Ph.D. Phillip Thomas Tucker - How the Irish won the American Revolution : a new look at the forgotten heroes of Americas War of Independence

Copyright 2015 by Phillip Thomas Tucker

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by Jane Sheppard

Cover photo credit: Associated Press

Print ISBN: 978-1-63450-381-5

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-63450-387-7

Printed in the United States of America

Contents

To my Mother, Betty Jane Cox-Tucker, and my Father, Willard Thomas Tucker

Cum nad chimhne ar sinnsre ancient Gaelic for This in Remembrance of Our Fathers

Introduction

The Forgotten Irish Contribution to Decisive Victory

One of the greatest mysteries of American history has revolved around the intriguing question of how General George Washington and his revolutionaries could have possibly prevailed over a mighty British empire at the height of its power and prosperity. Many explanations have been offered to explain this enduring mystery throughout the past, but none are entirely satisfactory for a variety of reasons. Can a more accurate and correct answer be found at this late date to better explain how and why England lost its thirteen colonies forever to change the course of history? Fortunately for America, it possessed a large population of colonists who were already militants, agitators, and rebels before they ever migrated to the New World.

For more than two centuries, what has been most forgotten about Americas stirring creation story were the crucial and disproportionate contributions that the Irish people, especially the more numerous Scotch-Irish (compared to Irish Catholics) from Northern Ireland, played in the winning of the American Revolution. Largely because of Irelands dark legacy of early subjugation by England and difficult economic times that caused a mass exodus of immigrants to colonial America, the Irish people became not marginal, but the leading players in Americas struggle for liberty and creation.

While the importance of the role of the Celtic-Gaelic people in leading Americas westward expansion has been widely acknowledged by historians, the comparable leading role of the Irish and Scotch-Irish (lowland Scots who had settled in Ulster Province, Northern Ireland) in serving as the vanguard of Americas resistance effort throughout the War of Independence, as known in Europe, from 1775 to 1783 has been generally unrecognized or unappreciated. Even more, the Celtic-Gaelic people also made fundamental contributions in shaping the very essence and character of America: a classic case of the past dictating the future in a variety of significant ways. Therefore, to a surprising degree, even some of the struggles most basic complexities and truths have been left unexplored, leaving gaps that need to be filled at this late date.

Unfortunately, this sanitization of the historical record has resulted in the popular New England-based stereotype of the yeoman farmer-soldier of British descent, or Anglo-Saxon, having led and won the Revolution largely on his own. This mythical portrayal of Americas struggle for survival has overlooked the Revolutions most important players who were more responsible for leading the way in agitating for independence, sustaining the war effort, and leading the way to decisive victory than any other ethnic group in America from beginning to end. Therefore, as seen in every nation that defined its origins, what has been created is a highly romanticized view of Americas creation story that is excessively congratulatory and self-aggrandizing.

The Irish and Scotch-Irish actually fought in more disproportionate numbers compared to colonists of British descent and served as the longest-lasting and most sturdy core foundation of General George Washingtons Continental Army, especially during crucial periods, as well as important contributors on the political and economic fronts. Nevertheless, the Irish have become the forgotten players of Americas struggle for independence as no other distinctive group of white colonists in America.

Occupying a rung of Americas social ladder far lower than the stereotypical middle-class yeoman farmer-soldier, the mostly illiterate Irish Catholics were primarily members of the indentured servitude class, while the Scotch-Irish were only slightly socially and economically more elevated because of their greater literacy and Protestantism. These Emerald Islanders were motivated to overturn an inequitable hierarchical society because of harsh economic, social, and cultural realities that had long existed on both sides of the Atlantic.

Luckily for Americas fortunes, the height of Irish immigration to America reached its peak during the first half of the decade of the 1770s to set the stage for the dramatic bolstering of the ranks of a new generation of highly motivated fighting men for America. A large percentage of Irish and Scotch-Irish common soldiers along with officers, including Washingtons top generals, served as the reliable backbone of Americas resistance effort, especially in Washingtons Army, from beginning to end.

The standard interpretations of Americas revolutionary struggle and the endless romance of the mythological American Revolution have obscured the undeniable truth of the all-important contributions of the Irish and Scotch-Irish people. Unfortunately, leading British, Irish, and American historians have not focused on the pivotal roles (military, economic, and political) played by the Irish and the Scotch-Irish primarily because of the scarcity of documentation and records of a diasporic people. Even Revolutionary War historian Thomas J. Fleming admitted as late as 2005 of a much-belated personal revelation that the most surprising thing about the soldiers at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, during the winter of 17771778, was the high percentage of Irish soldiers (both Catholic and Scotch-Irish) who served in Washingtons Army. So many Celtic-Gaelic soldiers filled the Pennsylvania Continental Line that it was widely known as the Line of Ireland at the time: one of Americas largest and most distinguished combat units, which served as a solid foundation for the army.

This significant Irish and Scotch-Irish contribution has also been long obscured because the mythical revolution has presented Americas struggle for liberty as primarily an Anglo-Saxon triumph won by colonists of English descent without Irish roots or contributions. The Founding Fathers have garnered the lions share for almost singlehandedly bestowing the enlightened concepts of liberty upon the less-educated common people (including hundreds of thousands of Irish and Scotch-Irish) as if they possessed no revolutionary heritage and egalitarian legacy of their own. In truth, the revolutionary tradition of rising up against abusive centralized authority was already deeply embedded in the hearts and minds of the average Irish immigrant who never needed to read Age of Enlightenment philosophers or pamphleteers to become fiery revolutionaries against the British in either Ireland or America.