Today is St. Patrick’s Day, celebrating one of the most influential religious luminaries in history. The young slave-turned-missionary bishop converted Ireland to Catholic Christianity almost single-handedly, drove the snakes out of Ireland, and ensured that Western Civilization would be preserved and reborn on the “Isle of Saints and Scholars” after the darkness of the barbarian takeover of Roman Europe. St. Patrick even inspired the greatest American Founding Father!
Many Americans aren’t aware of the number of George Washington’s aides, generals, servants, and friends who were Irish. At a time when many Anglo-Americans looked down on the Irish, most especially the Catholic Irish, Washington was a notable exception — and his open-minded view became enshrined in our founding documents. Perhaps that’s why Washington had a soft spot for St. Patrick’s Day and more than once celebrated it during the Revolution. The toast he once drank illustrated his sentiments: “[to] St. Patrick: The Volunteer of Ireland: May the cannons of Ireland bellow until the nation be free.”
Washington’s favorite aide during the Revolutionary War, Irish Catholic immigrant John Fitzgerald, was a lifelong and cherished friend of the Father of our Country. Another of Washington’s trusted aides, Irish Catholic Stephen Moylan, is credited with being the first man to name this country the “United States of America.”
Other Irishmen who played important roles in the Revolution and in Washington’s life personally were the Irish-born father of the American Navy John Barry; and Irish American Gens. John Sullivan and Henry Knox; the peasant-born architect who designed and built the White House at Washington’s express desire, Irish Catholic immigrant James Hoban; and Washington’s key spy/double agent during the war, Irish Presbyterian immigrant Hercules Mulligan. (See “George Washington and the Irish,” by Niall O’Dowd.)
Knox and Sullivan were among the generals instrumental in Washington’s 1776 Patriot victory over the British at Boston around St. Patrick’s Day, hence the sentries’ password that day: “St. Patrick.” No wonder Washington took an interest in the patron saint of Ireland and his feast!
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Indeed, Washington appears to have encouraged honor for St. Patrick’s Day partly to quell prejudice between different European ethnic groups in the Revolutionary Army. It is an unfortunate fact that the Germans and the Irish were not infrequently at odds, even violently so, within the Revolutionary Army, and since they were the two largest ethnic groups in the Army aside from British Americans, that was a serious problem Washington had to address.
The Germans have long been a people who value rules and harsh discipline, which could hardly present a greater contrast to the Irish, who had spent centuries suffering under harsh English tyranny and were often delighted to bend or break the rules (not to mention they loved a drink and a good time). With many of the Germans serving as a sort of enforcement squad or military police within the Revolutionary Army, and the Irish often running afoul of these enforcers and finding the Germans “rough jailers,” it’s not surprising there was a lot of bad blood going around.
On one occasion, according to Col. Allan McLane (see below), Washington personally broke up the brewing fracas, which happened on none other than St. Patrick’s Day. It had been a hard and cold winter indeed for the ill-equipped, ragged Revolutionary Army at Valley Forge in 1778, so tempers were touchy. Unfortunately, the Germans decided to get out some of their aggression by insulting the Irish and their favorite saint.
[S]ome of the Pennsylvania Germans made a Paddy and displayed it on Saint Patrick’s Day to the great indignation of the Irish in the camp. [A Paddy is a scarecrow adorned with green cloth and a bishop’s mitre. It was a Protestant way of insulting both St. Patrick specifically and Irish Catholics generally.]
[The Irish] assembled in large bodies under arms, swearing for vengeance against the New England troops saying they had got up [that is, created] the insult. The affair threatened a very serious issue; none of the officers could appease them.
At this, Washington, having ascertained the [claims of] entire innocence [from] the [German] troops rode up to the Irish and kindly and feelingly argued with them, and then requested the Irish to show the offenders and he would see them punished.
They could not designate anyone [specifically]. ‘Well,’ said Washington, with great promptness, ‘I too am a great lover of Saint Patrick’s Day, and must settle the affair by making all the army celebrate the day.’
He therefore ordered extra drink to every man of his command and thus all made merry and were good friends.
Just as when he effectively ended Guy Fawkes Day celebrations in the army due to their anti-Catholic tenor, Washington here showed sympathy for and interest in the Irish. He did this not just once, however, but throughout his life. Not only did he have a number of Irish friends, but he also expressed his support for the Irish struggle against the British back in Ireland. Other Americans also saw the Irish as their fellow freedom fighters against a common enemy: British tyrants.
And while Washington was no drunkard or carouser, it can certainly be said that he liked to share drinks at merry parties, as the Irish soldiers did. And Washington needed the loyalty of his Irish soldiers, who made up a significant chunk of his forces. Light-Horse Harry Lee said the “The Line of Pennsylvania” battalion might have been named the “Line of Ireland,” and the battalion often spoke together in the Irish Gaelic language rather than English.
Perhaps that’s why Washington chose St. Patrick’s Day as an Army-wide holiday more than once. The winter of 1779-1780 at Morristown, N.J., was dreadful as Valley Forge had been. “It was the coldest winter ever measured up to that time,” according to O’Dowd. Soldiers were dying of the cold or disease or near starvation. Private Joseph Plumb Martin emphatically stated, “We were absolutely, literally starved,” remembering chewing bark in desperation while others tried to dine on shoe leather.
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It was a dreary March, and morale needed a major boost. The commander-in-chief determined that giving the men a day off for St. Patrick’s Day, 1780 could help. Washington told his men March 17 was “held in particular regard by the people of [Ireland],” and thus, “[t]he General directs that all fatigue and working parties cease for to-morrow the SEVENTEENTH instant.” The experienced Washington added a warning, though: “the celebration of the day will not be attended with the least rioting or disorder.”
Not content with this much, Washington honored the good St. Patrick and the Emerald Isle all week long. According to the New Jersey Journal from March 15, 1780, quoted by O’Dowd, Washington and staff attended a dinner the previous night which included enthusiastic toasts to the Irish freedom fighters seeking an independent Parliament. Washington and his fellows also raised their glasses to “St. Patrick: The Volunteer of Ireland: May the cannons of Ireland bellow until the nation be free.”
And still, there’s more! The New-York Gazette announced that the next “morning was ushered in with music and the hoisting of colors exhibiting the 13 stripes, the favorite harp and an inscription reading in capitals ‘The Independence of Ireland.’” In his March 16 proclamation, Washington wrote about Ireland:
The General congratulates the army and the very interesting proceedings of the parliament of Ireland and the inhabitants of the country which have lately been communicated not only as they appear calculated to remove those heavy and tyrannical oppression[s]. . .but to restore to a brave and generous people their ancient rights and freedoms and by their operations to promote the cause of America.
Have a wonderful St. Patrick’s Day, and like Washington, drink a toast to “St. Patrick: The Volunteer of Ireland: May the cannons of Ireland bellow until” both their nation and our own be rid of the petty, woke tyrants who would crush our freedoms and rob us of our heritage.
Please enjoy a few of my favorite Irish songs below!
In honor of my Irish grandparents and mother, and my father who sang me to sleep with this every night:
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