PUBLIC LAW 102-369 —SEPT. 24, 1992 106 STAT. 1163 Public Law 102-369 102d Congress Joint Resolution To designate September 13, 1992, as "Commodore John Barry Day". Whereas John Barry, an immigrant from County Wexford, Ireland, volunteered his services to the Continental Navy and was commissioned as captain on October 10, 1775; Whereas during the War for Independence Captain John Barry achieved the first victory for the Continental Navy while in command of the ship "Lexington" by capturing the British ship "Edward", organized General George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River which led to the victory at Trenton in 1776, transported gold from France to America while in command of the ship "Alliance", and achieved the last victory of the war for the Continental Navy while in command of "Alliance" by defeating the British ship HMS Sybille; Whereas during the War for Independence Captain John Barry rejected British General Lord Howe's offer to desert the Continental Navy and join the British Navy, stating: "Not the value and command of the whole British fleet can lure me from the cause of my country."; Whereas after the War for Independence the United States Congress recognized John Barry as the premier American naval hero of that war; Whereas in 1787 Captain John Barry organized the compulsory attendance of members of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, thus ensuring the quorum necessary to adopt the Constitution and recommend it to the States for ratification; Whereas on June 14, 1794, pursuant to "Commission No. 1", President Washington commissioned John Barry as commodore in the new United States Navy; Whereas Commodore John Barry helped to build and lead the new United States Navy which included his command of the U.S.S. United States and U.S.S. Constitution ("Old Ironsides"); Whereas Commodore John Barry is recognized along with General Stephen Moylan in the Statue of Liberty Museum as 1 of 6 foreign-born great leaders of the War for Independence; Whereas in 1991 President George Bush proclaimed September 13th, the date of John Barry's birth, as "Commodore John Barry Day"; and Whereas designating a day to commemorate Commodore John Barry would be important to United States Navy veterans, Irish-Americans, and to all the people of the United States: Now, therefore, be it Sept. 24, 1992 [H.J. Res. 413]
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