George Washington and the Irish: Incredible Stories of the Irish Spies, Soldiers, and Workers Who Helped Free America

by Niall O'Dowd

Discover the untold story of the vital role the Irish played in the American Revolution.George Washington changed the world and saved democracy by defeating the British during the American War of Independence. The Irish role in the American Revolution, the war for the ages, has never been correctly reported. Because many of the Irish who fought were poor and illiterate and left no memoirs, their stories and role have never been told. Until now. The Irish played a huge role in the American Revolution, not just on the battlefield but also in the field hospitals and in the framing of the Declaration of Independence. Learn the story of the famous spy Hercules Mulligan, who saved George Washington’s life on two occasions and who was famously portrayed by Okieriete Onaodowan in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s smash hit Hamilton. Discover the story of Edward Hoban, a carpenter from Ireland who Washington tasked with building the most famous residence in the the White House.Niall O’Dowd, author of Lincoln and the Irish and A New Ireland, takes readers on a journey into the unexplored contributions of the Irish in the American Revolution and behind the scenes of the relationships of some of those men and women with the first president of the United States. These unsung heroes of the American Revolution have never gotten their due, never had their story told, until now, in George Washington and the Irish. 

Genres: Nonfiction, American History

257 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 1, 2022

About the author

Niall O’Dowd is founder and editor of The Irish Voice newspaper and Irish America magazine and creator of irishcentral.com , the global Irish portal site launched in March 2009. He is also the author of Fire in the Morning, a book on the Irish in the World Trade Centre on 9/11. He is a frequent analyst on Irish-American affairs for CNN, for RTE and other radio and TV networks. Born in Tipperary and raised in Drogheda, he is based in New York

Reviews

[Vee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read as an audiobook, narrated by John Keating.

A good book, with an interesting premise, highlighting some lesser known stories of the Irish of the American Revolution--who often go unwritten about. The narrator was excellent for a nonfiction book--clear-spoken with just the right amount of inflection, without dramatization.

The book was well-written and covered some interesting stories I will certainly be digging deeper into. However, I could only give it 3 stars because there were also some aspects of the book that made me 1. think it may be better in some cases as a paper book (no matter how great the narrator), and 2. think it's best to use it as a jumping off point for research, for ideas, rather than as a source.

The segmented presentation of the book led to there being several repetitions of some bits of information; in some cases I wondered if maybe there were sidebars in the book that didn't necessarily translate well to an audiobook format.

Especially in regard to Washington, the writing and descriptions were not always as objective as I like my history books to be--not quite as noticeable as 19th century works, but it did cloud the credibility of the presentation of facts. Along these same lines, some of the sources chosen and the way they were cited brought to question the level of scholarship of the text.

For my own personal tastes, I was a little disappointed that the focus of the book tended to be more on Washington than on the Irish, since there are so many works on Washington but it's hard to find books about the Irish in the American Revolution.

None of these were enough for me to disregard the book, though, and it was certainly interesting enough for me to recommend to any interested in Irish and Irish-American history, or in learning some of the less-covered stories of the American Revolution.

[Jayne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I learned about some lesser known characters in the early American story. The writing was less than spectacular, but I appreciated the Who’s Who quality of some individuals who contributed to revolutionary history. I proceeded to run into a few of them as I traversed the Smithsonian galleries— and that was pretty cool.

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short chapters, easy to read, certainly not as detailed as the book "How the Irish won the American Revolution" by Phillip Thomas Tucker" which I had read first, but very interesting and informative.

[Glen McGlothin · Rating 5 out of 5]

For me this was a fun little jaunt through some of the many people of Irish heritage that were involved in the American revolution. Often short, sweet and to the point this gives the reader a nice snapshot of the war

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

O'Dowd provides a summary of a number of Irish who interacted with Washington directly or indirectly. However, the text lacks footnotes and relies on rather broad generalizations in many cases.

[Jon · Rating 1 out of 5]

A truly awful book—poorly written while consistently trying to whitewash enslavers.