Part 36

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.

Captain Olney’s company, known throughout the colonies for its many deeds of courage, was the first to scale the walls of Yorktown. It contained many Irish, as shown by its rolls.

Among the men of Irish descent in Lafayette’s army were Count Arthur Dillon, Aide-de-Camp Isidore de Lynch (who afterwards became the commander of the Irish-French regiment of Walsh), Lieutenant-Colonel Barthelemy Dillon. Theobald Dillon also saw service in America and was a member of the Cincinnati. Matthew Dillon also saw service here. M. de McCarty was an officer with the French army at Newport and in the Rhode Island campaign. Edward Stack, another Irishman, was with Rochambeau.

Some of the other Irishmen who served in America with the French were: Commandant O’Neill, wounded at Savannah; Captain James Shee, Captain MacDonnall, Captain Mullens, Lieutenant Taaffe, Lieutenant Farrell, James O’Moran, Lacy and Whalen. Charles Geoghegan, an Irishman in the French army, received the decoration of the Cincinnati at the hands of Washington.

In the navy we find the Irish race well represented. It is, of course, impossible to tell whence these sailors and marines came, but we know that they served.

John Murphy of Rhode Island commanded a privateer. William Malone was captain of the _Harbinger_. Francis Mulligan was the owner of the _Chance_. Oliver Reed was master of the privateer _General Rochambeau_. Peter Day commanded the _Molly’s Adventure_. M. Mackey was the commander of the _Greyhound_.

Stephen Ready, John Welch, Edward McGrath, William Kelly, John Murphy and Charles Buckley, all of Rhode Island, were imprisoned in England.

On the sloop _Providence_ we find Patrick McMullen, Matthew McCaffray, Bernard Gallagher; on the _Alfred_, Patrick McNamara, George O’Hara, armorer’s mate, Patrick O’Brien and William Burns; on the _Columbus_, Edward Burke, Lieutenant of Marines, Thomas Burns, surgeon’s mate, John McLaughlin, Peter Morris, Charles McDonald, Arthur Nagle and Thomas Murray.

Mr. Field in his work, “Esek Hopkins, Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Navy, 1775 to 1778,” tells us that in Hopkin’s command were many Irishmen, some of them being Anthony Dwyer, Richard Sweeney, Patrick Kaine, Thomas Doyle, John Connor, Andrew Magee, Thomas Dowd, John Roatch and George Kennedy.

We also find Captain Mellaly commanding a privateer and capturing the British sloop _Crawford_.

These are only a few of the names found in the records, but they show unmistakably the part played by the men and women of our race in our “Little Rhody” to and including the Revolution.

Some reliable writers have stated that the officers of the continental army were twenty-five per cent Irish. Some of them were Generals Stephen Moylan (first president of the Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick of Philadelphia), Henry E. Knox (first Secretary of War), John Shee, “Mad Anthony” Wayne, Matthew Irvine, Edward Hand, Richard Butler, Walter Stewart and William Thompson; Colonels John Nixon, Sharp Delaney, Charles Stewart, John Patton, George Lattimer, Thomas Robinson, Barrett, Smith and Davis; Captain Parker and many others. As we have seen, there were many officers of lesser rank, both in the army and the navy.

Among the first sea fights of the Revolution was the capture of the British sloop _Margaretta_ at Machias Bay on the coast of Maine, May 11th, 1775, known as “The Lexington of the Seas.” The Americans were commanded by Captain O’Brien, the son of a native of Ireland.

Captain Parker, killed at Lexington, was an Irishman, as were Colonels Barrett, Smith and Davis, who commanded at Concord. The monument at Bunker Hill is covered with Irish names.

The two most famous women of the Revolution were Molly Pitcher and Nancy Hart, both Irish.

But it was not alone in battle that our race distinguished itself. At Valley Forge the army of Washington was in dire peril. The troops had neither food, clothing, shelter nor equipment. Disaster met them everywhere and failure threatened the patriot cause. Faultfinders and malcontents were urging the giving up of the struggle. The hopes of Washington and his devoted band had almost disappeared, when thirty Irishmen of the Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick of Philadelphia subscribed six hundred thousand dollars. When we consider what that amount of money meant in those days, is it not fair to assume that this contribution was the real means by which the power of England was finally driven from this continent? It entailed hardships and sacrifices which we cannot appreciate now. Robert Morris, a banker, and Blair McClenachan gave fifty thousand dollars each. James Mease, a native of Strabane, County Tyrone, Ireland, and General Matthew Irvine gave twenty-five thousand dollars each and the other members subscribed the remainder.

Among the fifty-six signers of the Declaration of Independence were eleven of Irish birth or descent: John Hancock, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton, John Hart, George Taylor, George Read, James Smith, Thomas McKean, Charles Carroll, Edward Rutledge and Thomas Lynch.

The Declaration of Independence is in the handwriting of Charles Thompson, a native of Londonderry. It was first read to the public in Philadelphia by John Nixon, son of a native of Wexford and a member of the Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick, and was first printed by John Dunlap, a native of Strabane, county Tyrone, Ireland.

When the colonists sought the assistance of France Bishop Carroll accompanied Benjamin Franklin to that country and it was due mainly to the Bishop’s representations that French assistance was obtained.

[Illustration:

HON. ELMER J. RATHBUN.

Justice of the Superior Court of the State of Rhode Island.

A Member of the Society. ]

In all the battles of the Revolution, at Bunker Hill, Concord, Lexington, Monmouth, Valley Forge and Yorktown, we did our part. In the hour of the nation’s peril we gave freely of our substance. We helped to kindle and keep alive the flame of liberty. Wherever and whenever men were needed there were found Irish hearts and Irish hands ready to give up all for the establishment of free institutions, for the right of a nation to be free. Here at last we had found a country worth fighting for and worth dying for. Here we had found the principle of individual liberty a living, throbbing thing. We have been true to America, whatever our enemies may say; we are true to it today; and America knows that if ever the liberties of the republic are threatened the Irish, of whatever faith or political belief, will be found doing their part as of old.

In peace and in war we have done our part. We are doing it today and will continue to do so as long as the fame of Washington and Lincoln endure. We stand for patriotism, for respect for just laws, for the sanctity of the marriage tie, for the purity of our homes, the education of our children and the morality of the people. S. Banks Nelson, an Irish clergyman of this state, has stated that we govern every nation but our own. We also submit to government and the history of our own city of Providence for the last few years has shown that religious bigotry or race prejudice are not failings of the Irish race in Rhode Island.

All we ask is our share of that reward that goes to labor well performed. We ask to be treated justly. We do not claim office because we are Irish and, on the other hand, we insist that office shall not be denied us because of that fact. We have made mistakes and will make them, but they are not fatal. We stand on our record as American citizens and as such entitled to an equal share in its government. All we ask is that you sympathize with us in our struggle, that you teach your children some little knowledge of our history, that you learn to know us as we are and not as we are sometimes represented. Above all we ask you never to permit men or women, on the stage or elsewhere, to utter indecencies or obscenities in the name of our womanhood; for all must admit that our women, by their matchless purity and virtue, are the honor and glory of humanity.

CAPTAIN JOHN O’BRIEN OF MACHIAS, MAINE—REVOLUTIONARY HERO—A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

BY REV. ANDREW M. SHERMAN, LL. D., OF MORRISTOWN, NEW JERSEY.

Captain John O’Brien, the subject of this sketch, was the third eldest son of Morris O’Brien and Mary O’Brien, and was born in 1750, in Scarboro, on the Maine seacoast, about ten miles to the southwestward of Portland.

At the early period under present review, the region including Scarboro was greatly harassed by the Indians, whose depredations are said to have sometimes been instigated by the French, who were jealous of the English settlers in western Maine (then a part of the Province of Massachusetts), and hoped to thus drive out the English already there, and prevent others from coming into what was regarded as preëmpted territory.

In consequence of the frequent attacks of the Indians upon the English, at Scarboro, it sometimes became necessary, as a means of self-preservation, for the settlers to flee into the surrounding wilderness, and there carefully secrete themselves until the savages should depart from the vicinity; when they would return to their homes, which were sometimes found to have been despoiled and destroyed during their enforced absence.

While John O’Brien was an infant in his mother’s arms, an attack upon the English settlement at Scarboro, by the Indians, was threatened; and it was therefore resolved to flee for safety into the surrounding wilderness. Fearing that the crying of the infant would disclose to the savages the direction to be taken by the settlers in their flight, and also their chosen hiding-place, it was advised, and insisted that the mother leave her infant behind, in the settlement. Against this she earnestly protested, assuring her neighbors that she could keep the infant quiet. She was, therefore, allowed to take the infant along. Folding him affectionately to her breast, and soothing him as only a fond mother could, she succeeded in keeping the infant quiet, not only during their hasty flight but during their sojourn in the depths of the wilderness.