Analysis: The letter from Cork-born Stephen Moylan during the American War of Independence is the earliest known document to refer to 'The United States'
By Victoria Pearson, Ulster University
In January 1776, during the American War of Independence, Cork-born Stephen Moylan, Muster-Master General to George Washington's forces, wrote to his friend Colonel Joseph Reed that he "should like vastly to go with full and ample powers from the United States of America to Spain", to seek European aid for their cause.
This letter survived as part of the Joseph Reed Papers, in the Thomas Addis Emmet Collection at the New York Public Library. Discovered in 2013 by Byron DeLear, it is the earliest known written document that refers to ‘The United States’.
The correspondence between Moylan and Reed suggests that their vision for their new country was evolving. Various terms for the new entity were in common usage among those leading the movement for American independence. When tensions first arose between Britain and the 13 north-eastern American colonies in April 1775, the revolutionaries adopted the name ‘the United Colonies’.
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Indeed, on Christmas Day, only eight days before this exchange, Moylan wrote on the flap of a document "on the service of the United Colonies." So why the change? The Cork man was writing to Washington’s aide-de-camp from the Continental Army's headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts where tempers were running high.
The Grand Union flag, emblazoned with its distinctive 13 red-and-white stripes, was unfurled on New Year’s Day 1776. This was the same day that the Americans received a report from London of King George III's recent speech to parliament where he derided his colonial subjects as "deluded" and their leaders as "traitorous" for conspiring to bring about an "independent empire."
The outraged king also outlined extensive plans to deploy the British army and the Royal Navy and called on the support of Britain’s allies to crush the rebellion. Incensed, Moylan declared to Reed, "Look at the King’s speech – it is enclosed in this, or in the General’s letter to you … – will they [Congress] not declare what his Most Gracious Majesty insists on they have already done?"
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Seven months, then, before Thomas Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence, and a week before the publication of Thomas Paine's Common Sense, the man from county Cork was a forceful advocate, not just for revolution, but for independence. Moylan’s enthusiasm to start the fight came from firsthand experience. Washington became convinced that a seafaring force was essential to defeat the British and he began to enlist to his ‘secret navy’ without the sanction of Congress.
Moylan was an early recruit in the winter of 1775. As muster-master general, he was indispensable to outfitting the American ships of the line and seeing to the needs of the men in each of the Continental Army’s units. Described as a "well-spoken gentleman with a brogue [who] had a keen mind for international trade and business", Moylan hailed from a prominent Irish Catholic merchant family in Cork City.
Born and bred in the milieu of the Shandon cattle market, he was involved from an early age in his father’s company, John & David Moylan of Cork. He also served an apprenticeship to Edward Forrest in Lisbon, Portugal, where he saw the devastation of the earthquake in 1755.
Moylan’s arrival in Philadelphia a few years later in 1768 dramatically changed his fortunes. With the outbreak of war, the American revolutionaries were dependent on goods from Europe, but British blockades and embargoes impeded their safe arrival.
Stephen was the right man, in the right place, at the right time. He had been a founding member of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, a fraternal society of merchants and bankers, and became its first president in 1771.
His younger brother James was also elected to the society when visiting his older brother in Philadelphia. He continued to work as the Moylan family’s American agent, while also moving between Lisbon and the southern French cities of Bordeaux and L’Orient.
During the Revolution, James worked as a Prize Agent for American vessels and fitted out ships for the continental navy under John Paul Jones, Pierre Landais and John Barry. Another brother, John, also served as Clothier General of the Continental Army in Morristown, New Jersey. Jasper, the youngest of the siblings, served as an ensign in the Philadelphia militia.
The Moylan family’s reputation and commercial contacts in North America and in Europe put them into a position of pivotal importance in the American war effort. Their central position in that war effort and his family’s influence underpinned Stephen’s promotion to Quarter-Master General of the Continental Army following the British evacuation of Boston in June 1776. John Dickson had recommended him to Washington due to his enviable knowledge and experience of international shipping routes.
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Yet, after the disastrous Battle of Brooklyn, where a considerable number of wagons and supplies were burnt or seized by British and Hessian troops, Moylan’s war was all but over. The Cork man was advised to quietly resign his position and return to Washington’s staff as an aide-de-camp following the retirement of Col. Joseph Reed due to ill health. Later, a falling out with a Polish commander brought about a court martial.
However, in early 1777, Congress approved the formation of four regiments of horse soldiers to complement the infantry and artillery. By now a commissioned colonel, Moylan commanded the 4th Regiment of Continental Light Dragoons. ‘Moylan’s Dragoons’ as they came to be known, served with distinction during the Battles of Brandywine and Germantown in 1777, the Battle of Monmouth in the summer of 1778, and the Siege of Yorktown in 1781. With such regimental success, following the Treaty of Paris in 1783, Moylan eventually retired in the brevet rank of brigadier-general, an honour he held for the rest of his life.
Despite his distinguished war service, Moylan’s legacy is still causing controversy. We can never be sure if he was truly the first to utter the ‘United States’ and there is always the possibility that more evidence will emerge. But what we can be sure of is that a Cork man will often be found at the heart of the storm if there is a cause to fight, an impassioned argument to be won or a wrong to be righted.
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Victoria Anne Pearson is a PhD candidate in the School of History at Ulster University
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
