Captain Barry Appointed to Superintend the Building of the "America," Frigate—Given Command of the "Alliance" as Successor of Landais, the Frenchman—The Discovery of Arnold's Treason—"Whom can we trust now?"—The Answer to Arnold.

The Continental 74 to which Captain Barry was sent immediately on his arrival at Philadelphia in the "Delaware" was the frigate "America," then building at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. To this command he was appointed on November 6, 1779, by the Marine Committee of Congress, which that day notified the Navy Board at Boston that Captain Barry on his way to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where he goes to hasten the building and fitting out of the new ship on the stocks at that place, would present the notification desiring the Committee to "push forward with all possible expedition" the work Captain Barry had been entrusted with. Barry's orders were "to hasten as much as may be in your power the completing of that ship, which we are desirous of having done with all despatch."

On November 20th, as desired by Captain Barry, Captain George Jerry Osborne was appointed to command the marines of the ship, but as it would be "a considerable time before there is occasion to raise the men," he was appointed "on the principle of his being useful in doing matters relative to the ship until that time." How long Captain Barry continued to superintend the building of the new Continental ship—later named the "America," does not appear, but on June 1, 1780, there is record in the Pennsylvania Archives [Vol. I, 5th Series] that Captain John Barry became the commander of the Pennsylvania privateer, the "American," of 14 guns and 70 men. Possibly the work of directing the construction of a vessel was not congenial to the active spirit of one who was at his best amid the more earnest exertions required by a life at sea, seeking the destruction or capture of the armed vessels of the enemy. So again he became a privateersman in the service of his State. He so served three months.

On June 26, 1781, Captain John Paul Jones was appointed, in succession to Barry, to superintend the construction of the "America," while Barry was doing service at sea in command of the "Alliance." The expense of launching and equipping the "America" was paid from the shares of the United States "in the prizes taken by Captain Barry" in the first cruise of the "Alliance" under his command. The Board of Admiralty were directed to assign these shares to Robert Morris by Resolution of Congress, June 3, 1781. The "America" when launched in November, 1781, was presented to France to replace the "Magnifique," wrecked in Boston Harbor.

The Continental Marine Committee, knowing well Barry's worth, on September 5, 1780, appointed him "to the command of the Continental frigate 'Alliance' now in the port of Boston." He was "directed to repair there as soon as possible to get the ship ready for sea with all possible despatch." The "Alliance" was the largest and finest vessel of the Continental Navy.

Thus we see again that the best available position was always given to Captain Barry. The first armed cruiser under direct Continental authority—the "Lexington"—was given him, then the "Effingham," of 32 guns, the largest armament of any vessel, was assigned him, and he was made Senior Commander of the Port of Philadelphia. On its destruction by the British, while he was operating in the lower Delaware, he was appointed to the "Raleigh." On its loss, for which Captain Barry suffered no detriment, he was made commander of the projected expedition to Florida. When that enterprise was abandoned he was given command of a fleet of the Navy of Pennsylvania. At the termination of the cruise the appointment to construct the best vessel the country had projected was given him. Then he was commissioned to the "Alliance," the best and finest vessel the United Colonies ever possessed. In that he remained as commander while the war continued, and at its close he was Commodore of all armed vessels remaining in the service of the Colonies, just as Washington was Commander-in-Chief of all the forces, military and naval, at the end of the war. As commander of the fleet, Barry was second to Washington.

The "Alliance," which Captain Barry took charge of in September, 1780, was so named in honor of the alliance with France. As a further compliment to the French, Captain Pierre Landais, a Frenchman, had been appointed Captain. He was relieved of the command and Captain Barry succeeded him. These were the only commanders the "Alliance" ever had—Landais the Frenchman and Barry the Irishman. Landais is buried in St. Patrick's cemetery, New York; Barry in St. Mary's, Philadelphia. One in faith and one in endeavor for our country.

The "Alliance" was the only American vessel in the expedition sent out by King Louis XVI, under John Paul Jones, which resulted in the ever memorable encounter with, and capture of, the "Serapis" by the "Bonne Homme Richard," commanded by Captain John Paul Jones. During the battle the "Alliance" twice fired into Jones' vessel and did damage. For this, on arrival in France, he was called on to make explanations and John Paul Jones, as Commodore of all American vessels in Europe, was appointed by Commissioner Benjamin Franklin, on June 16, 1780, to take "command of the 'Alliance' in her present intended voyage to America." But Silas Deane supported Landais, who ordered Jones off the vessel and set sail for America. On the voyage, his mental faculties becoming more erratic, the officers took the command from him and entrusted it to Lieutenant James Degges.

On arrival at Boston, Captain Barry was appointed to the command and the Courts of Inquiry and Courts-Martial tried Landais and dismissed him from the service. He died in New York in 1818 and is buried in St. Patrick's graveyard.

Captain Barry now commanded "the most perfect piece of naval architecture" than which the navies of France or England had none more complete. Landais and Barry were the only duly commissioned and regularly appointed by Continental authority commanders of the "Alliance," who at sea, on voyage or in battle ever directed her operations, yet a block of timber of the "Alliance" exhibited in the Revolutionary Relic Museum at Independence Hall is inscribed: "Commanded by John Paul Jones during the Revolutionary War."

There is no mention of its chief commander, John Barry, and that ignoring of his right to recognition is within sight of his statue erected by The Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, of Philadelphia, March 16, 1907. Let that Society now secure the Commodore's right to the command his country gave him.

The appointment of Captain Barry had special significance at the time it was made—after the discovery of the treason of Benedict Arnold. He had issued on October 7, 1780, an "Address to the Soldiers of the American Army," in which he declared he thought "it infinitely wiser and safer to cast his confidence upon Great Britain's justice and generosity than to trust a monarchy too feeble to establish your Independence, so perilous to her distant dominions and the enemy of the Protestant faith."

Washington, in almost faint-hearted despair on the discovery of Arnold's treachery, had asked: "Whom can we trust now?" Was the answer to Washington and Arnold that made by the Marine Committee of the Continental Congress by the appointment of Captain John Barry to the largest, finest and best American war-vessel named in honor of an alliance with France, the alleged "enemy of the Protestant faith," as Arnold had declared?

Was that the answer to Arnold by the Congress whom he had denounced "as mean and profligate" and "praying a soul out of purgatory," because the members had attended the Requiem service in St. Mary's Church, Philadelphia, in behalf of the soul of Don Juan de Miralles, the Spanish Agent to the Congress, and in the very church which Captain Barry attended when in Philadelphia.

The Irish-born Catholic, John Barry, could be trusted with the very best when the native-born Protestant, Arnold, had betrayed the country for pelf and position among the oppressors of the native land of John Barry and the native land of the infamous Benedict Arnold.

What more could the adopted land of John Barry do for one who had been so faithful and so helpful from the first day of opportunity to serve her? It will erect a monument at the Capital of the Nation for America as Ireland's Sons of St. Patrick have erected one at Independence Hall. His new country had given him the first, and at all times the best, she had to bestow, as his native land had given to America. Place of birth nor creed of faith made no disparagement of such superior worth as John Barry possessed.

The Congress that had, to the people of Great Britain, denounced Barry's religion as "one fraught with impiety, bloodshed, rapine and murder in every part of the globe," had given to the Irish-born Catholic who gave the best he possessed in talent, ability and service to the cause of America, had also given him the first of her war vessels, continued to give him the best she, too, possessed and, finally, while the native-born traitor almost paralyzed the hearts of the patriots, gave to the foreign-born and staunch Catholic, the foremost vessel in her navy, one "so swift, so warlike, stout and strong," as to be the admiration of Europe's most expert naval commanders, while America had dismissed from her service, as incompetent, the native-born Esek Hopkins, the first Commander-in-Chief of the Navy of the Colony. It is somewhat singular, therefore, that the foremost naval commanders of the Navy during the Revolutionary War were John Barry, of Ireland, and John Paul Jones, of Scotland—"foreigners," as John Adams spoke of both in 1813.

The lines of the Poet of the Revolution, Philip Freneau, may most appropriately be inserted here, to show the regard in which the vessel was held while John Barry was its commander:

"When she unfurls her flowing sails,
Undaunted by the fiercest gales,
In dreadful pomp she plows the main,
While adverse tempests rage in vain.
When she displays her gloomy tier,
The boldest Britons freeze with fear,
And, owning her superior might,
Seek their best safety in their flight.
But when she pours the dreadful blaze
And thunder from her cannon plays,
The bursting flash that wings the ball,
Compels those foes to strike or fall."

"She was in many engagements and always victorious—a fortunate ship—a remarkably fast sailer—could always choose her combat—could either fight or run away—always beating her adversary by fight or flight," Philadelphia's annalist, Watson, made that record of her.

Such was the vessel commanded by Captain John Barry, the Wexford boy, in the closing and eventful year of the Revolution, which established our country's Independence and Liberty, to become the home of countless thousands of all lands who might enjoy the Liberties John Barry had so conspicuously aided in winning.