In many households St. Patrick’s day comes and goes without hardly a nod. In our home it is a different story as our daughter, Autumn Rhodes, is a professional Irish musician in San Fransisco. So the days and weeks leading up to St Paddy’s are hard work for her, the day may start playing music at at a school 8:30am, till early morning the next day at a pub– all to entertain the Irish in us, if only one day a year. With many, the celebration is not complete without having a meal with corned beef, and washing down green beer, or a few pints of Guinness.
Thus when I read of a St. Patrick’s day celebration where Autumn’s and my ancestors were stationed during the American Revolution, I felt inclined to write about it. The ancestors were Richard Breeden and his wife Frances Chiles, (http://carl.rhodesfamily.org/getperson.php?personID=I142&tree=carls), both were veterans of the war, serving in Gen. George Rogers Clark’s Illinois Regiment in what is now Kentucky. From about March 1780, they where stationed at a remote stockade called Fort Jefferson. It was located at the mouth of the Ohio, where it meets the Mississippi River in present day Hardin County, Kentucky. This was the farthest western reach of the American colonies. They were under continual attacks by the Chickasaw Indians during the summer of 1780, led by Indian representatives of the British. Due to the relentless Indian attacks, in July 1781 the fort was evacuated.
Although, life at the fort was dangerous and stressful, like today they took time out to celebrate St. Patrick’s day, as recorded on March 17, 1781: Much drinking to St. Patrick’s health. Then on the following day: Drinking to the health of St. Patrick’s wife.

From the book: The Person of George Rogers Clark’s Fort Jefferson and the Civilian Community of Clarksville [Kentucky], Based on the Lost Vouchers of George Rogers Clark, Edited and Compiled by Kenneth Charles Carstens