The great irony in the above of course, is that the first parade was likely populated almost exclusively by the Protestant Scots Irish militiamen, serving the British crown in the conquest of North America.

You don't hear much about that fact anywhere nowadays. Too controversial, what with the war in the north still threatening to erupt each summer, and the militarist bent of many Irish Americans nowadays. 9/11 in NYC sadly brought that Irish American militarism to the forefront of the "New American Patriotism" movement.