During the Revolution, in Baltimore and Maryland they were prominent in all works of importance. Thus we see Samuel Purviance, the chief man of the town; Purviance was a leading merchant. He was chairman of the Committee on Correspondence, a sort of Ways and Means Committee, and as such he raised supplies for the patriotic cause and supervised methods of defense. His services to the patriot cause were vast, and he was frequently complimented by Washington and the Continental Congress for his services. He was largely instrumental in helping Lafayette to clothe his half-starved and half-clothed army when on its way to the South to prosecute that historic campaign which ended in the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown. Thus he played a prominent part in one of the historic events in history, and considering the present status of this republic, the most momentous campaign in history. The Irish merchants who contributed to this fund to buy cloth and make uniforms for Lafayette’s ragged army were Messrs. Purviance, William Patterson, John McLure, Daniel Bowly, Ridgely and Pringle, James Calhoun, James McHenry, Charles Carroll, Wm. Smith, Alex. Donaldson, Samuel Hughes, Russell & Hughes, William Neill, John Smith, William Smith, Hugh Young and Robert Patter Purviance. William Smith and William Patterson and other Irish merchants were also prominent in the committee work during the Revolution, and if it had failed, would have no doubt decorated the short end of a hangman’s rope for their love of liberty. The services of Charles Carroll of Carrollton and of his cousin, Charles Carroll, of Mount Clare, to the patriot cause and to the city and state, even the nation, it is needless to recount here, as they are well known.