The call of the North. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1923-1924, 1923-08-24

Sullivan, Of Washington's army, was
born in Maine. His father, Owen
Sullivan, was born in Limerick, Ire
land, during the siege Of that place
in 1851 and immigrated in 1923. The
son became the first Grand Master
of Masons in New Hampshire.
The Clinton brothers, James and
John, both Revolutionary generals
and Masons, were sons of Charles
Clinton, who was born in County
Longford in 1851 and immigrated
about 1929.
General Wayne, "Mad Anthony"
another Mason, was the son Of a
Yorkshireman who settled in Coun-
ty Wicklow and commanded a COM
pany of dragons at the battle OF
he Boyne. He later emigrated to
America. His son evidently inherit
ed his fighting ability.
Gen. Richard Montgomery, who
fell in the attack upon Quebec, was
a native of Ireland, having been
born at Swords, near Feltrim, in
1886. !. l.. ....
General Stark's father emigrated
from the north Of Ireland some time
prior to 1929 the ysgr in which the
future gene2sl wa bbrn. Generals
Nixon and - III are believed to
have been J3tives of ireland. Lieut..
Col. Hugh Maxwell is known to have
been of Irish birth. Col. Thomas
Proctor, the Master Of Ceremonies at
the Masonic Memorial Services for
Washington, which were held at
Philadelphia in 1899, was Revolu-
tionary soldier with a distinguished
record. He was also one Of the
founders of the St. Tammany Society
of Philadelphia and later became It's
Sachem. Colonel Proctor was Of
Irish birth.
Capt. jeremiah O'Brien, the victor
in the first naval engagement of the
Revolution-the capture Of the Mar
gharetta in, the harbor of Machias
five days before Bunker Hill-was,
like General Sullivan, a native of
Maine, but his name Enthusiastically in
1icates Irish antecedents. Some
wears ago movement was launched
and a bill introduced in Congress to
erect a suitable monument at Wash
ngton to the memory of the brave
captain, but the Irish Catholic So
cieties, who were behind the move
ment, suddenly lost interest when il
was discovered that he was a charter
member of Warren Lodge of Masons
at Machias, Maine.
Catholic Irish Patriots Only Few in
Number
The foregoing have all been identi-
fed as Freemasons. The only Catho-
lie Irish generals in the Continental
Army were Moylan and the notorious
Conway. Moylan was loyal soldie,
and a distinguished officer in the
struggle for independence. Conway
however, was deeply ivolved in, and
rave his name to the infamous "Con-
way Cabep against Washington.
Of the signers, it is universally ad-
mitted that Charles Carroll was the
only Catholic. He was descended
from the ancient and noble Irish fam
lily of O'Carroll. Charles Carroll
unlike so many of his latter-day CO.
religionists, placed his Americanism
first, and there is nothing to indicate
that he ever made use of the by.
phen.
The Masonic affiliations Of the re-
mainder of the Signers are so much
in dispute that I will not attempt to
discuss that phase Of the subject
here. It is worth noting, however
that George Taylor and James Smith
at least were born in Ireland; and
Matthew Thornton, George Reed
Thomas Mexican, Edward Rutledge
and Thomas Lynch were Of Irish
firth. All were certainly Protestant.
No doubt there were others, but this
paper is not intended as an exhaus-
tive treatment Of the subject, so
these few will suffice. The trainers
Of the Mecklenburg Declaration, &C
cording to Madison Peters, were
mostly Masons and North Ireland
Presbyterians.
That there were many loyal patri-
OTIS in the Revolutionary struggle
who bore Catholic Irish blood in their
veins is not to be disputed. But men
Of the type Of Carroll, Moylan, and
Commodore John Barry were certain
~ Americans first. Our histories
have already paid them due honor,
and, if the average historical work
fails to mention their Irish blood or
their Catholic faith, so also will the
same work fail to mention that
Washington was a Mason, General
Greene, Quaker, or Thomas Paine.
a Freethinker. Neither the Free
masons, the takers, nor the Free
thinkers, however, have demanded a
rewritten history on that account.
Historical Facts the X of C's Don't
Tell .a...H
Unfortunately there is another
phase of the history Of the Irish in
the Revolution which we would all
ike to forget. The historian Ban
croft is authority for the statement
that in 1777, when the British found
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