hish InfluenceontheRevolutionary War
If you askthe question,did the Irish immigrantsinfluencethe Revolutionary War? The answerwouldbe yes. The Irish playedan importantpart in the war. Most of the soldierswereIrish. GeorgeWashington'sContinentalArmy wasmadeup of about onethird of Irish soldiers. TheRevolutionaryWar wasfoughtfor eightyears,It beganin l775andendedin 1783. It wasfought in America. The thirteencoloniesfought againstthe mothercounry, England. The thirteenAmericancolonieswantedto breakawayfrom British de becausethey were angryaboutpaylngheavytaxesto England. They felt the taxeswere not fair. They alsowereupsetaboutthe British restrictionson the coloniallandwest of the AppalachianMountains. Peoplefrom Irelandwere one of the largergfoupsto arrivein the thirteen colonies,duringthe seventy-fiveyearsleadingup to the RevoluntaryWar. Thesepeople left Irelandto be free from oppression.Sowhenthe war began,the Irish immigrants were willing to fight for the coloniesbreakfrom Britain. Theimmigrarrtsknew about beingcontrolledby England so they quicklyjoined the ContinentalArmy. Whenthe DeclarationOf Independenoe, which waswritten by ThomasJeffersoq was signed,eight menwith Irish ancestryaddedtheir signatures.Threesignerswere born in Irelandandfive in America. The DeclarationOf Independence wasprinterby JohnDunlop. JohnDunlopwasan Irish printer. The Declarationof Independence wa$n't enoughto give the coloniestheir freedomfrom Englishrule. Freedomtook many yearsoffighting.
The colonialarmy,underthe leadershipof GeorgeWashingto4hadmanypeople with Irish ancestry.Therewere approximatelyonethousandfour hundredofficersand leadersthat were Irish. Sixteengeneralswere alsoIrish. The first group of soldiersto be sentby Franceto the war to help the colonieswasthe Irish Brigades. George Washingtonhad spiesthat were born in Irelandandimmigratedto America. Hercules Mulligan ran a clothing shopthat British officersused. HerculesMulligan would tell GeorgeWashingtonthe British plansthat he heardin the clothingshop. Anotherkish spywas JohnHoneyman,who got informationthat GeorgeWashingtonusedto win at the Battleof Trenton. Tim Murphy, whoseparent$emigratedfrom lreland,was a memberofthe Morgan'sRifle. The Morgan'sRifle wasa groupof menwho weresharpshooters. Tim Murphy's shootingwas importantto the battle of Saratoga. Anothersoldierof the RevolutionaryWar of lrish ancestrywasAndrew Jackson. In 1781,hewas part of the Patriots. ThePatriotsare anothernamefor colonistwho were opposedto British rules. HejoinedthePatriotswhentheBritishattackedthe South. He fought againstthe British andwas captured.[Ie was heldasa prisonerandlater released. He eventuallybecamethe seventhPresidentof the United Statesof America. Whenyou look at the informationabove,you cantell that the answerto the first questionis yes, The Iristr peoplewere importantto the AmericanRevolution. Theywere soldiers,spies,generalsandleaders.Without their help,the United Stateswould not havefreedom. GeorgeWashingtonevenknew how importantthe Irish peoplewere to the Revolution. Whenhe said'oasan act of solidaritywith Irish in their fight for independence" and declaredSaintPatrick'sDay as a holiday,he showedhow important
their role was in the Revolution. The United Stateswould be differenttodav.if not for the help of the Irish peoplein the RevolutionaryWar.