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.