the annals of the American Navy, was the son of a Scottish gardener,
and was born at Kirkbean, Kirkcudbrightshire. The details of his naval
career are so well known that there is little use of repeating them
here. James Craig (1735-1800), a Scot, Was appointed by Congress a
Commissioner of naval stores in 1776. He was owner of a number of
armed privateering vessels, took several prizes, and also aided in
fitting out several other vessels as privateers. The Nicholson family,
of Scottish parentage, was famous in the naval annals of the United
States for three generations, from the Revolution to the Civil War.
Alexander Murray (1755-1821), grandson of a Scot, took an active part
in the naval battles of the Revolution and commanded a squadron
against the Barbary pirates in 1820. John Rodgers (1771-1838), of
Scottish parentage, had a distinguished part in the war against
Tripoli, the government of which he compelled to sign a treaty
abolishing slavery of Christians and the levying of tribute on
European powers. In the war of 1812 he fired the first gun, June 23,
1812, at the British frigate "Belvidere." He was afterwards offered,
but declined, the office of Secretary of the Navy. George Campbell
Read (c. 1788-1862), Admiral, of Ulster Scot descent, took part in the
fight between the "Constitution" and "Guerrière" in 1812. Isaac
McKeever (1794-1856), Commodore and Commandant of the Navy Yard at
Portsmouth, Virginia, was of Scottish parentage. John Berrien
Montgomery (1794-1873), descended from William Montgomery of Bridgend,
Ayrshire (1701), served in the War of 1812, the Mexican War, and while
too old for active service in the Civil War, was in charge of Boston
Navy Yard, then one of the most important supply stations of the navy.
Rear Admiral Andrew Bryson (1822-1892), of Scottish descent, took part
in Civil War, and retired after forty-three years' continuous service.
John McIntosh Kell (1823-1900), Executive Officer of the Confederate
Cruiser "Alabama" and author of "Cruise and Combats of the 'Alabama'"
was of Scottish origin. Rear Admiral Alexander Colden Rhind (1821-97),
who served in the Mexican and Civil Wars, was also of Scottish
descent. William Penn McCann (1830-1906), a descendant of John
McKeand, a native of Whithorn, Wigtownshire, who settled here before
the Revolution, was called "Father of the White Squadron" from his
having the warships painted white. Francis Munroe Ramsay (1835-1914),
Rear Admiral and Chief of the Bureau of Navigation (1889), Member of
the Court of Inquiry which investigated the conduct of Rear Admiral
Schley during the war with Spain, was a grandson of Patrick Ramsay who
came from Scotland, c. 1750. Frederick Vallete McNair (1839-1900),
Superintendent of the Naval Academy at Annapolis, was descended from
Samuel McNair (1732). Rear Admiral George Wallace Melville
(1841-1912), who saw considerable service in the Civil War and later
achieved world wide fame as an Arctic explorer, was the grandson of a
Scot from Stirling; and Admiral John Donaldson Ford (1840-1917), who
fought in the Civil War and took a prominent part in the capture of
Manila and destruction of the batteries at Cavite during the
Spanish-American War, was of Scottish parentage.
SCOTS AS SCIENTISTS
Alexander Wilson (1766-1813), born in Paisley, the first naturalist to
study American birds in their native haunts, and author of "American
Ornithology" (1803-13), was also distinguished as a poet. David Hosack
(1769-1835), one of the most distinguished surgeons and scientists of
his day, fourth President of the New York Historical Society, was son
of a native of Morayshire. Samuel Guthrie (1782-1848), physician and
chemist, was descendant of John Guthrie, who came to America in 1661.
He was one of the pioneers who introduced vaccination, produced the
first successful percussion powder (after many experiments), invented
the "punch lock" which superseded the flint-lock musket, and, in 1831,
discovered the anæsthetic chloroform. Hugh Williamson (1735-1819),
statesman and scientist, born in Pennsylvania and educated in
Edinburgh. He studied theology and was licensed but never preached,
was Professor of Mathematics in the College of Philadelphia (1760-63),
studied medicine in Edinburgh and Utrecht, practised successfully,
served as surgeon in the Revolutionary War, delegate to the Convention
that framed the Constitution of the United States (1787), and was
afterwards Member of the first Congress. John McLean (1771-1814), born
in Glasgow, became Professor of Chemistry in Princeton (1775) and
later Professor of Natural Philosophy and Chemistry in William and
Mary College, Williamsburg, Virginia. His son, John, became President
of Princeton. Dr. William Watson (d. 1828), a Scot, was physician and
friend of Chancellor Livingston, and one of the early promoters of
scientific agriculture in America. He was founder of the Farmers' Club
of Dutchess and Columbia Counties, the pioneer of Agricultural
Societies in New York. James Renwick (1790-1862), born in Liverpool of
Scottish parents, was Professor of Physics in Columbia University,
author of several scientific works, and one of the Commissioners who
laid out the early boundary line of the Province of New Brunswick. His
mother was the Jeannie Jaffray of several of Burns's poems. James
Renwick, the architect, was his son. Other gifted sons were Edward
Sabine Renwick and Henry Brevoort Renwick. Joseph Henry (1797-1878),
the "Nestor of American Science," and organizer of the American
Academy of Sciences otherwise the Smithsonian Institution in
Washington, was of Scottish' origin. His paternal and maternal
grandparents emigrated from Scotland together and are said to have
landed the day before the Battle of Bunker Hill. The McAllisters of
Philadelphia (father and son) were famous as makers of optical and
mathematical instruments, and the son was the first to study and fit
astigmatic lenses, and was also the introducer of the system of
numbering buildings according to the numbers of the streets, assigning
one hundred numbers to each block. Spencer Fullerton Baird (1823-87),
Naturalist and Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, was also of
Scottish origin. His works, including scientific papers, number over
one thousand titles. Carlile Pollock Patterson (1816-81) did much to
develop the United States Coast Survey. William Paterson Turnbull
(1830-71), ornithologist, author of the "Birds of East Pennsylvania
and New Jersey," a model of patient and accurate research, was born at
Fala, near Edinburgh. Edward Duncan Montgomery, biologist and
philosopher, was born in Edinburgh in 1835. Marshall MacDonald
(1835-95), ichthyologist, pisciculturist, and inventor, engineer in
charge of the siege of Vicksburg during the Civil War, and inventor of
automatic hatching jars, was the grandson of a Scottish immigrant.
Peter Smith Michie (1839-1901), soldier and scientist, born in
Brechin, Forfarshire, graduated from West Point in 1863, served as
Engineer in the Federal Army, and was afterwards Professor of Natural
and Experimental Philosophy at West Point. William Healey Dall (b.
1845), palæontologist to the United States Geological Survey, author
of "Alaska and Its Resources," and author of hundreds of articles on
Natural History subjects, was a grandson of William Dall of
Forfarshire. Thomas Harrison Montgomery (1873-1912), specialist in
zoology and embryology, was of Scottish origin. Robert Gibson Eccles,
physician and chemist, born in Kilmaurs, Ayrshire, in 1848, discovered
that benzoic acid and the benzoates are excellent preservatives of
food. He has been Chemist of the Department of Indian Affairs,
Professor of Chemistry in the New York School of Social Economics,
President of the New York Pharmaceutical Association, etc., and has
written largely on philosophy and science. Stephen Alfred Forbes (b.
1844), naturalist, educator, and writer on entomology and zoology, is
of Scottish origin. Thomas Craig (1853-1900), Mathematician and Editor
of the American Journal of Mathematics, was of Scottish parentage.
Alexander Crombie Humphreys, born in Edinburgh in 1851, became
President of Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, in 1902.
Anstruther Davidson, born in Caithness in 1860, Associate Professor of
Dermatology in the University of Southern California, is also
distinguished as a botanist and entomologist.
William Maclure (1763-1840), the "Father of American Geology," was
born in Ayr, Scotland, and after acquiring a fortune in London, he
came in 1796 to the United States. Having studied geology in Europe he
was attracted by the imposing scale of the geological structure of his
adopted country, and in the course of some years made many journeys
across the eastern states. He recorded his geological observations on
a map, and in 1809 communicated his researches to the American
Philosophical Society. In 1817, having extended his knowledge during
the intervening eight years he presented his map to the Society, and
it was then published. This was the first geological survey of the
United States, and it was carried out unsustained by government aid or
patronage. It was also chiefly through Maclure's aid that the new
Academy of Sciences in Philadelphia was built and endowed. Dr.
Archibald Bruce (1777-1818), the first scientific mineralogist in
America, and founder of the _American Mineralogical Magazine_ (1810),
was born in New York city, son of Dr. William Bruce, head of the
medical department of the British Armies. Henry Darwin Rogers
(1808-66), born in Philadelphia of Ulster Scot parentage, Professor of
Geology and Mineralogy in the University of Pennsylvania, State
Geologist of Pennsylvania, published important works on the geology of
Pennsylvania and New Jersey. He removed to Edinburgh in 1855 and three
years later became Professor of Natural History in the University of
Glasgow. His elder brother, William Barton Rogers (1804-1882), was
also a distinguished physicist and geologist. David Dale Owen
(1807-60), born in Lanarkshire, was brought to the United States by
his father in 1823. In 1848 he took charge of the Geological Survey of
Wisconsin and Iowa, and that of Minnesota in 1852. His brother,
Richard Owen (1810-90), also born in Lanarkshire, had a distinguished
career in this country as a geologist. J. Peter Lesley (1819-1903),
also of Scottish descent, was another distinguished geologist who by
his researches and surveys in Pennsylvania, vastly aided in the
economic development of that state. Persifor Frazer (1844-1909), son
of John Fries Frazer and great-grandson of Lieutenant-Colonel Persifor
Frazer of Revolutionary times, was author of the Geological Survey of
Pennsylvania (5 vols.) William John McGee (1853-1912), geologist and
anthropologist, claimed descent from the MacGregors. He was Geologist
of the United States Geological Survey from 1883 to 1893, Ethnologist
in Charge of the Bureau of Ethnology from 1893 to 1903, and in 1907
was appointed a Member of the Inland Waterways Commission. Washington
Carruthers Kerr (1827-85), educator and scientist of Ulster Scot
parentage, was State Geologist of North Carolina (1866-82), and
published many papers and reports on his subject. John Muir
(1838-1914), geologist, explorer, naturalist, and author, was born in
Dunbar. "No man since Thoreau ever had keener sympathy with nature, a
quicker vision for her mysteries, or a surer speech for their
interpretation." The establishment of the Yosemite and Sequoia
National Parks and the great Sierra Forest Reservation are due to his
writings. The famous Muir Glacier in Alaska, discovered by him in
1879, will forever blazon his name. Other distinguished geologists who
may be briefly mentioned are: Samuel Calvin (1840-1911), Professor of
Geology in the University of Iowa, born in Wigtownshire; John James
Stevenson (b. 1841), educator and geologist, of Scottish parentage;
Erwin Hinckly Barbour (b. 1856), professor of Geology in the
University of Nebraska; and William Berryman Scott (b. 1858), the
distinguished geologist and palæontologist of Princeton University.
Asa Gray (1810-88), the greatest of American botanists, was a
descendant of one of the Ulster Scot settlers of 1718. Dr. Alexander
Garden (1728-92), famous as a physician and botanist, was Professor of
Botany in King's College (now Columbia University). His son was a
distinguished Revolutionary officer. Thomas Huston Macbride (b. 1848),
President Emeritus of the State University of Iowa, who has written
much of value on botany, is of Scottish ancestry. Beverly Thomas
Galloway (b. 1863), descended from John Galloway, an emigrant from
Scotland in 1680, Chief of the Division of Plant Industry of the
United States Department of Agriculture, Assistant Secretary of
Agriculture in 1913-14, is the author of several works on plant
diseases. David Trembly Macdougal (b. 1865), Director of the Botanical
Research Department of the Carnegie Institution of Washington since
1905, is the grandson of a Scottish immigrant. His studies relate
especially to plant physiology, heredity, and organic evolution.
Stephen Alexander (1806-83), son of a native of Scotland, wrote much
on astronomy, and was chief of the expedition to the coast of Labrador
to observe the solar eclipse in August, 1869. James Ferguson
(1797-1867), an Engineer employed on the construction of the Erie
Canal, was born in Perthshire. He was later Assistant Astronomer at
the United States Naval Observatory, and discovered three asteroids,
for which he received medals from the French Academy of Sciences.
Ormsby McKnight Mitchel (1810-62), who was Director of the Cincinnati
Observatory (1845) and later of the Dudley Observatory (1859),
inventor of the chronograph and other astronomical apparatus, and
became a General in the Civil War, was probably also of Scottish
origin. Maria Mitchell (1818-89), daughter of William Mitchell
(1791-1868), also an astronomer, became Professor of Astronomy in
Vassar College, LL.D. of Columbia University (1887), and was the first
woman elected to the American Academy of Sciences. Lewis Morris
Rutherfurd (1816-92), one of the most distinguished astronomers on the
American Continent, obtained important results in astronomical
photography, and by means of a ruling engine, designed by him in 1870,
constructed the finest diffraction-gratings which had, up to that
time, been made, was of Scottish ancestry. George Davidson
(1825-1911), born in England of Scottish parentage, geodetist and
astronomer, one of the founders of the Geographical Society of the
Pacific, Regent of the University of California, was retired after
fifty years' active field service of incalculable value to the cause
of science. William Harkness (1837-1903), born in Ecclefechan,
Dumfriesshire, was executive officer of the Transit of Venus
Commission (1882). The task of reducing the observations and the
hundreds of photographs was successfully undertaken by him although
declared impossible by eminent British and German astronomers. He was
later Astronomical Director of the Naval Observatory and in 1897 made
head of the Nautical Almanac. Williamina (Mina) Paton Fleming
(1857-1911), born in Dundee, discovered many new stars and wrote much
of permanent value on her subject. William Wallace Campbell (b. 1862),
of Scottish ancestry, has been Director of Lick Observatory since
1901, and has written much on astronomy.
The most interesting Scot in connection with horticulture in the
United States is Grant Thorburn (1773-1861), who was born in Dalkeith
and left his native country for political reasons in 1794. After
trying a number of occupations he finally established himself as a
seed merchant in New York, and the business is still carried on under
his name. Under the pen name of "Lawrie Todd" he contributed to the
_Knickerbocker Magazine_ and other New York periodicals, and supplied
John Galt, the novelist, with much of the information incorporated in
his "Lawrie Todd; or, Settlers in the New World." Thorburn also
published two volumes of reminiscences, "Forty Years' Residence in
America," and "Fifty Years' Reminiscences of New York." William Adair,
born near Glasgow in 1815, developed a profitable business as gardener
and horticulturist in Michigan, and served as State Senator from 1861
to 1865, 1869-70. Peter Henderson (1822-90), born at Pathhead near
Edinburgh, founded the firm of Peter Henderson and Co.,
horticulturists and seedsmen, one of the largest firms of its kind in
existence. William Saunders (1822-1900), born in St. Andrews, planted
and laid out several large estates, beautified Fairmount and Hunting
Parks in Philadelphia, and the park and garden system of Washington,
D.C., the National Cemetery at Gettysburg, etc. William Macmillan,
born in Nairnshire, laid out the public parks of Buffalo, and William
R. Smith, a native of Haddingtonshire, was for many years
Superintendent of the Botanic Gardens at Washington. Robert Buist
(1805-80), born in Edinburgh, was also one of the greatest
horticulturists in the United States.
SCOTS AS PHYSICIANS
A prominent physician of early colonial times was Dr. Gustavus Brown
(1689-1765), born in Dalkeith, and died in Maryland. Dr. Gustavus
Richard Brown (1747-1804), born in Maryland and educated at Edinburgh
University, his son, also made a reputation for himself as a physician
of ability. Dr. Gustavus Brown (1744-1801), grandson of the first
named, was summoned to attend President Washington in his last
illness. Dr. John Lining (1708-1760), born in Scotland, settled in
Charleston, S.C., in 1730, gained a large practice through his skill
as a physician, and a distinguished reputation in Europe as a
scientist from his experiments in electricity, etc. His meteorological
observations were probably the first ever published. In 1751 he issued
his "History of the Yellow Fever," "which was the first that had been
given to the public from the American continent." Dr. Lionel Chalmers
(1715-1777), born in Argyllshire, practised in South Carolina for more
than forty years, and was the first to treat of the soil, climate,
weather, and diseases of that state. He "left behind him the name of a
skilful, humane physician." Dr. James Craik (1731-1814),
physician-general of the United States Army, was born at Arbigland,
near Dumfries, and for nearly forty years was the intimate friend of
Washington, and his physician in his last illness. One of the earliest
introducers of vaccination into America and an original investigator
into the cause of disease was Dr. John Crawford (1746-1813), of Ulster
Scots birth. As early as 1790 he had conceived what is now known as
the germ theory of disease. Dr. Adam Stephen, born in Scotland, died
at Martinsburg, West Virginia, in 1791, took part in the French and
Indian wars and was an active participant in the Revolutionary War on
the side of the colonists. The town of Martinsburg in Berkeley County
was laid out by him. Dr. George Buchanan (1763-1808), founder of the
Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland, was a grandson of George
Buchanan, the Scot who laid out Baltimore town in 1730. Dr. John
Spence (1766-1829), born in Scotland, educated at Edinburgh
University, settled in Virginia in 1791, and obtained a high
reputation as a judicious and successful practitioner. The "father of
ovariotomy," Dr. Ephraim McDowell (1771-1830), was born in Virginia of
Scots ancestry and studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh.
James Brown McCaw (1772-1846), one of the leading surgeons in
Virginia for over thirty years, studied medicine in Edinburgh. He was
one of the first, if not the first, to tie the external carotid
artery, an operation he performed in 1807. He came of a race of
doctors, being the great-grandson of James McCaw, a surgeon who
emigrated from Wigtownshire in 1771. George McClellan (1796-1847) the
eminent surgeon and founder of the Jefferson Medical College at
Philadelphia, was of Scottish descent. His son, John Hill Brinton
McClellan (1823-74), was professor of anatomy in Pennsylvania Medical
College, and his grandson was George McClellan (1849-1913), the
eminent Philadelphia anatomist. Dr. Peter Middleton (d. 1781), a
native of Scotland, made the first dissection on record in this
country before a class of students and in 1767 established a Medical
School in New York which was subsequently merged in the King's (now
Columbia) College. Dr. William Currie (1754-1823), served in the
medical service during the Revolutionary War, and was reputed one of
the most gifted men of his time as physician and classical scholar.
Horatio Gates Jameson (1778-1855), distinguished physician and
surgeon, was son of Dr. David Jameson who had emigrated to Charleston
in 1740 in company with Dr. (afterwards General) Hugh Mercer.
Granville Sharp Pattison (1791-1851), anatomist, born near Glasgow,
held several professional appointments in this country and founded the
Medical Department of the University of the City of New York. Dr. John
Kearsley Mitchell (1793-1858), poet, botanist, and eminent physician
of Philadelphia, was son of Dr. Alexander Mitchell who came from
Scotland in 1786. His son, Dr. Silas Weir Mitchell, born in 1829, was
distinguished for his researches in toxicology, the nervous system,
etc., and as one of the most distinguished of American authors. One of
the founders of the City Hospital, Albany, and Surgeon-General of New
York State, was Dr. James McNaughton (1796-1874), born at Kenmore,
Aberfeldy. Dr. Daniel McRuer (1802-73), born in Knapdale, Argyllshire,
"a typical Scotchman with a 'burr' in his talk," performed great
service in the Civil War as an army Surgeon. Dr. John Watson
(1807-1863), organizer of one of the first dispensaries for the
treatment of skin diseases and introducer of reforms in the New York
Hospital, was an Ulster Scot. John Murray Carnochan (1817-87), one of
the most distinguished surgeons of his day, was of Scottish parentage.
Ferdinand Campbell Stuart (b. 1815), inventor of various instruments
used in genito-urinary diseases and one of the founders of the New
York Academy of Medicine, was grandson of Rev. Archibald Campbell of
Argyllshire. Dr. David Hayes Agnew (1818-92) was of Scottish descent.
In his work "he attained a degree of eminence which has rarely, if
ever, been equaled, and to which our own times and generation furnish
no parallel." William Thomas Green Morton (1819-68), the discoverer of
anaesthesia, was also of Scottish origin. Dr. Robert Alexander Kinloch
(1826-91), of Scottish parentage, was the first American surgeon to
resect the knee joint for chronic cases, also the first to treat
fractures of the lower jaw and other bones by wiring the fragments,
and was also the first in any country to perform a laparotomy for
gunshot wounds in the abdomen without protrusion of the viscera. Dr.
George Troup Maxwell (1827-1879), was inventor of the laryngoscope.
James Ridley Taylor (1821-1895), who entered the medical profession
after middle life, at the end of a long career passed as a mechanical
engineer, and achieved success and fame in his profession, was born in
Ayr, Scotland. He probably inherited his mechanical skill from his
uncle, John Taylor of Dalswinton, who constructed the steam engine
along with Symington. James Henry McLean (1829-86), physician and
Member of Congress, was born in Scotland. Dr. James Craig (1834-88),
obstetrician, born in Glasgow, graduated at the University of the City
of New York, attended over four thousand cases without the loss of a
mother, was inventor of several surgical appliances, and was the first
to demonstrate hydriodic acid as a curative in acute inflammatory
rheumatism. Professor Alexander Johnson Chalmers Skene (1837-1900), of
Brooklyn, born in Fyvie, Aberdeenshire, was perhaps the most famous
Gynecologist in America. He was author of many treatises on his
special subject. Prof. Charles McBurney (b. 1845), the famous surgeon,
was of Scottish ancestry. Neil Jamieson Hepburn, born in Orkney in
1846, oculist and aurist, held many positions of responsibility.
Charles Smith Turnbull (b. 1847), oculist and eminent specialist in
diseases of the ear, was of Scottish parentage. Alexander Hugh
Ferguson (1853-1911), the famous Chicago surgeon of Scottish
parentage, was decorated by the King of Portugal for his skill in
surgery. Other prominent doctors and surgeons of Scottish origin whom
we have only space to name are: John Barclay Crawford (1828-94);
William Smith Forbes (1831-1905), grandson of Dr. David Forbes of
Edinburgh; John Minson Gait (d. 1808), and his son Alexander D. Gait
(1777-1841); Robert Ramsey Livingston (1827-88), the most prominent of
Nebraska's early physicians; and James Macdonald (1803-49), resident
physician of Bloomingdale Asylum.
SCOTS IN EDUCATION