George Cummins (1768/1770 – 1830), also spelt George Cummings, was a

Scotch-Irish American Scotch-Irish (or Scots-Irish) Americans are American descendants of Ulster Protestants who emigrated from Ulster in northern Ireland to America during the 18th and 19th centuries, whose ancestors had originally migrated to Ireland mainly from t ...

, active in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

in the revolutionary

Society of United Irishmen The Society of United Irishmen was a sworn association in the Kingdom of Ireland formed in the wake of the French Revolution to secure "an equal representation of all the people" in a national government. Despairing of constitutional reform, ...

and following his return to the United States after the Irish Rebellion of 1798, in the politics of the

Democratic-Republican Party The Democratic-Republican Party, known at the time as the Republican Party and also referred to as the Jeffersonian Republican Party among other names, was an American political party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the early ...

Life

Cummins was born in

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

in either 1768 or 1770 to a wealthy Scotch-Irish American landowning family who had emigrated to America in the early 1700s. With ties across the Atlantic, his family owned lands in Ireland as well as America. When he was about 22 years old, he inherited land in

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to the ...

, Ireland, and moved there permanently. As an aspiring apothecary, he attended medical college in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

& studied to become a doctor. After graduating he removed to Kildare to practice his apothecary trade.

The United Irishmen

Inspired by American independence and by

Thomas Paine Thomas Paine (born Thomas Pain; – In the contemporary record as noted by Conway, Paine's birth date is given as January 29, 1736–37. Common practice was to use a dash or a slash to separate the old-style year from the new-style year. In th ...

's defence of the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

, ''

The Rights of Man ''Rights of Man'' (1791), a book by Thomas Paine, including 31 articles, posits that popular political revolution is permissible when a government does not safeguard the natural rights of its people. Using these points as a base it defends the ...

,'' the

was founded in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

and

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

in 1791 by liberal Presbyterians ("Dissenters") and Anglicans ("Protestants") committed to work with Ireland's Catholic majority to secure a representative parliament in Dublin. Founding members included members included

Wolfe Tone Theobald Wolfe Tone, posthumously known as Wolfe Tone ( ga, Bhulbh Teón; 20 June 176319 November 1798), was a leading Irish revolutionary figure and one of the founding members in Belfast and Dublin of the United Irishmen, a republican socie ...

Samuel Neilson Samuel Neilson (17 September 1761 – 29 August 1803) was an Irish businessman, journalist and politician. He was a founding member of the Society of United Irishmen and the founder of its newspaper, the Northern Star (newspaper of the Society of ...

and William Drennan. In the mid-1790s Lord Edward Fitzgerald resettled close to Kildare town. Fitzgerald, a veteran of the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, was not yet a member of the United men, but his home quickly became a hotbed of local radical opinion. His sister Lucy wrote that Cummins, as well as national organisers like Fitzgerald’s close friend Arthur O’Connor, became regular visitors. When the government, at war with the new

French Republic France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, refused further reform, Fitzgerald and the United leadership began organising for an insurrection. In spring 1798 Lord Edward, by then the Society's Secretary was on the run and nominated Cummins to be his replacement while he was in hiding.

1798 rebellion and the United States

In March 1798, Cummins went to Dublin for a meeting with the other senior members of the Society's Leinster Directory. At the house of

Oliver Bond Oliver may refer to: Arts, entertainment and literature Books * ''Oliver the Western Engine'', volume 24 in ''The Railway Series'' by Rev. W. Awdry * '' Oliver Twist'', a novel by Charles Dickens Fictional characters * Ariadne Oliver ...

, he and the other leaders, including

Peter Ivers Peter Scott Ivers (born Peter Scott Rose, September 20, 1946 – March 3, 1983) was an American musician, singer, songwriter, and television personality. He was the host of the experimental music television show '' New Wave Theatre''. Despite Iv ...

debated the impending insurrection and the potential for French assistance. However, one of the attendees, Thomas Reynolds, was a government informant and alerted the authorities to the meeting. Major Sirr, the man who would apprehend Lord Edward two months later entered the house and placed them all, apart from Reynolds, under arrest. This crippled the organisation. Many of its leaders, such as Russell and Emmet were already in prison, while others like Tone and Arthur O'Connor were in Europe. Nonetheless, in May, the uprising finally began. Cummins was replaced as Kildare leader by

Michael Reynolds Mick, Mike or Michael Reynolds may refer to: Actors *Mike Reynolds (actor) (1929–2022), American voice actor and writer *Michael Reynolds, British actor in one episode of BBC's ''David Copperfield'' (1966) and ''The First Churchills'' (1969) * Mi ...

. Beginning in Kildare, the rebellion spread to other counties in Leinster before finally consuming Ulster. Ultimately, the rising failed with enormous bloodshed. Cummins's trial was held in Dublin. Thomas Reynolds gave evidence against him and the other men arrested at Bond's. Convicted of treason, he was held for two years at Fort George in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

with 19 other rebels before being released in 1800. In 1802, he emigrated from Newry, County Down, to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

where he settled in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

with his family. There, he joined a cadre of former United Men such as William James MacNeven and Thomas Addis Emmet. He was an active member of the United Irish Society in Brooklyn and was active in their functions, giving an oration to them in 1810. Immersing himself in the politics of his birth country, he became an active member of the fledgling

Democratic-Republican party The Democratic-Republican Party, known at the time as the Republican Party and also referred to as the Jeffersonian Republican Party among other names, was an American political party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the early ...

in New York. He supported

James Madison James Madison Jr. (March 16, 1751June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Father. He served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison is hailed as the "Father of the Constitution" for hi ...

in the 1812 Presidential Election as he couldn't countenance

DeWitt Clinton DeWitt Clinton (March 2, 1769February 11, 1828) was an American politician and naturalist. He served as a United States senator, as the mayor of New York City, and as the seventh governor of New York. In this last capacity, he was largely res ...

's Federalist leanings.Miller 2003, p. 635. He practised as a Manhattan physician until his death and served as New York City Health Inspector during this time. He died there in 1833, and he and Emmet are buried in

St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery is a parish of the Episcopal Church located at 131 East 10th Street, at the intersection of Stuyvesant Street and Second Avenue in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. The property has been ...

Notes

References

* Sowler & Russell 1799, 'An Impartial History of the War, from the Commencement of the Revolution in France. Containing an accurate description of the sea engagements ... battles ... Including an account of the general mutiny ... at Spithead and the Nore. Together with a ... narrative of ... the rebellion in Ireland'. * Kerby A. Miller 2003, 'Irish Immigrants in the Land of Canaan : Letters and Memoirs from Colonial and Revolutionary America, 1675-1815: Letters and Memoirs from Colonial and Revolutionary America, 1675-1815', Oxford University Press. {{DEFAULTSORT:Cummins, George 1770 births 1830 deaths United Irishmen Irish Presbyterians People from North Carolina American people of Scottish descent