In those critical days, while thousands were dilly-dallying, the Irish were hot for action. It was John Sullivan who struck the first blow, four months before the historic skirmish at Lexington, by capturing military stores at Portsmouth. The Sullivan family, of which he was a member, furnished three governors for the young republic. Their mother, in her old age, used to say that she had often worked in the fields carrying the governor of Massachusetts, while the governors of New Hampshire and Vermont tagged at her skirts. The first British warship was captured by an O’Brien; and John Barry became the official father of the American navy by receiving the earliest commission as captain. The first American general to fall was the brilliant Richard Montgomery, whose virtues compelled even Lord North to lament his death. It is an interesting fact, and one of which few are aware, that the three monuments in front of New York’s oldest church—St. Paul’s, on lower Broadway, are in memory of three famous Irishmen—General Montgomery, Thomas Addis Emmet and Dr. William MacNevin, the first scientific chemist of New York. In 1776 three of the signers were of Irish birth—Matthew Thornton, James Smith and George Taylor. Five others, at least, were of Irish blood—Edward Rutledge, Thomas Lynch, Thomas McKean, George Reed and Charles Carroll of Carrollton. The secretary of the assemblage, who read aloud the Declaration on the birth-morning of our republic, was Charles Thompson, Irish born and the son of an evicted farmer. And one of the first societies to back George Washington with men and money was the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick of Philadelphia, who raised half a million dollars and swung into line with a cheer. Only one of their members objected, and his name was struck from the society’s rolls. Washington was a frequent guest at their banquets and an honorary member, as President Roosevelt is of the same society in New York. No history of the Revolution is complete without its Irish chapter. What with the dashing work of the Irish Brigade under Count Dillon; with the exploits of Mad Anthony Wayne and General Moylan, the Murat of the Revolutionary cavalry; and with the powerful aid of Burke and Sheridan in England, King George the Third found himself beset by Irishmen from all quarters. There were whole companies of Irishmen who fought for American independence under their own green flag, as loyal to their adopted country as to the land of their birth.