Irish Soldiers in Colonial America (ca. 1650-1825), Part Two
The British Army did not enlist Irish Catholics during much of the eighteenth century as they were considered likely to be unreliable when they faced the forces of Catholic countries such as France and Spain, which contained many of their countrymen. However, Irish settlers, including those exiled to British colonies, were recruited into local militias, such as the Virginia Regiment or the Montserrat Militia. During the American Revolution people of Irish origin could be found in both Loyalist and Patriot units, including the Loyalist “Volunteers of Ireland”. In the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars the British government settled substantial numbers of demobilized soldiers, including Irishmen, in Canada. From about 1780 onwards the British regiments enlisted at least one-third of their recruits in Ireland; this increased to about 40% by the early nineteenth century.
The indefatigable Dr. David Dobson has now produced Part Two in the series, Irish Soldiers in Colonial America (ca. 1650-1825). Based on data culled from published and archival sources located in Ireland, England, Canada, the United States, and the Caribbean, Part Two differs from Part One in that it also identifies former soldiers who died or were buried in Ireland and seafarers of the period, mostly former men of the Royal Navy who possibly were engaged defending the transatlantic colonies. Both the Royal Navy and the Army regiments have good personnel records and museums which may be worth contacting (e.g., The Inniskilling Museum in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh) if you are on the hunt for an Irish ancestor. Also, the National Archives in Kew, London, has a range of military records including muster rolls.
Among published sources The Army Lists provide a continuous list of officers and their regiments from 1754. The National Archives has ships’ muster lists of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, while Steel’s Navy Lists cover the period from 1782 until 1817. The latter was superseded by the official annual Navy Lists from 1814, although they concentrate on the careers of officers only.
Typical of the roughly 1,500 soldiers identified in Part 2 are the following:
BREADY, LUKE, emigrated from Ireland to America in 1763, worked as a
labourer at Crown Point, Carotte County, New York, from 1767 until 1775,
a Loyalist soldier who moved to Canada, was a sailor at Quebec, was at
Montreal by 1788. [PAO.LC339
HAMILTON, JOHN, in Ninety-six District of North Carolina, Colonel of
Militia and in 1780 was Colonel of the 96 th [Queen’s Royal Irish] Regiment,
moved via Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to Scotland then London by
1784, later was British Consul in Virginia by 1790. [TNA.AO12.47.92, etc]
LEWIS, ANDREW, born 1720 in Donegal, emigrated to America, settled in
Augusta County, Virginia, an officer of the Virginia Militia, during the
French and Indian Wars he took part in the expedition against the French
forts in Ohio, in 1758 he was captured during the attack on Fort Du-
Quesne, and imprisoned in Montreal until 1763, from 1776 until 1777 he
was a Brigadier General of the American Army, he died in 1781 in Bedford
County, Virginia. [Misc]
