HE FOUGHT OFTEN AND BLED IN THE CAUSE OF FREEDOM, BUT HIS DEEDS OF VALOR DID NOT DIMINISH IN HIM THE VIRTUES WHICH ADORN HIS PRIVATE LIFE.
HE WAS EMINENTLY GENTLE, KIND, JUST AND CHARITABLE AND NO LESS BELOVED BY HIS FAMILY AND FRIENDS THAN BY HIS GRATEFUL COUNTRY.
FIRM IN THE FAITH AND PRACTICES OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, HE DEPARTED THIS LIFE ON THE 13TH DAY OF SEPTEMBER IN THE 59TH YEAR OF HIS AGE.
IN GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE, A FEW OF HIS COUNTRYMEN, MEMBERS OF ST. MARY'S CHURCH AND OTHERS HAVE CONTRIBUTED TOWARDS THIS SECOND MONUMENT, ERECTED JULY 1ST, 1876.
[Illustration: STATUE OF COMMODORE BARRY, FAIRMOUNT PARK, PHILADELPHIA]
In the Centennial year, 1876, the Catholic Total Abstinence Union of America erected in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, at the foot of George's Hill, a fountain costing $55,000. One of its five statues of heroic size is that of Commodore John Barry. The sides of the base contain inscriptions as follows:
JOHN BARRY, FIRST COMMODORE OF THE UNITED STATES NAVY. BORN IN 1745 IN WEXFORD COUNTY, IRELAND. DIED SEPTEMBER 13TH, 1803, AT PHILADELPHIA.
DURING THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR HE DISTINGUISHED HIMSELF GREATLY. HE FILLED THE VARIOUS COMMANDS ENTRUSTED TO HIM WITH SKILL AND GALLANTRY. WHEN UNABLE TO FIGHT ON THE OCEAN HE OBTAINED COMMAND OF A COMPANY OF VOLUNTEERS AND FOUGHT AGAINST THE ENEMY ON LAND.
AMONG HIS EXPLOITS WAS THE CAPTURE, UPON MAY 29TH, 1781, OF TWO ENGLISH VESSELS, THE ATALANTA AND TREPASA, AFTER A HOTLY CONTESTED ACTION WITH HIS OWN SHIP, THE ALLIANCE.
IN JANUARY, 1776, HE COMMANDED THE BRIG LEXINGTON, THE FIRST REGULAR CRUISER THAT GOT TO SEA UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS AND THE VESSEL THAT FIRST CARRIED THE AMERICAN FLAG UPON THE OCEAN.
On March 18, 1895, the Hibernian Society for the Relief of Emigrants from Ireland, now the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, presented the City of Philadelphia a copy, by Colon Campbell Cooper, of Gilbert Stuart's portrait of Commodore Barry, to be placed in Independence Hall. Hon. Edwin Stuart, President of the Society and Mayor of the City and now [1908] Governor of Pennsylvania, presided and accepted the portrait on its presentation by General St. Clair Mulholland, who declared Commodore Barry to have been "one of the most illustrious of Ireland's sons, a brilliant child of the wind and waves, a heroic warrior of the sea who never knew defeat, the Father and Founder of the Navy of the United States. The Navy that from the beginning has been the admiration and model of all the nations of the earth."