The Merchants’ Exchange began as a debating Society, in 1836, with Edward Tracy as president and John Ford as secretary. The Millers’ Association, the first of its kind in the West, was established in 1849, among the members being John Walsh. Financial exchanges need telegraphic connections, so along came a Leitrim man, Henry O’Reilly, in 1847, who opened here the first telegraph office west of the Mississippi. In military life the men of the “Fighting Race” were to the fore. The St. Louis Grays, the first volunteer organization, started in 1832, had for its ensign John P. Riley, but a volunteer company of light infantry preceded it in 1819, having for its captain Henry W. Conway. Other companies were added to the Grays in 1842, forming the First Regiment, St. Louis Legion, among the designations of the companies being “Montgomery Guards,” with Patrick Gorman, captain; “St. Louis Guards,” Daniel Byrne, captain; “Mound City Guards,” John H. Barrett, captain; “Morgan Riflemen,” Henry J. McKillop, captain. In this review of the “pioneer” Irish in St. Louis, many names necessarily are omitted. Sufficient to mention men of worth in their day, such as John C. Sullivan, collector, in 1814; Judge Thomas McGuire, 1817; Captain McGunnegle, the Rankin Brothers, Hugh, Robert and David, who came hither from Ireland in 1819; Bernard Gillully, who was in partnership with Edward C. Cummings; James Clemens, Patrick Walsh, Richard K. Dowling, Thomas Hanley, Thomas M. Doherty, Mayor Ferguson, William Carr Lane, Bryan Mullanphy, and others. Such men, indeed, were the “cream of St. Louis society” in the early part of the nineteenth century. We hear much of the part played by the Irish in the creation and maintenance of the American republic in the military sense, but what they have contributed towards its civil, commercial, manufacturing or educational development is much overlooked and remains unknown to readers of the present day. SOME IRISH-FRENCH OFFICERS IN THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.[2] From “Les Combattants Francais de la Guerre Americaine.” Footnote 2: Published in Paris, 1903. RÉGIMENT DE DILLON. _État-Major._ _Colonel._ Le comte Dillon (Arthur). _Colonel En Second._ Le chevalier Dillon (Théobald). _Lieutenant-Colonel._ Dillon (Barthélemy). _Major._ O’Moran (Jacques). _Quartier-Maitre Tresorier._ Moncarelly (Barthélemy). _Capitaines._ Moore (Gerard). Purdon (Simon). Bancks (Thomas). Nugent (Anselme). Swigny (Paul). Shee (Robert). Moore (Guillaume). O’Neill (Bernard). O’Berin (Michel). Taaffe (Laurent). _Capitaines En Second._