The romance and myths of the American Revolution have long obscured the disproportionate contributions of the Irish, who numbered as high as one half million of America’s two million population.
Posted on 07/04/2019 1:42:49 PM PDT by Al Hitan
The romance and myths of the American Revolution have long obscured the disproportionate contributions of the Irish, who numbered as high as one half million of America’s two million population.
Yet, the role of the Irish has often been written out. No chapter of America’s story has been more thoroughly dominated by myths and romance than the nation’s desperate struggle for life during the American Revolution. Unfortunately, America’s much-celebrated creation story has presented a sanitized version of events.
The long-accepted proper imaginary of the typical American patriot was that of an Anglo-Saxon who descended from early English settlers. This popular perception became a permanent part of the national mythology, in regard to the people who were seen as having been most responsible for sustaining and winning the revolutionary struggle.
Americans today believe that the upper-class elite, especially the Founding Fathers, and the traditional New England model (the popular romantic New England stereotype of the middle-class yeoman soldier of Anglo-Saxon descent) were most responsible for America’s success in the revolutionary struggle.
However, because so many of these diehard patriots were recent immigrants from Ireland and members of the lowest class, they were considered outsiders and foreigners, especially Irish Catholics, who were not deemed worthy of mention by generations of America’s leading historians and scholars.
Mostly from the northeast, these influential Anglo-Saxon historians possessed ample good reason to obscure the truth about America’s creation story. Quite simply, without the disproportionate and significant contributions of the Irish on all levels (political, military, and economic), America would not have won its struggle for independence. In consequence, the Irish odyssey during the American Revolution is one of the best-untold stories of American history.
(Excerpt) Read more at irishcentral.com ...
...But we don’t want the Irish!
I have significant Irish heritage and don’t believe they have been written out of anything. I am proud of their contributions to America and proud to carry their DNA.
Seems awful heavy on the “pity the poor Irish”.
You mean the same irish now who advocate abortion, fag marriage and hate Trump? How these clowns have fallen.
Around 1995, I took some time off and researched my ancestors from Georgia. Georgia seems to have had a large number of Irish plus Scotch Irish. A lot of towns have Irish names.
One thing which got my attention was studying the American Revolution pension records. In applying for a pension they would name their outfit plus battles they were in.
A large number mentioned “The Florida Expedition” yet I have never heard of it mentioned in history books.
How do I know this?
Simple, because one of my extended family members was one such Irish soldier, fighting in the Brit army, who returned to Ireland after our Revolution. He was the distant ancestor of a man who married into the maternal side of the family.
Americans, who fought for OUR side, came from quite a few different original ethnicities!
T’was Ireland.
I’ll stick with Ballykissangel and Irish RM reruns for any Ireland fixes.
Also a large number of Highland Scots served in the British Army. For instance, The Black Watch.
See ‘Willing Expedition’ and the ‘Thomas Creek Massacre’.
Thanks for a great link.
As of now, 25% of my DNA is from Scotland and Ireland.
72% of my ancestors are from the UK, Wale and NW Europe.
I have been coming up with more Irish ancestors recently.
So Protestant America was actually a creation of the Pope!
Got it! Who knew!
When does the torture begin for all us un-Believers? We so loved the Inquisition, St. Bartholomews Day, Ulster...the fun never ended under Roman control! Let’s do it again!
Thanks, I am a many generation Florida native and I had never heard of either.
Try this link.
St Augustine was critical to the Spaniards and apparently the Brits had a good foothold in that area.
http://www.ourgeorgiahistory.com/wars/Revolution/revolution09.html
And then there were the American Indians who joined both sides; some fighting with us and some with the Brits, against us.
Both sides were diverse...which should make today's far lefties a happy bunch; though they're appartently NEVER happy about anything.
No, not really. My Irish ancestors were Protestant and left Ireland long ago, so NOT the same Irish. No blame shpuld be passed through history here any more than there should be reparations for slavery to now living African Americans.
Over looks the Scots particularly in north east Georgia who kept the Brits at bay
During the period of the American Revolution, the term Scots Irish was rarely used. Immigrants from both Catholic Ireland and Protestant Ulster were called Irish. They settled primarily in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and the Carolinas but they could be found in New England, New York, New Jersey and Georgia. In other words, practically everywhere. The Ulstermen began to migrate to American after the Restoration in 1660. Those in Ulster, who were Scots, English, and Welsh people received land during the Plantation of Ireland. Most of those land grants were recinded by Charles II, so those people came in American in droves.
Catholic immigrants came in fewer numbers due to resistance to Catholics in many of the colonies. The big exceptions were Pennsyvania and Maryland.
These people were very enthusiastic about the Revolution and supported Independence in every possible way. Muster rolls from Virginia and the Carolinas are full of Irish and Scots names. Interestingly, many Scots were active Loyalists. their journey to the New World came at the invitation of the English for rebellion in Scotland. They were required to take a Loyalty oath and they honored those oaths.
I think that this article reflects a New England bias. A visitor to Kings Mountain or Cowpens would hear plenty about the contribution of Irish to Independence.
It one goes to the Alamo in Texas and read the names on the walls of those heros and place of origin it is very revealing. You will find Irish, Scot, English, German, a few other nations and also American born and very oddly Mexican patriots names. This was a rebellion of the people against the tyranny of Santa Anna. Most of the Mexican patriots were born in what was then Mexico but what is now Texas.
Love the Irish, but the real hidden story in early America are the Germans. In the first census, they were the number one ethnicity here. Number two was Scottish. Number three was British. But yeah, Irish always did love to fight. So they probably contributing a higher percentage of fighters.
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