The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1905-08-26
Knights Of Columbus
Chair Of American History.
CFor Intermountain catholicJ


(For Intermountain CatholicD
Washington. D. c.. Aug - -
Since their organization sixteen years
ago the Sons Of the American Revolt
ton have manifested cOusidsraolc ac
tivity. This has not been without It's
influence upon public OPINION. and
Membership in that or in Kindred Jr-
CARNATIONS has come to he regarded
as at once an evidence Of ones social
ard patriotic emiuenCC. Indeed so
general has become the notion that this
distinction is 4 proof Of superior
AmericaniSm that some of our leadinS
newspapers refer iucosely to the non
English part Of our population as per-
sons whose names would exclude them
from the ranks Of these patriotic soCie
ties In a word, il one is not 50 fortu
nate as to possess a British name the
fact is accepted as sufficient proof that
he could not unite with the descend
ants of those whose ancestors Won the
war for Independence. AS we shall
presently see. this lofty assumption
will not bear even slight historical
scrutiny.
Beyond the events recorded i'm school
histories neither the average newspaper
writer nor the average voter knows
much OF American history. In indicat-
ing only the conspicuous landmarks
our school books give view of the
subject which is not d little mislaad-
ing. The young student, for EXAMPLE
knows that as General O'Hara
who surrende.= the sword of Germ
wallis at Yorktown: his juvenile ivgIc
concludes that the Irish on that occa-
sion fought on the side of England. HIS
school history tells him of few Geais
of note performed by Irishmen in the
cause of American independence. If
it relates any praseworthy act, it i:
probably described as the achievement
of Scotch-Irishman When the stu
dent has completed" his course in
American history he knows that Irish
Protestants were an important factor
in the struggle for Independence. This
fac no Catholic. will attempt seriously
to gainsay; he has however, d right to
insist upon the whole story
In this connection some of your
readers may be interested in examining
a list of les combattants francais, who
fought at Savannah and later at
Yorktown. The following are the
names of the French officers in the
regiment of Dillon:
Colonel. Arthur Dillon.
Colonel-en-secon Thobald Dillon.
Lieutenant-colonel, Bartelemy Dillon
Major, James O'Moran
Quartermaster, etc, Barthelemy
Mencarelly.
'Captaines Richard Moore, Simon
Purdon, Thomas Banckes, Anselme
Nugent, Paul Swigny, Robert Shee
William Moore, Bernard O'Neill. Mich
ael O'Brien, Laurence Tooffe, James
Vaudeville, Philip MacGuire, Thomas
MacDermott, Sr., John O'Reilly, Will
liam Kelly, Thomas MacDermott. Jr.
Christopher Novolan, Denis O'Dwyer,
Isidore Lynch, Terence Coghlan.
Lieutenants: John Bernard Green
law, Thomas Dillon, Patrick O'Keefe.
Claude O'Farel, Bernard MacDermott,
Michael Walsh, Nicholas Evin Joseph
Commerfort, John Browne, John Dug
gan.
Lieutenants. en- second: Louis Darcy,
William Fitz Harris Thomas Browne,
Christopher Taaffe. John Fennell. John
Hussey. Nicholas Whyte Seyslip. Ed
mund Swigny, Samuel O'Farell, James
O'Farell.
Sous ieutenants: James Macloskey,
John B.. Horgan, Patrick MacSheeny
Edward Fitzgerald. William Shee.
Emanuel O'Farel, Joseph Fitzmaurice
Charles O'Reilly. John 3. Macdonald
Daniel O'Meara, Louis Khnopff. Denis
Mahony. William Sheldon, Charles
O'Moran, Henry Owens. Patrick
Strange, Henry Purdon, Patrick Muir
ply. Thomas Hays:
The regiment de Walsh contained The
following officers:
Major, Thaddeus O'Brien
Quartermaster, etc, Charles Bance-
lin.
Capitaines: Thomas Fitzmaurice.
Charles Walsh John O'NeiI. James
Nagle. John O'Brien, James Darcy.
Capitaines en- Second: Edward
Stack, Lawrence Bellew, Charles
O'Croly, James O'Driscol.
Lieutenants: Francis Plunkett,
James O'Riordan, William Heating,
Richard Barry.
Lieutenants en- Second: James
O'Shiel, John b. O'Meara. Charles
O'Gorman, George Meighan, Eugene
MacCarthy
James Cruice. Felix O'Crawley, Philip
Darrell. James O'Flynn, William Bar
ker, Thomas Traut, David Barry, Louis
O'Cahill, James Tabin.
One bearing almost any of the pre-
ceding names and applying for MEM
bership in the ranks of the patricians
would probably be laughed at by the
traditional Anglo-American opinion
that during the Revolutionary War
there was scarcely anywhere on the
landscape an Irish Catholic or a
Franco Irish Catholic.
By a singular method of compiling
registers the splendid volume which in
cludes the name of every sailor under
D'Estaing, the names of the 10, 900 sea-
men who fought under De Crasse in
the final victory, and the record by
company and regiment of the fine
army of Rochambeau gives. in the case
of the single German and two Irish
regiments in the French service, the
names of the officers only For serv-
ices far inferior in military value to
those rendered at Gloucester. Va, by
the regiments of Zweibrucken and Dill
Ion splendid monuments have been
reared.
CHAS. H MCCARTHY