Held annually by the Irish American Unity Conference, Peter Kissell organized an annual commemoration of Robert Emmet, with DC AOH in support, at the Robert Emmet Statue that sits near the residence of the Irish Ambassador in Washington D.C. Robert Emmet was an Irish Freedom fighter, who was unsuccessful with overthrowing the British Crown, and was executed by the British at the age of 25 in the year of 1803. It was a beautiful day to join the DC AOH, and LAOH, and to meet and hear from the new Irish Ambassador, Geraldine Byrne Nason. Emmet’s patriotism and sacrifice inspired later rebellions and key figures such as Patrick Pearse, and even President Abraham Lincoln. After hours of standing with no food, he delivered a speech from the docks with excerpts below:
“I have but one request to ask at my departure from this world; it is-THE CHARITY OF ITS SILENCE. Let no man write my epitaph; for as no man who knows my motives dare now vindicate them, let not prejudice or ignorance asperse them. Let them and me rest in obscurity and peace, and my name remain uninscribed, until other times and other men can do justice to my character. When my country takes her place among the nations of the earth, then, and not till then, let my epitaph be written.”
