How Tens of Thousands of Irish Immigrants Led the Patriots to Victory During the American Revolution

He would spend his childhood under England’s thumb. Like other Irish Catholics living in the Protestant kingdom, Barry was prohibited from voting, holding public office or owning a horse that cost more than £5. When he was a teenager, he and his family were forced off their land, reportedly by an English landlord. With few other options, Barry turned his sights toward the sea.

Around 1760, Barry immigrated to Philadelphia, where he pursued a career in shipbuilding and sailing. A decade and a half later, when the Thirteen Colonies revolted against unfair taxes and imperial rule, he became an early patriot, motivated by his experience with British oppression on both sides of the Atlantic.

Barry put this fervor to good use. Appointed a captain in the Continental Navy in 1775, he captured multiple British vessels at the helm of a brigantine called the Lexington. By the American Revolution’s end, he was in command of the Alliance, protecting a cargo ship transporting Cuban gold—seed money for the United States’ national bank. After the war, President George Washington selected Barry as the Navy’s first commissioned officer; today, he’s often described as the “father of the U.S. Navy.”