NOTE: Enjoy this excerpt from The American Daily Reader, by CatholicVote president Brian Burch and Emily Stimpson Chapman. To order the complete volume, visit the CatholicVote store today!
Stephen Moylan had only lived in America for seven years when the American Revolution began, but that was long enough for him to catch independence fever.
The son of a wealthy Irish shipping merchant, Moylan studied with the Jesuits in Paris, then lived for a short while in Lisbon before coming to Philadelphia to open a branch of the family business.
Soon after his 1768 arrival, Moylan recognized the advantages of independence for his shipping interests. More fundamentally, as an Irishmen, he delighted in the prospect of the British losing their colonial “crown jewel.”
Accordingly, in the years leading up to the Revolution, Moylan helped found the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, a fraternal organization of Protestant and Catholic Irishmen in Philadelphia, which eventually supplied one-third of the initial capital for the Bank of the United States. The Bank, in turn, funded the Continental Army.
Not content to simply finance the war, Moylan enlisted as soon as fighting began. Assigned to General Washington’s personal staff, he first held the post of muster-master general, then aide-de-camp, and finally, as of June 5, 1776, quartermaster general.
The following January, Washington asked Moylan to organize and command a regiment of light dragoons. Although Washington intended the regiment to be an elite cavalry force, there was nothing elite (or even forceful) about Moylan’s dragoons in the beginning. Fighting in stolen British red coats, the men chafed at discipline and caused confusion in battle. But after more than a year of training and practice, the men finally evolved into an effective fighting force. Now sporting green coats, the regiment was known as “Moylan’s Horse.”
After the winter at Valley Forge, Moylan assumed command of the entire Continental cavalry and became the highest-ranking Catholic officer in Washington’s army. He commanded his troops in battle with distinction until 1781, when ill health forced him to return to Philadelphia.
After the war, Moylan received the title of brigadier general, but his military days were over. He spent the next three decades as a private citizen and merchant, dying in 1811 in Philadelphia.
