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An Historical Account of the Settlements of Scotch Highlanders in America

by J. P. MacLean · English · Gutenberg #25879 · 1,051,189 chars · public domain (US)

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Title: An Historical Account of the Settlements of Scotch Highlanders in America

Author: J. P. MacLean


        
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE SETTLEMENTS OF SCOTCH HIGHLANDERS IN AMERICA ***




Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Graeme Mackreth and
the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
https://www.pgdp.net (This file was made using scans of
public domain works from the University of Michigan Digital
Libraries.)







[Illustration: _Painted by Captn. W McKenzie_ BATTLE OF CULLODEN.]




An Historical Account

OF THE

Settlements of Scotch Highlanders

IN

America

PRIOR TO THE PEACE OF 1783

TOGETHER WITH NOTICES OF

Highland Regiments

AND

Biographical Sketches

BY

J.P. MACLEAN, PH.D.


Life Member Gaelic Society of Glasgow, and Clan MacLean Association of
Glasgow; Corresponding Member Davenport Academy of Sciences, and Western
Reserve Historical Society; Author of History of Clan MacLean, Antiquity
of Man, The Mound Builders, Mastodon, Mammoth and Man, Norse Discovery
of America, Fingal's Cave, Introduction Study St. John's Gospel, Jewish
Nature Worship, etc.

_ILLUSTRATED_.

THE HELMAN-TAYLOR COMPANY, CLEVELAND.

JOHN MACKAY, GLASGOW.

1900.

[Illustration: HIGHLAND ARMS.]




TO

COLONEL SIR FITZROY DONALD MACLEAN, Bart., C.B.,

President of The Highland Society of London,


An hereditary Chief, honored by his Clansmen at home and abroad, on
account of the kindly interest he takes in their welfare, as well as
everything that relates to the Highlands, and though deprived of an
ancient patrimony, his virtues and patriotism have done honor to the
Gael, this Volume is

   Respectfully dedicated by the

   AUTHOR.




   "There's sighing and sobbing in yon Highland forest;
   There's weeping and wailing in yon Highland vale,
   And fitfully flashes a gleam from the ashes
   Of the tenantless hearth in the home of the Gael.
   There's a ship on the sea, and her white sails she's spreadin',
       A' ready to speed to a far distant shore;
   She may come hame again wi' the yellow gowd laden,
       But the sons of Glendarra shall come back no more.

   The gowan may spring by the clear-rinnin' burnie,
       The cushat may coo in the green woods again.
   The deer o' the mountain may drink at the fountain,
       Unfettered and free as the wave on the main;
   But the pibroch they played o'er the sweet blooming heather
       Is hushed in the sound of the ocean's wild roar;
   The song and the dance they hae vanish'd thegither,
    For the maids o' Glendarra shall come back no more."




PREFACE.


An attempt is here made to present a field that has not been
preoccupied. The student of American history has noticed allusions to
certain Scotch Highland settlements prior to the Revolution, without any
attempt at either an account or origin of the same. In a measure the
publication of certain state papers and colonial records, as well as an
occasional memoir by an historical society have revived what had been
overlooked. These settlements form a very important and interesting
place in the early history of our country. While they may not have
occupied a very prominent or pronounced position, yet their exertions in
subduing the wilderness, their activity in the Revolution, and the wide
influence exercised by the descendants of these hardy pioneers, should,
long since, have brought their history and achievements into notice.

The settlement in North Carolina, embracing a wide extent of territory,
and the people numbered by the thousands, should, ere this, have found a
competent exponent. But it exists more as a tradition than an actual
colony. The Highlanders in Georgia more than acted their part against
Spanish encroachments, yet survived all the vicissitudes of their
exposed position. The stay of the Highlanders on the Mohawk was very
brief, yet their flight into Canada and final settlement at Glengarry
forms a very strange episode in the history of New York. The heartless
treatment of the colony of Lachlan Campbell by the governor of the
province of New York, and their long delayed recompense stands without a
parallel, and is so strange and fanciful, that long since it should have
excited the poet or novelist. The settlements in Nova Scotia and Prince
Edwards Island, although scarcely commenced at the breaking out of the
Revolution, are more important in later events than those chronicled in
this volume.

The chapters on the Highlands, the Scotch-Irish, and the Darien scheme,
have sufficient connection to warrant their insertion.

It is a noticeable fact that notwithstanding the valuable services
rendered by the Highland regiments in the French and Indian war, but
little account has been taken by writers, except in Scotland, although
General David Stewart of Garth, as early as 1822, clearly paved the way.
Unfortunately, his works, as well as those who have followed him, are
comparatively unknown on this side the Atlantic.

I was led to the searching out of this phase of our history, not only by
the occasional allusions, but specially from reading works devoted to
other nationalities engaged in the Revolution. Their achievements were
fully set forth and their praises sung. Why should not the oppressed
Gael, who sought the forests of the New World, struggled in the
wilderness, and battled against foes, also be placed in his true light?
If properly known, the artist would have a subject for his pencil, the
poet a picture for his praises, and the novelist a strong background for
his romance.

Cleveland, O., October, 1898.




TABLE OF CONTENTS.


CHAPTER I.

THE HIGHLANDERS OF SCOTLAND.

Division of Scotland--People of the Highlands--Language--Clanship--Chiefs
Customs--Special Characteristics--Fiery-Cross--Slogan--Mode of Battle
Forays--Feasts--Position of Woman--Marriage--Religious Toleration
Superstitions--Poets--Pipers--Cave of Coire-nan-Uriskin--The
Harp--Gaelic Music--Costume--Scotland's Wars--War with Romans--Battle
of Largs--Bannockburn--Flodden--Pinkie--Wars of Montrose--Bonnie
Dundee--Earl of Mar--Prince Charles Stuart--Atrocities in the
Wake of Culloden--Uncertainty of Travellers' Observations--Kidnapping
Emigration                                                              17


CHAPTER II.

THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA.

Origin of the name of Scotland--Scoto-Irish--Ulster--Clandonald--Protestant
Colonies in Ireland--Corruption of Names--Percentage of in
Revolution--Characteristics--Persecuted--Emigration from Ulster--First
Scotch-Irish Clergyman in America--Struggle for Religious Liberty
Settlement at Worcester--History of the Potato--Pelham--Warren and
Blandford--Colerain--Londonderry--Settlements in Maine--New York--New
Jersey--Pennsylvania--The Revolution--Maryland--Virginia--Patrick
Henry--Daniel Morgan--George Rogers Clark--North Carolina--Battle
of King's Mountain--South Carolina--Georgia--East Tennessee--Kentucky
Canada--Industrial Arts--Distinctive Characteristics                    40


CHAPTER III.

CAUSES THAT LED TO EMIGRATION.

Results of Clanship--Opposed to Emigration--Emigration to Ulster
Expatriation of 7000--Changed Condition of Highlanders--Lands Rented
Dissatisfaction--Luxurious Landlords--Action of Chiefs in Skye--Deplorable
State of Affairs--Sheep-Farming--Improvements--Buchanan's
Description--Famine--Class of Emigrants--America--Hardships and
Disappointments                                                         60


CHAPTER IV.

DARIEN SCHEME.

First Highlanders in America--Disastrous Speculation--Ruinous
Legislation--Massacre of Glencoe--Darien Scheme Projected--William
Paterson--Fabulous Dreams--Company Chartered--Scotland Excited
Subscriptions--List of Subscribers--Spanish Sovereignty over
Darien--English Jealousy and Opposition--Dutch East India Company--King
William's Duplicity--English and Dutch Subscriptions Withdrawn--Great
Preparations--Purchase of Ships--Sailing of First Expedition--Settlement
of St. Andrews--Great Sufferings--St. Andrews Abandoned--The Caledonia and
Unicorn Arrive at New York--Recriminations--The St. Andrews--The
Dolphin--King Refuses Supplies--Relief Sent--Spaniards Aggressive--Second
Expedition--Highlanders--Disappointed Expectations--Discordant
Clergy--How News was Received in Scotland--Give Vent to Rage--King
William's Indifference--Campbell of Fonab--Escape--Capitulation of Darien
Colony--Ships Destroyed--Final End of Settlers                          75


CHAPTER V.

HIGHLANDERS IN NORTH CAROLINA.

On the Cape Fear--Town Established--Highlanders Patronized--Arrival
of Neil McNeill--Action of Legislature--List of Grantees--Wave of
Emigration--Represented in Legislature--Colony Prosperous--Stamp
Act--Genius of Liberty--Letter to Highlanders--Emigrants from Jura--Lands
Allotted--War of Regulators--Campbelton Charter--Public Road--Public
Buildings at Campbelton--Petition for Pardon--Highland Costume--Clan
Macdonald Emigration--Allan Macdonald of Kingsborough--American
Revolution--Sale of Public Offices--Attitude of Patriots--Provincial
Congress--Highlanders Objects of Consideration--Reverend John
McLeod--Committee to Confer with Highlanders--British Confidence--Governor
Martin--Provincial Congress of 1775--Farquhard Campbell--Arrival of the
George--Other Arrivals--Oaths Administered--Distressed Condition--Petition
to Virginia Convention--War Party in the Ascendant--American
Views--Highlanders Fail to Understand Conditions--Reckless Indifference
of Leaders--General Donald Macdonald--British Campaign--Governor
Martin Manipulates a Revolt--Macdonald's Manifesto--Rutherford's
Manifesto--Highlanders in Rebellion--Standard at Cross Creek--March
for Wilmington--Country Alarmed--Correspondence--Battle of Moore's
Creek Bridge--Overthrow of Highlanders--Prescribed Parole--Prisoners
Address Congress--Action of Sir William Howe--Allan Macdonald's Letter--On
Parole--Effects His Exchange--Letter to Members of Congress--Cornwallis
to Clinton--Military at Cross Creek--Women Protected--Religious Status 102


CHAPTER VI.

HIGHLANDERS IN GEORGIA.

English Treatment of Poor--Imprisonment for Debt--Oglethorpe's
Philanthropy--Asylum Projected--Oglethorpe Sails for Georgia--Selects
the Site of Savannah--Fort Argyle--Colonists of Different
Nationalities--Towns Established--Why Highlanders were Selected--Oglethorpe
Returns to England--Highland Emigrants--Character of--John
Macleod--Founding of New Inverness--Oglethorpe Sails for Georgia--Visits
the Highlanders--Fort St. Andrews--Spaniards Aggressive--Messengers
Imprisoned--Spanish Perfidy--Suffering and Discontent in 1737--Dissension
Increases--Removal Agitated--African Slavery Prohibited--Petition and
Counter Petition--Highlanders Oppose African Slavery--Insufficient Produce
Raised--Murder of Unarmed Highlanders--Florida Invaded--St. Augustine
Blockaded--Massacre of Highlanders at Fort Moosa--Failure of
Expedition--Conduct of William MacIntosh--Indians and Carolinians
Desert--Agent Reprimanded by Parliament--Clansmen at Darien--John MacLeod
Abandons His Charge--Georgia Invaded--Highlanders Defeat the Enemy--Battle
of Bloody Marsh--Spaniards Retreat--Ensign Stewart--Oglethorpe
Again Invades Florida--Growth of Georgia--Record in Revolution--Resolutions
Assault on British War Vessels--Capture  of--County of Liberty--Settlement
Remained Highland                                                      146


CHAPTER VII.

CAPTAIN LACHLAN CAMPBELL'S NEW YORK COLONY.

Lachlan Campbell--Donald Campbell's Memorial--Motives Controlling
Royal Governors--Governor Clarke to Duke of Newcastle--Same to
Lords of Trade--Efforts of Captain Campbell--Memorial Rejected--Redress
Obtained--Grand Scheme--List of Grantees--A Desperado--Township
of Argyle--Records of--Change of Name of County--Highland Soldiers
Occupy Lands--How Allotted--Selling Land Warrants--New Hampshire
Grants--Ethan Allan--Revolution--An Incident--Indian Raid--Massacre
of Jane McCrea--Religious Sentiment                                    176


CHAPTER VIII.

HIGHLAND SETTLEMENT ON THE MOHAWK.

Sir William Johnson--Highlanders Preferred--Manner of Life--Changed
State of Affairs--Sir John Johnson--Highlanders not Civic Officers--Sir
John Johnson's Movements Inimical--Tryon County Committee
to Provincial Congress--Action of Continental Congress--Sir John to
Governor Tryon--Action of General Schuyler--Sir John's Parole--Highlanders
Disarmed--Arms Retained--Highland Hostages--Instructions for Seizing
Sir John--Sir John on Removal of Highlanders--Flight of Highlanders
to Canada--Great Sufferings--Lady Johnson a Hostage--Highland Settlement
a Nest of Treason--Exodus of Highland Women--Some Families
Detained--Letter of Helen McDonell--Regiment Organized--Butler's
Rangers--Cruel Warfare--Fort Schuyler Besieged--Battle of Oriskany--Heroism
of Captain Gardenier--Parole of Angus McDonald--Massacre of
Wyoming--Bloodthirsty Character of Alexander McDonald--Indian
Country Laid Waste--Battle of Chemung--Sir John Ravages Johnstown--Visits
Schoharie with Fire and Sword--Flight from Johnstown--Exploit
of Donald McDonald--Shell's Defence--List of Officers of Sir John Johnson's
Regiment--Settlement in Glengarry--Allotment of Lands--Story of
Donald Grant--Religious Services Established                           196


CHAPTER IX.

GLENALADALE HIGHLANDERS OF PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND.

Highlanders in Canada--John Macdonald--Educated in Germany--Religious
Oppression--Religion of the Yellow-Stick--Glenaladale Becomes
Protector--Emigration--Company Raised Against Americans--Capture of
American Vessel--Estimate of Glenaladale--Offered Governorship of
Prince Edward Island                                                   231


CHAPTER X.

HIGHLAND SETTLEMENT IN PICTOU, NOVA SCOTIA.

Emigration to Nova Scotia--Ship Hector--Sails from Lochbroom--Great
Sufferings and Pestilence--Landing of Highlanders--Frightening of
Indians--Bitter Disappointment--Danger of Starvation--False Reports--Action
of Captain Archibald--Truro Migration--Hardships--Incidents of
Suffering--Conditions of Grants of Land--Hector's Passengers--Interesting
Facts Relative to Emigrants--Industries--Plague of Mice--American
Revolution--Divided Sentiment--Persecution of American Sympathizers
Highlanders Loyal to Great Britain--Americans Capture a
Vessel--Privateers--Wreck of the Malignant Man-of-War--Indian
Alarm--Itinerant Preachers--Arrival of Reverend James McGregor         235


CHAPTER XI.

FIRST HIGHLAND REGIMENTS IN AMERICA.

Cause of French and Indian War--Highlanders Sent to America--The
Black Watch--Montgomery's Highlanders--Fraser's Highlanders--Uniform
of--Black Watch at Albany--Lord Loudon at Halifax--Surrender of
Fort William Henry--Success of the French--Defeat at Ticonderoga--Gallant
Conduct of Highlanders--List of Casualties--Expedition Against
Louisburg--Destruction French Fleet--Capture of Louisburg--Expedition
Against Fort Du Quesne--Defeat of Major Grant--Washington--Name
Fort Changed to Fort Pitt--Battalions of 42nd United--Amherst Possesses
Ticonderoga--Army at Crown Point--Fall of Quebec--Journal of Malcolm
Fraser--Movements of Fraser's Highlanders--Battle of Heights of
Abraham--Galling Fire Sustained by Highlanders--Anecdote of General
Murray--Retreat of French--Officers of the Black Watch--Highland Regiments
Sail for Barbadoes--Return to New York--Black Watch Sent to
Pittsburg--Battle of Bushy Run--Black Watch Sent Against Ohio Indians--Goes
to Ireland--Impressions of in America--Table of Losses--Montgomery
Highlanders Against the Cherokees--Battle with Indians--Allan
Macpherson's Tragic Death--Retreat from Indian Country--Return to
New York--Massacre at Fort Loudon--Surrender of St. Johns--Tables of
Casualties--Acquisition of French Territory a Source of Danger         252


CHAPTER XII.

SCOTCH HOSTILITY TOWARDS AMERICA.

Causes of American Revolution--Massacre at Lexington--Insult to
Franklin--England Precipitates War--Americans Ridiculed--Pitt's Noble
Defence--Attitude of Eminent Men--Action of Cities--No Enthusiasm in
Enlistments in England and Ireland--The Press-Gang--Enlistment of
Criminals--Sentiment of People of Scotland--Lecky's Estimate--Addresses
Upholding the King--Summary of Highland Addresses--Emigration
Prohibited--Resentment Against Highlanders--Shown in Original
Draft of Declaration of Independence--Petitions of Donald Macleod      292


CHAPTER XIII.

HIGHLAND REGIMENTS IN AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

Eulogy of Pitt--Organizing in America--Secret Instructions to Governor
Tryon--Principal Agents--Royal Highland Emigrants--How Received--Colonel
Maclean Saves Quebec--Siege of Quebec--First Battalion in
Canada--Burgoyne's Doubts--Second Battalion--Sufferings of--Treatment
of--Battle of Eutaw Springs--Royal Highland Emigrants Discharged--List
of Officers--Grants of Land--John Bethune--42nd or Royal
Highlanders--Embarks for America--Capture of Highlanders--Capture of
Oxford Transport--Prisoners from the Crawford--British Fleet Arrives at
Staten Island--Battle of Long Island--Ardor of Highlanders--Americans
Evacuate New York--Patriotism of Mrs. Murray--Peril of Putnam--Gallant
Conduct of Major Murray--Battle of Harlem--Capture of Fort
Washington--Royal Highlanders in New Jersey--Attacked at
Pisquatiqua--Sergeant McGregor--Battle of Brandywine--Wayne's Army
Surprised--Expeditions During Winter of 1779--Skirmishing and
Suffering--Infusion of Poor Soldiers--Capture of Charleston--Desertions
Regiment Reduced--Sails for Halifax--Table of Casualties--Fraser's
Highlanders--Sails for America--Capture of Transports--Reports of Captain
Seth Harding and Colonel Archibald Campbell--Confinement of Colonel
Campbell--Interest in by Washington--Battle of Brooklin--Diversified
Employment--Expedition Against Little Egg Harbor--Capture of
Savannah--Retrograde Movement of General Prevost--Battle of Brier
Creek--Invasion of South Carolina--Battle of Stono Ferry--Retreat to
Savannah--Siege of--Capture of Stony Point--Surrender of Charleston--Battle
of Camden--Defeat of General Sumter--Battle of King's Mountain--Battle of
Blackstocks--Battle of the Cowpens--Battle of Guilford Court-House--March
of British Army to Yorktown--Losses of Fraser's Highlanders--Surrender of
Yorktown--Highlanders Prisoners--Regiment Discharged at Perth--Argyle
Highlanders--How Constituted--Sails for Halifax--Two Companies at
Charleston--At Penobscot--Besieged by Americans--Regiment Returns to
England--Macdonald's Highlanders--Sails for New York--Embarks for
Virginia--Bravery of the Soldiers--Highlanders on Horseback--Surrender
of Yorktown--Cantoned at Winchester--Removed to Lancaster--Disbanded
at Stirling Castle--Summary--Estimate of Washington--His Opinion
of Highlanders--Not Guilty of Wanton Cruelty                           308


CHAPTER XIV.

DISTINGUISHED HIGHLANDERS WHO SERVED IN AMERICA IN THE INTERESTS
OF GREAT BRITAIN.

General Sir Alan Cameron--General Sir Archibald Campbell--General
John Campbell--Lord William Campbell--General Simon Fraser of
Balnain--General Simon Fraser of Lovat--General Simon Fraser--General
James Grant of Ballindalloch--General Allan Maclean of Torloisk--Sir
Allan Maclean--General Francis Maclean--General John Small--Flora
Macdonald                                                              377


CHAPTER XV.

DISTINGUISHED HIGHLANDERS IN AMERICAN INTEREST.

General Alexander McDougall--General Lachlan McIntosh--General
Arthur St. Clair--Serjeant Macdonald                                   398


APPENDIX.

Note A.--First Emigrants to America                                    417

Note B.--Letter of Donald Macpherson                                   417

Note C.--Emigration during the Eighteenth Century                      419

Note D.--Appeal to the Highlanders lately arrived from Scotland        422

Note E.--Ingratitude of the Highlanders                                426

Note F.--Were the Highlanders Faithful to their Oath to the Americans  426

Note G.--Marvellous Escape of Captain McArthur                         430

Note H.--Highlanders in South Carolina                                 442

Note I.--Alexander McNaughton                                          443

Note J.--Allan McDonald's Complaint to the President of Congress       444

Note K.--The Glengarry Settlers                                        445

Note to Chapter VIII                                                   448

Note L.--Moravian Indians                                              448

Note M.--Highlanders Refused Lands in America                          450

Note N.--Captain James Stewart commissioned to raise a company of
Highlanders                                                            453

List of Subscribers                                                    456




ILLUSTRATIONS.


Battle of Culloden                                     Frontispiece

Coire-nan-Uriskin                                                26

House of Henry McWhorter                                         52

View of Battle-Field of Alamance                                 55

Scottish India House                                             90

Barbacue Church, where Flora Macdonald Worshipped               144

Johnson Hall                                                    204

View of the Valley of Wyoming                                   218

Highland Officer                                                256

Old Blockhouse Fort Duquesne                                    281

General Sir Archibald Campbell                                  397

Brigadier General Simon Fraser                                  382

General Simon Fraser of Loval                                   387

Sir Allan Maclean, Bart                                         391

Flora Macdonald                                                 394

General Alexander McDougall                                     398

General Lachlan McIntosh                                        402

General Arthur St. Clair                                        405

Sergeant Macdonald and Colonel Gainey                           413




PARTIAL LIST OF PRINCIPAL AUTHORITIES CONSULTED.


American Archives.

Answer of Cornwallis to Clinton. London, 1783.

Bancroft (George.) History of the United States. London, N.D.

Burt (Captain.) Letters from the North of Scotland, London. 1815.

Burton (J.H.) Darien Papers, Bannatyne Club. 1849

Burton (J.H.) History of Scotland. Edinburgh, 1853.

Celtic Monthly, Inverness, 1876-1888.

Georgia Historical Society Collections.

Graham (James J.) Memoirs General Graham, Edinburgh, 1862.

Hotten (J.C.) List of Emigrants to America, New York, 1874.

Johnson (C.) History Washington County, New York, Philadelphia, 1878.

Keltie (J.S.). History of the Highland Clans, Edinburgh, 1882.

Lecky (W.E.H.) History of England. London, 1892.

Lossing (B.J.) Field-Book of the American Revolution. New York, 1855.

Macaulay (T.B.) History of England, Boston, N.D.

McDonald (H.) Letter-Book, New York Historical Society, 1892.

Macdonell (J.A.) Sketches of Glengarry, Montreal. 1893.

McLeod (D.) Brief Review of the Settlement of Upper Canada, Cleveland,
1841.

Martin (M.) Description Western Isles, Glasgow, 1884.

National Portrait Gallery of Distinguished Americans, Philadelphia, 1852.

New York Documentary and Colonial History.

North Carolina Colonial Record.

Paterson (J.) History Pictou County. Nova Scotia, Montreal. 1893.

Proceedings Scotch-Irish American Congress. 1889-1896.

Rogers (H.) Hadden's Journal and Orderly Book, Albany, 1884.

Scott (Sir W.) Lady of the Lake, New York, N.D.

Scott (Sir W.) Tales of a Grandfather, Boston, 1852.

Smith (William) History of New York, New York, 1814.

Smith (W.H.) St. Clair Papers, Cincinnati, 1882.

Sparks (Jared) Writings of Washington, Boston. 1837.

Stephens (W.B.) History of Georgia, New York. 1859.

St. Clair (Arthur.) Narrative, Philadelphia, 1812.

Stewart (David.) Sketches of the Highlanders, Edinburgh, 1822.

Stone (W.L.) Life of Joseph Brant, New York. 1838.

Stone (W.L.) Orderly Book of Sir John Johnson, Albany, 1882.

Tarleton (Lieut. Col.) Campaigns of, 1780-1781. London, 1787.

Washington and his Generals, Philadelphia, 1848.




CHAPTER I.

THE HIGHLANDERS OF SCOTLAND.


A range of mountains forming a lofty and somewhat shattered rampart,
commencing in the county of Aberdeen, north of the river Don, and
extending in a southwest course across the country, till it terminates
beyond Ardmore, in the county of Dumbarton, divides Scotland into two
distinct parts. The southern face of these mountains is bold, rocky,
dark and precipitous. The land south of this line is called the
Lowlands, and that to the north, including the range, the Highlands. The
maritime outline of the Highlands is also bold and rocky, and in many
places deeply indented by arms of the sea. The northern and western
coasts are fringed with groups of islands. The general surface of the
country is mountainous, yet capable of supporting innumerable cattle,
sheep and deer. The scenery is nowhere excelled for various forms of
beauty and sublimity. The lochs and bens have wrought upon the
imaginations of historians, poets and novelists.

The inhabitants living within these boundaries were as unique as their
bens and glens. From the middle of the thirteenth century they have been
distinctly marked from those inhabiting the low countries, in
consequence of which they exhibit a civilization peculiarly their own.
By their Lowland neighbors they were imperfectly known, being generally
regarded as a horde of savage thieves, and their country as an
impenetrable wilderness. From this judgment they made no effort to free
themselves, but rather inclined to confirm it. The language spoken by
the two races greatly varied which had a tendency to establish a marked
characteristic difference between them. For a period of seven centuries
the entrances or passes into the Grampians constituted a boundary
between both the people and their language. At the south the Saxon
language was universally spoken, while beyond the range the Gaelic
formed the mother tongue, accompanied by the plaid, the claymore and
other specialties which accompanied Highland characteristics. Their
language was one of the oldest and least mongrel types of the great
Aryan family of speech.

The country in which the Gaelic was in common use among all classes of
people may be defined by a line drawn from the western opening of the
Pentland Frith, sweeping around St. Kilda, from thence embracing the
entire cluster of islands to the east and south, as far as Arran; thence
to the Mull of Kintyre, re-entering the mainland at Ardmore, in
Dumbartonshire, following the southern face of the Grampians to
Aberdeenshire, and ending on the north-east point of Caithness.

For a period of nearly two hundred years the Highlander has been an
object of study by strangers. Travellers have written concerning them,
but dwelt upon such points as struck their fancy. A people cannot be
judged by the jottings of those who have not studied the question with
candor and sufficient information. Fortunately the Highlands, during the
present century, have produced men who have carefully set forth their
history, manners and customs. These men have fully weighed the questions
of isolation, mode of life, habits of thought, and wild surroundings,
which developed in the Highlander firmness of decision, fertility in
resource, ardor in friendship, love of country, and a generous
enthusiasm, as well as a system of government.

The Highlanders were tall, robust, well formed and hardy. Early
marriages were unknown among them, and it was rare for a female of puny
stature and delicate constitution to be honored with a husband. They
were not obliged by art in forming their bodies, for Nature acted her
part bountifully to them, and among them there are but few bodily
imperfections.

The division of the people into clans, tribes or families, under
separate chiefs, constituted the most remarkable circumstance in their
political condition, which ultimately resulted in many of their peculiar
sentiments, customs and institutions. For the most part the monarchs of
Scotland had left the people alone, and, therefore, had but little to do
in the working out of their destiny. Under little or no restraint from
the State, the patriarchal form of government became universal.

It is a singular fact that although English ships had navigated the
known seas and transplanted colonies, yet the Highlanders were but
little known in London, even as late as the beginning of the eighteenth
century. To the people of England it would have been a matter of
surprise to learn that in the north of Great Britain, and at a distance
of less than five hundred miles from their metropolis, there were many
miniature courts, in each of which there was a hereditary ruler,
attended by guards, armor-bearers, musicians, an orator, a poet, and who
kept a rude state, dispensed justice, exacted tribute, waged war, and
contracted treaties.

The ruler of each clan was called a chief, who was really the chief man
of his family. Each clan was divided into branches who had chieftains
over them. The members of the clan claimed consanguinity to the chief.
The idea never entered into the mind of a Highlander that the chief was
anything more than the head of the clan. The relation he sustained was
subordinate to the will of the people. Sometimes his sway was unlimited,
but necessarily paternal. The tribesmen were strongly attached to the
person of their chief. He stood in the light of a protector, who must
defend them and right their wrongs. They rallied to his support, and in
defense they had a contempt for danger. The sway of the chief was of
such a nature as to cultivate an imperishable love of independence,
which was probably strengthened by an exceptional hardiness of
character.

The chief generally resided among his clansmen, and his castle was the
court where rewards were distributed and distinctions conferred. All
disputes were settled by his decision. They followed his standard in
war, attended him in the chase, supplied his table and harvested the
products of his fields. His nearest kinsmen became sub-chiefs, or
chieftains, held their lands and properties from him, over which they
exercised a subordinate jurisdiction. These became counsellors and
assistants in all emergencies. One chief was distinguished from another
by having a greater number of attendants, and by the exercise of
general hospitality, kindness and condescension. At the castle everyone
was made welcome, and treated according to his station, with a degree of
courtesy and regard for his feelings. This courtesy not only raised the
clansman in his own estimation, but drew the ties closer that bound him
to his chief.

While the position of chief was hereditary, yet the heir was obliged in
honor to give a specimen of his valor, before he was assumed or declared
leader of his people. Usually he made an incursion upon some chief with
whom his clan had a feud. He gathered around him a retinue of young men
who were ambitious to signalize themselves. They were obliged to bring,
by open force, the cattle they found in the land they attacked, or else
die in the attempt. If successful the youthful chief was ever after
reputed valiant and worthy of the government. This custom being
reciprocally used among them, was not reputed robbery; for the damage
which one tribe sustained would receive compensation at the inauguration
of its chief.

Living in a climate, severe in winter, the people inured themselves to
the frosts and snows, and cared not for the exposure to the severest
storms or fiercest blasts. They were content to lie down, for a night's
rest, among the heather on the hillside, in snow or rain, covered only
by their plaid. It is related that the laird of Keppoch, chieftain of a
branch of the MacDonalds, in a winter campaign against a neighboring
clan, with whom he was at war, gave orders for a snow-ball to lay under
his head in the night; whereupon, his followers objected, saying, "Now
we despair of victory, since our leader has become so effeminate he
can't sleep without a pillow."

The high sense of honor cultivated by the relationship sustained to the
chief was reflected by the most obscure inhabitant. Instances of theft
from the dwelling houses seldom ever occurred, and highway robbery was
never known. In the interior all property was safe without the security
of locks, bolts and bars. In summer time the common receptacle for
clothes, cheese, and everything that required air, was an open barn or
shed. On account of wars, and raids from the neighboring clans, it was
found necessary to protect the gates of castles.

The Highlanders were a brave and high-spirited people, and living under
a turbulent monarchy, and having neighbors, not the most peaceable, a
warlike character was either developed or else sustained. Inured to
poverty they acquired a hardihood which enabled them to sustain severe
privations. In their school of life it was taught to consider courage an
honorable virtue and cowardice the most disgraceful failing. Loving
their native glen, they were ever ready to defend it to the last
extremity. Their own good name and devotion to the clan emulated and
held them to deeds of daring.

It was hazardous for a chief to engage in war without the consent of his
people; nor could deception be practiced successfully. Lord Murray
raised a thousand men on his father's and lord Lovat's estates, under
the assurance that they were to serve king James, but in reality for the
service of king William. This was discovered while Murray was in the act
of reviewing them; immediately they broke ranks, ran to an adjoining
brook, and, filling their bonnets with water, drank to king James'
health, and then marched off with pipes playing to join Dundee.

The clan was raised within an incredibly short time. When a sudden or
important emergency demanded the clansmen the chief slew a goat, and
making a cross of light wood, seared its extremities with fire, and
extinguished them in the blood of the animal. This was called the _Fiery
Cross_, or Cross of Shame, because disobedience to what the symbol
implied inferred infamy. It was delivered to a swift trusty runner, who
with the utmost speed carried it to the first hamlet and delivered it to
the principal person with the word of rendezvous. The one receiving it
sent it with the utmost despatch to the next village; and thus with the
utmost celerity it passed through all the district which owed allegiance
to the chief, and if the danger was common, also among his neighbors and
allies. Every man between the ages of sixteen and sixty, capable of
bearing arms, must immediately repair to the place of rendezvous, in his
best arms and accoutrements. In extreme cases childhood and old age
obeyed it. He who failed to appear suffered the penalties of fire and
sword, which were emblematically denounced to the disobedient by the
bloody and burnt marks upon this warlike signal.

In the camp, on the march, or in battle, the clan was commanded by the
chief. If the chief was absent, then some responsible chieftain of the
clan took the lead. In both their slogan guided them, for every clan had
its own war-cry. Before commencing an attack the warriors generally took
off their jackets and shoes. It was long remembered in Lochabar, that at
the battle of Killiecrankie, Sir Ewen Cameron, at the head of his clan,
just before engaging in the conflict, took from his feet, what was
probably the only pair of shoes, among his tribesmen. Thus freed from
everything that might impede their movements, they advanced to the
assault, on a double-quick, and when within a few yards of the enemy,
would pour in a volley of musketry and then rush forward with claymore
in hand, reserving the pistol and dirk for close action. When in close
quarters the bayonets of the enemy were received on their targets;
thrusting them aside, they resorted to the pistol and dirk to complete
the confusion made by the musket and claymore. In a close engagement
they could not be withstood by regular troops.

Another kind of warfare to which the Highlander was prone, is called
_Creach_, or foray, but really the lifting of cattle. The _Creach_
received the approbation of the clan, and was planned by some
responsible individual. Their predatory raids were not made for the mere
pleasure of plundering their neighbors. To them it was legitimate
warfare, and generally in retaliation for recent injuries, or in revenge
of former wrongs. They were strict in not offending those with whom they
were in amity. They had high notions of the duty of observing faith to
allies and hospitality to guests. They were warriors receiving the
lawful prize of war, and when driving the herds of the Lowland farmers
up the pass which led to their native glen considered it just as
legitimate as did the Raleighs and Drakes when they divided the spoils
of Spanish galleons. They were not always the aggressors. Every evidence
proves that they submitted to grievances before resorting to arms. When
retaliating it was with the knowledge that their own lands would be
exposed to rapine. As an illustration of the view in which the _Creach_
was held, the case of Donald Cameron may be taken, who was tried in
1752, for cattle stealing, and executed at Kinloch Rannoch. At his
execution he dwelt with surprise and indignation on his fate. He had
never committed murder, nor robbed man or house, nor taken anything but
cattle, and only then when on the grass, from one with whom he was at
feud; why then should he be punished for doing that which was a common
prey to all?

After a successful expedition the chief gave a great entertainment, to
which all the country around was invited. On such an occasion whole deer
and beeves were roasted and laid on boards or hurdles of rods placed on
the rough trunks of trees, so arranged as to form an extended table.
During the feast spirituous liquors went round in plenteous libations.
Meanwhile the pipers played, after which the women danced, and, when
they retired, the harpers were introduced.

Great feasting accompanied a wedding, and also the burial of a great
personage. At the burial of one of the Lords of the Isles, in Iona, nine
hundred cows were consumed.

The true condition of a people may be known by the regard held for
woman. The beauty of their women was extolled in song. Small eye-brows
was considered as a mark of beauty, and names were bestowed upon the
owners from this feature. No country in Europe held woman in so great
esteem as in the Highlands of Scotland. An unfaithful, unkind, or even
careless husband was looked upon as a monster. The parents gave dowers
according to their means, consisting of cattle, provisions, farm
stocking, etc. Where the parents were unable to provide sufficiently,
then it was customary for a newly-married couple to collect from their
neighbors enough to serve the first year.

The marriage vow was sacredly kept. Whoever violated it, whether male or
female, which seldom ever occurred, was made to stand in a barrel of
cold water at the church door, after which the delinquent, clad in a wet
canvas shirt, was made to stand before the congregation, and at the
close of service, the minister explained the nature of the offense. A
separation of a married couple among the common people was almost
unknown. However disagreeable the wife might be, the husband rarely
contemplated putting her away. Being his wife, he bore with her
failings; as the mother of his children he continued to support her; a
separation would have entailed reproach upon his posterity.

Young married women never wore any close head-dress. The hair, with a
slight ornament was tied with ribbons; but if she lost her virtue then
she was obliged to wear a cap, and never appear again with her head
uncovered.

Honesty and fidelity were sacredly inculcated, and held to be virtues
which all should be careful to practice. Honesty and fair dealing were
enforced by custom, which had a more powerful influence, in their mutual
transactions, than the legal enactments of later periods. Insolvency was
considered disgraceful, and _prima facie_ a crime. Bankrupts surrendered
their all, and then clad in a party colored clouted garment, with hose
of different sets, had their hips dashed against a stone in presence of
the people, by four men, each seizing an arm or a leg. Instances of
faithfulness and attachment are innumerable. The one most frequently
referred to occurred during the battle of Inverkeithing, between the
Royalists and the troops of Cromwell, during which seven hundred and
fifty of the Mac Leans, led by their chief, Sir Hector, fell upon the
field. In the heat of the conflict, eight brothers of the clan
sacrificed their lives in defense of their chief. Being hard pressed by
the enemy, and stoutly refusing to change his position, he was supported
and covered by these intrepid brothers. As each brother fell another
rushed forward, covering his chief with his body, crying _Fear eil
airson Eachainn_ (Another for Hector). This phrase has continued ever
since as a proverb or watch-word when a man encounters any sudden danger
that requires instant succor.

The Highlands of Scotland is the only country of Europe that has never
been distracted by religious controversy, or suffered from religious
persecution. This possibly may have been due to their patriarchal form
of government. The principles of the Christian religion were warmly
accepted by the people, and cherished with a strong feeling. In their
religious convictions they were peaceable and unobtrusive, never arming
themselves with Scriptural texts in order to carry on offensive
operations. Never being perplexed by doubt, they desired no one to
corroborate their faith, and no inducement could persuade them to strut
about in the garb of piety in order to attract respect. The reverence
for the Creator was in the heart, rather than upon the lips. In that
land papists and protestants lived together in charity and brotherhood,
earnest and devoted in their churches, and in contact with the world,
humane and charitable. The pulpit administrations were clear and simple,
and blended with an impressive and captivating spirit. All ranks were
influenced by the belief that cruelty, oppression, or other misconduct,
descended to the children, even to the third and fourth generations.

To a certain extent the religion of the Highlander was blended with a
belief in ghosts, dreams and visions. The superstitions of the Gael were
distinctly marked, and entirely too important to be overlooked. These
beliefs may have been largely due to an uncultivated imagination and the
narrow sphere in which he moved. His tales were adorned with the
miraculous and his poetry contained as many shadowy as substantial
personages. Innumerable were the stories of fairies, kelpies, urisks,
witches and prophets or seers. Over him watched the Daoine Shi', or men
of peace. In the glens and corries were heard the eerie sounds during
the watches of the night. Strange emotions were aroused in the hearts of
those who heard the raging of the tempest, the roaring of the swollen
rivers and dashing of the water-fall, the thunder peals echoing from
crag to crag, and the lightning rending rocks and shivering to pieces
the trees. When a reasonable cause could not be assigned for a calamity
it was ascribed to the operations of evil spirits. The evil one had
power to make compacts, but against these was the virtue of the charmed
circle. One of the most dangerous and malignant of beings was the
Water-kelpie, which allured women and children into its element, where
they were drowned, and then became its prey. It could skim along the
surface of the water, and browse by its side, or even suddenly swell a
river or loch, which it inhabited, until an unwary traveller might be
engulfed. The Urisks were half-men, half-spirits, who, by kind
treatment, could be induced to do a good turn, even to the drudgeries of
a farm. Although scattered over the whole Highlands, they assembled in
the celebrated cave--_Coire-nan-Uriskin_--situated near the base of Ben
Venue, in Aberfoyle.

[Illustration: COIRE-NAN-URISKIN.]

   "By many a bard, in Celtic tongue,
   Has Coire-nan-Uriskin been sung;
   A softer name the Saxons gave,
   And call'd the grot the Goblin-cave,

          *       *       *       *       *

   Gray Superstition's whisper dread
   Debarr'd the spot to vulgar tread;
   For there, she said, did fays resort,
   And satyrs hold their sylvan court."--
                     _Lady of the Lake_.

The Daoine Shi' were believed to be a peevish, repining race of beings,
who, possessing but a scant portion of happiness, envied mankind their
more complete and substantial enjoyments. They had a sort of a shadowy
happiness, a tinsel grandeur, in their subterranean abodes. Many persons
had been entertained in their secret retreats, where they were received
into the most splendid apartments, and regaled with sumptuous banquets
and delicious wines. Should a mortal, however, partake of their
dainties, then he was forever doomed to the condition of shi'ick, or Man
of Peace. These banquets and all the paraphernalia of their homes were
but deceptions. They dressed in green, and took offense at any mortal
who ventured to assume their favorite color. Hence, in some parts of
Scotland, green was held to be unlucky to certain tribes and counties.
The men of Caithness alleged that their bands that wore this color were
cut off at the battle of Flodden; and for this reason they avoided the
crossing of the Ord on a Monday, that being the day of the week on which
the ill-omened array set forth. This color was disliked by both those of
the name of Ogilvy and Graham. The greatest precautions had to be taken
against the Daoine Shi' in order to prevent them from spiriting away
mothers and their newly-born children. Witches and prophets or seers,
were frequently consulted, especially before going into battle. The
warnings were not always received with attention. Indeed, as a rule, the
chiefs were seldom deterred from their purpose by the warnings of the
oracles they consulted.

It has been advocated that the superstitions of the Highlanders, on the
whole, were elevating and ennobling, which plea cannot well be
sustained. It is admitted that in some of these superstitions there were
lessons taught which warned against dishonorable acts, and impressed
what to them were attached disgrace both to themselves and also to their
kindred; and that oppression, treachery, or any other wickedness would
be punished alike in their own persons and in those of their
descendants. Still, on the other hand, it must not be forgotten that the
doctrines of rewards and punishments had for generations been taught
them from the pulpit. How far these teachings had been interwoven with
their superstitions would be an impossible problem to solve.

The Highlanders were poetical. Their poets, or bards, were legion, and
possessed a marked influence over the imaginations of the people. They
excited the Gael to deeds of valor. Their compositions were all set to
music,--many of them composing the airs to which their verses were
adapted. Every chief had his bard. The aged minstrel was in attendance
on all important occasions: at birth, marriage and death; at succession,
victory, and defeat. He stimulated the warriors in battle by chanting
the glorious deeds of their ancestors; exhorted them to emulate those
distinguished examples, and, if possible, shed a still greater lustre on
the warlike reputation of the clan. These addresses were delivered with
great vehemence of manner, and never failed to raise the feelings of the
listeners to the highest pitch of enthusiasm. When the voice of the bard
was lost in the din of battle then the piper raised the inspiring sound
of the pibroch. When the conflict was over the bard and the piper were
again called into service--the former to honor the memory of those who
had fallen, to celebrate the actions of the survivors, and excite them
to further deeds of valor. The piper played the mournful Coronach for
the slain, and by his notes reminded the survivors how honorable was the
conduct of the dead.

The bards were the _senachies_ or historians of the clans, and were
recognized as a very important factor in society. They represented the
literature of their times. In the absence of books they constituted the
library and learning of the tribe. They were the living chronicles of
past events, and the depositories of popular poetry. Tales and old poems
were known to special reciters. When collected around their evening
fires, a favorite pastime was a recital of traditional tales and poetry.
The most acceptable guest was the one who could rehearse the longest
poem or most interesting tale. Living in the land of Ossian, it was
natural to ask a stranger, "Can you speak of the days of Fingal?" If the
answer was in the affirmative, then the neighbors were summoned, and
poems and old tales would be the order until the hour of midnight. The
reciter threw into the recitation all the powers of his soul and gave
vent to the sentiment. Both sexes always participated in these meetings.

The poetry was not always of the same cast. It varied as greatly as were
the moods of the composer. The sublimity of Ossian had its opposite in
the biting sarcasm and trenchant ridicule of some of the minor poets.

Martin, who travelled in the Western Isles, about 1695, remarks: "They
are a very sagacious people, quick of apprehension, and even the vulgar
exceed all those of their rank and education I ever yet saw in any other
country. They have a great genius for music and mechanics. I have
observed several of their children that before they could speak were
capable to distinguish and make choice of one tune before another upon
a violin; for they appeared always uneasy until the tune which they
fancied best was played, and then they expressed their satisfaction by
the motions of their head and hands. There are several of them who
invent tunes already taking in the South of Scotland and elsewhere. Some
musicians have endeavored to pass for first inventors of them by
changing their name, but this has been impracticable; for whatever
language gives the modern name, the tune still continues to speak its
true original. * * *. Some of both sexes have a quick vein of poetry,
and in their language--which is very emphatic--they compose rhyme and
verse, both which powerfully affect the fancy. And in my judgment (which
is not singular in this matter) with as great force as that of any
ancient or modern poet I ever read. They have generally very retentive
memories; they see things at a great distance. The unhappiness of their
education, and their want of converse with foreign nations, deprives
them of the opportunity to cultivate and beautify their genius, which
seems to have been formed by nature for great attainments."[1]

The piper was an important factor in Highland society. From the earliest
period the Highlanders were fond of music and dancing, and the notes of
the bag-pipe moved them as no other instrument could. The piper
performed his duty in peace as well as in war. At harvest homes,
Hallowe'en christenings, weddings, and evenings spent in dancing, he was
the hero for the occasion. The people took delight in the high-toned
warlike notes to which they danced, and were charmed with the solemn and
melancholy airs which filled up the pauses. Withal the piper was a
humorous fellow and was full of stories.

The harp was a very ancient musical instrument, and was called
_clarsach_. It had thirty strings, with the peculiarity that the front
arm was not perpendicular to the sounding board, but turned considerably
towards the left, to afford a greater opening for the voice of the
performer, and this construction showed that the accompaniment of the
voice was a chief province of the harper. Some harps had but four
strings. Great pains were taken to decorate the instrument. One of the
last harpers was Roderick Morrison, usually called Rory Dall. He served
the chief of Mac Leod. He flourished about 1650.

Referring again to Gaelic music it may be stated that its air can
easily be detected. It is quaint and pathetic, moving one with intervals
singular in their irregularity. When compared with the common airs among
the English, the two are found to be quite distinct. The airs to which
"Scots wha hae," "Auld Langsyne," "Roy's Wife," "O a' the Airts," and
"Ye Banks and Braes" are written, are such that nothing similar can be
found in England. They are Scottish. Airs of precisely the same
character are, however, found among all Keltic races.

No portraiture of a Highlander would be complete without a description
of his garb. His costume was as picturesque as his native hills. It was
well adapted to his mode of life. By its lightness and freedom he was
enabled to use his limbs and handle his arms with ease and dexterity. He
moved with great swiftness. Every clan had a plaid of its own, differing
in the combination of its colors from all others. Thus a Cameron, a Mac
Donald, a Mac Kenzie, etc., was known by his plaid; and in like manner
the Athole, Glenorchy, and other colors of different districts were
easily discernible. Besides those of tribal designations, industrious
housewives had patterns, distinguished by the set, superior quality, and
fineness of the cloth, or brightness and variety of the colors. The
removal of tenants rarely occurred, and consequently, it was easy to
preserve and perpetuate any particular set, or pattern, even among the
lower orders. The plaid was made of fine wool, with much ingenuity in
sorting the colors. In order to give exact patterns the women had before
them a piece of wood with every thread of the stripe upon it. Until
quite recently it was believed that the plaid, philibeg and bonnet
formed the ancient garb. The philibeg or kilt, as distinct from the
plaid, in all probability, is comparatively modern. The truis,
consisting of breeches and stockings, is one piece and made to fit
closely to the limbs, was an old costume. The belted plaid was a piece
of tartan two yards in breadth, and four in length. It surrounded the
waist in great folds, being firmly bound round the loins with a leathern
belt, and in such manner that the lower side fell down to the middle of
the knee joint. The upper part was fastened to the left shoulder with a
large brooch or pin, leaving the right arm uncovered and at full
liberty. In wet weather the plaid was thrown loose, covering both
shoulders and body. When the use of both arms was required, it was
fastened across the breast by a large bodkin or circular brooch. The
sporan, a large purse of goat or badger's skin, usually ornamented, was
hung before. The bonnet completed the garb. The garters were broad and
of rich colors, forming a close texture which was not liable to wrinkle.
The kilted-plaid was generally double, and when let down enveloped the
whole person, thus forming a shelter from the storm. Shoes and stockings
are of comparatively recent times. In lieu of the shoe untanned leather
was tied with thongs around the feet. Burt, writing about the year 1727,
when some innovations had been made, says: "The Highland dress consists
of a bonnet made of thrum without a brim, a short coat, a waistcoat
longer by five or six inches, short stockings, and brogues or pumps
without heels * * * Few besides gentlemen wear the truis, that is, the
breeches and stockings all of one piece and drawn on together; over this
habit they wear a plaid, which is usually three yards long and two
breadths wide, and the whole garb is made of checkered tartan or
plaiding; this with the sword and pistol, is called a _full dress_, and
to a well proportioned man with any tolerable air, it makes an agreeable
figure."[2] The plaid was the undress of the ladies, and to a woman who
adjusted it with an important air, it proved to be a becoming veil. It
was made of silk or fine worsted, checkered with various lively colors,
two breadths wide and three yards in length. It was brought over the
head and made to hide or discover the face, according to the occasion,
or the wearer's fancy; it reached to the waist behind; one corner
dropped as low as the ankle on one side, and the other part, in folds,
hung down from the opposite arm. The sleeves were of scarlet cloth,
closed at the ends as man's vests, with gold lace round them, having
plate buttons set with fine stones. The head-dress was a fine kerchief
of linen, straight about the head. The plaid was tied before on the
breast, with a buckle of silver or brass, according to the quality of
the person. The plaid was tied round the waist with a belt of leather.

The Highlanders bore their part in all of Scotland's wars. An appeal, or
order, to them never was made in vain. Only a brief notice must here
suffice. Almost at the very dawn of Scotland's history we find the
inhabitants beyond the Grampians taking a bold stand in behalf of their
liberties. The Romans early triumphed over England and the southern
limits of Scotland. In the year 78 A.D., Agricola, an able and vigorous
commander, was appointed over the forces in Britain. During the years
80, 81, and 82, he subdued that part of Scotland south of the friths of
Forth and Clyde. Learning that a confederacy had been formed to resist
him at the north, during the summer of 83, he opened the campaign beyond
the friths. His movements did not escape the keen eyes of the
mountaineers, for in the night time they suddenly fell upon the Ninth
Legion at Loch Ore, and were only repulsed after a desperate resistance.
The Roman army receiving auxiliaries from the south, Agricola, in the
summer of 84, took up his line of march towards the Grampians. The
northern tribes, in the meantime, had united under a powerful leader
whom the Romans called Galgacus. They fully realized that their
liberties were in danger. They sent their wives and children into places
of safety, and, thirty thousand strong, waited the advance of the enemy.
The two armies came together at _Mons Grampius_. The field presented a
dreadful spectacle of carnage and destruction; for ten thousand of the
tribesmen fell in the engagement. The Roman army elated by its success
passed the night in exultation. The victory was barren of results, for,
after three years of persevering warfare, the Romans were forced to
relinquish the object of the expedition. In the year 183 the Highlanders
broke through the northern Roman wall. In 207 the irrepressible people
again broke over their limits, which brought the emperor Severus,
although old and in bad health, into the field. Exasperated by their
resistance the emperor sought to extirpate them because they had
prevented his nation from becoming the conquerors of Europe. Collecting
a large body of troops he directed them into the mountains, and marched
from the wall of Antoninus even to the very extremity of the island; but
this year, 208, was also barren of fruits. Fifty thousand Romans fell a
prey to fatigue, the climate, and the desultory assaults of the natives.
Soon after the entire country north of the Antonine wall, was given up,
for it was found that while it was necessary for one legion to keep the
southern parts in subjection two were required to repel the incursions
of the Gael. Incursions from the north again broke out during the year
306, when the restless tribes were repelled by Constantius Chlorus. In
the year 345 they were again repelled by Constans. During all these
years the Highlanders were learning the art of war by their contact with
the Romans. They no longer feared the invaders, for about the year 360,
they advanced into the Roman territories and committed many
depredations. There was another outbreak about the year 398. Finally,
about the year 446, the Romans abandoned Britain, and advised the
inhabitants, who had suffered from the northern tribes, to protect
themselves by retiring behind and keeping in repair the wall of Severus.

The people were gradually forming for themselves distinct
characteristics, as well as a separate kingdom confined within the
Grampian boundaries. This has been known as the kingdom of the Scots;
but to the Highlander as that of the Gael, or Albanich. The epithets,
Scots and English, are totally unknown in Gaelic. They call the English
Sassanachs, the Lowlanders are Gauls, and their own country Gaeldach.

Passing over several centuries and paying no attention to the rapines of
the Danes and the Norse, we find that the power of the Norwegians, under
king Haco, was broken at the battle of the Largs, fought October 2d,
1263. King Alexander III. summoned the Highlanders, who rallied to the
defence of their country and rendered such assistance as was required.
The right wing of the Scottish army was composed of the men of Argyle,
Lennox, Athole, and Galloway, while the left wing was constituted by
those from Fife, Stirling, Berwick, and Lothian. The center, commanded
by the king in person, was composed of the men of Ross, Perth, Angus,
Mar, Mearns, Moray, Inverness, and Caithness.

The conquest of Scotland, undertaken by the English Edwards, culminated
in the battle of Bannockburn, fought Monday, June 24, 1314, when the
invaders met with a crushing defeat, leaving thirty thousand of their
number dead upon the field, or two-thirds as many as there were Scots
on the field. In this battle the reserve, composed of the men of Argyle,
Carrick, Kintyre, and the Isles, formed the fourth line, was commanded
by Bruce in person. The following clans, commanded in person by their
respective chiefs, had the distinguished honor of fighting nobly:
Stewart, Macdonald, Mackay, Mackintosh, Macpherson, Cameron, Sinclair,
Drummond, Campbell, Menzies, Maclean, Sutherland, Robertson, Grant,
Fraser, Macfarlane, Ross, Macgregor, Munro, Mackenzie, and Macquarrie,
or twenty-one in all.

In the year 1513, James IV. determined on an invasion of England, and
summoned the whole array of his kingdom to meet him on the common moor
of Edinburgh. One hundred thousand men assembled in obedience to the
command. This great host met the English on the field of Flodden,
September 9th. The right divisions of James' army were chiefly composed
of Highlanders. The shock of the mountaineers, as they poured upon the
English pikemen, was terrible; but the force of the onslaught once
sustained became spent with its own violence. The consequence was a
total rout of the right wing accompanied by great slaughter. Of this
host there perished on the field fifteen lords and chiefs of clans.

During the year 1547, the English, under the duke of Somerset, invaded
Scotland. The hostile armies came together at Pinkie, September 18th.
The right and left wings of the Scottish army were composed of
Highlanders. During the conflict the Highlanders could not resist the
temptation to plunder, and, while thus engaged, saw the division of
Angus falling back, though in good order; mistaking this retrograde
movement for a flight, they were suddenly seized with a panic and ran
off in all directions. Their terror was communicated to other troops,
who immediately threw away their arms and followed the Highlanders.
Everything was now lost; the ground over which the fight lay was as
thickly strewed with pikes as a floor with rushes; helmets, bucklers,
swords, daggers, and steel caps lay scattered on every side; and the
chase beginning at one o'clock, continued till six in the evening with
extraordinary slaughter.

During the reign of Charles I. civil commotions broke out which shook
the kingdom with great violence. The Scots were courted by king and
parliament alike. The Highlanders were devoted to the royal government.
In the year 1644 Montrose made a diversion in the Highlands. With
dazzling rapacity, at first only supported by a handful of followers,
but gathering numbers with success, he erected the royal standard at
Dumfries. The clans obeyed his summons, and on September 1st, at
Tippermuir, he defeated the Covenanters, and again on the 12th at the
Bridge of Dee. On February 2nd, 1645, at Inverlochy, he crushed the
Argyle Campbells, who had taken up the sword on behalf of Cromwell. In
rapid succession other victories were won at Auldearn, Alford and
Kilsyth. All Scotland now appeared to be recovered for Charles, but the
fruit of all these victories was lost by the defeat at Philiphaugh,
September 13th, 1645.

Within the brief space of three years. James II., of England, succeeded
in fanning the revolutionary elements both in England and Scotland into
a flame which he was powerless to quench. The Highlanders chiefly
adhered to the party of James which received the name of Jacobites.
Dundee hastened to the Highlands and around him gathered the Highland
chiefs at Lochabar. The army of William, under Hugh Mackay, met the
forces of Dundee at Killiecrankie, July 29th, 1689, where, under the
spirited leadership of the latter, and the irresistible torrent of the
Highland charge, the forces of the former were almost annihilated; but
at the moment of victory Bonnie Dundee was killed by a bullet. No one
was left who was equal to the occasion, or who could hold the clans
together, and hence the victory was in reality a defeat.

The exiled Stuarts looked with a longing eye to that crown which their
stupid folly had forfeited. They seemed fated to bring countless woes
upon the loyal hearted, brave, self-sacrificing Highlanders, and were
ever eager to take advantage of any circumstance that might lead to
their restoration. The accession of George I, in 1714, was an unhappy
event for Great Britain. Discontent soon pervaded the kingdom. All he
appeared to care about was to secure for himself and his family a high
position, which he scarcely knew how to occupy: to fill the pockets of
his German attendants and his German mistresses; to get away as often
as possible from his uncongenial islanders whose language he did not
understand, and to use the strength of Great Britain to obtain petty
advantages for his German principality. At once the new king exhibited
violent prejudices against some of the chief men of the nation, and
irritated without a cause a large part of his subjects. Some believed it
was a favorable opportunity to reinstate the Stuart dynasty. John
Erskine, eleventh earl of Mar, stung by studied and unprovoked insults,
on the part of the king, proceeded to the Highlands and placed himself
at the head of the forces of the house of Stuart, or Jacobites, as they
were called. On September 6, 1715, Mar assembled at Aboyne the noblemen,
chiefs of clans, gentlemen, and others, with such followers as could be
brought together, and proclaimed James, king of Great Britain. The
insurrection, both in England and Scotland, began to grow in popularity,
and would have been a success had there been at the head of affairs a
strong military man. Nearly all the principal chiefs of the clans were
drawn into the movement. At Sheriffmuir, the contending forces met,
Sunday, November 13, 1715. The victory was with the Highlanders, but
Mar's military talents were not equal to the occasion. The army was
finally disbanded at Aberdeen, in February, 1716.

The rebellion of 1745, headed by prince Charles Stuart, was the grandest
exhibition of chivalry, on the part of the Highlanders, that the world
has ever seen. They were actuated by an exalted sense of devotion to
that family, which for generations, they had been taught should reign
over them. At first victory crowned their efforts, but all was lost on
the disastrous field of Culloden, fought April 16, 1746.

Were it possible it would be an unspeakable pleasure to drop a veil over
the scene, at the close of the battle of Culloden. Language fails to
depict the horrors that ensued. It is scarcely within the bounds of
belief that human beings could perpetrate such atrocities upon the
helpless, the feeble, and the innocent, without regard to sex or age, as
followed in the wake of the victors. Highland historians have made the
facts known. It must suffice here to give a moderate statement from an
English writer:

   "Quarter was seldom given to the stragglers and fugitives, except to
   a few considerately reserved for public execution. No care or
   compassion was shown to their wounded; nay more, on the following day
   most of these were put to death in cold blood, with a cruelty such as
   never perhaps before or since has disgraced a British army. Some were
   dragged from the thickets or cabins where they had sought refuge,
   drawn out in line and shot, while others were dispatched by the
   soldiers with the stocks of their muskets. One farm-building, into
   which some twenty disabled Highlanders had crawled, was deliberately
   set on fire the next day, and burnt with them to the ground. The
   native prisoners were scarcely better treated; and even sufficient
   water was not vouchsafed to their thirst. **** Every kind of havoc
   and outrage was not only permitted, but, I fear, we must add,
   encouraged. Military license usurped the place of law, and a fierce
   and exasperated soldiery were at once judge--jury--executioner. ****
   The rebels' country was laid waste, the houses plundered, the cabins
   burnt, the cattle driven away. The men had fled to the mountains, but
   such as could be found were frequently shot; nor was mercy always
   granted even to their helpless families. In many cases the women and
   children, expelled from their homes and seeking shelter in the clefts
   of the rocks, miserably perished of cold and hunger: others were
   reduced to follow the track of the marauders, humbly imploring for
   the blood and offal of their own cattle which had been slaughtered
   for the soldiers' food! Such is the avowal which historical justice
   demands. But let me turn from further details of these painful and
   irritating scenes, or of the ribald frolics and revelry with which
   they were intermingled--races of naked women on horseback for the
   amusement of the camp at Fort Augustus."[3]

The author and abettor of these atrocities was the son of the reigning
monarch.

Not satisfied with the destruction which was carried into the very homes
of this gallant, brave and generous race of people, the British
parliament, with a refined cruelty, passed an act that, on and after
August 1, 1747, any person, man, or boy, in Scotland, who should on any
pretense whatever wear any part of the Highland garb, should be
imprisoned not less than six months; and on conviction of second
offense, transportation abroad for seven years. The soldiers had
instructions to shoot upon the spot any one seen wearing the Highland
garb, and this as late as September, 1750. This law and other laws made
at the same time were unnecessarily severe.

However impartial or fair a traveller may be his statements are not to
be accepted without due caution. He narrates that which most forcibly
attracts his attention, being ever careful to search out that which he
desires. Yet, to a certain extent, dependence must be placed in his
observations. From certain travellers are gleaned fearful pictures of
the Highlanders during the eighteenth century, written without a due
consideration of the underlying causes. The power of the chiefs had been
weakened, while the law was still impotent, many of them were in exile
and their estates forfeited, and landlords, in not a few instances,
placed over the clansmen, who were inimical to their best interests. As
has been noticed, in 1746 the country was ravaged and pitiless
oppression followed. Destruction and misery everywhere abounded. To
judge a former condition of a people by their present extremity affords
a distorted view of the picture.

Fire and sword, war and rapine, desolation and atrocity, perpetrated
upon a high-spirited and generous people, cannot conduce to the best
moral condition. Left in poverty and galled by outrage, wrongs will be
resorted to which otherwise would be foreign to a natural disposition.
If the influences of a more refined age had not penetrated the remote
glens, then a rougher reprisal must be expected. The coarseness, vice,
rapacity, and inhumanity of the oppressor must of necessity have a
corresponding influence on their better natures. If to this it be added
that some of the chiefs were naturally fierce, the origin of the sad
features could readily be determined. Whatever vices practiced or wrongs
perpetrated, the example was set before them by their more powerful and
better conditioned neighbors. Among the crimes enumerated is that some
of the chiefs increased their scanty incomes by kidnapping boys or men,
whom they sold as slaves to the American planters. If this be true, and
in all probability it was, there must have been confederates engaged in
maritime pursuits. But they did not have far to go for this lesson, for
this nefarious trade was taught them, at their very doors, by the
merchants of Aberdeen, who were "noted for a scandalous system of
decoying young boys from the country and selling them as slaves to the
planters in Virginia. It was a trade which in the early part of the
eighteenth century, was carried on to a considerable extent through the
Highlands; and a case which took place about 1742 attracted much notice
a few years later, when one of the victims having escaped from
servitude, returned to Aberdeen, and published a narrative of his
sufferings, seriously implicating some of the magistracy of the town. He
was prosecuted and condemned for libel by the local authorities, but the
case was afterwards carried to Edinburgh. The iniquitous system of
kidnapping was fully exposed, and the judges of the supreme court
unanimously reversed the verdict of the Aberdeen authorities and imposed
a heavy fine upon the provost, the four bailies, and the dean of guild.
*** An atrocious case of this kind, which shows clearly the state of the
Highlands, occurred in 1739. Nearly one hundred men, women and children
were seized in the dead of night on the islands of Skye and Harris,
pinioned, horribly beaten, and stowed away in a ship bound for America,
in order to be sold to the planters. Fortunately the ship touched at
Donaghadee in Ireland, and the prisoners, after undergoing the most
frightful sufferings, succeeded in escaping."[4]

Under existing circumstances it was but natural that the more
enterprising, and especially that intelligent portion who had lost their
heritable jurisdiction, should turn with longing eyes to another
country. America offered the most inviting asylum. Although there was
some emigration to America during the first half of the eighteenth
century, yet it did not fairly set in until about 1760. Between the
years 1763 and 1775 over twenty thousand Highlanders left their homes to
seek a better retreat in the forests of America.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: "Description of the Western Islands," pp. 199, 200.]

[Footnote 2: "Letters from the North," Vol. II., p. 167.]

[Footnote 3: Lord Mahon's "History of England," Vol. III, pp. 308-311.]

[Footnote 4: Lecky's "History of England," Vol. II, p. 274.]




CHAPTER II.

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.]




CHAPTER III.

THE CAUSES THAT LED TO EMIGRATION.


The social system of the Highlanders that bound the members of the clan
together was conducive to the pride of ancestry and the love of home.
This pride was so directed as to lead to the most beneficial results on
their character and conduct: forming strong attachments, leading to the
performance of laudable and heroic actions, and enabling the poorest to
endure the severest hardships without a murmur, and never complaining of
what they received to eat, or where they lodged, or of any other
privation. Instead of complaining of the difference in station or
fortune, or considering a ready obedience to the call of the chief as a
slavish oppression, they felt convinced that they were supporting their
own honor in showing their gratitude and duty to the generous head of
the family. In them it was a singular and characteristic feature to
contemplate with early familiarity the prospect of death, which was
considered as merely a passage from this to another state of existence,
enlivened by the assured hope that they should meet their friends and
kindred in a fairer and brighter world than this. This statement may be
perceived in the anxious care with which they provided the necessary
articles for a proper and becoming funeral. Even the poorest and most
destitute endeavored to save something for this last solemnity. It was
considered to be a sad calamity to be consigned to the grave among
strangers, without the attendance and sympathy of friends, and at a
distance from the family. If a relative died away from home, the
greatest exertions were made to carry the body back for interment among
the ashes of the forefathers. A people so nurtured could only
contemplate with despair the idea of being forced from the land of their
nativity, or emigrating from that beloved country, hallowed by the
remains of their kindred.

The Highlander, by nature, was opposed to emigration. All his instincts,
as well as training, led him to view with delight the permanency of home
and the constant companionship of those to whom he was related by ties
of consanguinity. Neither was he a creature of conquest, and looked not
with a covetous eye upon the lands of other nations. He would do battle
in a foreign land, but the Highlands of Scotland was his abiding place.
If he left his native glen in order to become a resident elsewhere,
there must have been a special or overpowering reason. He never
emigrated through choice. Unfortunately the simplicity of his nature,
his confiding trust, and love of chief and country, were doomed to
receive such a jolt as would shake the very fibres of his being, and
that from those to whom he looked for support and protection. Reference
here is not made to evictions awful crimes that commenced in 1784, but
to the change, desolation and misery growing out of the calamity at
Culloden.

Notwithstanding the peculiar characteristics of the Highlander, there
would of necessity arise certain circumstances which would lead some,
and even many, to change their habitation. From the days of the Crusader
downwards he was more or less active in foreign wars; and coming in
contact with different nationalities his mind would broaden and his
sentiment change, so that other lands and other people would be viewed
in a more favorable light. While this would not become general, yet it
would follow in many instances. Intercourse with another people,
racially and linguistically related, would have a tendency to invite a
closer affiliation. Hence, the inhabitants of the Western Isles had
almost constant communication, sometimes at war, it is true, but
generally in terms of amity, with the natives of North Ireland. It is
not surprising then that as early as 1584, Sorley Buy MacDonald should
lead a thousand Highlanders, called Redshanks, of the clans or families
of the MacDonalds, Campbells, and Magalanes, into Ulster, and in time
intermarry with the Irish, and finally become the most formidable
enemies of England in her designs of settling that country. Some of the
leading men were forced to flee on account of being attainted for
treason, having fought under Dundee in 1689, or under Mar in 1715, and
after Culloden in 1745 quite a hegira took place, many of whom found
service in the army of France. Individuals, seeking employment, found
their way into England before 1724. Although there was a strong movement
for England from the Lowlands, yet many were from the Highlands, to whom
was partly due the old proverb, "There never came a fool from Scotland."
These emigrants, from the Highlands, were principally those having
trades, who sought to better their condition.

Seven hundred prisoners taken at Preston were sold as slaves to some
West Indian merchants, which was a cruel proceeding, when it is
considered that the greater part of these men were Highlanders, who had
joined the army in obedience to the commands of their chiefs. Wholly
unfitted for such labor as would be required in the West Indies and
unacclimated, their fate may be readily assumed. But this was no more
heartless than the execution in Lancashire of twenty-two of their
companions.

The specifications above enumerated have no bearing on the emigration
which took place on a large scale, the consequences of which, at the
time, arrested the attention of the nation. The causes now to be
enumerated grew out of the change of policy following the battle of
Culloden. The atrocities following that battle were both for vengeance
and to break the military spirit of the Highlanders. The legislative
enactments broke the nobler spirit of the people. The rights and welfare
of the people at large were totally ignored, and no provisions made for
their future welfare. The country was left in a state of commotion and
confusion resulting from the changes consequent to the overthrow of the
old system, the breaking up of old relationship, and the gradual
encroachment of Lowland civilization, and methods of agriculture. While
these changes at first were neither great nor extensive, yet they were
sufficient to keep the country in a ferment or uproar. The change was
largely in the manner of an experiment in order to find out the most
profitable way of adaptation to the new regime. These experiments
resulted in the unsettling of old manners, customs, and ideas, which
caused discontent and misery among the people. The actual change was
slow; the innovations, as a rule, began in those districts bordering on
the Lowlands, and thence proceeded in a northwesterly direction.

In all probability the first shock felt by the clansmen, under the new
order of things, was the abolishing the ancient clan system, and the
reduction of the chiefs to the condition of landlords. For awhile the
people failed to realize this new order of affairs, for the gentlemen
and common people still continued to regard their chief in the same
light as formerly, not questioning but their obedience to the head of
their clan was independent of legislative enactment. They were still
ready to make any sacrifice for his sake, and felt it to be their duty
to do what they could for his support. They still believed that the
chief's duty to his people remained unaltered, and he was bound to see
that they did not want, and to succor them in distress.

The first effects in the change in tribal relations were felt on those
estates that had been forfeited on account of the chiefs and gentlemen
having been compelled to leave the country in order to save their lives.
These estates were entrusted to the management of commissioners who
rudely applied their powers under the new arrangement of affairs. When
the chiefs, now reduced to the position of lairds, began to realize
their condition, and the advantage of making their lands yield them as
large an income as possible, followed the example of demanding a rent. A
rental value had never been exacted before, for it was the universal
belief that the land belonged to the clan in common. Some of the older
chiefs, then living, held to the same opinion, and among such, a change
was not perceptible until a new landlord came into possession. The
gentlemen of the clan and the tacksmen, or large farmers, firmly
believed that they had as much right to a share of the lands as the
chief himself. In the beginning the rent was not high nor more than the
lands would bear; but it was resented by the tacksmen, deeming it a
wanton injury inflicted in the house of their dearest friend. They were
hurt at the idea that the chief,--the father of his people--should be
controlled by such a mercenary idea, and to exercise that power which
gave him the authority to lease the lands to the highest bidder. This
policy, which they deemed selfish and unjust, naturally cut them to the
quick. They and their ancestors had occupied their farms for many
generations; their birth was as good and their genealogy as old as that
of the chief himself, to whom they were all blood relations, and whose
loyalty was unshaken. True, they had no written document, no "paltry
sheep-skin," as they called it, to prove the right to their farms, but
such had never been the custom, and these parchments quite a modern
innovation, and, in former times, before a chief would have tried to
wrest from them that which had been given by a former chief to their
fathers, would have bitten out his tongue before he would have asked a
bond. There can be no doubt that originally when a chief bestowed a
share of his property upon his son or other near relation, he intended
that the latter should keep it for himself and his descendants. To these
tacksmen it was injury enough that an alien government should interfere
in their domestic relations, but for the chief to turn against them was
a wound which no balm could heal. Before they would submit to these
exactions, they would first give up their holdings; which many of them
did and emigrated to America, taking with them servants and sub-tenants,
and enticing still others to follow them by the glowing accounts which
they sent home of their good fortune in the favored country far to the
west. In some cases the farms thus vacated were let to other tacksmen,
but in most instances the new system was introduced by letting the land
directly to what was formerly sub-tenants, or those who had held the
land immediately from the ousted tacksmen.

There was a class of lairds who had tasted the sweets of southern
luxuries and who vied with the more opulent, increased the rate of rent
to such an extent as to deprive the tacksmen of their holdings. This
caused an influx of lowland farmers, who with their improved methods
could compete successfully against their less favored northern
neighbors. The danger of southern luxuries had been foreseen and an
attempt had been made to provide against it. As far back as the year
1744, in order to discourage such things, at a meeting of the chiefs of
the Isle of Skye, Sir Alexander MacDonald of MacDonald, Norman MacLeod
of MacLeod, John MacKinnon of MacKinnon, and Malcolm MacLeod of Raasay,
held in Portree, it was agreed to discontinue and discountenance the use
of brandy, tobacco and tea.

The placing of the land in the hands of aliens was deplored in its
results as may be seen from the following portrayal given by Buchanan in
his "Travels in the Hebrides," referring to about 1780:--"At present
they are obliged to be much more submissive to their tacksmen than ever
they were in former times to their lairds or lords. There is a great
difference between that mild treatment which is shown to sub-tenants and
even scallags, by the old lessees, descended of ancient and honorable
families, and the outrageous rapacity of those necessitous strangers who
have obtained leases from absent proprietors, who treat the natives as
if they were a conquered and inferior race of mortals. In short, they
treat them like beasts of burden; and in all respects like slaves
attached to the soil, as they cannot obtain new habitations, on account
of the combinations already mentioned, and are entirely at the mercy of
the laird or tacksman. Formerly, the personal service of the tenant did
not usually exceed eight or ten days in the year. There lives at present
at Scalpa, in the isle of Harris, a tacksman of a large district, who
instead of six days' work paid by the sub-tenants to his predecessor in
the lease, has raised the predial service, called in that and in other
parts of Scotland, _manerial bondage_, to fifty-two days in the year at
once; besides many other services to be performed at different though
regular and stated times; as tanning leather for brogans, making heather
ropes for thatch, digging and drying peats for fuel; one pannier of peat
charcoal to be carried to the smith; so many days for gathering and
shearing sheep and lambs: for ferrying cattle from island to island, and
other distant places, and several days for going on distant errands: so
many pounds of wool to be spun into yarn. And over and above all this,
they must lend their aid upon any unforeseen occurrence whenever they
are called on. The constant service of two months at once is performed
at the proper season in making kelp. On the whole, this gentleman's
sub-tenants may be computed to devote to his service full three days in
the week. But this is not all: they have to pay besides yearly a certain
number of cocks, hen, butter, and cheese, called Caorigh-Ferrin, the
Wife's Portion. This, it must be owned, is one of the most severe and
rigorous tacksmen descended from the old inhabitants, in all the Western
Hebrides; but the situation of his sub-tenants exhibits but too faithful
a picture of the sub-tenants of those places in general, and the exact
counterpart of such enormous oppression is to be found at
Luskintire."[8]

The dismissal of retainers kept by the chiefs during feudal times added
to the discontent. For the protection of the clan it had been necessary
to keep a retinue of trained warriors. These were no longer necessary,
and under the changed state of affairs, an expense that could be illy
afforded. This class found themselves without a vocation, and they would
sow the seeds of discontent, if they remained in the country. They must
either enter the army or else go to another country in search of a
vocation.

Unquestionably the most potent of all causes for emigration was the
introduction of sheep-farming. That the country was well adapted for
sheep goes without disputation. Sheep had always been kept in the
Highlands with the black cattle, but not in large numbers. The lowland
lessees introduced sheep on a large scale, involving the junction of
many small farms into one, each of which had been hitherto occupied by a
number of tenants. This engrossing of farms and consequent depopulation
was also a fruitful source of discontent and misery to those who had to
vacate their homes and native glens. Many of those displaced by sheep
and one or two Lowland shepherds, emigrated like the discontented
tacksmen to America, and those who remained looked with an ill-will and
an evil eye on the intruders. Some of the more humane landlords invited
the oppressed to remove to their estates, while others tried to prevent
the ousted tenants from leaving the country by setting apart some
particular spot along the sea-shore, or else on waste land that had
never been touched by the plow, on which they might build houses and
have an acre or two for support. Those removed to the coast were
encouraged to prosecute the fishing along with their agricultural
labors. It was mainly by a number of such ousted Highlanders that the
great and arduous undertaking was accomplished of bringing into a state
of cultivation Kincardine Moss, in Perthshire. At that time, 1767, the
task to be undertaken was one of stupendous magnitude; but was so
successfully carried out that two thousand acres were reclaimed which
for centuries had rested under seven feet of heath and vegetable matter.
Similarly many other spots were brought into a state of cultivation. But
this, and other pursuits then engaged in, did not occupy the time of all
who had been despoiled of their homes.

The breaking up of old habits and customs and the forcible importation
of those that are foreign must not only engender hate but also cause
misery. It is the uniform testimony of all travellers, who visited the
Highlands during the latter half of the eighteenth century, especially
Pennant, Boswell, Johnson, Newte, and Buchanan, that the condition of
the country was deplorable. Without quoting from all, let the following
lengthy extract suffice, which is from Buchanan:

   "Upon the whole, the situation of these people, inhabitants of
   Britain! is such as no language can describe, nor fancy conceive. If,
   with great labor and fatigue, the farmer raises a slender crop of
   oats and barley, the autumnal rains often baffle his utmost efforts,
   and frustrate all his expectations: and instead of being able to pay
   an exorbitant rent, he sees his family in danger of perishing during
   the ensuing winter, when he is precluded from any possibility of
   assistance elsewhere. Nor are his cattle in a better situation; in
   summer they pick up a scanty support amongst the morasses or heathy
   mountains: but in winter, when the grounds are covered with snow, and
   when the naked wilds afford neither shelter nor subsistence, the few
   cows, small, lean, and ready to drop down through want of pasture,
   are brought into the hut where the family resides, and frequently
   share with them the small stock of meal which had been purchased, or
   raised, for the family only; while the cattle thus sustained, are
   bled occasionally, to afford nourishment for the children after it
   hath been boiled or made into cakes. The sheep being left upon the
   open heaths, seek to shelter themselves from the inclemency of the
   weather amongst the hollows upon the lee-side of the mountains, and
   here they are frequently buried under the snow for several weeks
   together, and in severe seasons during two months and upwards. They
   eat their own and each other's wool, and hold out wonderfully under
   cold and hunger; but even in moderate winters, a considerable number
   are generally found dead after the snow hath disappeared, and in
   rigorous seasons few or none are left alive. Meanwhile the steward,
   hard pressed by letters from Almack's or Newmarket, demands the rent
   in a tone which makes no great allowance for unpropitious seasons,
   the death of cattle, and other accidental misfortunes: disguising the
   feelings of his own breast--his Honor's wants must at any rate be
   supplied, the bills must be duly negotiated. Such is the state of
   farming, if it may be so called, throughout the interior parts of the
   Highlands; but as that country has an extensive coast, and many
   islands, it may be supposed that the inhabitants of those shores
   enjoy all the benefits of their maritime situation. This, however, is
   not the case; those gifts of nature, which in any other commercial
   kingdom would have been rendered subservient to the most valuable
   purposes, are in Scotland lost, or nearly so, to the poor natives and
   the public. The only difference, therefore, between the inhabitants
   of the interior parts and those of the more distant coasts, consists
   in this, that the latter, with the labors of the field, have to
   encounter alternately the dangers of the ocean and all the fatigues
   of navigation. To the distressing circumstances at home, as stated
   above, new difficulties and toils await the devoted farmer when
   abroad. He leaves his family in October, accompanied by his sons,
   brothers, and frequently an aged parent, and embarks on board a small
   open boat, in quest of the herring fishery, with no other provisions
   than oatmeal, potatoes, and fresh water; no other bedding than heath,
   twigs, or straw, the covering, if any, an old sail. Thus provided, he
   searches from bay to bay, through turbulent seas, frequently for
   several weeks together, before the shoals of herring are discovered.
   The glad tidings serve to vary, but not to diminish his fatigues.
   Unremitting nightly labor (the time when the herrings are taken),
   pinching cold winds, heavy seas, uninhabited shores covered with
   snow, or deluged with rain, contribute towards filling up the measure
   of his distresses; while to men of such exquisite feelings as the
   Highlanders generally possess, the scene which awaits him at home
   does it most effectually. Having disposed of his capture to the
   Busses, he returns in January through a long navigation, frequently
   amidst unceasing hurricanes, not to a comfortable home and a cheerful
   family, but to a hut composed of turf, without windows, doors, or
   chimney, environed with snow, and almost hid from the eye by its
   astonishing depth. Upon entering this solitary mansion, he generally
   finds a part of his family, sometimes the whole, lying upon heath or
   straw, languishing through want or epidemical disease; while the few
   surviving cows, which possess the other end of the cottage, instead
   of furnishing further supplies of milk or blood, demand his immediate
   attention to keep them in existence. The season now approaches when
   he is again to delve and labor the ground, on the same slender
   prospect of a plentiful crop or a dry harvest. The cattle which have
   survived the famine of the winter, are turned out to the mountains;
   and, having put his domestic affairs into the best situation which a
   train of accumulated misfortunes admits of, he resumes the oar,
   either in quest of herring or the white fishery. If successful in the
   latter, he sets out in his open boat upon a voyage (taking the
   Hebrides and the opposite coast at a medium distance) of two hundred
   miles, to vend his cargo of dried cod, ling, etc., at Greenock or
   Glasgow. The product, which seldom exceeds twelve or fifteen pounds,
   is laid out, in conjunction with his companions, upon meal and
   fishing tackle; and he returns through the same tedious navigation.
   The autumn calls his attention again to the field; the usual round of
   disappointment, fatigue, and distress awaits him; thus dragging
   through a wretched existence in the hope of soon arriving in that
   country where the weary shall be at rest."[9]

The writer most pitiably laments that twenty thousand of these wretched
people had to leave their homes and famine-struck condition, and the
oppression of their lairds, for lands and houses of their own in a
fairer and more fertile land, where independence and affluence were at
their command. Nothing but misery and degradation at home; happiness,
riches and advancement beyond the ocean. Under such a system it would be
no special foresight to predict a famine, which came to pass in 1770 and
again in 1782-3. Whatever may be the evils under the clan system, and
there certainly were such, none caused the oppression and misery which
that devoted people have suffered since its abolishment. So far as
contentment, happiness, and a wise regard for interest, it would have
been better for the masses had the old system continued. As a matter of
fact, however, those who emigrated found a greater latitude and brighter
prospects for their descendants.

From what has been stated it will be noticed that it was a matter of
necessity and not a spirit of adventure that drove the mass of
Highlanders to America; but those who came, nevertheless, were
enterprising and anxious to carve out their own fortunes. Before
starting on the long and perilous journey across the Atlantic they were
first forced to break the mystic spell that bound them to their native
hills and glens, that had a charm and an association bound by a sacred
tie. A venerable divine of a Highland parish who had repeatedly
witnessed the fond affection of his parishioners in taking their
departure, narrated how they approached the sacred edifice, ever dear to
them, by the most hallowed associations, and with tears in their eyes
kissed its very walls, how they made an emphatic pause in losing sight
of the romantic scenes of their childhood, with its kirks and cots, and
thousand memories, and as if taking a formal and lasting adieu,
uncovered their heads and waived their bonnets three times towards the
scene, and then with heavy steps and aching hearts resumed their
pilgrimage towards new scenes in distant climes.[10]

   "Farewell to the land of the mountain and wood,
     Farewell to the home of the brave and the good,
   My bark is afloat on the blue-rolling main,
     And I ne'er shall behold thee, dear Scotland again!

   Adieu to the scenes of my life's early morn,
     From the place of my birth I am cruelly torn;
   The tyrant oppresses the land of the free;
     And leaves but the name of my sires unto me.

   Oh! home of my fathers, I bid thee adieu,
     For soon will thy hill-tops retreat from my view,
   With sad drooping heart I depart from thy shore,
     To behold thy fair valleys and mountains no more.

   'Twas there that I woo'd thee, young Flora, my wife,
     When my bosom was warm in the morning of life.
   I courted thy love 'mong the heather so brown,
     And heaven did I bless when it made thee my own.

   The friends of my early years, where are they now?
     Each kind honest heart, and each brave manly brow;
   Some sleep in the churchyard from tyranny free,
     And others are crossing the ocean with me.

   Lo! now on the boundless Atlantic I stray,
     To a strange foreign realm I am wafted away,
   Before me as far as my vision can glance,
     I see but the wave rolling wat'ry expanse.

   So farewell my country and all that is dear,
     The hour is arrived and the bark is asteer,
   I go and forever, oh! Scotland adieu!
     The land of my fathers no more I shall view."

   --_Peter Crerar._

America was the one great inviting field that opened wide her doors to
the oppressed of all nations. The Highlanders hastened thither; first in
small companies, or singly, and afterwards in sufficient numbers to form
distinctive settlements. These belonged to the better class, bringing
with them a certain amount of property, intelligent, persevering,
religious, and in many instances closely related to the chief. Who was
the first Highlander, and in what year he settled in America, has not
been determined. It is impossible to judge by the name, because it would
not specially signify, for as has been noted, Highlanders had gone to
the north of Ireland, and in the very first migrations of the
Scotch-Irish, their descendants landed at Boston and Philadelphia. It
is, however, positively known that individual members of the clans, born
in the Highlands, and brought up under the jurisdiction of the chiefs,
settled permanently in America before 1724.[11] The number of these must
have been very small, for a greater migration would have attracted
attention. In 1729, there arrived at the port of Philadelphia, five
thousand six hundred and fifty-five Irish emigrants, and only two
hundred and sixty-seven English, forty-three Scotch, and three hundred
and forty-three Germans. Of the forty-three Scotch it would be
impossible to ascertain how many of them were from the Highlands,
because all people from Scotland were designated under the one word. But
if the whole number were of the Gaelic race, and the ratio kept up it
would be almost insignificant, if scattered from one end of the Colonies
to the other. After the wave of emigration had finally set in then the
numbers of small companies would rapidly increase and the ratio would be
largely augmented.[12]

It is not to be presumed that the emigrants found the New World to be
all their fancies had pictured. If they had left misery and oppression
behind them, they were destined to encounter hardships and
disappointments. A new country, however great may be its attractions,
necessarily has its disadvantages. It takes time, patience, industry,
perseverence and ingenuity to convert a wilderness into an abode of
civilization. Innumerable obstacles must be overcome, which eventually
give way before the indomitable will of man. Years of hard service must
be rendered ere the comforts of home are obtained, the farm properly
stocked, and the ways for traffic opened. After the first impressions of
the emigrant are over, a longing desire for the old home engrosses his
heart, and a self-censure for the step he has taken. Time ameliorates
these difficulties, and the wisdom of the undertaking becomes more
apparent, while contentment and prosperity rival all other claims. The
Highlander in the land of the stranger, no longer an alien, grows
stronger in his love for his new surroundings, and gradually becomes
just as patriotic for the new as he was for the old country. All its
civilization, endearments, and progress, become a part of his being. His
memory, however, lingers over the scenes of his early youth, and in his
dreams he once more abides in his native glens, and receives the
blessings of his kind, tender, loving mother. Were it even thus to all
who set forth to seek their fortunes it would be well; but to hundreds
who left their homes in fond anticipation, not a single ray of light
shone athwart their progress, for all was dark and forbidding.
Misrepresentation, treachery, and betrayal were too frequently
practiced, and in misery, heart-broken and despondent many dropped to
rise no more, welcoming death as a deliverer.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 8: Keltie's "History of the Highland Clans," Vol. II, p. 35.]

[Footnote 9: Keltie's "History of the Highland Clans," Vol. II, p. 42.]

[Footnote 10: "Celtic Magazine," Vol. I, p. 143.]

[Footnote 11: See Appendix, Note A.]

[Footnote 12: See Appendix, Note B.]




CHAPTER IV.

THE DARIEN SCHEME.


The first body of Highlanders to arrive in the New World was as much
military as civil. Their lines were cast in evil waters, and disaster
awaited them. They formed a very essential part of a colony that engaged
in what has been termed the Darien Scheme, which originated in 1695, and
so mismanaged as to involve thousands in ruin, many of whom had enjoyed
comparative opulence. Although this project did not materially affect
the Highlands of Scotland, yet as Highland money entered the enterprise,
and as quite a body of Highlanders perished in the attempted
colonization of the isthmus of Panama, more than a passing notice is
here demanded.

Scottish people have ever been noted for their caution, frugality, and
prudence, and not prone to engage in any speculation unless based on the
soundest business principles. Although thus characterized, yet this
people engaged in the most disastrous speculation on record; established
by act of the Scottish parliament, and begun by unprecedented
excitement. The leading cause which impelled the people headlong into
this catastrophe was the ruination of the foreign trade of Scotland by
the English Navigation Act of 1660, which provided that all trade with
the English colonies should be conducted in English ships alone. Any
scheme plausibly presented was likely to catch those anxious to regain
their commercial interests, as well as those who would be actuated to
increase their own interests. The Massacre of Glencoe had no little
share in the matter. This massacre, which occurred February 13, 1692, is
the foulest blot in the annals of crime. It was deliberately planned by
Sir John Dalrymple and others, ordered by king William, and executed by
Captain Robert Campbell of Glenlyon, in the most treacherous, brutal,
atrocious, and bloodthirsty manner imaginable, and perpetrated without
the shadow of a reasonable excuse--infancy and old age, male and female
alike perished. The bare recital of it is awful; and the barbarity of
the American savage pales before it. In every quarter, even at court,
the account of the massacre was received with horror and indignation.
The odium of the nation rose to a great pitch, and demanded that an
inquiry be made into this atrocious affair. The appointment of a
commission was not wrung from the unwilling king until April 29, 1695.
The commission, as a whole, acted with great fairness, although they put
the best possible construction on the king's order, and threw the whole
blame on Secretary Dalrymple. The king was too intimately connected with
the crime to make an example of any one, although through public
sentiment he was forced to dismiss Secretary Dalrymple. Not one of those
actually engaged in the perpetration of the crime were dismissed from
the army, or punished for the butchery, otherwise than by the general
hatred of the age in which they lived, and the universal execration of
posterity. The tide of feeling set in against king William, and before
it had time to ebb the Darien Scheme was projected. The friends of
William seized the opportunity to persuade him that some freedom and
facilities of trade should be granted the Scotch, and that would divert
public attention from the Glencoe massacre. Secretary Dalrymple also was
not slow to give it the support of his eloquence and interest, in hopes
to regain thereby a part of his lost popularity.

The originator of the Darien Scheme was William Paterson, founder of the
Bank of England, a man of comprehensive views and great sagacity, born
in Scotland, a missionary in the Indies, and a buccaneer among the West
India islands. During his roving course of life he had visited the
isthmus of Panama--then called Darien--and brought away only pleasant
recollections of that narrow strip of land that unites North and South
America. On his return to Europe his first plan was the national
establishment of the Bank of England. For a brief period he was admitted
as a director in that institution, but it befell to Paterson that others
possessed of wealth and influence, interposed and took advantage of his
ideas, and then excluded him from the concern. Paterson next turned his
thoughts to the plan of settling a colony in America, and handling the
trade of the Indies and the South Seas. The trade of Europe with the
remote parts of Asia had been carried on by rounding the Cape of Good
Hope. Paterson believed that the shorter, cheaper, and more expeditious
route was by the isthmus of Panama, and, as he believed, that section of
the country had not been occupied by any of the nations of Europe; and
as it was specially adapted for his enterprise it should be colonized.
He averred that the havens were capacious and secure; the sea swarmed
with turtle; the country so mountainous, that though within nine degrees
of the equator, the climate was temperate; and yet roads could be easily
constructed along which a string of mules, or a wheeled carriage might
in the course of a single day pass from sea to sea. Fruits and a
profusion of valuable herbs grew spontaneously, on account of the rich
black soil, which had a depth of seven feet; and the exuberant fertility
of the soil had not tainted the purity of the atmosphere. As a place of
residence alone, the isthmus was a paradise; and a colony there could
not fail to prosper even if its wealth depended entirely on agriculture.
This, however, would be only a secondary matter, for within a few years
the entire trade between India and Europe would be drawn to that spot.
The merchant was no longer to expose his goods to the capricious gales
of the Antarctic Seas, for the easier, safer, cheaper route must be
navigated, which was shortly destined to double the amount of trade.
Whoever possessed that door which opened both to the Atlantic and
Pacific, as the shortest and least expensive route would give law to
both hemispheres, and by peaceful arts would establish an empire as
splendid as that of Cyrus or Alexander. If Scotland would occupy Darien
she would become the one great free port, the one great warehouse for
the wealth that the soil of Darien would produce, and the greater wealth
which would be poured through Darien, India, China, Siam, Ceylon, and
the Moluccas; besides taking her place in the front rank among nations.
On all the vast riches that would be poured into Scotland a toll should
be paid which would add to her capital; and a fabulous prosperity would
be shared by every Scotchman from the peer to the cadie. Along the
desolate shores of the Forth Clyde villas and pleasure grounds would
spring up; and Edinburgh would vie with London and Paris. These glowing
prospects at first were only partially disclosed to the public, and the
name of Darien was unpronounced save only to a few of Paterson's most
confidential friends. A mystery pervaded the enterprise, and only enough
was given out to excite boundless hopes and desires. He succeeded
admirably in working up a sentiment and desire on the part of the people
to become stockholders in the organization. The hour for action had
arrived; so on June 26, 1695, the Scottish parliament granted a statute
from the Crown, for creating a corporate body or stock company, by name
of the Company of Scotland trading to Africa and the Indies, with power
to plant colonies and build forts in places not possessed by other
European nations, the consent of the inhabitants of the places they
settled being obtained. The amount of capital was not fixed by charter,
but it was stipulated that at least one-half the stock must be held by
Scotchmen resident in Scotland, and that no stock originally so held
should ever be transferred to any but Scotchmen resident in Scotland. An
entire monopoly of the trade with Asia, Africa, and America was granted
for a term of thirty-one years, and all goods imported by the company
during twenty-one years, should be admitted duty free, except sugar and
tobacco, unless grown on the company's plantations. Every member and
servant of the company were privileged against arrest and imprisonment,
and if placed in durance, the company was authorized to invoke both the
civil and military power. The Great Seal was affixed to the Act; the
books were opened; the shares were fixed at £100 sterling each; and
every man from the Pentland Firth to the Galway Firth who could command
the amount was impatient to put down his name. The whole kingdom
apparently had gone mad. The number of shareholders were about fourteen
hundred. The books were opened February 26, 1696, and the very first
subscriber was Anne, dutchess of Hamilton. On that day there was
subscribed £50,400. By the end of March the greater part of the amount
had been subscribed. On March 5th, a separate book was opened in Glasgow
and on it was entered £56,325. The books were closed August 3rd of the
same year, and on the last day of subscriptions there was entered
£14,125, reaching the total of £400,000, the amount apportioned to
Scotland. The cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, in their corporate
capacity, each took £3,000 and Perth £2,000. Of the subscriptions there
were eight of £3,000 each; eight of £2,000 each; two of £1,500, and one
each of £1,200 and £1,125; ninety-seven of £1,000 each; but the great
majority consisted of £100 or £200 each. The whole amount actually paid
up was £220,000. This may not seem to be a large amount for such a
country as Scotland, but as already noted, the country had been ruined
by the English Act of 1660. There were five or six shires which did not
altogether contain as many guineas and crowns as were tossed about every
day by the shovels of a single goldsmith in Lombard street. Even the
nobles had but very little money, for a large part of their rents was
taken in kind; and the pecuniary remuneration of the clergy was such as
to move the pity of the most needy, of the present; yet some of these
had invested their all in hopes that their children might be benefited
when the golden harvest should come. Deputies in England received
subscriptions to the amount of £300,000; and the Dutch and Hamburgers
subscribed £200,000.

Those Highland chiefs who had been considered as turbulent, and are so
conspicuous in the history of the day have no place in this record of a
species of enterprise quite distinct from theirs. The houses of Argyle,
Athol, and Montrose appear in the list, as families who, besides their
Highland chiefships, had other stakes and interests in the country; but
almost the only person with a Highland patronymic was John MacPharlane
of that ilk, a retired scholar who followed antiquarian pursuits in the
libraries beneath the Parliament House. The Keltic prefix of "Mac" is
most frequently attached to merchants in Inverness, who subscribed their
hundred.

It is probable that a list of Highlanders who subscribed stock may be of
interest in this connection. Only such names as are purely Highland are
here subjoined with amounts given, and also in the order as they appear
on the books:

    26 February, 1696:
    John Drummond of Newtoun                                       £600
    Adam Gordon of Dalphollie                                       500
    Master James Campbell, brother-german to the Earle
      of Argyle                                                     500
    John McPharlane of that ilk                                     200
    Sir Robert Gordon of Gordonstown                                400
    Sir Colin Campbell of Ardkinlass                                500
    Mr. Gilbert Campbell, son to Colin Campbell of Soutar
      houses                                                        400

    27 February, 1696:
    John Robertson, merchant in Edinburgh                           300
    Matthew St. Clair, Doctor of Medicine                           500
    Daniel Mackay, Writer in Edinburgh                              200
    Mr. Francis Grant of Cullen, Advocate                           100
    Duncan Forbes of Culloden                                       200
    Arthur Forbes, younger of Echt                                  200
    George Southerland, merchant in Edinburgh                       200
    Kenneth McKenzie of Cromartie                                   500
    Major John Forbes                                               200

    28 February, 1696:
    William Robertsone of Gladney                                 1,000
    Mungo Graeme of Gorthie                                         500
    Duncan Campbell of Monzie                                       500
    James Mackenzie, son to the Viscount of Tarbat                1,000

   2 March, 1696:
    Jerome Robertson, periwig maker, burgess of Edinburgh           100

    3 March 1696:
    David Robertsone, Vintner in Edinburgh                          200
    William Drummond, brother to Thomas Drummond of
      Logie Almond                                                  500

    4 March, 1696:
    Sir Humphrey Colquhoun of Luss                                  400

    5 March, 1696:
    James Robertson, tylor in Canonget                              100
    Sir Thomas Murray of Glendoick                                1,000

    6 March, 1696:
    Alexander Murray, son to John Murray of Touchadam,
      and deputed by him                                            300

    7 March 1696:
    John Gordon, Captain in Lord Stranraer's Regiment               100
    Samuell McLelland, merchant in Edinburgh                        500

    11 March 1696:
    Aeneas McLeod, Town-Clerk of Edinburgh, in name and
      behalfe of George Viscount of Tarbat, and as having
      commission from him                                         £1000

    17 March, 1696:
    John Menzies, Advocate                                          200
    William Menzies, merchant in Edinburgh                         1000

    19 March, 1696:
    James Drummond, Writer in Edinburgh, deputed by Mr.
      John Graham of Aberuthven                                     100
    Gilbert Campbell, merchant in Edinburgh, son to Colline
      Campbell of Soutar Houses                                     200
    Gilbert Campbell, merchant in Edinburgh, son to Colline
      Campbell of Soutar Houses                                     100
    Daniel McKay, Writer in Edinburgh, deputed by Captain
      Hugh McKay, younger of Borley                                 300
    Patrick Campbell, Writer in Edinburgh, deputed by Captain
      Leonard Robertsone of Straloch                                100

    20 March, 1696:
    Alexander Murray, son to George Murray of Touchadam,
      deputed by him                                                200
    Sir Colin Campbell of Aberuchill, one of the Senators of
      the Colledge of Justice                                       500
    Andrew Robertson, chyrurgeon in Edinburgh, deputed
      by George Robertstone, younger, merchant in Glasgow           100
    Andrew Robertson, chyrurgeon in Edinburgh                       100
    James Gregorie, student                                         100
    George Earle of Southerland                                    1000

    21 March, 1696:
    John McFarlane, Writer to the Signet                            200

    23 March, 1696:
    John Forbes, brother-german to Samuell Forbes of Fovrain,
      deputed by the said Samuell Forbes                           1000
    John Forbes, brother-german to Samuell Forbes of Fovrain        500
    James Gregory, Professor of Mathematiques in the Colledge
      of Edinburgh                                                  200

    24 March 1696:
    Patrick Murray of Livingstoun                                   600
    Ronald Campbell, Writer to his Majesty's Signet, as having
      deputation from Alexander Gordoun, son to
      Alexander Gordoun, minister at Inverary                       100
    William Graham, merchant in Edinburgh                           200
    David Drummond, Advocate, deputed by Thomas Graeme
      of Balgowan                                                   600
    David Drummond, Advocate, deputed by John Drummond
      of Culqupalzie                                               £600

    25 March, 1696:
    John Murray of Deuchar                                          800
    Sir Robert Sinclair of Stevenstoun                              400
    John Sinclair of Stevenstoun                                    400

    26 March, 1696:
    Helen Drummond, spouse to Colonel James Ferguson as
      commissionate by him                                          200
    James Murray of Sundhope                                        100
    John Drummond of Newtoun                                        400
    John Drummond of Newtoun, for John Stewart of Dalguis,
      conform to deputation                                         100

    March 27:
    Alexander Johnstoune of Elshieshells                            400
    John Forbes, brother-german to Samuell Forbes of Fovrain,
      conform to one deputation by Captain James
      Stewart, in Sir John Hill's regiment. Governor of
      Fort William                                                  100
    Thomas Forbes of Watertoun                                      200
    William Ross, merchant in Edinburgh                             100
    Rachell Johnstoun, relict of Mr. Robert Baylie of Jerviswood    200

    March 28:
    John Fraser, servitor to Alexander Innes, merchant              100
    Mr. John Murray, Senior Advocate                                100
    John Stewart, Writer in Clerk Gibsone's chamber                 100
    Mr. Gilbert Campbell, merchant in Edinburgh, son to Colline
      Campbell of Soutar Houses                                     200
    Mr. Gilbert Campbell, merchant in Edinburgh, son to Colline
      Campbell of Soutar Houses, (more)                             100
    James Gordon, Senior, merchant in Aberdeen                      250
    Thomas Gordon, skipper in Leith                                 100
    Adam Gordon of Dulpholly                                        500
    Colin Campbell of Lochlan                                       200
    Thomas Graeme of Balgowane, by virtue of a deputation
      from David Graeme of Kilor                                    200
    Patrick Coutts, merchant in Edinburgh, being deputed by
      Alexander Robertsone, merchant in Dundie                      200
    David Drummond, of Cultimalindie                                600
    John Drummond, brother of David Drummond of Cultimalindie       200

    30 March, 1696:
    James Marquess of Montrose                                     1000
    John Murray, doctor of medicine, for Mr. James Murray,
      Chirurgeon in Perth, conform to a deputation                 £200
    William Stewart, doctor of medicine at Perth                    100
    Patrick Campbell, Writer in Edinburgh, being depute by
      Helen Steuart, relict of Doctor Murray                        100
    James Drummond, one of the Clerks to the Bills, being
      deputed by James Meinzies of Shian                            100
    Robert Stewart, Junior, Advocate                                300
    Master Donald Robertsone, minister of the Gospel                100
    Duncan Campbell of Monzie, by deputation from John
      Drummond of Culquhalzie                                       100
    John Marquesse of Athole                                        500
    John Haldane of Gleneagles, deputed by James Murray
      at Orchart Milne                                              100
    Thomas Johnstone, merchant in Edinburgh                         100
    William Meinzies, merchant in Edinburgh                        1000
    Alexander Forbes of Tolquhon                                    500
    Robert Murray, merchant in Edinburgh                            200
    Walter Murray, merchant in Edinburgh                            100
    Master Arthur Forbes, son of the Laird of Cragivar              100
    Robert Fraser, Advocate                                         100
    Barbara Fraser, relict of George Stirling, Chirurgeon
      apothecary in Edinburgh                                       200
    Alexander Johnston, merchant in Edinburgh                       100
    Sir Robert Sinclair of Stevenstoun, for Charles Sinclair,
      Advocate, his son                                             100
    The said Thomas Scott, deputed by Patrick Ogilvie of Balfour    400
    The said Thomas Scott, deputed by Thomas Robertson,
      merchant there (i.e. Dundee)                                  125
    The said Thomas Scott, deputed by David Drummond,
      merchant in Dundee                                            100
    Mrs. Anne Stewart, daughter to the deceased John Stewart
      of Kettlestoun                                                100

    31 March, 1696:
    Sir Archibald Murray of Blackbarrony                            500
    William Stewart, clerk to his Majesty's Customs at Leith        100
    Christian Grierson, daughter to the deceast John Grierson       100
    Jesper Johnstoune of Waristoun                                  500
    Alexander Forbes, goldsmith in Edinburgh                        200
    Master John Campbell, Writer to the Signet                      200
    Thomas Campbell, flesher in Edinburgh                           200
    Archibald Earle of Argyll                                      1500
    James Campbell, brother-german to the Earle of Argyll           200
    William Johnston, postmaster of Hadingtoun                     £100
    Sir James Murray of Philiphaugh                                 500
    Andrew Murray, brother to Sundhope                              100
    William McLean, master of the Revelles                          100
    John Cameron, son to the deceast Donald Cameron, merchant
      in Edinburgh                                                  100
    David Forbes, Advocate                                          200
    Captain John Forbes of Forbestoune                              200

    Afternoon:
    Sir Alexander Monro of Bearcrofts                               200
    James Gregorie, student of medicine                             100
    Mungo Campbell of Burnbank                                      400
    John Murray, junior, merchant in Edinburgh                      400
    Robert Murray, burges in Edinburgh                              150
    Dougall Campbell of Sadell                                      100
    Ronald Campbell, Writer to his Majesty's Signet                 200
    Alexander Finlayson, Writer in Edinburgh                        100
    John Steuart, Writer in Edinburgh                               100
    William Robertson, one of the sub-clerks of the Session         100
    Lady Neil Campbell                                              200
    Mary Murray, Lady Enterkin, elder                               200
    Sir George Campbell of Cesnock                                 1000

    7 April:
    Thomas Robertson of Lochbank                                    400
    Robert Fraser, Advocate, for Hugh Robertson, Provost of
      Inverness, conform to deputation                              100
    Robert Fraser, Advocate, for James McLean, baillie of
      Invernes, conform to deputation                               100
    Robert Fraser. Advocate, for John McIntosh, baillie of Invernes,
      conform to deputation                                         100
    Robert Fraser, Advocate, for Alexander McLeane, merchant
      of Invernes, conform to deputation                            150
    Robert Fraser, Advocate, for Robert Rose, late baillie of
      Invernes, conform to deputation                               140
    Robert Fraser, Advocate, for Alexander Stewart, skipper
      at Invernes, conform to deputation                            150
    Robert Fraser, Advocate, for William Robertson of Inshes,       100

    9 April, 1696:
    James Drummond, one of the Clerks of the Bills, for Robert
      Menzies, in Aberfadie, conform to deputation                  100
    John Drummond of Newtoun, depute by John Menzies of
      Camock, Advocate                                              200
    Archibald Sinclair, Advocate                                    100
    Patrick Campbell, Writer in Edinburgh                          £100
    John Murray, doctor of medicine, for William Murray of
      Arbony, by virtue of his deputation                           200
    Colen Campbell of Bogholt                                       100
    William Gordone, Writer in Edinburgh                            100

    14 Apryle:
    The said Thomas Halliday, Conform to deputation from
      William Ogilvie in Todshawhill                                100

    16 Aprill:
    Patrick Murray, lawful son to Patrick Murray of Killor          100
    Walter Murray, servitor to George Clerk, junior, merchant
      in Edinburgh, deputed by Robert Murray of
      Levelands                                                     150
    John Campbell, Writer to the Signet, for Alexander Campbell,
      younger of Calder, conform to deputation                      500
    Captain James Drummond of Comrie                                200

    April 21:
    James Cuming, merchant in Edinburgh                             100
    James Campbell of Kinpout                                       100
    James Drummond, Under-Clerk to the Bills, depute by
      Archibald Meinzies of Myln of Kiltney                         100
    Robert Blackwood, deputed by John Gordon of Collistoun,
      doctor of medicine                                            100
    Robert Blackwood, merchant in Edinburgh, deputed by
      Charles Ogilvy, merchant and late baillie of Montrose         200
    James Ramsay, writer in Edinburg, commission at by Duncan
      Campbell of Duneaves                                          100
    Captain Patrick Murray, of Lord Murray's regiment of foot       100

    May 5, 1696.
    John Haldane of Gleneagles, conform to deputation from
      Thomas Grahame in Auchterarder                                100
    John Drummond of Newtoun, depute by David Graeme of
      Jordanstoun                                                   100
    Samuel McLellan, merchant in Dundee, conform to deputation
      from William Stewart of Castle Stewart                        100

    May 14, 1696.
    Andrew Robertsone, chirurgeon in Edinburgh, conform
      to deputation by George Robertsone, Writer in Dunblane        100

    May 21, 1696.
    John Drummond of Newtoun, for Lodovick Drummond,
      chamberland to my Lord Drummond                               100

    May 26, 1696.
    Thomas Drummond of Logie Almond                                £500

    June 2, 1696.
    Robert Fraser, Advocate, by virtue of a deputation from
      Robert Cuming of Relugas, merchant of Inverness               100
    Robert Fraser, Advocate, in name of William Duff of
      Dyple, merchant of Inverness                                  100
    Robert Fraser, Advocate, in name of Alexander Duffe of
      Drumuire, merchant of Inverness                               100

    June 4, 1696.
    John Haldane of Gleneagles, depute by John Graham, son
      to John Graham, clerk to the chancellary                      100
    Adam Drummond of Meginch                                        200

    18.
    Agnes Campbell, relict of Andrew Anderson, his Majesty's
      printer                                                       100

    July 10.
    John Drummond of Newtoun, for Dame Margaret Graham,
      Lady Kinloch                                                  200
    John Drummond of Newtoun                                        200
    James Menzies of Schian                                         100
    Mungo Graeme of Garthie                                         200

    21.
    Sir Alexander Cumyng of Culter                                  200

    31.
    Mr. George Murray, doctor of physick                            200
    Patrick Campbell, brother to Monzie                             100

    August 1.
    James Lord Drummond                                            1000

    Friday, 6 March, 1696.
    John Drummond of Newtoune                                      1125

    Saturday, 7 March, 1696.
    John Graham, younger of                                        1000
    Daniel Campbell, merchant in Glasgow                           1000
    George Robinsoune, belt-maker in Glasgow                        100
    John Robinsoune, hammerman in Glasgow                           100
    John Robertson, junior, merchant in Glasgow                     500

    Munday, 9 March, 1696.
    Mattheu Cuming, junior, merchant in Glasgow                    1000
    William Buchanan, merchant in Glasgow                           100
    Marion Davidson, relict of Mr. John Glen, Minister of the
      Gospel                                                        100
    James Johnstoun, merchant in Glasgow                            200
    Thomas Johnstoun, merchant in Glasgow                           200
    George Johnston, merchant in Glasgow                           £200
    John Buchanan, merchant in Glasgow                              100
    John Grahame, younger of Dougaldstoun                         1,000

    Tuesday, 10 March, 1696.
    Neill McVicar, tanner in Glasgow                                100
    George Buchanan, Maltman in Glasgow                             100

    Saturday, 21 March, 1696.
    Archibald Cambell, merchant in Glasgow                          100

    Tuesday, 24 March, 1696.
    John Robertsone, younger, merchant in Glasgow, for Robert
      Robertsone, second lawfull sone to Umqll James
      Robertsone, merchant in Glasgow                               100

    Tuesday, March 31, 1696.
    Mungo Campbell of Nether Place                                  100
    Hugh Campbell, merchant, son to deceast Sir Hugh Campbell
      of Cesnock                                                    100
    Matthew Campbell of Waterhaugh                                  100

    Thursday, Agr the 2d of Aprille.
    Mungo Campbell, merchant in Ayr                                 100
    David Fergursone, merchant in Ayr                               100

    Wednesday the 15th day, 1696.
    Captain Charles Forbes, of Sir John Hill's regiment             200
    Captain James Menzies, of Sir John Hill's regiment              100
    Captain Francis Ferquhar, of Sir John Hill's regiment           100

    Thursday, 16 Aprile, 1696.
    Captain Charles Forbes, of Sir John Hill's regiment             200

    Fryday, 17 Aprile.
    Lieutenant Charles Ross, of Sir John Hill's regiment            100[13]

It is more than probable that some names should not be inserted above,
as the name Graeme, for it may belong to the clan Graham of the
Highlands, or else to the debateable land, near Carlisle, which is more
likely. We know that where they had made themselves adverse to both
sides, they were forced to emigrate in large numbers. Some of them
settled near Bangor, in the county of Down, Ireland. How large a per
cent, of the subscribers who lived in the lowlands, and born out of the
Highlands, would be impossible to determine. Then names of parties, born
in the Highlands and of Gaelic blood have undoubtedly been omitted owing
to change of name. By the change in spelling of the name, it would
indicate that some had left Ulster where their forefathers had settled,
and taken up their residence in Scotland. It will also be noticed that
the clans bordering the Grampians were most affected by the excitement
while others seemingly did not even feel the breeze.

The Darien Scheme at best was but suppositious, for no experiment had
been tried in order to forecast a realization of what was expected.
There was, it is true, a glitter about it, but there were materials
within the reach of all from which correct data might have been
obtained. It seems incredible that men of sound judgment should have
risked everything, when they only had a vague or general idea of
Paterson's plans. It was also a notorious fact that Spain claimed
sovereignty over the Isthmus of Panama, and, even if she had not, it was
unlikely that she would tolerate such a colony, as was proposed, in the
very heart of her transatlantic dominions. Spain owned the Isthmus both
by the right of discovery and possession; and the very country which
Paterson had described in such radiant colors had been found by the
Castilian settlers to be a land of misery and of death; and on account
of the poisonous air they had been compelled to remove to the
neighboring haven of Panama. All these facts, besides others, might
easily have been ascertained by members of the Company.

As has already been intimated, the Scots alone were not drawn into this
vortex of wild excitement, and are no more to be held responsible for
the delusion than some of other nationalities. The English people were
seized with the dread of Scottish prosperity resulting from the
enterprise, and England's jealousy of trade at once interfered to crush
an adventure which seemed so promising. The English East India Company
instigated a cry, echoed by the city of London, and taken up by the
nation, which induced their parliament, when it met for the first time,
after the elections of 1695, to give its unequivocal condemnation to the
scheme. One peer declared, "If these Scots are to have their way I shall
go and settle in Scotland, and not stay here to be made a beggar." The
two Houses of Parliament went up together to Kensington and represented
to the king the injustice of requiring England to exert her power in
support of an enterprise which, if successful, must be fatal to her
commerce and to her finances. William replied in plain terms that he had
been illy-treated in Scotland, but that he would try to find a remedy
for the evil which had been brought to his attention. At once he
dismissed Lord High Commissioner Tweeddale and Secretary Johnston; but
the Act which had been passed under their management still continued to
be law in Scotland.

The Darien Company might have surmounted the opposition of the English
parliament and the East India Company, had not the Dutch East India
Company--a body remarkable for its monopolizing character--also joined
in the outcry against the Scottish enterprise; incited thereto by the
king through Sir Paul Rycaut, the British resident at Hamburg, directing
him to transmit to the senate of that commercial city a remonstrance on
the part of king William, accusing them of having encouraged the
commissioners of the Darien Company; requesting them to desist from
doing so; intimating that the plan had not the king's support; and a
refusal to withdraw their countenance from the scheme would threaten an
interruption to his friendship with the good city of Hamburg. The result
of this interference was the almost total withdrawal of the Dutch and
English subscriptions, which was accelerated by the threatened
impeachment, by the English parliament, of such persons who had
subscribed to the Company; and, furthermore, were compelled to renounce
their connection with the Company, besides misusing some native-born
Scotchmen who had offended the House by subscribing their own money to a
company formed in their own country, and according to their own laws.

The managers of the scheme, supported by the general public of Scotland,
entered a strong protest against the king's hostile interference of his
Hamburg envoy. In his answer the king evaded what he was resolved not to
grant, and yet could not in equity refuse. By the double dealing of the
monarch the Company lost the active support of the subscribers in
Hamburg and Holland.

In spite of the desertion of her English and foreign subscribers the
Scots, encouraged in their stubborn resolution, and flattered by hopes
that captivated their imaginations, decided to enter the project alone.
A stately house in Milne Square, then the most modern and fashionable
part of Edinburgh, was purchased and fitted up for an office and
warehouse. It was called the Scottish India House. Money poured faster
than ever into the coffers of the Company. Operations were actively
commenced during the month of May, 1696. Contracts were rapidly let and
orders filled--smith and cutlery work at Falkirk; woollen stockings at
Aberdeen; gloves and other leather goods at Perth; various metallic
works, hats, shoes, tobacco-pipes, serges, linen cloth, bobwigs and
periwigs, at Edinburgh; and for home-spun and home-woven woollen checks
or tartan, to various parts of the Highlands.

[Illustration: SCOTTISH INDIA HOUSE]

As the means for building ships in Scotland did not then exist, recourse
was had to the dockyards of Amsterdam and Hamburg. At an expense of
£50,000 a few inferior ships were purchased, and fitted out as ships of
war; for their constitution authorized them to make war both by land and
sea. The vessels were finally fitted out at Leith, consisting of the
Caledonia, the St. Andrew, the Unicorn, and the Dolphin, each armed with
fifty guns and two tenders, the Endeavor and Pink, afterwards sunk at
Darien; and among the commodities stored away were axes, iron wedges,
knives, smiths', carpenters' and coopers' tools, barrels, guns, pistols,
combs, shoes, hats, paper, tobacco-pipes, and, as was supposed,
provisions enough to last eight months. The value of the cargo of the
St. Andrew was estimated at £4,006. The crew and colonists consisted of
twelve hundred picked men, the greater part of whom were veterans who
had served in king William's wars, and the remainder of Highlanders and
others who had opposed the revolution, and three hundred gentlemen of
family, desirous of trying their fortunes.

It was on July 26, 1698, that the vessels weighed anchor and put out to
sea. A wild insanity seized the entire population of Edinburgh as they
came to witness the embarkation. Guards were kept busy holding back the
eager crowd who pressed forward, and, stretching out their arms to their
departing countrymen, clamored to be taken on board. Stowaways, when
ordered on shore, madly clung to rope and mast, pleading in vain to be
allowed to serve without pay on board the ships. Women sobbed and gasped
for breath; men stood uncovered, and with downcast head and choked
utterance invoked the blessing of the Beneficent Being. The banner of
St. Andrew was hoisted at the admiral's mast; and as a light wind caught
the sails, the roar of the vast multitude was heard far down the waters
of the frith.

The actual destination of the fleet was still a profound secret, save to
a few. The supreme direction of the expedition was entrusted to a
council of seven, to whom was entrusted all power, both civil and
military. The voyage was long and the adventurers suffered much; the
rations proved to be scanty, and of poor quality; and the fleet, after
passing the Orkneys and Ireland, touched at Madeira, where those who had
fine clothes were glad to exchange them for provisions and wines. Having
crossed the Atlantic, they first landed on an uninhabited islet lying
between Porto Rico and St. Thomas, which they took possession of in the
name of their country, and hoisted the white cross of St. Andrew. Being
warned off for trespassing on the territory of the king of Denmark, and
having procured the services of an old buccaneer, under whose pilotage
they departed, on November 1st they anchored close to the Isthmus of
Panama, having lost fifteen of their number during the voyage. On the
4th they landed at Acla; founded there a settlement to which they gave
the name of New St. Andrews; marked out the site for another town and
called it New Edinburgh. The weather was genial and climate pleasant at
the time of their arrival; the vegetation was luxuriant and promising;
the natives were kind; and everything presaged a bright future for the
fortune-seekers. They cut a canal through the neck of land that divided
one side of the harbor from the ocean, and there constructed a fort,
whereon they mounted fifty cannon. On a mountain, at the opposite side
of the harbor, they built a watchhouse, where the extensive view
prevented all danger of a surprise. Lands were purchased from the
Indians, and messages of friendship were sent to the governors of the
several Spanish provinces. As the amount of funds appropriated for the
sustenance of the colony had been largely embezzled by those having the
matter in charge, the people were soon out of provisions. Fishing and
the chase were now the only sources, and as these were precarious, the
colonists were soon on the verge of starvation. As the summer drew near
the atmosphere became stifling, and the exhalations from the steaming
soil, added to other causes, wrought death among the settlers. The
mortality rose gradually to ten a day. Both the clergymen who
accompanied the expedition were dead; one of them, Rev. Thomas James,
died at sea before the colonists landed, and soon after the arrival Rev.
Adam Scot succumbed. Paterson buried his wife in that soil, which, as he
had assured his too credulous countrymen, exhaled health and vigor. Men
passed to the hospital, and from thence to the grave, and the survivors
were only kept alive through the friendly offices of the Indians.
Affairs continued daily to grow worse. The Spaniards on the isthmus
looked with complacency on the distress of the Scotchmen. No relief, and
no tidings coming from Scotland, the survivors on June 22, 1699, less
than eight months after their arrival, resolved to abandon the
settlement. They re-embarked in three vessels, a weak and hopeless
company, to sail whithersoever Providence might direct. Paterson, the
first to embark at Leith, was the last to re-embark at Darien. He begged
hard to be left behind with twenty or more companions to keep up a show
of possession, and to await the next arrival from Scotland. His
importunities were disregarded, and, utterly helpless, he was carried on
board the St. Andrew, and soon after the vessels stood out to sea. The
voyage was horrible. It might be compared to the horrors of a slave
ship.

The ocean kept secret the sufferings on board these pestilential ships
until August 8th, when the Caledonia, commanded by Captain Robert
Drummond, drifted into Sandy Hook, New York, having lost one hundred and
three men since leaving Darien, and twelve more within four days after
arrival, leaving but sixty-five men on board fit for handling ropes. The
three ships, on leaving Darien, had three hundred each, including
officers, crew and colonists. On August 13th, the Unicorn, commanded by
Captain John Anderson, came into New York in a distressed condition,
having lost her foremast, fore topmast, and mizzen mast. She lost one
hundred and fifty men on the way. It appears that Captain Robert
Pennicuik of the St. Andrew knew of the helpless condition of the
Unicorn, and accorded no assistance.[14] As might be expected, passion
was engendered amidst this scene of misery. The squalid survivors, in
the depths of their misery, raged fiercely against one another. Charges
of incapacity, cruelty, brutal insolence, were hurled backward and
forward. The rigid Presbyterians attributed the calamities to the
wickedness of Jacobites, Prelatists, Sabbath-breakers and Atheists, as
they denominated some of their fellow-sufferers. The accused parties, on
the other hand, complained bitterly of the impertinence of meddling
fanatics and hypocrites. Paterson was cruelly reviled, and was unable to
defend himself. He sunk into a stupor, and became temporarily insane.

The arrival of the two ships in New York awakened different emotions.
There certainly was no danger of these miserable people doing any harm,
and yet their appearance awakened apprehension, on account of orders
received from the king. After the proclamations which had been issued
against these miserable fugitives, it became a question of difficulty,
since the governor of New York was absent in Boston, whether it was
safe to provide the dying men with harborage and necessary food. Natural
feelings overcame the difficulty; the more selfish and timid would have
stood aloof and let fate take its course: there being a sufficient
number of them to make the more generous feel that their efforts to save
life were not made without risks. Even putting the most favorable
construction on the act of the earl of Bellomont, governor of Rhode
Island, who was appealed to for advice, by the lieutenant governor of
New York, the colonists were provoked by the actions of those in
authority. Bellomont, in his report to the Lords of Trade, under date of
October 20, 1699, states that the sufferers drew up a memorial to the
lieutenant governor for permission to buy provisions; would not act
until Bellomont gave his instructions; latter thinks the colonists
became insolent after being refreshed; and "your Lordships will see that
I have been cautious enough in my orders to the lieutenant governor of
New York, not to suffer the Scotch to buy more provisions, than would
serve to carry them home to Scotland."[15] On October 12th the Caledonia
set sail from Sandy Hook, made the west coast of Ireland, November 11th,
and on the 20th of same month anchored in the Sound of Islay, Scotland.

The story of the Unicorn is soon told. "John Anderson, a Scotch
Presbyterian, who commanded a ship to Darien in the Scottish expedition
thither and on his return in at Amboy, N. Jersey, & let his ship rot &
plundered her & with ye plunder bought land."[16]

The St. Andrew parted company with the Caledonia the second day after
leaving the settlement, and two nights later saw the Unicorn almost
wholly dismasted, and on the following day was pursued by the Baslavento
fleet. They put into Jamaica, but were denied assistance, in obedience
to king William's orders; and a British admiral, Bembo, refused to give
them some men to assist in bringing the ship to the isle of Port Royal.
During the voyage to Port Royal, they lost the commander, Captain
Pennicuik, most of the officers and one hundred and thirty of the men,
before landing, on August 9, 1699.[17]

The Dolphin, Captain Robert Pincarton, commander, used as a supply and
trading ship, of fourteen guns, on February 5, 1699, struck a rock and
ran ashore at Carthagena, the crew seized by the Spaniards, and in irons
were put in dungeons as pirates. The Spaniards congratulated themselves
on having captured a few of "the ruffians" who had been the terror and
curse of their settlements for a century. They were formally condemned
to death, but British interference succeeded in preventing the sentence
on the crew from being executed.

On the week following the departure of the expedition from Leith, the
Scottish parliament met and unanimously adopted an address to the king,
asking his support and countenance to the Darien colony. Notwithstanding
this memorial the British monarch ordered the governors of Jamaica,
Barbadoes and New York to refuse all supplies to the settlers. Up to
this time the king had partly concealed his policy. No time was lost by
the East India Companies in bringing every measure to bear in order to
ruin the colony. To such length did rancor go that the Scotch commanders
who should presume to enter English ports, even for repairs after a
storm, were threatened with arrest. In obedience to the king's orders
the governors issued proclamations, which they attempted strictly to
enforce; and every species of relief, not only that which countrymen can
claim of their fellow-subjects, and Christians of their
fellow-Christians, and such as the veriest criminal has a right to
demand, was denied the colonists of Darien. On May 12, 1699, there
sailed from Leith the Olive Branch, Captain William Johnson, commander,
and the Hopeful, under Captain Alexander Stark, with ample stores of
provisions, and three hundred recruits, but did not arrive at Darien
until eight weeks after the departure of the colonists. Finding that the
settlement had been abandoned, and leaving six of their number, who
preferred to remain, but were afterwards brought away, the Hopeful
sailed for Jamaica, wher

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