250 Years Ago, an Irish Immigrant Named the ‘United States of America’

On this day, exactly two and a half centuries ago, an Irish immigrant who had become one of Gen. George Washington’s trusted aides in the Revolutionary Army was the first person to use the name “United States of America.”

Stephen Moylan played a key role in the American Revolution, but like his fellow Irish Catholic immigrant and George Washington’s favorite aide, John Fitzgerald, Moylan had been almost lost to history in the modern era. That is, he was overlooked until, at the close of the 20th century, a letter of his from Jan. 2, 1776, came to light that proved to be the earliest known use of our country’s full name. Now, Moylan is referred to as the man who named the United States of America.

250 years ago, Irish-American Stephen Moylan named the United States of America pic.twitter.com/0UABDtSTZx

— Catherine Salgado (@CatSalgado32) January 2, 2026

Moylan served various roles in the Revolutionary military, including muster-master general of the “secret” Navy, Washington's aide-de-camp as a lieutenant colonel (appointed March 1776), quartermaster general, dragoon regiment commander, head of cavalry, and brigadier general. This versatile freedom fighter was among the first to assert full American independence from Great Britain, half a year before the Declaration of Independence was passed. And he had the ear and the sympathies of his commander-in-chief while so doing. While the Continental Congress debated and dithered, Washington and his confidants understood that the path forward was independence and the creation of an entirely new and unique national identity.

On New Year's Day of 1776, George Washington paraded the newly reorganized Continental Army in Charlestown, which is now Somerville, Mass., according to the New England Historical Society. He raised the Grand Union Flag up on Prospect Hill before his soldiers. While the flag would still see some reworking — it had the crosses of England and Scotland beside the 13 stripes instead of the stars — it was the first distinctly American flag. Some historical experts refer to that flag-raising as the first Declaration of Independence. Washington was telling his men they were not just fighting for rights granted by an overseas monarch to his colonists; they were fighting for God-given rights in a new nation.

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The very next day, Moylan crystalized that attitude in a letter where he boldly referred to the 13 colonies as the United States of America. The historic epistle was sent to Moylan's friend, Joseph Reed, to discuss the possibility of being an ambassador to Spain, a nation that did in fact end up providing important funding and arms for the American Patriot cause (hence, our currency is the dollar). The New England Historical Society quotes what Moylan wrote to Reed: "I should vastly like to go with full and ample powers from the United States of America to Spain."

No earlier use of the term has been uncovered. The assumption among some is that Washington and his officers were using that term in their private conversations, but if so, the shift had come very quickly. On Christmas Day 1775, a little over a week before, Moylan himself had inscribed a document as being "[o]n the service of the United Colonies." By Jan. 2 of the new year, Moylan was confidently referring to the United States of America.

We may never know for certain if Moylan originated the term himself or if he was the first officer to use it in an official context. But for his early vision of a new nation, his dedication to liberty, and his frankness in proclaiming the USA's birth, Stephen Moylan deserves to be honored. May the nation he named be even more free, more just, and more prosperous in the next 250 years than it was in the first 250.

Patrick K. O’Donnell’s book The Indispensables was a source for this article.

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