Notes on the Ulster Scot

In Queen Elizabeth’s day, by an Act passed in the eleventh year of her reign, Ulster was declared to be “the most perilous place in all the isle.” This statement is not surprising, for the northern province was then the most distinctively Irish portion of the country. The native race in it was purer than that in the other three provinces. Of course the term purity can only be applied relatively to any portion of Ireland, as Huxley’s famous essay clearly demonstrated. The variety of races which constitute Ulster nationality is truly astonishing. “Saxon, or Norman, or Dane are we,” sang Tennyson. Doubtless considerations of space and metre prevented him from giving an exhaustive list. For the men of the northern province not only are Saxons, Normans and Danes; they are also Irish, Scots, French and German. The Irish were everywhere; so too were the Scots. There are no more than twenty miles of sea separating County Antrim from Argyll at one point. The Council in Dublin surveyed in the year 1533 the arrival of the Macdonnells with disapproval, declaring that “the Scots also inhabit now busily a great part of Ulster, which is the King’s inheritance; and it is greatly to be feared, unless that in short time they be driven from the same, that they, bringing in more number daily, will, by little and little, so far encroach in acquiring and winning the possessions there, with the aid of the King’s disobedient Irish rebels, who do now aid them therein after such manner, that at length they will put and expel the King from his whole seigniory there.”

 In his excellent book on the Ulster Scot the Rev. J. B. Woodburn investigates the beginnings of this remarkable race. Of course the author admits that his genesis is in part to be found in Scotland, but he is careful to point out that the Ulsterman is as Celtic as a native of Munster. It is not a question of racial distinctions: the Ulster Scot is as Celtic as the Connaughtman. The M'Crea-Magee College in Londonderry, now an affiliated college of the University of Dublin, has had about a thousand students since 1865, when it was opened. The names of 146 of those students begin with Mac, and if the disguised Macs (such as Magill) are included we have a total of 200, or twenty per cent., bearing a single Celtic cognomen. One-seventh of the names of the ministers of the Irish Presbyterian Church at the present moment have names which begin with the same prefix. Here are some of the facts which Mr. Woodburn emphasises to prove that the Ulstermen are
      Kindly Irish of the Irish,
      Neither Saxons nor Italians.

The late Rev. Dr. Kane, the Grand Master of the Orangemen, was a typical Ulsterman, and he maintained that he never could forget he was also an O’Cahan.

Mr. Woodburn raises the extremely interesting question as to why the North differs from the South so much. It is plain that climate will not explain the differences, for the Donegal man is quite different from the Antrim man. Physical reasons, in this sense, are not sufficient. We think that the isolation of the northern province is no small cause, and in its explanation we reproduce what we have written elsewhere. A glance at the map will show that Ulster is surrounded on three sides by the sea; and that the fourth side has for its land frontier a line drawn from Dundalk to Bally-shannon. The waters of Lough Erne occupy the western half of this line, forming a complete defence from Ballyshannon to Belturbet, a distance of nearly fifty miles. The Eastern half is bounded by the chain of the Fews mountains, rising in front of Dundalk, long the outmost post of the English Pale. The centre of the line was protected by the counties of Monaghan and Cavan, interlaced with a perfect network of bogs and lakes. Through these there was only one road, that by Carrickmacross in the Barony of Farney. This pass was the Killiecrankie of Ulster, and was appropriately designated “The Gap of the North.”

Long after the other three provinces had been reduced to submission, chiefs such as the O’Nials retained a large measure of independence. Their aim was to keep their tribesmen faithful to the pastoral ideal of life; and this aim they achieved. They felt that such a life was best fitted to enable them to retain their authority and to preserve their followers from adopting English customs. Fynes Moryson showed that “plenty of grass makes the Irish have infinite multitudes of cattle, and in the heat of the last rebellion the very vagabond rebels had great multitudes of cows which they still (like the nomads) drove with them whithersoever themselves were driven, and fought for them as for their altars and families.” These nomads were the creaghts. When James I. endeavoured to give a system of administration to Ireland, he met with the greatest difficulty from this pastoral population, accustomed to wander about without any fixed habitation. Fynes Moryson describes their dwellings as made of wattles or boughs, covered with long turves or sods of grass, which they could easily remove and put up as they roved from place to place in search of pasture. North and West of Lough Neagh, it seems that the whole population was formed of creaghts, living this wild and nomadic life. At this period, there was not, according to Sir John Davies, one fixed village in County Fermanagh.

With the Ulster Plantation, 1608, appeared the definite appropriation of the lands among the new settlers, and with it disappeared the custom of creaght. The disappearance took time, for, so late as the year 1690, John Stevens records in his remarkable “Journal” (p. 161) meeting the creaghts, “which are much like the Tartar hordes, being a number of people some more some less, men, women, and children, under a chief or head of the name or family, who range about the country with their flocks or herds and all the goods they have in the world, without any settled habitation, building huts wherever they find pasture for their cattle and removing as they find occasion.” The fact is that the old form of society persisted longer in Ulster than in the other three provinces. Con O’Niall cursed all his posterity in case they learned the English language, sowed wheat, or built them houses. Speed explains Con’s reasons: “Lest the first should breed conversation, the second commerce of sustenance, and with the last they should speed as the crow that buildeth her nest to be beaten out by the hawk.”

Reprinted from the Church of Ireland Gazette of 8th May 1914.

Ulster Settlers in America – Miscellanea

In Watson's Annals of Philadelphia there are some references to early Irish settlers. I have made the following notes and extracts as bearing slightly on the important article on this subject by M. J. Murphy in vol. ii., page 17, of the Journal. The Irish emigrants did not begin to come into Pennsylvania until about the year 1719. Those who did come were generally from the North of Ireland. Such as came out first generally settled near the disputed Maryland line. James Logan (himself a famous Ulsterman), writing of them to the proprietors in 1724, says they generally took up the southern lands, meaning in Lancaster county, towards the Maryland line; and as they rarely approached him to propose to purchase, he calls them bold and indignant strangers, saying as their excuse, when challenged for titles, that "we had solicited for colonists and they had come accordingly." They were, however, understood to be a tolerated class, exempt from rents by an ordinance of 1720, in consideration of their being a frontier people forming a kind of cordon of defence when needed. They were soon called bad neighbours to the Indians, treating them disdainfully, and were the same race who finally committed the outrage called the Paxton massacre. James Logan, a great mass of whose correspondence is still preserved, writes in 1729, saying that "he is glad to find the Parliament is about to take measures to prevent the too free emigration to America. In the meantime the Assembly had laid a restraining tax of twenty shillings a-head on every servant arriving; but even this was evaded in the case of the arrival of a ship from Dublin with 100 Papists and convicts, by landing them at Burlington. "It looks," writes Logan, "as if Ireland is to send all its inhabitants hither, for last week not less than six ships arrived, and every day two or three arrive also. The common fear is that, if they continue to come, they will make themselves proprietors of the province. The Indians themselves are alarmed at the swarms of strangers, and we are afraid of a breach between them, for the Irish are very rough to them." In 1730 he writes and complains of the Irish possessing themselves in an audacious and disorderly manner of the whole of Conestogoe manor of 15,000 acres, being the best land in the country. In doing this by force, they alleged that "it was against the laws of God and nature that so much land should be idle while so many Christians wanted it to labour on and to raise their bread." The Paxton boys were all great sticklers for religion and for Scripture quotations against "the heathen." They were, however, dispossessed by the sheriff, who burned their cabins, to the number of thirty, and restored their lands to the Indians. This violence was remembered with indignation, for, 25 years after, the Paxton massacre began by the killing of the unoffending Christian Indians living in Conestogoe. The Irish generally settled in Donegal. In another letter Logan writes, saying "I must own, from my own experience in the land office, that the settlement of five families from Ireland gives me more trouble than fifty of any other people." His successor, Richard Peters, had also trouble with the Irish, for on going in 1743 with a sheriff and magistrate to dispossess the Squatters at Marsh Creek, in Lancaster county, and to measure the manor land, they raised a riot and drove him away.

The inhabitants of Paxton were Irish Presbyterians. Their minister for sixty years was the Rev. John Elder. He came to them from Ireland in 1732, lived to be eighty, and died in 1792. Watson knew his son, Thomas Elder, "a gentleman of the Bar at Harrisburg." The Rev. John Elder held a colonel's commission in 1755. He writes from Paxton to the secretary, R. Peters. "There are within this few weeks upwards of forty of his Majesty's subjects massacred on the frontiers of this and Cumberland counties, besides a great many carried into captivity: and yet nothing but unseasonable debates between the two parties of our Legislature, instead of uniting on some scheme for the protection of the province. What may be the end of these things God only knows: but I really fear that, unless rigorous methods are speedily used, we in these back settlements will fall a sacrifice, and this part of the province be lost."

About 1720, Elizabeth M'Gawley, an Irish lady, brought over a number of tenantry, and settled with them near Philadelphia. She had a chapel attached to her house. Near the place (about one-eighth of a mile off) is a stone enclosure, in which is a large tombstone of marble, inscribed with a cross, and the name, "John Michael Brown, ob. 15 Dec, A.D. 1750. – R.I.P." He was a priest.

In 1741 the Philadelphia papers announced to merchants and shippers that Augustus Gun, of Cork, has power from the Mayor there to procure servants for America. Such an advertisement was, of course, an intimation that the Mayor of Cork was willing to send off sundry culprits to the colonies.

1729. In New Castle government there arrived last year, says the Gazette, forty-five hundred persons, chiefly from Ireland, and at Philadelphia eleven hundred and fifty-five Irish. New Castle is on the Delaware below Philadelphia; it is one of the ports to which emigrant ships sailed from Belfast in the last century. Watson has an interesting note about potatoes. He says – "This excellent vegetable was very slow of acceptance among us. It was introduced from Ireland in 1719 by a colony of Presbyterian Irish, settled in Londonderry in New Hampshire. They were so slow in its use in New England, that, as late as 1740, it was still a practice with masters to stipulate with some apprentices that they should not be obliged to use them."

W. H. Patterson.


Ulster Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 2, No. 2, Series 2, Jan 1896.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

In February, 1795, my great-grandfather, Captain Alexander Chesney, of Packolet, County Down, who fought for King George in the war of Independence, noted down the names of a few Ulster settlers which may now be worth recording. They were all settled in South Carolina before the war, and, unlike him, appear to have taken the American side. They were Presbyterians, as he was. Matthew Gilespey married Martha Chesney, and settled near Enora River, 1768, and left children. John Cook, married to Sarah Fulton, settled on the Packolet River, and left children. ---------- Nesbit, married to another Fulton, settled in Waxhaws, South Carolina, and left children. Thomas and John Purdy, of Glenravel, settled in Pennsylvania. Their sister, Jane Purdy, married to Robert Chesney or M'Chesney, of Dunclog, County Antrim, emigrated with her husband and eight children to America, sailing in "the scow James and Mary from Larne," and making the passage in seven weeks and three days. From Charlestown they travelled in wagons, paying a penny a pound for the use of them. They travelled thus to Jackson's Creek, "stopping at John Winn's old place, now Winnsborough," and leaving the family with some Ulster settlers, "John Phillips, now Colonel Phillips," till a home could be prepared. A hundred acres of land were surveyed for the Chesneys, a cabin bought, and some land cleared, when a message came from John Cook, of Packolet River, 60 miles off, inviting the family to settle there.

"I proceeded there on foot," says Chesney, "there being no direct road. I was to inquire for John Quinn, blacksmith, on Sandy River, about 20 miles off; the first house I came to. Then to Ned Hill's, where I crossed the river in a canoe, thence to my aunt's on the Packolet River. The settlers near, being all relations, gave me weight, and they soon found me a tract of 400 acres, which I had surveyed. I soon returned for the whole family, and we settled there."

This sketch of how a family, in almost tribal numbers, moved from Ulster to America, may be of interest to your readers. The rest of the MS. gives a vivid picture of the war, and the isolation of the writer from his kindred owing to his loyalty.

Y. T.


Ulster Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 2, No. 3, Series 2, April 1896

Ulster Settlers in America (pt3)

Some of the early colonists – their services in the American Revolution.

by M. I. MURPHY, Bay City, Michigan, U.S.

With note by Francis Joseph Bigger, Editor.

Conclusion...

Another illustrious son of Ulster who occupies a prominent place in American history, and is better known than the foregoing, was Charles Thompson, the "perpetual secretary of the Continental Congress." Thompson was born in Maghera, County Derry, in 1730, and at the age of eleven years was brought to America, with his three brothers, by his father, who unfortunately died while in sight of the capes of the Delaware. When the first Continental Congress met in September, 1774, Thompson was unanimously chosen secretary, and he retained that position until his resignation in 1789. He would accept no pay for his first year's services, and Congress presented his wife, the aunt of the first President Harrison, with a silver urn as a token of its appreciation of his services and unselfish patriotism. The Declaration of Independence was drawn up by him from Jefferson's rough draft, and the only signatures affixed to the document on the 4 July, 1776, were his and President Hancock's, the other signatures not being affixed till the 2 August following. It will, without doubt, be of interest to all Irishmen to learn that John Hancock, the President of Congress, and the first signer of the Declaration of Independence, came of Ulster stock. It is stated upon good authority that the ancestors of President Hancock emigrated from near Downpatrick, County Down, and settled in Boston, towards the end of the seventeenth century.

Others of the signatories of that famous document came of Ulster parentage. Robert Treat Paine was one of them. He was the representative from Massachusetts, and his lineage was a royal one. According to O'Hart, "Henry O'Neill, of Dungannon, born in 1665, sixth in descent from Shane the Proud, Prince of Ulster, and cousin of Sir Neal O'Neill, who received his death-wound at the battle of the Boyne, changed his name to Paine, that of a maternal ancestor, to preserve a portion of his estates. He entered the British army, obtained grants of land in County Cork and other parts of Ireland, and was killed in 1698 at Foxford, in the County Mayo. His youngest brother, Robert, who also took the name of Paine, emigrated to America a little before the occurrence alluded to, and was the grandfather of Robert Treat Paine who signed the Declaration. He was born at Boston, 11 March, 1731, and studied theology at Harvard, accompanying the provincial troops on the northern frontier in 1755 as chaplain. He afterwards studied law, and conducted the prosecution of Captain Preston and eight of his soldiers when they were tried for their part in the "Boston Massacre" of 5 March, 1770. In 1773 and the year following he was elected to the General Assembly of Massachusetts; was sent as a delegate to the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1778; voted for and signed the Declaration of Independence. When, in 1780, the State Constitution of Massachusetts was adopted, he was made Attorney-General, which office he held till 1790, when he was made a judge of the Supreme Court. In 1804 he resigned that position on account of infirmities brought on by old age, and died in 1814, at the age of eighty-three.

Thomas MacKean, of Delaware, who also signed the Declaration, was President of Congress at the close of the war. He was born in Chester, County Pennsylvania, of Ulster parents. In 1765 he was a member, for Delaware, of the Congress of New York. He was a prominent member of the Congress of 1776 that convened at Philadelphia, and remained a member of that body till 1783, being the only one that served all the time. On the 10 July, 1781, MacKean was elected President of Congress, and, on the surrender of Cornwallis, Washington despatched a courier to him with the news. At the close of the war MacKean retired from public life, and took up his residence in Philadelphia, where he died, 24 June, 1817.

In Thomas Nelson, of Virginia, who also signed the Declaration, we find another descendant of the O'Neills of Ulster. His grandfather came from Strabane. County Tyrone, about the beginning of the last century. The name, originally O'Neill, was changed. That eminent Irish antiquarian, Eugene O'Curry, many years ago made out the pedigree of this delegate to Congress from Virginia, tracing his descent from Donald O'Neill, Prince of Ulster, who addressed in 1315 the famous "Remonstrance" to Pope John XXII., in which he denounced the atrocities perpetrated in Ireland, and justified the bringing over of Edward Bruce, brother of King Robert, of Scotland, to aid in expelling the English. Nelson was in Congress from 1774 to 1777, when ill health compelled him to resign. When Congress called for aid in 1778, he raised a volunteer corps, and went at their head to join Washington. He was sent to Congress in 1779, but sickness again compelled him to withdraw. He succeeded Jefferson as Governor of Virginia in 1781, and, as commander-in-chief of the troops of the State, placed himself at their head, joining Lafayette, who was then endeavouring to check Cornwallis. He continued in this capacity till the British surrendered at Yorktown, making constantly great personal sacrifices, himself guaranteeing the payment of a loan of two millions of dollars raised by Virginia, and insisting that his house should be shelled because the British occupied it. Soon after the surrender he resigned, retiring into private life till his death, which took place in 1789.

James Smith, another of the subscribers, was born in Ireland, and is said to have come from Ulster, but I can find no authority to confirm the assertion. So the list goes on. The embryo Republic was aided by gifts of money, deeds of arms, active civil service, and in many other ways by the sons and descendants of historic Ulster. The land of Shane the Proud and Hugh of Dungannon has a lasting monument in the names and fame of those whose acts so materially assisted to establish the United States of America; and she must also treasure the memory of patriots less known but equally true, such as James Moore, of Lurgan; Rev. John Murray, born in Antrim 22 May, 1742; Ephraim Blaine, born in County Donegal, 1741, the grandfather of the celebrated statesman, James G. Blaine (Blaine became the quartermaster of Washington's army in 1780, and by his strenuous efforts did much to alleviate the sufferings of the men); John Bleakley; John Brown, born in County Antrim, 1753; Hugh Holmes, Henry Boyle, William Erskine, Robert Rainey, Alexander Nesbitt, Oliver Pollock, who procured Spanish gunpowder for the Revolutionists; Samuel Carson, and many others, about whom little can be discovered save the part they played in the great drama of the Revolution.

The devotion of Ulstermen did not end with this epoch in American history. The great war of 1812 gave opportunity for their heroism and their genius. Among the brightest names in the history of Columbia are those of Andrew Jackson, victor of New Orleans and President of the United States, and Commodore Thos. MacDonough, both sons of Ulster parents.

Besides these two great men, we find such daring spirits as Captain Boyle, a native of Armagh, whose sea fights read like bits of fiction. He commanded a twelve-gun brig, The Comet, and in it attacked three British vessels, with a Portuguese convoy of 30 guns. He drove off the convoy, sank one of the British vessels, and brought the other two into Pernambuco as prizes. On the same cruise he captured the British ship Aberdeen, of eight guns, and two others often guns each.

Captain Johnston Blakely was born in Seaforde, County Down, October, 1781. He was brought to North Carolina by his parents, who died soon afterwards. A friend educated him, and in 1800 he entered the United States navy as a midshipman, and by July, 1813, had risen to the rank of a master commander. In the Wasp, on 28 June, 1814, he captured, after a severe engagement, the British warship Reindeer. The latter vessel made three desperate and unsuccessful attempts to board, in the last of which her commander was slain. For this exploit. Congress voted Captain Blakely a gold medal. On the 21 September, 1814, he captured and sent into Savannah the brig Atalanta. This was the last direct intelligence ever received of him. The Wasp, being heavily armed and sparred, and deep-waisted, probably foundered in a heavy gale. About the time of his death he was gazetted as a captain. His only child, a daughter, was educated at the expense of the State of North Carolina.

If the deeds of these men, as well as those of General Doherty and others of the same race, were omitted, what a gap there would be in the history of the United States in those times.

In the Mexican War of 1846, Dungannon was represented by two of the most illustrious soldiers under the Stars and Stripes – General James Shields and Major MacReynolds. Among other officers under Scott were Captain Magruder, of the artillery; Captain Casey and Lieutenant Neil, of the regular infantry, all of whom were distinguished for their bravery. All were Ulstermen.

One lamentable fact about the Irish-American heroes who fought under the American flag is the paucity of information regarding their ancestry. Even the birthplace of many an illustrious Irishman is unknown to us. All the information we can get from records is – "He was born in Ireland," or "he was born in the North of Ireland." The prejudice against Irish people in general during the early days of the colonies is responsible, without a doubt, for the meagre records kept of these gallant men.

Excellent work could be rendered by the literary and archaeological societies in various parts of Ireland by taking up the records of the families of these men. A connecting chain could be obtained in American records, and many facts of international interest might be gleaned. It is not merely a matter of pastime it is an imperative duty that a complete biographical encyclopaedia should be compiled and presented to the world, wherein the history of these men would be preserved for all time. The recounting of their deeds, without exaggeration and without bombast, would be a grander and more lasting monument than bronze or stone an example for generations to come, and an eternal proof of the Ulsterman's fealty to the country of his adoption.

NOTE BY F. J. B., Editor.

Through the kindness of an American correspondent, we have been able to peruse The History of Londonderry (United States), by Rev. Edward Parker, Boston, 1851. No more interesting local history than this could be produced, comprising, as it does, not only a full account of the early settlers of the place, but copious references to their Ulster origin and Scottish pedigrees. The lists of names in the appendix – viz., the original subscribers to the Petition to Governor Shute, of Massachusetts, praying for "incouragement" to transport themselves to the colonies; the original list of "proprietors" of Londonderry; and, finally, the list appended to the following portentous document "We, the Subscribers, do hereby solemnly engage and promise that we will to the utmost of our power, at the Risque of our Lives and Fortunes, with arms, oppose the Hostile proceedings of the British Fleets and Armies against the United American Colonies" – all these lists are composed of names exactly similar to those of our own Presbyterian communities; whilst their manners, customs, and mode of speech, till after the Revolution, were the same as those of their brethren in Antrim and Derry. We read of their ministers' ordinations and their communion seasons, when communion tokens were used; even their disputes are alike. For instance, we read of a deceased minister's son being preferred to a stranger who had been ordained, and a rival meeting-house being built for him. Then, again, when a disagreement arose amongst the Presbyterians, a rival Independent meeting-house was built in the district. Again, we read of a Court of Session for the trial of moral offences, just like our own Templepatrick Session, where the offenders were "admonished," and "ordered to appear before the congregation on the next succeeding Sabbath." One James Doake was accused of beating his father, but the Session considered the offence not proven, nevertheless they "rebuked James Doake for giving his father the lie."

These early colonists left Derry in five ships, landing in Boston on the 4 August, 1718, previous to which they had sent one of their number, the Rev. William Boyd, as a deputation to Governor Shute, with authority to make terms for their settlement, which he succeeded in doing. The Petition to Governor Shute has 319 signatures, only 13 of whom were marksmen. Nine of the Subscribers were Presbyterian ministers, and three were Scottish graduates. Such names as the following occur in the list – Houston, Porter, Thompson, Dunlop, Blair, Galt, Mitchell, Patterson, Curry, Anderson, Campbell, Ramsey, Ritchie, Gregg, Boyd, Bigger, Wilson, Haslet, Todd, Holmes, Black, Miller, Brice, MacKeen, Lamont, Orr, Lennox, Leslie, Crawford, Christy, Johnston, Smith, Knox, &c., &c.

The following were the reasons given for their emigration:– "1. To avoid oppression and cruel bondage. 2. To shun persecution and designed ruin. 3. To withdraw from the communion of idolaters. 4. To have an opportunity of worshipping God according to the dictates of conscience and the rules of His inspired Word." After these emigrants had landed in the colonies they experienced some privations, but soon obtained a grant of suitable land, and afterwards a Royal charter was granted, enabling them to establish what was practically a Presbyterian Republic, where the civil and ecclesiastical jurisdiction were one and the same. This was the first Presbyterian congregation in New England. The meeting-house was the head of the commune, and the governing circles widened from its centre. At the time of the Revolution, very few of these settlers or their descendants did not take side with the Revolutionists, still there were some. Colonel Stephen Holland, a gentleman of education, remained loyal, and his estate was confiscated and sold. Londonderry paid for bounties a larger sum than any other town, and, it is believed, contributed a larger number of revolutionary soldiers; and so bitter were they to any loyalists who sought to return after the Revolution and recover their possessions, that they decreed in public assembly "that nothing may ever be done for those infernal wretches by this State further than to provide a gallows, halter, and hangman for everyone that dare to show their vile countenances amongst us." Their first minister, the Rev. James MacGregor, was ordained in Derry, and the succeeding minister, the Rev. Matthew Clerk, left his charge in Kilrea. His successor, the Rev. Thos. Thompson, was ordained by the Presbytery of Tyrone. Other ministers were brought from the mother country as vacancies occurred indeed, the original settlers were largely augmented from time to time by friends and acquaintances from Antrim and Derry. The Rev. J. MacGregor was amongst the defenders of Derry in 1688, and had assisted in firing the large gun from the Cathedral tower that announced the approach of the relieving ships. He was afterwards minister at Aghadowey. His remains were borne to the grave in that new Derry beyond the seas by those who had been his fellow-defenders in the memorable siege of the city by the Foyle. Colonel William Gregg was the son of Captain John Gregg, who emigrated from Antrim with his father, Captain James Gregg. At the commencement of the Revolution, Colonel Gregg commanded a company of minutemen in Londonderry (U.S.), and was most active during the campaign, commanding the vanguard at the battle of Bennington, and received at its close the thanks of the Legislature. Another Gregg was Alexander, who made several privateering voyages during the Revolution.

The Rev. Joseph MacKeen, D.D., of Londonderry (U.S.), was the grandson of James MacKeen, one of the original settlers, who was born in Ballymoney, County Antrim, 13 April, 1715. At the Revolution he laid aside his studies and enlisted as a private soldier under General Sullivan, being present at the retreat from Rhode Island.

The Hon. Matthew Thornton was born in Ireland, and, whilst a child, left for the colonies with his father, where he studied medicine, acting as a surgeon in the expedition against Cape Breton in 1745. He held the rank of colonel in the Revolution, and was also a Justice of the Peace. Subsequently he was appointed a delegate to Congress, and signed the Declaration of Independence. He was a judge of the Superior Court, and then raised to the Chief-Justiceship of the Court of Common Pleas.

John Bell was born near Coleraine in 1678, and left for the colonies in 1719. His son Samuel, with his two sons and two brothers-in-law, were taken prisoners during the war by Burgoyne's army, and his house burned.

Captain Arthur Nesmith was at the battle of Bunker's Hill, and afterwards commanded a company in the Canada service. His father, James Nesmith, emigrated from the Valley of the Bann in 1718.

The above are but a few of the many incidents connected with the names of Ulstermen who settled at an early period in the colonies. It is quite evident that these pioneer colonists left on religious grounds, preferring to risk their lives in a new country, to exercise in the fullest extent their religious opinions, rather than live in Ireland, where their own sect was not the dominant party. The subsequent settlers left Ulster rather upon agrarian grounds, but their exodus must be dealt with in a subsequent article.



Reproduced from the Ulster Journal of Archaeology Vol. 2, No.1, Series 2, 1895.

Ulster Settlers in America (pt2)

Some of the early colonists – their services in the American Revolution.

by M. I. MURPHY, Bay City, Michigan, U.S.

With note by Francis Joseph Bigger, Editor.

Continued...

The first marshal of the district of Pennsylvania was Colonel Francis Nichols, who was born at Crieve Hill, Enniskillen, in 1737. He was an officer in the army of the Revolution, and by his gallant conduct rose from the rank of a non-com- missioned officer to that of colonel. He was afterwards elected to Congress.

The three brothers Mease left a record of which all Irishmen may well be proud. Matthew Mease, the eldest, left his native place, Strabane, in the County Tyrone, and landed, a young lad, in Philadelphia, where his uncle, John Mease, also of Strabane, was an eminent and wealthy merchant. Matthew received a commercial training; but at the commencement of hostilities entered the American navy, and became the purser of the Bonhomme Richard. In the desperate encounter between that vessel and H.M.S. Serapis, Matthew Mease, not relishing the thought of being a spectator, obtained from Paul Jones the command of the quarter-deck guns, which were served under him until he was carried below to the cockpit, dangerously wounded on the head by a splinter. He died in Philadelphia in 1787.

James Mease, the second brother, was born in Strabane, and came to America before the Revolution. He was one of those who organised the First Troop of Philadelphia Cavalry, and served in it with gallantry during the war. He was eminent as a merchant, and subscribed £5,000 for supplies to the American army during the winter of 1780.

John Mease, the third son, also born in Strabane, emigrated to America in 1754, and on the ever memorable Christmas night in 1776 was one of twenty-four of the Philadelphia City Troop who crossed the Delaware with the troops under Washington, when the Hessians were captured. John Mease was one of five detailed to keep alive the fires along the line of the American encampment at Trenton, to deceive the British, whilst the Americans marched by a private route to attack their rear guard at Princeton. He served with his troop till the end of the war, suffering great loss of property in his warehouses and dwelling. He subscribed £4,000 to supply the army in 1780.

William Whipple, one of the subscribers to the Declaration of Independence, was born of Ulster parents in Kittery, Maine. In 1777, when Burgoyne was advancing on the colonies by way of Lake Champlain, the State of New Hampshire raised two brigades of militia, one of which was given to Whipple and the other to John Stark. Whipple served with his men under Gates at the battles of Stillwater and Saratoga, doing good service in both engagements, and establishing his own reputation, as well as that of his men, for bravery and determination. In 1778 he co-operated with General Sullivan in the siege of Newport. He was a judge of the Supreme Court of the State of Maine at the time of his death, 28 November, 1785.

In Colonel Enoch Poor we have another famous son of Ulster settlers in New Hampshire. He served as a colonel in the Continental army in the expedition to Canada in 1776, and afterwards at Crown Point. He was appointed Brigadier-General in 1777, and took part in the battles which resulted in the surrender of Burgoyne. He soon afterwards joined Washington in Pennsylvania; was with his command at Valley Forge, and participated in the pursuit of the British on their retreat from Philadelphia, and in the battle of Monmouth which followed. He died in 1780, at Hackensack, N.J., his funeral being attended by Washington and Lafayette.

John Dunlap was born in Strabane, County Tyrone, in 1746. He emigrated at an early age to America, settling in Philadelphia, where, like Franklin, he became a printer, and, by his industry and enterprise, one of the most extensive in the country. In November, 1771, he issued in Philadelphia the first number of The Pennsylvania Packet, or General Advertiser. From September, 1777, to July, 1778, while the British were in possession of Philadelphia, this newspaper was printed in Lancaster. From 1784 it was published daily, being the first daily paper published in the United States. John Dunlap was printer to the Convention which met in Philadelphia before the Revolution, and also to Congress, and was the first person to print and publish The Declaration of Independence. Thus an Irishman, Charles Thompson, Secretary of Congress, first prepared this immortal document for publication from the rough draft of Jefferson; the son of an Irishman, Colonel Nixon, had the honour of first publicly announcing and reading it from the State House; a third Irishman, John Dunlap, first printed and published it, while hosts of Irishmen contributed their property and their lives to sustain it. John Dunlap was one of the original members of the First Troop of Philadelphia Cavalry, and served as Cornet in it during the war. He amassed an immense fortune during his lifetime, and, besides owning considerable property in Philadelphia, he bought 98,000 acres of land from the State of Virginia, as well as large tracts in Kentucky. He died on the 27 November, 1812, in his 66th year, and was buried with military honours. John Dunlap was among the large subscribers to the fund for the purchase of supplies for the army in 1780, giving £4,000 for that purpose.

Major-General John Stark was born in Londonderry, New Hampshire, 28 August, 1728. His parents emigrated from Ulster in 1719 with the Derry colonists, and in this new settlement John was born. In 1736 the family removed to Derryfield, now Manchester, where John remained until he was twenty-four years old. He served with distinction in the French and Indian wars, and when the news of the battle of Lexington reached him, he immediately set out for the field of action. Receiving the commission of a colonel in Boston, he availed himself of the enthusiasm of the day and his own popularity, and in two hours had enlisted over eight hundred men. He fought at the head of his men in the battle of Bunker Hill, and later on took part in the fight at Three Rivers, in Canada. In the engagement at Trenton, Stark shared largely in the victory, and in the battle of Princeton stood beside Washington and exhibited all that daring and intrepidity so peculiar to himself, and which never failed to inspire his men with confidence and courage. The following March he resigned his commission, and retired to his farm. Insulted by Congress, triumphed over by younger and less able men, justice and self-respect impelled him to this course. But his patriotism still remained burning with undiminished vigour, and when Burgoyne came marching down from Canada all was forgotten, and he took the most active measures in recruiting troops. Rallying around their favourite leader, the militia came pouring in from all directions, and at the head of 1,400 men he marched against the British, and came up with them at Bennington. Here Stark reached the climax of his fame by a victory achieved over the British. He shared in the honours of Saratoga, and assisted in the council which arranged the surrender of Burgoyne. He also served in Rhode Island in 1778, and in New Jersey in 1780. In 1781 he was made Commander-in-Chief of the Northern Department of the American army, and made Saratoga his headquarters. The two following years, though engaged in no battles, his duties were complicated and onerous; nor did he relinquish his valuable services until his country was an independent nation. Stark was on the court-martial that tried Major Andre. He died in 1822, at the age of 94 years.

General William Maxwell was a native of the North of Ireland. He left home for America a few years previous to the Revolution, and settled in New Jersey, where, on receiving his commission as colonel from Congress in 1776, he raised a battalion of infantry. He was with General Schuyler on Lake Champlain, and in October, 1776, was appointed a Brigadier-General in the Continental army. After the battle of Trenton he was engaged in harassing the enemy, and during the winter and spring of 1777 was stationed near the enemy's lines at Elizabethtown. In the autumn of that year he was engaged in the battles of Germantown and Brandywine, and during the succeeding winter he was with the army at Valley Forge. He was active in pursuit of Clinton across New Jersey the following summer, and sustained an important part in the battle of Monmouth. After that engagement he was left with Morgan to annoy the British rear in their retreat towards Sandy Hook. In June, 1780, he was engaged in the action at Springfield, and in August of that year he resigned. He was highly esteemed by Washington, who, on transmitting his resignation to Congress, said "I believe him to be an honest man, a warm friend to his country, and firmly attached to its interests." He died in November, 1798.

Hugh Maxwell, also a distinguished Revolutionary soldier, though no relation to the foregoing, was said to have been born in the County Armagh on the 27 April, 1733. He was brought to America by his father while yet an infant, and served his military apprenticeship in the old French war, on one occasion being taken prisoner at Fort Edward, from whence he escaped in a daring manner. He entered the Continental service at the opening of the campaign, and was a lieutenant at the battle of Bunker Hill, where he was wounded, he was commissioned a major in July, 1777, serving in the battle of Saratoga, and a lieutenant-colonel at the close of the war. He died at sea, on a return voyage from the West Indies, on 14 October, 1799, aged 66 years. Thompson Maxwell, a younger brother, born at New Bedford, Massachusetts, also won distinction as a soldier in the Revolution.

Colonel James Patton, who came from County Donegal in 1750, obtained a grant of 120,000 acres of land from the Governor of Virginia, upon which a large number of his countrymen settled. He left a splendid military record as a soldier.

Richard MacAllister was born in the North of Ireland in 1725, and emigrated to America at an early age. In 1764 he founded MacAllister's Town, now Hanover, Pennsylvania. In 1776, MacAllister was colonel of the 2nd Battalion York County (Pennsylvania) Volunteers, which marched to New Jersey, and was embodied in the "Flying Camp" ordered to be raised by Congress on the 3 June of that year. This 2nd Battalion was commanded mostly by Irishmen. David Kennedy was lieutenant-colonel, John Clark was major, and there were Captains MacCarter and MacCloskey, all of these being natives of Ulster, or of that stock. Captain MacCarter, a mere youth of twenty-two, was killed at Fort Washington while fighting gallantly.

Lieutenant-Colonel David Grier was born in the County Donegal, near the borders of Derry, on the 27 June, 1741. He settled in York, Pennsylvania, when quite young, studied law, and was called to the Bar in 1771. He was commissioned a captain of a Pennsylvania company by Congress on 9 January, 1776, and finally commissioned Lieutenant-Colonel of the 7th Battalion of Pennsylvania, receiving a severe wound at the battle of Paoli in the fall of 1777, which barred him from further activity in the field; but, returning to York, he was engaged in the War Office. At the close of the war he resumed his legal practice, and ranked as one of the ablest lawyers of Pennsylvania. Grier died in 1790, of consumption, the result of his wound.

General John Clark, the son of an Antrim weaver, was born in Lancaster County, Pa., in 1751. At the first sound of war he laid aside his books and donned his sword, proving himself a man of extraordinary ability, attracting the attention of Congress; was commissioned a major by that body, and appointed an aide to General Greene. In 1776 he marched his detachment to join Washington on the Delaware, and, though surrounded by the British on all sides, brought his men through in safety, and joined his commander at Trenton. By this daring act he gained the confidence of Washington to such a degree that he was afterwards employed by him in duties for which no one would be selected who was not as true as steel. Disabled by a dangerous wound, he became ineligible for field service, and in January, 1779, he was appointed Auditor of Accounts for the army, acting in this capacity until the following November, when his failing health, much to his reluctance, forced him to quit the service. He died quite suddenly, on the 27 December, 1819, at York, Pa., and was buried in the Episcopalian graveyard, without a headstone to mark his last resting-place.

The list of Ulstermen who, by the force of arms, helped to make a foundation for the Republic seems almost inexhaustible. All professions, trades, and creeds are represented amongst them. The spirit which to-day animates that wonderful nation sprang into being during that epoch. Side by side with the clergyman, the doctor, and the lawyer, we find the rugged frontiersman, the farmer, and the artisan. The same impulse that thrilled the hearts of John M'Clure and his "Chester Creek Rocky Irish," a set of sturdy North Carolina farmers, swelled in the breasts of such characters as the Rev. James Caldwell, whose determined patriotism won for him the title of "The Fighting Parson;" Rev. John Craighead, the fighting clergyman of Chambersburg; Doctors Sheill and Cochran; William MacCree, of North Carolina; Andrew Pickens; William Gregg, who commanded the vanguard at Bennington; Colonel John White, of Georgia, and a host of others too numerous to mention.

It was not alone in the battle-field that the men of Ulster played a prominent part. On searching the annals, we find the men who stayed at home in the cities lending important aid to the Revolutionists, and one of the first who deserves to be mentioned in this respect is Blair MacClenachan, a native of Donegal, some say Antrim. He was a merchant of Philadelphia, and, when the war broke out, engaged in privateering, in which he was successful, accumulating great wealth. MacClenachan was an ardent patriot, and co-operated most liberally in all the patriotic exertions and schemes of Robert Morris and his compatriots in urging on, sustaining, and establishing the cause of American Independence. When the army of Washington was starving at Valley Forge in the winter of 1780, MacClenachan subscribed £10,000 for their relief. One of his daughters married General Walter Stewart.

Sharp Delaney, a native of the County Monaghan, was a druggist in Philadelphia at the  commencement of the Revolution. He subscribed £5,000 to the army relief fund in 1780. After the war he became a member of the Legislature, and George Washington appointed him Collector of the Port of Philadelphia, which office he held until his death.

John Donaldson, the son of Hugh Donaldson, of Dungannon, was a merchant of Philadelphia, and subscribed £2,000 for the relief of Washington's army in 1780.

John Murray, born in Belfast in 1731, was a member of the firm of Bunner, Murray & Co., dry goods merchants of Philadelphia, which subscribed £6,000 to supply the army at Valley Forge.

James Caldwell, a native of the North of Ireland, and a merchant of Philadelphia, subscribed £2,000 for the same purpose.

George Campbell was a native of Stewartstown, in the County Tyrone, where the family had long been settled. He was admitted to practice at the Armagh assizes in 1751, and pursued the profession of law until 1765, when he emigrated to Philadelphia, and spent the remainder of his life in that city. Campbell subscribed £2,000 to buy provisions for the army in 1780.

Thomas Barclay, another Ulsterman, gave £5,000 in 1780. Some years later he was appointed Consul-General from the United States to the Barbary Powers, but died at Lisbon on his way to the North of Africa. Richard Lalor Shiel was connected with the Barclay family.

Samuel Caldwell, a native of the North of Ireland, was an eminent shipping merchant of Philadelphia, and a partner of James Mease, mentioned earlier in this article, constituting with him in the firm of Mease & Caldwell. When the army fund of the Bank of Pennsylvania was started in 1780, Caldwell was a subscriber to the amount of £1,000.

The name of John Maxwell Nesbitt stands eminent amongst those of the American patriots. He was a native of the North of Ireland. During the war, he conducted one of the most extensive mercantile houses in Philadelphia, under the name of J. M. Nesbitt & Co., and afterwards, in conjunction with David Hayfield Conyngham, a native of Donegal, under the name of Conyngham & Nesbitt. He embarked his all in the cause of Independence, and, with a devoted patriotism not exceeded in history, staked his life, his fortune, and, what he valued more than both, his honour on the success of America. His benefactions to her cause were most liberal. When the Bank of Pennsylvania was formed for the purpose of supplying the Continental army with provisions, J. M. Nesbitt & Co. subscribed £5,000; but before that event Nesbitt had rendered most essential service to the army. This is related in Hazard's Register of Pennsylvania, vol. vi. page 28 – "So great was the distress of the American army in 1780, that General Washington was apprehensive that they would not be able to keep the field. The army, however, was saved by a combination of providential circumstances. General Washington having written to Richard Peters, giving him full information of the state of the army, that gentleman immediately called on J. M. Nesbitt, and explained to him the distress of the army, and the wishes of the General." Nesbitt replied "that a certain Mr. Howe, of Trenton, had offered to put up pork for him if he could be paid in hard money. He contracted with Howe to put up all the pork and beef he could obtain, for which he should be paid in gold." Howe performed his engagement, and J. M. Nesbitt & Co. paid him accordingly. Nesbitt told Peters he might have this beef and pork, and, in addition, a valuable prize just arrived to Bunner, Murray & Co. laden with provisions. Peters was delighted with the result of application; the provisions were sent, and the army was saved. Had the army disbanded at Valley Forge, it might have meant the failure of the American cause, therefore let the credit of this timely aid be given to Ireland, and to Ulster.

To be continued...


Reproduced from the Ulster Journal of Archaeology Vol. 2, No.1, Series 2, 1895.

Ulster Settlers in America

Some of the early colonists – their services in the American Revolution.

by M. I. MURPHY, Bay City, Michigan, U.S.

With note by Francis Joseph Bigger, Editor.

TO render a really good account of the important part taken by the colonists from the North of Ireland in the American War of Independence, would require not one book, but an entire series of them.

When William and Mary, in the first year of their reign, were called upon by both Houses of Parliament to discourage the manufactures of Ireland which competed with those of England, the restrictions which were then placed upon Irish industries were the means, according to Lord Fitzwilliam, of driving fully 100,000 emigrants from the country. Some of these people went to Germany, more went to Spain, but the vast majority emigrated to that new world across the water, contented to face the rigours of a climate to which they were totally unused, and to risk their lives in contact with the Red Indians, who had inhabited the wilds for centuries, and who looked upon the incursions of the white man into their territory as the invasion of an enemy.

Most of the wealth of the colonists came with the Ulstermen, who settled in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and a few in New York State, in little colonies which were often named after the place of their nativity. Thus we find a Belfast, Derry, Londonderry, South Londonderry, Antrim, Ballymoney, and similar names among those given to the various settlements founded by these people.

One of the earliest attempts at founding an Irish settlement in America was in the year 1636, when the Eagle Wing, with 140 passengers, left Carrickfergus to found a colony on the Merrimack River, "considering how precious a thing the public liberty of pure ordinances was." The Eagle Wing was fated never to carry out its mission, for, meeting heavy weather, the emigrants were obliged to turn back and give up their journey. Towards the end of Charles II's reign, Rev. Francis Mackenzie, one of the founders of Presbyterianism, left Uster for the colonies, and he was soon followed by Rev. William Tail, of Ballindruit, and by many others, both clergy and laity.

The first important settlement of Irishmen in the colonies was made in 1699, when James Logan, of Lurgan, with others from that place, accompanied William Penn to his new plantation, and there received a hearty welcome. Logan became one of the most important men of the colony, which he governed for two years after the death of Penn, and whose Capitol he enriched by bequeathing to it the most considerable library that had been opened up to its inhabitants up till that time. He was, for that age, a most tolerant man – even more so than his friend Penn, who wrote him as follows from London in 1708:– "There is a complaint against your government that you suffer public mass in a scandalous manner. Pray, send me the matter of fact, for ill use is made of it against us here."

The warmth of the reception which greeted Logan and his companions induced many emigrants, chiefly from the North of Ireland, to follow them to Pennsylvania, in the interior of which State we find townships called Derry, Tyrone, Coleraine, and Donegal as early as the year 1730.

From this time on, the influx of Irish immigrants was considerable. The arrivals at the port of Philadelphia for the year ending December, 1729, are set down as follows:–

English and Welsh ... ... ... 267
Scotch ... ... ... ... ... ... ...   43
Palatines (Germans) ... ...  343
Irish ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 5,655

Or a proportion of nearly ten Irish emigrants to one from all the other European countries. This statement will be found in Holmes' Anna's of America, vol. i. This influx, though not in as great disproportion to other arrivals, recurred annually at the same port till the end of the century.

In 1719 we find a settlement made by sixteen families from Derry on the banks of the Merrimack River. Ever mindful of the Motherland, they named the settlement after their native place, and it bears that name to-day. (See Note by Editor.)

Boston, too, early afforded a haven for Irish exiles. We find that in 1737 a number of "gentlemen of the Irish Nation" residing in that city adopted the following programme of association:– "Whereas, several gentlemen, merchants and others, of the Irish Nation, residing in Boston, in New England, from an affectionate and compassionate concern for their countrymen in these parts who maybe reduced by sickness, shipwreck, old age, and other infirmities and unforeseen accidents, have thought fit to form themselves into a Charitable Society for the relief of such of their poor, indigent countrymen, without any design of not contributing towards the provision of the town poor in general, as usual," &c.

The names of the twenty-six original members of the society are as follows:– Robert Duncan, Andrew Knox, Nathaniel Walsh, Joseph St. Lawrence, Daniel MacFall, William Drummond, William Freeland, Daniel Gibbs, John Noble, Adam Boyd, William Stewart, Daniel Neal, James Maynes, Samuel Moor, Philip Mortimer, James Egart, George Glen, Peter Pelham, John Little, Archibald Thomas, Edward Alderchurch, James Clark, John Clark, Thomas Bennett, and Patrick Walker. In 1737, William Hall was president; in 1740, Robt. Achmuty; in 1743, Neil MacIntyre; in 1757, Samuel Elliott; in 1784, Moses Black; in 1791, Thomas English; in the same year General Simon Elliott, jun., was elected; in 1797, Andrew Dunlap; and in 1810, Captain James MacGee.

Londonderry, on the Merrimack, grew to be one of the most prosperous of the New England settlements, and produced some of the greatest men of the revolutionary period. It sent colonies out to found new settlements. In Barstow's New Hampshire, page 130, we find the following significant remark:– "In process of time the descendants of the Derry settlers spread over Windham, Chester, Litchfield, Manchester, Bedford, Goffstown, New Boston, Antrim, Peterborough, and Ackworth, in New Hampshire, and Barnet, in Vermont. They were also the first settlers of many towns in Massachusetts, Maine, and Nova Scotia. They are now, to the number of 20,000, scattered over all the States of the Union." With this statement of Barstow we may add that Cherry Valley, celebrated in American history for the terrible massacre of its inhabitants by the Indians in 1778, was also in part settled by people from Derry.

The Irish settlement of Belfast, in Maine, was established in 1723 by a small number of emigrants who came mainly from the Irish city of the same name. Among them, however, was a Limerick schoolmaster named Sullivan, who, on the outward voyage, courted a female fellow-passenger, a native of Cork, whom he married shortly after his arrival in America. Later on they settled in New Hampshire, and lived to see two of their sons, John and James, at the highest pinnacle of civil and military authority. John Sullivan, afterwards Brigadier-General John Sullivan, made the battle of Bunker Hill possible by capturing the fort of William and Mary, near Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and carrying off one hundred barrels of gunpowder, fifteen light cannon, and the entire store of small arms, all of which were used in the fight at Bunker Hill. It was he who was the officer of the day in charge of the Continental Army on that memorable St. Patrick's Day, 1776, when the British left Boston never more to return.

It would be an utter impossibility to keep track of the emigrants from Ulster who settled in New England, or, for that matter, in any other section; they seemed to scatter in all directions. In the old burial-place in Worcester were to be seen, a few years ago, and they may be there even yet, two old tombstones. One of them bore the name of John Young, who died in 1730, aged 107 years; he was a native of Derry. The other was inscribed with the name of David Young, a native of Donegal, who died in 1776, aged 94 years.

In I761, Irish emigrants, to the number of about two hundred, settled in Nova Scotia. The town of Londonderry and the county of Dublin were in all probability named by them.

The coming of the Rev. George Berkeley, Dean of Derry, to America, for the purpose of founding a college for the conversion of the noble red man, in 1729, is one of the most interesting episodes in the early annals of our Irish settlers. In January of that year he, with his faculty, arrived at Newport, R.I., after a long and stormy voyage. Here, while waiting for the money voted him by Parliament, it was that he wrote his Minute Philosopher: here his son was born; and here it was that he composed those grand lines, so prophetic in theme and poetical in conception:–

"Westward the course of Empire takes its way,–
 The four first acts already past;
 The fifth shall close the drama with the day,–
 Time's noblest offspring is the last."

From Baldwin's Annuals of Yale College we learn that, when about to return to Ireland in 1732, he bequeathed his farm to Yale College, then in its infancy, and also presented it with his library, the finest collection of books that ever came at one time into America.

It would not do to pass over the period from the early settlements to the great struggle for independence without a few words on the campaign against Canada in 1755. It was in this war the men who afterwards led the Continentals to victory were trained in military science, and received the experience which in later days proved invaluable. Some of the prominent figures in this campaign were Ulstermen and their sons.

The first blow against the French was inflicted at Crown Point, on Lake George. Against this fort Captain MacGuinness, a son of one of the Derry settlers, marched with 200 men, surprised the garrison, and, after a sharp battle, put them to flight. In the very moment of victory the gallant MacGuinness fell, mortally wounded. The two other expeditions which were sent out at the same time utterly failed. That sent against Louisburg was cut to pieces in Indian ambuscades. The other, sent against Fort Du Quesne, shared the same fate; but it is worthy of note that, in covering the retreat of the soldiers in this event, George Washington, then young, first distinguished himself in arms.

In 1758 and 1759 fortune again rested on the banners of the British army. Louisburg, Fort Du Quesne, Quebec, Ticonderoga, and Niagara were all carried by British arms, and in 1760 the latter were complete masters of Canada.

Among the officers who commanded under Wolfe at Quebec was an Irish gentleman, Richard Montgomery, then in his twenty-first year. He held the commission of colonel. Montgomery was a native of Raphoe, in the County Donegal, and the son of Thomas Montgomery, at one time M.P. for Lifford. In this same Canadian war we find John Stark, of Londonderry, New Hampshire, and John Sullivan, already mentioned, undergoing that apprenticeship which afterwards served them so well.

The most glorious day in American history is perhaps the 19 April, 1775, when, near the village of Concord, Massachusetts,

"By that rude bridge that arched the flood,
 Their flag to April's breeze unfurled,
 Here once the embattled farmers stood
 And fired the shot heard round the world." – EMERSON.

The British regulars had fired upon and dispersed the minutemen at Lexington, and, hearing of military stores being concealed at Concord, marched to capture them. They were met at the little bridge by the Concord farmers, who had previous warning of their coming. As the regulars beheld the farmers drawn up to oppose their passage, they fired upon them. Several of the men dropped – some dead, some badly wounded. Major Buttrick, of the minutemen, then gave the order to fire, and two of the regulars dropped dead. The fire of the farmers then became so rapid that the soldiery were forced to retreat. On their way through the town they set fire to the Court-House and other buildings, and never halted till they reached Boston, thirty miles away.

Among those who stood at the bridge and shared in firing that initial volley for independence was gallant Hugh Cargill, born in Ballyshannon in 1739, and who emigrated to America just one year before the battle of Concord. He, together with a Concord citizen named Bullock, saved the records of the town from the soldiery. Cargill, on his arrival in America, was entirely destitute; but, by industry and careful economy, was a rich man at the time of his death, on 12 January, 1799.

During that long and terrible struggle the sons and grandsons of Ulster were ever to the front. The noble young Montgomery, who had returned to settle in America in 1772, laid down his life at Quebec. He was one of the first generals to fall on the American side, and this, combined with his youth and sympathy for his young wife, has endeared him to the American people of all races and creeds. Andrew Lewis is another prominent figure in Revolutionary annals. He was born in County Donegal. His father, John Lewis, had a quarrel with his landlord, in which the latter was killed, and the Lewis family fled, first to France and then to America. They landed in Virginia, where they founded the town of Staunton. Andrew and his four brothers distinguished themselves in aiding the Revolution, and it looked at one time as if Andrew would become Commander-in-Chief of the American troops, and take the position in American history which Washington so admirably filled. His brother, William Lewis, also born in Donegal, won distinction in the campaign. He was in command of a regiment of Virginians, in which two of his sons enlisted; one of them was afterwards killed, and the other maimed for life.

Daniel Morgan, the renowned hero of the Cowpens, was born in Ballinascreen, County Derry, Ireland. His victory over General Tarleton in this battle is one of the greatest episodes in the history of the war. With five hundred Irish-American soldiers he defeated a thousand English troops, and each one of his men brought home a prisoner.

General Henry Knox was the son of a Donegal Irishman, and was born in Boston. He was perhaps the most illustrious soldier of the Revolution next to Washington. Knox was the creator and organiser of Washington's artillery, and fought in every battle under Washington. He fought at Bunker Hill, and, when the American Government took shape, was appointed by President Washington' Secretary of War and of the Navy.

Anthony Wayne was born of North of Ireland parents in Pennsylvania. At the beginning of the war he was made colonel of one of the Pennsylvania Irish regiments. In 1777, Congress made him a general. When the British retreated from Philadelphia, and Washington desired to send a body of troops in pursuit, he picked out the corps commanded by Wayne, Morgan, Sullivan, and Maxwell – two Irishmen and two sons of Irishmen – for the work. At Brandy wine and Germantown, Wayne did good service. In the latter battle the right was commanded by two Irish-Americans – Wayne and Sullivan. Wayne carried his part on the field, his horse being shot under him in the charge. Wayne and Ramsey, the latter also of Ulster parentage, saved the army from Lee's disaster at Monmouth, and the history of that battle was written by the artillery of Knox, the bayonets of Wayne, and the rifles of Morgan all Irish. At Yorktown nothing could withstand the charge of Wayne. By the quickness and impetuosity of his movements he carried everything before him.

The greatest achievement of Wayne, however, and the one by which he will ever be best known to historical students, was the storming and capturing of Stony Point, on the Hudson.

This fortress had been considered almost impregnable, and an attempt at assault synonymous with insanity. Washington deemed the capture of the fort a matter of the utmost importance, and, knowing the dare-devil spirit of Wayne, selected him from among all his generals to undertake the expedition. Wayne proposed to take Stony Point by storm. "Can you do it?" asked Washington. "I'll storm hell, if you'll only plan it, General," answered Wayne. On the evening of the 15th of July, 1779, Wayne advanced to within half-a-mile of the garrison with a few hundred men whom he had led secretly through the mountains from Fort Montgomery. Stealthily they approached the fort at midnight, arranged in two columns. The greater part of the little force crossed a narrow causeway over a morass in the rere, and with unloaded muskets and fixed bayonets marched to the assault. A forlorn hope of picked men led the way to make openings in the abatis at the two points of attack. The alarmed sentinels fired their muskets, and the aroused garrison flew to arms. The stillness of night was suddenly broken by the rattle of musketry and the roar of cannon from the ramparts. In the face of a terrible storm of bullets and grape-shot the assailants forced their way into the fort at the point of the bayonet. Wayne, who led one of the divisions in person, had been brought to his knees by a stunning blow of a musket ball on the head. Believing himself to be mortally wounded, he exclaimed – "March on! Carry me into the fort, for I will die at the head of my column." He soon recovered, and at two o'clock in the morning he wrote to Washington – "The fort and garrison, with General Johnston, are ours. Our officers and men behaved like men determined to be free." In this assault the Americans lost about one hundred men – fifteen killed and the remainder wounded. The British had sixty-three killed; and General Johnston, the commander, with five hundred and forty-three officers and men, were made prisoners. The British ships, lying in the river near by, slipped their anchors and moved down the stream.

This exploit of Wayne's was called by General Charles Lee not only the most brilliant assault in the whole war on either side, but one of the most brilliant in history. The assault of Schiveidnitz by Marshal Laudohn he considered inferior to it.

A brother-in-law of General Wayne, Colonel John Stewart, a native of Ulster, commanded one of the main divisions in the charge at Stony Point. He distinguished himself by his gallantry to such an extent that Congress awarded him a gold medal.

Another of the same name, General Walter Stewart, is a prominent figure in the annals of that period. He was born in Derry, and came to the colonies while a mere boy. At the age of twenty-one he was appointed a colonel of infantry, to the great annoyance of many native American officers of greater age and longer standing. Stewart was called the "Boy Colonel." Later on his conduct justified the choice, and he rose to the rank of Brigadier-General. He married the daughter of Blair MacClenachan, of Philadelphia. General Stewart was remarkable for his beauty and his excellent manners.

Brigadier-General Thos. Robinson, who emigrated from the North of Ireland just previous to the Revolutionary war and settled in Philadelphia, was also a brother-in-law of General Wayne. General Robinson was one of the first American officers who visited England after the war, and, appearing in a box at Drury Lane Theatre in his full uniform, was received by the audience with loud cheers. A few moments later, another officer entered an adjoining box in the British uniform, and was greeted by a storm of hisses. That officer was the traitor, Benedict Arnold.

One of the most fiery and chivalrous of the American officers, and one whose patriotism was equal to his courage, was General William Thompson, a brother of the Secretary of the Continental Congress. Born in Maghera, County Derry, in the year 1727, he settled in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, on his arrival there. Thompson accompanied Montgomery on the Quebec expedition, was promoted to the rank of General, and commanded the American forces at the battle of Three Rivers, or Trois Rivieres, as it was then called, in Canada, June, 1776. Wayne and Irvine served under him in this engagement, and Generals Thompson and Irvine were taken prisoners. They were afterwards exchanged, and served during the remainder of the war. General Thompson died shortly after its conclusion.

William Irvine, a Brigadier-General in the Continental army, was born in Enniskillen on the 3 November, 1741. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, studied medicine, was for some time a surgeon in the English Navy, and in 1763 removed to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where he settled down to the practice of medicine. He was a member of the Convention which met at Philadelphia in 1774, and recommended a general Congress; he was representative for Carlisle in the Continental Congress till 1776. In that year, receiving authority from Congress, he raised and equipped the Sixth Pennsylvania Regiment; was taken prisoner at Three Rivers, Canada, and exchanged in 1778. After minor commands, he was, in the autumn of 1781, entrusted with the defence of the north-western frontier, which was threatened by the British and Indians; a charge not only requiring courage and firmness, but great prudence and judgment, and which was executed in a manner which fully justified the choice of General Washington. In 1785 he was appointed to examine the public lands of Pennsylvania, and suggested the purchase of the "Triangle," which gave to that State an outlet on Lake Erie. He was a member of the old Congress of 1786-8, of the Convention that revised the constitution of Pennsylvania, and of Congress, 1793-5. He died in Philadelphia, 29 July, 1804, aged 62 years. Two of his brothers and three of his sons also served in the army of the United States.

To be continued...


Reproduced from the Ulster Journal of Archaeology Vol. 2, No.1, Series 2, 1895.

The Making of the Ulster Scot (pt3)

The Flemish Advent

So much with regard to the Saxons and Normans, who, for more than a century and a half, continued to flood Scotland, and to make the race predominant in the country.

(6) But the entrance of yet another Teutonic element has now to be recorded. "One great cause of the wealth and prosperity of Scotland during these early times," says the well-known historian, Mr. Fraser Tytler, "was the settlement of multitudes of Flemish merchants in the country, who brought with them the knowledge of trade and manufactures, and the habits of application and industry. In 1155 Henry II. banished all foreigners from his dominions, and the Flemings, of whom there were great numbers in England, eagerly flocked into the neighbouring country, which offered them a near and safe asylum. We can trace the settlement of these industrious citizens during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries in almost every part of Scotland, in Berwick in St. Andrews, Perth, Dumbarton, Ayr, Peebles, Lanark, Edinburgh, and in the districts of Renfrewshire, Clydesdale and Annandale, in Fife, in Angus, in Aberdeenshire and as far north as Inverness and Urquhart" (Tytler's "History of Scotland," Vol II., c. iii., § 4).

Try now to realise the transformation which in the course of more than 1,000 years of eventful history -- of repeated slaughterings, emigrations, and colonisations -- the inhabitants of Galloway and Strathclyde have undergone. We have, first of all, as aborigines the Picts, who were not Celts, but who continued to survive in considerable numbers. We have next the British, or Brythonic, Celts, akin to the Welsh, who subjected, but did not expel the Picts. We nave the numerous Roman campaigns against the British, in which large numbers of the latter were slain or carried captive, and in the courts of a Roman occupation of 300 years' duration the addition of more or less of a Roman element. We have next for a long period measured by centuries its possession and domination by the Teutonic Northumbrians, an immense reduction of the number of the native inhabitants by war, captivity, and actual emigration, and the settlement there of many Angles. We have, then, its capture and occupation by the Northmen, and a powerful addition of Danish and Norse blood to the population. Most important of all, we have for a period of more than a century pouring into the country a continuous stream of Saxon and Norman colonists, who, in conjunction with other Teutonic settlers, soon took the upper hand and became predominant. And finally, we have the inflow of a multitude of Flemings, who were also Teutons.

There was unquestionably in "the remains of the old Midland Britons" a Celtic element, which, however, through intermarriage and fusion of the races in the twelfth and thirteen centuries, soon ceased in the Lowlands to be a separate and appreciable quantity. By that inter-marriage race distinctions were obliterated, and the Scottish people of the Lowlands amalgamated and consolidated into a compact unity, in which the Celtic element had become decidedly exiguous. As Mr. Andrew Lang puts it: "A Dumfries, Ayr, Renfrew, Lanark, or Peebles man, as a dweller in Strathclyde, has some chance of remote British (Brython) ancestors in his pedigree; a Selkirk, Roxburgh, Berwickshire, or Lothian man is probably for the most part of English blood" (Article on "Scotland" in "Encycl. Britannica").

"Since the twelfth age," says Father Innes, "We have no further mention of the Walenses or Welsh ["the remains of the old Midland Britons"] in those parts as a distinct people, they being insensibly so united with and incorporated into one people with the rest of the inhabitants of that country, that in the following age they appeared no less eclipsed or vanished than if they had left the country." "Thence come," he adds, "the expressions of the 'preface to the Chartulary of Glasgo, that the remains of the old Britons or Welsh in the Western parts of Scotland had been by the invasions and ravages of the Picts, Saxons, Scots, and Danes forced to leave the country" ("Critical Essay on the Ancient Inhabitants of the Northern Parts of Britain or Scotland," Book I., c. ii., p. 41, in Vol. VIII. of the History of Scotland"). Father Innes is recognised as one of the most learned, best informed and accurate of Scottish historians.

The Second Territory

II. We turn now to the second territory, including Edinburghshire, Haddingtonshire, and Berwickshire, which provided a considerable number of the Ulster colonists of King James's Plantation. These are all named in the records as having supplied not a few of the Ulster undertakers and settlers. Now, the whole district from the Tees to the Forth, embracing these counties, was early taken possession of by a Teutonic people. Prior even to 449, a tract of country south of the Forth had received a considerable settlement of Frisians, a Teutonic race. But under a leader of the Angles called Ida an English kingdom was founded there in 547 called the kingdom of Bernicia. Later, with Deira added, it became the kingdom of Northumbria, consisting of a thoroughly Teutonic people, Angles or English both in blood and speech. Later still, Northumbria was taken by the Northmen, who added another powerful ingredient to the Teutonic blood of the people there, which was still further strengthened by two causes already noticed -- first, by the immigration of the discontented refugees who followed Edgar, the Atheling, from England on the invasion of the Normans, and, secondly, by the numerous captives carried into Scotland by Malcolm Canmore.

By the victory of the Scottish King, Malcolm II., over Northumbria at Carham in 1018, the whole territory from the Tweed to the Forth, containing the counties named, was ceded to Malcolm. This cession of what was now called Lothian was one of the most momentous and epoch-making events in Scottish history, for it added rich, fertile, Teutonic, and English-speaking province to the Scottish kingdom, which before long became the central and predominating influence in the nation. "It involved nothing lets than the transference to another race of the main destinies of a united Scottish people," and the Anglicising of all Lowland Scotland (Hume Brown, p. 43).

But what I ask you very particularly to notice is that the people occupying that region of Lothian, which sent a very considerable number of colonists to Ulster. were Angles or English, so that it is quite certain that the Ulster immigrants from that area were to all intensive purposes of purely Teutonic blood. "The annexation of Lothian," says Paterson, "occupied for centuries chiefly by the Angles, brought them into closer contact with the inhabitants of the adjacent districts, while a body pf Saxons actually effected a settlement in Kyle and Cunningham . . . The many Saxons brought into Scotland by Malcolm Canmore . . . must have tended greatly to disseminate a language already constituting the vernacular tongue of the East Coast from the Forth to the Tweed . . . In the next, or Angle-Saxon period, the growth of the Scottish dialect can be still more distinctly traced" ("History of County of Ayr," Vol I., pp. 16. 17).

Pictland

III. We pass finally to that wide territory north of the Forth, known in early times as Pictland, and which gave many emigrants to Ulster. It is known that a good many years later than the actual Plantation under King James, a large number of people came from the region that lies between Aberdeen and Inverness, the ancient province of Moray. In a curious book of "Travels" by Sir William Brereton, the author states that in July, 1635, he came to the house of Mr. James Blare, in Irvine, Ayrshire, who informed him that "above 10,000 persons have within two years last past left the country wherein they lived, which was betwixt Aberdine and Enuerness, and are gone for Ireland; they have come by one hundred in company through this town, and three hundred have gone thence together, shipped for Ireland at one tide." Now, what is the previous history of that province of ancient Moray, lying between Aberdeen and Inverness, from which they emigrated? It was originally inhabited by Picts, a non-Celtic people. But its later history is noteworthy. It was one of the territories which the Northmen took possession of and made their own. In 875 Thorstein the Red, a Danish leader, added Caithness, Sutherland, Ross, and Moray to this dominions. Later the same territory was seized by the Norse Jarl Sigurd, who ruled over it till his death at the battle of Clontarf, when he was succeeded by his son Thorfinn, so that for a long period it was practically a province of Norway. Skene says that the Mormaers and men of Moray "had as often been subject to the Norwegian earls as they had been to the Scottish kings." It is known that, occupying that province for so long a series of years, the Northmen added a strong Norse element to the blood of the residents; while it was the scene of many conflicts which must have greatly diminished the native population.

But another vigorous Teutonic ingredient was still to be given to it. The old province of Moray was one of those specially favoured by a large and liberal Norman colonisation. The Mormaer of Moray and his brother in 1130 took advantage of David's absence in England to raise a force hostile to the King's interest, and they were defeated with heavy loss -- the "Annals of Ulster record that 4,000 of the Morebh were slain," "and so complete was the victory," says Dr. Hume Brown, "that the district of Moray was definitely attached to the Scottish Crown, and its lands divided among the Normans, and such of the natives as the King could trust" ("History of Scotland," Vol. I., p. 76). He adds that it "was largely colonised by Norman settlers." Another rising was attempted in 1162 under Malcolm IV., "who," we are informed, "expelled very many of the rebellious inhabitants of Moray, and planted new colonists in their place, chief among whom were the Flemings or natives of Flanders" ("Critical Essay," &c., by Thos. Innes, M.A., p. 102). In those 10,000 emigrants who went to Ulster from this region there may have been some infusion of Pictish blood, but it is probable that by that time its main ingredient was Teutonic.

Variety of Races

In the rapid survey I have given the thing that most strikes one is the great variety of races that have combined to produce the Lowland Scot, whether he resides on the other side or on this side of the Channel. Pict and Celt, Roman, Frisian, Angle, and Saxon, Dane and Norwegian, Norman and Fleming -- ten different nationalities -- have all gone to the making of him. It is not to any one constituent, but to the union and combination in himself of such a great variety of vigorous elements that he owes those distinctive traits and qualities which distinguish him from other men. If you ask what proportion the Celt bears to the other nationalities which have united in the amalgam which we call the "Ulster Scot," my own impression is that the Angle and the Saxon, the Dane and the Norwegian, the Norman and the Fleming, all of which have gone to his formation, when taken together, make a combination by which, I imagine, the Celt in him is overpowered and dominated. That is my impression, but you can gauge the justice of it by the facts which I have placed before you. And the course of the subsequent history seems to justify this view. It is significant that, after the amalgamation of the races to which I have referred, the people of the Lowlands should be habitually regarded and spoken of as Sassenachs, and the Highlanders of the West as Celts. After the Teutonisation of the former, and the fusion of the races, and when the unabsorbed Celtic population was confined mainly to the Western Highlands and Islands, it was almost inevitable that there should be a determined and final struggle on the part of the latter to maintain, if not their predominance, at least their independence. Such a decisive struggle actually occurred at the famous and desperate battle of Harlaw in 1411. Donald, Lord of the Isles, a Celtic chieftain, with many Highland chiefs at the head of their clans, and an army of 10,000 men, set out to seize Aberdeen, bent on making himself master of the country as far south as the Tay, when he was met at Harlaw by the Earl of Mar, son of "the wolf of Badenoch," defeated in "one of the bloodiest battles ever fought in Scotland," driven back to his fastnesses, and compelled to make submission. By both Highland and Lowland historians the battle of Harlaw is described as "a decisive contest between the two races," the Saxon and the Celt. The authors of "The Clan Donald" assert that "Donald's policy was clearly to set up a Celtic supremacy in the West;" and Dr. Hume Brown affirms that "as a decisive victory of the Saxon over the Celt," the battle of Harlaw "ranks with the battle of Carham in its determining influence on the development of the Scottish nation," and in "ensuring the growth of Teutonic Scotland" (" History of Scotland," Vol. I., p. 206).

Sir Walter Scott was more than a mere writer of romance. From his early years he had given special interest and continued attention to antiquarian pursuits, and to the past history of his country, an interest which appeals in the historical cast and character of so many of his tales. It is true he wrote under a personal bias against the men of the Covenant, but that he was exceptionally familiar with antiquarian lore, and had an intimate knowledge of the past history of Scotland is beyond question. Now, Sir Walter Scott habitually represents the Lowlanders as "Saxons" (which he uses as an equivalent for "Teutons") and the Highlanders as Celts. In the "Fair Maid of Perth," for example, the Booshalloch says to Simon the Glover from Perth, "These are bad manners which he [the young Celtic Highland chief] has learned among yon Sassenachs in the Low Country." Then at the desperate combat oa the North Inch of Perth between the warriors of the two Highland Clans, Clan Qubele and Clan Chattan, when the latter discovered the absence through funk of one of their heroes: "Say nothing to the Saxons of his absence," said the chief, MacGillie Chattanach; "the false Lowland tongues might, say that one of Clan Chattan was a coward." To the great literary artist, the Lowlanders are to all intents and purposes "Saxons." Was an antiquarian expert, such as Scott was, likely to put into the mouth of a Highland chief what he believed to be a gross historical blunder?

But Scott is not alone in this representation. I have given the statements of Dr. Hume Brown, the Historiographer Royal of Scotland, and Professor of Ancient Scottish History and Palaeography in Edinburgh University. I shall only trouble you with the deliberate judgment of another modern historian, who has traversed the whole field of Scottish history. "The Scots, originally Irish," says Mr. Andrew Lang, "have given their name to a country whereof, perhaps, THE GREATEST PART OF THE NATIVES ARE AS ENGLISH IN BLOOD AS THEY ARE IN SPEECH" ("History of Scotland," Vol. I., p. 37).

In Conclusion

The exact proportion of the Celt in the Lowland Scotsman or the Ulsterman it is now impossible to measure with precision. It is the fact that so many different races have united in producing him -- that the blood not only of the Pict and the Celt, but of the Frisian, the Angle, and the Saxon, the Norwegian and the Dane, the Norman and the Fleming, all intermingled, is flowing in his veins -- that seems to me the main thing to be noted in the making of him, the secret to which he owes the distinguishing features in his character. What are they? To summarise them in a sentence, are they not something like these? An economy and even a parsimony of words, which does not always betoken a poverty of ideas; an insuperable dislike to wear his heart upon his sleeve, or make a display of the deeper and more tender feelings of his nature; a quiet and undemonstrative deportment which may have great firmness and determination behind it; a dour exterior which may cover a really genial disposition and kindly heart; much caution, wariness, and reserve, but a decision, energy of character, and tenacity of purpose, which, as in the case of Enoch Arden, "hold his will and bear It through;" a very decided practical faculty which has an eye on the main chance, but which may co-exist with a deep-lying fund of sentiment; a capacity for hard work and close application to business, which, with thrift and patient persistence, is apt to bear fruit in considerable success; in short, a reserve of strength, self-reliance, courage, and endurance which, when an emergency demands (as behind the Walls of Derry), may surprise the world. Where did he get these traits Did he get them from the Celt? I rather think not. The qualities which, in his "Religion of the Ancient Celts," MacCulloch specifies as in all times the distinctive characteristics of the Celt are -- "loquacity, vanity, excitability, fickleness, imagination, love of the romantic, sentimental love of country, religiosity passing easily over to superstition" -- most of them the exact antithesis to what you find in the Ulster Scot. I conclude that the Celt in the Ulsterman is treated by the other races that unite in him very much as the "daft body" in Dean Ramsay's story was treated by the turkey-cock. He was "sairly hadden doun," he said "wi' the bubbly jock." It is evident that the Celtic strain in the blood of the Ulster Scot is "sairly hadden doun" by that varied conglomerate of powerful Teutonic ingredients which/have conspired in the making of him, and which set him in the most obvious, glaring, and piquant contrast with the typical Celt, Irish or other!

This article was originally published in The Witness of 10 April 1913.

The Making of the Ulster Scot (pt2)

The Scandinavian Invasion

(4) But we come now to another Teutonic invasion which must have still more profoundly affected them -- the seizure and occupation of both Galloway and Strathclyde by the Scandinavians. There is a record in the Ulster Annals to the effect that in 822 "Galloway of the Britons was laid waste with all its dwellings and its Church." But in 870 again both Strathclyde and Galloway were devastated by the terrible Northmen; Alclyde was taken and demolished, and many captives and much booty carried away. And the chronicler, Symeon of Durham, records another desperate invasion of the same territories by the Danes in 875, when they laid waste the country and "made great slaughter" of the inhabitants; and this is confirmed by the Ulster Annals. Referring to the same incursion in his "History of the County of Ayr" (p. 15), Paterson says that they "laid waste Galloway and a great part of Strathclyde," and that thus harassed by the insatiable Northmen, many of the inhabitants "resolved on emigrating to Wales. Under Constatin, their chief, they accordingly took their departure... The Strathclyde kingdom was, of course, greatly weakened by the departure of their best warriors, and it continued to be oppressed both by the Scots and the Anglo-Saxon princes." "And with the retreating emigrants," says Robertson, "the last semblance of independence departed from the Britons of the North ("Scotland Under Her Early Kings," Vol. I., p. 54). But in 944 we find the Danes, Ronald and his sons, in possession of Galloway, and continuing in possession till the end of the century, when the Danes are displaced by the Norwegians, who remain in occupancy till the end of the next century (see Sir Herbert Maxwell's "History of Dumfries and Galloway," p. 48; Skene's "Celtic Scotland," and the "Annals of the Four Masters"). "From the end of the ninth century," says Rait, "Norse settlements continued for 300 years. The districts of Dumfriesshire and Galloway, all of the Western islands, the West coast of the Firth of Clyde northwards, and the coasts from Caithness and Sutherland to the Moray Firth were deeply affected by the influx of a Scandinavian population" (Rait's "Scotland, p. 7). As was inevitable, these Northmen left their mark deep on Galloway and Strathclyde, and added a strong Teutonic ingredient in the population. "It is plain," says Sir Herbert Maxwell, "from the place-names of Norse origin scattered through the stewartry and the shire that there was a permanent Scandinavian settlement there" ("History of Dumfries and Galloway," p. 38).

"A sore and certain test of a colonisation of this description," says Robertson, "is afforded by the topography of the districts occupied, the 'caster' and 'by' invariably marking the presence of the Northmen not only as a dominant, but as an actually occupying class." He then proceeds to give clear evidence of such colonisation by the Northmen in the South-West of Scotland. Sir Herbert Maxwell also refers to "the remains of Scandinavian occupation preserved in the place-names of the South-West. Many hills," he says, "bear the title 'fell' -- the Norse 'fjall' -- as in 'Fell a' Barhullian' in Glasserton parish, or disguised as a suffix, as in 'Criffel.' The well-known test syllable, 'by,' a village, farm, or dwelling, so characteristic of Danish rather than of Norse occupation, takes the place in southern districts which 'bolstadr' holds in northern. 'Lockerby,' the dwelling of Locard or Lockhart; Canonby and Middleby in Dumfriesshire, Busby, Sorby, and Corsby in Wigtonshire are instances in point. 'Vik,' a creek, or small bay, gives the name to Southwick (sand-vik-sandybay), and 'n'es,' a cape, appears in Sinniness (south point), and Borness (burgh or fort point). Pastoral occupation is implied in Fairgirth (sheep-fold). . . Tinwald, like Dingwall in the North, is the Assembly-field, and Mouswald the Mossfield" (Maxwell's "Dumfries and Galloway," pp. 44, 45). A Norwegian writer, quoted by Mackerlie, states that "the language of the Lowlands of Scotland is so much like that of Scandinavia that the Scottish seamen wrecked on the coasts of Jutland and Norway have been able to converse without difficulty in their mother-tongue with the people there."

In short, nothing in Scottish history is more certain than that a very large infusion of Danish and Norse blood has been given to the people of Galloway and Strathclyde. In view of the repeated devastation and depopulation of the country by war and by emigration of the natives, and the large influx and colonisation by Scandinavians, that infusion must have been very large indeed.

The Normans and Saxons

(5) But we have to notice in the next place the greatest revolution of all in the history of this region, and of nearly all Scotland, the revolution caused by the influx of Saxons and Normans.

"Through the troubles in England consequent on the Danish and Norman invasions," says Dr. Hume Brown, a "succession of Saxon settlers crossed the Tweed in search of the peace they could not find at home. In itself this immigration must have powerfully affected the course of Scottish history; but under the Saxon Margaret and her sons the southern influence was directed and concentrated with a deliberate persistence that eventually reduced the Celtic element to a subsidiary place in the development of the Scottish nation." And here it is most important to take note of and to carry in our memory the emphatic statement of Dr. Hume Brown with regard to the district under consideration when the Saxon and Norman colonisation began. "From all we know of Strathclyde and Galloway previous to the time of the Saxonised and Normanised kings" (Dr. Brown says) "extensive districts must have consisted of waste land" ("History of Scotland," Cambridge Historical Series, pp. 50, 89).

The movement which began under Malcolm II. (1005-1034) went on on a still larger scale in the time of Malcolm Canmore (1057-1093). He had long resided as an exile at the Court of Edward the Confessor, and had become thoroughly English in sentiment and sympathy. It was in his time that the Norman Conquest took place, and had a profound influence on the history of Scotland -- an influence which appears not only in the copious inflow of Englishmen into Scotland, but in the gradual transformation of Scottish society and Scottish institutions. "The form in which the Conquest was first felt in Scotland," says Dr. Hill Burton, "was by a steady migration of the Saxon people northward. They found in Scotland people of their own race, and made a marked addition to the predominance of the Saxon and Teutonic elements" (Hill Burton's "History of Scotland," Vol. I., p. 373),

On the death of their King at Hastings, Edgar the Atheling had been chosen by the English people to succeed him, but he and his mother and two sisters, driven from England by the Conqueror, took refuge at the Court of Malcolm Canmore. And not only the Royal family, but "many of the Saxons fled into Scotland," says Cunningham, "to escape from their Norman masters . . . From this period," he adds, "we find a stream of Saxon and Norman settlers pouring into Scotland. They came not as conquerors, and yet they came to possess the land. With amazing rapidity, sometimes by Royal grants, and sometimes by advantageous marriages, they acquired the most fertile districts from the Tweed to the Pentland Firth; and almost every noble family in Scotland now traces from them its descent. The strangers brought with them English civilisation' (Cunningham's "Church History of Scotland," Vol I., p. 105). Edgar's sister, Margaret, who became Malcolm's Queen, was an able and ambitious, as well as an intensely religious woman after the Roman fashion, bent on the predominance of the English interest and of the English, that is, of the Roman Church. In 1070 Malcolm, her husband, made a raid into England, harried Cumberland, and carried back with him to Scotland as captives large numbers of young people of both sexes. "So great was the number of those captives," says the chronicler, Symeon, of Durham, "that for many years they were to be found in every Scottish village, nay, in every Scottish hovel. In consequence, Scotland became filled with menservants and maidservants of English parentage; so much so that even at the present day," says Symeon, writing in 1120, "not only is not the smallest village, but not even is the humblest house to be found without them." "And besides the Saxons, many of the Norman nobility, dissatisfied with the rule of the Conqueror, retired to Scotland, where they were encouraged by every mark of distinction that could be heaped upon them" (Paterson's "History of the County of Ayr," Vol. I., p. 18). After referring to Symeon's testimony, Dr. Macewen adds that "in the next half-century there arrived with the monks a stream of settlers engaged in trade and agriculture, who frequented the towns or markets which were usually established in the vicinity of monasteries. According to another chronicler, William of Newburgh, all the inhabitants of Scottish towns and burghs were Englishmen" ("History of the Church in Scotland," Vol. I., pp. 172, 173). It is certainly not going too tar to say, as Mr. Andrew Lang does, that "the long reign of Malcolm Canmore intensified the sway of English ideas, and increased the prepotency of the English element" (Article on "Scotland" in "Encyclop. Brit.").

And the policy of Malcolm was followed by his successors. Of his son Edgar (1097-1107) we are informed that "he welcomed the stream of settlers who poured into Scotland in ever-increasing volume," while Edgar's brother, Alexander I. (1107-1124) "did his utmost to Anglicise both Church and State to the north of the Forth."

It was, however, by David I, (1124-1153), who has been called "the maker of Scotland," that more was done in the way of Anglicising, Teutonising, and revolutionising that country than by any of his predecessors. And now it is by Norman rather than by Saxon agency and influence that the revolution is effected. Instead of describing in my own words the change that was now wrought, I think it better here, for obvious reasons, to put before you the statements of Dr. Hume Brown in his "History of Scotland." "When during the reign of David the Eastern Lowlands became the heart of his dominions," he says, "the future course of Scotland may be said to have been determined; it was then finally assured that the Teutonic races were to be the predominating force in fashioning the destinies of the country." "It was during David's reign that the Norman element attained such a predominance as to become the great formative influence in the Scottish kingdom." "The dominating fact of the period is the extensive assignment of lands within the bounds of Scotland to men of Norman, Saxon, or Danish extraction. Wherever these strangers settled they formed centres of force, compelling acceptance of the new order in Church and State by the reluctant natives. . . . This gradual apportionment of lands by successive kings had begun at least in the reign of Malcolm Canmore; but it was David who performed it on a scale which converted it into a revolution." As examples of what was done Dr. Hume Brown notices the grant of Annandale to de Bruce, of Cunningham in Ayrshire to de Moreville, and of Renfrew, with part of Kyle, to Fitzalan; but these are only specimens of a colonisation which took place on a most extensive scale. Referring to Strathclyde, Lothian, and the East country north of the Forth, Dr. Hume Brown proceeds -- "In the case of these three districts, the revolution was at once rapid and far-reaching. Following the example of his fellows elsewhere, the Southern baron planted a castle on the most advantageous site on his new estate. With him be brought a body of retainers, by whose aid he at once secured his own position, and wrought such changes in his neighbourhood as were consistent with the conditions on which the fief had been granted. In the vill or town which grew up beside his castle were found not only his own people, but natives of the neighbourhood who, by the feudal law, went to the lord with the lands on which they resided . . . In the East country to the north of the Forth a change in nomenclature is a significant indication of the breach that was made with the old order" ("History of Scotland," Vol. I., pp. 88, 89, 90). "Of the nation itself, it may be said)" Dr. Brown adds, "that the Teutonic element had now the preponderating influence in directing its affairs. The most valuable parts of the country were in the hands of men of Norman and Saxon descent, and the towns owed their prosperity to the same people" (p. 131).

To be concluded...

This article was originally published in The Witness of 10th April 1913.