant; Michael Kelly, Cornelius Driscoll, William
Sullivan, Nicholas Hart, Matthew Hart, Michael Doherty, Peter Burns,
James Hayes, Thomas Mitchell, Charles McAfferty, Michael Wright, John
Kirby, Matthew Henly, Christopher Moore, Anthony Griffin, Daniel and
Peter Collins, William McCall, John Haney, James Mitchell, Thomas
Melony, Francis Cavan, Hugh McDonald, John McDonald and many others.

Captain Olney’s company, known throughout the colonies for its many deeds of courage, was the first to scale the walls of Yorktown. It contained many Irish, as shown by its rolls.

Among the men of Irish descent in Lafayette’s army were Count Arthur Dillon, Aide-de-Camp Isidore de Lynch (who afterwards became the commander of the Irish-French regiment of Walsh), Lieutenant-Colonel Barthelemy Dillon. Theobald Dillon also saw service in America and was a member of the Cincinnati. Matthew Dillon also saw service here. M. de McCarty was an officer with the French army at Newport and in the Rhode Island campaign. Edward Stack, another Irishman, was with Rochambeau.

Some of the other Irishmen who served in America with the French were: Commandant O’Neill, wounded at Savannah; Captain James Shee, Captain MacDonnall, Captain Mullens, Lieutenant Taaffe, Lieutenant Farrell, James O’Moran, Lacy and Whalen. Charles Geoghegan, an Irishman in the French army, received the decoration of the Cincinnati at the hands of Washington.

In the navy we find the Irish race well represented. It is, of course, impossible to tell whence these sailors and marines came, but we know that they served.

John Murphy of Rhode Island commanded a privateer. William Malone was captain of the _Harbinger_. Francis Mulligan was the owner of the _Chance_. Oliver Reed was master of the privateer _General Rochambeau_. Peter Day commanded the _Molly’s Adventure_. M. Mackey was the commander of the _Greyhound_.

Stephen Ready, John Welch, Edward McGrath, William Kelly, John Murphy and Charles Buckley, all of Rhode Island, were imprisoned in England.

On the sloop _Providence_ we find Patrick McMullen, Matthew McCaffray, Bernard Gallagher; on the _Alfred_, Patrick McNamara, George O’Hara, armorer’s mate, Patrick O’Brien and William Burns; on the _Columbus_, Edward Burke, Lieutenant of Marines, Thomas Burns, surgeon’s mate, John McLaughlin, Peter Morris, Charles McDonald, Arthur Nagle and Thomas Murray.

Mr. Field in his work, “Esek Hopkins, Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Navy, 1775 to 1778,” tells us that in Hopkin’s command were many Irishmen, some of them being Anthony Dwyer, Richard Sweeney, Patrick Kaine, Thomas Doyle, John Connor, Andrew Magee, Thomas Dowd, John Roatch and George Kennedy.

We also find Captain Mellaly commanding a privateer and capturing the British sloop _Crawford_.

These are only a few of the names found in the records, but they show unmistakably the part played by the men and women of our race in our “Little Rhody” to and including the Revolution.

Some reliable writers have stated that the officers of the continental army were twenty-five per cent Irish. Some of them were Generals Stephen Moylan (first president of the Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick of Philadelphia), Henry E. Knox (first Secretary of War), John Shee, “Mad Anthony” Wayne, Matthew Irvine, Edward Hand, Richard Butler, Walter Stewart and William Thompson; Colonels John Nixon, Sharp Delaney, Charles Stewart, John Patton, George Lattimer, Thomas Robinson, Barrett, Smith and Davis; Captain Parker and many others. As we have seen, there were many officers of lesser rank, both in the army and the navy.

Among the first sea fights of the Revolution was the capture of the British sloop _Margaretta_ at Machias Bay on the coast of Maine, May 11th, 1775, known as “The Lexington of the Seas.” The Americans were commanded by Captain O’Brien, the son of a native of Ireland.

Captain Parker, killed at Lexington, was an Irishman, as were Colonels Barrett, Smith and Davis, who commanded at Concord. The monument at Bunker Hill is covered with Irish names.

The two most famous women of the Revolution were Molly Pitcher and Nancy Hart, both Irish.

But it was not alone in battle that our race distinguished itself. At Valley Forge the army of Washington was in dire peril. The troops had neither food, clothing, shelter nor equipment. Disaster met them everywhere and failure threatened the patriot cause. Faultfinders and malcontents were urging the giving up of the struggle. The hopes of Washington and his devoted band had almost disappeared, when thirty Irishmen of the Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick of Philadelphia subscribed six hundred thousand dollars. When we consider what that amount of money meant in those days, is it not fair to assume that this contribution was the real means by which the power of England was finally driven from this continent? It entailed hardships and sacrifices which we cannot appreciate now. Robert Morris, a banker, and Blair McClenachan gave fifty thousand dollars each. James Mease, a native of Strabane, County Tyrone, Ireland, and General Matthew Irvine gave twenty-five thousand dollars each and the other members subscribed the remainder.

Among the fifty-six signers of the Declaration of Independence were eleven of Irish birth or descent: John Hancock, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton, John Hart, George Taylor, George Read, James Smith, Thomas McKean, Charles Carroll, Edward Rutledge and Thomas Lynch.

The Declaration of Independence is in the handwriting of Charles Thompson, a native of Londonderry. It was first read to the public in Philadelphia by John Nixon, son of a native of Wexford and a member of the Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick, and was first printed by John Dunlap, a native of Strabane, county Tyrone, Ireland.

When the colonists sought the assistance of France Bishop Carroll accompanied Benjamin Franklin to that country and it was due mainly to the Bishop’s representations that French assistance was obtained.

HON. ELMER J. RATHBUN.

Justice of the Superior Court of the State of Rhode Island.

A Member of the Society.
]

In all the battles of the Revolution, at Bunker Hill, Concord, Lexington, Monmouth, Valley Forge and Yorktown, we did our part. In the hour of the nation’s peril we gave freely of our substance. We helped to kindle and keep alive the flame of liberty. Wherever and whenever men were needed there were found Irish hearts and Irish hands ready to give up all for the establishment of free institutions, for the right of a nation to be free. Here at last we had found a country worth fighting for and worth dying for. Here we had found the principle of individual liberty a living, throbbing thing. We have been true to America, whatever our enemies may say; we are true to it today; and America knows that if ever the liberties of the republic are threatened the Irish, of whatever faith or political belief, will be found doing their part as of old.

In peace and in war we have done our part. We are doing it today and will continue to do so as long as the fame of Washington and Lincoln endure. We stand for patriotism, for respect for just laws, for the sanctity of the marriage tie, for the purity of our homes, the education of our children and the morality of the people. S. Banks Nelson, an Irish clergyman of this state, has stated that we govern every nation but our own. We also submit to government and the history of our own city of Providence for the last few years has shown that religious bigotry or race prejudice are not failings of the Irish race in Rhode Island.

All we ask is our share of that reward that goes to labor well performed. We ask to be treated justly. We do not claim office because we are Irish and, on the other hand, we insist that office shall not be denied us because of that fact. We have made mistakes and will make them, but they are not fatal. We stand on our record as American citizens and as such entitled to an equal share in its government. All we ask is that you sympathize with us in our struggle, that you teach your children some little knowledge of our history, that you learn to know us as we are and not as we are sometimes represented. Above all we ask you never to permit men or women, on the stage or elsewhere, to utter indecencies or obscenities in the name of our womanhood; for all must admit that our women, by their matchless purity and virtue, are the honor and glory of humanity.

CAPTAIN JOHN O’BRIEN OF MACHIAS, MAINE—REVOLUTIONARY HERO—A BIOGRAPHICAL
SKETCH.

BY REV. ANDREW M. SHERMAN, LL. D., OF MORRISTOWN, NEW JERSEY.

Captain John O’Brien, the subject of this sketch, was the third eldest son of Morris O’Brien and Mary O’Brien, and was born in 1750, in Scarboro, on the Maine seacoast, about ten miles to the southwestward of Portland.

At the early period under present review, the region including Scarboro was greatly harassed by the Indians, whose depredations are said to have sometimes been instigated by the French, who were jealous of the English settlers in western Maine (then a part of the Province of Massachusetts), and hoped to thus drive out the English already there, and prevent others from coming into what was regarded as preëmpted territory.

In consequence of the frequent attacks of the Indians upon the English, at Scarboro, it sometimes became necessary, as a means of self-preservation, for the settlers to flee into the surrounding wilderness, and there carefully secrete themselves until the savages should depart from the vicinity; when they would return to their homes, which were sometimes found to have been despoiled and destroyed during their enforced absence.

While John O’Brien was an infant in his mother’s arms, an attack upon the English settlement at Scarboro, by the Indians, was threatened; and it was therefore resolved to flee for safety into the surrounding wilderness. Fearing that the crying of the infant would disclose to the savages the direction to be taken by the settlers in their flight, and also their chosen hiding-place, it was advised, and insisted that the mother leave her infant behind, in the settlement. Against this she earnestly protested, assuring her neighbors that she could keep the infant quiet. She was, therefore, allowed to take the infant along. Folding him affectionately to her breast, and soothing him as only a fond mother could, she succeeded in keeping the infant quiet, not only during their hasty flight but during their sojourn in the depths of the wilderness.

This incident is related by the descendants of Captain John O’Brien as a most impressive illustration of mother-love, which, indeed, it is. They congratulate themselves also upon the fact that an infant who, on reaching manhood, became so famous as he as a patriot and as a successful privateersman in connection with the Revolution; and so conspicuous, in later years, as a citizen and as a man of affairs, should have been thus providentially preserved in tender infancy from the hands of hostile Indians.

To the terrors of Indian depredations, experienced by the early settlers of Scarboro, were added those of extensive forest fires, which sometimes devastated the entire region about them, and threatened their extinction.

Of the boyhood of John O’Brien, in Scarboro, little has been preserved. He must, however, have been different from other boys of his age, if he did not, living in such close proximity to the water, acquire a fondness for it. This much is certainly known; that in the autumn of 1765, when the robust boy was about fifteen years of age, the entire family, comprising Mr. and Mrs. O’Brien and six sons and three daughters, removed to Machias, on the southeasterly coast of Maine; the father and two eldest sons having been down there on a prospecting trip, in a sailing vessel, during the previous year.

From the arrival of the lad, John O’Brien, in Machias, until the breaking out of the Revolution, little or nothing is certainly known concerning him. That he attended school, for a time, at least; and that he engaged in the usual sports of lusty boyhood, including swimming, fishing and boating, may be safely inferred. Neither is it a far-fetched conclusion, that, on attaining to a suitable age, he assisted his father, and two eldest brothers, Jeremiah and Gideon, in the sawmills erected by them in Dublin, as the southern village of Machias was early named, and by which it is still known.

The Machias River, which separates the northern and southern villages of Machias, empties into Machias Bay, about four miles to the southeastward of the town; and the river, as far inland as Machias, is navigable for large vessels. Machias, therefore, was, and is a seaport town; and vessels of various kinds were constantly arriving and leaving. Machias early became the shiretown of Lincoln County, now Washington County, and hence was a place of considerable importance. In the light of these facts it is not surprising that most of Morris O’Brien’s “six strapping boys” were, in early life, at least, seafaring men; for from their peculiar environment they naturally acquired a taste for that sort of employment. John O’Brien, as will be seen, devoted himself, in later life, exclusively to commercial and mercantile pursuits, with excellent success; indeed, had the acquisition of “filthy lucre” been his chief ambition, he might easily have become one of the wealthiest men of his time.

It is in connection with the outbreak of the Revolution that the subject of this sketch first comes into public notice as a citizen and an ardent patriot; and as the war progressed, his fame as a privateersman increased. His achievements as a privateersman have never received the publicity they unquestionably deserve; and it will be the aim of this sketch to acquaint the American reading people, so far as can be done in the limited space allowed, with the story of the truly romantic career of this hitherto “unsung hero” of New England.

John O’Brien, at the outbreak of the Revolution, was about twenty-four years of age. He was fully six feet in height; and must have weighed at that time not far from one hundred and seventy-five pounds. That he was well endowed with force of character was amply demonstrated at the very opening of his public career; as an illustration of which it may be said that none was more resolutely opposed to, nor more fearlessly outspoken against the repeated acts of tyranny of the mother country, than he. He was a member of the first Committee of Safety appointed in Machias, after the issuance of the proclamation of the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, authorizing and requiring preparations and efforts to be made incident to a state of hostility.

At the first recorded gathering of the Machias patriots, held in the east room of the Burnham Tavern,[21] John O’Brien was present, and gave his hearty assent to the proposition for the erection of a liberty pole in the village, as a symbol of the freedom, for the achievement of which the people of that then isolated frontier town were willing, if need be, to sacrifice their fortunes and their lives. In procuring, and afterward raising the liberty pole, young O’Brien played a unique and conspicuous part.

When Captain Moore, the gallant young Irishman commanding the British armed schooner “Margaretta,” then lying at anchor in the Machias River, came on shore, and demanded that the liberty pole be taken down, John O’Brien, on behalf of the inhabitants, defiantly refused to accede to the peremptory demand of the King’s officer, The following conversation[22] is said to have taken place:

“Who erected this pole?” inquired Captain Moore, as he came ashore
from the “Margaretta”; to which the staunch Machias patriot, John
O’Brien, replied:

“That pole, sir, was erected by the unanimous approval of the people
of Machias.”

“Well, sir,” said Moore, “with or without their approval, it is my
duty to declare it must come down.”

“Must come down!” repeated O’Brien, with warmth. “Those words are
easily spoken, my friend. You will find, I apprehend, that it is
easier to make than it will be to enforce a demand of this kind.”

“What! Am I to understand that resistance will be made? Will the
people of Machias dare to disregard an order, not originating with me,
but the government whose officer I am?”

“The people of Machias,” replied O’Brien, “will dare do anything in
maintenance of their principles and rights!”

“It is useless to bandy words,” rejoined the officer, a little nettled
at the determined spirit manifested around him; “my orders are
peremptory, and must be obeyed. That liberty pole must be taken down,
or it will be my painful duty to fire on the town!”

From that rash act, however, Moore was dissuaded by a mutual friend; and the liberty pole stood until it “rotted down!”

To John O’Brien, so it is said by some writers, belongs the honor of proposing, at a meeting of the Machias patriots, held in a private house soon after the notable gathering in the Burnham Tavern, that Captain Moore be seized while attending the village church, on the following Sunday; after which, in accordance with the well-conceived plan there agreed upon, the “Margaretta” was to be captured, also. In compliance with young O’Brien’s expressed wish, he was chosen to be the principal actor in the proposed seizure of Moore.

John O’Brien, as he subsequently stated, hid his gun under a board, before entering the church. He was expected, at a signal to be given by one of the patriots outside of the church, to personally seize Captain Moore, when his compatriots were to come to his assistance. So far as young O’Brien was concerned, the preliminaries were well carried out. Because of the vigilance and prompt action of the British officer, however, the plan for the seizure miscarried. Receiving timely warning of the trap into which he was being lured, he escaped from the church by way of a low, open window. On reaching his vessel, he was quickly assisted on board by an officer awaiting his arrival; and, after firing a few shots over the villagers’ heads, for intimidation, he dropped down the river to a place of safety.

When it had been resolved by a few of the bolder spirits of Machias to attack and capture the “Margaretta,” by pursuing and boarding her, John O’Brien and his five brothers, Jeremiah, Gideon, William, Dennis and Joseph, were among the party of about thirty-five who sailed down the Machias River in the lumber sloop “Unity,” on that extremely hazardous undertaking. After the little American sloop had entered Machias Bay, and the “Margaretta” had been sighted, Jeremiah O’Brien was unanimously chosen to the command of the “Unity.”

“The first man who boards her (the “Margaretta”) shall be entitled to the palm of honor,” said Captain Jeremiah O’Brien, soon after taking command of the lumber sloop.

After the “Margaretta” had been sighted in Machias Bay, where she was becalmed, the American sloop was brought alongside of her. As the two vessels came together, the rigging of the “Unity” became entangled with that of the British vessel. The two vessels had no sooner touched, than John O’Brien, who was standing at the bow of the “Unity,” leaped aboard the “Margaretta.” Almost at the same moment, the American sloop, having no grappling-irons, the vessels suddenly parted and young O’Brien was left alone on the quarterdeck of the British schooner. Seven Britishers almost simultaneously fired at the intrepid Yankee boarder; but he was unhurt. The Britishers then charged upon O’Brien with their bayonets; and to save his life he jumped overboard and started to swim to the Yankee sloop, which had then drifted about seventy-five feet away.

On reaching the side of the American sloop, John O’Brien was promptly assisted on board. As he stepped upon the deck of the “Unity,” his brother, Captain Jeremiah, grasped him by the hand, exclaiming, as he did so:

“Brother John, you’ve won the palm;” and then addressing his men, he continued: “But man the sweeps, my hearties, and lay us alongside once more, and stand ready to fasten on to him when you reach him.”

For the second time the two vessels came together; and this time, in accordance with orders, they were fastened together.[23] The “Margaretta” was boarded, and in an hour’s time was captured, and was taken in triumph up the river to Machias, reaching the wharf at about sunset of the same day, which was the 12th of June, 1775. Captain Moore, the gallant commander of the captured British vessel, was mortally wounded, and died next day in Machias.

John O’Brien, as a recognition of the conspicuous bravery exhibited by him in the capture of the “Margaretta,” was sent, by the Machias Committee of Safety to the Provincial Congress, then in session at Watertown, Massachusetts, to officially inform that body of the brilliant victory won, and to ask protection for the feeble settlements in eastern Maine, including Machias.

The news of the splendid victory in Machias Bay spread rapidly through the Colonies, and everywhere the colonists were stirred with the ambition to emulate the achievement of the Machias lumbermen.

The “Unity” was at once fitted out as a cruiser, the armament of the “Margaretta” being transferred to her. She was re-named the “Machias Liberty,”[24] and Captain Jeremiah O’Brien was appointed as her commander.