In this book, Dr. O'Brien extends his thesis, begun in A Hidden Phase of American History, that numerous Irishmen participated in the American Revolution, by demonstrating that the Irish were represented in the American colonies from the beginning of the colonial period. The author has combed through passenger lists, tax lists, marriage records, church records, and military records, as well as secondary sources such as James Savage's Genealogical Dictionary of New England, to unearth a plethora of references to persons of Irish birth or descent among the colonists of New England. Thus in one instance the author has located Cormac Annis from Enniskillen, Ireland in Newbury, Massachusetts in 1666 in another it is Charles McCarthy, one of the founders of East Greenwich, Rhode Island and in still another we find two Irishmen named Bryan prospering as merchants in Connecticut in the 17th century. Here is a list of Irish soldiers who took part in King William's War there is a list of Irish s