Cork man who gave the ‘United States’ its name featured in TG4 documentary

The Cork-born American patriot who gave his adoptive country its name features in a TG4 documentary series marking the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution.

In Réabhlóid Mheiriceá: Na Laochra, Cormac Ó hEadhra explores the Irish men and women who helped win that war, one of whom was born on Blarney St in 1737.

Stephen Moylan was the son of a Catholic merchant from Shandon.

His older brother, Francis, became Bishop of Cork, and his other brother, John, also served in the Revolutionary War.

Stephen moved to Philadelphia in 1768, where he founded the Friendly Sons of St Patrick, and in 1775 he joined the Continental Army, becoming a general under George Washington.

Moylan was the first person to write the words, ‘the United States of America’, in a letter dated January 2, 1776.

• ‘Réabhlóid Mheiriceá: Na Laochra Gael’ will air on TG4 at 9.30pm on Wednesday, July 1.