How the Irish Won the American Revolution by Phillip Thomas Tucker

Author:Phillip Thomas Tucker
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Published: 2015-04-09T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter VI

More of Washington’s Invaluable Irish Commanders

Washington depended upon a high-ranking officer corps that was disproportionately Irish. A most promising Son of Erin who had been born in the picturesque Roe Valley, Dungiven County, Ulster Province, John Haslet had migrated with his brother William from the Northern Ireland port of Londonderry (formerly Derry) around 1757. He journeyed to America as a grief-stricken Presbyterian minister who had already seen too much suffering among the seemingly ill-fated Celtic-Gaelic people. Haslet’s wife had died in childbirth in 1752, which shattered the Irishman’s world forever and led to Haslet’s sojourn across the Atlantic to America.

During the French and Indian War, Haslet served with distinction as a capable fighting-preacher captain. He raised a Pennsylvania militia company from the predominantly Scotch-Irish immigrants among his Presbyterian congregation, who fought as well against their “heretical” enemies as they intently memorized verses of the Holy Bible, to serve in the Pennsylvania regiment. Along with other Irish immigrants, including his close Irish friend Captain John McClugan, Haslet settled along the Mispillion River on the border of Kent and Sussex counties in lower Delaware. Here, as a leading revolutionary politician and man of God, he won the esteem of the Three Runs community and represented the people in the assembly, including many Irish and Scotch-Irish settlers, beginning in 1770.

All the while, Haslet remained a close friend of the inspirational man of God, Ireland-born Dr. Francis Alison from Ulster Province. Besides worshipping together in a plain church in the Presbyterian tradition that contrasted dramatically with Catholic cathedrals, the two dynamic men from Northern Ireland also spent time together at a popular inn (long a safe haven for America’s revolutionaries plotting against the royal government) named after yet another Emerald Islander who had made his American dream come true: Murphy’s Tavern.

Before the American Revolution’s outbreak, Haslet evolved into a widely respected politician, enterprising agriculturalist, community leader, physician, and preacher of Dover, Kent County, Delaware, and the western shore of Delaware Bay. Handsome and charismatic, he commanded the Delaware Continental regiment he had raised in Dover before the Declaration of Independence’s signing after joining Washington’s Army in the summer of 1776. In fact, he was considered the capable “father” of this command of young Delaware soldiers, in neat blue uniforms with red trim, after molding them into a highly disciplined unit. As first demonstrated at the Battle of Long Island on August 27, 1776, Haslet’s Delaware Continentals was one of the best combat units of Washington’s Army. This widespread reputation of the only continental regiment from America’s smallest colony was due largely to Haslet’s inspiring leadership style, hard work, and discipline.

With meticulous care, Haslet had trained these men week after week in the grassy meadows near a little general store, owned by an enterprising Irishman named Cullen, in Dover. He relied upon a good many Irish and Scotch-Irish comrades in the ranks, including Reverend Joseph Montgomery, who served as regimental chaplain, and one of his top lieutenants, Major Thomas McDonough. Washington likewise long depended

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