THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA.
The name Scotland was never applied to that country, now so designated,
before the tenth century, but was called Alban, Albania, Albion. At an
early period Ireland was called Scotia, which name was exclusively so
applied before the tenth century. Scotia was then a territorial or
geographical term, while Scotus was a race name or generic term,
implying people as well as country. "The generic term of _Scoti_
embraced the people of that race whether inhabiting Ireland or Britain.
As this term of Scotia was a geographical term derived from the generic
name of a people, it was to some extent a fluctuating name, and though
applied at first to Ireland, which possessed the more distinctive name
of Hibernia, as the principal seat of the race from whom the name was
derived, it is obvious that, if the people from whom the name was taken
inhabited other countries, the name itself would have a tendency to pass
from the one to the other, according to the prominence which the
different settlements of the race assumed in the history of the world;
and as the race of the Scots in Britain became more extended, and their
power more formidable, the territorial name would have a tendency to fix
itself where the race had become most conspicuous.... The name in its
Latin form of Scotia, was transferred from Ireland to Scotland in the
reign of Malcolm the Second, who reigned from 1004 to 1034. The 'Pictish
Chronicle,' compiled before 997, knows nothing of the name of Scotia as
applied to North Britain; but Marianus Scotus, who lived from 1028 to
1081, calls Malcolm the Second 'rex _Scotiae_,' and Brian, king of
Ireland, 'rex _Hiberniae_.' The author of the 'Life of St. Cadroe,' in
the eleventh century, likewise applies the name of _Scotia_ to North
Britain."[5]
A strong immigration early set in from the north of Ireland to the
western parts of Scotland. It was under no leadership, but more in the
nature of an overflow, or else partaking of the spirit of adventure.
This was accelerated in the year 503, when a new colony of Dalriadic
Scots, under the leadership of Fergus, son of Eric, left Ireland and
settled on the western coast of Argyle and the adjacent isles. From
Fergus was derived the line of Scoto-Irish kings, who finally, in 843,
ascended the Pictish throne.
The inhabitants of Ireland and the Highlands of Scotland were but
branches of the same Keltic stock, and their language was substantially
the same. There was not only more or less migrations between the two
countries, but also, to a greater or less extent, an impinging between
the people.
Ulster, the northern province of Ireland, is composed of the counties of
Antrim, Armagh, Cavan, Donegal, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry, Monaghan
and Tyrone. Formerly it was the seat of the O'Neills, as well as the
lesser septs of O'Donnell, O'Cahan, O'Doherty, Maguire, MacMahon, etc.
The settlements made by the earlier migrations of the Highlanders were
chiefly on the coast of Antrim. These settlements were connected with
and dependent on the Clandonald of Islay and Kintyre. The founder of
this branch of that powerful family was John Mor, second son of "the
good John of Islay," who, about the year 1400, married Majory Bisset,
heiress of the Glens, in Antrim, and thus acquired a permanent footing.
The family was not only strengthened by settling cadets of its own house
as tenants in the territory of the Glens, but also by intermarriages
with the families of O'Neill, O'Donnell, and others. In extending its
Irish possessions the Clandonald was brought into frequent conflicts and
feuds with the Irish of Ulster. In 1558 the Hebrideans had become so
strong in Ulster that the archbishop of Armagh urged on the government
the advisability of their expulsion by procuring their Irish neighbors,
O'Donnell, O'Neill, O'Cahan, and others, to unite against them. In 1565
the MacDonalds suffered a severe defeat at the hands of Shane O'Neill,
earl of Tyrone. The Scottish islanders still continued to exercise
considerable power. Sorley Buy MacDonald, a man of great courage, soon
extended his influence over the adjacent territories, in so much so that
in 1575-1585, the English were forced to turn their attention to the
progress of the Scots. The latter having been defeated, an agreement
was made in which Sorley Buy was granted four districts. His eldest son,
Sir James MacSorley Buy, or MacDonell of Dunluce, became a strenuous
supporter of the government of James on his accession to the British
throne.
In the meantime other forces were at work. Seeds of discontent had been
sown by both Henry VIII, and his daughter Elizabeth, who tried to force
the people of Ireland to accept the ritual of the Reformed Church. Both
reaped abundant fruit of trouble from this ill-advised policy. Being
inured to war it did not require much fire to be fanned into a flame of
commotion and discord. Soon after his accession to the English throne,
James I caused certain estates of Irish nobles, who had engaged in
treasonable practices, to be escheated to the crown. By this
confiscation James had at his disposal nearly six counties in Ulster,
embracing half a million of acres. These lands were allotted to private
individuals in sections of one thousand, fifteen hundred, and two
thousand acres, each being required to support an adequate number of
English or Scottish tenantry. Protestant colonies were transplanted from
England and Scotland, but chiefly from the latter, with the intent that
the principles of the Reformation should subdue the turbulent natives.
The proclamation inviting settlers for Ulster was dated at Edinburgh,
March 28, 1609. Great care was taken in selecting the emigrants, to
which the king gave his personal attention. Measures were taken that the
settlers should be "from the inward parts of Scotland," and that they
should be so located that "they may not mix nor intermarry" with "the
mere Irish." For the most part the people were received from the shires
of Dumbarton, Renfrew, Ayre, Galloway, and Dumfries. On account of
religious persecutions, in 1665, a large additional accession was
received from Galloway and Ayre. The chief seat of the colonization
scheme was in the county of Londonderry. The new settlers did not mix
with the native population to any appreciable extent, especially prior
to 1741, but mingled freely with the English Puritans and the refugee
Huguenots. The native race was forced sullenly to retire before the
colonists. Although the king had expressly forbidden any more of the
inhabitants of the Western Isles to be taken to Ulster, yet the blood
of the Highlander, to a great degree, permeated that of the Ulsterman,
and had its due weight in forming the character of the Scotch-Irish. The
commotions in the Highlands, during the civil wars, swelled the number
to greater proportions. The rebellions of 1715 and 1745 added a large
percentage to the increasing population. The names of the people are
interesting, both as illustrating their origin, and as showing the
extraordinary corruptions which some have undergone. As an illustration,
the proscribed clan MacGregor, may be cited, which migrated in great
numbers, descendants of whom are still to be found under the names of
Grier, Greer, Gregor, etc., the _Mac_ in general being dropped;
MacKinnon becomes McKenna, McKean, McCannon; Mac Nish is McNeice,
Menees, Munnis, Monies, etc.
The Scotch settlers retained the characteristic traits of their native
stock and continued to call themselves Scotch, although molded somewhat
by surrounding influences. They demanded and exercised the privilege of
choosing their own spiritual advisers, in opposition to all efforts of
the hierarchy of England to make the choice and support the clergy as a
state concern.
From the descendants of these people came the Scotch-Irish emigrants to
America, who were destined to perform an important part on the theatre
of action by organizing a successful revolt and establishing a new
government. Among the early emigrants to the New World, although termed
Scotch-Irish, and belonging to them we have such names as Campbell,
Ferguson, Graham, McFarland, McDonald, McGregor, McIntyre, McKenzie,
McLean, McPherson, Morrison, Robertson, Stewart, etc., all of which are
distinctly Highlander and suggestive of the clans.
On the outbreak of the American Revolution the thirteen colonies
numbered among their inhabitants about eight hundred thousand Scotch and
Scotch-Irish, or a little more than one-fourth of the entire population.
They were among the first to become actively engaged in that struggle,
and so continued until the peace, furnishing fourteen major-generals,
and thirty brigadier generals, among whom may be mentioned St. Clair,
McDougall, Mercer, McIntosh, Wayne, Knox, Montgomery, Sullivan, Stark,
Morgan, Davidson, and others. More than any other one element, unless
the New England Puritans be excepted, they formed a sentiment for
independence, and recruited the continental army. To their valor,
enthusiasm and dogged persistence the victory for liberty was largely
due. Washington pronounced on them a proud encomium when he declared,
during the darkest period of the Revolution, that if his efforts should
fail, then he would erect his standard on the Blue Ridge of Virginia.
Besides warring against the drilled armies of Britain on the sea coast
they formed a protective wall between the settlements and the savages on
the west.
Among the fifty-six signers of the Declaration of Independence, nine
were of this lineage, one of whom, McKean, served continuously in
Congress from its opening in 1774 till its close in 1783, during a part
of which time he was its president, and also serving as chief justice of
Pennsylvania. The chairman of the committee that drafted the
constitution of the United States, Rutledge, was, by ancestry,
Scotch-Irish. When the same instrument was submitted, the three states
first to adopt it were the middle states, or Delaware, Pennsylvania and
New Jersey, so largely settled by the same class of people.
Turning again specifically to the Scotch-Irish emigrants it may be
remarked that they had received in the old country a splendid physique,
having large bones and sound teeth, besides being trained to habits of
industry. The mass of them were men of intelligence, resolution, energy,
religious and moral in character. They were a God-fearing,
liberty-loving, tyrant-hating, Sabbath-keeping, covenant-adhering race,
and schooled by a discipline made fresh and impressive by the heroic
efforts at Derry and Enniskillin. Their women were fine specimens of the
sex, about the medium height, strongly built, with fair complexion,
light blue or grey eyes, ruddy cheeks, and faces indicating a warm
heart, intelligence and courage; and possessing those virtues which
constitute the redeeming qualities of the human race.
These people were martyrs for conscience sake. In 1711 a measure was
carried through the British parliament that provided that all persons in
places of profit or trust, and all common councilmen in corporations,
who, while holding office, were proved to have attended any
Nonconformist place of worship, should forfeit the place, and should
continue incapable of public employment till they should depose that for
a whole year they had not attended a conventicle. A fine of £40 was
added to be paid to the informer. There were other causes which assisted
to help depopulate Ulster, among which was the destruction of the woolen
trade about 1700, when twenty thousand left that province. Many more
were driven away by the Test Act in 1704, and in 1732. On the failure to
repeal that act the protestant emigration recommenced which robbed
Ireland of the bravest defenders of English interests and peopled
America with fresh blood of Puritanism.
The second great wave of emigration from Ulster occurred between 1771
and 1773, growing out of the Antrim evictions. In 1771 the leases on the
estate of the marquis of Donegal, in Antrim, expired. The rents were
placed at such an exorbitant figure that the demands could not be met. A
spirit of resentment to the oppressions of the landed proprietors at
once arose, and extensive emigration to America was the result. In the
two years that followed the Antrim evictions of 1772, thirty thousand
protestants left Ulster for a land where legal robbery could not be
permitted, and where those who sowed the seed could reap the harvest.
From the ports of the North of Ireland one hundred vessels sailed for
the New World, loaded with human beings. It has been computed that in
1773 and during the five preceding years, Ulster, by emigration to the
American settlements, was drained of one-quarter of the trading cash,
and a like proportion of its manufacturing population. This oppressed
people, leaving Ireland in such a temper became a powerful adjunct in
the prosecution of the Revolution which followed so closely on the
wrongs which they had so cruelly suffered.
The advent of the first Scotch-Irish clergyman in America, so far as is
now known, was in 1682, signalled by the arrival of Francis Makemie, the
father of American Presbyterianism. Almost promptly he was landed in
jail in New York, charged with the offense of preaching the gospel in a
private house. Assisted by a Scottish lawyer from Philadelphia (who was
silenced for his courage), he defended the cause of religious liberty
with heroic courage and legal ability, and was ultimately acquitted by a
fearless New York jury. Thus was begun the great struggle for religious
liberty in America. Among those who afterwards followed were George
McNish, from Ulster, in 1705, and John Henry, in 1709.
Early in the spring of 1718, Rev. William Boyd arrived in Boston as an
agent of some hundreds of people who had expressed a desire to come to
New England should suitable encouragement be offered them. With him he
brought a brief memorial to which was attached three hundred and
nineteen names, all but thirteen of which were in a fair and vigorous
hand. Governor Shute gave such general encouragement and promise of
welcome, that on August 4, 1718, five small ships came to anchor at the
wharf in Boston, having on board one hundred and twenty Scotch-Irish
families, numbering in all about seven hundred and fifty individuals. In
years they embraced those from the babe in arms to John Young, who had
seen the frosts of ninety-five winters. Among the clergy who arrived
were James McGregor, Cornwell, and Holmes.
In a measure these people were under the charge of Governor Shute. He
must find homes for them. He dispatched about fifty of these families to
Worcester. That year marked the fifth of its permanent settlement, and
was composed of fifty log-houses, inhabited by two hundred souls. The
new comers appear to have been of the poorer and more illiterate class
of the five ship loads. At first they were welcomed, because needed for
both civic and military reasons. In September of 1722 a township
organization was effected, and at the first annual town meeting, names
of the strangers appear on the list of officers. With these emigrants
was brought the Irish potato, and first planted in the spring of 1719.
When their English neighbors visited them, on their departure they
presented them with a few of the tubers for planting, and the
recipients, unwilling to show any discourtesy, accepted the same, but
suspecting a poisonous quality, carried them to the first swamp and
threw them into the water. The same spring a few potatoes were given to
a Mr. Walker, of Andover, by a family who had wintered with him. He
planted them in the ground, and in due time the family gathered the
"_balls_" which they supposed was the fruit. These were cooked in
various ways, but could not be made palatable. The next spring when
plowing the garden, potatoes of great size were turned up, when the
mistake was discovered. This introduction into New England is the reason
why the now indispensable succulent is called "Irish potato." This
vegetable was first brought from Virginia to Ireland in 1565 by
slave-trader Hawkins, and from there it found its way to New England in
1718, through the Scotch-Irish.
The Worcester Scotch-Irish petitioned to be released from paying taxes
to support the prevalent form of worship, as they desired to support
their own method. Their prayer was contemptuously rejected. Two years
later, or in 1738, owing to their church treatment, a company consisting
of thirty-eight families, settled the new town of Pelham, thirty miles
west of Worcester. The scandalous destruction of their property in
Worcester, in 1740, caused a further exodus which resulted in the
establishing the towns of Warren and Blandford, both being incorporated
in 1741. The Scotch-Irish town of Colerain, located fifty miles
northwest of Worcester was settled in 1739.
Londonderry, New Hampshire, was settled in April, 1719, forming the
second settlement, from the five ships. Most of these pioneers were men
in middle life, robust and persevering. Their first dwellings were of
logs, covered with bark. It must not be thought that these people,
strict in their religious conceptions, were not touched with the common
feelings of ordinary humanity. It is related that when John Morrison was
building his house his wife came to him and in a persuasive manner said,
"Aweel, aweel, dear Joan, an' it maun be a log-house, do make it a log
heegher nor the lave;" (than the rest). The first frame house built was
for their pastor, James McGregor. The first season they felt it
necessary to build two strong stone garrison-houses in order to resist
any attack of the Indians. It is remarkable that in neither Lowell's
war, when Londonderry was strictly a frontier town, nor in either of the
two subsequent French and Indian wars, did any hostile force from the
northward ever approach that town. During the twenty-five years
preceding the revolution, ten distinct towns of influence, in New
Hampshire, were settled by emigrants from Londonderry, besides two in
Vermont and two in Nova Scotia; while families, sometimes singly and
also in groups, went off in all directions, especially along the
Connecticut river and over the ridge of the Green Mountains. To these
brave people, neither the crown nor the colonies appealed in vain. Every
route to Crown Point and Ticonderoga had been tramped by them time and
again. With Colonel Williams they were at the head of Lake George in
1755, and in the battle with Dieskau that followed; they were with Stark
and lord Howe, under Abercrombie, in the terrible defeat at Ticonderoga
in 1758; others toiled with Wolfe on the Heights of Abraham; and in
1777, fought under Stark at Bennington, and against Burgoyne at
Saratoga.
A part of the emigrants intended for New Hampshire settled in Maine, in
what is now Portland, Topsham, Bath and other places. Unfortunately soon
after these settlements were established some of them were broken up by
Indian troubles, and some of the colonists sought refuge with their
countrymen at Londonderry, but the greater part removed to
Pennsylvania,--from 1730 to 1733 about one hundred and fifty families,
principally of Scotch descent. In 1735, Warren, Maine, was settled by
twenty-seven families, some of whom were of recent emigration and others
from the first arrival in Boston in 1718. In 1753 the town received an
addition of sixty adults and many children brought from Scotland.
The Scotch-Irish settlement at Salem in Washington county, New York,
came from Monaghan and Ballibay, Ireland. Under the leadership of their
minister, Rev. Thomas Clark, three hundred sailed from Newry, May 10,
1764, and landed in New York in July following. On September 30, 1765,
Mr. Clark obtained twelve thousand acres of the "Turner Grant," and upon
this land he moved his parishioners, save a few families that had been
induced to go to South Carolina, and some others that remained in
Stillwater, New York. The great body of these settlers took possession
of their lands, which had been previously surveyed into tracts of
eighty-eight acres each, in the year 1767. The previous year had been
devoted to clearing the lands, building houses, etc. Among the early
buildings was a log church, the first religious place of worship erected
between Albany and Canada. March 2, 1774, the legislature erected the
settlement into a township named New Perth. This name remained until
March 7, 1788, when it was changed to Salem.
The Scotch-Irish first settled in Somerset county, New Jersey, early in
the last century, but not at one time but from time to time.
These early settlers repudiated the name of Irish, and took it as an
offense to be so called. They claimed, and truly, to be Scotch. The term
"Scotch-Irish" is quite recent, but has come into general use.
From the three centers, Worcester, Londonderry and Wiscasset, the
Scotch-Irish penetrated and permeated all New England; Maine the most of
all, next New Hampshire, then Massachusetts, and in lessening order,
Vermont, Connecticut and Rhode Island. They were one sort of people,
belonging to the same grade and sphere of life. In worldly goods they
were poor, but the majority could read and write, and if possessed with
but one book that was the Bible, yet greatly esteeming Fox's "Book of
Martyrs" and Bunyon's "Pilgrim's Progress." Whatever their views, they
were held in common.
The three doors that opened to the Scotch-Irish emigrant, in the New
World, were the ports of Boston, Charleston and New Castle, in Delaware,
the great bulk of whom being received at the last named city, where they
did not even stop to rest, but pushed their way to their future homes in
Pennsylvania. No other state received so many of them for permanent
settlers. Those who landed in New York found the denizens there too
submissive to foreign dictation, and so preferred Pennsylvania and
Maryland, where the proprietary governors and the people were in
immediate contact. Francis Machemie had organized the first Presbyterian
church in America along the eastern shore of Maryland and in the
adjoining counties of Virginia.
The wave of Quaker settlements spent its force on the line of the
Conestoga creek, in Lancaster county. The Scotch and Scotch-Irish
arriving in great numbers were permitted to locate beyond that line, and
thus they not only became the pioneers, but long that race so continued
to be. In 1725, so great had been the wave of emigration into
Pennsylvania, that James Logan, a native of Armagh, Ireland, but not
fond of his own countrymen who were not Quakers, declared, "It looks as
if Ireland were to send all her inhabitants hither; if they continue to
come they will make themselves proprietors of the province;" and he
further condemned the bad taste of the people who were forcing
themselves where they were not wanted. The rate of this invasion may be
estimated from the rise in population from twenty thousand, in 1701, to
two hundred and fifty thousand in 1745, which embraced the entire
population of that colony. Between the years 1729 and 1750, there was an
annual arrival of twelve thousand, mostly from Ulster. Among the vessels
that helped to inaugurate this great tide was the good ship "George and
Ann," which set sail from Ireland on May 9th, 1729, and brought over the
McDowells, the Irvines, the Campbells, the O'Neills, the McElroys, the
Mitchells, and their compatriots.
Soon after the emigrants landed at New Castle they found their way along
the branches of various rivers to the several settlements on the western
frontier. The only ones known to have come through New York was the
"Irish settlement" in Allen township, Northampton county, composed
principally of families from Londonderry, New Hampshire, where, owing to
the rigid climate, they could not be induced to remain. It grew but
slowly, and after 1750 most of the descendants passed on towards the
Susquehanna and down the Cumberland.
As early as 1720 a colony was formed on the Neshaminy, in Bucks County,
which finally became one of the greatest landmarks of that race. The
settlements that commenced as early as 1710, at Fagg Manor, at Octorara,
at New London, and at Brandywine Manor, in Chester County, formed the
nucleus for subsequent emigration for a period of forty years, when they
also declined by removals to other sections of the State, and to the
colonies of the South. Prior to 1730 there were large settlements in
the townships of Colerain, Pequea, and Leacock, in Lancaster County.
Just when the pioneers arrived in that region has not been accurately
ascertained, but some of them earlier than 1720. Within a radius of
thirty-five miles of Harrisburgh are the settlements of Donegal,
Paxtang, Derry, and Hanover, founded between 1715 and 1724; from whence
poured another stream on through the Cumberland Valley, across the
Potomac, down through Virginia and into the Carolinas and Georgia. The
valley of the Juniata was occupied in 1749. The settlements in the lower
part of York County date from 1726. From 1760 to 1770 settlements
rapidly sprung up in various places throughout Western Pennsylvania.
Soon after 1767 emigrants settled on the Youghiogheny, the Monongahela
and its tributaries, and in the years 1770 and 1771, Washington County
was colonized. Soon after the wave of population extended to the Ohio
River. From this time forward Western Pennsylvania was characteristically
Scotch-Irish.
These hardy sons were foremost in the French and Indian Wars. The
Revolutionary struggle caused them to turn their attention to
statesmanship and combat,--every one of whom was loyal to the cause of
independence. The patriot army had its full share of Scotch-Irish
representation. That thunderbolt of war, Anthony Wayne,[6] hailed from
the County of Chester. The ardent manner in which the cause of the
patriots was espoused is illustrated, in a notice of a marriage that
took place in 1778, in Lancaster County, the contracting parties being
of the Ulster race. The couple is denominated "very sincere Whigs."
It "was truly a Whig wedding, as there were present many young gentlemen
and ladies, and not one of the gentlemen but had been out when called on
in the service of his country; and it was well known that the groom, in
particular, had proved his heroism, as well as Whigism, in several
battles and skirmishes. After the marriage was ended, a motion was made,
and heartily agreed to by all present, that the young unmarried ladies
should form themselves into an association by the name of the 'Whig
Association of Unmarried Young Ladies of America,' in which they should
pledge their honor that they would never give their hand in marriage to
any gentleman until he had first proved himself a patriot, in readily
turning out when called to defend his country from slavery, by a
spirited and brave conduct, as they would not wish to be the mothers of
a race of slaves and cowards'"[7]
Pennsylvania was the gateway and first resting place, and the source of
Scotch-Irish adventure and enterprise as they moved west and south. The
wave of emigration striking the eastern border of Pennsylvania, in a
measure was deflected southward through Maryland, Virginia, the
Carolinas, reaching and crossing the Savannah river, though met at
various points by counter streams of the same race, which had entered
the continent through Charleston and other southern ports. Leaving
Pennsylvania and turning southward, the first colony into which the
stream poured, was Maryland, the settlements being principally in the
narrow strip which constitutes the western portion, although they never
scattered all over the colony.
[Illustration: BUILT BY HENRY MCWHORTER IN 1787, AT JANE LEW, WEST
VIRGINIA, PHOTOGRAPHED IN 1893]
Proceeding southward traces of that race are found in Virginia east of
the Blue Ridge, in the latter part of the seventeenth and early in the
eighteenth century. They were in Albemarle, Nelson, Campbell, Prince
Edward, Charlotte and Orange counties, and even along the great valley
west of the Blue Ridge. It was not, however, until the year 1738 that
they entered the valley in great numbers, and almost completely
possessed it from the Pennsylvania to the North Carolina line. During
the French and Indian wars the soldiers of Virginia were mainly drawn
from this section, and suffered defeat with Washington at the Great
Meadows, and with Braddock at Fort Duquesne, but by their firmness saved
the remnant of that rash general's army. In 1774 they won the signal
victory at Point Pleasant which struck terror into the Indian tribes
across the Ohio.
The American Revolution was foreshadowed in 1765, when England began her
oppressive measures regardless of the inalienable and chartered rights
of the colonists of America. It was then the youthful Scotch-Irishman,
Patrick Henry, introduced into the Virginia House of Burgesses, the
resolutions denying the validity of the Act of the British parliament,
and by Scotch-Irish votes he secured their adoption against the combined
efforts of the old leaders. At the first call for troops by congress to
defend Boston, Daniel Morgan at once raised a company from among his own
people, in the lower Virginia valley, and by a forced march of six
hundred miles reached the beleaguered city in three weeks. With his men
he trudged through the wilderness of Maine and appeared before Quebec;
and later, on the heights of Saratoga, with his riflemen, he poured like
a torrent upon the ranks of Burgoyne. Through the foresight of Henry, a
commission was given to George Rogers Clark, in 1778, to lead a secret
expedition against the northwestern forts. The soldiers were recruited
from among the Scotch-Irish settlements west of the Blue Ridge. The
untold hardships, sufferings and final success of this expedition, at
the Treaty of Peace, in 1783, gave the great west to the United States.
The greater number of the colonists of North Carolina was Scotch and
Scotch-Irish, in so much so as to have given direction to its history.
There were several reasons why they should be so attracted, the most
potent being a mild climate, fertile lands, and freedom of religious
worship. The greatest accession at any one time was that in 1736, when
Henry McCulloch secured sixty-four thousand acres in Duplin county, and
settled upon these lands four thousand of his Ulster countrymen. About
the same time the Scotch began to occupy the lower Cape Fear. Prior to
1750 they were located in the counties of Granville, Orange, Rowan and
Mecklenburg, although it is uncertain when they settled between the Dan
and the Catawba. Braddock's defeat, in 1755, rendered border life
dangerous, many of the newcomers turning south into North Carolina,
where they met the other stream of their countrymen moving upward from
Charleston along the banks of the Santee, Wateree, Broad, Pacolet,
Ennoree and Saluda, and this continued till checked by the Revolution.
These people generally were industrious, sober and intelligent, and with
their advent begins the educational history of the state. Near
Greensborough, in 1767, was established a classical school, and in 1770,
in the town of Charlotte, Mecklenburg county, was chartered Queen's
College, but its charter was repealed by George III. However, it
continued to flourish, and was incorporated as "Liberty Hall," in 1777.
The Revolution closed its doors; Cornwallis quartered his troops within
it, and afterwards burned the buildings.
Under wrongs the Scotch-Irish of North Carolina were the most restless
of all the colonists. They were zealous advocates for freedom of
conscience and security against taxation unless imposed by themselves.
During the administration of acting Governor Miller, they imprisoned the
president and six members of the council, convened the legislature,
established courts of justice, and for two years exercised all the
functions of government; they derided the authority of Governor
Eastchurch; they imprisoned, impeached, and sent into exile Governor
Sothel, for his extortions, and successfully resisted the effort of lord
Granville to establish the Church of England in that colony. In 1731,
Governor Burrington wrote: "The people of North Carolina are neither to
be cajoled or outwitted; * * * always behaved insolently to their
Governors. Some they imprisoned, others they have drove out of the
country, and at other times set up a government of their own choice."
In 1765, when a vessel laden with stamp paper arrived, the people
overawed the captain, who soon sailed away. The officers then adopted a
regular system of oppression and extortion, and plundered the people at
every turn of life. The people formed themselves into an association
"for regulating public grievances and abuse of powers." The royal
governor, Tryon (the same who later originated the infamous plot to
poison Washington), raised an army of eleven hundred men, and marched to
inflict summary punishment on the defiant sons of liberty. On May 16,
1771, the two forces met on the banks of the Great Alamance. After an
engagement of two hours the patriots failed. These men were sturdy,
patriotic members of three Presbyterian churches. On the field of battle
were their pastors, graduates of Princeton. Tryon used his victory so
savagely as to drive an increasing stream of settlers over the mountains
into Tennessee, where they made their homes in the valley of the
Watauga, and there nurtured their wrongs; but the day of their vengeance
was rapidly approaching.
[Illustration: VIEW OF BATTLE FIELD OF ALAMANCE.]
The stirring times of 1775 found the North Carolinians ready for revolt.
They knew from tradition and experience the monstrous wrongs of tyrants.
When the people of Mecklenburg county learned in May, 1775, that
parliament had declared the colonies in a state of revolt, they did not
wait for the action of congress nor for that of their own provincial
legislature, but adopted resolutions, which in effect formed a
declaration of independence.
The power, valor and uncompromising conduct of these men is illustrated
in their conduct at the battle of King's Mountain, fought October 7,
1780. It was totally unlike any other in American history, being the
voluntary uprising of the people, rushing to arms to aid their distant
kinsmen, when their own homes were menaced by savages. They served
without pay and without the hope of reward. The defeat of Gates at
Camden laid the whole of North Carolina at the feet of the British.
Flushed with success, Colonel Furguson, of the 71st Regiment, at the
head of eleven hundred men marched into North Carolina and took up his
position at Gilbert Town, in order to intercept those retreating in that
direction from Camden, and to crush out the spirit of the patriots in
that region. Without any concert of action volunteers assembled
simultaneously, and placed themselves under tried leaders. They were
admirably fitted by their daily pursuits for the privations they were
called upon to endure. They had no tents, baggage, bread or salt, but
subsisted on potatoes, pumpkins and roasted corn, and such venison as
their own rifles could procure. Their army consisted of four hundred
men, under Colonel William Campbell, from Washington county, Virginia,
two hundred and forty were under Colonel Isaac Shelby, from Sullivan
county, North Carolina, and two hundred and forty men, from Washington
county, same state, under John Sevier, which assembled at Watauga,
September 25, where they were joined by Colonel Charles McDowell, with
one hundred and sixty men, from the counties of Burke and Rutherford,
who had fled before the enemy to the western waters. While McDowell,
Shelby and Sevier were in consultation, two paroled prisoners arrived
from Furguson with the message that if they did not "take protection
under his standard, he would march his army over the mountains, hang
their leaders, and lay waste their country with fire and sword." On
their march to meet the army of Furguson they were for twenty-four hours
in the saddle. They took that officer by surprise, killed him and one
hundred and eighty of his men, after an engagement of one hour and five
minutes, the greater part of which time a heavy and incessant fire was
kept up on both sides, with a loss to themselves of only twenty killed
and a few wounded. The remaining force of the enemy surrendered at
discretion, giving up their camp equipage and fifteen hundred stand of
arms. On the morning after the battle several of the Royalist (Tory)
prisoners were found guilty of murder and other high crimes, and hanged.
This was the closing scene of the battle of King's Mountain, an event
which completely crushed the spirit of the Royalists, and weakened
beyond recovery the power of the British in the Carolinas. The
intelligence of Furguson's defeat destroyed all Cornwallis's hopes of
aid from those who still remained loyal to Britain's interests. The men
oppressed by British laws and Tryon's cruelty were not yet avenged, for
they were with Morgan at the Cowpens and with Greene at Guildford Court
House, and until the close of the war.
In the settling of South Carolina, every ship that sailed from Ireland
for the port of Charleston, was crowded with men, women and children,
which was especially true after the peace of 1763. About the same date,
within one year, a thousand families came into the state in that wave
that originated in Pennsylvania, bringing with them their cattle, horses
and hogs. Lands were allotted to them in the western woods, which soon
became the most popular part of the province, the up-country population
being overwhelmingly Scotch-Irish. They brought with them and retained,
in an eminent degree, the virtues of industry and economy, so peculiarly
necessary in a new country. To them the state is indebted for much of
its early literature. The settlers in the western part of the colony,
long without the aid of laws, were forced to band themselves together
for mutual protection. The royal governor, Montague, in 1764, sent an
army against them, and with great difficulty a civil war was averted.
The division thus created reappeared in 1775, on the breaking out of the
Revolution. The state suffered greatly from the ravages of Cornwallis,
who rode roughly over it, although her sons toiled heroically in defence
of their firesides. The little bands in the east gathered around the
standard of Marion, and in the north and west around those of Sumter and
Pickens. They kept alive the flame of liberty in the swamps, and when
the country appeared to be subdued, it burst forth in electric flashes
striking and withering the hand of the oppressor. Through the veins of
most of the patriots flowed Scotch-Irish blood; and to the hands of one
of this class, John Rutledge, the destinies of the state were committed.
Georgia was sparsely settled at the time of the Revolution. In 1753 its
population was less than twenty-four hundred. Emigration from the
Carolinas set in towards North Georgia, bringing many Scotch-Irish
families. The movement towards the mountain and Piedmont regions of the
southeast began about 1773. In that year, Governor Wright purchased from
the Indians that portion of middle Georgia lying between the Oconee and
the Savannah. The inducements he then offered proved very attractive to
the enterprising sons of Virginia and the Carolinas, who lived in the
highlands of those states. These people who settled in Georgia have thus
been described by Governor Gilmer: "The pretty girls were dressed in
striped and checked cotton cloth, spun and woven with their own hands,
and their sweethearts in sumach and walnut-dyed stuff, made by their
mothers. Courting was done when riding to meeting on Sunday, and walking
to the spring when there. Newly married couples went to see the old
folks on Saturday, and carried home on Sunday evening what they could
spare. There was no _ennui_ among the women for something to do. If
there had been leisure to read, there were but few books for the
indulgence. Hollow trees supplied cradles for babies."
A majority of the first settlers of East Tennessee were of Scotch-Irish
blood, having sought homes there after the battle of Alamance, and hence
that state became the daughter of North Carolina. The first written
constitution born of a convention of people on this continent, was that
at Watauga, in 1772. A settlement of less than a dozen families was
formed in 1778, near Bledsoe, isolated in the heart of the Chickasaw
nation, with no other protection than a small stockade enclosure and
their own indomitable courage. In the early spring of 1779, a little
colony of gallant adventurers, from the parent line of Watauga, crossed
the Cumberland mountain, and established themselves near the French
Lick, and planted a field of corn where the city of Nashville now
stands. The settlement on the Cumberland was made in 1780, after great
privations and sufferings on the journey. The settlers at the various
stations were so harassed by the Indians, incited thereto by British and
Spanish agents, that all were abandoned except Elatons and the Bluffs
(Nashville). These people were compelled to go in armed squads to the
springs, and plowed while guarded by armed sentinels. The Indians, by a
well planned stratagem, attempted to enter the Bluffs, on April 22d,
1781. The men in the fort were drawn into an ambush by a decoy party.
When they dismounted to give battle, their horses dashed off toward the
fort, and they were pursued by some Indians, which left a gap in their
lines, through which some whites were escaping to the fort; but these
were intercepted by a large body of the enemy from another ambush. The
heroic women in the fort, headed by Mrs. James Robertson, seized the
axes and idle guns, and planted themselves in the gate, determined to
die rather than give up the fort. Just in time she ordered the sentry to
turn loose a pack of dogs which had been selected for their size and
courage to encounter bears and panthers. Frantic to join the fray, they
dashed off, outyelling the savages, who recoiled before the fury of
their onset, thus giving the men time to escape to the fort. So
overjoyed was Mrs. Robertson that she patted every dog as he came into
the fort.
So thoroughly was Kentucky settled by the Scotch-Irish, from the older
colonies, that it might be designated as of that race, the first
emigrants being from Virginia and North Carolina. It was first explored
by Thomas Walker in 1747; followed by John Finley, of North Carolina,
1767; and in 1769, by Daniel Boone, John Stewart, and three others, who
penetrated to the Kentucky river. By the year 1773, lands were taken up
and afterwards there was a steady stream, almost entirely from the
valley and southwest Virginia. No border annals teem with more thrilling
incidents or heroic exploits than those of the Kentucky hunters, whose
very name finally struck terror into the heart of the strongest savage.
The prediction of the Cherokee chief to Boone at the treaty at Watauga,
ceding the territory to Henderson and his associates, was fully
verified: "Brother," said he, "we have given you a fine land, but I
believe you will have much trouble in settling it."
The history of the Scotch-Irish race in Canada, prior to the peace of
1783, is largely that of individuals. It has already been noted that two
settlements had been made in Nova Scotia by the emigrants that landed
from the five ships in Boston harbor. It is recorded that Truro, Nova
Scotia, was settled in 1762, and in 1756 three brothers from Ireland
settled in Colchester, same province. If the questions were thoroughly
investigated it doubtless would lead to interesting results.
It must not be lost sight of that one of the important industrial arts
brought to America was of untold benefit. Not only did every colony
bring with them agricultural implements needful for the culture of flax,
but also the small wheels and the loom for spinning and weaving the
fibre. Nothing so much excited the interest of Puritan Boston, in 1718,
as the small wheels worked by women and propelled by the foot, for
turning the straight flax fibre into thread. Public exhibitions of skill
in 1719 took place on Boston common, by Scotch-Irish women, at which
prizes were offered. The advent of the machine produced a sensation, and
societies and schools were formed to teach the art of making linen
thread.
The distinctive characteristics which the Scotch-Irish transplanted to
the new world may be designated as follows: They were Presbyterians in
their religion and church government; they were loyal to the conceded
authority to the king, but considered him bound as well as themselves
to "the Solemn League and Covenant," entered into in 1643, which pledged
the support of the Reformation and of the liberties of the kingdom; the
right to choose their own ministers, untrammeled by the civil powers;
they practiced strict discipline in morals, and gave instruction to
their youth in schools and academies, and in teaching the Bible as
illustrated by the Westminster Assembly's catechism. To all this they
combined in a remarkable degree, acuteness of intellect, firmness of
purpose, and conscientious devotion to duty.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 5: Skene's "Chronicles of the Picts and Scots," p. 77.]
[Footnote 6: Stille, Life of Wayne, p. 5, says he was not Scotch-Irish.]
[Footnote 7: Dunlap's "Pennsylvania Packet," June 17, 1778.]