The Irish standard., 1899-02-04


sylvania, under the command of Col.
Stephen Moylan, who was q personal
friend of Washington, an aide on his
staff and an active officer throughout the
war. Moylan was brother of the Cath
Ollie bishop of Cork, Ireland, who was a
devoted friend to the American cause
Joseph Galloway, native of Mary
land, but long resident of Pennsylva-
mia before the revolution, was one of
the best informed men In the colonies,
and probably. with the exception of
Franklin, had no equal as to his ac-
curate knowledge relating to the general
condition of affairs in the country He
was an early and active syn1pathizer in
the American cause until the decara-
ton Of independence, when he became a
loyalist During visit to England he
was examined in June, $780,, before an
investigating committee of che house of
commons, and his testimony has. been
frequently published When asked as to
the composition Of the rebel army his
answer was, Il can answer the question
with precision, there were scarcely one
fourth natives of America; about one
half Irish, the other fourth were English
and Scotch" He might have stated
more in detail, that the fourth part was
composed of some English, very few
Scotch, and more Germans or Dutch, as
they were called from Pennsylvania and
the Valley of Virginia, chiefly under the
command of Muhlenberg and formed
the Eighth Virginia regiment. l have
estimated that about one-fourth of all
the American officers and even larger
proportion of those most trusted by
Washington, were Irish by birth or de-
scent.
A very large number of Irish were in the
continental congress and they were
prominent as leaders in every station
In life. I may mention that even WASH
tngton was in all probability descended
on his fathers side from an Irish emf
grant, and his mothers family, the Balls
beyond doubt came from the neighbour
hood of Dublin. Walford, in his "Coun-
try Families of the United Kingdom"
shows that at the present time the only
families bearing the name of Ball are
to be found in Ireland. The family, it is
stated, came to Ireland in the fourteenth
century as Flemish emigrants. The De
Wessingtons, it is also claimed, were
Flemish who settled about the same
time in both England and Ireland. But
the last of the English family, it is
known, died some years before the plant
ing Of jamestown, Va. The members
of the Irish branch it seems, have ali
been traced and some of them to this
country. One, a son of Henry Washing
ton, who was prominent man, disap-
peared from Ireland during the troubles
have described. He probably escaped
to Bermuda, where almost all vessels
first stopped on their way to the Ameri-
can colonies. During a visit to Bermuda
in 1852, | had occasion to examine some
Of the church. records of this period
there saw several references made in
the minutes Of the vestry meetings to
one Washington "a sojourner," who was
several times fined for not conforming
by attending the service of the estab-
lished church. He seemed to have
proved incorrigible as he was ordered
Ito go his way" He probably did SO
to Virginia, from the known fact that
his father had been friend of Lord Bal
timore and others who were connected
with the Virginia settlement.
The Irish Presbyterians and Catholics
were in full sympathy with this country
during the revolution, while in Ireland
or elsewhere there were very few Scotch
and no "Scotch-Irish" who favored the
American cause. The only large settle
ment of Scotch in the colonies was FORM
ed in North Carolina by the British gov
eminent, after the battle of Culloden, by
transplanting the Highlanders. Among
them was Flora Mcdonald, whose hus-
band, with every other man in the set
Element, espoused the English cause and
fought against the Americans.
1t is full time that we divest ourselves
of English influence in this country. I'm
til this be done. we will remain in ignor-
ance of the truth relating to a large por-
ton of our history, which has yet to be
written in strict accord with the facts
Frank j. Cheney makes oath that he is