The Irish standard., 1898-09-10
THE IRISH IN THE REv0L uTloN.

/ controverting the statement made by
I; Michael Davitt as to the number of
lrishmen who fought with Washington
in the Revolutionary war. The father
! of the Land League had declared that
| half the continental army was composed
OF lrishmen, and Harold Frederic took
him to task for it. He says there were
/ less than 1000 900 inhabitants in the col
ones at the breaking out of the war,
and that few of them could have been
lrishmen, for anything like il considera-
I bic Irish immigration did not begin I'M
til l79S. +. ID. Sullivan shows that the
contrary Was the case, and he quot es
T, MaJ.-Gen Robertson as saying to Lord
| German that Gen. Lee. of the Revol!l-
tlonary army. informed him that "he
| believed half the rebel army was from
(! Ireland. Whether there was half or
/. not it is certain that in proportion to
| their number i'm the colonies more Irish
| enlisted in Washingtons army than
English and Scotch. many of these being
Royalists and Tories of the most odio,,s
| type.
i In reply to an observation recently
made by the Irish Standard. Martin l. J.
Griffin. of Philadelphia, has the follow
ing to say:
We lrsh-honded Americans are continue
ally prating about oEr-hllf the army under
Washington Ming Irish. Gllluwny'S Exam
''htinn Is always cited rs Irunf uf That He
does say 81. il Is true. Then our orators and
historians stop. They don't tell that when
| Galloway was asked how he knew the pro-
portion of na,i"nalitirS he answered that he
Judged 10y the desrrtiuns. The number he
recorded wa% LASS. OF that iia were ma
, tlv"S of lr"lnd' hut quite half. No An,rri-
can historian has eyer used Gallnw;y's pa
prrs sent Lord Dartmouth. | am the only
seeker who has eyer printed Il line of these.
documents. seek where others have not
trnddcl.
With all due respect to Mr.. Griffin.
who is quite IA historical student we
think he is not Il sufficient authority to
decide this question. He will notice that
I. ID. Sullivan cites Mai Gen. Robert
son, who had served "A years in Amer
lea. and therefore that Galloway is not
always cited as proof. Our Phila,lel-
Ehia friend goes further and says:
wcr" entitled to half the ,l"scttrrs l,ut |
know Of no cvl'l"nc" to show that half were
4. ai'n IL" !."sott!"n is daily study
with INC. i:"si,l"s, Washingtnn's testimony
is that most of the ,lrserlHrs while ut Valley
Forge were ''inr,gncrs. We shouldn't
make statements the ""nrnicss of our race
can easily tliSprovc, What say historically
! "N h. iiuih - that mass I'll the
Claims We Catholics and Irish make are not
we'll founded l.,nk Il, the way We have
been claiming every one in the present war
as being Catholics.
Mr.. Griffin is correct in saying that
no statements should he made by us that
can be dispoyed by the enemies OF the
Irish race. but that most of the claims
made by Catholics and the Irish are not
well founded we do not believe. Neither
have we l,cen claiming every one in the
present war as being Catholics. 1t
would he ridiculous to dc SO. The Cath
olics, however. sprang to arms in the
cause OF freedom. az they have always
done in every war OF the republic. and
we believe that in proportion to their
strength they furnished moro than their
share.
The Philadelphia editor may have bet
ter facilities for historical research in
tho cultured East than We have in the
wild West. but he will not deny that the
Irish contributed largely in men and
money to Washington's army Granted
that Galloway. who was Il rovaist in
the war. gave nearly nti the assertions
! from the continental army as Irish, or
6l9 out of liSS. we have the information
| from Il prejudic"d authority. We have
il on hcttrr authority that the Irish al
| home. as well as in the colonies, syu-
| pathlzcd with the American cause
| When Washinntun's army at Valley
Forge MLs suffering for want of cloth
ing and provisions, twcntysevcn mcnl-
hrrs of he Friendly Sons OF St. Patrick,
Lin Mr.. GliilinS own town, subscribed
more than half Il milton dollars to help
) them. The celebrated pennsylvania
! Line. which was mainly made up of
| lrishmcn, was selected by Washington
! for West Point after .\rnolds betrayal.
and that is sufficient evidence that they
| were not among the Foreigners re.
ferrcd to by Washington as deserving
while at Valley Forge Matthew Carey.
| of whom mention il; made in GritIiu's
Quarterly for September. tells how the
| Pennsylvania Line fought and hled in
the Revolution, many of the members
sealing their attachment to liberty's
cause with their lives lie says at one
time, owing to the fact that they were
literally Lalf-starvcd ana halt-naked.
with their shoclcss feet marking with
| blood their tracks upon the highway"
they mutinicd. Lord Howe heard of ii
and dispatched messengers to them of.
fering abundant supplies OF provisions,
| comfortable clothing. all arrears of
bounty. aud pardon for past oifenses."
| How did they receive the tempters?
Matthew Carey says they seized upon
them: trampled upon their shining ore:
sent them to their generals tent: and
the miserable wretches paid with their
| forfeited lives for attempting to seducc
Il band Of ragged. forlorn and deserted,
| but illustrious heroes" Surely, Wash
! ingtcn did not refer to these grand Irish
soldiers when he said most OF the de-
| tnC fer>,% l,s