Tribute to man who named the U.S.

No one really knows who came up with the name “United States of America,” but the latest discovery points to an Irishman. Not just any Irishman, mind you, but a passionate immigrant and Revolutionary War figure.

Before late last year, historians had credited a list of famous names with the term (along with “united colonies”) around the time of the Continental Congress, including the two Thomases — Jefferson and Paine — Elbridge Gerry, and John Dickinson. Letters from George Washington showed earliest use in summer 1776. That record held fast, until getting steamrolled by Byron DeLear’s 2012 report in the Pulitzer Prize-winning Christian Science Monitor that “united states of America” [sic] plainly appears in an anonymous, pro-Independence essay published in the Virginia Gazette of April 6, 1776.

So did “anonymous” name this country? Nope. A letter from one Stephen Moylan of County Cork, Ireland, to General Joseph Reed on Jan. 2, 1776, beats all. So far.

Ironically — and true to reporter ideals — it was De Lear who trumped his own story by bringing the letter to the attention of the New York Historical Society, which has a collection of such letters. Described by their reference librarian in November 2014, it reads, “I should like vastly to go with full and ample powers from the United States of America to Spain (to seek foreign assistance).”

There it is, plain as the day is long. The same letter appeared in Moylan’s 1909 biography, but it took a century to get noticed. Moylan hasn’t been much on the American radar.

He was acting secretary to George Washington when he penned it at the Continental Army’s Massachusetts headquarters. Moylan had the personality and contacts to corral that Spanish assistance; before arriving in Philadelphia in 1768 he ran the family shipping business in Lisbon. The U.S. Army Quartermaster Foundation describes his “jovial nature” which “won him many friends.”

Born in 1737 to a well-to-do family in what is now the Republic of Ireland, Moylan was a Catholic. Catholics were persecuted and forbidden an education by the ruling English, so he had to be smuggled off to France to get one. Perhaps that’s what made him such a “hothead for independence” from England, driving him to join the American Revolution. Despite some scuffles and a court martial acquittal, he rose quickly, becoming both muster-master (keeping account of troops) and quartermaster (quarters and supplies) -general, then cavalry colonel and secretary. After the war, Washington appointed him Commissioner of Loans in Philadelphia in 1793, a post he held until his death at age 74.

He’s the namesake of Moylan, Pa.

Sholeh Patrick is a columnist for the Hagadone News Network. Contact her at Sholeh@cdapress.com.