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 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA 
 
 Proceedings of the Scotch-Irish Congress 
 
 AT 
 
 COLUMBIA, TENNESSEE 
 
 MAY 8-11, 1889 
 
 PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF 
 
 THE SCOTCH-IRISH SOCIETY OF AMERICA 
 
 T NASHVILLE, TENN. : 
 
 ? PUBLISHING HOUSE OF THE M. E. CHURCH, SOUTH. 
 
 BAKBEE & SMITH, AGENTS. 
 1890.
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1890. 
 SCOTCH-IRISH SOCIETY OF AMERICA.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 '> Introduction, by Mr. Robert Bonner 1 
 
 ^ The Scotch-Irish Congress 3 
 
 Officers and Committees of the Local Organization 10 
 
 2 Contributors to Expense Fund. 12 
 
 if* Letters 13 
 
 > Minutes, and Short Addresses 24 
 
 tjs Officers and Committees of the Scotch-Irish Society of America 66 
 
 {yfl 
 
 3 Action of Committees 69 
 
 in 
 CM 
 
 PART II. 
 The Harp of Tom Moore 70 
 
 ADDRESSES BT 
 
 Ex-Governor Proctor Knott 72 
 
 Prof. George Macloskie 90 
 
 g Rev. John Hall, D. D n 102 
 
 ^ Hon. William Wirt Henry 110 
 
 o Rev. D. C. Kelley, D. D.... .132 
 
 a 
 
 uj Colonel A. K. McClure 178 
 
 Hon. Benton McMillin 187 
 
 Rev. John S. Macintosh, D.D 191 
 
 Hon. W. S. Fleming 202 
 
 (iii) 
 
 449000
 
 To THE MEMBERS OF THE SCOTCH-IRISH SOCIETY OF AMERICA -. 
 
 In offering this compilation to the Society, and the gen 
 eral public, we do not pretend that it is a complete history 
 of the Scotch-Irish people. That will require the systematic 
 effort of years. As the initial volume of distinctive Scotch- 
 Irish records, however, we believe that it will prove inter 
 esting and satisfactory. In the selection and arrangement 
 of the matter contained, we have acted with the advice of 
 the Executive Committee. For the convenience of the 
 reader, the formal addresses, bearing directly upon the race, 
 have been taken from their regular order in the minutes 
 and arranged separately in Part Second. 
 
 The addresses are published as they were delivered, and 
 we do not assume any responsibility for the views of the 
 speakers. We bespeak for the volume kindly reception and 
 consideration. A. C. FLOYD, 
 
 Lucius FRIERSON, 
 ROBERT PILLOW, 
 
 Publishing Committee.
 
 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA, 
 
 INTRODUCTION". 
 
 BY ROBERT BONNER. 
 
 To Mr. Thomas T. Wright, a prominent citizen of Florida, be 
 longs the credit of having suggested the formation of an organi 
 zation to preserve the history and perpetuate the achievements 
 of the Scotch-Irish race in America. Owing to the efforts of Mr. 
 Wright, who was ably assisted by Mr. A. C. Floyd and other gen 
 tlemen, the movement was started which resulted in the grand and 
 successful meeting of the Scotch-Irish Congress at Columbia, Tennes 
 see, in May last, and which led to the permanent organization of the 
 Scotch-Irish Society of America. 
 
 It does not come within the purpose, scope or object of this 
 Society to cultivate or in any way encourage sectarian feeling, for 
 people of all denominations are eligible to membership ; nor is it the 
 purpose of the Society to stimulate undue pride of race, although it 
 is impossible to ignore the historical fact, so eloquently stated by 
 William Wirt Henry, ESQ., a grandson of the great revolutionary 
 orator, that the Scotch-Irish in America have given five Presidents to 
 the United States. 
 
 I have been requested to write an introduction to this volume, 
 which gives a carefully prepared report of the action of the late Con- 
 
 (1)
 
 2 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 gress; but it appears to me that a formal or lengthy introduction 
 would be superfluous. The eloquent speeches made during the session 
 of the Congress, and the other proceedings of that body, tell their own 
 story. They exhibit the cordial good will, the patriotic fervor, the 
 indomitable spirit, the tenacity of purpose, and the stern integrity 
 which have always characterized the Scotch-Irish ; and it is to be hoped 
 that the Society so auspiciously inaugurated at Columbia will develop, 
 as the years go on, into an organization of the highest usefulness.
 
 THE SCOTCH-IKLsU CONGRESS. 
 
 THE SCOTCH-IRISH CONGRESS, ITS OBJECTS 
 AND RESULTS. 
 
 BY A. C. FLOYD. 
 
 The Scotch-Irish people have been second to none in their influ 
 ence upon modern civilization. Their impress upon American institu 
 tions has been especially strong. They have been leaders in every 
 sphere of life, both public and private. They were the first to declare 
 independence from Great Britain, and foremost in the revolutionary 
 struggle ; leaders in the formation and adoption of the Constitution, 
 and its most powerful defenders; most active in the extension of our 
 national domain, and the hardiest pioneers in its development. 
 
 The associations suggested by a few of the illustrious men of the 
 the stock are sufficient to outline the extent of their influence. 
 Among them were Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, John Wither- 
 spoon, John Paul Jones, James Madison, John Marshall, Andrew 
 Jackson, James K. Polk, James Buchanan, Abraham Lincoln, and 
 Ulysses S. Grant. 
 
 That they have been no less conspicuous in the material develop 
 ment and intellectual progress of the country, is evidenced by the 
 names of Robert Fulton, Horace Greeley, Robert Bouuer, and the 
 McCormicks. 
 
 These men are but types of the Scotch-Irish, and their achieve 
 ments are but examples of the numberless illustrious deeds of the 
 race; and yet no distinct and connected history of this people has 
 ever been written. Their marked and distinctive impress upon the 
 country and their proverbial race pride renders this passing strange, 
 especially in this history-writing age, when the Puritan, the Huguenot, 
 the Dutch, and every other class and nationality composing our popu 
 lation, have recorded their deeds with minutest care. In this, they 
 have done nothing more than perform their duty, for it is the duty of 
 all to study great examples and hold their virtues up for the emulation 
 of on-coming generations. Thus is patriotism cultivated and every 
 noble endeavor stimulated. Thoughtful men, indeed, knew the 
 wealth of Scotch-Irish achievement and keenly felt the poverty of its 
 recognition. Where else could nobler types of manhood be found? 
 The hand of the historian, brushing away the dust of time, was alone
 
 4 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 needed to reveal the grandest figures of the world. The greatness of 
 the fathers still lingered in the traditions of the children, but the de 
 lay of a few more years would consign them to an oblivion from 
 which they could never be recovered. 
 
 If the work was ever to be done, it was necessary that it should 
 be commenced without further delay. These facts were recognized 
 and discussed, but the demand resulted in nothing definite until it 
 took form in the Scotch-Irish Congress held at Columbia, Tennessee, 
 last May. 
 
 The objects to be attained were not new ; but the Congress, 
 as a means of their accomplishment, was altogether original. The 
 projectors of this gathering fully realized the extent of the work they 
 had undertaken, and desired that it should be done in the most 
 thorough and comprehensive manner possible. A convention com 
 posed of representative members of the race from all quarters of the 
 country commended itself to them as the best means of beginning the 
 work. 
 
 The addresses of the distinguished speakers, the historical papers 
 submitted, and the reminiscences recounted would form a nucleus for 
 the complete collection of data which it was hoped to accumulate in 
 the course of time. Important as this meeting was expected to be, 
 however, its promoters realized that it could only begin the great 
 work. A permanent organization was necessary to continue it. Be 
 sides, a Scotch-Irish association was desirable for social as well as his 
 torical purposes. In this, as in the matter of history writing, they 
 were behind all others. Every other people in Amerrca had banded 
 themselves together for purposes of mutual pleasure and assistance. 
 When properly directed, these societies had accomplished much good. 
 Why should not the Scotch-Irish organize in a similar manner? Why 
 should not their proverbial and well warranted race pride serve to 
 focus their great energies upon purposes of common good ? Among 
 the many great objects to which this organized power could be applied 
 was the collection of the desired historical data and the promotion of 
 social intercourse. 
 
 The one would contribute in the highest degree to the cultivation 
 of patriotism ; the other would promote the warmest fraternal feeling. 
 A better acquaintance between the northern and southern members of 
 the race would bring a better understanding and a broader sympathy, 
 binding the two sections together in the strong and enduring bonds of 
 real friendship. To effect such an organization was the second great 
 object of the Congress. 
 
 Among all the states of the Union, none could have been more
 
 THE SCOTCH-IRISH CONGRESS. 5 
 
 appropriate for the gathering than Tennessee, both on account of her 
 geographical position and the blood of her people. Pennsylvania, 
 Maryland, Virginia, and North and South Carolina received the 
 first great accessions of Ulster immigration ; but swarms from these 
 parent hives, moving westward since colonial days, now make Tennes 
 see about the center of the blood in the United States. Besides, her 
 intermediate position between the extreme North and the extreme 
 South makes her people freer from sectional prejudice than either of 
 these quarters, and, therefore, better fitted to promote the fraternal 
 spirit which the convention was intended to foster. In no other state 
 is the Scotch-Irish blood purer. They were the earliest and most nu 
 merous of her pioneers. On the banks of the Watauga, they made 
 the first American settlement west of the Alleghanies, and it was they 
 who led the vanguard in the march of civilization westward through 
 her territory. They filled the armies that subdued the savages of the 
 West and South-west. It was their stern, unalterable courage and 
 determination which prevented Great Britain and Spain from confin 
 ing the Americans to the Atlantic slope, and secured the Mississippi 
 valley to the Union. Their numbers and valor in every war in which 
 the country has been engaged has won for Tennessee the proud title 
 of "The Volunteer State." They stamped their predominant charac 
 teristics upon their descendants, and gave the prevailing type to the 
 character of the whole people. It was but natural that a convention 
 called to do them honor should meet with warmest approval. 
 
 Columbia, the place chosen for the first Congress, lies in the very 
 center of Tennessee, and her Scotch-Irish population, surrounded by 
 a country widely known as " the garden spot of Tennessee" a country 
 unsurpassed for salubrity of climate, richness and variety of products, 
 and advantages of geographical position. This heart of the Middle 
 Tennessee Basin, now carpeted with a rich growth of blue grass, was 
 originally covered by luxuriant cane-brakes, the infallible sign of a 
 fat soil. It is not strange that the Scotch-Irish should have occupied 
 it first. Always in the foremost ranks of the pioneers, the richest 
 lands became theirs by right of discovery and first occupation, while 
 the poorer country was left to the more timid people, who followed at 
 a later and safer period. The advantages thus acquired, and the 
 characteristic tenacity with which they have been held, go far to explain 
 why the race has ever since been the wealthiest and most influential 
 of the people in the countries first settled by them. The strength of 
 their influence in Maury county is illustrated in Judge Fleming's 
 sketch of Zion Church, and Dr. Kelly's address, published in this 
 Among the distinguished men of this stock whom Maury
 
 6 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 county has produced was James K. Polk, who went from Columbia to 
 the President's chair. 
 
 Another thing that recommended Columbia was her railway fa 
 cilities. These roads, running north, south, east, and west, make her 
 easily accessible from every quarter of the country. Arrived here, 
 visitors, especially those from the North, occupy an excellent vantage 
 point from which to visit and study the best parts of the South. 
 Within short reach by rail are some of the most famous battle-fields of 
 the late war Franklin, Nashville, Murfreesboro, Shiloh, and others, 
 In easy communication, also, are Florence, Sheffield, Birmingham, and 
 other manufacturing cities of the celebrated coal and iron fields of the 
 South, affording the finest illustrations of the marvelous industrial 
 progress which this section is "now making. These advantages and 
 associations rendered Columbia a peculiarly appropriate place for the 
 gathering. 
 
 Having decided that the Congress should be held, and that 
 Columbia was the place to hold it, the initial steps in the arrange 
 ments for it were taken in October, 1888. This action was prompted 
 by Colonel T. T. Wright, now of Nashville, Tennessee. To him be 
 longs the honor of having originated this, as well as many other great 
 ideas, which have resulted in much public benefit. He not only 
 originated the idea and inspired the first action for carrying it into 
 effect, but gave the movement, at every stage, the invaluable aid of 
 his advice, time, and means. 
 
 The date fixed for the beginning of the Congress was May 8, 
 1889, the most perfect season of the year in Tennessee. Arrange 
 ments for the Congress were vigorously and systematically pushed 
 from the beginning. Some of the most distinguished men of the race 
 accepted invitations to deliver addresses and to prepare historical 
 papers. A thousand leading newspapers published the general invita 
 tion to the race issued by Governor Taylor and the Secretary ; also, 
 the reports sent them from time to time, as events developed, together 
 with extensive and favorable editorial mention. 
 
 GOVERNOR TAYLOR'S INVITATION. 
 
 EXECUTIVE OFFICE, NASHVILLE, TENN. 
 To the Scotch-Irish Race : 
 
 Recognizing the Scotch-Irish Congress, to be assembled at Colum 
 bia, in this state, on the 8th of May next, as an event of international 
 interest, Tennessee will welcome to it representatives of that lineage 
 from all parts of the world. No political or sectarian significance at 
 taches to the Congress. Its object is to revive memories of the race,
 
 THE SCOTCH-IRISH CONGRESS. 7 
 
 and to collect materials for compiling a history showing their impress 
 upon modern civilization, especially upon American institutions. It 
 promises to be one of the most notable meetings ever held in Ten 
 nessee. ROBERT L. TAYLOR, 
 
 Governor. 
 
 Private invitations were sent to every representative man of the 
 blood whose name could be ascertained. So unique and manifestly 
 desirable was the gathering, that it met with hearty commendation 
 from all to whose attention it was brought. Extensive correspondence 
 was developed, and the interest became wide-spread. The latent pride 
 of the race was at last stirred, and the enthusiasm which the call in 
 spired evidenced its strength when once aroused. Reduced railroad 
 fare was secured, and a large sum of money was readily and gener 
 ously subscribed by the people of Columbia to defray the expenses of 
 the occasion. The hospitable people vied with each other in their 
 preparations for entertaining visitors. 
 
 When the day arrived, every detail of the arrangements was 
 complete. The doors of every house stood wide open with welcome. 
 The town was gaily decorated and thronged with visitors, representing 
 every section of the Union. The weather was perfect throughout, 
 and all the exercises were held in a great tent stretched in the oak- 
 canopied, grass-carpeted grove of the Columbia Athenaeum, kindly 
 offered the management by Captain R. D. Smith, president of this 
 fine old institution for young ladies. The Rogers Band, of Goshen, 
 Indiana, rendered delightful music, consisting largely of Scotch and 
 Irish airs, prepared especially for the occasion. 
 
 The initial proceedings were thus described by the Nashville 
 American: 
 
 "The large canopy was beautifully decorated with flags and 
 bunting of all kinds. Long streamers extended from the central post 
 to the various points of the outer circumference, producing a most 
 harmonious and beautiful effect. A large stage, thirty feet by twenty, 
 and capable of comfortably seating fifty persons, had been erected 
 under the south side of the tent. Arches spanned its front, and fes 
 toons of lovely flowers, from the rose to the evergreen, graced the 
 arches in handsome designs. Vases of flowers were also conspicuously 
 displayed. 
 
 " Upon the stage were placed a large painting of Jas. K. Polk 
 and an old and historic "Harp of Erin," the hereditary property of 
 Mrs. Emma McKinney, of the Athenaeum. 
 
 "It was not long before the spacious audience-room, so to speak,
 
 8 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 was filled with a crowded mass of humanity. The personnel of the 
 audience and of the visitors in general was especially good, and free 
 from all the rougher elements. Then the visitors, the descendants of 
 the Scotch-Irish, who had assembled to engage in the events of the 
 day, lent great dignity and intellectuality to the meeting. 
 
 " The procession formed at the head-quarters on Garden street and 
 in front of the Bethell House on Seventh street. It was led by the 
 Goshen Band, of Goshen, Indiana, followed by the Witt Rifles, of 
 Columbia, in full dress uniform ; then the carriages containing the 
 visitors and members of the Reception Committee, and at last a 
 large concourse. In one of the front carriages was the harp of 
 Tom Moore, in charge of Captain J. T. Craik, Major William Polk, 
 and Colonel H. G. Evans. 
 
 "The large tent had already been crowded, even as to standing- 
 room, and when the -procession arrived, its proportions amounted to 
 anywhere between 6,000 and 10,000 people." 
 
 There were two sessions of the Congress each day, morning and 
 night. The tent was filled to its utmost capacity at every session by 
 cultured and appreciative audiences. In the afternoons, many of the 
 visitors repaired to the Fair Grounds at South Side Park, where they 
 were entertained with exhibitions of speed by Tennessee's fastest 
 horses, and by the display of other blooded stock, in which this 
 country stands unexcelled. Others enjoyed driving over the numer 
 ous fine pikes which radiate in every direction from Columbia like 
 spokes from awheel, leading to the great farms and points of historical 
 interest in the country. 
 
 Representatives of the race from every section of the country 
 met in freest and most cordial social intercourse. Old friendships 
 were renewed and new ones formed. Rich stores of tradition were 
 brought to light and valuable historical reminiscences were recalled. 
 Memories of the past were revived, thoughts of the present inter- 
 changed, and hopes of the future discussed. Among the attendants 
 were many old Federal and ex-Confederate soldiers, attracted hither 
 by the reunion of the blue and the gray, and a desire to revisit the 
 surrounding battle-fields of the late civil strife. Upon these fields, 
 but a few years ago, these veterans had met each other in deadliest 
 conflict. Now they met with hearty hand-shake and the warm regard 
 felt by men who have proved each other's true manhood in the severest 
 ordeals. 
 
 The Congress was a complete success in every particular, but its 
 crowning result was the organization of the Scotch-Irish Society of
 
 THE SCOTCH-IRISH CONGRESS. 9 
 
 America, which will take up and carry on in a systematic way the 
 work so auspiciously begun. 
 
 The principal objects of the Society have already been outlined. 
 Its purposes are social and historical. Through its members, sketches 
 of the families represented and of the race in general, together with 
 interesting relics connected with their history, will be collected. 
 
 Princeton College, New Jersey, has kindly offered to become cus 
 todian of this data for the present, but in the course of time the So 
 ciety will have a permanent home for its reception. 
 
 The data thus obtained will be properly acknowledged, and the 
 manuscripts filed in the archives of the Society for reference, or for use 
 in the annual publications hereafter to be issued. 
 
 No partisan or sectarian significance attaches to the Society. 
 Composed of a race thoroughly identified with all that has been most 
 patriotic in our country, it is purely an American institution, and does 
 not propose to concern itself with foreign affairs. 
 
 .The social features of the organization promise large results. 
 The Congress at Columbia gave earnest of the good fellowship which 
 may be expected from the annual gatherings hereafter. The publica 
 tions of the Society, and the development and extension of its organ 
 ization, will promote correspondence among its members, increase their 
 knowledge of one another, and draw them into closer relations of 
 friendship and sympathy. 
 
 Though but a short time has elapsed since the conditions of 
 membership were definitely settled, it has already reached grati 
 fying proportions. Numerous applications for enrollment have been 
 received from all parts of the country, from men occupying the 
 highest positions in every sphere of life. Systematic plans are 
 in operation, by which every member who joins becomes instrumental 
 in bringing others into the Society. The membership is advancing 
 by geometrical progression, and the present plans continued will in 
 no great length of time bring a knowledge of the Society to every 
 person of Scotch-Irish descent in America. There is practically no 
 limit to its possible power and usefulness.
 
 10 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 OFFICERS OF THE LOCAL ORGANIZATION 
 OF THE SCOTCH-IRISH CONGRESS. 
 
 President. 
 COLONEL E. C. MCDOWELL, 
 
 Vice-President. 
 HON. J. H. FUSSELL. 
 
 Secretary, 
 A. C. FLOYD. 
 
 Treasurer. 
 Lucius FRIERSON. 
 
 Executive Committee. 
 
 HON. W. J. WHITTHORNE, Chairman. 
 HON. J H. FUSSELL, T. B. KELLY, 
 
 E. E. ERWIN, A. C. FLOYD. 
 
 Advisory Board. 
 
 COLONEL T. T. WRIGHT, Chairman. 
 CHAIRMEN OF OTHER COMMITTEES. 
 
 Finance Committee. 
 
 GEO. L. THOMAS, Chairman. 
 
 JAS. ANDREWS, S. D. F. McEwEN, 
 
 A. BARR, JOHN MOORE, JR., 
 
 COLONEL H. A. BROWN, B. S. THOMAS.
 
 OFFICERS OF THE LOCAL ORGANIZATION. 11 
 
 Military Committee. 
 
 HON. J. H. FUSSELL, Chairman. 
 COLONEL H. G. EVANS, CAPTAIN H. P. SEAVY. 
 
 Transportation Committee. 
 
 COLONEL H. G. EVANS, Chairman. 
 DR. T. B. RAINS, CAPTAIN H. P. SEAVY. 
 
 Committee on Music. 
 
 CAPTAIN J. T. CRAIK, Chairman. 
 DR. W. C. SHEPPARD, CAPTAIN H, P. SEAVY. 
 
 Reception Committee. 
 
 CAPTAIN H. P. SEAVY, Chairman. 
 W. J. HINE, JOHN C. DEXTER, 
 
 Entertainment Committee. 
 
 MAYOR ROBERT PILLOW, Chairman. 
 8. D. F. McEwEN, W. C. TAYLOR. 
 
 Decoration Committee. 
 
 Miss GOBY DUNNINGTON. 
 
 MRS. J. H. FUSSELL, MRS. W. J. HINE, 
 
 MRS. JOE HENDLEY, MRS. E. W. GAMBLE. 
 
 Badges and Mail. 
 Miss FLORENCE IRVINE.
 
 12 
 
 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 CONTRIBUTORS TO THE SCOTCH-IRISH 
 CONGRESS EXPENSE FUND. 
 
 GEO. L. THOMAS, 
 
 JOHN MOORE, JR., 
 
 A. N. DALE, 
 
 JAMES ANDREWS, 
 
 E. W. GAMBLE, 
 
 BAILEY & MOORE, 
 
 A. N. AKIN, 
 
 FRIERSON & TITCOMB, 
 
 HOLDING & COCHRAN, 
 
 MRS. E. JONES, 
 
 REV. GEO. BECKETT, 
 
 E. E. ERWIN, 
 
 W. P. INGRAM, 
 
 MAJOR WILL. POLK, 
 
 T. N., C. T., and W. C. JONES, 
 
 S. T. COOK, 
 
 DR. J. H. WILKES, 
 
 NICHOLS & FARISS, 
 
 A. D. FRIERSON, 
 
 W. J. HOWARD, 
 
 W. F. EMBRY, 
 
 STREET, EMBRY & Co., 
 
 C. C. GROSS, 
 
 LAMB & SMITH, 
 
 J. D. WRIGHT, 
 
 J. T. CRAIK, 
 
 E. H. HATCHER, 
 
 H. A. McL/EMORE & BRO., 
 
 HENRY GROSS, 
 
 A. MAXVILLE, 
 
 A. G. ADAMS, of 
 
 H. A. BROWN, 
 Lucius FRIERSON, 
 MA YES & WALKEB, 
 R. P. RUSSELL, 
 McEwEN & DALE, 
 A. BARR, 
 BETHELL HOUSE, 
 DOBBINS & EWING, 
 CAPERTON & TAYLOR, 
 
 F. J. HENDLEY, 
 FIGURES & PADGETT, 
 GEO. N. SARVEN, 
 W. J. WEBSTER, 
 JOHN B. ASHTON, 
 GEO. CHILDRESS, 
 
 H. G. EVANS, 
 JOSEPH TOWLER, 
 CHAFFIN BROS., 
 RAINS & SON, 
 DR. ROBERT PILLOW, 
 J. P. McGAW, JR., 
 JAMES BROS., 
 EDGAR JAMES, 
 SATTERFIELD & CHURCH, 
 W. C. SHEPPARD, 
 MRS. ELLEN MAYES, 
 
 G. T. HUGHES, 
 ANDREWS & MCGREGOR, 
 G. P. FRIERSON, 
 
 I. M. SULIVAN, 
 
 Nashville.
 
 LETTERS. 13 
 
 LETTERS. 
 
 EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, April 1, 1889. 
 A. C. FLOYD, ESQ., 
 
 COLUMBIA, TENN. 
 MY DEAR SIR: 
 
 I am in receipt of your letter of the 20th inst., 
 inviting me to be present at the Scotch-Irish Congress at Columbia, 
 Tenn., on the 8th of May next. I regret that my engagements will 
 prevent my acceptance; but beg you will accept for yourself, and 
 convey to the members of the Association, my sincere appreciation of 
 your courtesy, and my best wishes for the success of your meeting. 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 BENJAMIN HARRISON. 
 
 NEW YORK, April 13, 1889. 
 A. C. FLOYD, ESQ., 
 
 Secretary, etc 
 DEAR SIR : 
 
 I desire to acknowledge, with thanks, the cordial 
 invitation I have received to attend the Scotch-Irish Congress, to be 
 held at Columbia, Tennessee, on the 8th of May next. 
 
 I regret that prior engagements will prevent my acceptance of 
 your courteous invitation. 
 
 Yours, very truly, 
 
 GROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 NEW YORK, May 3, 1889. 
 MR. A. C. FLOYD, 
 
 Sec'y Scotch-Irish Congress, 
 
 COLUMBIA, TENN. 
 DEAR SIR: 
 
 Upon my return from an extended trip through 
 the South, I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your favor, 
 dated April 25th.
 
 14 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 I regret exceedingly that business engagements, already made, so 
 engross my time at the date of your Congress, that I shall not be able 
 to give myself the satisfaction of attendance. I cordially appreciate 
 your earnest invitation, though unable to accept it, and, as my best 
 alternative, have taken pleasure in providing a car for the Rev. Dr. 
 John Hall, Mr. Robert Bonner, and several other gentlemen, who 
 will doubtless be at the meeting. 
 
 Regretting that circumstances forbid my being with you, I re 
 main, Very sincerely, yours, 
 
 JOHN H. INMAN. 
 
 WAR OFFICE, LONDON, February 1, 1889. 
 SIR: 
 
 I have received, with much gratification, your 
 
 Excellency's letter of the ult., inviting me to attend the Scotch- 
 Irish Congress, to be assembled at Columbia, Tennessee, on the 8th 
 of May next. 
 
 I regret very much that the pressure of my official duties pre 
 cludes the possibility of my proceeding to the United States at that 
 season of the f year. I am compelled" to decline the honor of the flat 
 tering invitation which your Excellency has conveyed to me in such 
 courteous terms. 
 
 1 have the honor to be, sir, 
 
 Your Excellency's obedient servant, 
 
 WOLSELEY. 
 His EXCELLENCY, R. L. TAYLOR, 
 
 Governor of the State of Tennessee. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, February 21, 1889. 
 MR. A. C. FLOYD, 
 
 Secretary. 
 DEAK SIR: 
 
 I thank you for the invitation of February 16lK. 
 to attend the Scotch-Irish Congress to assemble at Columbia, Tenn., 
 on the 8th of May next. I should greatly enjoy meeting the men 
 and women whom your invitation will doubtless draw to yout- beauti 
 ful city, but regret that my engagements will not permit me to be 
 present.
 
 LETTERS. 15 
 
 No racial element has had more important, and, I think I may 
 say, healthful influence, in shaping the destinies of our Republic than 
 the Scotch-Irish. This is especially true of the great belt of middle 
 and border states. The very backbone of these commonwealths has 
 been drawn from the heathered hills of Scotland and the green slopes 
 of Ulster. The thistle and the shamrock have found the free Repub 
 lic of the West a congenial environment, and have flourished here 
 most vigorously. 
 
 I trust that, in the future, those chief characteristics, grace and 
 grit, which have made them so valuable a force in the formation of 
 our young commonwealths, may continue without enervation or 
 waste. 
 
 I trace my lineage on my mother's side to a New England family 
 of early settlement; but my paternal name and blood are drawn 
 from a Scotch-Irishman of Ulster, who, with a Scotch wife, emigrated 
 to America in the ninth decade of the last century. As such, I feel 
 proud of my ancestral descent, and extend to you hearty sympathy, 
 and through you to all whom you represent, in your effort to commem 
 orate the worth, works, and imperishable influence of our Scotch-Irish 
 ancestors. Very truly, yours, 
 
 HENRY C. McCOOK. 
 
 MEMPHIS, TENN., May 7, 1889. 
 MR. THOMAS T. WRIGHT. 
 
 DEAR SIR : 
 
 I regret very much that I can not attend the 
 Scotch-Irish Congress at Columbia. Business engagements of an im 
 perative character detain me in Memphis, and will keep me here dur 
 ing the days when it will be in session. 
 
 I am quite alive to the value of such a gathering from a historical 
 point of view, and as a means of vindicating the high position in use 
 fulness of the Scotch-Irish almost ever since the foundation of the 
 American colonies. They came first into history as a result of the 
 settlement of Scotch immigrants in Ireland during the reign of the 
 first James, and from that hour to this have been distinguished, above 
 all things, for the courage of their convictions. They have always 
 been tenacious as Protestants and lovers of individual liberty. Even 
 in the church organizations, as Presbyterians, while adhering to " the 
 faith once delivered to the saints," they have, on occasions, openly de-
 
 16 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 clared dissent, and in a spirit that even the British government in 
 dealing with them has always recognized, have been ready to maintain 
 it to the death. Thus founded in protest against what they believed 
 were " errors of faith and practice," contending for the right of private 
 judgment, and asserting their opposition to prelacy, and, therefore, 
 kingly government, they were practically republicans. King James 
 himself acknowledged this when, in a moment of anger, excited by 
 the demands of the Presbyterian divines, he said, " No bishop, no 
 king." The Scotch-Irish, therefore, came to this country the ready 
 servants of republican liberty. Hence, when revolution impended, 
 they, on the 20th of May, 1775, at Mecklenburg, North Carolina, 
 made the first and most daring declaration of independence. 
 
 In heart and conscience they had always been independent, and 
 they valued liberty above life. The names of the delegates present at 
 the convention that adopted that declaration are nearly all of them 
 Scotch-Irish. Polk, Alexander, Barry, Downs, Graham, Irwin, 
 Morrison, McClure, Wilson, and Patton, are all Scotch-Irish names. 
 
 Thus, the race whose deeds are to be celebrated at Columbia by 
 the Congress held this week, were first in the race for liberty on this 
 continent, and their subsequent bearing during and after the Revolu 
 tionary war has proven that they have been worthy of that liberty. 
 The men of Mecklenburg were influential in the settlement of this 
 state were, indeed, its founders, and in celebrating the Scotch-Irish 
 race, we also celebrate the men who established the government of the 
 Watauga Association and made the Volunteer State. They fought 
 under Sevier, were the companions and comrades of James Robinson 
 in the Mero district, fought the Indians under Jackson from the Ten 
 nessee river to the Florida everglades, defeated the British at New 
 Orleans, and compelled the Spaniards to give up Florida, thus ending 
 forever the claims of Spain to the Mississippi river. They were sub 
 sequently conspicuous in the Texas revolution and in the Mexican 
 war; and in the civil war, now fast becoming but a memory, they 
 were among the first for gallantry, as the names of -John C. Brown, 
 Porter, Bates, McNeil, and others, attest. 
 
 Blended and fused with the great mass of a population whose 
 power of assimilation is a marvel of our time, the Scotch-Irish are 
 losing their distinctiveuess on this continent. It is, therefore, well 
 that their history should be recovered and eliminated from all other 
 histories, and thus be held sacred by their descendants, for there is 
 much of incentive in example. And what nobler example of high 
 moral qualities, of courage and endurance, can be found anywhere 
 than with the Scotch-Irish, who, believing in the right of private
 
 LETTERS. 17 
 
 judgment, have always contended for a government resting on a 
 basis of consent. 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 M. KEATING. 
 
 LIVERPOOL, March 30, 1889. 
 A. C. FLOYD, ESQ., 
 
 Secretary to the Scotch-Irish Congress, 
 COLUMBIA, TENN., U. S. A. 
 
 DEAK SIR: 
 
 I am in receipt of your invitation to attend the 
 Scotch-Irish Congress in your city on the 8th of May next, and I very 
 much regret I can not avail myself of it, as I am about to start for a 
 trip to Australia, India, China, and Japan, and do not expect to 
 reach America till next spring. 
 I am, dear sir, 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 A. MCDOWELL. 
 
 "BATTLE HlLL," 
 
 JACKSON, Miss., March 2, 1889. 
 MR. A. C. FLOYD, 
 
 Secretary. 
 DEAR SIR : 
 
 I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 
 23d last, extending invitation to the Scotch-Irish Congress, to meet in 
 Columbia in May. 
 
 I am glad to see that such an organization is effected, and I am 
 sure it will be of great use in keeping our esprit de corps among the 
 members of a race which is exceeded by no other in the number of 
 distinguished men in all lines 'who have made our country illustrious. 
 The characteristics of the race are of the best. Steadfast, stal 
 wart, true to conviction, tough brained but tender hearted, the men 
 have always been who are called " Scotch-Irish." 
 
 I have to say what I said in a published speech in Derry last 
 summer: "I have always been proud to call myself an Ulsterman, 
 2
 
 18 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 proud that I am a born Derryman, a son of the men that starved and 
 prayed and fought, but never surrendered." 
 
 I deeply regret the appointments for my work are such that I am 
 unable to accept your invitation for this year. Meanwhile, I hope, at 
 another meeting to come up with the tribes. 
 Very truly, yours, 
 
 HUGH MILLER THOMPSON, 
 
 Bishop of Mississippi. 
 
 UNITED STATES SENATE, 
 WASHINGTON, D. C., December 28, 1888. 
 MR. A. C. FLOYD, 
 
 Secretary, 
 
 COLUMBIA, TENN. 
 
 DEAK SIR : 
 
 Your letter, inviting me to deliver an address 
 before the Scotch-Irish Congress on the 15th of next May, has been 
 received. I am greatly pleased with the suggestion of this Congress 
 and its purposes, and am honored by your invitation to address it. 
 The political situation forbids my making any positive engagement so 
 far ahead, but it is my intention to accept your invitation, should the 
 calls of duty here not prevent. 
 
 When this session of Congress shall have expired, and I can see 
 what the next year promises, I shall communicate with you again. 
 Very respectfully and 
 
 Truly yours, 
 
 Z. B. VANCE. 
 
 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 
 WASHINGTON, D. C., April 6, 1889. 
 A. C. FLOYD, ESQ., 
 
 Secretary, 
 
 COLUMBIA, TENN. 
 
 DEAR SIR : 
 
 I thank you for your cordial invitation to be 
 present at the Scotch-Irish Congress, to be held at your city on the 
 8th of May next. It would afford me real pleasure to honor the 
 memory of the Scotch-Irish emigrants who came to this country and
 
 COL. THOMAS T. WRIGH
 
 LETTERS. 1& 
 
 did so much to elevate and strengthen the character of our people. 
 In my remarks in the House of Representatives, February 2, 1886, 
 on the death of Vice-President Thomas A. Hendricks, I referred to 
 his father, and to his uncle, who was governor of Indiana and senator 
 from that state in the U. S. Congress in 1822 to 1825 and in 1837: 
 
 " They were Scotch-Irish pioneers, belonging to a race of men of 
 splendid physical form, courage, and endurance, and renowned for 
 their mental vigor and strength of character. These pioneers were 
 the ancestors of many distinguished families of the South and West. 
 Wherever these brave men fixed their abode, the land brought forth 
 abundance and the people prospered." 
 
 It is, therefore, with regret I am constrained to deny myself the 
 pleasure of being with you on that occasion. 
 
 I hope you will have a successful meeting, and that its results 
 may be beneficial to the welfare and glory of our common country. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 SAM. J. RANDALL. 
 
 BROOKLYN, March 19, 1889. 
 A. C. FLOYD, ESQ., 
 
 Secretary Scotch-Irish Congress. 
 DEAR SIR : 
 
 Only previous engagements could hinder me 
 from accepting your kind invitation, for which I thank you. Had 
 the invitation come a little earlier, I could have accepted it, but now 
 I am harnessed for other service. Most appropriate is it that the peo 
 ple come together and celebrate the achievements of that wondrous 
 and magnificent race, the Scotch-Irish. 
 
 Again thanking you for the courtesy of your letter, I am, 
 Yours, etc., 
 
 T. DE WITT TALMAGE. 
 
 GERMAN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, 
 
 DUBUQUE, IA., April 6, 1889. 
 MR. A. C. FLOYD, 
 
 Secretary of Scotch-Irish Congress. 
 DEAR SIR : 
 
 I find it impossible to avail myself of the honor 
 and pleasure of attendance at the Scotch-Irish Congress, to convene
 
 20 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 on the third prox., to which your favor of February 16th so cour 
 teously and cordially invited me. 
 
 At first, I had hoped to so arrange former engagements as to be 
 able to attend, but I find this impossible. Few things would have 
 given me such true and permanent pleasure as this first organization 
 of a much-needed association. All classes and races have their racial 
 organizations; but in this country, the greatest and most energetic 
 race in the land has hitherto contented itself with the preservation of 
 its identity and unifying power, which pertain to great achievements, 
 in peaceful arts, the discoveries of science, moral leadership, and he 
 roic deeds at the formative epochs of national history. 
 
 The Scotch-Irish race is, indeed, sui generis, if not altogether 
 unique ; for, while possessed of strongly marked individuality, it nev 
 ertheless freely coalesces with all who seek whatsoever things are true, 
 honest, just, lovely, and of good report. This race has the strong 
 will, religiosity, and shrewdness of the Hebrew, the philosophic pro 
 fundity of the German, the political sagacity and conservatism of the 
 English, and withal, when needs be, the audacity of the French. 
 What wonder that such a race has occupied so large a place in the his 
 tory of our country ? When, in this land, were not the ablest of di 
 vines, the bravest of generals, the wisest of statesmen, not found 
 among the well-trained families of this race? Surely, it is time that 
 the sons of such a race confederate themselves in closer ties of 
 visible kinship. With such an ancestry and history, justice to the 
 storied dead, and self-respect of the living, demand such an organiza 
 tion of the Scotch-Irish race in these United States as your letter 
 indicates. 
 
 That the forthcoming convention may prove worthy of the great 
 occasion and of the thoughtful hospitality that invites it, is the 
 sincere wish of 
 
 Yours, with much respect, 
 
 A. MCCLELLAND. 
 
 PUBLIC LEDGER BUILDING, PHILADELPHIA. 
 MR. A. C. FLOYD, 
 
 Secretary Scotch-Irish Congress, 
 
 COLUMBIA, TENN. 
 DEAR SIR : 
 
 When I wrote you in March, it was under the 
 impression that the date fixed for the assembling at Columbia, Ten-
 
 LETTERS. 21 
 
 nessee, of the " Scotch-Irish " Congress, was May 15th inst., as printed 
 on the official letter-head. Finding subsequently that the actual date 
 is May 8th, I am obliged to forego the pleasure of accepting your wel 
 come invitation, which I very much regret. 
 
 The occasion is one of exceeding interest in many states ; but 
 great as that interest is elsewhere, it can hardly equal that of the peo 
 ple of Pennsylvania, where the pioneers of the "Scotch-Irish" im 
 migrants found their first resting-places in their adventurous move 
 ment, which led them later on to Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, 
 Ohio, and Tennessee, as well as into the then almost unbroken wastes 
 of Southern and Western Pennsylvania. Every-where along that 
 southern line of our state, especially west of the Susquehauna and 
 throughout the Cumberland, Juniata, and Ligonier valleys, they have 
 left the indelible characteristic marks of their early presence, just as 
 they have among the eminent families of Kentucky and Virginia, 
 Tennessee and North Carolina. Their course as pioneers is traceable 
 by a track across that broad expanse of territory almost as distinct, in 
 an ethnological point of view, as are the rock strata that mark the 
 coal and iron bearing veins across a geological horizon. 
 
 The characteristics referred to are well understood by all students 
 of the course of migration into the wild forest lands of America by 
 the streams of colonists colonists of the widely varying sects and 
 races from European countries in the early days of our history. Dis 
 tinct as the Puritan, or the Pilgrim, or the Cavalier, or the Catholic, 
 or the Quaker, or the German Lutheran and Moravian, or the Hugue 
 not, were the " Scotch-Irish," or, as I would prefer to put it, the Irish 
 and the Scots, who carne into Pennsylvania to help to populate it and 
 the adjacent provinces (now states) to the south and west. They 
 were high-spirited people, moved by lofty motives not so much 
 proselytism in their particular religious faith, as by the purpose to find 
 a region in the new world where they could assert their right to decide 
 what form of government they would live under the right to choose 
 for themselves their own rulers, whether for their political security or 
 the welfare of their souls. They were, to an uncommonly large de 
 gree, men and women, too with a robust vigor of intellect, in full 
 keeping with the stalwart muscular development which was the phys 
 ical characteristic of a large proportion of them. They were earnest 
 and brave people, full of energy, of self-assertion of their own right 
 to free thought and free action, and full of the energy and high pur 
 pose that make patriots ; yet comparatively exempt from the fierce 
 fanaticism of the mere propagandist. They were born pioneers of the
 
 22 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 wilderness and leaders of other men. In all of the five or six contig 
 uous states south and west of the middle line of Pennsylvania, the 
 names of these Irish and Scotch pioneers and of their descendants 
 shine with luster in histories and annals as among their noblest patri 
 ots, statesmen, soldiers, scholars, and men of renown. 
 
 It would be to make a catalogue of leading family names in 
 broad regions of those states to attempt to individualize, for it could 
 not fail to be invidious if only some were named. Their history and 
 their work and their enduring influence should be written in a large 
 way; and if this should be an outcome of the Columbia " Scotch - 
 Irish Congress," it will be a valuable result, and a most instructive 
 history to the whole country. 
 
 I do not know, of course, what other reason there was than the 
 promise of the most genial weather, that decided the choice of May 
 8th for the date of the assembling of the Congress ; but either by in 
 tent or by happy coincidence, your committees have come close to a 
 notable anniversary in the annals of the pioneers of the Scotch-Irish 
 immigrants into the American colonies. It was on the ninth (9th) of 
 May, 1729, that the good ship " George and Ann" set sail from Ire 
 land to bring to Philadelphia the McDowells, the Irvines, the Camp 
 bells, the O'Neills, the McElroys, the Mitchells, and their compatriots, 
 who penetrated to interior Pennsylvania, and thence went west and 
 south. With these were the high-bred and brave Margaret O'Neill 
 and Margaret Lynn. I am not so sure of the ship that brought the 
 Breckinridge company, whether the one just named, or the "John 
 of Dublin," or some other; but I find recorded that, on the 22d of 
 May, 1740, fourteen heads of families went to Orange Court House, 
 Virginia, under the leadership of Alexander Breckinridge; that 
 Breckinridge there made oath that he "had imported himself from 
 Ireland to Philadelphia," together with John, George, Robert, Smith, 
 and Letitia Breckinridge; and thence to this colony (Virginia). 
 Among these heads of families "imported from Ireland to Philadel 
 phia" were John Trimble, David Logan, James Caldwell, and, I 
 think, John Preston. In fact, Philadelphia and Pennsylvania fur 
 nished the gateway, the first resting place, and the course of " Scotch- 
 Irish " adventure and enterprise, as they moved west and south. 
 
 We of Pennsylvania may, therefore, fairly ask the Columbia 
 Congress to bear that fact affectionately in mind ; and that, while you 
 are celebrating the merits and virtues of distinguished and eminent 
 western and southern families, that Philadelphia has her annals richly 
 illustrated with Meades and Moylans, Breckinridges and Barrys,
 
 LETTERS. 23 
 
 Waynes and St. Clairs, Allisons, Armstrongs, and Fultons, McKeans, 
 McClures, McKibbens, and McCooks; with Thomas Fitzgibbons, 
 James Mease, Sharp Delaney, and stout old Blair McClenaghen, with 
 others of the leaders of the "Friendly Sons of St. Patrick," renowned 
 among Philadelphia merchants and patriots of the revolutionary days. 
 With great respect, 
 
 GEORGE W. CHILDS. 
 
 BRITISH EMBASSY, 
 
 ROME, February 13, 1889. 
 MY DEAR MR. WRIGHT: 
 
 I am very much gratified by the kind invitation 
 
 which you have sent me to attend the forthcoming Congress ; but as I 
 am now on my way home, after four years' absence from England, it 
 would, I regret, be out of my power to cross the Atlantic. 
 
 With renewed thanks for the honor you have done me, believe 
 me, my dear Mr. Wright, 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 
 DUFFERIN AND AVA.
 
 24 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 MINUTES. 
 
 COLUMBIA, TENN., May 8, 1889. 
 MOKNING SESSION. 
 
 The Congress was called to order at 11 o'clock by Colonel E. C. 
 McDowell, President of the Local Organization. 
 
 Rev. Dr. John Hall, of New York, led in prayer, as follows : 
 
 O, God Almighty, our Heavenly Father : We are gathered to 
 gether in unusual circumstances. We pray that we may have the 
 help of the Holy Spirit ; that with reverence and devoutness we may 
 come together to speak unto thee. May thy divine spirit enlighten 
 the understanding of each of us; may it guide our thoughts; may it 
 raise our affections to heavenly things ; may it be to us at this moment 
 a spirit of grace and supplication. 
 
 We worship thee, O God ; we magnify thy great and holy name. 
 Thou art the King of kings, and the Lord of lords. Thou dost de 
 termine the lives of individuals ; thou dost control the fate of nations ; 
 all things are present to thy holy eye ; thou art from everlasting and to 
 everlasting ; thou hast been the God of our fathers, and our prayer is 
 that thou wilt be the God of our children. May the way in which 
 thou didst lift them from thralldom, and the blessings vouchsafed unto 
 them, be ever a source of thanks and praises to thee. We pray 
 thee that thou wilt continue thy goodness ; that thou wilt maintain in 
 the hearts of thy children regard for thy truth, deference to thine au 
 thority, and the spirit of a true and real brotherly love. 
 
 O Lord Jesus, the Savior whom we worship and adore, whom we 
 hold as King in Zion, let thy presence be with us and help us to walk 
 as becometh disciples. We invoke thy blessings and pray for thy 
 favor in this Congress ; direct its officers ; bless all its exercises. Let 
 the issue be the bringing of heart to heart, the tendering and expand 
 ing of sympathy, the continuance of brotherly love, the promotion of 
 Christian education, the good of the people of this state and of neigh 
 boring states. God Almighty, bless those who are gathered together 
 in this city at this time, and as they partake of the hospitality of its
 
 MINUTES. 25 
 
 people, may they be enabled to seek what will be for the good of the 
 people, for the welfare of the state, for the stability of the nation. 
 Bless our nation, and the President of the United States; bless the 
 governors of the states and territories ; bless the judges of the land ; 
 bless and guide all those of our fellow citizens who have been called 
 to places of trust; give them skill, wisdom, unselfishness, zeal, and 
 fidelity ; and, O God, establish in the hearts of the people reverence 
 to their law and their constituted authority. Continue thy favor to 
 these United States, and let the whole land be in subjection to thee 
 through Christ Jesus. And, our Divine Father, we come to thee one 
 by one ; we beg the forgiveness of our sins, the continuation of thy 
 holy spirit, the guidance of thy providence, and an entrance finally 
 into thy heavenly kingdom and glory, through Jesus Christ. And to 
 the Father, the Son, and the Divine Spirit, the God of our salvation, 
 be glory and majesty, dominion and power, world without end. 
 Amen. 
 
 Opening address, by Colonel E. C. McDowell : 
 
 The migration of the Scots, it is believed, was through North 
 eastern Europe, by way of Belgium and the north of France, to Ire- 
 laud. .There they certainly lived in the third century, and there they 
 first received the light of Christianity. 
 
 In the sixth century, a colony of these Irish-Scots migrated to 
 Northern Britain, and settling in what is now the county of Argyle, 
 established a kingdom, subjugated the Pictish tribes that were before 
 them, and ancient Caledonia was thenceforward the land of the Scots, 
 and Scotland it remains to-day. 
 
 When James the First came to the throne of Great Britain, for 
 reasons of state, he determined to discountenance the Roman Catholic 
 religion in Ireland. Some of the nobles of the north of Ireland re 
 sented this, and conspired against the government. Their lands were 
 confiscated and reverted to the crown. James peopled these confis 
 cated estates with Scotch and English colonists. The Scotch settlers 
 greatly predominated. Thus, after a lapse of one thousand years, the 
 Scots whom Ireland had given to Caledonia of old, came back to their 
 ancient homes, aud the Irish-Scotch, as they were called in the sixth 
 century, became the Scotch-Irish of the seventeenth century. 
 
 These first Scotch colonists were soon followed by other Scots, 
 until the descendants of these Scots are largely in the majority in the 
 north of Ireland, especially in the province of Ulster. The Scotch- 
 Irish race was prolific of colonists to America. Prior to 1707, they
 
 26 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 migrated to America to better their condition. The historical events 
 of 1707 gave a great impetus to the immigration of Irish Presby 
 terians. Then they began to see that an Irishman had not equal 
 rights with other British subjects. The idea of equality and freedom 
 which afterward took form of expression in the Mecklenburg Decla 
 ration of Independence, was so strong in them that they could not re 
 main in Ireland. 
 
 These emigrants settled principally in Pennsylvania, Virginia, 
 and the Carolinas. Their descendants spread into Kentucky, Tennes 
 see, and tht, whole South-west. Tennessee was selected as the place 
 for holding this Congress as the state most central to this population 
 in the United States. 
 
 This race of people was of a different origin, and had many race 
 characteristics differing from the New England Puritans. The New 
 England Puritans were of Anglo-Saxon origin, unmixed with the Nor 
 man. The New England Puritan idea is to get the greatest aggregate 
 good in the community. The individual and the family are subordin 
 ate to the community. With them, the state is the people, and the 
 people belong to and are made for the state. With the Scotch-Irish, 
 the people are the state, and the state is made by and for the people. 
 Individualism and familyism seem to be at the foundation of the 
 Scotch-Irish philosophy of life. They hold that the community or 
 state, and its laws, are made by the individuals living in the state or 
 community, and the individuals are not made for, or to be governed 
 for the good of the state or community; but the state and its laws are 
 the creation of the individuals for their benefit. Having to live in 
 the community, they claim the right to make the laws of the com 
 munity, and select those put in authority to enforce these laws. They 
 surrender to the community only so much of their individual freedom 
 as may be necessary for the protection of their property, life, and lib 
 erty, while living in the community. With the Puritans, individual 
 good and freedom is merged in and lost sight of in the good of the 
 community. 
 
 The New England Puritans have in a large part written the his 
 tory of the United States. They did not act the principal history of 
 the United States. Although in the popular histories of the United 
 States, individuals of the Scotch-Irish race have received due notice 
 and full praise, yet the influence of the Scotch-Irish as a people in ob 
 taining our independence, forming our institutions, and maintaining 
 them, has never been properly recognized in written American history. 
 
 The Scotch-Irish are a peculiar people in many respects. They 
 have always been doers, rather than talkers or writers holding that
 
 MINUTES. 27 
 
 there are only two things worthy of mau's ambition : one to write 
 what is worthy of being done, and the other is to do what is worthy 
 of being written, and the greater of these two is the doing. Our 
 Puritan brethren have written as well as done. It is time we were 
 putting on the pages of written history the impress of our race on the 
 institutions of our country. 
 
 The proceedings of this congress will begin the written history of 
 the Scotch-Irish race. 
 
 It was expected that the governor of Tennessee would be present 
 to deliver an address of welcome. A special session of the state legis 
 lature convened yesterday, rendering it impossible for him to be pres 
 ent on this occasion. In his place, and in the name of Tennessee, I 
 welcome you all. On behalf of the large Scotch-Irish population of 
 this county, I welcome you. In the name of Columbia, I bid you 
 thrice welcome. 
 
 For the purpose of organizing, I move that Joseph F. Johnston, 
 of Birmingham, Alabama, be elected temporary chairman of the 
 Congress. 
 
 Motion carried, and Colonel Johnston introduced to the audience 
 by Colonel McDowell. 
 
 Colonel Johnston's address : 
 
 I can not be unmindful of the fact that the distinguished honor 
 of presiding temporarily over this convention has not been conferred 
 upon me on account of any personal merit of ray own, especially when I 
 look around me and see so many gentlemen distinguished in peace and 
 in war, in the paths of theology, science, literature, and art, who are 
 present. But I accept this great honor as a compliment to the young 
 men of the South, whose humble representative I am on this occa 
 sion these young men who, not forgetting the past, not putting aside 
 the ancient landmarks, are now engaged in erecting upon the founda 
 tion of the tradition and memories of their fathers a civilization and 
 an empire that will be the pride and the glory of all who come after 
 us in all this great and magnificent land of ours. 
 
 I take it, my fellow-citizens, as an auspicious circumstance that 
 the first Congress of the Scotch-Irish of the United States is assembled 
 here in this beautiful city " in this most lovely land" rescued by our 
 fatluTs from savage beast and more savage man, and made one of the 
 garden-spots of Civilization, of virtue and refinement, of all the 
 country ; and I congratulate you, my brethren of the Scotch-Irish
 
 28 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 race, wherever you come from, that upon this occasion, and in this 
 presence, should any one inquire where are the jewels of the race, we 
 can point to the fair women, whose virtues are only equalled by their 
 beauty, and say, these are our jewels. (Applause.) 
 
 If there is any one characteristic that I think distinguishes more 
 clearly than any other the Scotch-Irish race, it is their disregard of odds 
 of power and influence in the pursuit of liberty and of right. It was 
 this sentiment that led the Scotch-Irish of Charlotte, in the county 
 of Mecklenburg, N. C., in this month, in the year 1775, regardless 
 of whether their brethren would join them in the cause, to declare 
 that they "were of right, and ought to be, free and independent 
 people." 
 
 It is a fact, in regard to the Scotch-Irish race of the South, that, 
 while many of them believed in the inherent right of secession, few 
 believed in the exercise of that right. They were greatly attached to 
 the Union which their fathers had liberally contributed to establish and 
 develop by their blood and treasure. They wanted to see it yet more 
 powerful and great, and in Tennessee, Kentucky and North Caro 
 lina, where they were most formidable in numbers and influence, they 
 were largely instrumental in delaying hasty action. But when the 
 issue was joined, when "wild war's loud alarm had sounded," when 
 the gods of war had loosed their fiercest dogs, they united with their 
 brethren in the unequal struggle. They believed it to be an unequal 
 struggle ; they doubted the policy and the result ; but when it came 
 for men to suffer and bleed and die, they answered every roll-call. It 
 was supposed that, when this great contest was inaugurated, the cava 
 liers of Virginia and South Carolina would lead all the rest, and right 
 nobly did they discharge their duties. Their sons have a proud herit 
 age, and history has to some extent given them this prominence. 
 But recently, a distinguished soldier of the Federal army, Colonel 
 Wm. F. Fox, of New York, has published, in a remarkable book, 
 statistics showing the results of the war; and I propose to cite a few 
 facts from that book. The fighting population of North Carolina in 
 1861 was 115,000, yet she furnished to the Confederate army 125,000 
 men. North Carolina led all the southern states in the number of 
 men that died in this great struggle. There were killed of her sons 
 on the field of battle fourteen thousand, five hundred and twenty-two 
 men (14,522). The number of her sons that died from wounds in 
 flicted on the field of battle was 20,602, while the great commonwealth 
 of Virginia lost a little over 12,000 in killed and died of wounds 
 about one-third. South Carolina had 9,187 men t killed. On the 
 other side, the great state of Pennsylvania led all her sisters in the
 
 MINUTES. 29 
 
 splendor of her achievements, and she suffered the greatest loss of any 
 northern state in the great battles between giants. 
 
 The greatest loss suffered by any one regiment during the war was 
 inflicted upon the Twenty-sixth North Carolina at Gettysburg, which 
 went into battle 800 strong, and lost in killed and wounded on the 
 field over 580 men ; and this great loss was sustained in fighting the 
 One Hundred and Fifty-first Pennsylvania and Cooper's Battery. 
 The Light Brigade at Balaklava lost 31 per cent of its men and offi 
 cers, and they were immortalized in prose and poetry. The Twenty- 
 sixth North Carolina at Gettysburg lost over 70 per cent of its men 
 and officers, and was scarcely distinguished from the regiments that 
 surrounded it. 
 
 I am not speaking of the war with any desire to recall any thing 
 that every citizen of the United States can not recall with pride and 
 pleasure, no matter where he hails from, because I take it that the 
 prowess, the courage, and the heroic valor of any soldier, whether he 
 hails from Maine or Alabama, is the proud heritage of every citizen 
 of the United States. (Applause.) But I state these astounding sta 
 tistics to show you that, in the great contest between the states, the 
 two most largely populated by the Scotch-Irish race were the two that 
 led all the rest in the splendor of their achievements (Applause) ; and 
 that the greatest losses were inflicted when the iron soldiers of North 
 Carolina and Pennsylvania, descendants of the same race and stock, 
 met on the field of battle and locked arms in the embrace of death. 
 It was the dogged obstinacy, the tenacity, the unconquerable will of 
 the Scotch-Irish, that deluged these fields with blood and immortalized 
 Pennsylvania and North Carolina. 
 
 I am here in response to your selection, to return to you my 
 thanks for the honor you have conferred upon the young men of the 
 South, and to discharge the duties you have assigned me; and I an 
 nounce that this convention is now ready for further proceedings. 
 
 Mr. A. C. Floyd, of Columbia, was unanimously elected tempo 
 rary Secretary of the Congress. 
 
 A motion by Colonel E. C. McDowell, that a committee on per 
 manent organization, and one on constitution and by-laws, be appointed, 
 was carried. 
 
 Mrs. Robert D. Smith recited a poem on " The Harp of Tom 
 Moore," written for the occasion by the poet, Wallace Bruce, of New 
 York. The harp had been kindly loaned the Congress by Mr. Geo.
 
 30 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 W. Childs, of Philadelphia, and during all the exercises occupied a 
 pedestal upon the platform. 
 
 (See Part II, page 71.) 
 
 A song, " Here's to Thee, Tom Moore," was sung by the young 
 ladies of the Athenaeum School, accompanied by Mrs. Emma McKin- 
 ney on the harp and Hal Seavy on the violin. 
 
 The following resolution was introduced by E. C. McDowell, and 
 unanimously adopted : 
 
 Resolved, That the thanks of the Scotch-Irish of the United 
 States are due and are hereby tendered Hon. T. T. Wright, for orig 
 inating this gathering and contributing to the successful organization 
 of this convention. 
 
 Chairman Johnston : 
 
 It is my pleasing duty, in obedience to the resolution just adopted, 
 to extend the hearty thanks of the convention to the Hon. T. T. 
 Wright, whose merit is only equalled by his modesty. It is said that 
 Ney fought a hundred battles for France and not one against her; the 
 Hon. T. T. Wright has fought a hundred battles for the prosperity 
 and advancement of his country, and not one for himself. A great 
 man once stated that it was better to be right than President. Had 
 our friend lived in that day, we would know that he was the Wright 
 referred to. 
 
 The first speaker of the day was Hon. Proctor Knott, of Ken 
 tucky, who was introduced by the Chairman as follows : 
 
 I announce and introduce a gentleman who is known from Penn 
 sylvania avenue to Duluth. His fame has extended beyond the con 
 fines of this country as one of the proudest sons of this great race, 
 whose deeds we are met here to commemorate upon this occasion a 
 gentleman whose fame has not only placed him in the front ranks of 
 Americans of this century, but whose name, when conferred upon a 
 horse, makes the latter worth $30.000. I take great pleasure in intro 
 ducing to you the Hon. Proctor Knott, of Kentucky. 
 
 (See Part II, page 73.)
 
 MINUTES. 31 
 
 Chairman Johnston read the following telegram from Hon. Sen 
 ator John MacDonald, of Canada : 
 
 TORONTO, ONT., May 8th. 
 HON. THOS. T. WRIGHT, 
 
 COLUMBIA, TENN. 
 
 Kindly accept congratulations and assurances of 
 abiding friendship and good will on the part of Canadians for the 
 peace and prosperity of your great nation. 
 
 JOHN MACDONALD. 
 
 The Congress adjurned to 7:30 o'clock p. M. 
 
 NIGHT SESSION. 
 
 The Congress was called to order at 8 o'clock. 
 The Chairman announced the following committees : 
 
 On Permanent Organization E. C. MacDowell, Tennessee ; Dr. 
 John Hall, New York; T. T. Wright, Florida; Judge J. M. Scott, 
 Illinois ; Lucius Frierson, Tennessee. 
 
 On Constitution and By-Laws Proctor Knott, Kentucky ; Robert 
 Bonner, New York ; W. O. MacDowell, New Jersey ; A. C. Floyd, 
 Tennessee ; A. S. Colyar, Tennessee. 
 
 The Chairman then announced that Rev. Dr. Wilson Phraner 
 was requested to favor the Congress with an address. 
 
 Dr. Phraner's address : 
 
 I think this is unfair. I was asked if, some time during the 
 meeting, I would say a word, and 1 consented to do so ; but I had no 
 idea that I would be called upon at this moment. Hence, I am con 
 fused, and hardly kuow whether I am here or not. 
 
 I am neither an Englishman nor an Irishman ; only a plain 
 American citizen. You see at once I have not the brogue. I find 
 the Scotch and the Irish so much at a premium, that I hardly know 
 whether I can take my place among them or not. I am reminded of 
 a little story that I may tell in this connection. It was of three Irish 
 men in London. One of them remarked : " What a strange thing
 
 32 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 occurred to me the other morning. In Hyde Park, a gentleman 
 came up to me and addressed me as Gladstone." "Oh," said another 
 of the three, " that was certainly a compliment; but I have something 
 a little better than that. I was the other day walking through one 
 of the streets of London, and a gentleman addressed me as Lord 
 Salisbury, the Premier." The third one said : " That is surprising, but 
 I can beat that. I was passing through the Strand, and a fellow ran 
 up to me and said, 'Holy Moses, is that you?'" 
 
 In my opinion, Moses outranks both Mr. Gladstone and Mr. 
 Salisbury. I am, however, not likely to be taken for either of the 
 three ; but I have come down here at the kind invitation of Dr. Hall ; 
 and now I am glad to see this assemblage of Scotch-Irishmen. We 
 are glad that you are here in this country to help do something that 
 needs to be done. 
 
 One of the objects to be accomplished is to unify this nation. We 
 have a great many elements entering into our national life, and we all 
 know the consequences when a man takes in more food than he can 
 digest. But this country never has any trouble in digesting Scotch- 
 Irishmen and true Scotchmen. They agree with us perfectly. There 
 are some others not so easily digested and disposed of; but these are 
 at home here, and we rejoice that they are here to help in unifying 
 this nation, which is one of the great problems before us. 
 
 There is a second thing to be done : to educate this nation. The 
 Scotchmen come here as educators. You will hear from one of them 
 to-night. The Scotch-Irishmen come ofttimes in the same way as did 
 Dr. McCosh, of Princeton. When we want a president for one of our 
 leading colleges, we send to Belfast for him. Through the country 
 they are known as educators, and there is a great work to be done iu 
 elevating and uplifting the nation through genuine education of the 
 people. 
 
 My attention has been called to another matter. There may be 
 some poor relations of the Scotch and Scotch-Irish that would very 
 properly receive a little attention. They are not to be overlooked. 
 Some of them I have heard of in Tennessee, Kentucky, and North 
 Carolina. There are some who might be helped in that direction, and 
 I hope one of the things to come out of this organization will be to 
 look possibly after some of our poor relations. 
 
 I will say one other thing. The value of this element that comes 
 into our national life from Scotland is that they have brought Chris 
 tianity with them in their hearts. What makes them so welcome to 
 my mind is, that they have brought Presbyterianism with them to this 
 land. We can stand all that ; the more of it the better. Look at
 
 MINUTES. 
 
 the condition of things in New York. A leading man in our pulpit is 
 a Scotch-Irishman. When one of the oldest churches, and the one in 
 which I was brought up, wanted a minister, it sent to Dublin for him. 
 We have him here to-night one of the biggest men iu the land. You 
 have heard a good many things said in these recent times about long 
 haul and short haul, but one of the biggest hauls the Presbyterian 
 Church ever made was when it got John Hall. (Laughter and ap 
 plause.) 
 
 A very important church in Philadelphia became vacant, and 
 nothing would do but they must have a Macintosh, and they sent to 
 Belfast for him. So it is, all over the country ; and we need this 
 help to unify, to educate, and to evangelize this nation. 
 
 Alexander De Tocqueville never made a wiser remark than 
 when he said a nation never so needs to be theocratic as when it be 
 comes democratic. 
 
 A few minutes ago, I had no idea of making a speech. I am in 
 sympathy with this meeting, though I can not claim to be either an 
 Irishman or Scotchman, but only a simple, plain American citizen, 
 speaking the English language. (Applause.) 
 
 Chairman Johnston: 
 
 I think the audience will agree with me, that the Chair has 
 shown great discrimination in calling on Mr. Phrauer " unbeknownst" 
 to him; because, if he had been given an opportunity to prepare a 
 speech this evening, he would have left few good things for the dis 
 tinguished gentleman who is to follow him. 
 
 I am now going to have the pleasure of introducing to you one 
 of the most distinguished men of this country, a citizen of New York, 
 who has kindly consented to say a few words to you Mr. Robert 
 Bonner. (Applause.) 
 
 Mr. Bonner: 
 
 I am not in the habit of addressing the public or of making pub 
 lic speeches. Any little reputation that I may have acquired has been 
 achieved by the pen. But I will say a few words. 
 
 I have very pleasant recollections of a former visit to Columbia. 
 On that occasion, when our party left New York, I was known simply 
 as Robert Bonner, without any title or handle to my name ; but in 
 passing through Pennsylvania, I was saluted by one of the railway 
 officials as Captain Bonner; further on, when we crossed over the 
 3
 
 34 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 Ohio river into Kentucky, I was called by the title of Colonel ; and 
 when I reached this place, I was addressed by one of your prominent 
 citizens as General. Do you wonder that, after such rapid promotion, 
 I have pleasant recollections of that visit? 
 
 When you take half a century out of the middle of a man's life, 
 you make a pretty big gap in it. It was just fifty years ago, the sec 
 ond of this month, that I sailed from Londonderry, Ireland, for New 
 York. I came from the old town of Ramelton, in the county of 
 Donegal. I hold in my hand the report of an address delivered by 
 the Rev. Matthew Wilson, in March, 1839, in the Second Presby 
 terian church of that town, an extract from which I shall read, and 
 which, I think, will be of some historical interest on such an occasion 
 as this. The manuscript, as you can see, is somewhat faded, but that 
 is not to be wondered at, as it is over fifty years since I copied the ad 
 dress from the Londonderry Standard. Mr. Wilson, after stating that 
 there were spirit-stirring recollections connected with Ramelton, said : 
 
 "But it is far more agreeable to listen to the artless tale of a 
 rustic Presbyterian, as he tells of the treasure of truth and of salva 
 tion which a Presbyterian minister from Ramelton carried across the 
 Atlantic and planted in a foreign soil small in the beginning as a 
 grain of mustard seed, but since it has leavened all the land. Yes, sir, 
 it was a Makemie, himself a treasure, but bearing with him the far 
 more excellent treasure, even the incorruptible riches of Christ, who, 
 in company with a few expatriated ministers from the Synod of Ulster, 
 formed the first Presbytery, raised the first Presbyterian standard, and 
 planted the germ of the Presbyterian church in America a church 
 which has been blessed with extraordinary increase, and can now 
 boast of nearly three thousand congregations." 
 
 In the printed slip which your Secretary kindly sent me a few 
 weeks ago, it was stated that one of the attractions here would be an 
 exhibition of Tennessee's fine blooded stock. Clergymen often tell us 
 that we can not reason from the finite to the infinite ; but I think we 
 can get a lesson from the lower animals that will lead us up to a true 
 appreciation of the Scotch-Irish. It is well known that a change of 
 clime has great influence in improving the speed and endurance of 
 horses. For example, from stock sent from New York to Kentucky, 
 the swiftest trotting horse that the world has yet seen was raised in 
 the famous blue grass region. Now, I think it can be shown by a 
 single illustration that, when the Scotch went over to Ireland, a sim 
 ilar improvement in the stamina and endurance of the race took place. 
 
 Sixty years ago, the Rev. Dr. McCartee was the most popular 
 Presbyterian clergyman in New York City. The old gentleman once
 
 MINUTES. 35 
 
 told me that, in his younger days, he had two prominent members of 
 his church who were not on speaking terms. One was Scotch and the 
 other Scotch-Irish. They had quarreled about some trivial matter, 
 and the feeling became very bitter. The Doctor labored for a long 
 time to recoucile them, but neither could be moved. At last, after a 
 serious talk, the Scotchman consented to meet his Scotch-Irish fellow- 
 member in a friendly way, and let by-goues be by-gones. The doctor 
 then went to the Scotch-Irishman, but he was as firm as ever ; he did 
 not want to have any thing to do with "that man." Finally, the 
 doctor bore down on him pretty hard, urging upon him his duty as a 
 Christian, and asking him: "How can yon expect to be forgiven, if 
 you will not forgive?" when the Scotch-Irishman, with great emotiou, 
 while trying to conquer his feelings, exclaimed: "Yes, yes; I'll for 
 give him, but I want to get one good crack at him first." (Laughter.) 
 Gentlemen, this is the reason why I think a change of clime has in 
 creased the stamina and endurance of the race to which I belong. 
 (Applause and laughter.) 
 
 Chairman Johnston then introduced Prof. McCloskie, of Prince 
 ton, as one of the most distinguished educators of this country. 
 
 (See Part II, page 90.) 
 
 After the conclusion of Prof. McCloskie's address, Chairman 
 
 Johnston read the following telegram : 
 
 
 
 CARLISLE, PENN., May 8, 1889. 
 A. C. FLOYD, 
 
 Scotch-Irish Congress. 
 
 Accept congratulations and best wishes. 
 
 J. A. MURRAY. 
 
 The Secretary then submitted to the Congress the following : 
 
 HISTORICAL CONTRIBUTIONS. 
 
 T. R. Kornick, Sr., Knoxville, Teun.: "The Scotch-Irish in the 
 United States. Some of their Characteristics, and an Approximate 
 Estimate of their Number in the Thirteen Colonies. September, 
 1774." 
 
 Hon. W. S. Fleming, Columbia, Tennessee : " Scotch-Irish 
 Settlers in South Carolina, and their Descendants in Maury County, 
 Tennessee."
 
 36 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 Mr. Geo. Edwards, Worcester, Mass.: " The Early Scotch-Irish 
 Settlers in New England." 
 
 Samuel Evans, Columbia, Penn.: " The Scotch-Irish of Donegal, 
 Penn., with Interesting Historical Relics." 
 
 Miss Sara A. Leitch, Pittsburg, Penn.: " The Sharon Tragedy ; 
 An Incident of the Irish Rebellion in 1798." 
 
 Mr. Alex. H. H. Stewart, Staunton, Va.: "The Descendants 
 of Archibald Stewart, of Virginia." 
 
 Rev. A. W. Miller, D.D., LL.D., Charlotte, N. C.: A pamphlet, 
 "The Presbyterian Origin of American Independence." 
 
 Rev. J. G. Craighead, D.D., LL.D., Howard University, Wash 
 ington, D. C.: " Scotch and Irish Seeds on American Soil." A 
 bound volume. 
 
 The Congress then adjourned until 11 o'clock, Thursday morning. 
 
 Thursday, May 9th. 
 MORNING SESSION. 
 
 The Congress was called to order at 11 o'clock. 
 
 The Goshen Band played a musical selection, entitled " Robert 
 Bruce Melodies." 
 
 Rev. Geo. Beckett, of the Columbia Institute, made the opening 
 prayer. 
 
 Chairman Johnston: 
 
 Before announcing the regular proceedings as arranged for to-day, 
 I wish to say, in behalf of the committee here, that this gathering of 
 the Scotch-Irish of the United States is a gathering without reference 
 to creed or politics or sect of any kind. This gathering is greater than 
 any thing of that kind. (Applause.) Whilst, as we all know, the 
 great majority of the Scotch-Irish of this country are Presbyterians, 
 no man is excluded from this association, whether he be Catholic, or 
 Presbyterian, or of any other denomination. It is as broad as our 
 great country is. (Applause.) And, in fact, our distinguished 
 friend, Bishop McCloskie, of New Jersey he ought to be a bishop, 
 if he is not has told us that St. Patrick was the first Bishop of the
 
 MINUTES. 37 
 
 Presbyterian Church, and the Emperor of China a ruling elder. 
 There never was a better church, though I don't have the happiness 
 to be a member of it myself. But I wanted to caution our friends 
 here to dismiss the idea that there is any thing local or sectarian or 
 political about this great gathering of the Scotch-Irish of the United 
 States of America. 
 
 Rev. Dr. John Hall, of New York, was introduced, and deliv 
 ered an address. (See Part II, p. 102.) 
 
 Dr. Hall's address was followed by a song from the young ladies 
 of the Athenaeum. 
 
 Hon. Proctor Knott, Chairman of the Committee on Constitution 
 and By-Laws, submitted the following report, which was adopted : 
 
 CONSTITUTION. 
 
 Article I. The name of this association shall be The Scotch- 
 Irish Society of America. 
 
 Art. II. The purposes of this society are the preservation of 
 Scotch-Irish history, the keeping alive the esprit de corps of the race, 
 and the promotion of social intercourse and fraternal feeling among its 
 members, now and hereafter. 
 
 Art. III. Any male above the age of twenty-one years, and who 
 has Scotch-Irish blood in his veins, shall be eligible for membership in 
 the association. 
 
 Art. IV. The officers of the society shall be a President, two 
 Vice-Presidents at Large, a Vice-President in each state, territory, 
 and the District of Columbia, in the United States, and each of the 
 provinces in the Dominion of Canada ; a Secretary, Treasurer, Regis 
 trar and Historian. 
 
 Art. V. There shall be an Executive Council, composed of the 
 President, Vice-Presidents, and other officers mentioned in the last 
 foregoing article. 
 
 Art. VI. The annual convention of the society shall be held at 
 such time and place in May as may be determined by the Executive 
 Committee. 
 
 Art. VII. The officers of the society shall be elected at the con 
 ventions by ballot; provided, however, that Vice-Presidents not 
 elected at the present meeting shall be appointed by the President. 
 
 Art. VIII. This constitution may be altered, amended, or re 
 pealed only by a majority vote of the members of the association 
 
 449000
 
 38 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMEKICA. 
 
 present at the annual convention, or at a special meeting called foi 
 that purpose after thirty days' notice in writing to the members. 
 
 Art. IX. The Executive Council shall have authority to estab 
 lish by-laws, rules, and regulations for the government of the society. 
 
 Colonel E. C. McDowell, Chairman, offered the following report 
 of the Committee on Organization, which was unanimously adopted : 
 
 For Permanent President Robert Bonner, of New York. 
 
 Secretary A. C. Floyd, of Tennessee. 
 
 Vice-Presidents at Large J. F. Johnston, of Alabama ; E. C. 
 McDowell, of Tennessee ; and Thomas Kerr, of Toronto, Canada. 
 
 Vice-Presidents for States Kentucky, Dr. Hervey McDowell ; 
 New York, Dr. John Hall; Illinois, Judge J. M. Scott; North Caro 
 lina, S. B. Alexander; Pennsylvania, A. K. McClure; New Jersey, 
 Wm. O. McDowell ; Louisiana, Wm. Preston Johnston ; Florida, T. 
 T. Wright; Virginia, Wm. Wirt Henry; Tennessee, A. G. Adams; 
 Montana, Rev. J. C. Quinn, Helena-; Andrew T. Wood, Hamilton, 
 Ontario. 
 
 Treasurer Lucius Frierson, of Tennessee. 
 
 Historian and Registrar Thos. M. Green, of Kentucky. 
 
 Mr. Johnston stated that he would turn over the position of 
 Chairman to Mr. Bonner, who was introduced, and said: 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen: This is an unexpected honor. I think 
 there are much abler and better qualified men here that you could 
 have selected for this position. But I accept the office with thanks, 
 and shall endeavor to fill it to the best of my ability. 
 
 This afternoon, our party is obliged to leave for New York, and, 
 as Colonel Johnston has presided so ably, I shall request him to con 
 tinue to keep the chair during this meeting. 
 
 Mr. Johnston said he would not disobey the orders of a superior 
 officer, and read from the poem recited the preceding day the fol 
 lowing : 
 
 " Manhattan and Plymouth and Jamestown 
 
 Can boast of their heritage true, 
 But Mecklenburg's fame is immortal 
 
 When we number the stars in the blue 
 The Scotch-Irish-Puritan fathers 
 
 First drafted the words of the free, 
 And the speech of Virginia's Henry 
 Is the crown of our liberty's plea."
 
 MINUTES. 39 
 
 I now have the pleasure of introducing to you the grandson of 
 this illustrious hero, Hon. Wm. Wirt Henry, of Virginia. 
 
 Mr. Henry was greeted with great applause. He spoke as follows : 
 (See Part II, p. 110.) 
 
 At the conclusion of Mr. Henry's address, Mr. Johnston ad 
 journed the meeting to 8 o'clock, as follows: 
 
 There was an old Englishman whose name was Johnson the 
 only place he did not take his tea was in his name and he said to a 
 Scotchman, that the Scotch fed their men on what the English fed 
 their horses ; and the Scotchman replied, that that was the reason the 
 English had the best horses, and the Scotch the best men in the world. 
 It is about time to feed the convention on a little oat-meal porridge, 
 and a motion to adjourn is in order. 
 
 NIGHT SESSION. 
 
 The Congress was called to order at 8 o'clock by Chairman John 
 ston, who introduced the first speaker, as follows : 
 
 We shall have the pleasure of hearing a few remarks from a 
 Scotch-Irishman of Illinois; a gentleman who has attained the highest 
 rank in that state as a judge, having been several years on the Supreme 
 Bench of Illinois ; a gentleman who has endeared himself to those 
 who have met him since he has been among us Judge J. M. Scott. 
 
 Judge Scott said : 
 
 I come to visit you in this beautiful little city by the kind invita 
 tion of the committee having this Congress in charge. I come for the 
 purpose of meeting with those whom I know, and those whose ances 
 tors have added much to the civilization of our country. I come to 
 you from one of the great states carved out of the North-west Terri 
 tory, the State of Illinois. Although one of the younger states of the 
 North-west Territory, it is now a great commonwealth, of which her 
 sons are justly proud. The Illinois country itself has a history that is 
 more than two centuries old. It was the seat of French dominion in
 
 40 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 the valley of the Mississippi, where it was the purpose of France to 
 establish a government to control the richest portions of this country. 
 Kaskaskia, which was then founded, and which is a most beautiful 
 village, is nearly as old as Philadelphia. But the civilization the 
 French attempted to establish in the Mississippi valley and elsewhere 
 on this continent was not suited to this country, and was destined to 
 have a brief but brilliant existence. After the treaty of Paris, in 
 1763, the North-west Territory came under the control of the English 
 government, and remained there until 1778, when that bold, daring, 
 and chivalrous band of men under George Rogers Clarke, organized 
 and commissioned by the illustrious Patrick Henry, as governor of 
 Virginia, conquered it, and held it as the rightful possession of that 
 great commonwealth. In that little band of fearless and determined 
 men, there were included a number of Scotch-Irishmen. Every 
 where any thing great was to be done, there was to be found Scotch- 
 Irishmen, or some of their American descendants. I do not know 
 that there ever was a large percentage of Scotch-Irishmen in Illinois 
 as a state, but during the time of its territorial existence there was. 
 They came mostly from Western Virginia with the earliest colonists. 
 No people of any race have left more of the impress of their character 
 upon the institutions of Illinois, both religious and civil, than did that 
 indomitable race of men and women. They taught there the first 
 schools. They aided in establishing law and order, and they were 
 among the first judges to administer the law they had ordained. In 
 fact, the history of Illinois, in that respect, is the same as that of 
 Virginia, of Tennessee, of the Carolinas, and of all the southern 
 states, except, perhaps, Louisiana. 
 
 It would. not be proper, were I prepared to do so, to speak of the 
 general history of the people designated as the Scotch-Irish. That 
 has been done, and well done, by the distinguished gentlemen who 
 have prepared papers and submitted them upon this occasion. But 
 there are some things that we all know concerning them. We all 
 know, as we heard from Dr. Hall this morning, that these Scotch-Irish 
 were a frugal and industrious people. It may be, as was stated by the 
 distinguished orator, that they think a dollar five times as large as it 
 is ; but when a Scotch-Irishman got a dollar, it was the wages of so 
 much honest labor, or something given of equal value in exchange. 
 (Applause.) He had earned it by the sweat of his brow, and as it 
 was wholly his own, he could regard it, if he chose, as large as a mill 
 stone. I venture to say, here to-night, that there are fewer Scotch- 
 Irish in the charitable institutions of this country than any other race 
 or people that dwell among us. I never knew myself of a Scotch-
 
 MINUTES. 41 
 
 Irishman who was the inmate of a county poor-house. I venture 
 another remark, and that is, that there are more of this race in high 
 places, legislative, executive, judicial, ecclesiastical, and educational, 
 than of any other race iu our country. They have taught the sciences 
 and literature in our common schools, in our colleges and universities. 
 They have preached our religion ; they have fought our battles; they 
 have commanded our armies; they have written our literature, both 
 in poetry and iu prose ; they have led public thought in the direction 
 of liberty, right, and justice; and they have impressed our habits and 
 customs and manners in our home life, as well as in public. They 
 have administered and declared our laws. It can be truthfully said, 
 that our common country is freer, stronger, better, and more enduring 
 because of the Scotch-Irish element in our people. 
 
 My friend?, I have said all that I intended to say on this occasion ; 
 but I beg to be indulged in one single remark further, and that is, that 
 if all the Scotch-Irish in our country are as hospitable as those found 
 in Columbia, they are the most hospitable people found on the face of 
 this round earth. (Applause.) One remark more : If the Scotch- 
 Irish women are all like those of Columbia, they are the peers in 
 beauty and loveliness of the best women of our country, and, in all 
 that is true and good and pure, are excelled by no women on the face 
 of this earth, of any race or nationality. (Applause.,) 
 
 Miss Stoddard, of the Athenaeum, sang " Kathleen Mavourneen," 
 accompanied by Mrs. Emma McKinney, on the harp. After an 
 encore, she sang " I Canua Leave the Old Folk Now." 
 
 Chairman Johnston then said : 
 
 In introducing to you the next speaker, I feel as an adopted son 
 would in introducing a father to his own family. I don't refer to the 
 age of my distinguished friend, for he is old only in wisdom and ex 
 perience. He is young in heart, in energy, in zeal and affections. I 
 refer to Colonel Colyar, of Nashville. 
 
 Colonel Colyar: 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen: That I should be placed upon this plat 
 form, in the presence of so many distinguished men from abroad, is 
 one of the things that I don't understand. I suppose somebody 
 wants a plea for Tennessee put in. In regard to the claims of the 
 Scotch-Irish, Tennessee may well be heard. If I were to give you the
 
 42 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 history of the Scotch -Irish iu Tennessee, I would give you substan 
 tially the history of the state. Briefly, the early settlement or settle 
 ments in this state were made by Scotch-Irishmen. Of the four men 
 who so distinguished the early history of Tennessee, two were Scotch- 
 Imh, one a Welshman, and the other a descendant of the Huguenots. 
 I mean Colonel Campbell, Colonel McDowell, John Sevier, and Isaac 
 Shelby. It is not exactly true, as was stated by one of the speakers 
 to-day, that all who fought the battle of King's Mountain were Scotch- 
 Irish. Sevier descended from the Huguenots, and Shelby was a Welsh 
 man. If I had the time and ability to properly present it to you, 
 you would be interested in the early history of Tennessee. These 
 four men, and, in some respects, one more important than any of them, 
 James Robinson, also a Scotch-Irishman, settled on the Watauga. 
 And in referring to this matter, I wish to speak a word in regard to 
 what I consider the most remarkable instance of chivalry and courage 
 in modern history. A few men had settled west of the Alleghauy 
 mountains. Boone, it is said, was the first person that ever settled 
 west of the Alleghany mountains, except the French and the Spanish. 
 James Robinson built the second cabin on Tennessee soil west of the 
 Alleghanies. These settlers built forts in which to protect their 
 women and children from the Indians, until quite a large settlement 
 was formed. The British war came up. During the darkest period 
 of the revolution, when Washington had passed through the winter at 
 Valley Forge, when Gates had surrendered South Carolina, and when 
 Cornwallis, with Tarleton on his right wing and Ferguson on his left, 
 removed from South Carolina into North Carolina, Washington wrote to 
 Baron Steuben, saying: "'This is a dark hour; I don't know what is 
 to become of us." At that hour, Ferguson sent word into East Ten 
 nessee, that, if the people did not cease fighting the Indians and stop 
 the war, he would come to their country and destroy them. What 
 did these seven hundred men do? When they received this intelli 
 gence, two young men, about thirty and twenty-six, respectively, sat 
 down on a log and said : " What shall we do? General Ferguson has 
 an army of two thousand men, many of them trained British soldiers, 
 and he says they will come and destroy us." What I regard as re 
 markable is, that these two young men did not say they would stand 
 in the mountain fastnesses and fight back. Nobody knows whether 
 John Sevier or Isaac Shelby made the suggestion, but, in accordance 
 with their decision, they called in their troops from the surrounding 
 country, and in four days they were on the march, with their squirrel 
 rifles, tor Campbell and McDowell, in Virginia. When united, the 
 entire force amounted to 1,900 men. Ferguson pursued them, but
 
 MINUTES. 43 
 
 was defeated at King's Mountain, in the most successful battle, except 
 that at New Orleans, that was ever fought by the United States 
 armies. With one-half his force, they killed Ferguson and 180 of his 
 men, and took every other man prisoner. According to Mr. Jefferson, 
 General Washington, and all the other great men of that day, this 
 battle was the turning-point in the war. From that day, the clouds 
 were lifted away, and the cause of Washington became brighter and 
 brighter, until Cornwallis finally surrendered. 
 
 But that is a little tedious. I do not propose to pursue that his 
 tory. I wish to say a practical word or two. I say, nearly the whole 
 of that army was Scotch-Irish. Doak was the Presbyterian preacher 
 in the early settlement, and preached all the sermons and married all 
 the people. Of the one hundred and forty of these early settlers who 
 signed a petition to the legislature of North Carolina, all except two 
 signed their names in clear, strong hands, indicating that they were 
 men of ^intelligence. It was the courage and chivalry that accom 
 plished what was accomplished at King's Mountain, and in defending 
 the women and children nineteen or twenty years from the Indians, 
 that gave to Tennessee the name of the Volunteer State. Jackson 
 came 10 Tennessee a few years afterward, and settled among the peo 
 ple that had fought the battle of King's Mountain. Sam Houston 
 came near the same time, and was educated among the people. Has 
 Tennessee since done any thing to merit the title of the Volunteer 
 State? She gave to the country a Jackson, who, considering his force 
 and losses, fought at New Orleans the most successful battle ever 
 fought by any general ; Tennessee has given to this country the im 
 mortal John Sevier, who fought thirty-five battles and never lost one ; 
 Tennessee has given to the country that Wizard of the Woods, Davy 
 Crockett, who, with every man of his command, fell at the Alamo; 
 Tennessee has given Sam Houston, who, after he had risen to the po 
 sition of Governor of Tennessee, went west, and gained from Santa 
 Anna and the Mexican army that vast territory, worthy of an empire, 
 .and laid it down at the feet of the United States in the great State of 
 Texas ; Tennessee has given to the country a Polk, who, during his 
 administration as the nation's chief executive, brought into our 
 bounds all that territory comprised in New Mexico; Tennessee has 
 given to this country another distinguished statesman and President, 
 in the person of Johnson, whom many of you revere. 
 
 Now, a practical word : I want to say to this vast crowd of 
 young men here to-night, that I would be glad if I had it in my 
 power to introduce something new into our homes and .our schools. 
 As I heard a distinguished man say in New York City last week, " We
 
 44 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 are doing a good deal in the way of educating our young men ; we 
 are educating them intellectually, in charity, and in Christianity; 
 but are we educating them in patriotism?" (Applause.) Are we 
 training them in the love of country? I want to say here to you men 
 who served with me in the Confederate Congress, who fought the bat 
 tle of Franklin on the Confederate side, and the battle of Murfrees- 
 boro on the other, there is no hope for this country except in true 
 patriotism, which is love of the country and love of the flag. (Ap 
 plause.) Let me say to you young men here, when you take down 
 these flags which now decorate the city, take them into your homes 
 and your school-rooms, and let them aid in the efforts we should make 
 to educate the young men, and the young women, too, in patriotism 
 and love of country. 
 
 I have detained you longer than I ought to have done. I have 
 spoken truthfully, earnestly, and, I trust, about the facts. I feel 
 deeply upon the question that I have last spoken about. I read and 
 hear constantly the statement that we are carrying elections with 
 money. I hear it stated that the two great political parties in the 
 last campaign spent $4,000,000. This is a sad picture, if true ; and 
 I am rejoiced to see every-where true men rising up and saying: 
 "This has to be stopped. We can't afford to carry elections with 
 money." Let such an idea become engrafted in the minds of our 
 people, and this country is gone. It can not live except through a 
 love of country, and that don't mean carrying elections with money. 
 
 The next speaker was introduced as follows : 
 
 Our next speaker is also from the great State of Illinois. I don't 
 know whether he found Judge Scott or Judge Scott found him, but 
 we are glad that both were found and both are here. I introduce to 
 you Rev. Dr. Dinsmore, of Bloomington, 111. 
 
 Mr. Dinsmore said : 
 
 Mr. President and Ladies and Gentlemen: The Scotch-Irishman at 
 last has got his voice. That we have heard. He has modestly and 
 quietly been doing his work, and carrying out his great career in the 
 progress of this country, until the meeting of this Congress. More 
 has been said during yesterday and to-day in just praise of his achieve 
 ments than I have ever heard or read before. I suppose the charac 
 teristic word of the proceedings of this assembly is brag, as mentioned 
 by Dr. McCloskie last night; but after expressing sympathy with this
 
 MINUTES. 45 
 
 drift of things, if any man is a Scotch-Irishman, I am more. I have 
 some doubts about the blood of some of the gentlemen on the stage. 
 Judge Scott is an Irishman he has the blarney, and has it bad. He 
 spoke so gracefully and so appropriately, I think of the ladies of 
 this brilliant assembly, that a gentleman said on my left: "Is he 
 married?" I suspect that inquiry arose in the minds of many persons 
 present. I am bound, as a truthful man, to say that Judge Scott has 
 a remarkably beautiful and a remarkably healthy wife. That is not 
 so amusing as some things that have been said before. I am exceed 
 ingly gratified that I qame here at this time. I do not know when I 
 have so richly enjoyed myself in many ways as I have during my 
 stay here. I have been across this state from Cincinnati to Chatta 
 nooga, and also over the M. & O. Railroad, but never through this 
 section before. I may as well honestly confess that my impression of 
 the country of Tennessee was not the most flattering. I was im 
 pressed that a great deal of the land was poor, and that her prosperity 
 was not so great as has been reported. But I am delighted that I 
 have seen what I have seen during the last two days in regard to this 
 magnificent country in the midst of which we are now assembled. 
 This is certainly a garden picturesque, fertile, highly cultivated in 
 every way one of the most beautiful and interesting parts of the 
 country, and I have seen nearly all of them. 
 
 I am glad for another reason that I have come here. I do not 
 know what Mr. Seavy's purpose was, and I have no grudge against 
 him, in suggesting that I should accept the courtesy and hospitality 
 of my most excellent newly found friends, Captain and Mrs. Smith k 
 at the Athenaeum. I have thought myself peculiarly fortunate in 
 this respect, and have suspected that some of our confreres have been 
 a little green-eyed about it. I have been surrounded by a bevy of 
 beautiful and interesting young ladies. My head, however, is gray, 
 and there is nothing in that ; but at the same time it has been pecu 
 liarly delightful to me, and has made me feel twenty years younger, 
 to be in the-same dining-room with them. I think all of us who are 
 here from abroad must have been impressed with the importance of 
 this splendid and venerable institution, in whose grounds we have had 
 this meeting. Where can we find anywhere more noble trees, more 
 beautiful grounds, more interesting associations? And is it not a 
 great pleasure to all of us who love our country and rejoice in its 
 prosperity, and especially in its educational- growth, that we have in 
 this handsome city of Columbia, itself so beautiful, such a work and 
 such a school, with so large a gathering of pupils? It shall be ray 
 pleasure to speak of this hereafter, whenever I have the opportunity,
 
 46 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 and to point out this institution as one possessing great attractions to 
 those who have daughters to educate in a place where the surround 
 ings will be the most happy and delightful, and where all the helps 
 and influences are of the highest order. I am glad because I have 
 had my temporary home in the Athenaeum. I am glad that I am here 
 f ' r another reason. There is no class of men in this country that I 
 am so interested in meeting, and in whose faces I look with more 
 pleasure, than the Confederate soldiers. I say that with perfect hon 
 esty aud real feeling. I have, however, seen the time when a meeting 
 with them was not so enjoyable. Although I am a radical Republican, 
 and have been ever since I kuew any thing, as well as my father before 
 me, at the same, time, I would be ashamed for the American who 
 could not appreciate aud rejoice in the valor of those heroic men who 
 lie in nameless graves all over this southland. I have not been so 
 thrilled during this assembly as I was by the remarks of Colonel 
 Colyar. I am in full sympathy, as you all are, with the suggestion 
 that the thing we need most is a genuine and all-pervasive patriotism ; 
 and I have sometimes thought that it would almost be a blessing if 
 some foreign war might come though I do not press that, as a Chris 
 tian man in which the bugle might sound, and these old men in the 
 fire and mettle of youth might stand at their country's call shoulder 
 to shoulder and side by side in the ranks, as they would do, and their 
 sons after them. 
 
 I will not go into the history of the Scotch-Irish, for that has 
 been dwelt upon. In all the ramifications of my family for genera 
 tions, no other blood has appeared. I profoundly sympathize with 
 this movement, and most earnestly hope that it may result in some 
 thing permanent and useful, and that it may foster, not a clannish or 
 narrow spirit, but self-conscious and aggressive power, and fraternal 
 feeling of a great and noble race, which, in my judgment, has done 
 more /or civilization, in proportion to its numbers, than any other peo 
 ple that has lived since the Christian era began. 
 
 Miss Rosa Barnett sang " Lass with Bonny Blue Een," being in 
 troduced by Dr. D. C. Kelley, as follows: 
 
 I have the pleasure of introducing to the audience one in whose 
 gentle blood flows the fiery torrent that once pulsed in the veins of 
 Knox; in whose blood mingles the inspiration of the calm, determined 
 voice that uttered for the first time on the American continent the 
 tones of independence, in reading from the court-house door to the 
 assembled country the declaration of independence of Mecklenburg ;
 
 MINUTES. 47 
 
 in whose veins mingle, also, the same flow of blood that coursed 
 through the veins of James Knox Polk, concerning whom a recent 
 historian has said : " The most brilliant presidential career that Amer 
 ica has ever had was that of the man who gave the Pacific slope to 
 answer back to the calls of the Atlantic waves." In her gentle veins 
 are their Scotch-Irish blood, and we do reverence to their patriotism 
 as we listen to her. 
 
 Chairman Johnston: 
 
 The next address that will be made will be by our friend, Mr. W. 
 O. McDowell, of New Jersey. We have them from Tennessee, Ken 
 tucky, and North Carolina, and this gentleman is from New Jersev. 
 He is not very high, but he is all wool and a yard wide. 
 
 Mr. McDowell: 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen: As we have been listening for the last 
 two days to the grand story of the Scotch-Irish, as told by a Kuott, a 
 Henry, a McCloskie, and other gentlemen, you and I doubtless, have 
 been asking the question : What on earth have the rest of creation 
 been doing for the last eighteen hundred years? (Laughter.) It has 
 been suggested to me that, if the Scotch-Irish mau had been around on 
 creation day, he would have been able to make a good many valuable 
 suggestions. 
 
 I have been inquiring around this town to-day for a little infor 
 mation. I want to know how it is possible that such a display of 
 womanly beauty could be placed before an audience like this. I was 
 speaking to two native Scotch-Irishmen, and they explained it to me. 
 One of them said that the very industrious committee had been at 
 work sending all the poor horses a hundred miles from Columbia, and 
 had been gathering the beautiful women of this country and Ken 
 tucky and bringing them to the front seats in this audience, and had 
 locked up all the homely ones. The other said : " Don't you know 
 that there is not a poor horse or a homely woman in all the State of 
 Tennessee ?" 
 
 My friends, I feel peculiarly glad to be with you here at this time. 
 At 9 o'clock in the morning of the 30th of April, I had the distin 
 guished honor to stand in the room where, after the close of the revo 
 lutionary struggle, George Washington said good-bye to the soldiers 
 of his army. Surrounding me were delegates from twenty-two states 
 of this Union. We had met in this sacred place and hour at the call
 
 48 THE SCOTCH IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 of our President, to formulate and organize the national Society of 
 Sons of the American Revolution. We could not understand how it 
 was possible that the sons of the soldiers of the revolution could have 
 rested quietly a hundred years, leaving its memories to be celebrated 
 only by the Order of the Cincinnati. That perpetuates on American 
 soil the principles of primogeniture, against which our ancestors 
 fought. Our meeting gave birth to the Democratic Society of Sons 
 of the Revolution. Our officers were elected, and as vice-president of' 
 the society for France, we elected a descendant of that famous French 
 man without whom even our Scotch-Irish ancestors might have been 
 unsuccessful, La Fayette. The various states represented nominated 
 their vice-presidents. We had felt that there was a patriotic society 
 that could be born on American soil that was not sectional, with no 
 North and no South, but with one common glorious country. 
 
 The Scotch-Irish were immigrants to America before the day of 
 the revolution, and when you gather them around you, you gather a 
 society of the sons- of the American revolution. When the Scotch- 
 Irishman comes here to-day, you see him in peace, and his influence 
 will be one of peace all along the line. Just as I left New York, a 
 document was placed in my hands, that I did not have an opportunity 
 to examine until I reached Columbia. It was the message sent to 
 the soldiers of the revolution immediately after the inauguration of 
 George Washington, congratulating the great chief. This I will read, 
 together with his response. . . . 
 
 One hundred years have gone by since those messages were ex 
 changed and sent out to the country, and it reads almost like divinity's 
 production. A little while ago, I was brought into contact with some 
 of the most intelligent men of China, and I asked them what they 
 thought of a government like ours. The man to whom the question 
 was directed gathered himself up, looked down to me, and said : 
 " From the stand-point of our four thousand years of written history, 
 we look upon your government as a mere experiment." I want to say 
 to the young men and the young women that are listening to my voice, 
 that the responsibility of government for the people, of the people, 
 and by the people, rests as strongly upon our shoulders to-day as it 
 did upon the men of the revolution. We should be far from sitting 
 down with the idea that nothing remains for us to do but to enjoy the 
 luxuries that our fathers secured to us. On last election day, I stood 
 at the polls within fifty miles of the city of New York, and saw the 
 employes of a large manufacturing establishment brought to the polls, 
 where the roll was called, and each man was given a certain ticket to de 
 posit in the ballot-box. The northern papers tell you that things of that
 
 MINUTES. 49 
 
 sort occur in the South ; I tell you of something that I saw with my 
 own eyes. If a man touches human life, he must pay the penalty of 
 the law. But there is something in this country beyond human life, 
 and that is the sanctity of the ballot-box. If we would see this gov 
 ernment continue, we must see that no ballot goes into the box that is 
 bought or forced. (Applause.) Washington, in the worst day of his 
 experience at Valley Forge, said : " Put none but Americans on duty 
 to-night." I want to see Americans on duty now, seeing that the laws 
 of the land shall protect the ballot-box. Kentucky, Massachusetts, 
 and other states have passed the law which the best judgment of men 
 has declared most efficient the Australian system of voting. I am 
 told that Tennessee has passed it; thank God for that. 
 
 Another thing : When these Scotch-Irish got into differences in 
 this country, and all the rest of you took up. those differences, the flag 
 of the Union stood second on the waters of the ocean. England soon 
 swept it by diplomacy and chicanery from the sea, and beat us again 
 by the same means in the Geneva conference. It is the duty of our 
 young men especially to see to it that the position we once held upon the 
 bcean is regained. Whatever England does, let us beat her at it, un 
 til our flag again leads upon the sea. Our educational institutions are 
 the very foundation-stone of liberty. During the last few years, legal 
 provisions have been made, whereby each school district, each locality, 
 each city, can take upon itself special taxes to establish free public 
 libraries to aid the public schools, and I hope to see the time when the 
 social center shall be, not the rum shop, but the free public library. 
 
 A short while ago, I was in a company where a distinguished 
 German made an able defense of the English side of the home rule 
 question. In that audience was another gentleman, who sprang to his 
 feet and said : " When you speak of art, science, literature, theology, 
 the whole world can bow in respect before the German character; but 
 when you speak of human liberty, the German should bend in the 
 dust, for where in the world has the call been made for liberty that 
 the Scotch-Irish did not respond all along the line?" My brother who 
 has just spoken has expressed the wish that a foreign war might come 
 to secure unity among our people. I want to say, that peace has its 
 victories even greater than those of war. If you want to make 
 thrones tremble, make this government so successful that the benefits 
 of freedom shall be known throughout all the world. I believe in the 
 evolution of governments, and in the survival of the fittest. I believe 
 there are two forms of government that naturally conflict a govern 
 ment of the people for the people, and the government of the people 
 4
 
 50 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 for a few. That conflict will continue until the world is again enslaved 
 or is free. If you want the institutions you love so well spared this 
 fate, make this government so successful and its benefits so pronounced 
 that it will shake every tyrant from a human throne. 
 
 Chairman Johnston introduced the next speaker, as follows: 
 
 Our friend, Dr. Hall, said there was one citizen of the United 
 States that had come over here expressly to be born. We will now 
 have the pleasure of hearing from this gentleman, Dr. John S. Macin 
 tosh, of Philadelphia. 
 
 Dr. Macintosh : 
 
 There was a Quaker once, who came across the sea and found a 
 pleasant place for a city that is known as the City of Brotherly Love. 
 When he had got it fairly well under way, the Scotch-Irishmen found that 
 it was a very satisfactory place to live in, and on the universal principle 
 of Scotchmen that Scotland is a good place to be born in and an ex 
 cellent place to come from, they took possession of the Quaker City ; 
 and from the time that the Scotch-Irishman came there, it began to 
 grow, until now it throws its arms from shore to shore. I come here 
 to-night, not to make any particular address, but to convey to the 
 Scotch-Irish Congress, to our most excellent chairman, who has con 
 ducted all the affairs of this convention with a facility that I have 
 rarely seen equaled and never seen surpassed ; to the Committee of 
 Arrangements, who will permit a Philadelphian knowing a little about 
 the arrangement and management of conventions, to say that I wonder 
 how they have gathered together so remarkable a band of men, every 
 man knowing his place, every man knowing his own work, never getting 
 in his neighbor's way, but doing every thing so well that a glorious 
 unity is the result ; and to convey to the people of this remarkably 
 beautiful and attractive city, the salutations of a very large body of 
 Scotchmen and of Scotch-Irishmen who could not possibly be here on 
 this occasion. I have been charged to present the salutations of a man 
 who stands easily at the head of that profession which is so honorable 
 and in many respects so sacred, which so closely concerns the Master's 
 work, healing the sick and the suffering Dr. Hayes Aguew, whose 
 name is well known over this continent. I am charged to present to 
 the Scotch-Irish Congress, not only his congratulations, but his hearty 
 love ; and if you knew, as some of us know, that heart of his, you 
 would appreciate the expression of a man who carries with him the
 
 MINUTES. 51 
 
 confidence of every man and every woman who knows him, and whose 
 pain he has ever touched in suffering. A nobler and grander speci 
 men of the Scotch-Irishman than he is I know not from pole to pole. 
 (Applause.) 
 
 I am further charged to express and convey to you on behalf of 
 my session and I can do this with some degree of historic propriety, 
 iu view of the objects of this gathering the hearty and earnest salu 
 tation of the mother church of the mother synod of Philadelphia, 
 whose name stands high on that flaming roll of glory of those wh.i 
 took so wondrous a part in working out the great achievements that 
 have received the admiration of the world, as having had no little part 
 in formulating that marvelous document, which the greatest master 
 of international law and statesmanlike thought, \Vm. E. Gladstone, 
 has declared to be among the highest monuments of man's genius and 
 governmental achievement. I come to convey the salutation of that 
 old church that keeps within its historic archives and its most precious 
 treasures the picture of Tennant, one of those great men who moved 
 the hearts of the world, and discerned, as the great object of Scotch- 
 Irish chivalry and heroism, christianized patriotism and patriotic 
 Christianity. I come to convey, on behalf of a large body of lawyers 
 and physicians, engineers and conductors, all over the county of Phila 
 delphia, and all over the proud Keystone State, our hearty cougratu* 
 lations. One of them, bearing the historic name of Rogan, said to 
 me : " See to it that, if there shall be any organization established, 
 that my name shall be among the first enrolled, as my ancestors were 
 among the earliest of those that struggled for the independence of this 
 country." 
 
 I come charged, also, with the salutations of a man who, in one 
 department of our great national work, has, perhaps, done more than 
 any other man that I know a Scotch-Irishman, a friend of Scotch- 
 Irishmen ; a man whose generous heart and whose characteristic 
 Christian patriotism showed itself at a hundred points along the line; 
 a man who cared for the wounded and the suffering, wherever they 
 were found ; a man who has been the friend of all those who were 
 distressed; a man who. has continually watched and added to the 
 progress of this country. I refer to my old Sabbath-school superin 
 tendent, Geo. H. Stewart. Now would be the time for me to present 
 to this association the letter of my honored friend and revered teacher: 
 
 May 1, 1889. 
 
 Thanks for your thoughtful kindness in inviting me to the Con 
 gress at Columbia, which invitation I hasten to acknowledge. As to
 
 52 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA.. 
 
 the nature of the approaching meeting, I am not fully informed, but 
 I feel sure it is for some good purpose. The Scotch-Irish blood that 
 flows in my own veins would enthuse with new life in joining hands 
 with my brethren in their heart-felt and soul-stirring utterances, which 
 are sure to characterize this gathering. The very title of the confer 
 ence and the historic memories evolved guarantee that it will not be 
 lacking in Scotch heart or Scotch warmth ; and would God bless the 
 Scotch-Irish Congress in drawing to itself the wise and the good from 
 all parts of our common country, and in still further cementing the 
 ties that bind us in mutual love and Christian fellowship. I would 
 gladly be with you, but I have been a great invalid for over a year, 
 and spend most of iny time at Clayton Springs, to which I expect 
 soon to return. GEO. H. STEWART. 
 
 There is another friend of mine, whose only deficiency is, I 
 think, the deficiency of friend Phrauer ; that is to say, he made the 
 mistake of not going to Ireland or the South of Scotland to be born. 
 If that had been the case, he would be a man that would almost make 
 me doubt my catechism ; but I think that was just left out to 
 make it evident that no man is born absolutely perfect, for other 
 wise he claims a good share along this line. This is my friend, John 
 Wanamaker. I hold in my hand the following letter : 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C., May 2, 1889. 
 DEAR SIR : 
 
 I am greatly obliged for your kind letter of invitation, and wish 
 I were free to make the visit you propose, and renew our old-time 
 friendship. I can not express the pleasure it would give me in join 
 ing with you in commemorating the deeds of the Scotch-Irish race, 
 and the influences that have exalted our American institutions and 
 given growth to universal brotherhood and Jove. I would also visit 
 the favored section of the South in which the exercises of the Congress 
 are to be held. I regret exceedingly that my duties at present are of 
 stfch a nature that I can not leave again for some time, as the recent 
 centennial celebration in New York took what little time I could 
 spare from the work of this department. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 JOHN WA.NAMAKER. 
 
 This will show you the feelings of the old Keystone State, and 
 how this meeting has awakened the interest and enthusiasm of the 
 race.
 
 MINUTES. 53 
 
 I want to say one other word in concluding ray quite extempora- 
 neous remarks. It is to me a personal matter of the greatest possible 
 gratification that, in spite of the hundred forces that have threatened 
 to become insurmountable obstacles in my way of getting here, that I 
 have been able almost to complete a chain of personal investigation 
 that has been for me one of the delights of years. Beginning away 
 back in those early days of plastic and expansive boyhood, when the 
 heart of the chivalrous lad will respond like the harp that we have 
 listened to this evening to the almost divine touch of a mother's finger, 
 I have heard of the deeds of Scottish ancestors and Scotch and 
 Scotch-Irish ancestresses ; I have listened to the old tales of St. An 
 drews; I have heard of Edinburgh and Glasgow; I have, in imagina 
 tion, walked along the spur of the cloud, and passed and repassed over 
 that battle-ground of the old border territory ; I have sat and won 
 dered what these marvelous places must be like, and have wondered, 
 when first I listened to these names and saw in fancy's eye these won 
 drous pictures, if the time would ever come that my own feet should 
 tread these spots and my own eye should see those scenes that had 
 grown hallowed by the thoughts of the covenanting dead and the 
 early struggles in the plantation of Ulster. But the time came when 
 the Philadelphia boy must pass across the sea; and from the time 
 that sea was passed, home after home, hamlet after hamlet, county 
 after county, church after church, college after college, has been vis 
 ited by me, until I have traced in Scotland and in Ulster those mag 
 nificent springs of glorious light and consecrated blood out of which 
 first flowed the streams that have converged upon our own shore and 
 rolled into that great river of power that has carried on its breast 
 God's truth and human liberty ; and I have followed, in coming to 
 this meeting, with a strange thrill of affectionate recollection, the 
 stream along which came those of the Scotch and Scotch-Irish race, as 
 they passed from my own dear native state along the Cumberland 
 stretch, over the little rise into the pleasant valley of Virginia, down 
 along the states east and west, down the Blue Ridge and the Smoky, 
 until they came into the clear and pleasant regions of Carolina and 
 Alabama. Then, strangely enough, I have discovered that, winding 
 around at Decatur, I have come right up in the valley of this great 
 old State of Tennessee. As along this path I have traveled with the 
 speed of the iron horse, I have thought of the days of toil, weary day 
 after weary day, of those great pioneer souls, who were made of God 
 the breakers of the way, in opening the pathway through the track 
 less wilderness, and planted the garrison spots for the defense of the 
 country in its most critical hours. It has been to me a moment of
 
 54 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 most gracious opportunity to see thus the old homes that I have known 
 so well on the other side appear iu wondrous resurrection on this west 
 ern shore ; and to know that in the land of ray birth my ancestors and 
 my ancestresses live again in their mighty sons and their God-fearing, 
 noble, consecrated daughters. (Applause.) 
 
 Miss Minnie Holding, accompanied on the piano by Miss Camile 
 Herndon, sang " Comin' thro' the Eye," and, as an encore, " I Know a 
 Maiden Fair to See." 
 
 Colonel A. S. Colyar paid a compliment to the Committee of Ar 
 rangements which had prepared the Congress, and said that he desired 
 to offer a resolution thanking Mr. A. C. Floyd for the prominent part 
 in the work which he had taken. 
 
 Colonel Colyar said : 
 
 Such great assemblies and such perfection of arrangements are 
 the results of no ordinary effort or ability. Behind it all, oft times 
 unknown, is always some thoughtful mind which devises plans, and 
 some skillful hand which executes them. The moving and directing 
 spirit on this occasion is a quiet but forceful gentleman, whose worth 
 and efforts should command the recognition and the unqualified thanks 
 of the whole Scotch-Irish race. I therefore move the resolution, that 
 to Mr. A. C. Floyd, more than to any one else, is due the success of 
 this Congress, and that we tender him our thanks for the work he has 
 done. 
 
 The resolution was seconded by Mr. McDowell, of New Jersey, 
 who remarked that Mr. Floyd, in doing this work, had builded wiser 
 than he knew. 
 
 The resolution was unanimously adopted, after which the meeting 
 adjourned. 
 
 Friday, May 10th. 
 MOKNING SESSION. 
 
 The Congress was called to order at 11 o'clock by Chairman 
 Johnston. 
 
 Dr. John S. Macintosh led in prayer.
 
 MINUTES. 55 
 
 Chairman Johnston introduced the first speaker of the morning, 
 as follows : 
 
 The first speaker this morning is a gentleman who rightly ac 
 quired fame in the service of the gods of war ; and after the war 
 ceased, he took up the sword in behalf of the God of Peace Dr. D. 
 C. Kelley. 
 
 (See Part II, for the historical address on " The Scotch-Irish in 
 Tennessee.") 
 
 Upon the conclusion of his regular address, Dr. Kelley, who had 
 been a colonel of cavalry in the C. S. A., at the request of the com 
 mittee, spoke for the southern soldiers in the reunion of the Blue and 
 the Gray, General John C. Brown, who was to have represented them, 
 being kept away by grave illness. 
 
 The following is a synopsis of his warm and impressive words : 
 
 Already, in the course of what I have had to say, allusions have 
 been made to many men of Scotch-Irish birth, who, as Tennesseeans, 
 became foremost in the late war. Bishop and General Leonidas Polk, 
 high in sanctity, learning, and patriotism, showed a courage surpassed 
 by no soldier of the war. Lieutenant-General N. B. Forrest, the 
 genius of war, and Alex. Stewart, the genius of discipline, with Major- 
 General Jno. C. Brown and Brigadier-General Alex. Campbell, 
 knights of untarnished honor, supported and illustrated the soldierly 
 virtues of the race. To these, allow me, as we stand near the spot in 
 Tennessee which was for a time glorified by the temporary grave of 
 Pat. Claiborne, the loving and the brave, to add him, as a star of the 
 first magnitude, to our galaxy, at whose zenith glows the name of 
 Stonewall Jackson. If we turn to the other side and judge by name 
 and places of birth, we have a right to claim Lieutenant-Generals 
 Scott, McClellau, Smith, Wallace, and a score of other illustrious sol 
 diers, conspicuous in the Union ranks. If you will allow us to add 
 another criterion to name and place of birth, viz., the great size and 
 tenderness of his heart, then, by every token, we would write at the 
 top of all these the name of Abraham Lincoln. He could love as 
 tenderly as an Irishman, and hold by principle with the tenacity of a 
 Scotchman ; no more can be said for man, while yet mortal. His 
 birth in Kentucky, and name, link him with the race. As we found in 
 Douglass and Bell, at the beginning of the political contest out of 
 which the war came, Scotch-Irish representatives of love of the Union
 
 56 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 and conservative statesmanship, so, from beginning to end of the strife, 
 until the autonomy of the states had been restored, we find this stick- 
 to-rights race foremost in all that ennobled these years of bitterness 
 and conflict. 
 
 Many of us of the South did not believe in the doctrine of states 
 rights to the extreme of secession ; many of us longed for the day 
 when the negro and the white man would be freed from the curse of 
 slavery. We did not believe in the methods adopted by the North to 
 test the one doctrine or to accomplish the other fact ; so, when driven 
 by the call to arms to decide for the one side or the other, we stood "by 
 our people; we saw no other star of duty, so followed our hearts, 
 which clove to our people and to the weaker side in its appeal to our 
 courage. On both sides, men did what they believed right, and died 
 in testimony of their faith. With reverent memory and uncovered 
 heads, we hold forever as our equal heritage the sense of duty and the 
 deeds of sacrifice and courage which illumined the years of strife. 
 
 The southern poet will, in the glad day to come, tune his harp to 
 a major key, as he shall celebrate the courage, tenderness, and truth 
 of the northern soldier, and historians from the granite hills will do 
 justice to the statesmen and soldiers of the South. All shall thank 
 God that we are one people. 
 
 Will our northern friends be patient while we work out our race 
 problem in love to the Union, with tenderness for our brother, and 
 faith in God's providence ? 
 
 We bear no hatred to the negro ; he has none for us. Time is 
 the only solvent of our difficult problem. Give us time, your confi 
 dence, and your prayers, and in the end you will say of us, well done. 
 
 To Columbia, the heart of old Maury, which is God's paradise, 
 the home of the Scotch-Irish, this convention bids me offer one word 
 of good-bye. These days we have spent here, this gathering of the 
 fairest women and the knightliest men, this first hand-shaking of kin 
 dred blood as we think of you in connection with it, the memory 
 will be treasured in the same heart chambers with the first kiss of our 
 sweethearts and the last kiss of our mothers. 
 
 At the conclusion of Dr. Kelley's remarks, he was presented with 
 a handsome bouquet of flowers, with the following remark by the 
 Chairman : 
 
 I am requested to present to you these northern daisies, from a 
 northern lady. You captured northern soldiers during the war; you
 
 MINUTES. 57 
 
 are capturing northern daisies now ; and I hope you will keep them 
 longer than you did the soldiers. 
 
 Dr. Kelley accepted the flowers with the following words: 
 
 These daisies bear the name of my first-born daughter, who is 
 now a missionary in Japan. I accept them for a token of northern 
 love, and treasure them for the name they bear. 
 
 The next speaker was introduced by the Chairman as follows: 
 
 We are now going to enjoy the pleasure of hearing a representa 
 tive northern soldier, who has kindly come a long distance to speak to 
 you upon this occasion. His is a very English name. I don't know 
 where he got his . Scotch-Irish blood, but it is supposed from his 
 mother; and as we get the best of every thing we have from our 
 mothers, he got it in the right place. There has been a suspicion 
 somewhat general throughout the country, that our distinguished 
 friend, the Corporal, has a tendency to be a little prodigal with the 
 people's money in certain lines. I know that the whole country will 
 be deeply gratified to find that he has some Scotch-Irish blood run 
 ning through his veins, which will tend to make him a little parsimo 
 nious in that line. 
 
 Mr. Tanner was received with applause. His first sentence se 
 cured the sympathy of the audience, which, with attentive ear and 
 great applause, followed him through his amusing allusions, his 
 forcible and eloquently expressed ideas, and his references of friend 
 ship, respect, and honor for the South and her people. His address 
 was a fine effort. 
 
 Prefacing his remarks with some allusions to the many incidents 
 that American history affords of the magnificent manner in which, on 
 American soil, the representatives of the Scotch-Irish race have upheld 
 the reputation of their nationality, and pointing out the fact that they 
 were notably conspicuous on both sides in the late war, both for num 
 bers and prowess, Mr. Tanner spoke as follows : 
 
 Friends and Countrymen : We thank God and congratulate our 
 selves as we assemble here to-day, that there is so much in our posses 
 sion, and so much in prospect for us in common as citizens of this 
 great republic. And without regard to the boundaries of any particu-
 
 58 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 lar state which we designate as our own, we look back over a hundred 
 years that are passed and gone, and \ve see much of struggle, much of 
 creation, much of bitter sectionalism, and all too much, we will all 
 agree, in the last quarter of a century, of bloody strife. Thank God 
 we can contemplate it as of the past, and we firmly believe, forever 
 past. Standing to-day upon the shining uplands of prosperity and 
 peace, we sweep the world with our gaze, and contemplate with pride 
 the fact that the American nation stands secure ; its position unchal 
 lenged in the face of the civilized world, the glory of its citizenship 
 respected and honored in the four quarters of the earth. But a pecu 
 liar combination of circumstances encompass while they do not em 
 barrass me to-day, and seem to indicate that there are some lines of 
 thought and speech to which my mind should fitly turn. 
 
 Within the time of those of us who are now of middle or elder 
 age, this country has been shaken from center to circumference by the 
 rude shock of bloody war ; of war in its most horrible form ; a death 
 struggle between brethren of the same household. We stand to-day 
 on ground that for a long time was debatable, and we have gathered 
 here to-day, representatives of both of those mighty armies that met 
 in the shock of battle, to testify by our presence, by the greeting 
 given, by the sentiments felt and expressed, that, however high the 
 hopes of the past, however dear the ambitions which were swept aside 
 in the smoke of battle, to-day we are proud above all other things, of 
 the fact that we are citizens of the United States of America, that in 
 our common possession lies the domain of this mighty republic, and 
 the prestige of its citizenship wherever in foreign clime our paths may 
 lead, that before us in our common destiny for weal or woe, and that 
 we are one people, and that over our heads there floats to-day 
 one flag. 
 
 Search all the history of the nations of the past, and among 
 them you can find no such exhibitions of the unification of a people 
 so recently and apparently permanently rent asunder and engaged in 
 such a mighty and sanguinary strife. 
 
 Here to-day are assembled many men who, in the struggle of 1861 
 to 1865, contested on the one side for the disruption, and on the other 
 for the preservation of the Union. If there be any fitness in my ap 
 pearance on this platform to-day, it rises from the fact that in the days 
 of that struggle I stood in the ranks of that mighty column of blue. 
 If there are any words to which my tongue can most appropriately 
 turn to give utterance to-day, they should formulate themselves into a 
 message which I feel I can honestly, conscientiously and consistently 
 Ving from my comrades of the North, who in the years of our strife,
 
 MINUTES. 59 
 
 in answer to the defiance of the old-time and never-to-be-forgotten rebel 
 yell sent ringing back to the extent of our lung power the Yankee 
 hurrah. If there be any class of citizens over the whole country with 
 whose sentiments I am familiar above that of any other class, it is the 
 veterans of the Union armies, who, from 1861 to 1865, when health 
 was in their faces, and vigor in their steps, belted the country across 
 with a line of blue, and beat back the mighty hosts of the South; and 
 I am proud of the fact that I can bring from my comrades of the 
 Northland a sentiment in perfect harmony with the peace and pleas 
 antry and good feeling which is such an adjunct on this occasion to-day. 
 If I may be pardoned a personal reference, then permit me to say that 
 I am proud of the fact that the sentiments of my heart are, and for 
 long, long years have been, entirely in accord with the unification and 
 homogeneity of the exercises of this hour. 
 
 Very many years ago I stated, have repeated it many times since 
 then, meant it every time I repeated it, and mean it to-day no less 
 than ever, that if there should walk into my office the very " Johnnie" 
 who pulled the lanyard of the gun which sent the shell which crippled 
 me for life, and I was satisfied that he stood with us to-day, for the 
 honor of our common institutions and the glory of our common flag, 
 this right hand would reach way out across the so-called bloody chasm, 
 and I would say, "Put it there, Johnnie, you and I will go out and 
 take dinner together, and talk over old times." 
 
 The sentiment of no one class of men in this country has been 
 more thoroughly misunderstood, or, if understood, more misrepresented 
 by the citizens at large than the sentiments existing in the two columns 
 that were led by Grant and Lee. The fact of the business is that when 
 JLee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox, no two classes of men were 
 more nearly together, not only physically but mentally, than the two 
 lines of men who stood there dressed in gray and dressed in blue. 
 They had met in the shock of battle ; they had fought it out man 
 fashion, and I call every soldier here present as witness, no matter on 
 which side he fought, to this fact, that if at the time of the surrender, 
 the settlement of the questions at difference between the two great 
 sections of the country could have been left to those two lines of blue 
 and gray, those questions would have been settled honorably, amicably 
 aud lastingly, aud the politicians would have been out of business dur 
 ing the whole of the reconstruction period. 
 
 Grant epitomized the whole idea, when in the hour of his mighty 
 triumph he turned to the leader of the " lost cause" and said to him : 
 " General, tell your men to take their horses home with them. They 
 will need them to do the spring's plowing with." Did you ever let
 
 60 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 your thoughts run out in contemplation of the beauty of that senti 
 ment, springing from the heart of that man ? He had been vilified 
 and wickedly misrepresented in all the civilized sections of the globe ; 
 he had been pictured as one who delighted simply in scenes of carnage ; 
 who had no love for his fellow men ; no regard except for his own am 
 bitions, and yet in that hour instinctively his heart, as did the hearts 
 of the veterans he had led to victory, welled up with the desire that 
 the wasted and devasted places of the South might be made to bloom 
 and blossom again in the shortest possible space of time. It was not 
 so strange a thing when you come to think of it. All true men know 
 this, that no matter how earnestly you may fight a man, no matter 
 how utterly you may condemn the principles for which he contends, 
 when you find that man so terribly in earnest that he offers his life in 
 behalf of the principles for which he combats, a respect grows up for 
 that mighty earnestness in spite of our utmost antagonism to the prin 
 ciples he contends for. 
 
 Borne out by my own experience 1 in the years of peace which 
 have followed the close of the struggle, I declare it to be a thoroughly 
 enjoyable time when a lot of old comrades get together and live again 
 in the memories of the past calling to mind the rich associations of 
 the days gone by ; but when the feast of reason and flow of soul is to 
 soar to its utmost altitude, then mix them up the blue and the gray 
 and then as we gently remind one another of the days of the past 
 when with the varying fortunes of the strife we could have 
 played checkers upon each other's coat-tails, then time flies un 
 heeded by. 
 
 You will bear in mind I am speaking of the men who fought. I 
 am not speaking of those men of whom we. have all too many, who 
 never fronted the shock of war, and did not get mad until all oppor 
 tunity to do battle had passed away, who were the invisibles of war, 
 and are the iuvincibles of peace. I presume you have them here and 
 farther South, among those who claimed to support the fortunes of the 
 Confederacy. We have plenty of them in the North. They are the 
 fellows who yelled themselves into an advanced stage of bronchitis, in 
 quiring, " Why don't the army move," who were such superlative mili 
 tary tacticians that they could lay out more plans of campaigns in a night 
 than the generals on both sides would see fit to fight in a year, but who, 
 notwithstanding all the art and science of war, no sooner heard the 
 cry for three hundred thousand more, than they at once came to a po 
 sition of " rest," with a draft-list in one hand and a time-table of the 
 nearest route to Canada in the other, ready to skip across the border 
 if their names showed up in the list of those who were called. The
 
 MINUTES. 61 
 
 man who stood before me on the other side and gave me, in relation 
 to him, what he had in relation to myself the chance of life for life 
 stands a thousand degrees higher in rny estimation than the snapping, 
 snarling and yelping curs and whelps who did not have courage 
 enough to be soldiers in the time of war, and who can not turn their 
 foul tongues to any thing venomous enough to say of veterans in 
 time of peace. 
 
 I congratulate you, and I congratulate myself no less that in 
 these piping days of peace we have reached this high altitude where, 
 from the uplands of long continued, and I trust never to be interrupted 
 prosperity, we can gaze back, as though we were recalling a hideous 
 dream, upon that bloody past. 
 
 God speed the day when in the hearts of all the people, North and 
 South, there may come that same splendid feeling which permeates the 
 breast of every one here assembled, and who in the olden days, with 
 unflinching heart and undaunted mein, marched and met and fought 
 as bitter foes, and who to-day and for the days to come are friends, 
 and will be until those better days, when the call shall be sounded for 
 the last assembly on that further shore, where all our services will be 
 in the ranks commanded by the Prince of Peace. 
 
 When he had finished his remarks, Mr. Tanner was presented 
 with flowers by Mr. Johnston, as follows: 
 
 I am requested to present to you, as a representative northern 
 soldier, these southern roses, from a southern lady ; and notwithstand 
 ing you are in the heart of Tennessee, you need have no apprehension 
 that the soldiers of Jackson or Forrest will attempt to recapture this 
 trophy. 
 
 The meeting adjourned to 8 o'clock. 
 
 NIGHT SESSION. 
 
 The meeting was called to order at 8 o'clock. 
 
 The Chairman introduced Mr. John Moore, of Columbia, who 
 delivered a short, humorous address.
 
 62 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 Colonel Johnston announced that he would be compelled to leave 
 the city on the night train, having come with the intention of staying 
 only one day. He said he wanted to come and meet with his Scotch-Irish 
 friends from all parts of the country, but had met with so much kind 
 ness and courtesy, and had formed so many pleasing acquaintances, 
 not only in the fair city of Columbia, but among the distinguished 
 visitors, that he had been detained longer than he had contemplated. 
 He said he wanted to return his thanks to the people of Columbia, 
 and to the Congress, for the uniform kindness which had been shown 
 him on this visit, which he should treasure as one of the happiest of 
 his life. 
 
 Colonel E. C. McDowell took the chair. 
 
 Mayor Robert Pillow offered the following resolution : 
 
 Resolved, That the thanks of the Scotch-Irish Congress are hereby 
 tendered to the Hon. J. F. Johnston, for the perfect manner in which 
 he has presided over our deliberations, and that we, the citizens, as 
 well as those who belong to the Congress, do esteem it a privilege 
 thus publicly to express our appreciation of the very valuable services 
 rendered. 
 
 The resolution was unanimously passed. 
 
 The next speaker was introduced by Colonel Colyar, as follows : 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen : I don't know when I have had a more 
 agreeable task to perform than in introducing to you to-night the dis 
 tinguished speaker. There is something peculiarly agreeable to me in 
 introducing him to a southern audience, and I will in a very few words 
 tell you why. We have had in the South a long, hard struggle ; 
 our great effort for the last twenty years has been to build up our in 
 dustrial interests, and develop our great resources. I don't say that we 
 have had but few friends in the North. Many men in the North have 
 stood by us warmly, energetically, and have given us the right hand 
 of fellowship on all occasions ; but one man above all others has been 
 the friend of the South in all our efforts, and that man is Colonel A. 
 K. McClure, of Philadelphia. Wherever I have met him in the last 
 fifteen years, whether in the South or in his home in Philadelphia, I 
 have found him talking about the South and the southern people, 
 sympathizing with them in their misfortunes, and using his great
 
 MINUTES. 63 
 
 paper, read by all the better people of the northern states, in helping 
 us along, and holding up our hands, and giving us a word of encour 
 agement. Again I take pleasure in introducing to you ray distin- 
 tinguished friend, Colonel McClure. 
 
 (For Colonel McClure's address, see Part II, page 178.) 
 
 Colonel Colyar made a statement concerning the exercises of the 
 Tennessee Chatauqua, and the Mineral and Metallic Exposition, to be 
 held in Nashville, in 1890, and said he would like to have Colonel 
 McClure open the proceedings of the latter. 
 
 The Congress adjourned. 
 
 Saturday, May, llth. 
 
 The Congress was called to order at 11 o'clock by Chairman 
 McDowell. 
 
 Dr. Jerry Witherspoon led in prayer. 
 
 The audience joined in repeating the Lord's Prayer. 
 
 The first speaker of the day was introduced by Chairman McDow 
 ell, as follows : 
 
 Hon. Benton McMillin has consented to deliver a short address. 
 His remarks will be almost ex tempore. To Teunesseeans it is almost 
 unnecessary for me to say who Mr. McMillin is ; to our guests I will 
 say that he is a member from Tennessee to the United States Congress. 
 
 (See Part II, page 187.) 
 
 At the conclusion of his address, Mr. McMillin was presented 
 with a bouquet of flowers. 
 
 The next speaker was introduced by the Chairman, as follows: 
 
 Your long-delayed desires are about to be satisfied. We reserved 
 Dr. Macintosh's address for the last, because it is one of the best. I 
 now have the pleasure of introducing to you Dr. John S. Macintosh, 
 of Philadelphia. 
 
 (See Part II, p. 191.)
 
 64 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 Mr. McDowell said it seemed to him that this address had been 
 an inspiration, and one sent through the heart of a pure soul. From 
 this day forward, the Scotch-Irish race will no longer be without a writ 
 ten history. A hundred years from now, or sooner, when the princi 
 ples of that people and a belief in a government of the people, for the 
 people, and by the people, shall be the fundamental principle of every 
 civilized government, we will still be mindful of that race which gave 
 to the world the principle that man has the right to govern himself, 
 subject alone to the Almighty God. (Applause.) 
 
 Mr. Floyd read the following resolution, which he said had been 
 left with him the previous night by Chairman Johnston just before he 
 left: 
 
 Resolved, That the thanks of this Congress are eminently due, and 
 are hereby tendered, Dr. Robert Pillow, for his constant attention 
 upon, and his uniform courtesy and kindness to, every visiting mem 
 ber of the Congress. 
 
 Dr. Macintosh seconded the resolution, as follows : 
 
 I want, oil the part of myself and my wife, and all of us here, to 
 second that motion. I don't know what would have become of us if 
 it had not been for the considerate magisterial government of our hon 
 orable Mayor. 
 
 The resolution was adopted, and Dr. Pillow responded, as 
 follows : 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen : As you well know, I am no speaker, but 
 I express my thanks for this resolution, and say that it has been my 
 pleasure to contribute to the advancement of this cause, in which 
 I have had my whole soul. 
 
 Mr. Floyd said, on behalf of the several committees, that the 
 people of Columbia felt proud that they had such a flattering attend 
 ance upon the proceedings, and that they had had the honor to enter 
 tain so distinguished a body of visitors. 
 
 Mr. W. O. McDowell said that, as the representative of one of 
 the most distant points represented in the meeting, he wanted to
 
 MINUTES. 65 
 
 move a vote of thanks to the citizens of Columbia for the magnificent 
 way in which they had received the visitors. He said : 
 
 There is only one fault that I have to find, the warmth of 
 your hearts has even affected the atmosphere. Would that my tongue 
 was as gifted as that of a Henry ; would that I had the eloquence of 
 the Scotch-Irish race, that I might put in words our appreciation of 
 your elegant entertainment. I must say, in addition, that never on 
 American soil, or throughout the world, has there been held outside oi 
 official halls, a meeting more important in the progress of the human 
 race than is this gathering after a hundred years of experience on 
 American soil of the Scotch-Irish race. 
 
 Dr. D. C. Kelley said : 
 
 We desire to offer old Maury, the center of physical beauty, and 
 to Columbia, the center of Maury, our voice of thanks, our words of 
 joy, and the promise to keep in our memory these days as we would 
 treasure the first kiss of our sweetheart, the last of our mother. 
 
 The audience united in singing "Auld Lang Syne," after which 
 the Congress adjourned sine die. 
 5
 
 66 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 OFFICERS OF THE SCOTCH-IRISH SOCIETY 
 OF AMERICA. 
 
 President. 
 ROBERT BONNER, New York. 
 
 First Vice- President at Large. 
 JOSEPH F. JOHNSTON, Birmingham, Ala. 
 
 Second Vice- President at Large. 
 E. C. MCDOWELL, Nashville, Tenn. 
 
 Vice-President at Large for British America, 
 MR. THOMAS KERR, Toronto, Canada. 
 
 Secretary. 
 A. C. FLOYD, Columbia, Tenn. 
 
 i 
 
 Treasurer. 
 
 Lucius FRIERSON, Columbia, Tenn. 
 
 Historian and Registrar. 
 THOMAS M. GREEN, Maysville, Ky. 
 
 Vice-Presidents of States and Territories. 
 
 REV. Dr. JOHN HALL, New York. 
 COLONEL A. K. McCLURE, Pennsylvania Philadelphia. 
 HON. WM. O. MCDOWELL, New Jersey Newark. 
 MR. MATTHEW ADDY, Ohio Cincinnati.
 
 OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY. 67 
 
 JUDGE JOHN M. SCOTT, Illinois Bloom ington. 
 
 HON. WM. WIRT HENRY, Virginia Richmond. 
 
 HON. S. B. ALEXANDER, North Carolina Charlotte. 
 
 COLONEL T. T. WRIGHT, Florida Pensacola. 
 
 HON. WM. PRESTON JOHNSTON, Louisiana New Orleans. 
 
 MR. A. G. ADAMS, Tennessee Nashville. 
 
 DR. HERVEY C. MCDOWELL, Kentucky. 
 
 *HoN. A. T. WOOD, Ontario, Canada Hamilton. 
 
 REV. J. C. QUINN, Montana Helena. 
 
 * A Vice-President for each of the remaining states and territories of the 
 Union, and each province of Canada, will be appointed by the President as 
 fast as selections can be made.
 
 68 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. 
 
 ROBERT BONNER, Chairman, New York. 
 
 A. C. FLOYD, Secretary, Columbia, Tenn. 
 
 Lucius FRIERSON, Columbia, Tenn. 
 
 HON. J. F. JOHNSTON, Birmingham, Ala. 
 
 COLONEL T. T. WRIGHT, Nashville, Tenn. 
 
 REV. DR. JOHN S. MACINTOSH, Philadelphia. 
 
 PROF. GEO. MCCLOSKIE, Princeton College, New Jersey. 
 
 DR. ROBERT PILLOW, Columbia, Tenu. 
 
 COLONEL H. G. EVANS, Columbia, Tenn.
 
 ACTION OF COMMITTEES SINCE THE CONGRESS. 69 
 
 ACTION OF COMMITTEES SINCE THE CON 
 GRESS. 
 
 At a meeting of the Executive Council, in New York City, on 
 the llth of July last, requisites for membership was one of the mat 
 ters considered. 
 
 Article III of the Constitution is as follows : 
 
 "Any male above the age of twenty-one years, who has Scotch- 
 Irish blood in his veins, shall be eligible for membership in the Asso 
 ciation." 
 
 In addition to this, it was decided that each member should be 
 required to pay annual dues of $2.00 upon entering the Society. 
 
 The payment of his dues entitles each member to a copy of this 
 volume, in paper covers ; thirty-five cents additional being required 
 for a cloth-bouud copy. 
 
 An Executive Committee of nine members was appointed, and 
 to them were delegated all the powers not exercised by the Council. 
 
 At a meeting of the Executive Committee, in New York City, on 
 the following day, A. C. Floyd, Lucius Frierson, and Robert Pillow 
 were appointed a Committee on Publication. The name of this vol 
 ume was chosen, and plans for its publication discussed. 
 
 The Secretary was instructed to accept the cordial invitation of 
 the Scotch-Irish of Pittsburg to hold the next annual Congress of the 
 Society in that city.
 
 II. 
 
 THE HARP OF TOM MOORE. 
 
 AT THE SCOTCH-IRISH CONGRESS, MAY, 1889, COLUMBIA, TENN. 
 
 BY WALLACE BBUCE. 
 
 The top of the morning to Ireland 
 
 And the Scotch-Irish Congress to-day ! 
 All hearts respond to the banquet 
 
 When the Harp of Tom Moore leads the way. 
 The bells of the Shandon are ringing 
 
 Their music from over the sea, 
 But sweeter the Harp of her poet 
 
 In the mountains of old Tennessee. 
 
 The sons of the Shamrock and Thistle 
 
 Still cherish the visions of yore, 
 And the Harp of old Tara awakens 
 
 Again to the voice of Tom Moore : 
 Each string, with memories sacred, 
 
 Is tuned to Liberty's key ; 
 And the songs that float down the ages 
 
 Are always the songs of the free. 
 
 It sings of the " Exile of Erin," 
 
 But her exiles are exiles no more, 
 For the Isle of old Erin has drifted 
 
 Close under Columbia's shore. 
 " Where Liberty is, is my country," 
 
 Has guided her over the way, 
 And Columbia holds in her borders 
 
 The heart of old Ireland to-day. 
 (70)
 
 THE HARP OF TOM MOORE. 71 
 
 Manhattan and Plymouth and Jamestown 
 
 Can boast of their heritage true, 
 But Mecklenburg's fame is immortal 
 
 When we number the stars in the blue; 
 The Scotch-Irish-Puritan-Fathers 
 
 First drafted the words of the free, 
 And the speech of Virginia's Henry 
 
 Is the crown of Our Liberty's plea. 
 
 The sons and the grandsons of heroes 
 
 Who fought for freedom and right 
 With joy hail the dawn of the morning > 
 " Mavourneen !" Awake to the light! 
 The maidens of Lome and Killarney 
 
 Are swelling the chorus to-day, 
 For the castles of Oban and Blarney 
 
 Are only just over the way. 
 
 Then welcome, a thrice hearty welcome, 
 
 To legendry, lyric, and lore, 
 With a pledge and " Guid Hielan' welcome" 
 
 To the voice and the Harp of Tom Moore; 
 A toast to the Shamrock and Thistle, 
 
 And sunshine both sides of the sea, 
 As Erin clasps hands o'er the ocean 
 
 With Columbia in fair Tennessee.
 
 72 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 ADDRESS DELIVERED BY EX-GOVERNOR 
 PROCTOR KNOTT, OF KENTUCKY. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, Ladies, and Gentlemen: As we are assembled to 
 honor the memories of our Scotch-Irish ancestry, and to devise, if 
 possible, some means of gathering up, and crystallizing into the more 
 enduring form of written history, the legendary memorials of their 
 deeds, it has occurred to me that the proceedings of the present Con 
 gress might be appropriately prefaced by a brief inquiry into their 
 origin, the characteristics which distinguished them from other people, 
 and what they did to entitle them to the respectful recollection of 
 coming generations. That office I will, therefore, attempt to dis 
 charge; and, in undertaking it, I will endeavor to do precisely as I 
 think they would have me do, if they could come to me to-day from 
 their consecrated graves and dictate the present utterances of my 
 tongue speak of them as they were ; tell the truth, as I understand 
 it, of their frailties, as of their virtues ; 
 
 " Nothing extenuate, 
 Nor set down aught in malice." 
 
 When Agricola marshaled his legions on the north bank of the 
 Firth of Solway, eighteen hundred years ago, he looked out upon a coun 
 try lying beyond the parallel of latitude which forms the southernmost 
 boundary of Alaska, and embracing about thirty thousand, five hun 
 dred square miles of territory, as cheerless, perhaps, in all its aspects, 
 as any that ever provoked the ambition or tempted the cupidity of a 
 Roman conqueror. 
 
 Directly in his front, and as far as the site of the present city of 
 Dumfries, stretched a tangled labyrinth of swampy woods, interlaced 
 by a matted network of creeping undergrowth. To the westward, as 
 far as St. Patrick's Channel, lay a rugged and almost inaccessible dis 
 trict of roughly wooded, rocky hill lands, trenched by turbulent 
 streams, and abounding in lovely lakes. Northward, beyond the 
 present limits of Dumfries, to the narrow isthmus of low lands lying 
 between the Firths of Clyde and Forth, and eastward to St. Abb's 
 Head, extended a similarly broken region, covered with a growth of 
 scrubby timber, interrupted here and there by barren ridges and
 
 ADDRESS OP HON. PROCTOR KNOTT. 73 
 
 dreary moorlands. What are now the fertile aud flourishing counties 
 of Ayr and Renfrew, was then a sterile aud uninviting waste, while 
 the unbroken umbrage of a primeval forest shut out the sunlight from 
 the rich plains of Berwick. 
 
 North of the isthmus of Clyde and Forth, lay the vast sea-girt 
 wilderness of Celyddon, the Caledonia of the Romans, extending 
 away to the wave-washed rocks of Cape Wrath and John o' Groats 
 a bleak, inhospitable region, with its craggy shores fretted by firths 
 and lochs, and its surface corrugated by an ''nterminable maze of misty 
 mountain ranges, with their, barren crests and towering cliffs, inter 
 spersed with rushing torrents and roaring lynns, lonely tarns and soli 
 tary glens, desolate corries and densely wooded straths, while its east 
 ern boundary, from the mouth of the Tay to Moray Firth, was a suc 
 cession of extensive marshes and sterile hills, made more forbidding 
 by the icy blasts which swept over them from the northern ocean. 
 
 Yet some of the remote ancestry of many of the courteous and 
 cultured audience before me, as well as some of my own, had made 
 their cheerless homes in this rude and repulsive region for centuries 
 before the foot of the Roman invader first pressed its indigenous 
 heather; while others of them might have been found, perhaps, in 
 the wandering clans which went over from the northern part of Ireland 
 in the earlier centuries of our era, as allies of their Caledonian kin 
 dred in their predatory inroads upon their southern neighbors, and 
 finally settled along the western coast, from Cantyre to Sutherland. 
 
 They were not as elegant in manners, nor as elevated in morals, how 
 ever, as might possibly be inferred from the intelligence and refinement 
 of many of their descendants of the present period. On the contrary, 
 they were as savage as their surroundings were wild and inhospitable, 
 and were regarded by their neighbors not only with a well grounded 
 terror, but with far more disgust and abhorrence than we do our 
 thieves aud tramps. The very names, indeed, by which their nation 
 ality has been designated in history were never assumed by themselves, 
 but were mere terms of reproach applied to them by the victims of 
 their rapacity, .who, out of revenge for the manifold injuries they had 
 suffered from their predacious hands, denounced the fierce and trucu 
 lent tribes who occupied the eastern, as well as the greater portion of 
 the interior and southern sections of the territory, as picticfi or pehts, 
 while they called the roving bauds who went over from the north of 
 Ireland scuite, signifying, respectively, in the vernacular of the early 
 Briton, robbers aud vagabonds, the two terms being subsequently 
 latinized by the Romans into Picti aud Scotti. 
 
 Nor was the country occupied by them known by its present
 
 74 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 name for many generations after their first appearance in authentic 
 history ; not, in fact, for over two hundred years after the nominal 
 union of the Scots and Picts under Kenneth McAlpine in 843, when 
 the centuries of sanguinary strife between those two branches of the 
 Celtic race in North Britain finally terminated in their complete coali 
 tion, and the united kingdom was called Scotland, after the dominant 
 power. And even then, its inhabitants, notwithstanding the introduc 
 tion of Christianity among them as far back as the middle of the sixth 
 century, were still as barbarous in many respects as their fierce fore 
 fathers, who, more than thirty generations before, in a heroic struggle 
 for their wild independence, met hand to hand the trained legionaries 
 of imperial Rome upon the bloody slopes of the Grampian Hills. 
 
 Their lack of progress was not so much their fault, however, as 
 their misfortune. Their history during that long period, as it was for 
 centuries after and had been for generations before, was that of a con 
 stant, unremitting, and perilous contest for sheer existence. Com 
 pelled to supplement their meager domestic resources with the preca 
 rious spoils of the chase, they were obliged, in order to eke out their 
 scanty means of subsistence, not only to encounter the dangers of a 
 capricious and tempestuous climate, but to pursue their quarry fre 
 quently through hostile territory, across mountain torrents, through 
 guarded passes, and along the treacherous brinks of precipitous cliffs 
 hundreds of feet in height. Besides, they were in a perpetual state 
 of war, when pillage and arson went hand in hand with slaughter, and 
 the sword of the victor knew neither age nor sex. Harried by san 
 guinary feuds with neighboring clans, which hereditary hate or a mu 
 tual desire for plunder or revenge frequently kept alive from genera 
 tion to generation, and almost constantly engaged in defending them 
 selves from the cruel incursions of the powerful and rapacious nations 
 around them, they had no time for intellectual culture or moral im 
 provement. 
 
 Under such circumstances, their advancement in the scale of 
 social being was necessarily retarded to the lowest possible degree. It 
 is a marvel, indeed, that even the lowest grade of civilization could 
 have existed among them at all, for without some settled assurance of 
 the permanency and peaceful enjoyment of the acquisitions of indi 
 vidual industry, popular progress is an impossibility. With no feel 
 ing of certainty, on leaving his home in the morning for the perilous 
 avocations of the day, that he would not return in the evening to res 
 cue the charred remains of his butchered family from the smoldering 
 ashes of his ruined dwelling, the savage Celt had neither the incentive 
 nor the opportunity to accumulate more than was necessary for a
 
 ADDRESS OF HON. PROCTOR KNOTT. 75 
 
 squalid subsistence from day to day, or, at most, a beggarly account 
 of portable chattels, which might be readily removed ou the approach 
 of danger. Wealth was, consequently, a thing unknown among 
 them, and commerce, the great evangelist of civilization, a stranger in 
 their midst. For centuries, they knew of but two methods by which 
 property might be transferred robbery and barter approving as well 
 as practicing the principle that 
 
 " He may take who has the power, 
 And he may hold who can." 
 
 While of any thing like a standard of value or medium of exchange, 
 they were so utterly ignorant that there was not so much as a word in 
 their language signifying money, until they had learned the names, as 
 well as the uses, of current coins from the Anglo-Saxon. And it is a 
 singular fact that, even down to the present generation, many of their 
 descendants seem to have acquired no true conception of the value of 
 a dollar, as we rarely meet with one of them who does not appear to 
 think it is worth about five times as much as it really is. 
 
 To such apparently inauspicious surroundings, however, may be 
 plainly traced the development of those peculiar characteristics which 
 have distinguished the Scottish race from all other people, and which, 
 though modified in many respects by the intermingling of other blood, 
 as well as by a more enlightened intelligence and a broader civiliza 
 tion, are still discernible, to a greater or less degree, in their descend 
 ants of the present day. 
 
 The constant exposure of the hardy Gael to privation and peril 
 of every description, naturally tended to develop his physical courage 
 to the highest pitch of savage heroism, as well as the habit of self- 
 reliance, under the most trying exigencies, whether in the chase, amid 
 the dangers of his native solitudes, or steel to steel with his dearest 
 foe upon the battle-field. These as naturally inspired him with a con 
 fident pride in his own manhood, and an indomitable spirit of personal 
 independence, which impelled him to the instant resistance of any en 
 croachment upon his individual rights, and rendered him peculiarly 
 impatient of all governmental restraint imposed upon him without his 
 own consent. Nemo me impune lacessit, became the controlling senti 
 ment of his being, and the guiding principle of his conduct, as it has 
 since become, with singular propriety, the motto on his national coat- 
 of-arms. While he may have been taught that royalty was hereditary 
 in the blood, he nevertheless had a vague sort of notion, even in the 
 hazy twilight of barbarism, that the ultimate repository of political power 
 was in the people, as is clearly evident in the ancient Celtic custom of
 
 76 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMEK1CA. 
 
 meeting in popular assembly upon the death of the ruler and electing 
 his successor from among his sons, or some collateral branch of his 
 family, as the public interest might seem to require. 
 
 As the legitimate outrr.>wth <>f these stronglv developed traits, 
 we find that there has always been less respect for self-assumed author 
 ity, and, consequently, more frequent rebellion against the hered 
 itary claims of kingly power among the Scotch, than any other people 
 on the face of the globe, as well as the still more striking fact that 
 throughout their hundreds and hundreds of years of sanguinary war 
 fare, they were never completely conquered. A clan might be ex 
 terminated, but it fought until the stiffening hand of its last expiring 
 warrior was not able to strike for freedom or revenge. Overrun they 
 might be, as they often were by the superior force of an invading foe, 
 but upon the slightest removal of the immediate pressure, they were 
 in arms again, reasserting their wild traditional liberties. 
 
 But the same causes which made them brave and self-reliant, also 
 made them cautious, cunning, suspicious, and selfish, while the cruelties 
 they so often suffered themselves, not only rendered them indifferent 
 to the sufferings of others, with whom they had no connection by 
 blood or affinity, but stimulated a disposition to revenge which fre 
 quently manifested itself in acts of the most cold-blooded and brutal 
 atrocity. Nevertheless they were human, and felt the same yearning 
 for society and sympathy-, which universally pervades the human 
 breast, however savage or depraved. 
 
 For the gratification of that sentiment, whether influenced by 
 their own inclination or not, they were compelled by the circumstances 
 surrounding them to resort mainly to their own hearthstones. There 
 the mother and children, under an ever-present sense of their depend 
 ence upon his protection and counsel, gathered around the husband 
 and father, as their hero and their oracle, with mingled emotions of 
 love, gratitude, veneration, and pride; while he, in return, regarded 
 the proteges of his prowess with those feelings of tenderness natural 
 to the sacred relation he sustained toward them, deepened and intensi 
 fied by a realization of their absolute dependence upon his strength 
 and their confidence in his courage. 
 
 O 
 
 The strong feeling of domestic affection thus naturally engendered, 
 strengthened by time and the constant necessity of mutual assistance, 
 ripened, at length, into a degree of filial and fraternal attachment 
 rarely witnessed outside of the ancient Gaelic household. Cherished 
 by each member of the family through life, and sedulously inculcated 
 around the fireside of each offshoot from the parent stem, to be again 
 transmitted under similar surroundings to a still remoter generation,
 
 ADDRESS OF HON. PROCTOR KNOT1. 77 
 
 these ties of consanguinity eventually became the common bond of the 
 clan, whose chieftaiii exercised his prerogatives by common consent, as 
 the lineal representative of the original stock, or was chosen, if occa 
 sion required, from the worthiest of their blood. 
 
 In the light of such circumstances, it is easy to see how that pe 
 culiar sentiment of clannish ness, which bound the ancient Celt to his 
 kindred of the remotest degree, and which has brought us together to 
 day, became hereditary in our blood. Nor is it more difficult for us 
 to explain that apparent paradox in the character of our earlier an 
 cestry, namely, the passionate fealty of the clansman who esteemed it a 
 privilege to die for his chief, while his lax allegiance to royalty suggested 
 nothing improper In the murder of his king. His chieftain was of his 
 own tribe and kindred, bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh ; the embod 
 iment of the dignity of his family, and the defender of its honor ; the 
 cheerful companion of his hardships, and the grateful partaker of his 
 humble hospitality ; the friend whose dirk was at his service in his 
 private feud, and the leader whose flashing claymore was his beacon 
 in the red storm of battle ever first at the rendezvous and the fore 
 most in the foray. 
 
 The king, on the other hand, was frequently a stranger to his 
 blood, the descendant, perhaps, of some hereditary foe to his house, 
 claiming authority over him without his consent, and by a title contrary 
 to the traditions of his race or repugnant to his own sense of right. 
 He consequently entertained a much higher regard for the sovereign 
 of any other nation, who would let him alone, than for the ruling 
 monarch of his own, whose reign was generally turbulent and disas 
 trous, frequently terminating in the tragic death of the prince himself 
 at the hands of his rebellious subjects. It has been indignantly asserted, 
 indeed, by an English writer, though with evident exaggeration, that 
 the Scotch had barbarously murdered forty of their kings, while half 
 as many more had made away with themselves to escape the pains of 
 torture or perished miserably in strait imprisonment. But however 
 that may have been, it is quite safe to assert that, whenever they es 
 poused the cause of one of their princes, a large majority of his fol 
 lowers were generally influenced by other motives than loyalty to his 
 person or partiality to his government. 
 
 When, by whom, or in what manner, feudalism, with its various 
 ranks of nobility, was introduced among the Scottish people, is a mat 
 ter about which there has been considerable controversy among histo 
 rians, but the weight of authority seems to support the opinion that it 
 was inaugurated in the latter part of the eleventh century by Malcolm 
 Canmore, when, with the aid of Edward the Confessor, he recovered
 
 78 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 the scepter of his father immortalized as " the gracious Duncan " in 
 the sublimest pages of dramatic literature and extended from time 
 to time by his successors, as opportunity presented, until it became 
 finally established throughout the entire kingdom. But whatever may 
 be the facts in that regard, it is quite certain that, while the introduc 
 tion of the feudal system produced many and marked changes in the 
 political constitution of Scotland, the power exercised by the nobility 
 in the administration of public affairs was never due so much to their 
 legal rank as to the influence of the strong feeling of clannishness 
 among the masses of the people with whom they were immediately 
 connected by the ties of blood or marriage, and which, from repeated 
 inculcation and long heredity, had become inherent in their very 
 natures. 
 
 But while their politics if we except their unvarying fidelity to 
 the leader of the clan seems to have set as loosely upon them as their 
 tartan plaids, their religion appears to have been ingrained with every 
 fiber and tissue of their being ; and their singular veneration for ec 
 clesiastical authority, when compared with their lack of reverence for 
 political power, especially when disassociated from the ever dominant 
 influence of the family tie, has frequently been regarded as a striking 
 inconsistency in their character. A little reflection, however, should 
 satisfy us that an inconsistency in national characteristics is, in the 
 very nature of things, an impossibility ; and it is by no means difficult 
 to see ho\v this peculiarity sprung naturally from the same surround 
 ing? which developed the traits I have already mentioned. 
 
 Compelled by the necessities of their condition to be much alone 
 amid the solitudes of their native hills, where the dark and lonely 
 dells around them, and the craggy cliffs towering away into the far 
 blue lift above them, with their fantastic shadows mirrored in the deep, 
 still tarn below them, constantly conspired to incite in them the pro- 
 foundest feelings of superstitious awe ; their rude imaginations became 
 impressed by the viewless presence of a vast, invisible, intangible, 
 mysterious being, whose character they invested with the same savage 
 attributes as their own. They saw his terrible chariot in the black 
 mass of whirling clouds, and heard his angry voice in the roaring 
 storm. They caught the gleam of his vengeful weapon in the light 
 ning's bolt that shivered the gnarled oak, and saw the outpouring of 
 his omnipotent rage in the rushing torrent that dashed the granite 
 buttress of the mountain from its base ; and when the wintry night 
 wind shrieked its wailing dirge around their lonely hovels, they told 
 their children, in the subdued tones of ignorant awe, of his wrath 
 which they could not appease, and his power which they could not with-
 
 ADDRESS OF HON. PKOCTOi: KXOTT. 79 
 
 stand. It is not at all wonderful, therefore, that when St. Col 11 tuba 
 came to them with the priceless truths of Christianity, they should 
 hail him with joy as the messenger of peace from their fierce, myste 
 rious deity, nor that they should seize with savage avidity upon the 
 promises of the Gospel, while understanding little or nothing of its 
 doctrines. 
 
 Nor is it any more remarkable that the Culdees, who embraced 
 the earliest ecclesiastics among the converts of St. Columba, speedily 
 spread throughout the whole of Caledonia, where tl.ey maintained an 
 unquestioned supremacy in all matters of religious faith and practice, 
 and, perhaps, preserved many of the traditionary customs and articles 
 of belief common to an earlier period of the Roman Church until 
 centuries later, when they were reformed or suppressed in a more ad 
 vanced state of civil and ecclesiastical government. For it should be 
 observed that these rude ministers of religion were not a body of for 
 eign clergy thrust upon the people against their will and contrary to 
 their prejudices, but were of their own kith and kin, often as actively 
 engaged in the secular affairs of the clan as in the offices of their more 
 sacred calling, the functions of chieftain and abbot of a monastery 
 being not infrequently united in the same person. 
 
 Described as a kind of presbyters, who lived in small communi 
 ties, elected and ordained their own rectors or bishops, and traveled 
 over the adjacent country preaching and administering the sacraments 
 of their religion, some claim to have discovered in their crude system 
 of ecclesiastic polity the protoplasm from which the Presbyterian 
 Church of Scotland was ultimately evolved. But be that as it may, 
 being educated at home, understanding no language but their own, 
 and having but a limited intercourse with other nations, they retained 
 not only the traits and prejudices peculiar to their own race, but much 
 of the plainness and simplicity of the primitive ages in their forms of 
 worship, mingled, no doubt, with much of their former superstitions. 
 They consequently obtained an unbounded influence over the minds 
 of their savage parishioners, who were not only bound to them by the 
 ties of blood and familiar association, but who confidently expected, 
 through their ministration, to secure the never-ending pleasures of a 
 blissful paradise, from which their less deserving enemies would, for 
 tunately, be forever excluded. 
 
 It should be carefully borne in mind, however, that the race to 
 which the later ancestry of many of us belonged was a composite one 
 a race in which the blood of the rude Caledonian was mingled with 
 that of the sturdy Saxon and the turbulent Norman. Early in the 
 seventh century, the Northumbrians, under King Edwin, pushed their
 
 80 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 conquests on Scottish soil to the estuary of the Forth, where they 
 erected the fortress which gave its name to the present metropolis of 
 North Britain ; but in consequence of their disastrous defeat at Dun- 
 Nechtan, sixty-eight years later, the dominion of the invaders shrank 
 again within the waters of the Tweed, never to be re-asserted beyond 
 its northern bank. Nevertheless, the lost territory continued to be 
 occupied by its Anglo-Saxon population, which was subsequently aug 
 mented from time to time by slight accessions from Northumberland 
 and its adjacent counties in the north of England, whose inhabitants, 
 from somewhat similar circumstances, had acquired many of the moral 
 traits and social customs of their more northern neighbors. In addi 
 tion to this, the tide of immigration which followed the marriage of 
 Malcolm Canmore with the Saxon Princess Margaret, and continued 
 with increasing activity through the succeeding reigns of their sous, 
 Edgar, Alexander, and David, not only changed the civil and ecclesi 
 astical institutions of Scotland, but carried with it, among thousands 
 of lesser note, the founders of many of those illustrious houses which 
 have figured so conspicuously in its subsequent annals. 
 
 It must not be supposed, however, that the hereditary peculiari 
 ties of the original Celt disappeared with his traditionary customs, upon 
 the introduction of Anglo-Norman jurisprudence, with its accompany 
 ing civilization, from the South. On the contrary, until the twelfth 
 century, the only language spoken north of the two friths was the an 
 cient Gaelic, while throughout the Lothians and the districts further 
 south, it was heard as frequently as the Anglo-Saxon ; and as a large 
 majority of trie immigrants were mere military adventurers employed 
 in the service of the Scottish kings, they no doubt intermarried with the 
 daughters of the laud, as the soldiers of Cromwell afterward did in Ire 
 land. Thus the blood of the Sassenach, in process of time, became largely 
 transfused with that of their Celtic predecessors, transmitting the lead 
 ing characteristics of each of the confluent races, mutually modified 
 by each other, as an inheritance to the common posterity of both. 
 
 Consequently, he who chooses to thread the intricate mazes of 
 their history back to the period when that transfusion became gen 
 eral, will invariably find in the mixed race of Middle and Southern 
 Scotland, side by side with the rugged common sense, plainness of 
 speech, frugality, and thrift of the Anglo-Saxon, and the aggressive 
 self-assertion of the imperious Norman, the predominant traits of their 
 Caledonian ancestry centuries before; the same impetuous courage, 
 often amounting to an utter recklessness of personal peril ; the same 
 self-appreciation, impelling them to resent the slightest aggression 
 upon their private concerns; the same relentless disposition, frequently
 
 ADDRESS OF HON. PROCTOR KNOTT. 81 
 
 exhibiting itself in acts of remorseless cruelty or implacable revenge ; 
 the same impatience of all restraint inconsistent with their own sense 
 of right, drawing them into repeated and bloody rebellion ; the same 
 romantic reverence for the family tie, influencing, to a greater or less 
 degree, all their relations to church or state ; the same stubborn adhe 
 sion to a religion, whether under prelatic or Presbyterian auspices, 
 recognizing the immediate interposition of an omnipotent providence 
 in all their temporal concerns, and frequently inspired more by a dread 
 of his vengeance than an appreciation of his mercies, and the same 
 unquestioning confidence in the guidance of their spiritual leaders, 
 especially when bound to them by the ties of kindred. 
 
 The thoughtful student will observe, moreover, that in the great 
 revolt against the parent church, in the sixteenth century, the over 
 throw of its supremacy among such a people could lead to but one re 
 sult, so far as their ecclesiastical relations were concerned, and that 
 was the ultimate establishment of precisely such a system of church 
 polity as took place upon the triumph of the Reformation in Scotland. 
 How much the lust of power and the jealousies of ambition may have 
 had to do in bringing about that result, it is needless now to inquire. 
 Without pausing, therefore, to consider the intricate and controverted 
 details of that long and angry contest between the crown, assisted by 
 the magnates of the established church on the one side, and the nobil 
 ity, aided by the spirit of clanship which pervaded their multitudes of 
 retainers, and the active influence of numbers of the native clergy, 
 who felt the same potent spell of family names and associations, on the 
 other, which culminated in the downfall of the papal hierarchy in 
 Scotland, it is sufficient to say that, when the moment for the final 
 catastrophe arrived, the man for the hour had also come ; one who, 
 with a single blow of his stalwart arm, hurled the venerable but tot 
 tering fabric from its base, and proceeded at once to rear upon its ruins 
 a superstructure better suited to the genius of his race. 
 
 That man, I scarcely need say, was Knox the living, breathing 
 incarnation of the highest virtues of his people, though not wholly 
 exempt from many of their no less striking vices. Familiar with all 
 their peculiar characteristics, passionately devoted to their interests 
 and their honor, the impersonation of a lofty and intrepid zeal, tem 
 pered by a deliberate and self-reliant judgment, with a commanding in 
 tellect, profoundly versed in all the learning of the age and thoroughly 
 in sympathy with its quickening progress, inspired by an ardent love 
 of religious freedom, and burning with a bitter scorn for all forms of 
 self-assumed authority, he seemed almost to have been specially de- 
 6
 
 82 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 signed for the great work of ecclesiastical reconstruction of which he 
 was, by common consent, the acknowledged architect. 
 
 Detestiog prelacy and papacy alike, he conceived a scheme some 
 what after the design of Calvin, with whose views he was deeply ; tn- 
 bued, which, though not fully executed in his lifetime, resulted in the 
 development of a system of church government based upou the fun 
 damental principles of representative democracy a system in which 
 no minister br other ecclesiastical functionary could be foisted upon a 
 congregation without its own consent, nor its humblest member be de 
 prived of any right within the cognizance of the church, without the 
 privilege of appealing to the highest tribunal known to its jurisdiction, 
 a tribunal composed, like the lowest court in the system, of representa-- 
 tives chosen by the free suffrages of the people constituting the con 
 gregations respectively. In short, a popular government in ecclesi 
 astical affairs, in which the will of the majority, regularly expressed 
 through its legally constituted agencies, was the supreme controlling 
 power. 
 
 I will not pretend to say that the people, under this form of 
 church government, were more pious or orderly in their daily walk, or 
 that their ministers were any more correct in their religious teaching, 
 or more faithful in their sacred calling, than they had been under the 
 system which they had just demolished ; but it can be safely asserted 
 that its effects upon the destinies of the English speaking people, if 
 not ultimately upon those of the general mass of mankind, are beyond 
 the possibility of adequate conception. 
 
 We may admit, if you please, that its laity for generations were 
 left to grovel in the lowest depths of ignorance, superstition and vice, 
 while its clergy were narrow-minded, grasping, tyrannical, insolent, 
 intolerant and cruel. We may concede all that its most malignant 
 enemy has said in denunciation of the Presbyterian Church of Scot 
 land for more than a century after its establishment, and even agree 
 that the colors in which the repulsive picture has been drawn should 
 have been ten-fold darker. Yet its influence in promoting the spirit 
 of democracy, which lingered in the Scottish heart from the rudest 
 ages of its savage independence, will entitle it to the highest meed of 
 gratitude and admiration as long as human liberty has a votary among 
 men. We not only find in it the germ of our own free institutions 
 and the original type of our own magnificent form of civil govern 
 ment, but the sacred flame from which the beacon fires of freedom 
 have been kindled every-where. It spurned with bitter contempt the 
 impious pretensions of princes, and taught the true dignity of man. 
 Its very existence was a perpetual rebuke to every claim of hereditary
 
 ADDRESS OF HON. PROCTOR KNOTT. 83 
 
 power, and a constant illustration of the great truth that men are ca 
 pable of governing themselves. The choice of its official agencies by 
 the free suffrage of the congregation was a practical assertion of the 
 vital principle underlying all republican institutions, that " govern 
 ments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed," 
 while its presbyteries and assemblies demonstrated the fact that the 
 will of popular majorities can be conveniently and safely exercised 
 through their own chosen representatives. 
 
 But if mankind is thus deeply indebted to the mere passive example 
 of the Scottish church, how much more is due to the intrepid zeal and 
 tireless vigilance of its clergymen in the darkest period of its history. 
 To show this, I have but to use the words of a distinguished English 
 writer, who delighted to excoriate their faults with the burning lash 
 of indignant denunciation: "Much they did to excite our strongest 
 aversion ; but one thing they achieved which should make us honor 
 their memory and repute them the benefactors of their species. At a 
 most hazardous moment they kept alive the spirit of national liberty. 
 What the nobles and the crown had put in peril, that did the clergy 
 save. By their care the dying spark was kindled into a blaze. When 
 the light grew dim and flickered on the altar, their hands trimmed the 
 lamp and fed the sacred flame. This is their real glory, and on this 
 they may well repose. They were the guardians of Scotch freedom, 
 and they stood to their posts. Where danger was they were foremost. 
 By their sermons, by their conduct, both public aud private, by the 
 proceedings of their assemblies, by their bold and frequent attacks 
 upon persons, without regard to their rank, nay, even by the very in 
 solence with which they treated their superiors, they stirred up the 
 minds of men, woke them from their lethargy, formed them to habits 
 of discussion, and excited that inquisitive and democratic spirit which 
 is the only effectual guaranty the people can possess against the tyranny 
 of those who are set over them. This was the work of the Scotch 
 clergy, and all hail to them who did it. It was they who taught their 
 countrymen to scrutinize with a fearless eye the policy of their rulers. 
 It was they who pointed the finger of scorn at kings and nobles, and 
 laid bare the hollowness of their pretensions. They ridiculed their 
 claims and jeered at their mysteries. They tore the veil and exposed 
 the tricks of the scene which lay behind. The great ones of the 
 earth they covered with contempt, and those who were above them they 
 cast down. Herein they did a deed which should compensate for all 
 their nilenses, even were their offenses ten times as great. By discoun 
 tenancing that pernicious aud degrading respect which meu are apt to 
 pay to those whom accident, aud not merit, has raised above them,
 
 84 THE SCOTCH- IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 they facilitated the growth of a proud and sturdy independence, which 
 was sure to do good service at a time of need." 
 
 The seeds thus sown from the pulpits and assemblies of the Scotch 
 church in the latter part of the sixteenth century not only produced an 
 ample harvest from the rugged but congenial soil upon which they fell, 
 but were cherished in the bosoms of the Scottish people, who carried 
 them to other lands, where they brought forth abundant fruits, 
 to the dismay and ultimate overthrow of those who threatened their 
 liberties. 
 
 Soon after his accession to the English crown, King James I., true 
 to the instincts of the most perfidious family that ever disgraced the 
 throne of a civilized people, having secured the flight and outlawry of 
 the earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnel upon a cunningly devised pretext 
 of some treasonable conspiracy between them, seized upon their vast 
 estates, comprising nearly eight hundred thousand acres in the fertile 
 province of Ulster, in the north of Ireland, upon which he commenced 
 the plantation of a Scotch and English colony in the year 1609. 
 
 The fertility of the soil, the favorable terms upon which it was 
 proposed tc be let to immigrants, and the advantages offered to them 
 by a variety of other circumstances, soon lured a number of his 
 countrymen to this promising plantation, whither they were followed 
 from time to time by others of their kindred until they became event 
 ually the predominant element throughout the province. Thus were 
 the descendants of the ancient Scots brought back to the identical 
 scenes from which their savage ancestry had emigrated nearly two 
 thousand years before ; and thus originated the name Scotch-Irish. 
 
 But notwithstanding the suffix to their national patronymic, the 
 irreconcilable difference in religion between them and the native in 
 habitants, together with other prejudices naturally resulting from their 
 peculiar relations to each other, presented such an obstacle in the way 
 of a coalition of the two races that the colonists and their descendants 
 for generations, if, indeed, they have not to the present time, remained 
 thoroughly Scotch in all their leading characteristics. They carried 
 with them to their new homes not only the personal traits peculiar to 
 their race, but its political and religious prejudices as well as its ecclesi 
 astical polity. They built their churches, organized their presbyteries, 
 established their schools, and pursued their respective callings with a 
 thrifty industry which soon transformed the province of Ulster from 
 the wildest and most disorderly to the best cultivated and most pros 
 perous portion of Ireland. 
 
 It must not be supposed, however, that they were permitted to 
 enjoy any very protracted period of repose during the century and a
 
 ADDRESS OF HON. PROCTOR KNCTT. 85 
 
 half immediately following their advent into Ulster. Whether the en 
 forced flight of Tyrone and Tyrconnel, and the subsequent confiscation 
 of their estates were justifiable or not, such circumstances were natu 
 rally calculated to incite the deepest indignation of their neighbors, re 
 tainers, kindred, and friends, even granting them to have been less 
 passionate and turbulent than we have reason to believe they were at 
 that period of Irish civilization. We, ourselves, with all our moral 
 culture and Christian refinement, could but feel an insuperable repug 
 nance to a colony of strangers, differing from us in politics and re 
 ligion, thrust by the government into our midst against our wills, and 
 placed in possession of the property of our leading citizens, forced to 
 flee from their homes to save their lives, upon a charge which we be 
 lieve to be riot only unjust, but unfounded. It is not surprising, there 
 fore, that the animosity of the native inhabitants toward their new 
 neighbors should manifest itself in repeated and bloody deeds of vio 
 lence. 
 
 But little more than five years had elapsed, indeed, before a con 
 spiracy was detected, which is said to have had for its object the seiz 
 ure of the British fortresses and the extirpation of the foreign settlers 
 in the province. And in less than three decades later, the jealousies 
 and enmities growing out of the plantation of the colony showed 
 themselves in one of the most sanguinary tragedies that ever stained 
 the annals of a civilized land, in which the Scots in Ulster were treated 
 with the most diabolical cruelty, which, in turn, was retaliated by a 
 fearful and ferocious revenge. 
 
 They fared but little worse, if any, at the hands of their hostile 
 neighbors, however, than at those of the government, under whose 
 patronage they had settled in their new homes. Presbyterian and 
 Papist alike were disfranchised by its infamous test oaths, which 
 neither could conscientiously take, and both were punished with the 
 same relentless rigor for non-conformity. Their houses of worship were 
 repeatedly closed, their congregations dispersed, their members perse 
 cuted, and th,e people, irrespective of age or sex, tendered an oath re 
 pugnant alike to their judgments and their consciences. Yet the 
 young and more intrepid leaders of the Scottish church assembled 
 their flocks at noon-day in the open fields, and in secluded chambers 
 in the small hours of the night, in vast crowds, and in little groups, 
 every-where denouncing the tyranny under which they languished, 
 and exciting their hearers to a more enthusiastic pitch of sectarian 
 zeal. It is true, there were periods in which, by special indulgence or 
 through official indifference, they were permitted to worship in their 
 own chosen way ; yet it is easy to see how even an occasional interfer-
 
 86 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 ence with that cherished privilege increased their attachment to their 
 church, while it fed their hereditary hatred to the English crown, and 
 made them hail with supreme satisfaction the downfall of the detesta- 
 We dynasty of the Stuarts. 
 
 Among the scenes which closed the ignoble career of the last of 
 that disreputable house, there was one which not only exhibited the 
 leading traits of the Scotch-Irish character in the strongest possible 
 light, but which will challenge the admiration of mankind as long as 
 our language shall be spoken, or the memory of heroic deeds cherished 
 among the children of men. On the second day after his arrival in 
 the city of Dublin, with a body of foreign mercenaries at his heels, 
 the cowardly fugitive from the British throne signalized his return to 
 the territory of his lost dominion by issuing a proclamation to his 
 former subjects of the Catholic faith, gratefully acknowledging their 
 vigilance and fidelity, and enjoining such of them as had not already 
 taken up arms in his service, to hold them in readiness until it should 
 be found necessary to use them to his advantage, and by conferring 
 the ducal rank upon Tyrconnel, who had disarmed the Protestants 
 throughout a large portion of Ireland, and assembled an army of 
 thirty thousand foot and eight thousand horse for the assistance of his 
 fallen master. 
 
 These, with other circumstances, gave rise to wild and exciting 
 rumors, which rapidly spread throughout the province of Ulster, to 
 the effect that it was the intention of the desperate Stuart to extirpate 
 the Protestant religion, and re-establish the authority of the Roman 
 church by fire and sword. The effect, especially among the Scottish 
 population, may be easily imagined. Their ministers were every-where 
 heard exhorting the people, in words of rude but burning eloquence, 
 to arise in defense of their faith and their firesides ; while their women 
 adjured them, by all ths sacred associations of the family tie, to defend 
 themselves and their homes with the last drop of their blood. 
 
 The grim courage and determined self-reliance of their race were 
 thoroughly aroused, their religious enthusiasm excited, and their un 
 dying animosity to papal power inflamed to the highest pitch of frenzy. 
 Betrayed by their governor, abandoned by the commanders of the 
 small force which had been sent by the government for their protec 
 tion, with no military experience themselves, and but a limited supply 
 of the munitions of war, they improvised an army of seven thousand 
 men, with one of their preachers, assisted by a couple of faithful and 
 courageous officers of the king's service, at its head, and hastily en 
 trenched themselves behind the fortifications of Londonderry, where, 
 for one hundred and five days, they withstood a siege in which they
 
 ADDRESS OF HON. PROCTOR KNOTT. 87 
 
 exhibited a sublimity of courage and fortitude without a parallel in 
 human history since the fall of Jerusalem before the conquering arms 
 of Titus Vespasian. 
 
 After more than three months of continuous battle, aggravated 
 by the horrors of disease and famine, during which their heroic 
 women, often with weapons in their hands, stood side by side with 
 their brave defenders in every scene of danger and distress, the mem 
 orable contest around the walls of Londonderry was brought to a close 
 with eight thousand of its besiegers slain and more than half its de 
 voted garrison in their graves. But George Walker, the faithful pas 
 tor of Donaghmore, whose pious eloquence inspired the spiritual 
 fervor of his brethren from the pulpit, and whose genius and courage 
 directed their perilous duties on the ramparts and in the sortie, sur 
 vived the siege, and, bidding adieu to the shattered fragment of his 
 command, now worn by disease and wasted by famine, followed the 
 fortunes of William of Orange to the bloody banks of the Boyne, 
 where he fell, side by side with the Duke of Schomberg and Caille- 
 mote, the heroic Huguenot. 
 
 But the Scottish Presbyterians, whose deeds in the heroic defense 
 of Londonderry resemble more the fabled exploits of Homeric fiction 
 than the transactions of modern warfare, fared but little better at the 
 hands of the new government than the Irish Catholics who besieged 
 it. So far from having any of the restrictions upon their freedom of 
 religion removed, they were left almost as completely under the ban 
 of those fatuous and despotic enactments in derogation of religious 
 liberty, which so long disgraced the jurisprudence of Great Britain, 
 as their neighbors of the Roman faith, who had been so recently in re 
 bellion against the crown. They still remained under the denuncia 
 tion of the penal laws against non-conformity, without even a legal 
 toleration, until 1720, while they were excluded from all offices of 
 honor, profit, or trust under the government, by the rigorous require 
 ments of the oath of supremacy, and the still more obnoxious provis 
 ions of the Test Act, until 1780. 
 
 In addition to these irritating circumstances, they were subjected 
 to a variety of vexatious burdens, which influenced large numbers of 
 them to quit the provjnce of Ulster, and seek more peaceful and pro 
 pitious homes in the colonies of America, whither they brought with 
 them an undying hatred to the British crown, and a burning desire 
 for some suitable opportunity for its gratification. That opportunity 
 was soon presented, and if any of them failed to avail himself of it 
 with promptness and pleasure, it was not from any lack of in
 
 88 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 clination, but because he was prevented by circumstances beyond his 
 control. 
 
 They came often in groups of families, neighbors, perhaps, in the 
 homes they had left in Ulster, and located themselves, generally, in 
 the colonies of Pennsylvania,, Virginia, and the Carolinas, where, as 
 their fathers had done in Ireland, they organized their congregations, 
 set up their neighborhood schools, and by a sedulous attention to their 
 own affairs, set an example of industry, economy and morality, the in 
 fluence of which is still visible in the intelligence, thrift, refinement 
 and orderly deportment which distinguish the communities in which 
 they settled. 
 
 The part played by this remarkable race in preparing the popular 
 mind of their adopted country for independence, as well as in the 
 bloody contest which terminated in that glorious result, it would be 
 difficult, if not impossible, to overestimate. Whether the Mecklen 
 burg declaration was really the work of Ephraim Brevard and his asso 
 ciates, or only the clever after thought of some obscure person whose 
 name history has failed to record, it embodied the cherished sentiments 
 of every genuine Scotch-Irishman in America. The tide of immigra 
 tion which brought them to our shores set in near the beginning of the 
 century, reached its flood near the period when Washington and many of 
 his illustrious compatriots were b>)rn, and continued without retiring ebb 
 until the final break between the colonies and the mother country. 
 Wherever they went, they repeated, with feelings of bitter hate, the 
 story of their wrongs, and taught by precept and by example, in sea 
 son and out of season, the sublime doctrine of civil and religious free 
 dom which had been burned into their very souls by generations of 
 cruelty and oppressions. Wherever they went they transfused the 
 community around them with their own deathless spirit of democracy ; 
 and when the tocsin sounded for the mighty struggle, they sprang to 
 the front and offered their blood as a joyous oblation to the God of 
 battles upon the altars of their faith. They craved none of the Dead 
 Sea fruit of a selfish ambition ; they sought none of the barren laurels 
 of an empty fame. They were plain, earnest, determined men, who 
 wanted results results which would secure to their children and their 
 children's children, the priceless patrimony of freedom and for that 
 they rushed to the fiery front of battle, reckless as to who might lead 
 them so he led to victory or to death. 
 
 Would you know their names ? In every walk of private useful 
 ness and public honor ; in every avenue of active enterprise and popu 
 lar progress; in every department of literature, and in every branch 
 of science ; in every theater of honorable ambition ; in the pulpit and
 
 ADDRESS OF HON. PROCTER KNOTT. 89 
 
 at the bar ; on the field and in the cabinet, on the bench and in the 
 halls of legislation ; in the chambers of our highest courts, and in the 
 presidential chair, they and their sons have written them in imperish 
 able characters upon the brightest pages of our country's history. Go 
 read them there. 
 
 The children of the race are now scattered throughout all this 
 broad continent, mingling like drops of water in the mighty ocean, 
 with a vast and wondrous people gathered from many lands; but 
 wherever they may be, they and their descendants will cherish with 
 affectionate veneration the honor of their ancient sires, and keep the 
 sacred fires of family love brightly burning on their domestic altars as 
 long as a drop of the old Scotch-Irish blood shall trickle through their 
 veins; and should the grasping hand of consolidated wealth, the wild 
 fury of communism, or the insolence of foreign power ever menace the 
 fair fabric of constitutional liberty erected by their fathers, they will 
 rush to its defense, with the same intrepid devotion with which their 
 rude ancestors followed the slogan of the clan.
 
 90 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 WHAT THE SCOTCH-IRISH HAVE DONE 
 FOR EDUCATION. 
 
 BY Q. MACLOSKIE, D.SC., LL.D., PROFESSOR OF BIOLOGY IN PRINCETON COLLEGE. 
 
 The close alliance of Scotland and Ireland dates from the time 
 of St. Patrick, who died in A. D. 465. He appears to have been edu 
 cated in the southern part of Scotland, and he preached the Gospel 
 and established religious houses in Ireland. His monasteries were not 
 the homes of lazy monks, but seats of learning and centers of mission 
 ary effort. They resembled the schools of the prophets of the Old 
 Testament, and were repeated in the last century in the log colleges 
 of America. The early Irish monks, many of them married men, 
 were zealous students and copyists of Scripture, and enthusiastic itin 
 erant preachers. An old tradition says that one of them, St. Brendin, 
 discovered the new world, and, after returning to Ireland to report his 
 discovery, he set sail a second time (in the year 545), to preach the 
 Gospel to the natives of the newly discovered land. He was never 
 heard of again, but his name is immortalized by a bay on the west of 
 Ireland, from which he is said to have sailed. Another tradition asso 
 ciates colonists from the north of Ireland with Scandinavians as the 
 first settlers of Iceland, which became a home of learning. 
 
 Two men from Ulster, both bearing the name of Columba, be 
 came missionaries of learning and religion, one in the Highlands of 
 Scotland, the other in continental Europe. One of them Columba, or 
 Columbkille, from County Donegal, in west Ulster, established the re 
 ligious house at lona, an island west of Scotland, and himself and his dis 
 ciples carried the Gospel over Scotland and into the north of England. 
 Hence arose the Culdees, or worshipers of God, who cherished the 
 Gospel in the homes of Scotland even in the dark ages ; and their de 
 scendants quickly responded to John Knox when, at a later age, like 
 Columbkille resurrected, he preached Christ to his beloved Scotla-ud. 
 Lindisfarne, in the north of England, was a fruit of the work of the 
 Culdees; and it has been lately found that the Lindisfarue Illuminated 
 Gospel, kept in the British Museum, and long supposed to be a gem 
 of Anglo-Saxon learning, is an Irish work, probably penned by some 
 English student in one of the celebrated Irish schools. 
 
 The other Columba came from a school in County Down, on the
 
 WHAT THE SCOTCH-IRISH HAVE DONE FOK EDUCATION. 91 
 
 eastern coast of Ulster, and went as a missionary to Eastern France 
 and Switzerland, where he is better known by the name of Columbanus. 
 His biography has been recently discovered in the civic archives of 
 Schaffhausen, in Switzerland, written in the pure ancient Celtic lan 
 guage, and has given an impetus to the study of that language. One 
 of the cantons of Switzerland commemorates by its name (St. Gallen, 
 Irish county} these old Irish missionaries, members of the genuine 
 Clan-na-Gael. Boniface, the apostle of Germany (A. D. 738), be 
 longed to them ; and he and other Scotch-Irish missionaries established 
 religious houses, among them the monastery of Erfurt, where Luther, 
 at a later date, found the Reformation in a Latin Testament. Thus, 
 by easy steps, we go from St. Patrick to loua and the Culdees and 
 Knox in Scotland, and to Switzerland, with its Zwingle and Geneva, 
 and to Germany and Luther. Germany, which now leads the world 
 in scholarship, was content to receive its first schools from humble 
 Scotch-Irish itinerants. 
 
 The quality of the teaching of those times may be estimated from 
 the Confession of St. Patrick, from the love generally shown for the 
 Scriptures, and from the Commentary on Scripture of Sedulius, abbot 
 of Kildare, in Ireland, ninth century. Pure Gospel is found in these 
 writings, without any hint of a pope, and Sedulius praises Paul for his 
 censure of Peter, and gives an evangelical interpretation of the Lord's 
 Supper. A traveling Irish-Scot, named Ferghil (or Virgil) taught 
 that the world is globular, and that the further side is probably inhab 
 ited. He was summoned before the pope for such teaching, but es 
 caped the fate of heretics. Johannes Scotus Erigeua (which name 
 may be interpreted as Scotch-Irish John) gave the celebrated repartee 
 to Charles the Bald, who asked him across the table, "John, what is 
 the difference between a Scot and a sot?" and was promptly answered, 
 " Nothing whatever, please your majesty, except the table." 
 
 Another tradition awards to St. Comgall's school, at Bangor, in 
 County Down, the alma mater of Columbanus, the additional honor of 
 supplying Alfred the Great with the first batch of professors for Oxford 
 University, in England, as, at a later date, Scotland gave its first pro 
 fessors to Dublin University, in Ireland, and as many of our American 
 colleges have been started by Scotch-Irish ministers. 
 
 The twelfth century brought in the age of darkness to Ireland. 
 In 1110, the Irish Synod of Rathbreasil sold their religious independ 
 ence to an Italian pontiff, and, within the same century, the Italian 
 pontiff bargained away its civil independence to a dissolute English 
 monarch, in return for a promise of payment of Peter's pence. Thus 
 a double servitude, both spiritual and temporal, was imposed on the
 
 92 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 country, the ecclesiastical and civil potentates sometimes quarreling, 
 sometimes courting each other, but always oppressing the people. In 
 1315, Edward Bruce, the brother of Scotland's hero, endeavored to 
 free Ireland from the English ; but the church excommunicated him, 
 and he lost his life in the struggle. During the dark ages, schools dis 
 appeared from Ireland, and the only men who perpetuated its reputa 
 tion for learning were such as spent their days abroad at the courts of 
 F-uropean monarchs. Ireland then became a good country to leave. 
 So low had it sunk, that the Reformation, which stirred other nations, 
 was scarcely felt there. Even the Bible had become forgotten ; yet, 
 when the Roman Catholic Archbishop of York presented two fine 
 copies of the Scriptures to the two cathedrals of Dublin, the people 
 welcomed the gifts and eagerly studied the books. 
 
 The Reformation in Scotland was the outcome chiefly of university 
 scholarship. Men with the training and spirit of Columbkille such 
 mi'u as Patrick Hamilton, George Wishart, John Knox, and Andrew 
 Melville revived the times of the Culdees, and Scotland, the poorest 
 of the nations, soon took a leading position for scholarship and piety. 
 
 Early in the seventeenth century, the north of Ireland was va 
 cated by turbulent chiefs, and Scotchmen were invited to enter and 
 lend a helping hand in its civilization. That was an age of religious 
 persecution, even among Protestants. It was the time at which pious 
 Non-conformists were driven from England, first to Holland, and 
 afterward, in the Mayflower, to America, in quest of liberty to pray 
 to God. At first, the king of England encouraged Scots to migrate 
 to Ireland with a prospect of religious liberty. This " plantation of 
 Ulster" was the counterpart, in some measure, of the emigration of 
 the Pilgrim Fathers; but the Scotch took nearly a century in moving 
 from Scotland by way of Ireland to America, and they had to pass 
 through a hot fire in the transit, and to come out, not as Scots, but as 
 Scotch-Irish, with new experiences and new characteristics. 
 
 Though the "plantation of Ulster" by Scotch immigrants was 
 numerically a small affair, only a million of acres being open to colo 
 nization, and not half of these falling to the newcomers, yet a com 
 plete change of habits and mode of cultivation ensued, and the entiie 
 province felt the benefit of the change. The men who came from 
 Scotland were many of them the " floaters," of bad principles and a 
 coarse type, and they intermingled with semi-savage natives. There 
 came over, however, along with them, the religious and educational 
 methods of Scotland. John Kuox had established a system of schools, 
 so that every minister had a hand in teaching during some part of his 
 career, and every boy, however poor, had before him the opportunity
 
 WHAT THE SCOTCH-IRISH HAVE DONE FOR EDUCATION. 93 
 
 of gaining education up to his ability. The church and the school 
 went together, as both of the people and for the people. James Mel 
 ville (nephew of Andrew) informs us that, at one of these schools, in 
 Montrose, Scotland, he was instructed by a Christian minister, who 
 was "a guid, kind, learned man," in the three important subjects of 
 a boy's education, (1) book learning, (2) religion, (3) athletics. He 
 learned Latin and French ; also, archery, swimming, fencing, and 
 jumping; and his piety grew with the discipline of the school. In 
 Scotland, this educational system culminated in the great universities, 
 that of Edinburgh being itself a child of the Reformation. 
 
 The religious history of Ulster begins with the ministrations of a 
 few immigrant Scottish ministers, some of them men of noble 
 blood, who had to flee from persecution, and who were for a time per 
 mitted to occupy the churches in Ulster. In 1636, a great religious 
 awakening took place, which spread among all classes, Roman Catho 
 lics as well as Protestants, and transformed the province. There was 
 hope of times of blessing coming to all Ireland, when, as usual, the 
 English government stepped in to interrupt the work by persecuting 
 the ministers and people for non-conformity. What is known in his 
 tory as the Black Oath was enforced in Ulster, people being fined and 
 imprisoned for failing to swear obedience to the king in all things, and 
 ministers being silenced or banished. Thereafter followed a long 
 series of religious oppressions in Ireland ; and these persecutions sub 
 sequently followed the Scotch-Irish to America. 
 
 The colonization of Ulster from Scotland brought over schools 
 fashioned after the Scottish model, but without the civil encourage 
 ment which had been secured by Knox for "his people. The Irish 
 schools were private schools, often of an humble character. Tho.se 
 which have persisted even till our memory were conducted by pictur 
 esque, poor, but ofteu enthusiastic teachers, who were remunerated by 
 sods of peat, dishes of potatoes; fresh eggs and butter, and occasionally 
 by a fat goose at one of the great festivals. The scholars would go 
 barefoot, with arms out at the elbows, carrying the peat under one 
 arm, and a copy of an old arithmetic or Ovid's Metamorphosis under 
 the other. No Irish colleges welcomed these boys, as the only Irish 
 university, though at first it was started under Scottish teachers, was 
 soon closed against their characteristic faith. The Scotch-Irish lads, 
 after their school training was completed, had to go on foot to the sea 
 side, whence they embarked on a packet for Scotland, and again wi-nt 
 afoot in groups to Glasgow or Edinburgh University, whence they 
 were sent back, in the course of a few years, with the university 
 diploma. On returning, they were trained in theology under the su-
 
 94 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 pervision of the presbytery. Francis Makemie, the father of Amer 
 ican Presbyterianism, gives us an account of his own education in the 
 latter half of the seventeenth century. At a school in County Don 
 egal, he experienced, as he says, " a work of grace and conversion in 
 my heart at fifteen years of age, by and from the pains of a godly 
 schoolmaster, who used no small diligence in gaining tender souls to 
 God's service and fear." His theological training was faithfully super 
 intended by the presbytery, though it was not permitted to hold pub 
 lic meetings, some of its members having been imprisoned and fined 
 for holding a session of presbytery. Soon afterward, Non-conformists 
 were forbidden to teach school. Moreover, the Scottish colonists of 
 Ulster came to experience extortions by landlords, and to be denied 
 the rights of freemen in the country for which they had done so much. 
 In Ireland, as in America, a three-fold struggle for liberty had to be 
 carried on: (1) for liberty to be educated; (2) for religious liberty; 
 (3) for civil liberty. 
 
 We will not follow the struggle as it went on in Ulster. Suffice 
 it to say, that the men who saved England by closing the gates of 
 Perry, were robbed of the honor of their services, were afterward de 
 clared unfit to hold office in the citv which they had defended, 
 or anywhere under the British crown ; and laws were passed to 
 destroy their woolen trade, to make their marriages null and their 
 children bastards, and to deprive them of Christian burial ; nor 
 were they relieved of their disabilities until the rebellion of the 
 American colonies taught England to deal gently with the op 
 pressed at home. Step by step, Ulster has fought its way to political 
 equality, to protection for its tenant farmers, to religious freedom, and 
 to high educational rank. Belfast, at present, holds the third place in 
 Great Britain as a seaport, being surpassed in the tonnage of its ship 
 ping only by London and Liverpool. Ulster is i-emarkably free from 
 crime, and has few police, as compared with the rest of Ireland, or 
 even England. And men who have gone from Ulster, with the edu 
 cation and principles of the' Scotch-Irish, occupy the highest positions as 
 teachers or statesmen in England, India, China, Australia, and America. 
 
 The advent of the Scotch-Irish to America dates from the time 
 when oppressions became unbearable at home; especially from the time 
 of James II. It was about 1683 that Francis Makemie. arrived, the 
 first Scotch-Irish clergyman whose history is known to us. He was put 
 in jail in New York city for the crime of preaching the gospel in a 
 private house ; and he defended the cause of religious liberty with he 
 roic courage and legal ability, being helped by a Scottish lawyer from 
 Philadelphia (who was silenced for his courage), and being ultimately
 
 WHAT THE SCOTCH-IRISH HAVE DONE FOR EDUCATION. 95 
 
 acquitted by a brave New York jury. Thus was begun the great 
 struggle for religious liberty in America. 
 
 Some of the immigrants established colonies in New England, as 
 in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine. In 1718 a large com 
 pany arrived in five ships at Boston, introducing four characteristic 
 Scotch-Irish institutions: (1) potatoes, (2) a spinning-wheel, (3) a 
 school to teach even the Bostonians how to spin, (4) a Presbyterian 
 minister ready at once to form them into an organized church. This 
 last was Rev. John Moorehead, for long time the representative of the 
 cause in Boston. Other churches were established, as at Andover, 
 Londonderry, N. H., and in Maine. 
 
 The influx of this class into Pennsylvania soon changed the char 
 acter of the middle colonies. The governor of Pennsylvania, during 
 fifty years (1699 to 1749), was a Scotch-Irish Quaker, James Logan, a 
 native of county Armagh, Ireland, an able judge, a patron of learn 
 ing, a friend of the Indians, but not fond of his own countrymen when 
 they were not Quakers. He feared that ere long they would turn 
 matters their own way. " It looks as if Ireland were to send all her 
 inhabitants hither," was his complaint in 1725; " if they will con 
 tinue to come, they will make themselves proprietors of the province;" 
 and he condemned the bad taste of people who were forcing them 
 selves where their presence was not desired. We may estimate the 
 rate of the invasion from the rise of the population of Pennsylvania 
 from 20,000 in 1701, to 250,000 in 1749. Shortly before the revolu 
 tionary war, a new outbreak of oppression in Ireland sent a larger 
 stream, chiefly of farmers and manufacturers. Most of these men 
 were Presbyterians, of a sturdy spirit ; they sailed in search of liberty, 
 and they were the earliest and most persevering of our people in our 
 struggle for civil liberty. John Stark, who had fought for England 
 against the French, rushed, when the great struggle came, to fight for 
 America against British tyranny, his pious Irish wife, by her letters, 
 encouraging him in what she said was God's cause. Richard Mont 
 gomery, who fell at Quebec, was Scotch Irish, as was the other Mont 
 gomery, who presided over the first meeting of the Scotch-Irish in 
 Cumberland Valley, where resolutions were passed for independence, 
 and money was raised, and a regiment of soldiers soon despatched to 
 aid Washington at Boston. This regiment was under the command 
 of Colonel Chambers, a Scotch-Irish elder. Thomas McKean, another 
 of them, was one of the fourteen of the race who signed the Declara 
 tion of Independence, and was governor of Pennsylvania during the 
 great struggle. A Scotch-Irishman wrote, another publicly read, a 
 third first printed the Declaration of Independence. Joseph Reed,
 
 96 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA, 
 
 son of an Irish father, himself a graduate of Princeton college, was the 
 trusted secretary of Washington, though he died young. It was he that 
 replied to king George's officers : "I am not worth bribing, but such as 
 I am, Britain is not rich enough to buy me." Charles Thomson, from 
 Maghera, Ireland, was then secretary of Congress, " the man of 
 truth; "as the proverb ran, "as true as if Charles Thomson's name 
 were to it." Henry Kuox, the Scotch -Irish bookseller of Boston, was 
 Washington's efficient chief of ordnance, from Ticonderoga to York- 
 town. The Scotch Irish of Philadelphia and of Boston, came forward 
 in times of financial embarrassment, to help the popular cause by their 
 contributions. Scotch Irish pastors were foremost in their patriotism. 
 Rev. John Murray, of Maine, and David Caldwell, of North Caro 
 lina, were honored by the British offering rewards for the capture of 
 either of them. Dr. George Duffield, an excellent cross between the 
 Scotch-Irish and the Huguenot, said from the pulpit that he was sorry 
 to see so many able-bodied men at church, when their country needed 
 their services at Valley Forge. In those days it was an offense calling 
 for discipline before the New England and Pennsylvania presbyteries, 
 if a minister did any thing that might excite suspicion of disloyalty to 
 his country's cause. ; 
 
 The military services of the race, at first against the French and 
 Indians, and afterward on behalf of independence against the British, 
 were merely an incident in their history. Their greatest achievements 
 were in peace, with the axe, the plow, and the loom, clearing the 
 forest, subduing the land, and developing mechanical arts and trade. 
 Above all other public institutions, they loved the church and the 
 school. With them religion and education were inseparable ; no re 
 ligion without the training of the intelligence ; no education divorced 
 from piety. The school was always planted near the church, the 
 schoolmaster was often the pastor, or a candidate for the ministry, or 
 one of the pillars of the church. An attempt was made, early in the 
 eighteenth century, to exclude non-conformists from the office of teach 
 ing; nobody was to teach in New York (at least of the English- 
 speaking people), unless provided with a certificate from the bishop of 
 London. But in Pennsylvania and southward, greater liberty was al 
 lowed, at least as to common schools. The present condition of the 
 middle states bears testimony to the use made of this liberty. Whilst 
 New England was colonized by the cream of old England's puritauism, 
 and Pennsylvania only a century later by the outcasts of the poor 
 province of Ulster, yet the progress of the Keystone State may compare 
 with the vaunted achievements of the Plymouth colony. 
 
 The man to whom, above all others, our country is indebted for
 
 WHAT THE SCOTCH-IRISH HAVE DONE FOR EDUCATION. 97 
 
 his influence on its education, is the Rev. William Tennent, founder 
 of the log college at Nesharniuy, in Bucks county, Pennsylvania. He 
 was a native of county Armagh, Ireland, at first an Episcopalian, 
 probably a graduate of Trinity college, Dublin. His wife, Catherine 
 Kennedy, was the worthy daughter of an Irish Presbyterian minister, 
 who had suffered persecution for his faith. They came to America 
 with their young family, in 1716, and ten years later he was ordained 
 and settled as pastor at Neshaminy. There he started a school which 
 aimed to be a college, in order to prepare young men for the Christian 
 ministry. It seems to have been a hybrid between the hedge schools 
 of Ulster and Dublin university, with poor equipment as to finances 
 or buildings, called in derision a " log college," but claiming to impart 
 sound classical, philosophical, and theological education. This insti 
 tution was established in order to provide a home supply of ministers, 
 and t'ie men who issued from it were the most zealous and successful 
 that have been given to our country. It was opposed by worthy 
 clergymen, who demanded that all candidates for the ministry should 
 produce a degree from one of the older universities, that is, either 
 trom Yale or Harvard, in New England, or from Scotland. But the 
 New England colleges were hostile to evangelical religion. Yale had 
 expelled David Brainerd, really, as was believed, because he attended 
 prayer-meeting, and formally complained because after its censure, 
 this best of missionaries was ordained by a presbytery. It was pro 
 nounced in its hostility to revivals of religion. Harvard placed itself 
 on record, by a manifesto signed by its president and professors, 
 against George Whitefield, the gravamen of his sin being that he 
 preached without paper. And Governor Belcher, himself a graduate 
 of Harvard, wrote that Arminiauism, Arianism, and Socinianism were 
 being propagated in the New England colleges. Thus the hope of se 
 curing a supply of godly ministers from New England was futile. 
 Nor was there any better prospect from abroad. Some good men did 
 come over, as Francis Makemie and William Tennent. But in 
 answer to the entreaties of our presbyteries that the British churches 
 should send them out pastors, most of those who came were " crooked 
 sticks." One was sent back after being convicted of plagiarism, and 
 a complaint was made to the synod of Ulster, for imposing on the 
 Americans by sending bad men. Others were narrow and quarrel* 
 some; not a few were intemperate. The best of the im migrants was. 
 a man who had fled from a charge before an Irish presbytery of forging 
 his credentials, who was afterward deposed from the ministry on the 
 same charge by the presbytery of Philadelphia, who went to Maine, 
 where he was irregularly restored to the ministry by a congregation, 
 7
 
 98 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 and who filled a long and devoted ministry, under this charge, which 
 he never dared to meet. 
 
 In such circumstances it was suicidal to depend on a foreign sup 
 ply of ministers, and in fact the Presbyterian churches of New Eng 
 land, by continuing in a dependent condition, prepared the way for 
 their extermination. Nor could the Presbyterians hope for a college 
 of their own ; on the contrary, they were informed that no college 
 charter would be granted to dissenters; and it was not till the success 
 of the log colleges was assured, that a charter was given, in an irregu 
 lar way, to the more moderate section of the denomination, for Prince 
 ton college. 
 
 The attempt to train young men for the ministry in the Log Col 
 lege, and their ordination without the degree of a chartered university, 
 though sometimes condemned by historians, seems to us to have been 
 the Declaration of Independence by the church for the right to train 
 its own ministry. The charge recently made, that Tennent and his 
 friends took a low view of education for ministers, may be met by the 
 facts that they gave the best education they could command, that so 
 soon as Princeton college was established, they rallied to its support 
 and its further development, and that the alumni of the log colleges 
 were deemed good enough in scholarship to be appointed professors or 
 presidents of the high-class colleges which were at length established. 
 The Log College preachers have also been condemned for venturing to 
 preach within the precincts of ministers who opposed revival methods, 
 but their conduct in this respect would be justified with us, on the 
 ground that ministers may not interpose to prevent the preach 
 ing of salvation to sinners, even though the sinners are of their 
 own flocks. 
 
 Like the monasteries of St. Patrick, 'Tennent's Log College be 
 came a home of learning and a center of missionary movements. Be 
 sides William Tenneut, senior, and Mrs. Tennent, it was blessed by 
 worthy disciples, including four sons of its founder. One of these, 
 Gilbert Tennent, may be named along with George Whitefield and (at 
 a later date) Bishop Asbury, as the three men who were, above all 
 others, used of God for the development of spiritual religion in the 
 New World. Besides these, there were Samuel Finlay, Samuel and 
 John Blair, John Robinson, John Rowland, and Charles Beatty. The 
 last named was an Irish peddler, who offered his wares in elegant Latin 
 at the Log College, was invited in, educated, and became a faithful 
 preacher. He was the ancestor of devoted men, the last of whom, 
 Charles Beatty, of Steubenville, 0., died a few years ago, after a long
 
 WHAT THE SCOTCH-IRISH HAVE DONE FOR EDUCATION. 99 
 
 service as missionary, educator, and benefactor of the Western Theo 
 logical Seminary, and of Washington and Jefferson College. 
 
 The example of the Tenuents was followed by other Scotch-Irish 
 pastors in Pennsylvania, Delaware, and southward. Thus a number 
 of high-class schools were established, bringing education to the doors 
 of tlie people, independently of government. The office of teacher 
 was not highly esteemed in England (it was apologized for, on behalf 
 of John Eliot, that he was in early life a teacher), but it was always 
 appreciated among the Scotch-Irish; and the teachers often gave their 
 services without pay, so that the poorest boy might be educated up to 
 his capacity. As examples of these institutions, may be named one 
 at Fagg's Manor (New London, Chester county, Pennsylvania), estab 
 lished in 1790 by Samuel Blair, one of Tennent's pupils; subsequently, 
 under Francis Allison, who was encouraged in his work by the Synod. 
 Allison afterward removed to Philadelphia, where he was preacher 
 and teacher, and at length professor, when the University was started. 
 Nottingham Academy, in Maryland, was established by Dr. Samuel 
 Finlay, in 1744, who was descended from John Finlay, one of the 
 early martyrs burnt at the stake in Scotland, and was himself, like 
 nearly all the other founders of these schools, a native of Ireland. This 
 academy of Nottingham produced some of our greatest men, as Gov 
 ernor Martin, of North Carolina, Dr. Benjamin Rush, Colonel Bayanl, 
 and preachers Waddell, McWhorter, etc. Pequea School, in Lancas 
 ter county, Pennsylvania, was established by Robert Smith, one of 
 Teuuent's disciples, himself Irish, and blessed with an Irish wife (who 
 was sister of Robert Blair). His son, Samuel Stanhope Smith, was 
 another great educationist, president of Hampden Sydney, and after 
 ward of Princeton College ; remarkable for his services in developing 
 the higher studies in college. His brother, John Blair Smith, was 
 successively president of Hampden Sydney and of Schenectady Col 
 lege. A school was established at Newville, in the Cumberland valley, 
 Pennsylvania, by John Blair, brother of Robert; another at West 
 Canococheague, by John King. Rev. David Caldwell, in North Caro 
 lina, had at once an academy, college, and theological seminary, and 
 was also a red-hot patriot. John McMillan went out to the wilds of 
 West Pennsylvania, where he established a church and a log college. 
 Thaddeus Dod followed his example at Red Stone, in South-western 
 Pennsylvania, and John Smith started another school. These western 
 institutions afterward developed into Washington and Jefferson Col 
 lege. 
 
 The humble academies gave a completion to our education before 
 we were blessed with colleges, and they prepared the way for chartered
 
 100 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 institutions, so soon as these could be obtained. Immediately on the 
 establishment of Princeton College, the Tenneuts gave up their school 
 at Neshaminy, and bestowed all their great influence toward the ad 
 vancement of the new institution. We find that, in 1748, the roll of 
 trustees of Princeton College included, with others, Gilbert Tennent, 
 William Tennent (the younger, his father having died), Richard Treat, 
 Samuel Blair, all these being pupils of the Log College and earnest 
 preachers; and we find Whitefield, Lady Huntington, and others col 
 lecting money for Princeton as a seat of learning and piety. In 1756, 
 the year in which Wesley's friends were banished from Oxford for 
 holding prayer-meetings, Whitefield was invited to preach in Princeton, 
 and he informs us of a revival in which many of the students were 
 converted. Other colleges were soon founded after the same pattern. 
 In this way was evolved our American type of college, as seen espe 
 cially in our middle and western states, homes of scholarship and relig 
 ion, independent of state control, yet producing patriotic citizens as 
 well as ardent students and Christian heroes, bringing education near 
 to the people, and raising the poor to a par with the rich in respect of 
 scholarship. We cordially respect the achievements of the great New 
 England colleges, but we plead that, under special disabilities, the 
 Scotch-Irish of the middle states have fought their way to the same 
 results, with the important addition that, with equal zeal for learning, 
 a warmer religious tone has been manifested in its pursuit. Our col 
 leges have received the significant encomium of James Bryce in his 
 "American Commonwealth." He remarks that, in America, we de 
 sire to have our business men furnished with college education, and 
 adds that this is a result of the dispersion of colleges, of their accessi 
 bility, and the cheapness of education ; that nearly all the eminent 
 men of the last forty years, including several Presidents of the United 
 States, have taught school in some part of their earlier years ; and that 
 our American universities are at this moment making the swiftest 
 progress and have the brightest promise for the future. This praise 
 comes from a Scotch-Irishman, the first Presbyterian, we believe, who 
 was admitted to the honors of Oxford without selling his conscience, 
 who afterward became a professor in that university, and is now com 
 ing to the front as one of England's greatest statesmen. 
 
 Such colleges are now rapidly extending "over our own .land. 
 Even to the golden gate of California, they have been established by 
 Scotch-Irish founders. They are often objects of benevolence with the 
 pious, and themselves nurseries of piety. They are overflowing into 
 other lands : Roberts College, at Constantinople, is giving trouble to 
 Russian as well as Turkish despotism ; Beyrout College is becoming
 
 WHAT TfTE SCOTCH-IRISH HAVE DONE FOR EDUCATION. 101 
 
 the light of Western Asia; and in Pekin, Canton, and Tokio, similar 
 lights appear. The Imperial University of Pekin is now under control 
 of Dr. Martin, one of our American missionaries, with the aid of an 
 international faculty of educators, so that the whole educational sys 
 tem of the empire is being changed. Sir Robert Hart, controller of 
 the customs system of China, is Scotch-Irish, son of a mill-worker iu 
 Belfast, and educated under Dr. McCosh ; and John McLeavy Brown, 
 his coadjutor, is the same. We hope, ere long, to see another of these 
 colleges in Brazil. 
 
 We can not venture into the personnel of Scotch-Irish educators and 
 inventors of recent times, as in theology the Alexanders and Hodges ; 
 in science, Fulton of the steam-engine, McCormick of the threshing 
 machine, Joseph Henry of the telegraph and electro-magnet. In bi 
 ology, the chief place iu Cambridge, England, and in Johns Hopkins, 
 of America; in political science, the chief place in Princeton College, 
 and in the University of Pennsylvania are held by the race, as are a 
 host of positions of varying importance over the whole country, such 
 as the superintendents of public schools and many of our most suc 
 cessful workers in the higher schools. The present generation of the 
 race remember their traditions as devotees of learning ; lovers of the 
 country that shelters them, and true to their God ; and they find in 
 these traditions a stimulus to their enthusiasm. There is a continuity 
 in the record of their history, as there is a community between the 
 kinsmen who are now serving as educators over all the continent. 
 And hereby are we taught not to seek for ourselves phenomenal ac 
 cumulations of wealth, which can not raise us to a higher plane, but 
 to cultivate the attainments which have already proved a blessing to 
 our race, and which have made them a wholesome factor in human 
 society.
 
 102 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 SCOTCH-IRISH CHARACTERISTICS. 
 
 BY REV. JOHN HALL, D.D., OF NEW YORK, 
 
 My Fellow Citizens, Ladies and Gentlemen'.- -I can not give expres 
 sion to the pleasure that I feel in beiug permitted to come and speak 
 to so many of you, and in the circumstances in which we are gathered 
 together. 
 
 I shall explain to you, in a word or two, the purpose that is before 
 my mind. Many months ago, I received a communication from your 
 friends who organized this society, asking me to come and take part in 
 its proceedings. It appeared to me extremely improbable at the time 
 that I could accept the invitation ; and I took the liberty of naming 
 an alternate, in the person of Dr. Macintosh, of Philadelphia. Ac 
 cordingly, it was arranged that he should come, and, properly speak 
 ing, my address will be delivered by Dr. Macintosh, at such time as 
 the committee may select. 
 
 It is said of a countryman of mine who settled in America, that 
 he liked it so well that he resolved to make it his native land. You 
 smile audibly at this statement, but, in point of fact, it is the very 
 thing that Dr. Macintosh did. He came over to Pennsylvania to be 
 born, then went back to Great Britain to be educated, and finally 
 came back to America, and has done nothing but honor to it ever 
 since. (Applause.) 
 
 I do not propose, ladies and gentlemen, to go into the field of his 
 tory that has been traversed already, and that will be traversed again, 
 with so great ability. It is the story of a marked race. We all 
 know how voluminous the authors of Germany are. One of them pro 
 posed to write a history of the world, and he set about the task. He 
 completed three full volumes before he reached the creation. (Laughter.) 
 I do not want to set out on that line, but rather to talk to you, in the 
 simplest and most informal manner, about my observations among the 
 people in the land from which the Scotch-Irish came. I belong to 
 their race. I am of the sixth generation that moved over from Scot 
 land into Ireland. They continued to live upon the same land, and I 
 have the happiness of being the eldest son of the family, and of hav 
 ing the land upon which my ancestors dwelt for the six generations; 
 and if ever you hear any thing spoken in the way of calling out sym 
 pathy for the tenants of Ireland, I hope you will extend a part of your
 
 SCOTCH-IRISH CHARACTERISTICS. 103 
 
 sympathy to me, for I belong to that category. It is two and twenty 
 years since I left Ireland and became a resident of these United States. 
 Speaking of this date reminds me of a circumstance that may interest 
 some of you. One of our most prominent ministers, Rev. Dr. Beatty, 
 made a visit to Belfast years ago, and a reception was tendered him 
 and his associates by the town. When he was called upon to speak, 
 as I am doiug now, he came upon the platform and said : " It gives 
 me great pleasure to be back here among my people. I left Ulster 
 one hundred and thirty years ago." They opened their eyes widely, for 
 they could not take in the thought that he was one hundred and thirty 
 years old ; but he explained that that was the time when his fore 
 fathers left the land and came to reside in America. It has been 
 twenty-two years since I left that land, and, though I can say that I 
 have in me the spirit of a true American citizen, I have not lost a 
 particle of the love and affection that I cherish, and will ever cherish, 
 for the people of my own native Ulster. (Applause.) 
 
 When I was in Cincinnati, in 1867, being sent over as a delegate 
 to this country to the meeting of the general assembly, I went into a 
 church. A gentleman was sitting by me in the audience, and was 
 volunteering information to me about things that were going on around. 
 My eye rested upon a man in the audience, and I said : "Is his name 
 McKee ? " My friend said : " Yes, he is McKee, of Louisville ; a famous 
 preacher there, I believe." A day or two afterward, I was introduced 
 to the same gentleman ; his face was so like that of the McKees in Ulster 
 that I identified him at once. A few days after our introduction, he told 
 me he came from Ulster, and that he heard there were several persons 
 of his name in the ministry over there. I say to you, as I looked over 
 the faces of the people here yesterday, I could hardly keep the tears 
 from my eyes, as they rested upon so many heads and faces and figures 
 like those with which I had been familiar in Ulster. The changes of 
 a physical kind are far less than one would at first suppose ; and I wish 
 for nothing better than that you may keep pure the moral characteris 
 tics and the habits of private life that made the Scotch-Irish what, by 
 the grace of God, they have been made. 
 
 I will say a few words as to the characteristics of the people as I 
 lived among them. In the first place, I think it is true to say, that 
 they are remarkably industrious as a people, and they succeeded in se 
 curing a degree of comfort in their homes, and respectability in dress 
 and appearance, that would hardly be expected from their limited 
 means. I remember that four or five or six acres of laud was enough 
 for a family. They raised crops upon it for the support of the family, 
 and by means of weaving at other times, the men and the women
 
 104 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 were accustomed to supplement the produce of the little farm, and se 
 cure a certain degree of independence and respectability. Those in 
 dustrious traits are propagated still, and I hope they will continue to 
 be. Just as soon as machinery came into use, the people of the north 
 of Ireland availed themselves of it. They adapted themselves to the 
 new conditions and circumstances, and its effect is visible at the present 
 time. The one manufacturing region in Ireland you will find in 
 Ulster. The only thing that has succeeded in money making in the 
 way of manufacturing in the three other provinces are two forms of 
 enterprise known as distilling and brewing; but in Ulster it is the 
 other way. Many people in Ulster feel apprehensive in regard to con 
 templated legislation, for they say that, if a high rate of taxation 
 should be put upon the provinces, the amount which would fall upon 
 Ulster would be out of proportion to that upon the other provinces, 
 and would tend to embarrass its industries. 
 
 We should do the best that we can to propagate these habits of 
 hard working and industry among the people with whom we come in 
 contact. I will mention an incident that occurred in Ulster during 
 the terrible famine in 1844-5-6. Owing to the complete failure of 
 the potato crop in Connaught, the suffering there was very intense. 
 Many contributions from America and elsewhere were sent in. Chris 
 tian ladies resolved to make the people in Ireland self-sustaining. 
 They corresponded with the people mostly in Ulster, and asked that 
 teachers be sent out to give instruction in sewed muslin work. The 
 result was, that female teachers, mostly the daughters of farmers in 
 Ulster, capable and educated, were sent into Connaught, where the 
 people were starving ; and the result was the in trod notion, not only of 
 a high moral training, but a teaching of industry, and habits of self- 
 support and self-reliance, which is still visible in their condition to 
 this day. 
 
 The second thiug I have to notice, in connection with these Ulster 
 people, is a certain unwillingness on their part to be the recipients of 
 charity. There were various forms of charity scattered over the 
 country, governmental and ecclesiastical. The Scotch-Irish, as a 
 class, were usually the last to avail themselves of these opportunities. 
 It is a governmental regulation in the old world that in the poor- 
 houses there should be chaplains of the respective denominations. 
 Presbyterian ministers used to smile over the fact that it was difficult 
 to get their people into the poor-house. They had a small constituency 
 in there. For nine years, I was chaplain of the Presbyterian order to 
 the female convict establishment in Dublin, which represented all the 
 female convicts of the country. My salary was not particularly ex-
 
 SCOTCH-IRISH CHARACTERISTICS. 105 
 
 travagant, but I used to feel compunction in taking it. We had in 
 the establishment seven hundred female convicts. Usually, there 
 would be about sixty-five that were Protestants of any kind, and fifteen 
 of these were as many as usually fell to my lot, although the Protestant 
 people represented a fourth of the population of the country. This 
 unwillingness to be dependent upon charity is characteristic of the 
 people. I am sorry to say, that there are some of my fellow-country 
 men who do not inherit this self-respect. I remember a man that, 
 some time ago, made application to me for aid on the ground that he 
 was a Presbyterian " like 1 was," and therefore thought it best to apply 
 to me. There was a certain brogue in his voice that put me a little in 
 doubt. "Well," I said, "I know nearly every man that is in the 
 congregation I serve, and I don't remember seeing you there." He 
 convicted himself when he said, " Well, I am always there at 
 vespers." The American way of describing it is, that he gave himself 
 away without knowing it. 
 
 Let us cultivate in America this proud spirit of self-reliance. 
 Where is there a land with the resources that this country has ? I 
 was taken out yesterday eight or nine miles to the old historic church, 
 and as I gazed at the fertile land, the beautiful fields, the growing crops, 
 the magnificent trees, the treasures of the southland, I could not but 
 think what responsibility rests upon the people of these regions ; how 
 much God has given them, for which they should magnify, glorify, 
 and honor him I 
 
 The third thing I would like to mention in connection with these 
 Scotch-Irish people, is that they are very strict and conscientious in 
 the matter of their religious observances. My memory goes back to 
 the scenes that made the greatest impression upon me, I mean the 
 communion seasons in the country congregations. There was a solemn 
 assemblage of the people on Wednesday or Thursday, when the people 
 were expected to be in church. There was another service on Satur 
 day, the ministers generally getting some of their brethren to assist 
 them in the exercises. The services of the communion Sabbath would 
 last three, four, and five hours, and yet there did not seem to be any 
 weariness on the part of the people. 
 
 I remember how, before the elders gave the cup, the people sang : 
 "I'll of salvation take the cup, 
 
 And on God'8 name will call; 
 I'll pay my vows now to the Lord 
 Before His people all." 
 
 They would take a seat at the table, then communion serv 
 ices would follow, and thanksgiving would be raised for the bless 
 ings they enjoyed, and then the visiting minister would take 
 charge. The impression made by those services I will carry to my 
 dying day, and I could wish nothing better for the Scotch-Irish race
 
 106 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 than that, reasonably dependent upon new conditions, we should retain 
 the same loyal attachment to God's truth, the same high appreciation 
 of Christian privileges, and the same spirit of consecration to him 
 whom we call the God of our salvation, and before whom we rejoice 
 as the God of our fathers. I remember the first time I was taken to 
 Sunday-school. Two girls, relations of mine, told me that they would 
 call for me. I can remember the picture that was then presented to 
 me. They had on their Sunday dresses, of course, nice, clean, with a 
 pocket handkerchief wrapped reverently around a little Bible, a flower 
 stuck in the end of the Bible. The girls carried this in their hands in 
 a decent, quiet way, and they brought me thus to school. At that time 
 we had no international lesson system, and no modern methods of 
 teaching. We boys, after school, would compare notes and say : 
 ''How many chapters did you read? We have read thirteen." The 
 reply would be, "Oh, we did better than that; we read fourteen." 
 The work consisted mainly in the children being grouped together and 
 reading verse after verse. The teacher confined his instruction mainly 
 to correcting errors in pronunciation, and keeping the boys in good 
 order. An immense change has taken place to-day, and you would 
 not find in Christendom better organized Sunday-schools and better 
 teachers than there are in Ulster at the present time. Let us continue 
 the same methods over this laud, without partisanship, but in the true 
 spirit of patriotism. You and I will agree in the declaration that if 
 we would have the righteousness that exalteth a nation, and keep 
 away the sin that disgraces a people, we must get the word of the 
 Lord into the hearts of the. people, we must educate the conscience 
 and keep it educated, and then men will fear God, and work righteous 
 ness. 
 
 One other thing characteristic of the people as I knew them : 
 that is, the great interest they felt in education. This is a fruitful 
 theme, but I will not dwell long upon it. I will only mention that for 
 generations, in the province of Ulster, an educated ministry was always 
 sought and obtained; but that these men might be educated had given 
 the greatest trouble and difficulty. No college would admit them. 
 Trinity college was founded upon a broad basis, and the two first fel 
 lows were Presbyterians and Scotchmen. But this was taken away, 
 and the boys had then to go to Scotland. They walked fifty or sixty 
 miles with a package on their shoulders. They stopped at the farm 
 houses, and they never were refused hospitality. They would land at 
 Glasgow and walk to Edinburgh, and accept hospitality from the peo 
 ple. Dr. Henry Cook, one of the greatest men that Ireland ever pro 
 duced, made his way thus to a Scottish university. The process of
 
 SCOTCH-IRISH CHARACTERISTICS. 107 
 
 conflict, of self-denial, of constrained ingenuity that these youug men 
 were compelled to go through in order to obtain an education, made 
 them in :i high degree strong men, capable men, business men, effect 
 ive men in doing the work that was given them as leaders of the peo 
 ple, and instructors in the interests of good. Some of the best in 
 structors that the people call Scotch-Irish were found in the persons of 
 ministers. A minister would set up a classical school to which boys 
 would come to get an education that was necessary to fit them for en 
 tering college. Many came who did not want to learn the classics. 
 All paid school fees regularly, and maintained their independence. In 
 this connection I think of the Rev. Mr. Blakely, minister in Mouo- 
 han, where there are hundreds of men, and not a few upon this conti 
 nent to-day, who will tell you that they owe every thing in life to the 
 teaching of that faithful minister, who did the duties of his charge at 
 the same time he was giving this instruction. Another specimen was 
 Dr. McKee, a kinsman of the man to whom I have alluded. 
 
 It is my misfortune that I arn tall. I am a high churchman by 
 nature. I was tall as a boy, but Mr. McKee was taller, six feet, 
 seven, and perfectly straight. I remember to-day with pride that lie 
 laid his hand upon my head and gave me a pleasant word. I was a 
 student then, but I never forgot it. He had a fine school and a large 
 congregation. He was a farmer, and managed his farm with skill and 
 ability. He had a good horse, and like Mr. Boimer here, he was very 
 proud of horses, but he never touched any thing like betting or 
 gambling on races. He was driving through his parish one afternoon 
 on one of his extremely good horses. It was a day like this, with a 
 strong sun. There was a poor man working in a field by the roadside, 
 with his coat off, and his shirt badly torn. The consequence was that 
 the sun had reddened that portion of his skin which was exposed, as 
 if it would blister it. McKee looked at the man and pitied him. He 
 dismounted, and having long legs, stepped over the fence. "My 
 friend, come here," and McKee took off his waistcoat and shirt, and 
 made the man put on the shirt, and then buttoning up the coat, 
 said, " Nobody will miss my shirt before I get home," and he 
 left it there. He was the only Presbyterian minister in Ireland 
 that was invited to go and to speak in a Roman Catholic Church. 
 The people regarded him as an honest, God-fearing man, and they 
 said : " Whatever he says we must do." He passed away, but 
 left a son behind who was my successor in the large church in Dub 
 lin. He was minister in the north of Ireland before being brought 
 to Dublin. I heard a circumstance concerning him that I will repeat 
 now. " You ought to have a better salary," said some of his deacons
 
 108 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 to him. " Why ? " said he. " Well, you have to go to more expense 
 than we," they said. "You have to wear better clothing, and keep 
 up better style." " Clothing," said he, and he turned around and laid 
 his hand upon the head of one of his elders who was near, and said : 
 " He is a better man than I ; why should I have a better coat than 
 he?" That was the style of the man; unselfish, noble, heroic, living 
 for the truth ; and when his health broke down, and he had to go to 
 Australia with the hope of improving it. It was proposed by and by, 
 in the course of time, that there should be established a national 
 system of education. All united secular education was fought by the 
 Catholics. The Presbyterians first took their stand in the support 
 of that system. The time was when my poor countrymen who came 
 here from the other provinces of Ireland could neither read nor write, 
 and came as navvies, porters, and railroad hands. The corresponding 
 class coming to this country to-day does not come to be porters and rail 
 road workers, but present themselves at the dry-goods stores and other 
 such occupations, because they have an education that can sustain 
 them. There have been established in Ireland colleges three Queen's 
 colleges and two other institutions under the control of the General As 
 sembly, and the best educational facilities are enjoyed by the people; 
 and it is with great satisfaction that I notice from time to time in the 
 contests in the three kingdoms, that the male and female students from 
 these Irish institutions take their places among the foremost. Ulster 
 is keeping its ground in the forefront in the education of the country. 
 I am unwilling to take up too much of your time, but will say a 
 single word in relation to things denominational there at this time. A 
 very intelligent man said to me a short while ago: " I am glad to see 
 you, and to shake hands with you. When an Irishman becomes a 
 Presbyterian, he is sure to be a good one." That gentleman had in 
 his mind the idea that all Irishmen in their native land were other 
 than Protestant. That is a mistake. I might say in rough numbers 
 that one-fourth of the people of Ireland are Protestant, and nearly 
 one-half of these retain the Scotch Presbyterian type. The other 
 half is the Protestant Episcopal church, which is strongest in Ulster, 
 but is to some extent spread over the kingdom. I accordingly say to 
 the gentlemen who are round about me, that when you are trying to 
 form an estimate of proposed legislation for Ireland, of which we read 
 so much, take into consideration the historic claims of this portion of 
 Ireland, and its peculiar position ; for, unless we do so, we can not 
 rightly judge of the situation. The Irish General Assembly does 
 not contain many rich people. They are found mostly in Belfast 
 and the manufacturing centers, but although these people were
 
 SCOTCH-IRISH CHARACTERISTICS. 109 
 
 poor they founded colonial missions; preachers were sent to Canada 
 and Australia, avid these reflected gratitude to the feeble Presby 
 terian church of Ireland by establishing kindred institutions in 
 those two dominions. The General Assembly now has missions in 
 India, and in China, and in Spain. It has six hundred congregations 
 as many ministers, and I might say that to-day there can not be found 
 in Christendom a more determined body of ministers. And I am also 
 glad to speak a word on behalf of the Protestant Episcopal church, 
 which has working members and ministers. The disestablishment 
 which took place, it was supposed by many, would destroy that institu 
 tion, the state and church being so intimately connected. But the crisis 
 was passed, and the members of the church found a responsibility rest 
 ing upon them which they did not feel before, and though there have 
 been a few local troubles, the Protestant Episcopal church in Ireland 
 is stronger and better than before the disestablishment. This is one 
 more illustration of the way in which the United States is setting the 
 example to the nations and the countries of the world, of breaking 
 down prejudice and making friends. 
 
 This meeting is the beginning of a series, the commencement of 
 an organization that I think may do great good over this laud. Let 
 us know one another, and have sympathy with one another. Let it be 
 intelligent sympathy. Let us try to understand the historical inci 
 dents of the country, and of the people to which we belong. Let us 
 know how God led them. I can but think that the eye of America is 
 seeing more distinctly than it once did, the way in which its life was 
 shaped. There were Huguenots who suffered temptations and learned 
 the trials of freedom. The Puritan passed through the same experi 
 ence. He knew the blessing of free conscience, free worship, free 
 legislation ; and there are Scotch-Irish well fitted to be their com 
 panions, their comrades, their fellow soldiers, and fellow workers in 
 the building up of a great nation, where God on the one hand shall 
 have his rights, and his creatures on the other hand shall have their 
 rights that he intended them to enjoy, and with which He blessed the 
 community. Let us know one another, care for one another, love 
 one another; let us help one another, and feel that it is a dignity that 
 God has put upon us when he permits us to co-operate with these, 
 our brethren, without sectionalism, partisanship or political feeling, iu 
 developing our great nation. On higher grounds let us come together 
 and co-operate in building up and perpetuating the power of this 
 great and glorious country : and then we, the children of the Scotch- 
 Irish, will be moving upon the lines along which our fathers have 
 gone in the generations that preceded us.
 
 110 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 THE SCOTCH-IRISH OF THE SOUTH. 
 
 BY HON. \VM. WIRT HENRY, LL.D., OF VIRGINIA. 
 
 Mr. President, Members of the Congress, Ladies and Gentlemen: In 
 obeying the call to take part in this celebration, I recognize the com 
 pliment paid the state from which I come, a state so rich in historic 
 memories, and whose history has been so interwoven with that of the 
 people in whose honor we have met, that her greatness may be said to 
 have been the outgrowth of their sterling qualities, rather than of any 
 other portion of her population. 
 
 In the name of Virginia, the mother of states and of statesmen, 
 I salute you, and bid you God-speed in gathering up and preserving 
 the records and traditions of the noble race which has ever been fore 
 most in the march of Christian civilization. 
 
 The history of the human race in its progress along the path of 
 civilization is filled with the migrations of the more vigorous races or 
 nations, who have left their native lands to seize and occupy the 
 countries possessed by inferior or degenerate populations. Sometimes, 
 these migrations have been of nations, as was that of the Israelites, 
 but generally they have been simply colonies, which have preserved 
 for a longer or shorter time their connection with or dependence upon 
 the mother countries. Among the nations of antiquity, the Greeks 
 and Romans were most distinguished for their spirit of colonization, 
 and to this was due, in great measure, the wonderful influence they 
 severally exerted. But of all the race movements, that which has 
 most affected the history of the world has been the colonization and 
 subsequent occupation of North America by the English-speaking 
 people, and, among these, none can claim just precedence over the 
 Scotch-Irish, whom we are met this day to honor. 
 
 The vain efforts of the civil power to exterminate early Christian 
 ity by fire and sword were followed by its embrace, under the Emperor 
 Constautine, in the fourth century. The adulterous union which en 
 sued was more disastrous to the pure religion of Christ than persecu 
 tion. The one purified, but the other corrupted it. From it followed 
 a debasement of both church and state, and a long reign of civil and 
 religious tyranny. The face of the divine author of civil and religious 
 liberty seemed veiled, and the dark ages of the world followed, in
 
 THE SCOTCH-IRISH OF THE SOUTH. Ill 
 
 which human rights seemed hopelessly enchained by priest and king. 
 But liberty, like truth 
 
 "Though crushed to earth, will rise again, 
 The eternal years of God are hers." 
 
 Finally, after a thousand years of darkness, the light of the ap 
 proaching day began to empurple the horizon. The fifteenth century 
 witnessed the preparation for the coming reformation in the invention 
 of movable type, the revival of letters, and the discovery of America, 
 destined to be the great field for the development of civil and religious 
 liberty, and the asylum of the oppressed. 
 
 The sixteenth century was resplendent with the light of reformed 
 Christianity, but, as at the first, it derived much of its brilliancy from 
 the sparks struck by the rough hand of persecution. 
 
 The claim of Spain to America was based upon its discovery by 
 Columbus, and the grant of Pope Alexander VI. These so-called 
 muniments of title were fortified by explorations and settlements. 
 From these last Spain derived immense riches, and became the most 
 powerful nation of Europe. But her wealth was devoted to the de 
 struction of the reformed faith, which, kindled in Germany by Luther, 
 was spreading rapidly over the continent. But God, who restrains the 
 wrath of man and makes the remainder thereof to praise him, brought 
 good out of the evil designed. 
 
 The refusal of the pope to divorce the Spanish wife of Henry 
 VIII. of England, caused that royal Blue Beard to separate his king 
 dom from the domination of the Catholic see, and to encourage its 
 tendency to embrace the principles of the Reformation. The effort 
 of the papacy to crush out the Reformation in France and the Nether 
 lands led to the implantation in America of the Protestant English 
 race. 
 
 Among the English who volunteered, in 1569, for the defense of 
 the Protestant religion on the continent, was a youth of seventeen, 
 who left Oxford and his studies to learn the art of war under Admiral 
 Coligny and William the Silent. While thus engaged, he conceived 
 a mortal hatred to Spain, and perceiving that her strength lay in her 
 American possessions, he conceived the idea of wresting the New 
 World from her by English colonization. This youth became the 
 celebrated soldier, statesman, courtier, poet, historian, and philosopher, 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. When, by his courage, he had won military re 
 nown, and by his address had won the favor of his great sovereign, 
 Elizabeth, and wealth came with honor, he devoted it to the realiza 
 tion of his great design. His colony at Roanoke Island, planted in
 
 112 THE SCOTCH IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 1584, perished, indeed, because he was forced to neglect it to aid in 
 the defense of England against the great Spanish Armada, designed 
 to crush out Protestantism in that kingdom. But the inspiration of 
 his genius did not die. The pusillanimous James, who succeeded his 
 heroic mistress on the throne, cast him into the Tower, after the mock 
 ery of a trial for treason, and finally beheaded him, at the behest of 
 the Spanish king. But if Catholic Spain compassed his death, it was 
 not till he had struck that power a mortal blow, at Cadiz, on 21st 
 June, 1596, in the destruction of her fleet and the capture of the city, 
 a blow which marks the beginning of her decadence as a great power. 
 Nor was he put to death till he had seen the beginning of the fulfill 
 ment of his prediction, that he should " live to see America an English 
 nation." In his prison walls, he heard of, if he could not see, the de 
 parture of the little fleet which carried the English colony to James 
 town, in 1607; and before his execution, in 1618, Virginia had he- 
 come a vigorous colony under the London Company, which had suc 
 ceeded to his charter rights. 
 
 The planting of that colony marks a most important era in the 
 history of the world. It was the beginning of the system of English 
 colonization, which has belted the earth, and has made the inhabitants 
 of the little British Isles the greatest power in the world. From that 
 feeble germ, preserved from destruction by an Indian maiden, has 
 been developed an English nation which controls the continent of 
 North America, and, within three hundred years, has become one 
 among the foremost nations of the earth. Had not Pocahontas 
 thrown herself between the heroic Smith and the uplifted club raised 
 for his execution, the feeble colony would have lost its protecting 
 genius, .and would, doubtless, have perished. Had it perished, the 
 Latin nations, with imperialism in church and state, would, doubtless, 
 have possessed the continent they already so largely occupied. What 
 would have been the result we may see by looking upon Mexico, with 
 her degenerate people and unstable government, permanent in nothing 
 but in oppression and misrule. 
 
 But in the councils of heaven it had been determined that the 
 tree of liberty should be planted in America, and should so flourish in 
 its genial soil that it should fill the land and cast its benign influences 
 over all the earth. For this great trust, but one people was fitted 
 the liberty-loving, the liberty-preserving Anglo-Saxon race. They 
 came with English Protestantism, and English constitutional law, de 
 veloped under Magna Charta by free Parliaments. In the keeping 
 of that handful of men who landed at Jamestown in 1607, was the 
 hope of America for free institutions.
 
 THE SCOTCH-IRISH OP THE SOUTH. 113 
 
 But, as has been the history of liberty in all ages, its preservation 
 here has cost a continuous struggle. Not only on American soil, but 
 on European fields, the possession of America was the bone of conten 
 tion between Catholic and Protestant powers for a century and a half. 
 Finally, in 1763, Protestant England was left in possession of the con 
 tinent east of the Mississippi, except the Floridas bordering the Gulf 
 of Mexico. The hand of Providence had thus prepared the way for 
 the great republic, soon to succeed the British power in all of its ter 
 ritory south of the lakes. In this preparation, as we look back at it 
 now in the light of history, nothing is more striking than the training 
 of the peoples for their great work of establishing free institutions in 
 America. In the school of tyranny, they learned to value liberty. 
 
 The history of the English, the Dutch, and the French settlers, 
 who united to found the United States, is of the deepest interest, ex 
 hibiting, as it does, the dealings of God in preparing a suitable popu 
 lation for this great republic. But on this occasion, our thoughts are 
 turned to but one of the peoples to whom the world is indebted for the 
 America of to-day, with all of its grand achievements in the past and 
 its power for incalculable good in the future. 
 
 The kingdom of Scotland, first known as "Scotia Minor," wag 
 settled by the ancient race of Celts, who came over from Ireland, then 
 known as " Scotia Major." But, in the course of time, this rude peo 
 ple were almost entirely supplanted by, when not commingled with, 
 the sturdy race from the south of the Tweed, the admixture of the 
 Norman and Saxon, with a slight infus r ju of Danish blood. Says 
 Macaulay : " The population of Scotland, with the exception of the 
 Celtic tribes, which were thinly scattered over the Hebrides and ovei 
 the northern parts of the mountainous shires, was of the same blood 
 with the population of England, and spoke a tongue which did not 
 differ from the purest English more than the dialects of Somersetshire 
 and Lancashire difter from each other." 
 
 The air and food north of the Tweed, and the Celtic infusion, as 
 years rolled around, gave the distinguishing characteristics of the 
 Scotch people, and intensified in them the noble traits of the English 
 stern integrity, high sense of duty, hatred of tyranny, and devotion 
 to God. 
 
 Presbyterianism, after a long and bloody struggle with Roman 
 ism, was at last established on its soil, in the sixteenth century, under 
 the leadership of that great man " who never feared the face of clay," 
 the brave John Knox, who laid the foundations of a free and well- 
 ordered church so broad and deep that Scotland has ever since re- 
 8
 
 114 THE 8COTCH-IETSH IN AMERICA. 
 
 mained Presbyterian to the core. When asked by Queen Mary, 
 "Think you that subjects, having power, may resist their princes ?" 
 his memorable reply was, " If princes exceed their bounds, madam, 
 no doubt they may be resisted even by power." This Froude styles 
 " the creed of republics in its first hard form." It contained the germ 
 of American liberty. His mantle fell on a worthy successor, Andrew 
 Melville, who, in his noble rebuke to King James, proclaimed that 
 principle of religious freedom which has ever been characteristic 
 of the Scotch church, and which developed into the complete divorce 
 of church and state in America. 
 
 Said he: "There are two kings and two kingdoms in Scotland. 
 There is King James, the head of this commonwealth, and there is 
 Christ Jesus, the king of the church, whose subject James the Sixth 
 is, and of whose kingdom he is not a king, nor a lord, nor a head, but 
 a member. We will yield to your place, and give you all due obedi 
 ence. But again I say, you are not the head of the church." 
 
 Under the influence of general education and a pure Christianity, 
 the Scotch character developed to the greatest excellency yet attained 
 by civilization. Nothing has ever surpassed the peasant life described 
 by Burns in " The Cotter's Saturday Night," or the Scottish lords and 
 ladies pictured by the pen of Sir Walter Scott. 
 
 The effort of Catholic Spain, in the sixteenth century, to wrest 
 the Emerald Isle from Great Britain, stimulated a series of rebellions, 
 which were finally quelled toward the close of the reign of Elizabeth. 
 Upon her successor was laid the task of pacifying the island. In 
 September, 1607, four months after the settlement at Jamestown, the 
 earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnel, the great leaders in the Catholic 
 rebellions, sailed from the beautiful Lough S willy, on the northwest 
 coast of Ireland, followed by thousands of their old companions in 
 arms, and sought a new home on the continent. The day of their de 
 parture dates a new era in Irish history. They left large tracts of 
 laud in north Ireland unoccupied and forfeited to the crown, and these 
 were parceled out among a body of Scotch and English, brought over 
 for the purpose. The far greater number of these plantations were 
 from the lower part of Scotland, and became known as " Scotch- 
 Irish." Thus a new population was given to the north of Ireland, which 
 has changed its history. The province of Ulster, with fewer natural 
 advantages than either Munster, Leinster, or Connaught, became the 
 most prosperous, industrious, and law-abiding of all Ireland. ludeed, 
 the difference between Scotland and Spain is not greater than between 
 Ulster and her sister counties, even to this day. 
 
 But the Protestant population thus transplanted to the north of
 
 THE SCOTCH-IRISH OF THE SOUTH. 115 
 
 Ireland was destined to suffer many and bloody persecutions, cul 
 minating in the world -renowned siege of Londonderry, in the reign of 
 James II., the unparalleled defense of whic,h saved Protestantism in 
 the island, and enabled William of Orange to secure his throne. 
 Tempered by these, the iron in the Scotch character became finest 
 steel. During the reign of William they had rest, but the accession 
 of Anne, "the good Queen Anne," as she is often called, was the oc 
 casion of the renewal of the persecution of the Presbyterians. In 
 1704, the test-oath was imposed, by which every one in public em 
 ployment was required to profess English prelacy. It was intended 
 to suppress Popery, but was used by the Episcopal bishops to check 
 Presbyterian ism. To this was added burdensome restraints on their 
 commerce, and extortionate rents from their landlords, resulting in 
 what is known as the Antrim evictions. There had been occasional 
 emigrations from the north ; of Ireland from the plantation of the 
 Scotch, and one of the ministers sent over in 1683, Francis Makemie, 
 had organized on the eastern shore of 'Maryland and in the adjoining 
 counties of Virginia the first Presbyterian churches in America. But 
 in the early part of the eighteenth century the great movement began 
 which transported so large a portion of the Scotch-Irish into the 
 American colonies, and, through their influence, shaped in a great 
 measure the destinies of America. Says the historian Froude : " In 
 the two years which followed the Antrim evictions, thirty thousand 
 Protestants left Ulster for a land where there was "no legal robbery, 
 and where those who sowed the seed could reap the harvest." Alarmed 
 by the depletion of the Protestant population, the Toleration Act was 
 passed, and by it, and further promises of relief, the tide of emigra 
 tion was checked for a brief period. In 1728, however, it began 
 anew, and from 1729 to 1750, it was estimated that " about twelve 
 thousand came annually from Ulster to America." So many had set 
 tled in Pennsylvania before 1729 that James Logan, the Quaker 
 president of that colony, expressed his fear that they would become 
 proprietors of the province. 
 
 These emigrants brought with them and retained in their new 
 homes distinctive characteristics. These may be summed up as 
 follows : 
 
 1. They were Presbyterians in their religion and church govern 
 ment. 
 
 2. They were loyal to the conceded authority of the king ; but 
 they considered him bound, as well as themselves, by the engage 
 ments of " the Solemn League and Covenant," entered into in 1643 
 by the Westminster Assembly and Parliament on the one side and
 
 116 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 the Scottish nation on the other, and adopted by the Presbyterians of 
 Ireland in 1644, pledging the support of the reformation and of the 
 liberties of the kingdoms. 
 
 3. They claimed the right to choose their own ministers, untram- 
 meled by the civil powers. 
 
 4. They practiced strict discipline in morals, and gave full in- 
 struction to their youth in common schools and academies, and in 
 
 teaching them the Bible, and that wonderful summary of its doctrine 
 contained in the Westminster Assembly's Catechism. 
 
 5. They combined, in a remarkable degree, acuteness of intel 
 lect, firmness of purpose, and conscientious devotion to duty. 
 
 It has been well said of them by one who had watched their de 
 velopment in spite of opposition : "Man might as well attempt to 
 lay his interdict upon the coming forth of vegetation, when the powers 
 of nature are warmed and refreshed by genial influences from above, 
 as to arrest the progress of such a people in knowledge and improve 
 ment." 
 
 /This bold stream of emigrants struck the American continent 
 mainly on the eastern border of Pennylvania, and was, in great meas 
 ure, turned southward through Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, 
 and South Carolina, reaching and crossing the Savannah river. It 
 was met at various points by counter streams of the same race, which 
 had entered the continent through the seaports of the Carolinas and 
 Georgia. Turning westward, the combined flood overflowed the 
 mountains and covered the rich valley of the Mississippi beyond. As 
 the Puritans or Round-heads of the south, but freed from fanaticism, 
 they gave tone to its people and direction to its history. 
 
 It is of these that it is my privilege to speak to-day. 
 
 Leaving Pennsylvania, southward, the first colony into which this 
 race entered was Maryland. Their settlements were principally in 
 the narrow slip which constitutes the western portion, but we find them 
 in every part of the colony. It was due to them that Maryland was 
 among the foremost of the colonies in the Indian wars and in the 
 Revolution. Of this blood was her great Revolutionary leader, 
 Charles Carroll, and that model soldier, John Eager Howard. He 
 seized the critical moment with his brave Maryland line at the battle 
 of Cowpens, and turned the fortunes of the day, and was equally de 
 serving of success, but less fortunate, at Guilford and Eutaw. Of 
 him General Greene wrote, introducing him to a friend : "This will 
 be handed to you by Colonel Howard, as good an officer as the world 
 affords. He has great ability and the best disposition to promote the 
 service. My own obligations to him are great the public's still more
 
 THE SCOTCH-IRISH OF THE SOUTH. 117 
 
 so. He deserves a statue of gold no less than the Roman and Grecian 
 heroes." 
 
 It was to this population, and to the Puritans driven from Vir 
 ginia to Maryland, that Protestantism is indebted for the rescue of 
 the colony from the Romish faith ; and in all that has made. the state 
 so conspicuous on the page of American history, we find traces of the 
 Scotch-Irish. 
 
 Proceeding southward, we next enter the great colony of Vir 
 ginia, and here we can more clearly discover the effect of this people 
 upon her destiny. 
 
 Traces of the Scotch-Irish were found in Virginia east of the 
 Blue Ridge in the latter part of the seventeenth century, and early in 
 the eighteenth they were found in Albemarle, Nelson, Campbell, 
 Prince Edward, and Charlotte counties, and along the great valley 
 west of the Blue Ridge. But it was after the year 1738 that they en 
 tered that valley in great numbers, and, with the exception of some 
 German settlements near its lower end, completely possessed it from 
 the Pennsylvania to the North Carolina line. In that year the Synod 
 of Philadelphia (upon the application of John Caldwell, a Scotch- 
 Irish elder, afterward settled at Cub creek, in Charlotte county, Va., 
 and the grandfather of the great statesman, John Caldwell Calhoun), 
 sent a commissioner to the governor of Virginia with a proposal to 
 people the valley with Presbyterians, who should hold the western 
 frontier against the Indians and thus protect the colony, upon one 
 condition only, " that they be allowed the liberty of their consciences 
 and of worshiping God in a way agreeable to the principles of their 
 education." To this Governor Gooch, himself a Scotchman, returned 
 a gracious answer and a promise of the protection afforded by the 
 Act of Toleration. 
 
 With this agreement the territory west of the Blue Ridge was 
 soon filled with a Scotch-Irish population, who were glad to defend 
 the cavaliers of the colony from the implacable savage as the price of 
 civil and religious liberty. Living in continual danger from the 
 treacherous foe, their faithful rifles were their constant companions, 
 and were seen even in the school-houses and the churches which in 
 variably marked their settlements. In the pulpit the trusty rifle was 
 as convenient to the preacher as the Bible. With such a training, 
 no wonder that this noble race soon demonstrated their right to con 
 trol the destinies of their colony, in peace as well as in war. As 
 the country filled up, new counties were set off, and the delegates 
 from these and from the Piedmont counties of kindred blood, together 
 known as back or upper counties, began to control the House of Bur-
 
 118 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 gesses. In the wars \vhich preceded the Revolution, the soldiers of 
 Virginia were mainly drawn from this section. They suffered defeat 
 with "Washington at the Meadows, and with Braddock at Fort Du- 
 quesne, and, by their firmness, saved the remnant of that rash gener 
 al's army. They won the signal victory at Point Pleasant, in 1774, 
 which struck terror into the Indian tribes across the Ohio, and was the 
 prelude to the War of Independence, for which the officers engaged 
 in that battle at once offered their swords. 
 
 In 1765, when England, having driven the French from North 
 America, began her oppressive measures against her own colonies, 
 and, regardless of their chartered rights and the English constitution, 
 imposed a stamp tax upon them through a Parliament in which they 
 had no representation, it was the youthful son' of a Scotchman who in 
 troduced the resolutions into the Virginia House of Burgesses denying 
 the validity of the act, which aroused the continent and " set in motion 
 the ball of the Revolution." And it was Scotch-Irish votes that se 
 cured their passage, against the combined efforts of the old leaders of 
 the House. In the long struggle which followed, iu which, step by 
 step, Virginia led her sister colonies along the path to independence, 
 it was the same bold leader, with his Scotch-Irish cohorts, that directed 
 her steps. Says Mr. Jefferson, speaking of Mr. Henry to Daniel 
 Webster: " He was far before us all in maintaining the spirit of the 
 Revolution. His influence was most extensive with the members from 
 the upper counties, and his boldness and their votes overawed and 
 controlled the more cool or the more timid aristocratic gentlemen of 
 the lower part of the state. After all, it must be allowed that he was 
 our leader in the measures of the Revolution in Virginia." 
 
 At the first call of Congress for soldiers to defend the town of 
 Boston, Daniel Morgan, of Scotch-Irish blood, at once raised a com 
 pany of riflemen among his people in the lower valley of Virginia, 
 and, by a forced march of six hundred miles, reached the beleaguered 
 town in three weeks. His company was but the advance of a steady 
 supply of soldiers from the same hardy race, which, whether in the 
 continental line or the militia ranks, made glorious the name of Vir 
 ginia in the seven years' struggle which ensued. To the soldiers of 
 this blood, it was given to turn the tide of war at more than one crit 
 ical period in the desperate struggle of our fathers for freedom. It is 
 proper, on this occasion, to recall some of these instances. Morgan, 
 after distinguishing himself in the ill-fated expedition against Canada, 
 was taken prisoner before Quebec. Upon his exchange, he returned 
 to the valley of Virginia, and raised a corps of riflemen from among 
 its Scotch-Irish people. Joining Washington, he was sent by him to
 
 THE SCOTCH-IRISH OF THE SOUTH. 119 
 
 aid Gates in meeting the British invasion from Canada under Bur 
 goyne. The battle of Saratoga, 7th October, 1777, which followed, 
 is included, with reason, by Creasy, in his volume entitled "The Fif 
 teen Decisive Battles of the World," each one of which changed the 
 current of human history. Before that great victory, neither in Eng 
 land nor on the continent was it believed that the American patriots 
 would be able to maintain the struggle upon which they had entered. 
 France, the hereditary enemy of England, was anxious to assist the 
 revolted colonies, but only in case that they showed themselves capable 
 of continuing the conflict, which they had not yet done. The British 
 campaign for 1777 was well laid. It consisted of a movement from 
 Canada under Burgoyne, to be met by a strong force from New York 
 under Clinton, and the combined army to isolate and conquer New 
 England. The American army, under Gates, was between Burgoyne 
 and Clinton, and must needs engage and overcome Burgoyne before 
 the arrival of Clinton, or be itself crushed between the two approaching 
 armies. 
 
 On the memorable 7th October, the forces of Gates and Burgoyne 
 met, the right wing of the British, and the flower of the army, being 
 led by the brave Scotchman, General Simon Frazer, the idol of the 
 army. On the American left, was the equally brave Scotch-Irishman, 
 Colonel Morgan, with his regiment of sharpshooters, every one of 
 whom was a marksman. In the desperate battle which followed, 
 Morgan noticed that a British officer, mounted on an iron-gray charger, 
 was most active in the fight, and that wherever he rode he turned 
 the tide of battle. It was the gallant Frazer. Morgan called to 
 Timothy Murphy, one of the best shots in his regiment, and pointing 
 to the British officer on the iron-gray horse, he said, " Bring him 
 down." At the crack of the faithful rifle, the British officer reeled in 
 his saddle and fell. The forces he was leading at once became con 
 fused, and soon fell back. ' The crisis was passed, and the battle, upon 
 which hung the fate of America, was won. In a few days, Burgoyne 
 was forced to surrender his whole army. When introduced to Morgan, 
 he grasped his hand and said : " Sir, you command the finest regiment 
 in the world." The news of the victory produced an entire change in 
 European policy. France at once acknowledged the independence of 
 the American states, and entered into a treaty of alliance with them. 
 War between her and England followed, and soon Spain and Holland 
 joined in the conflict. With their aid, the American, patriots were 
 enabled to maintain the struggle four years longer, till finally England 
 gave up the contest. 
 
 But during that four years, another critical period arrived, in
 
 120 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 which the stalwart Scotch-Irish soldiery, by one memorable battle, 
 changed the face of the war. 
 
 Despairing of conquering the northern states with Washington to 
 defend them, the British determined to attack from the sea, of which 
 they were the masters, the southern states, and to subdue them in de 
 tail, striking first at Georgia, the weakest of them all. This work was 
 committed to the celebrated Earl Cornwallis, and no one was more 
 capable of executing the plan. He soon overran Georgia and South 
 Carolina, having destroyed two American armies sent to check him 
 the first under General Howe, and the second under General Gates. 
 He at once pushed northward, before another army could be organized 
 to meet him, intending to overrun North Carolina and Virginia in 
 rapid succession. Indeed, General Leslie was already in Virginia, 
 ready to join him on his arrival, and, in the meantime, was to keep 
 that state, if possible, from sending aid to her southern sisters. 
 
 In his movement northward, Cornwallis divided his army, and 
 sent a portion of it, under Colonel Patrick Ferguson, an accomplished 
 Scotch officer, along the route which bordered the mountains of Caro 
 lina. His force threatened the Scotch-Irish settlements west of the 
 mountains of North Carolina and in the south-west portion of Virginia. 
 These rapidly organized a volunteer force, under Colonels Sevier, 
 Shelby, McDowell, and Campbell, which rendezvoused at the "Watauga 
 settlement, in what is now East Tennessee. These were afterward 
 joined by some of their race from the Caroliuas, under Colonels Will 
 iams and Cleaveland. The veteran Colonel William Campbell, from 
 Virginia, was chosen as commander, and crossing the mountains rap 
 idly, they threw themselves in the path of Ferguson. The battle of 
 King's Mountain followed, on the 7th October, 1880, in which the en 
 tire British force was killed or captured. Cornwallis was forced to 
 come to a halt, fall back, and wait for reinforcements, which were 
 drawn from the British force in Virginia. Before he recovered from 
 the blow, General Greene, who had been sent by Washington to or 
 ganize and lead another army against the invaders, was able to accom 
 plish the task, and afterward, by his masterly movements, to so cripple 
 the British general that he was forced to abandon his conquests and 
 betake himself by another route to Virginia, there to be captured by 
 the combined American and French armies. Every subsequent event 
 which led in logical succession to the surrender of the British army at 
 Yorktown an4 the close of the Revolution, may be traced to that 
 memorable battle at King's Mountain, won by an army composed 
 almost entirely of Scotch-Irish volunteers, who had not waited for the 
 call of their government, but, upon the rumored approach of danger,
 
 THE SCOTCH-IRISH OF THE SOUTH. 121 
 
 had sprung to arras and hastened to meet it. In the subsequent bat 
 tles of Cowpens and Guilford, we find the same Scotch-Irish element 
 following up the work so gloriously begun at King's Mountain. 
 
 But not alone in these and other battles of the Revolution did 
 the Scotch-Irish of Virginia lay their country under never-ending 
 obligations. To them is due the magnificent domain over which the 
 original thirteen states have stretched in their expansion westward. 
 
 By the treaty of Paris, in 1763, the western boundary of the 
 American colonies was fixed at the Mississippi river. England after 
 ward extended the Canadian government over the territory west of 
 the Ohio and south of the lakes, and established a chain of forts 
 reaching from the lakes to the Mississippi, above the mouth of the 
 Ohio. This territory was embraced in the charter of Virginia, and 
 she distinctly claimed it in 1776, on assuming state sovereignty. But 
 it was held by British troops, who at the same time continually in 
 stigated the Indians to murderous raids on the white settlements 
 south and east of the Ohio. Early in 1778, Governor Henry com 
 missioned Colonel George Rogers Clark to lead a secret expedition 
 against these north-western forts, with a view of occupying, with Vir 
 ginia troops, the territory she claimed. Clark collected his men from 
 the Scotch-Irish inhabitants west of the Blue Ridge, in what was then 
 Augusta county, and from the district of Kentucky, then beginning 
 to be peopled by the same race. In a campaign which John Ran 
 dolph has aptly compared to that of Hannibal in Italy, he possessed 
 himself of the British posts south of the lakes, capturing Hamilton, 
 the British governor, and securing to Virginia the entire north 
 west. 
 
 This campaign, unsurpassed in daring, and unequaled in results 
 by any recorded in history, was conducted with less than two hun 
 dred Virginia militia. The noble commonwealth, which had taken 
 the .first steps looking to Union, finding that some of the states were 
 reluctant to sign the confederation while Virginia held so large a ter 
 ritory, with unequaled generosity and patriotism ceded her entire con 
 quest to the United States, and thus secured the Union. "When 
 England and Spain in succession attempted to deprive the American 
 states of this magnificent domain during the negotiations for peace, 
 the American commissioners, under direction of Congress, relied on 
 the conquest of Clark and subsequent occupation of Virginia. 
 
 The rule of uti possidetis prevailed,' and independence was 
 acknowledged by Great Britain, with the Mississippi as our western 
 border. Our extension to the Pacific has been only the logical result. 
 Had not that Scotch-Irish band of heroes wrested from the British
 
 122 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 Lion his western prey, the Alleghanies or the Ohio would have been 
 our western border, and the original thirteen states skirting the At 
 lantic would, in all probability, have been our territorial limits 
 to-day. 
 
 No one knew better than Washington the sterling qualities of this 
 race, and he paid it the highest compliment ever paid to any people 
 when, in the darkest moment of the Revolution, he said, that if all 
 others failed him, he would plant his standard on the Blue Ridge of 
 Virginia, rally around him the people of the valley, and make his 
 last stand for the liberties of America. 
 
 Nor has the virtue in the blood lost its power of making heroes 
 to this day. It was from this people that the immortal Stonewall 
 Jackson sprang, and from them he drew the troops that followed him, 
 and excited for themselves and for their great commander the admira 
 tion of the world. 
 
 But, however glorious in war, this race in Virginia have won 
 triumphs in the peaceful halls of legislation no less beneficial to hu 
 manity than any won on battle-fields. It was Scotch-Irish blood that 
 moved the pen that wrote the Declaration of Independence, the first 
 draft of the United States Constitution, and the divorce between 
 church and state. The influence of these upon the history of the 
 race is incalculable. The last has been justly described as the con 
 tribution of America to the science of government. Though claimed 
 by the founder of Christianity and his early followers, religious 
 liberty was never accorded to the Christian Church. The state 
 claimed the right to control the religious beliefs of her citizens, and 
 the claim was not relinquished when the Christian Church formed its 
 unholy alliance with the state. The Reformers of the fifteenth century 
 did not undertake to deny this power of the state over the church, but 
 in their creeds appealed to the state to enforce the penalties pronounced 
 by church courts. In Virginia we have seen there was a church 
 establishment, and toleration was all that the Scotch-Irish could' ob 
 tain in repayment for their protection of the western border. 
 
 In 1774, we find their Presbytery petitioning the House of Bur 
 gesses for as much freedom in religious matters as the British con 
 stitution afforded in secular matters. When two years afterward, 
 the Virginia convention, after taking up independence for herself, and 
 ordering it to be moved in Congress for America, engaged in forming, 
 as a basis of government, a declaration of the rights of man, the 
 greatest state paper ever written, the same voice that stirred the conti 
 nent to resist the Stamp Act, moved to insert as one of the inalien 
 able rights of man his right to worship his God according to the
 
 THE SCOTCH-IRISH OF THE SOUTH. 123 
 
 dictates of his conscience. Adopted into the Virginia Bill of Rights, 
 it has been copied into every constitution in America. At the very 
 next session of the Assembly, the same Presbytery, controlled by 
 Scotch-Irish voices, sent a memorial written by a Scotch-Irish pen, 
 held by Caleb Wallace, enlarging upon the great principle embodied 
 in the Bill of Rights, and showing its guarantee of perfect religious 
 liberty. It was following in their wake that Jefferson afterward wrote 
 his celebrated act for the establishment of religious liberty, which has 
 effected the divorce of church and state, not only in Virginia, but 
 throughout the Union, and whose principles seem destined to unfetter 
 the Christian conscience throughout the world. Thus there was com 
 pleted by the Scotch-Irish of Virginia, in 1776, the reformation com 
 menced by Luther two hundred and fifty years before. 
 
 To this people Virginia is indebted also for her earliest educa 
 tional institutions of high grade, except the royal college of William 
 and Mary; and one of their number, Thomas Jefferson, was the 
 founder of the State University. 
 
 In the year 1736, Henry McCullock, from the province of Ulster, 
 obtained a grant of 64,000 acres in the present county of Duplin, 
 North Carolina, and introduced upon it between three and four 
 thousand of his Scotch-Irish countrymen from the north of Ireland. 
 About the same time the Scotch began to occupy the lower Cape 
 Fear, and after the defeat of the Pretender, at Cullodeu, in 1746, 
 great numbers of Scotch Highlanders, who had adhered to his for 
 tunes, emigrated to North Carolina, taking up their residence in the 
 counties of Bladeu, Cumberland, Robeson, Moore, Richmond, Harnett, 
 Chatham, and Ansom, and giving the Scotch the ascendancy in the 
 upper Cape Fear region. In the meantime, the current of emigration 
 to America from Ulster had become a bold stream, entering the con 
 tinent mainly at Philadelphia and flowing westward. Braddock's de 
 feat rendering border life dangerous, many of the new-comers turned 
 southward, moving parallel to tbe Blue Ridge through Virginia and 
 North Carolina until they met the other stream of their countrymen 
 which was moving upward from Charleston along the banks of the 
 Santee, Wateree, Broad, Pacolet, Ennoree, and Saluda, and this emi 
 gration to North Carolina continued for forty years, till checked by 
 the Revolution. 
 
 It is not known with certainty when the Scotch-Irish were first 
 introduced into the country between the Dan and the Catawba, but 
 they were found in the counties of Granville, Orange, Rowan, and 
 Mecklenburg previous to 1750. So great was the proportion of this 
 race in North Carolina before the Revolution that they may be said
 
 124 TELE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 to have given direction to her history. With their advent begins the 
 educational history of the state, and during the eighteenth century 
 that history is inseparably connected with the Presbyterian Church. 
 One name stands out pre-eminent in this history. It is that of the 
 Scotch-Irish minister, David Caldwell, whose classical school, estab 
 lished in 1767 near Greensborough, was the Eton of the south. But 
 besides classical schools they established academies and colleges. 
 Queen's College, located in the town of Charlotte, in Mecklenburg 
 county, was chartered in 1770, but its charter was repealed by George 
 III., of whom it was said that "no compliments to his queen could 
 render Whigs in politics and Presbyterians in religion acceptable to 
 him." It continued, however, to flourish under the royal frown, and 
 was incorporated in 1777 as " Liberty Hall." But the Revolution 
 closed its doors, and Cornwallis first desecrated it by quartering his 
 troops within it, and afterward burned the buildings. Davidson Col 
 lege, in the northern part of Mecklenburg county, established by the 
 Presbyterians long after the war, may be considered the successor of 
 this venerable institution, which was sacrificed upon the altar of 
 patriotism. 
 
 It was to the Scotch-Irish delegates that is due the credit of in 
 serting in the first constitution of the state the provision for a state 
 university, which has proved such a blessing to the state and to the 
 South. 
 
 In North Carolina, as in Virginia, this race was earliest in claim 
 ing the rights of freemen against British oppression. Indeed, four 
 years before the battle of Lexington, Scotch-Irish blood was shed in 
 North Carolina by a royal governor, simply because the people dared 
 ask redress for tyrannous abuses. Governor Tryon, instigated by one 
 of the worst of men, David Fanning, first caused the complainants to 
 be indicted by a packed grand jury, and then marched against them 
 with an army, and, treating them as outlaws, shot down and hung 
 some thirty of them. It is known in history as the War of the Regu 
 lators. Says Bancroft concerning it: " The blood of rebels against 
 oppression was first shed among the settlers on the branches of the 
 Cape Fear river." Says Alexander, speaking of this engagement on 
 the Alamance, 16th May, 1771: "These Regulators were not adven 
 turers, but the sturdy, patriotic members of three Presbyterian con 
 gregations, all of them having as their pastors graduates of Princeton. 
 Mr. Caldwell was one of them, and, on the morning of the battle, was 
 on the ground, going from one side to the other, endeavoring to pre 
 vent the catastrophe." 
 
 As a result of this merciless attack upon a patriotic people, they
 
 THE SCOTCH-IRISH OF THE SOUTH. 125 
 
 left their homes, crossed the mountains to the west, and laid the 
 foundation on the Watauga of the State of Tennessee. 
 
 While the Scotch, who had emigrated to North Carolina after the 
 battle of Culloden, considered themselves bound by their oath of alle 
 giance to side with the king in the American Revolution, and were 
 generally Tories, the Scotch-Irish of that colony were among the fore 
 most of the patriots. In no locality was their zeal more conspicuous 
 than in the counties of Mecklenburg and Rowan. Tarleton, in his 
 memoirs, bears testimony to the fact that those counties were the mo.-t 
 rebellious in America, and Coruwallis designated Mecklenburg county 
 as " the hornet's nest of the Revolution." 
 
 When the people of this county heard of the battle of Lexington, 
 they did not wait for others to move with them, but at once assumed 
 the powers of government. 
 
 It is due to her Scotch-Irish people, also, that North Carolina is 
 entitled to the honor of being the first colony that authorized her dele 
 gates in Congress to -vote for independence. 
 
 Dr. David Ramsey, the historian of South Carolina, after giving 
 the various sources of the population of that colony from its first set 
 tlement, and according full prominence to the Huguenots, adds: " Be 
 sides foreign Protestants, several persons from England and Scotland 
 resorted to Carolina after the peace of 1763. But of all other coun 
 tries, none has furnished the province with so many inhabitants as Ire 
 land. Scarce a ship sailed from any of its ports for Charleston that 
 was not crowded with men, women, and children." . . . t "About 
 this time, above a thousand families from the northward (Pennsylvania 
 and Virginia), with their effects, in the space of one year, resorted to 
 South Carolina, driving their cattle, hogs, and horses overland before 
 them. Lands were allotted them in its western woods, which soon 
 became the most populous parts of the province." 
 
 These were Scotch-Irish, and it is to them he refers later when he 
 says: " The Scotch and the Dutch were the most useful emigrants. 
 They both brought with them, and generally retained in an eminent 
 degree, the virtues of industry and economy, so peculiarly nece>s;iry 
 in a new country. To the former, South Carolina is indebted for 
 much of its early literature. A great proportion of its physicians, 
 clergymen, lawyers, and schoolmasters were from North Britain." 
 
 These settlers in the western part of the colony were long without 
 the protection of law administered through judicial tribunals, and, < f 
 necessity, were forced to band themselves together to punish crime, of 
 which the most frequent and irritating was horse-stealing. Against 
 them, the royal governor, Montague, sent a man named Scouil, in
 
 126 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 1764, with an army, and with great difficulty a civil war was averted. 
 Fortunately, the establishment of courts, in 1769, pacified the country. 
 The division thus created was not obliterated, but reappeared in 1775, 
 on the breaking out of the Revolution, when the Regulators, as they 
 were called, became Whigs, and the Scouilites, as the other party had 
 been called, became Tories. Before and during the Revolution, the 
 Scotch-Irish in Western South Carolina, as in North Carolina, Vir 
 ginia, and Pennsylvania, were the defenders of the border against the 
 hostile Indian tribes beyond. 
 
 But this did not relieve them of the duty of fighting the British 
 coming from the Atlantic seaboard. 
 
 In the terrible fate that overtook South Carolina during that 
 struggle, when Cornwallis rode rough-shod over the devoted state, it 
 was to her noblest son, Governor John Rutledge, a Scotch-Irishman, that 
 the destinies of the state were committed. Unable to meet the haughty 
 invader in the open field, the little bands of patriots who survived the 
 trying ordeal, gathered in the east around the standard of Marion, and 
 in the north and west around the standards of Sumter and Pickens. 
 These devoted men kept alive the flame of liberty in the swamps of 
 South Carolina, while the British tyrant was stamping it out where- 
 ever its flicker could be discovered. When the brutal oppressor be 
 lieved it was entirely extinguished, it burst forth in electric flashes, 
 striking and withering the proud invader. 
 
 Through the veins of these incomparable leaders and their brave 
 troops Scotch-Irish blood coursed, and gave nerve L to the arms which 
 struck for liberty. 
 
 Of the famous Andrew Pickens we have a pen-picture by his 
 brilliant companion in arms, Light-horse Harry Lee, which is so 
 typical of a Scotch-Irishman, that it may be well reproduced here. 
 
 " He was a sincere believer in the Christian religion, and a de 
 vout observer of the Presbyterian form of worship. His frame was 
 sinewy and active ; his habits were simple, temperate, and industrious. 
 His characteristics were taciturnity and truth, prudence and decision, 
 modesty and courage, disinterestedness and public spirit." 
 
 In South Carolina, as elsewhere, this people provided schools 
 and churches for their communities, and have been foremost in ad 
 vancing the interests of the state. 
 
 Georgia was the youngest of the old thirteen colonies, but, like 
 those north of her, she was indebted to this race for some of her best 
 population. As early as 1735 a colony from the Highlands of Scot 
 land were conducted to the mouth of the Savannah river, and thence 
 southward to New Inverness, on the Alatamaha river. When told on
 
 THE SCOTCH IRISH OF THE SOUTH 127 
 
 the way that the Spaniards would shoot them from (heir fort near by 
 their new home, they replied, " Why, then, we will beat them out of 
 their fort, and shall have houses ready built to live in." This valiant 
 spirit never flagged in the subsequent war with Spain and the Revolu 
 tion , and it is hard to estimate the services to Georgia rendered by the 
 McKays and Macintoshes who came from this settlement. 
 
 Before the Revolution, however, emigration from the Carolinas 
 set in toward North Georgia, bringing many Scotch-Irish families. 
 Governor Gilmer, in 1855, describes the community they formed, with 
 till the privations and simple enjoyments of their life, and his descrip 
 tion is applicable to all their new settlements. Among other things, 
 he says: "The pretty girls were dressed in striped and checked cot 
 ton cloth, spun and woven with their own hands, and their sweet 
 hearts in sumach and walnut dyed stuff, made by their mothers. Court 
 ing was done when riding to meeting on Sunday, and walking to the 
 spring when there. Newly married couples went to see the old folks on 
 Saturday, and carried home on Sunday evening what they could spare. 
 There was no ennui among the women for want of something to do. 
 If there had been leisure to read, there were but few books for the in 
 dulgence. Hollow trees supplied cradles for babies. The fine voices 
 which are now heard in the pulpit and at the bar from the first na 
 tive Georgians began their practice by crying when infants for want 
 of good nursing." 
 
 These settlers were of the kindred of Andrew JacKson and 
 Thomas H. Benton. 
 
 Besides these, the Scotch-Irish who had followed the Alleghanies 
 had not ceased their southward movements until, crossing the Savan 
 nah river, they had entered the northern portion of Georgia. 
 
 Later, and after the Revolution, some of the Virginians who had 
 served in Georgia, notably General George Mathews, induced a 
 colony from Albemarle and the valley of Virginia to move to the 
 north of Georgia, and they settled along the Broad river. Among 
 these were, of course, a strong infusion of Scotch-Irish blood. 
 
 The subsequent prosperity of Georgia is attributed in large 
 measure to these people and their descendants by Governor Gilmer. 
 From them, he tells us, the blood was scattered throughout the south 
 ern and southwestern states. 
 
 A race which so completely filled the western side of the old 
 colonies was naturally that which would soonest occupy the country 
 still further westward, extending to the Mississippi. 
 
 This came to pass. As the Scotch-Irish increased, they pressed 
 upon the Indians, driving them westward until, early in the nine-
 
 128 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 teenth century, but few of the native tribes were left east of the great 
 river. Only a short notice of these new states in the southern valley 
 of the Mississippi need be given. 
 
 Kentucky was settled by the Scotch-Irish of Virginia and North 
 Carolina. Thomas Walker, of Virginia, first explored it in 1747 ; John 
 Finley, of North Carolina, followed in 1767 ; and afterward, in 1769, 
 he, with Daniel Boone, John Stewart, and three others, all from the 
 same colony, penetrated to the Kentucky river. By the year 1773, 
 the whites began to take up lands, and afterward there was a steady 
 stream of emigrants, almost entirely from the valley and southwest 
 Virginia, and, of course, of Scotch-Irish blood. A roll of the Pres 
 bytery in 1802 shows a list of forty-three names, nearly every one of 
 which is Scotch-Irish, and the families that first constituted the county 
 of Kentucky can nearly every one be found in a history of the Vir 
 ginia valley. Often the transplanting gave additional vigor to the 
 scions, and the Clarks, the Browns, the Breckenridges, the Campbells, 
 the Bullitts, the Wallaces, the Robertsons, the Prestons, the Todds, 
 the Rices, the McKees, and others, rose to greater eminence in Kentucky 
 than had ever been attained in Virginia. 
 
 The Indian name, Can-tuck-kee, meaning "the dark and bloody 
 ground," was given to it by the savages, because it was the hunting- 
 ground on which the northern and southern tribes met in constant 
 conflict. The whites found it well deserved the name, as the Indians 
 ceased to fight each other in their common hostility to the settlers, 
 against whom they waged continuous war. The prediction of the 
 Cherokee chief to Boone at the treaty at Watauga, ceding the terri 
 tory to Henderson and his associates, was fully verified. " Brother," 
 said he, " we have given you a fine land, but I believe you will have 
 much trouble in settling it." Any other race would probably have 
 abandoned the effort, or rather never undertaken it. No border an 
 nals teem with more thrilling incidents or heroic exploits than those 
 of the Kentucky hunters, whose very name at length struck terror 
 into the heart of the stoutest savage. The people developed in the 
 midst of constant danger into a bold, independent, and magnanimous 
 community. 
 
 So thoroughly was Kentucky settled by this race that it may be 
 called a Scotch-Irish state. 
 
 The state of Tennessee was the daughter of North Carolina, and 
 was first settled by the Scotch-Irish driven over the mountains by the 
 cruel war of the Regulators, as we have seen. Upon no field has this 
 remarkable race shown to greater advantage than upon the soil of
 
 THE SCOTCH-IRISH OF THE SOUTH. 129 
 
 Tennessee, but as they have been assigned to the special care of one 
 more competent than myself for the task, I will not trench upon his 
 domain. 
 
 Mississippi and Alabama, which were cleared of the dominion of 
 the warlike Creeks early in the century by Andrew Jackson and his 
 band of Tennesseans and Georgians, were filled up by settlers from 
 the adjacent states, and these were necessarily largely Scotch-Irish in 
 their descent. And so after the Louisiana purchase in 1803, Louis 
 iana, Missouri, and Arkansas were successively brought into the 
 Union, with a population drawn in great measure from the nearest 
 Scotch-Irish communities. Florida also, when acquired from the 
 Spaniards, received her quota of this people. But among all these 
 new states a strong infusion is found of Virginia blood, drawn in large 
 measure from Scotch-Irish veins. 
 
 The last and the largest of the southern states which entered the 
 Union was Texas, and we are indebted to a Scotch-Irishman from the 
 Virginia valley for this principality. 
 
 Samuel Houston, a native of Rockbridge county, Virginia, saved 
 Texas from Mexican dominion by his celebrated victory over Santa 
 Anna at the battle of San Jacinto, 21st April, 1836. He became the 
 first president of the independent State of Texas on 22d October fol 
 lowing, and, during his term, took the first step toward its annexation 
 to the United States, which was accomplished in 1845. In the mean 
 time, a large and constantly increasing population from the southern 
 states was pouring into its borders, which, of course, was largely 
 Scotch-Irish in its origin. 
 
 In the wars which succeeded the Revolution, the United States 
 have been greatly indebted to the Scotch-Irish of the South for their 
 renown in arms. 
 
 It was with troops of this blood that the Scotch-Irish General 
 Andrew Jackson, in 1814, broke the power of the Creek Indians in 
 Alabama, drove the British from Florida, and defeated Wellington's 
 soldiers, under his brother-in-law, Sir Edward Packenham, at New 
 Orleans. In the war with Mexico, no fighting was surpassed by that 
 of southern volunteers, under the leadership of the Scotch-Irishman, 
 Zachary Taylor. 
 
 In the war between the states, time would fail me to even men 
 tion the Scotch-Irish heroes who followed the Confederate flag. 
 
 I have thus hastily glanced at the diffusion of the Scotch-Irish 
 over the southern states, and, in doing so, it has become apparent that 
 a history of this race would be a history of the southern states. 
 9
 
 130 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 Certainly, as to the South, they are bone of its bone and flesh of its 
 flesh. 
 
 The task would be almost endless to simply call the names of this 
 people in the South who have distinguished themselves in the annals 
 of their country. Yet some rise before me, whose names demand ut 
 terance in any mention of their people names which the world will 
 not willingly let die. 
 
 Among the statesmen they have given to the world are Jefferson, 
 Madison, Calhoun, Benton. 
 
 Among the orators, Henry, Rutledge, Preston, McDuffie, Yancy. 
 
 Among the poets, the peerless Poe. 
 
 Among the jurists, Marshall, Campbell, Robertson. 
 
 Among the divines, Waddell, the Alexanders, Breckinridge, 
 Robinson, Plummet, Hoge, Hawks, Fuller, McKendree. 
 
 Among the physicians, McDowell, Sims, McGuire. 
 
 Among the inventors, McCormick. 
 
 Among the soldiers, Lee, the Jacksons, the Johnstons, Stuart. 
 
 Among the sailors, Paul Jones, Buchanan. 
 
 Presidents from the South, seven Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, 
 Jackson, Taylor, Polk, Johnson. 
 
 Great as this race has been in victorious war and prosperity, it 
 has been greater in defeat and adversity. Struck down at Appomattox, 
 the South lay helpless at the feet of the conqueror, pale from loss of 
 her best blood, impoverished by the hand of the despoiler, and held 
 in the embrace of an inferior race. Her prostrate form seemed to be 
 in the grasp of death. It was then I heard the clear voice of one of 
 her greatest orators repeating over her the impassioned words of Romeo 
 over the body of Juliet 
 
 " Death that hath sucked the honey of thy breath, 
 Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty. 
 Thou art not conquered ; beauty's ensign yet 
 Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks, 
 And death's pale flag is not advanced there." 
 
 It was as the voice of prophecy recalling her to consciousness. The 
 indomitable Scotch-Irish blood still coursed in her veins. She arose, 
 not like Juliet, to suicidal despair, but to renewed hope and a new life, 
 with fresh strength drawn from the embrace of mother earth. With 
 head erect and her eyes fixed on God, she commenced a new career. 
 A quarter of a century has not passed, and we see her to-day, her 
 pallor replaced by the crimson tide of life, and her every motion in-
 
 THE SCOTCH-IRISH OF THE SOUTH. 131 
 
 stinct with the genius of progress. Generous nature whispers her 
 secrets, decks her with richest treasures, and points her the way to 
 prosperity. With unswerving faith in the God of her fathers, and 
 unfaltering steps, she presses onward and upward, her right hand lift 
 ing to the kiss of heaven her spotless banner, displaying the emblazoned 
 legend, Sic itur ad astra.
 
 132 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 SCOTCH-IRISH OF TENNESSEE. 
 
 BY REV. D. C. KELLEY, D.D. 
 
 In this honorable presence, it is well to express, in the beginning 
 of what I shall attempt to say, my regret that the task assigned me 
 had not fallen into far moro competent hands. 
 
 I had little dreamed, when I began the inadequate study I have 
 had time and opportunity to make, of the richness of the mine into 
 which I was to strike my pick. My childhood had been amused, my 
 wonder aroused, and my ambition for a virtuous life kindled around 
 the fireside where tales of a Scotch-Irish ancestry were the theme of 
 the winter evening talk. When the true magnitude of the work be 
 fore me began to appear, I should have quickly withdrawn my prom 
 ise to speak for the Scotch-Irish of Tennessee, had it not been for a 
 sense of obligation to those teachers of my childhood. The traditions 
 of childhood mingling with ancestral blood bade me do what the race 
 has ever done " my simple duty as best I could." As my best apol 
 ogy, however, for standing here, allow me to make good my right by 
 blood. Perhaps few of the race have claims of earlier date. My pa 
 ternal blood speaks for itself, going back to the early Irish chiefs, to 
 which is added the Thompson blood of North Ireland. My maternal 
 claims are as follows : 
 
 Before the work of royal plantations in Ireland had begun, as early 
 as 1584, " a thousand Scotch Highlanders, called Redshanks, of the 
 septs and families of the Campbells, Macdonnells, and Magalanes, led 
 by Surleboy, a Scottish chieftain, invaded Ulster. These invaders in 
 time intermarried with the Irish, and became the most formidable ene 
 mies of Englaud in her designs of settlement. It was ostensibly to 
 root out this Scottish colony that Elizabeth sent Essex to Ireland ; but 
 his failure only fixed them more firmly in their place." 
 
 But a more singular settlement than this of the Scotch Red 
 shanks was one effected by private speculation, namely, that of the 
 Montgomeries in the Ardes of Down.* The head of this new and im 
 portant settlement in the Ardes was Hugh Montgomery, the sixth laird 
 (esquire) of Braidstane, in Scotland ; his father had married the daugh 
 ter of Montgomery, laird of Haislhead, an ancient family descended 
 of the earls of Eglintown. The first laird of the name, Robert Mont 
 gomery, was second son of Alexander Montgomery, earl of Eglintown. 
 
 * Montgomery Papers.
 
 SCOTCH-IRISH OF TENNESSEE. 133 
 
 Hugh, the leader of the Moutgomeries into Ireland, was thus a well 
 descended adventurer, and iu addition to his good birth he possessed 
 spirit and talent. The circumstances which led to his settlement in 
 Down are these : In 1603, an affray took place in Belfast, between a 
 party of soldiers and some servants of Conn O'Neill, who had been 
 sent with runlets to bring wine from that town to their master, " then in 
 great debauch at Castlereagh with his brothers, friends, and follow 
 ers." The servants came back with more blood than wine, having got 
 into a melee with some soldiers, who captured the servants and sent 
 home the messengers with a severe handling. They confessed to 
 Conn that they were more numerous than the soldiers, on which, " in 
 rage, he swore by his father, and by all his noble ancestors' souls, that 
 none of them should ever serve him or his family if they went not 
 back forthwith and did not revenge the affront done to him and them 
 selves by those few Baddagh Sassenach." The result was a violent affray, 
 and some of the soldiers were killed. An office of inquest was held 
 upon Conn and his followers, and a number of them were found 
 guilty of levying war on the queen. O'Neill was sent to prison to 
 Carrickfergus, and Elizabeth in the meantime dying, the Laird Mont 
 gomery, who knew these matters well, with thrift speed which became 
 his country, made his humble application to the new Scotch monarch 
 for half Conn's estates, leaving the remainder to Conn himself. But 
 the modest proposal was not accepted, and he hit upon a happier ex 
 pedient, which was to obtain a grant from Conn O'Neill himself of 
 half his lands on the condition of effecting his escape and giving him 
 a shelter. The grant was obtained. Some change was subsequently 
 made in these letters, by the intervention of a courtier of the name 
 of Sir James Fullerton, one of " the busiest bodies iu all the world in 
 other men's matters which may profit themselves," who having an eye 
 for a friend, Mr. James Hamilton, and anxious to obtain for him a 
 share of Conn's lands, represented, in a courtier's way, that the two 
 moieties granted were too large for two men, forgetting or omitting 
 the small circumstance that they were their own by right, and pre 
 vailed on the king to make a fresh division. " But the king, sending 
 first for Sir Hugh, told him (respecting the reasons aforesaid) for what 
 loss he mijrht receive in not getting the full half of Conn's estate, by 
 that defalcation, he would compensate him out of the Abbey lands 
 and impropriations, which iu a few months he was to grant in fee, 
 they being already granted in lease for twenty-one years, and that he 
 would also abstract, out of Conn's half, the whole great Ardes for his 
 and Mr. James Hamilton's behoof, and throw it into their two shares ; 
 that the sea-coasts might be possessed by Scottish men, who would be
 
 134 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 traders proper for his majesty's future advantage, the residue to be 
 laid off about Castlereagh (which Conn had desired), being too great 
 a favor for such an Irishman." 
 
 Whether the Campbells, Montgomery's, and Hamiltons were 
 known to each other in Ireland, tradition does not tell. We find 
 from these Campbells Duncan Campbell, whose son, John Campbell, 
 came from Donegal, Ireland, and settled in Donegal township, Lan 
 caster county, Pensylvania. His descendants passed down the val 
 ley of the Shenandoah to South-western Virginia, where we find 
 among the branches on an old family tree, revived and added to 
 from time to time, General William Campbell, of King's Mountain 
 fame, and his grandson, Win. C. Preston ; the brothers, Colonel Ar 
 thur and Captain John Campbell, of Virginia (the latter of whom was 
 the father of Governor David Campbell, of Virginia) ; Judge David, 
 of the State of Franklin, afterward the State of Tennessee, with their 
 cousin and brother-in-law, Colonel David, of Campbell's station, East 
 Tennessee; his son, General John Campbell, of the War of 1812; 
 grandson, Governor William B. Campbell, of Tennessee. Another 
 branch bears upon it the name of the gallant Confederate, General 
 Alex. W. Campbell, of West Tennessee. Scotch-Irish on both sides. 
 
 From these before-mentioned Montgomerys, we find in North 
 Carolina, at Saulsbury, in the Revolutionary War, Hugh Montgomery, 
 who equipped a regiment of patriots for the Continental army a man 
 with the shrewd business characteristics of his ancestors. . From him 
 we trace the children, Hugh and Jane; Hugh, the father of Major 
 Lemuel P. Montgomery, a brilliant young lawyer of Nashville, who 
 fell leading a dashing charge at the battle of Horseshoe, and for whom 
 the fair city of Montgomery, Ala., is called; and Hugh, a lawyer of 
 Chattanooga, for whom the beautiful avenue in that city is named. 
 Jane became the wife of Samuel Cowan, the first merchant of Knox- 
 ville; later, was married to Colonel David Campbell, before mentioned, 
 a private in the battle of King's Mountain, the founder of Campbell's 
 Station, near Knoxville. Of this union of the Scotch-Irish Camp 
 bells and Montgomerys, your annalist of to-day is, in the second gen 
 eration, the only living representative. Three of his children have in 
 their veins the added blood of the Hamiltons, Hays, and Cunnynghams. 
 And yet two other Scotch-Irish additions, the history of which is here 
 given as an illustration of the methods by which this blood has beeu 
 so widely spread in our country : 
 
 John Bowen, a wealthy planter of Lancaster county, Pennsyl 
 vania, as was the custom of the times, at harvest, gathered the lads 
 and lassies of the surrounding country to his harvesting. One of
 
 BOOTH-IRISH OF TENNESSEE. 135 
 
 these, Lilly Mcllheuny, by her grace and beauty, so attracted the old 
 bachelor's heart that he bowed at the shrine of matrimony. From 
 this marriage came Captain William Bowen, the Indian fighter, and 
 the more celebrated Reese Bowen, who was killed at King's Mountain. 
 Captain William was one of the early settlers of Sumner county; 
 the father of John H. Boweu, lawyer, and idol of his county of Sum 
 ner, and of whom the venerable Judge Thomas Barry says, he was 
 the best and most loved man he ever knew. Such was his reputation 
 for probity, that the juries gave him credence when he differed with 
 the court on a point of law ; he was elected to Congress before he was of 
 the age to take his seat. His sister married David Campbell, a son of 
 Colonel David Campbell, and brother of General John Campbell, of 
 the war of 1812. This David Campbell and Catherine Bowen were 
 the father and mother of Governor William B. Campbell, of our good 
 State of Tennessee. Speaking, therefore, for our home, your annalist 
 and his wife, daughter of W. B. Campbell, represent, of the Scotch- 
 Irish blood, the united strains of the Kelleys, the Thompsons, the 
 Montgomerys, the Hamiltons, the Mcllhennys, the Cunninghams, 
 Hays, and Adarns. 
 
 My only claim to be heard is the blood that tingles in my veins, 
 and the love aud veneration in which I hold the race which first spoke 
 for independence on American soil, which poured out the first blood 
 for liberty from "taxation without representation," and which, in the 
 language of Bancroft (Ransey, p. 102), when defeated in the first 
 battle of the Revolution (Alamance), " like the mammoth, they shook 
 the bolt from their brow and crossed the mountains." Of this mam 
 moth, Tennessee is the child I speak for this goodly child on her own 
 soil in the fairest domain of America in old Maury, par excellence the 
 home of the race, which, having spoke first for American independence, 
 made good her words with the first blow to tyranny. The race which 
 gave to liberty not only the first blood, but if we are to accept the au 
 thority of the author of the " Rear Guard of the Revolution," twice at 
 the most critical juncture of the Revolutionary struggle, 
 
 CUT THE COILS 
 
 of the anaconda, which, with its head on the lakes and its extremities 
 in Southern Georgia, combined in one gigantic plan, embracing British 
 power and pelf combined with Indian hate and lust of gain, threatened 
 to crush by a single concerted movement the hopes of the young 
 America. Nursed in the heart of this race, the mammoth of liberty 
 has proven thenceforward not only too strong to be held in restraint 
 by the coils of the anaconda of tyranny in America, but has become 
 the apostle of freedom to all the world.
 
 136 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 The contribution the Scotch-Irish of Tennessee have to bring to 
 this honorable gathering would be a meaningless fragment without a 
 few words showing the origin of the race, and tracing the source of 
 their marked characteristics. 
 
 WHY HAVE THE SCOTCH-IRISH CONTRIBUTED MORE TO CONSTITUTIONAL 
 LIBERTY THAN ANY OTHER PEOPLE ? 
 
 In the little sketch of the immigration, as early as 1584, of the 
 Scotch Campbells, McDonnells, Montgomerys, and Hamiltons into Ire 
 land, given in our introduction, we have the settlement of a hardy, 
 industrious, sturdy, and liberty-loving population, in the midst of a 
 brave, reveling, quick-witted, emotional, and law-hating race. The 
 two begin to act and react, the one upon the other. Henry the 
 Eighth's contest with the religion of his realm brings a new element to 
 the compound. More Scots come over, to escape wars and persecution 
 at home. Henry VIII. sets up religious persecution, and begins the 
 long-continued and oft-repeated attempt to transfer the possession of 
 Irish lauds to the hands of Englishmen. When Elizabeth had come 
 to the throne of England, she continued the work begun by her father. 
 By conquest or by contract, she gave to her favorites, Raleigh and 
 Essex, and other English adventurers, vast estates in Ireland, to be 
 peopled by English. 
 
 Following upon her imperfect work, came the more extensive plan 
 of Lord Bacon, under James the First, by which hundreds of thousands 
 of acres of Irish lands were parceled out by allotments to " English 
 and Scots, requiring the Irish to remove from the precincts allotted to 
 them." 
 
 During the reign of Charles I., no scruples were felt by the king 
 in awarding to adventurers who had been of service to him estates in 
 Ireland as a reward, nor did the adventurers hesitate as to the morality 
 of the methods used to possess themselves of their estates. But the 
 great settlement of Ireland by English and Scots came about under 
 the government of Cromwell. I have taken from first hands.* 
 
 " From the days of the first invasion, the king and council of 
 England intended to make English landed proprietors in Ireland the 
 rulers of Ireland, as William the Conqueror had made the French of 
 Noraiandy landlords and rulers of the English. Though the govern 
 ment of England were interrupted in this course by the wars of Ed 
 ward I. for the subjection of the Scotch, by the wars of Edward III. 
 
 * " Cromwellian Settlement of Ireland," by Prendergast a book in the 
 hands of Colonel Thomas Boyers, of Gallatin the shortest epitome that can be 
 made intelligible of the motives and methods of these settlements.
 
 SCOTCH-IRISH OF TENNESSEE. 137 
 
 and his successors for the crown of France, and finally by the civil 
 wars of England, called the 'Wars of the Roses,' the design was 
 never abandoned. And when Henry VIII., disencumbered of any 
 foreign war or domestic treason, had time to destroy the house of Kil- 
 dare, he projected the clearing of Ireland to the Shannon and colon 
 izing it with English. But the new conquest of Ireland only really 
 began in the reigns of his three children, Edward VI., Queen Mary, 
 and Queen Elizabeth, when the conquest of the lauds of the Irish for 
 the purpose of new colonizing or planting them with English was re 
 sumed, after an interval of more than three hundred years. During 
 this interval, the English Pale, or that part of Ireland subject to the 
 regular jurisdiction of the king of England and his laws, had been 
 gradually contracting partly by the English of Ireland throwing off 
 the feudal system, and partly by re-conquests effected by the Irish, 
 until in the reign of Edward VI., the Pale was nearly limited by the 
 line of the Liffey and the Boyne. Beyond the Pale the English and 
 the Irish dwelt intermixed. And in all the plans for restoring the 
 regular administration of the king's laws in Ireland it was proposed 
 that these English should be brought back to their ancient military 
 discipline, and should conquer from the Irish the lands in their posses 
 sion, in order that they might be given to English under grants on 
 feudal conditions by the king. 
 
 " But the English of Ireland clearly foresaw that the effect of the 
 complete conquest of the Irish would be to give the government of 
 Ireland to the English of England. Their armed retainers, called 
 Gallowglasses and Kerne, would be put down, as there would no longer 
 remain the pretense of defending the land from the king's Irish ene 
 mies. With the regular administration of English law would come 
 back wardships, marriages, reliefs, escheats, and forfeitures, which 
 they were only too happy to have thrown off in the days of Edward 
 II.; and the final result would be to bring over new colonists from 
 England who would be rivals to supplant them in the favor of the 
 government and in all the offices of the state. The English of Ire 
 land, consequently, were secretly indisposed to effect the reconquest, 
 and it was not until they were subdued that the second conquest began. 
 
 " The first blow to the English of Irish birth was the limiting the 
 power of the Parliament. In the reign of Henry VII., Sir Edward 
 Poynings forced from the Irish Parliament a statute whereby the Privy 
 Council of England were made virtually a part of the Parliament of 
 Ireland ; from thenceforth it could originate no statutes, and could 
 pass only such as had been first approved by the Privy Council of 
 England. The Parliament had, in fact, long become devoted to the
 
 138 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 earls of Kildare, who had thereby become too powerful for the kings 
 of Englaud. The next and final blow to the power of the English, 
 of Ireland was the fall of the House of Kildare, when Silken Thomas, 
 Earl of Kildare, and his five uncles, were executed at Tyburn for 
 treason, at the end of Henry VIII. 's reign. The head of the ancient 
 English of Ireland had now fallen; their parliament had been already 
 deprived of its power; the main obstacles to the design of England 
 were removed, and in the following reigns the reconquest of Ireland 
 by plantation began. 
 
 "At first it was the native Irish that were stripped, as the 
 O'Moores, the O'Connors, and the O'Neils. The earl of Desmond's 
 great territories, extending over Limerick and Kerry, Cork and Water- 
 ford, were next confiscated and planted. Finally, in James I.'s 
 reign, the native Irish, not only of Ulster, but of Leitrim and where- 
 ever else they continued possessed of the original territories, were dis 
 possessed of portions of their lands, varying from one-third to three- 
 fourths, to form plantations of new English. During the reign of 
 Queen Elizabeth, the old English of Ireland, though they agreed in 
 point of religion with the native Irish, always adhered to the English 
 in any rebellion of the Irish, as in a national quarrel. In James I.'s 
 reign, as all the planters were of the new religion, the old English 
 found themselves supplanted by them in all the offices of the state, 
 as the Irish found themselves supplanted by them in their native 
 homes. 
 
 "It is needless here to recapitulate the long continued injuries and 
 insults by which the ancient English of Ireland were forced into the 
 same ranks with the Irish in defense of the king's cause in 1641. 
 Chief among them were the attempts to seize their estates under the 
 plea of defective title, in order to plant them with new English. It 
 was thus Lord Stafford got Connaught and parts of Tipperary and 
 Limerick into his power, with the intention of forming a new planta 
 tion at the expense of the DeBurgos and other old English. One 
 of the old English in 1644 thus graphically expresses their feelings : 
 ' Was it not the usual taunt of the late Lord Stafford and all his 
 fawning sycophants, in their private conversations with those of the 
 Pale, that they were the most refractory men of the whole kingdom, 
 and that it was more necessary (that is, for their own crooked ends) 
 that they should be planted and supplanted than any others,' and 
 that ' where plantations might not reach, defective titles should ex 
 tend.' He had known many an officer and gentleman, he adds, wha 
 had left a hand at Kinsale in fighting in defense of the Crown of 
 England, when the Spaniards and the Earl of Tyrone were defeated
 
 SCOTCH-IRISH OF TENNESSEE. 139 
 
 by Lord Mountjoy, to be afterward deprived of his pension for hav 
 ing refused to take the oath of supremacy and allegiance in the 
 Protestant form, though, as one of them answered, on being ques 
 tioned before the state for matter of recusancy (as they termed it), ' it 
 was not asked of me the day of Kinsale what religion I was of.' 
 
 "The Scotch and English, however, having rebelled against the 
 king in 1639 (for the march of the Scottish rebels to the border in 
 that year was on the invitation of the leaders of the popular party in 
 England, though they themselves did not openly take the field till 
 1642), the Irish rose in his favor. They were finally subdued, in 
 1652, by Cromwell and the arms of the Commonwealth, and then 
 took place a scene not witnessed in Europe since the conquest of 
 Spain by the Vandals. Indeed, it is injustice to the Vandals to equal 
 them with the English of 1652, for the Vandals came as strangers 
 and conquerors in an age of force and barbarism, nor did they ban 
 ish the people, though they seized and divided their lands by lot ; 
 but the English in 1652 were of the same nation as half of the chief 
 families in Ireland, and had at that time the island under their sway 
 for five hundred years. 
 
 "The captains and men of war of the Irish, amounting to 40,000 
 and upward, were banished into Spain, where they took service under 
 that king; others of them, with a crowd of orphan boys and girls, 
 were transported to serve the English planters in the West Indies ; 
 and the remnant of the nation, not banished or transported, were to 
 be transplanted into Connaught, while the conquering army divided 
 the ancient inheritances of the Irish amongst them by the lot." 
 
 This writer, in speaking of old English, includes under that term 
 Scotch as well. 
 
 Space does not allow more detail. Our object has been to show 
 you the original training which made of the Scotch-Irish the race we 
 find then afterward. 
 
 ELEMENTS WHICH MAKE THE CHARACTER OF THE COMPOUND. 
 
 The Scotch-Irish in the earlier years of the settlement were often 
 intermarried. We quote a paper which throws light on this point, 
 and on much more :* 
 
 "The humble petition of the officers within the precincts of Dub 
 lin, Catherlough, Wexford, and Kilkenny, in the behalf of themselves, 
 their souldiers, and other faithful English Protestants, to the lord deputy 
 and council of Ireland." 
 
 They pray that the original order of the council of state in Eng- 
 
 * (Jromwelliun Settlement of Ireland.
 
 140 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 land, confirmed by Parliament, September 27, 1653, requiring the re 
 moval of all the Irish nation into Counaught, except boys of fourteen 
 and girls of twelve, might be enforced: "For we humbly conceive 
 (say they), that the proclamation for transplanting only the proprietors, 
 and such as have bin in arms, will neither answer the end of safety, 
 nor what else is aimed at thereby. For the first purpose of the trans 
 plantation is to prevent those of natural principles (i. e., of natural affec 
 tions), becoming one with these Irish, as well in affinity as idolatry, as 
 many thousands did, who came over in Queen Elizabeth's time, many 
 of which have had a deep hand in all the late murthers and massacres. 
 And shall we join in affinity (they ask) with the people of these abom 
 inations ? 
 
 " Would not the Lord be angry with us till he consumes us, having 
 said, ' The land which ye go to possess is an unclean land, because of 
 the filthiness of the people that dwell therein. Ye shall not, there 
 fore, give your sons to their daughters, nor take their daughters to 
 your sons,' as it is in Ezra, ix, 11, 12, 14. 'Nay ye shall surely root 
 them out before you, lest they cause you to forsake the Lord, your 
 God.' Deut, vii, 2, 3, 4, 16, 18." 
 
 We have mention, in the documents giving details of the trans 
 plantation, of the names of many high born persons who had thus in 
 termarried. Even Cromwell's old soldiers, full of pious cant and great 
 fear of the abominations of idolatry in the lands where thousands of 
 Irishmen had been slaughtered, and tens of thousands sent out of the 
 land into Spain and the West Indies, found the charms of the Irish 
 maidens, full of vigorous life, chastity, and redolent with healthful 
 beauty, more than they could resist, and so made them wives of the 
 daughters of the land. 
 
 We have thus the indomitable, prudent, calculating, metaphysi 
 cal, God-fearing, tyrant-hating Scotch, brought by marriage into 
 blood relationship with the brave, reckless, emotional, intuitive, God- 
 loving, liberty-adoring Irish. 
 
 We shall see the results when we find these people the cautious build 
 ers of free constitutional government, and at the same time, the pioneers 
 of American civilization. 
 
 ENVIRONMENT. 
 
 The Scotch settlers in Ireland, for the government of which the 
 English and Irish were often at war, found themselves so greatly in 
 the minority that they could only stand and see their own civil and re 
 ligions rights the foot-balls of a government where they had no repre 
 sentation. Their religious and civil rights subject to the whims of 
 kings, courtiers, lord lieutenants, bishops, either Romish or Protestant.
 
 SCOTCH-IRISH OF TENNESSEE. 141 
 
 In one reign rewarded for services by wrongful gifts of Irish estates, 
 in a subsequent, deprived of their possessions and their services for 
 gotten that more hungry adventurers, or the exchequer of needy raon- 
 archs might be replenished. They had for three hundred years been 
 compelled to know by actual daily experience the evils of provincial gov 
 ernment by kingly favorites, the arrogance, hate, and cruelty of episco 
 pal interference and control. Added to these they felt the narrow hatred 
 and hypocritical cruelty of the Puritan soldiers who prayed to God for 
 strength to visit untold horrors on the men, women and children whom 
 they were robbing in their acts of transportation. Besides these ever 
 recurring religious and political perplexities, they saw their industries 
 at the mercy of the orders of the throne or the English parliament. 
 In other words, government without representation had burnt its evils 
 into their very souls, until in despair of any desirable future to be 
 found in Ireland, and in resolute determination to win a future on the 
 high plane of their own value of manhood and liberty, they deliber 
 ately chose to hazard the wilds of America. Their reasons for seek 
 ing America had little in common with the adventurers who hud been 
 induced by large promises to emigrate from England. They were in 
 nowise allied to the people transplanted by force from England. 
 They were the very people the English most desired to remain in Ire- 
 laud. They had more in common with the Puritans than with their 
 other persecutors, but even from these had marked distinctions. . The 
 strong points and virtues of the two were much the same. A sentence 
 may show the line of distinction, they held in more contempt a re 
 stricted hospitality than they did May-poles, their laugh was as hearty, 
 musical, and manly as the groan of the Puritans was affected, grating 
 and inhuman. With this necessary allusion to the blood and environ 
 ment which gave form, vigor and fitness to this race, we come to the 
 period of their emigration to and settlement in America. 
 
 Before passing to the settlement of America, there are a few 
 bright factors entering into the environment of our forefathers in Ire 
 land that we pause on a moment with pleasure. Bishop Echliu, 
 who was himself a native of Scotland in the ordination of Robert 
 Blair, who came as a missionary from the Presbyterian church of 
 Scotland to Ireland, attained a position of lofty Christian manhood 
 little known to bishops of any era. Aided by the influence of Scotch 
 Presbyterian learning and love of liberty, the University of Dublin 
 was founded on very liberal principles. To Dr. James, afterward 
 Archbishop Usher, a professor in this university, was assigned the 
 task of drawing up a confession of faith for the Irish church. To 
 him we are largely indebted for one of the most liberal and compre-
 
 1-42 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 hensive confessions of faith ever drawn up in Christendom. After 
 ward, as archbishop, we find this great man standing firmly for lib 
 erty of conscience and the protection of the Scotch Presbyterian 
 preachers, until overruled by orders from England. Again to Oliver 
 Cromwell we turn for the exhibition of tolerance far in advance of 
 the Puritan parliament. 
 
 These acts of toleration and protection were not without their 
 due influence on the minds of our ancestors. They saw then what the 
 world is slow to learn, that the highest tolerance and the broadest freedom 
 belong to the greatest men; not to one form of government; not to one 
 form of doctrine. The men grand enough to outgrow their environ 
 ment, and defend freedom of thought for those who differ from them, 
 have as yet been too few to pass by their names or forget their in 
 fluence, in even the most meager historical sketch of the age to which 
 they belong. These were grand beacon-lights, which shone on the 
 struggling days of our forefathers. 
 
 Usher towered above the Church of England. Cromwell breached 
 the iron walls of Puritanism. All honor to men who thus grow to 
 proportions which may gladden our hope and confidence in the possi 
 bilities of the race. 
 
 EMIGRATION. 
 
 " The Protestant settlers in Ireland at the beginning of the sev 
 enteenth century were of the same metal with those who afterward 
 sailed in the Mayflower Presbyterians, Puritans, Independents in 
 search of a wider breathing-space than was allowed them at home. 
 By an unhappy perversity they had fallen under the same stigma, and 
 were exposed to the same inconveniences. The bishops had chafed 
 them with persecutions. . . . The heroism with which the Scots 
 held the northern province against the Kilkenny parliament and 
 Owen Roe O'Neil, was an insufficient offset against the sin of non 
 conformity. . . . This was a stain for which no excellence could 
 atone. The persecutions were renewed, but did not cool Presby 
 terian loyalty. When the native race made their last effort, under 
 James II., to recover their lands, the Calvinists of Derry won im 
 mortal honor for themselves, and flung over the wretched annals of 
 their adopted country a solitary gleam of true glory. Even this 
 passed for nothing. They were still dissenters; still unconscious 
 that they owed obedience to the hybrid successors of St. Patrick, 
 the prelates of the Establishment; and no sooner was peace re 
 established than spleen and bigotry were again at their old work. 
 Vexed with suits in the ecclesiastical courts, forbidden to educate 
 their children in their own faith, treated as dangerous to a state
 
 8COTCH-IKISU IN TENNESSEE. 143 
 
 which but for them would have had no existence, and deprived of 
 their civil rights, the most earnest of them at length abandoned the 
 unthankful service. If they intended to live as free men, speaking 
 no lies, and professing openly the creed of the Reformation, they must 
 seek a country where the long arm of prelacy was still too short to 
 reach them. During the first half of the eighteenth century, Down, 
 Antrim, Tyrone, Armagh, and Derry, were emptied of Protestant in 
 habitants, who were of more value to Ireland than California gold 
 mines." " In two years," says Froude, " which followed the Antrim 
 evictions, thirty thousand Protestants left Ulster for a land where 
 there was no legal robbery, and where those who sowed the seed could 
 reap the harvest. . . . The south and west were caught by the 
 same movement, and ships could not be found to carry the crowds 
 who were eager to go." 
 
 A minister of Ulster, writing to a friend in Scotland, in 1718, 
 laments the desolation occasioned in that region "by the removal of 
 several of our brethren to the American plantations. Not less than 
 six ministers have demitted their congregations, and great numbers of 
 the people go with them." Ten years later, Archbishop Boulter wrote 
 to the English Secretary of State respecting the extensive emigration 
 to America: "The humor has spread like a contagious distemper; and 
 the worst is, that it affects only Protestants, and reigns chiefly in the 
 North." About the same time, we find James Logan, the President 
 of the Proprietary Council of Pennsylvania, who had identified him 
 self with the Quakers, and was prejudiced against the emigrants from 
 Ireland, expressing "the common fear that, if they (the Scotch-Irish) 
 continue to come, they will make themselves proprietors of the prov 
 ince." He further, in 1729, expresses "himself glad to find that the 
 Parliament is about to take measures to prevent their too free emigra 
 tion to this country. It looks as if Ireland is to send all her inhabitants 
 hither ; for last week not less than six ships arrived, and every day two or 
 three arrive also." Dr. Baird, in his History of Religion in America, 
 states that, " from 1729 to 1750, about 12,000 annually came from 
 Ulster to America." 
 
 These emigrants lauded at the ports of Boston, Philadelphia, and 
 Charleston. Comparatively few entered the country by way of New 
 England. Those that did so, settled mainly in New Hampshire, 
 while others found their way to Pennsylvania, and helped swell the 
 tide which was pouring into this state by way of Philadelphia. These 
 Irish settlers occupied the eastern and middle counties, bordering on 
 the wilderness still occupied by the Indians. Such as landed at 
 Charleston, located themselves on the fertile lands of North an
 
 144 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 South Carolina ami Georgia. The settlers in Pennsylvania afterward 
 turned southward through the valley of Virginia, till, " meeting those 
 extending northward from the Carolinas, the emigration passed west 
 ward to the country then called ' beyond the mountains,' now known 
 as Kentucky and Tennessee." At a later period, Western Pennsyl 
 vania was occupied by the descendants of the settlers in the middle 
 counties of the state, with Pittsburg as a center. From these points 
 of radiation, the Scotch-Irish have extended to all parts of the coun= 
 try, and, being an intelligent, resolute, and energetic people, have left 
 their name and mark in every state of the Union. 
 
 Their youth, at this early period, "were generally educated at 
 home, and under parental instruction, and trained to obedience and 
 subordination, as the unbending law of the family. The schools es 
 tablished by Presbyterian ministers, confirmed and extended the home 
 education. The impress of such instrumentalities was not only mani 
 fested in the families of church members, but, by association and in 
 fluence, extended beyond the pale of organized congregations, and 
 their tendency was to reform and elevate public sentiment and morals* 
 as well as the habits and manners of the people." 
 
 The mass of these emigrants were men of intelligence, resolu 
 tion, energy, religious and moral character, having means that enabled 
 them to supply themselves with suitable selections of land, on which 
 they made permanent homes for their families, and from which they 
 derived an ample support. By their own enterprise and industry they 
 hewed out for themselves valuable farms from the primeval forest; 
 and the toils, sacrifices, and perils, incident to their life in the New 
 World, formed, in both men and women, the characters which were 
 requisite to endure the hardships and dangers of their frontier situa 
 tion. These traits of character were manifest also in their descend 
 ants. Brought up under such education and training, they have since 
 been the " pioneers and founders of settlements in the North-western 
 Territory, and the states formed out of it, and have been amongst the 
 most prominent, useful, and distinguished citizens of the republic." 
 "They were a God-fearing, liberty-loving, tyrant-hating, Sabbath 
 keeping, covenant-adhering race ; trained by trials, made resolute by 
 oppression, governed by conscience, and destined to achieve a mission 
 and place in the history of the church and the race." 
 
 Of the early ministers, a very large proportion were from the 
 Irish church. Francis Makemie (1682) was a member of Lagan 
 Presbytery. George McNish (1705) was from Ulster. John Henry 
 (1709) was ordained by the Presbytery of Dublin John Mackey 
 was from Ireland. Samuel Young, of New Castle Presbytery, be-
 
 SCOTCH-IRISH OF TENNESSEE. 145 
 
 longed originally to the Presbytery of Armagh. Robert Cross, Alex 
 ander Hutcheson, Thomas Craighead, Joseph Houston, Adam Boyd, 
 John Wilson, and many other useful and honored ministers, were ac 
 cessions to the ministry of the Presbyterian Church in this country 
 previous to 1730. And from this period, the number who came was 
 continually on the increase. Nor would it be difficult to prove to the 
 satisfaction of all sincere inquirers after truth, that we are indebted to 
 these same men " for the germs of our civil liberties and institutions, 
 as really as for our own noble system of faith and order." As might 
 be expected from their antecedents and providential training, they 
 were ardent lovers, and strong defenders of civil liberty. They hated 
 tyranny with almost "perfect hatred." They had received a discipline 
 that could never be lost, and of all the memories of childhood, none 
 could remain more fresh and impressive than those received from the 
 lips of parents numbered among the heroic champions of freedom at 
 Derry and Euuiskillen. And the earliest Scotch-Irish emigrants to 
 America were men who had been participants, or children of those 
 who were participants, in the terrible drama which closed with the 
 battle of the Boyne. Accordingly we find that these men were 
 among the earliest champions of freedom, and the most earnest and 
 persistent defenders of the rights of the people, as against the unjust 
 actions of the British government. No less an authority than the his 
 torian Bancroft, states that, "the first public voice in America for 
 dissolving all connection with Great Britain came not from the Puri 
 tans of New England, the Dutch of New York, nor the planters of 
 Virginia, but from Scotch-Irish Presbyterians." Abbe Raynal, in his 
 history contemporary with our Revolutionary struggle, though on the 
 side of American independence, does not hesitate to say that the 
 provocations by the British government to the American colonies were 
 so much less than those to which the age was every-where accustomed 
 that it was a matter of deep surprise how the Americans could have 
 been brought to so heroic resistance on grounds so slight. He traces 
 the fact that in the early years of the struggle the mass of our people 
 were little interested in the result. The masses of Americans who 
 had known nothing for generations of provincial government without 
 representation were in no condition M see the dangers which 
 threatened them. 
 
 The Scotch-Irish who landed in Boston and New York found 
 
 colonists too readily submissive to foreign dictation, and preferred to 
 
 seek Pennsylvania and Maryland, where the proprietary governors and 
 
 the people governed were in immediate contact. There they pressed 
 
 10
 
 146 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 to the frontier, where they could organize local governments of their 
 own choosing. Those who reached Virginia passed again to the 
 frontier; they loved neither the aristocratic government nor the epis 
 copal dictation of this colony. Those landing in the south passed 
 north and west in search of similar freedom, so soon as they had met 
 in sufficient proportions to realize their own power. They were led to 
 find homes where they could exercise their attachment to the doctrine 
 affirmed by one of their ministers, speaking for all, as early as 1650, 
 when required by the Long Parliament to subscribe to the oath against 
 a goverment of king, lords, and commons ; in refusing, he said : 
 
 " Men are called to the magistracy by the suffrage of the people, 
 whom they govern ; and for men to assume unto themselves power, is 
 mere tyranny and unjust usurpation." This he said on account of the 
 self-constituted" authority of this Parliament. This doctrine, new to 
 civil government, which they had derived from religious convictions, 
 traditions, and struggles, was first to receive the baptism of blood, 
 May 10, 1771, at 
 
 ALAMANCE CREEK. 
 
 Having mentioned the battle of Alamance, and finding that in 
 some of our histories the character and purposes of the Regulators 
 engaged in this conflict have been greatly misunderstood, I offer the 
 following extract from the life of David Caldwell, D.D., by Rev. E. 
 W. Caruthers, of North Carolina. 
 
 "A people who have been religiously educated, as a majority of the 
 Regulators had been, and who had been taught to regard the Bible as 
 a revelation from heaven, are not apt to rise at once in open rebellion 
 against the established government, or bid defiance to the regularly 
 constituted authorities of the land. This is the work of time and re 
 flection. There must be consultation and inquiry into facts for the 
 purpose of satisfying their own consciences, and of justifying them 
 selves before the world. There will be some regard to the voice of 
 reason : some efforts will be made to obtain a redress of grievances 
 without the hazard and sufferings attending a conflict with ' the powers 
 that be.' And then they must have mutual encouragement and 
 mutual pledges of fidelity and support. This is just what we find in the 
 men whose principles and conduct are now under consideration, and 
 it does not appear that hitherto they had as a body made auy direct re 
 sistance to the operations of government. Fanning and others, who 
 had in the same way become obnoxious to the people, were made the 
 subjects of ridicule or of merriment by the wits and wags of the day, 
 and, as usual in such cases, caricatures and pasquinades abounded. 
 The meeting at Haddock's mills, as we have seen, resolved that they
 
 SCOTCH-IRISH OF TENNESSEE. 147 
 
 would pay no more illegal taxes, unless they were forced ; that they 
 would pay no more exorbitant fees to officers, except by compulsion, 
 and that they would bear an open testimony against it; that they 
 would hold frequent meetings for conference, which they would re 
 quest their representatives to attend for the purpose of giving them 
 information respecting what was done in the legislature, and of con 
 sulting together about the measures that ought to be adopted for the 
 common welfare ; that they would select more suitable men for the 
 various offices in the gift of the people; that they would petition the 
 assembly, governor, council, king and parliament, for redress of their 
 grievances ; that they would contribute to collections for defraying 
 whatever expenses might be necessary in this undertaking; that when 
 ever a difference of opinion might arise they would submit to the ma 
 jority ; and as a pledge of their fidelity in the performance of these 
 things they bound themselves by an oath or affirmation." In all this 
 we see nothing but the principles and spirit which covered the patriots 
 of '76 with immortal honor; and only because they were better sus 
 tained, had more ample resources, and were more successful. 
 
 This battle was followed by the call of Colonel Thomas Polk, on 
 the 19th day of May, 1775, for the convention, which gave an " unan 
 imous aye" to the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, a 
 declaration remarkable for its heroism, and at the same time its pro 
 vision for continued government; there was no moment of anarchy be 
 tween their Declaration of Independence from the British crown, and 
 the erection of a government of their own ordination. 
 
 THOMAS POLK. 
 
 I have in my possession ample evidence of the Scotch-Irish blood 
 of the Polks. The evidence of genealogy, and the details of service 
 rendered by this distinguished family would occupy more space in this 
 address than your time allows. 
 
 I shall, therefore, file these papers with the custodian of the his 
 torical papers of the society, and content myself with the mention of 
 only a few prominent events in the lives of a few of the most distin 
 guished members of the family. While dealing with Colonel Thomas 
 Polk, we will complete what we have to say of his direct line, adding 
 a few incidents not to be found in the regular histories. As has already 
 been said, Thomas Polk, as colonel of the militia of the district, called 
 the convention which passed unanimously the Mecklenburg Declara 
 tion of Independence. The document, which had been written before 
 the meeting by his son-in-law, Ephraim Brevard, was read to the con 
 vention, submitted to a committee for revision, as revised, was re-read,
 
 148 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 unanimously adopted, and read by order of convention, at the court 
 house door to the assembled people by Colonel Polk. This had been 
 immortality enough for one man or one family, but Colonel Polk was 
 later a member of the colonial congress, and brigadier-general, was at 
 the battle of Germantown, and in the colonial congress of North Car 
 olina, which was the first to instruct for independence, April, 1776. 
 
 John Simpson, one of the witnesses of the Declaration of Inde 
 pendence, of May 20, in giving his testimony (before committee of 
 North Carolina legislature), relates this anecdote: "An aged man 
 near me, on being asked if he knew any thing of this affair (Declara 
 tion of 20th), replied: ' Och, aye; Tarn Polk declared independence 
 lang before any body else.'" 
 
 COLONEL WILLIAM POLK,* 
 
 Son of General Thomas Polk and Susan (nee Spratt), was born, 1759. 
 He left Queens College, Charlotte, when sixteen years of age (1775), 
 and entered the army as lieutenant in Colonel Thompson's (Old Danger) 
 regiment. He was detailed by Colonel Thompson with thirty men 
 to watch the movements of tories in South Carolina. He was led into 
 an ambuscade by his guide (one Sol. Deason) and was badly wounded 
 in the shoulder, from which he did not recover in a year. " This was 
 the first blood shed south of Lexington," so says General Andrew 
 Jackson, in a sketch written in 1844, when James K. Polk was a can 
 didate for the presidency, also an autobiography written by Colonel 
 Polk, for Judge Murphy, of North Carolina. 
 
 General Jackson was a small boy at school with Colonel Polk, at 
 Charlotte, North Carolina. They were life-long friends, and I think 
 that Jackson, although not of military age, was a short time in 
 service with Colonel Polk. 
 
 Colonel William Folk's Memoir. 
 
 He was with General Davis as volunteer captain at Beaver Creek 
 (Wheeler, 190 page). 
 
 At Cowans Ford, July 20, 1780, by the side of General David 
 son when he fell (Wheeler, 235). 
 
 With General Nash at Germantown, when he (Polk) was wounded 
 in the cheek. 
 
 Captain in charge when liberty bell was removed from Phila 
 delphia. 
 
 * MS. furnished by granddaughter.
 
 SCOTCH-IRISH OF TENNESSEE. 149 
 
 He was the first representative from Davidson county (Tenn.) in 
 North Carolina legislature. 
 
 Member of North Carolina assembly, 1787, 1790, 1791. 
 
 President of North Carolina state bank. 
 
 Was appointed by Washington supervisor of all the ports of North 
 Carolina, which he retained until the office was abolished. 
 
 Was a member of the Cincinnati society. 
 
 At the surrender of Coruwallis at Yorktown. 
 
 At the " Cowpens," where his brother Thomas was killed. 
 
 Query : Did not Colonel Polk give the name of Nashville and 
 Davidson to the city and county ? Having been at the side of Gen 
 eral Davidson when he fell, and with General Nash when he was 
 killed, and being the first representative from Davidson, I think con 
 firms the tradition that he named or caused them to be so named. Col 
 onel Polk was offered the commission of brigadier-general by Madison, 
 in the war of 1812 and '13, which he in a patriotic letter declined, 
 and then tendered his service to the governor of North Carolina. 
 
 " It was certainly creditable to the Scotch-Irish of North Caro 
 lina, as they were the first to secede from the mother country, and so 
 remained that the blood of one of their -sous was the first shed (South) 
 in the cause of Liberty," says Bancroft. 
 
 General Bishop Leondias Polk, whose life was given in the cause 
 of the South, was a son of Colonel William Polk. General Lucius E. 
 Polk is a grandson. 
 
 ANTOINETTE POLK. 
 
 A granddaughter of Colonel William Polk, Antoinette Polk, 
 married Baron de Charette, nephew of Comte De Chambord, the 
 Orleans claimant, until his death, of the French throne. She is a 
 charming and noble woman, and is well remembered in Maury 
 county for her courage and daring horsemanship, and also for a 
 famous race. 
 
 Before Columbia, Tenn., was taken possession of by either army, 
 General Wilder and his cavalry made a dash into the town to surprise 
 and capture Confederate soldiers, who were scattered at Ashwood and 
 country houses near the town. 
 
 Antionette Polk, then a girl of sixteen, was at her uncle's, Dr. 
 William Folk's home, the site of the present U. S. arsenal. Hearing 
 of the raid, she ran to the stable, saddled her fine blooded horse, and 
 not taking time for gloves, started off to give the alarm to the soldiers 
 along the pike, and at Ashwood. As she emerged from the woods she 
 saw she was pursued by several cavalrymen. A countryman, seeing 
 her danger, jumped from his cart, threw wide open the gate, and
 
 150 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA.. 
 
 through she darted, followed by the cavalrymen, and then they raced six 
 miles down the Mt. Pleasant pike. Though they picked up the long 
 ostrich plumes and hat with which she whipped her horse, the lady, the 
 soldiers said, vanished from their sight; but when she was taken faint 
 ing from her horse near Mt. Pleasant, she had accomplished her work, 
 and not a soldier was taken prisoner at Ashwood. 
 
 The part taken by this distinguished family in the late war be 
 tween the states is beyond the limits our time will allow. 
 
 Bishop (General) Leonidas Polk, and General Lucius Eugene 
 Polk will appear in future history as the peers of the foremost men of 
 their day. President James K. Polk belongs to another place in this 
 address. 
 
 Let us return to our proper chronological point, the Declaration 
 of Independence of Mecklenburg, May 20, 1775. The first voice 
 publicly raised in America to dissolve all connections with Great 
 Britain came from the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians. To those at 
 Mecklenburg are to be added an assembly of the same people at 
 Hanna's Town, Western Pennsylvania, May, 1776. 
 
 ALEXAJtDER CRAIGHEAD. 
 
 If Presbyterians were the first, and Scotch-Irish in the front line 
 of advance in the march toward American independence, I would be 
 untrue to history if I did not direct attention to the fact that Alex 
 ander Craighead was the single file at a good distance in front of the 
 column. As early as 1743, we find Mr. Craighead in Pennsylvania, 
 charged by Thomas Cookson, one of his majesty's justices for Lancaster 
 county, before Presbytery, for the publication of a pamphlet " which 
 tended to dissatisfaction with the civil government that we are now 
 under." Later we find Mr. Craighead in Hanover, Va., and from 
 thence we follow him to Mecklenburg, North Carolina, where we hear 
 him thus spoken of by Rev. A. \V. Miller in his centennial discourse, 
 delivered at Charlotte, North Carolina, May 20, 1875. 
 
 " To the immortal Craighead, a Presbyterian minister of Ire 
 land, who finally settled in Mecklenburg in 1755, ' the only minister 
 between the Yadkin and the Catawlm,' who found in North Carolina 
 what Pennsylvania and Virginia denied him sympathy with the 
 patriotic views he had been publicly proclaiming since 1741 to this 
 apostle of liberty, the people of Mecklenburg are indebted for that 
 training which placed them in the forefront of American patriots and 
 heroes. It was at this fountain that Dr. Ephrairn Brevard and his 
 honored associates drew their inspirations of liberty. So diligent and 
 successful was the training of this devoted minister and patriot ; so
 
 SCOTCH-IRISH OF TENNESSEE. 151 
 
 far in advance even of the Presbyterians of every other colony had he 
 carried the people of this and adjacent counties, that on the very day, 
 May 20, 1775, on which the General Synod of the Presbyterian 
 Church, convened in Philadelphia, issued a pastoral letter to all its 
 churches, counseling them, while defending their rights by force of 
 arms, to stand fast in their allegiance to the British throue, on that 
 Jay the streets of Charlotte were resounding with the shouts of free 
 men, greeting the first declaration of American independence." 
 
 As we found an ancestor of Alexander Craighead (viz.) Rev. 
 Robert, standing for liberty at a critical hour in the history of the 
 church in Ulster, so we find later his son, Rev. Thomas B. Craighead, 
 in Haysborough, six miles east of Nashville, the first President of 
 Davidson Academy. The academy was erected into Davidson College, 
 July 9, 1805, and Mr. Craighead became the first president. He, 
 with John Hall, of Suraner, and Geo. McWhirter, of Wilson county, 
 all Scotch-Irish, did more than any men of that day, west of the 
 Cumberland mountains, to form on a high moral plane the manhood 
 of the youth of the earlier part of the nineteenth century. Robust 
 manhood, a high sense of honor, devotion to liberty, enthusiastic 
 patriotism, with excellent mental training, gave to our state a bevy 
 of great men in all that constitutes true greatness. 
 
 The first settler in Tennessee was perhaps Captain Wm. Bean, 
 whoso relation to the Scotch-Irish race is unknown. In 1770, came 
 Scotch-Irish James Robertson, who should have by right the appella 
 tion of father of Tennessee. He was among the first settlers of 
 Watauga. The troubled state of affairs in North Carolina soon begot 
 a steady stream of hardy, daring settlers. 
 
 THE WATAUGA SETTLERS, 
 
 in convention assembled, formed a written constitution, and elected as 
 commissioners thirteen citizens. They were: John Carter, Charles 
 Robertson, James Robertson, Zach. Isbell, John Sevier, James Smith, 
 Jacob Brown, William Beau, John Jones, George Russell, Jacob Wo- 
 mack, Robert Lucas, William Tatham. Of these John Carter, Chas. 
 Robertson, James Robertson, Zach. Isbell, and John Sevier, it is 
 believed, were selected as the court of which William Tatham was 
 the clerk. It is to be regretted that the account of the lives of all 
 these pioneers is so meager and unsatisfactory. The biography of 
 each of them would be now valuable and interesting. All of the 
 names mentioned, except Sevier, seem to be, from their agreement 
 with the names of well known Scotch-Irish in North Carolina and the 
 valley of Virginia, of the same race. 
 
 So far as I have been able to trace the facts, after some care be-
 
 152 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 stowed upon the question, this is not only what Ramsey calls it, " the 
 first written compact of civil government west of the Alleghanies," 
 but the 
 
 FIRST WRITTEN CONSTITUTION 
 
 born of a convention of people on this continent. The old colonies 
 brought with them the common law of England ; they received 
 charters from the English throne, added legislation under these char 
 ters; but of constitutions having their origin in the breast of the peo 
 ple, and born of a convention of the people, this is the first recorded 
 in history. This act bears date 1772. The constitution of Virginia 
 bears date, June 12, 1776; North Carolina, December 18, 1776; 
 Maryland, August 14, 1776 ; New Jersey, July 2, 1776 ; Massachu 
 setts, 1779. 
 
 These, so far as time has enabled me to ascertain, are the earliest 
 state constitutions. I leave to the future historian the query as to 
 whether Alexander Craighead or Patrick Henry deserves the first 
 place as pioneers of American independence. Whether to James 
 Robertson or Alexander Hamilton we are to give the name of consti 
 tution builder. In either case, the Scotch-Irish, with a trace of Hu 
 guenot blood, win the pre-eminence over all other races. Or if to 
 Madison the greatest credit of the constitution belongs his ancestors 
 being unknown we have the Scotch-Irish Donald Robertson, his first 
 teacher. 
 
 It is a marvel how we have slept over these glorious achievements 
 of our fathers, and have come to the last moment of possible rescue 
 before we arouse ourselves to see that history shall do them justice. 
 Had we begun this work, even thirty years ago, priceless facts had 
 been saved from the oblivion to which they have gone. Massachu 
 setts makes a rival constitutional claim, founded on the paper drawn 
 up and signed by the Pilgrims before landing on Plymouth Rock. 
 But this paper recognizes the loyalty of the signers to the king, and is 
 destitute of the Scoth-Irish doctrine, long before announced, that right 
 government must have its origin in the breast of the people. The au 
 thor of the " Rear Guard of the Revolution," evidently on grounds 
 of fancy, rather than proof, gives the chief credit of the constitutional 
 movement at Watauga to John Sevier. I would pluck no laurel from 
 the brow of Tennessee's first governor. He has many, and wears them 
 worthily, but by every token of well attested history of the two men, 
 this act is much more like the 
 
 SCOTCH-IRISH ROBERTSON 
 
 than the French Sevier; much more the act of the statesman than 
 the soldier. Sevier was vivacious, frolicsome, brave; Robertson, se-
 
 SCOTCH-IRISH OF TENNESSEE. 153 
 
 date, subtle, wise,- and brave, as well. The superior diplomatic pow 
 ers of Robertson are seen in the early meeting with the Indians to set 
 tle the question of title.* Robertson was the spokesman. When all 
 had been settled, on the last day of the gathering it had been arranged 
 that a foot-race should take place between the younger braves and the 
 young men of the settlement, on the open ground along the southern 
 bank of the river. The race was in full progress, and among the 
 younger men all was mirth, hilarity, and good-natured emulation, and 
 even the older chieftains, catching the spirit of the occasion, had re 
 laxed from their habitual gravity, and were cheering on the contest- 
 ents, when suddenly a musket-shot echoed over the grounds, and one 
 of the young braves, the near kinsman of a chieftain, fell in his tracks 
 lifeless. The report came from the woods near the race-ground, and 
 pursuit failed to discover the assassin, but there could be no question 
 that 
 
 HE WAS A WHITE MAN. 
 
 It was as if the shot had been fired into a magazine of gunpowder. 
 The Cherokees were there without arms, or there might have followed 
 a bloody tragedy. As it was, they silently gathered their goods to 
 gether, and, with threatening gestures and faces presaging a bloody 
 vengeance, rapidly stole away into the forest. 
 
 It was subsequently discovered that the murderer was a young 
 man named Crabtree, from the Wolf Hills (now Abingdou), Virginia, 
 about fifty miles to the north-east. A brother of his had, not long 
 before, been killed by the Shawnees, while engaged in exploring with 
 Boone in Kentucky, and he had taken this inopportune time for his 
 revenge. The Indians had left hastily, giving the whites no time for 
 explanation or parley. Revenge blood for blood was the cardinal 
 doctrine of their theology, and, if something were not done at once to 
 avert it, war, bloody and exterminating, would soon be upon the set 
 tlers. What could be done to avert it? To flee the country would 
 be to merely invite pursuit, and a hundred miles of wilderness lay be 
 tween them and any safe asylum. To remain was just as hazardous, 
 for how could this handful of one hundred men sustain a conflict with 
 
 THREE THOUSAND INFURIATED SAVAGES? 
 
 Hastily, the settlers gathered together in council, and then it was 
 that Robertson volunteered, like Curtius, to ride into the breach at 
 the peril of his life, to visit and endeavor to pacify the enraged Che.ro- 
 kees. It was a hundred and fifty miles through an unbroken forest, 
 with death lurking behind every tree that grew by the way; but 
 
 * Ramsey, and "Rear Guard of the Revolution."
 
 154 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 what, he said, was one life periled to save five hundred? Thus Rob 
 ertson reasoned with his neighbors and friends; and then, giving a 
 parting kiss to his wife and child, he mounted his horse and rode off 
 into the wilderness. History contains few acts so daring, so full of 
 the highest courage, so truly altruistic. To charge with comrades on 
 the field of battle in no sense reaches to the sublime height of an act 
 like this. He succeeded in his mission, and four years of peace fol 
 lowed. 
 
 Robertson, as is well known, came early to the French Lick set 
 tlement on the Cumberland, now Nashville. Here he repeated the 
 same act of founding constitutional government in which he had led 
 at Watauga. Here he repeats his skillful diplomacy with Indian and 
 Spanish agent alike. His manly bearing, his great strength of char 
 acter, and profound knowledge of men, make him the trusted leader. 
 After detailing many of his military expeditions and negotiations, 
 Ramsey, the venerable historian, says: "The people of Tennessee 
 have reason to 
 
 VENERATE THE MEMORY 
 
 of James Robertson, alike for his military and civil services, and the 
 earnest and successful manner in which he conducted his negotiations 
 for peace and commerce. His probity and weight of character se 
 cured to his remonstrances with Indian and Spanish agents respectful 
 attention and consideration. His earnest and truthful manner was 
 rarely disregarded by either." 
 
 While Robertson was thus building up constitutional government 
 and laying broadly the foundation of western empire, Sevier allowed 
 himself to become involved in the unfortunate feuds of the State of 
 Franklin. Every-where he appears the glorious soldier, the magnani 
 mous friend ; but had Robertson been at Watauga instead of French 
 Lick, Colonel Arthur Campbell, who was the real originator of the 
 State of Franklin, could never have led him to the steps taken by 
 Sevier. He, Robertson, would never have been led to the grave mis 
 take of the attack on Tipton's house. Colonel Arthur Campbell waa 
 a restless spirit, full of theories; a man of much more educational 
 culture than either Robertson or Sevier; did the writing that produced 
 the State of Franklin; prepared the constitution first presented to the 
 convention. Patrick Henry, then governor of Virginia, says, in a 
 communication to the legislature: "The limits proposed for the new 
 government of Frankland by Colonel Arthur Campbell, and the peo 
 ple of Virginia, who aimed at a separation from that state, were ex 
 pressed in the form of a constitution, which Colonel Campbell drew up 
 for public examination."
 
 SCOTCH-IRISH OF TENNESSEE. 155 
 
 His county in Virginia did not follow his wishes and become con 
 nected with the new state. His brother-in-law, Colonel Wm. Camp 
 bell, of King's Mountain fame, opposed the movement, and was more 
 influential with the people. Judge David Campbell, his brother, 
 though not originally favoring the formation of a state, became after 
 ward its ablest counselor and apologist, yet so retained, by his con 
 servative course, the confidence of both parties, that he held the high 
 est judicial positions under both states. I have no disposition to 
 pursue the question growing out of the formation of the State of 
 Franklin further than to make good a claim that the origin or main 
 tenance of well- organized government in Watauga and in the French 
 Lick settlement are to be attributed to the same great pioneer genius, 
 James Robertson. I have seen the private papers of Colonel Arthur 
 Campbell, which manifest a subtle genius, a fondness for elaborate 
 writing. His letters, to the last, were very long, almost equal to a 
 modern newspaper, and filled with political discussion. He was more 
 than once on military expeditions with Sevier. In one of the most 
 extended of the Sevier expeditions enumerated to the credit of Sevier 
 in the "Rear Guard of the Revolution," he, and not Sevier commanded. 
 I have seen his official reportof the expedition in his own chirography. 
 
 I had at one time proposed to give the names of the early set 
 tlers of Tennessee, both east and middle, that could be identified as 
 Scotch-Irish, but have been led to abandon that purpose for several 
 reasons : First. We are a generation too late in attempting to gather 
 many of the necessary facts the last generation might have given 
 them ; this generation can not ; many families have not preserved the 
 records back of the first settlers. I have found many descendants of 
 our more prominent families ignorant of the fact that their ancestors 
 were Scotch-Irish, when on examining the material at hand, I have 
 been able to find ample proof of the fact ; it would therefore be in 
 vidious to offer a list of names of families unless the list could be made 
 comparatively complete. Second. On further study of the question, 
 it is evident that an overwhelming majority of the early settlers of our 
 state were Scotch-Irish, so that every Tenuessean descending from our 
 first hardy settlers is to be put down as of this people, if he can not 
 prove his descent to be otherwise. The author of the "Rear Guard" 
 thus speaks of the early settlers who came to Watauga after Robert 
 son's peace with O-ka-na-sto-ta : 
 
 "They were nearly all from Virginia, and of Scotch-Irish de 
 scent, generally poor, and threading the old Indian war-path, or pome 
 narrow trace blazed by the hunters, with only a single pack-horse, 
 which carried all their worldly possessions. But they had strong
 
 156 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 arms and stout hearts, and added at once to the wealth and security 
 of the young community. They became, by the mere act of settle 
 ment, large land-owners, and their names are borne to-day by many 
 of the leading families of the south-west. Forts, modeled after the 
 one at Watauga, were built for the protection of the outlying settlers, 
 and the colonists soon felt as secure as in their old - homes in Vir 
 ginia." 
 
 Later, Ramsey tells of further Scotch-Irish under Colonel David 
 Campbell, forted near Kuoxville, old soldiers of King's Mountain. 
 To show that these were not the ignorant people the author of the 
 Rear Guard seems to indicate, I here give the names of books taken 
 from a single shelf in my library which have come down to me books 
 from homes of old Scotch-Irish : 
 
 Abbe Reynal's Histories, 1750 begun. 
 
 Hume's History. 
 
 Female Spectator, 1775. 
 
 Essays, Hugh Knox, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, 1804. 
 
 Pollock's Course of Time. 
 
 Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History, 1766. 
 
 Dodridge's Works, 1792. 
 
 Life of Ireland, Winchester, Va., 1819. 
 
 Newton's Works, 1792. 
 
 Night Thoughts, 1770. 
 
 Hervey's Meditations. 
 
 Pope's Essays. 
 
 Newton on Prophecies, 1782. 
 
 Discourses on God's Sovereignty, 1772, by Elisha Coles. 
 
 William Cowper, 1792. 
 
 The Boston Collection of Hymns, 1808. 
 
 "A Plan for Female Education," by Erasmus Darwin, 1798. 
 
 On Solitude. Michael W. Hogan, Limerick, on one of the blank 
 pages. Title page gone. 
 
 Sin iu Believers, John Owen, D.D., Glasgow, 1758. 
 
 Joseph us. 
 
 Taking the early histories of North Carolina, and the annals of 
 the settlement of middle Tennessee, it is easy to see that the largest 
 proportion of the settlers were from the Scotch-Irish counties of North 
 Carolina and Virginia. Among the first we have from Ramsey: 
 "A settlement of less than a dozen families was formed near Bledsoe's 
 Lick (1778), isolated in the heart of the Chickasaw nation, with no 
 other protection than their own courage, and a small stockade in- 
 closure. In the early spring of 1779, a little colony of gallant ad-
 
 SCOTCH-IRISH OP TENNESSEE. 157 
 
 venturers, from the parent hive at Watauga, crossed the Cumberland 
 Mountain, penetrated the intervening wilds, and pitched their tents 
 near the French Lick, and planted a field of corn where the city of 
 Nashville now stands. This field was at the spot where Joseph Park 
 since resided, and near the lower ferry. These pioneers were Captain 
 James Robertson, George Freeland, William Neely, Edward Swanson, 
 James Hauly, Mark Robertson, Zachariah White, and William 
 Overhall. 
 
 " While Robertson and his co-emigrants were thus reaching the 
 Cumberland by the circuitous and dangerous trace through the wilder 
 ness of Kentucky, others of their countrymen were 
 
 UNDERGOING GREATER HARDSHIPS, 
 
 enduring greater sufferings, and experiencing greater privations upon 
 another route, not less circuitous and far more perilous, in aiming at 
 the same destination. Soon after the former had left the Holston set 
 tlements on their march by land, several boats loaded with emigrants 
 and their property left Fort Patrick Henry, near Long Island, on a 
 voyage down the Holston and Tennessee, and up the Ohio and Cum 
 berland. The distance traversed in this inland voyage, the extreme 
 danger from the navigation of the rapid and unknown rivers, and the 
 hostile attacks from the savages upon their banks, mark the emigra 
 tion under Colonel Donelson as one of the greatest achievements in the 
 settlement of the west." 
 
 Without going into details, which would protract too much the 
 time, I quote from Phelan's "Tennessee" his summary, leaving out 
 such names as are known to be of other blood : 
 
 " The names of these adventurous navigators and bold pioneers 
 of the Cumberland country are not, all of them, recollected ; some of 
 them follow : Mrs. Robertson, the wife of James Robertson, Col. 
 Donelsou, John Donelson, Jun., Robert Cartwright, Benjamin Porter, 
 James Cain, Isaac Neely, John Cotton,. Mr. Rouusever, Jonathan 
 Jennings, William Crutchfield, Moses Reufroe, Joseph Renfroe, James 
 
 Renfroe, Solomon Turpin, Johns, Sen., Francis Armstrong, Isaac 
 
 Lauier, Daniel Dunham, John Boyd, John Montgomery, John Cock- 
 rill, and John Caffrey, with their respective families; also J\I:iiy 
 Henry, a widow, and her family, Mary Purnell and her family, John 
 Blackmore, and John Gibson. These, with the emigrants already 
 mentioned as having arrived with Robertson by the way of the Ken 
 tucky trace, and the few that had remained at the bluff to take care 
 of the growing crops, constituted the nucleus of the Cumberland com 
 munity in 1780. Some of them plunged at once into the adjoining
 
 158 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 forests, and built a cabin with its necessary defenses. Col. Donelson, 
 himself, with his connections, was of this number. He went up the 
 Cumberland and settled upon Stone's river, a confluent of that stream, 
 at a place on its south side. The situation was found to be too low, 
 as the water, during a freshet, surrounded the fort, and it was, for that 
 reason, removed to the north side." 
 
 The names Nashville and Davidson county are testimonials to the 
 blood of the inhabitants, while Montgomery county adds another, and 
 Sumner is dotted with licks and creeks which retain the names of these 
 early Scotch-Irish settlers. The original Maury county is a cluster of 
 Scotch-Irish with scarcely a drop of alien blood. The bravery of these 
 people, coupled with their sturdy endurance of privation and savage 
 warfare, is without any parallel in the early settlement of America. 
 In the north-west the settler followed the soldier, often also the settler 
 followed the roads ; here the settler was the only soldier, and no roads 
 were known until he created them under his own organized govern 
 ment. 
 
 At first, as we have seen, emigrants came by a circuitous route 
 through Kentucky or along the dangerous navigation of the Tennes 
 see ; as soon as the settlers could organize they cut a road more than 
 two hundred miles in length from Campbell's Station, in East Tennes 
 see, to Nashville, and sent properly officered squads to protect the 
 emigrants en route. The stories of the heroic actions and brave en 
 durance of many of the women on these long journeys kindled in my 
 boyhood a passionate admiration never to be forgotten. The part 
 taken by Mrs. Buchanan in the fort just east of Nashville, molding 
 bullets and carrying in her apron over an uncovered space to the men 
 as they fired from the port-holes, has been often told. At Campbell's 
 Station, on occasion of an attack, when the men reached the house 
 from the field, they found the women had already barred the doors, 
 loaded the rifles, and the commander of the fort found his wife, gun 
 in hand, at the port-hole. 
 
 While two armies, one under General Harmar and another under 
 General St. Clair, and, finally, a third, under that thunderbolt of war, 
 General Anthony Wayne, had been sent forward by the general gov 
 ernment for the protection of the north-western settlers, the Tennessee 
 settlers were left to work out their own destiny, tempted by Spanish 
 officers, importuned by French promises. "The Indians, incited by 
 the British and Spaniards, constantly harried around the stations, the 
 springs, and the fields, ambushed the paths from station to station, 
 roamed the woods like sleuth-hounds to seize the adventurous hunter, 
 stole their horses, killed their cattle, drove off the wild game to produce
 
 SCOTCH-IRISH OF TENNESSEE. 159 
 
 famine. So terrific at one time became the ordeal, that all the stations 
 were abandoned except Eaton's and the Bluffs (Nashville). The sta 
 tioners went in armed squads to the springs, and plowed while armed 
 sentinels guarded the fields." Deaths by Indians were of almost 
 weekly occurrence. Many of the settlers left in despair; but the 
 Scotch-Irish blood in the veins of Robertson, Ewing, Rains, Buchanan, 
 and Donaldson, after solemn counsel and compact, said, we will stay.* 
 On the 22d of April, 1781, the Indians, by a well planned stratagem, 
 attempted to take the Bluffs, which was considered the Gibraltar of 
 the Cumberland. A decoy party drew the men away from the fort 
 into an ambush. When they dismounted to give battle, their horses 
 dashed off toward the fort, and they were pursued by some Indians, 
 which left a gap in their lines, through which some whites were escap 
 ing to the fort. Just then another large body of Indians were seen 
 from the fort emerging from another ambush, intercepting the whites 
 and making for the fort. All seemed lost. We are ready to shut our 
 eyes upon the horrid scene, and stop our ears against the wail of women 
 and children as they are sinking under the tomahawk and scalpiug- 
 knife. But no! the heroic women, headed by Mrs. James Robertson, 
 seized the axes and idle guns, and planted themselves in the gate, 
 resolved to die rather than give up the fort. Just in time, she ordered 
 the sentry to turn loose a pack of dogs, selected for their size and 
 courage to encounter bears and panthers, and that were frantic to join 
 the fray. They dashed off, outyelling the savages, who recoiled before 
 the fury of their onset, giving the men time to escape into the fort. It 
 is said that Mrs. Robertson " patted every dog as he came into the fort." 
 
 Through it all, our first progenitors held true to their first compact 
 of equal rights, mutual protection, impartial justice, urith the reserved power 
 of removing the unfaithful from office, and to the soil where they had 
 elected to make their struggle for liberty and homes. 
 
 To give the temper of the Scotch-Irish women, I give the follow 
 ing: 
 
 A WHIG WEDDING IN DERBY DURING THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 In Dunlap's Pennsylvania Packet for June 17, 1778, then pub 
 lished at Lancaster during the occupation of Philadelphia by the 
 British, we find the following reference to the marriage of Jane, 
 daughter of the Rev. John Roan, to William Clingan, Jr.: 
 
 "Was married last Thursday (June 11, 1778), Mr. William 
 Clingan, Jr., of Donegal, to Miss Jenny Roan, of Londonderry, both 
 of this county of Lancaster; a sober, sensible, agreeable young 
 
 * Address of General Bright.
 
 160 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 couple, and very sincere Whigs. This marriage promises much happi 
 ness as the state of things in this our sinful world will admit. This 
 was truly a Whig wedding, as there were present many young gentle 
 men and ladies, and not one of the gentlemen but had been out when 
 called on in the service of his country ; and it was well known that 
 the groom, in particular, had proved his heroism, as well as Whigism, 
 in several battles and skirmishes. After the marriage was ended, a 
 motion was made, and heartily agreed to by all present, that the 
 young unmarried ladies should form themselves into an association by 
 the name of the ' Whig Association of Unmarried Young Ladies of 
 America,' in which they should pledge their honor that they would 
 never give their hand in marriage to any gentleman until he had first 
 proved himself a patriot, in readily turning out when called to defend 
 his country from slavery, by a spirited and brave conduct, as they 
 would not wish to be the mothers of a race of slaves and cowards." 
 
 All honor to the memories of those patriotic women of Dauphin 
 in the war for independence! This was a Scotch-Irish county. Rev. 
 John Roan was a Presbyterian, and the uncle who reared Archibald 
 Roan, afterward governor of Tennessee. The latter was among the 
 earlier settlers, and married the sister of Judge David and Colonel 
 Arthur Campbell. 
 
 There are two men, Duncan Robertson and Montgomery Bell, 
 who, on grounds of distinguished philanthropy and liberality, deserve 
 to be mentioned in every sketch of the Scotch-Irish of our county of 
 Davidson. 
 
 Monette, in his "Valley of the Mississippi," says: "Tennessee, 
 not inaptly, has been called the mother of states. From the bosom of 
 this state have issued more colonies for the peopling of the great valley 
 of the Mississippi than from any one state in the American Union. 
 Her emigrant citizens have formed a very important portion of the 
 population of Alabama, of the northern half of Mississippi and 
 Florida. They have also formed the principal portion of the early 
 population of the states of Missouri, Arkansas, and Texas. 
 
 The first settlers of Tennessee not only through years of manly 
 struggle and endurance combined the work of the pioneer settler with 
 that of soldier, but early won as volunteers the rightful claim of pro 
 tector of the regions beyond them south and west. We do not deem it 
 proper to enter into the part taken by the Scotch-Irish of western 
 Virginia and Tennessee, and North and South Carolina, in the critical 
 battle of Kings Mountain that has been left for others. I may be 
 allowed to say the men who fought that battle were almost to a man
 
 SCOTCH-IRISH OF TENNESSEE. 161 
 
 of this heroic race. In their history they are three times called upon 
 during the revolutionary struggle to repel the combined attempt of 
 English and Indians to crush the struggling colonies each time they 
 cut the lines of the advancing foe, and so dismembered the parts of 
 the plan of operation as to thwart its ends. This is the work so bril 
 liantly described in the pages of the "Rear Guard of the Revolution." 
 It is too well known to detain you with its recital. 
 
 As we find a band of Scotch-Irish grouped around William 
 Campbell at Kings Mountain, so we find in the second period of Ten 
 nessee history, 
 
 ANDREW JACKSON, 
 
 Whose father came from Carrickfergus, Ireland, to North Carolina, 
 becomes the central figure of all the military movements of the south 
 west. Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Florida and Louisiana alike, 
 find in him and the Tennessee volunteers, who come at his call, their 
 deliverers from Spanish, Indian, and British foes. The leaders who 
 are the arms of his power are of his own race. Generals CofFe and 
 Carrol, General Winchester, General William Hall and Colonel 
 Henderson. In the fiercest hours of the struggle others of the race 
 arrest the pen of history at the battle of Horseshoe. The Thirty- 
 ninth regiment, under Colonel Williams, the brigade of East Tenues- 
 seeans, under Colonel Bunch, marched rapidly up to the breastwork 
 and delivered a volley through the port-holes. The Indians returned 
 the fire with effect, and, muzzle to muzzle, the combatants for a short 
 time contended. Major L. P. Montgomery, of the Thirty-ninth, was 
 the first man to spring upon the breastwork, where, calling upon his 
 men to follow, he received a ball in his head, and fell dead to the 
 ground. At that critical moment, young ensign Houston mounted the 
 breastwork. A barbed arrow pierced his thigh ; but, nothing dis 
 mayed, this gallant youth, calling his comrades to follow, leaped down 
 among the Indians, and soon cleared a space around him with his 
 vigorous right arm. Joined in a moment by parties of his own regi 
 ment, and by large numbers of the East Tennesseeans, the breastwork 
 was soon cleared, the Indians retiring before them into the underbrush. 
 The wounded ensign sat down within the fortification, and called a 
 lieutenant of his company to draw the arrow from his thigh. Two 
 vigorous pulls at the barbed weapon failed to extract it. In a fury of 
 pain and impatience, Houston cried, "Try again, and if you fail this 
 time, I will smite you to the earth." Exerting all his strength, the 
 lieutenant drew forth the arrow, tearing the flesh fearfully, and caus 
 ing an effusion of blood that compelled the wounded man to hurry 
 over the breastwork to get the wound bandaged. While he was lying 
 11
 
 162 THE SCOTCH IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 on the ground under the surgeon's hands, the general rode up, and 
 recognizing his young acquaintance, ordered him not to cross the 
 breastwork again. Houston begged him to recall the order, but the 
 general repeated it peremptorily and rode on. In a few minutes the 
 ensign had disobeyed the command, and was once more with his com 
 pany, in the thick of that long hand-to-hand engagement, which con 
 sumed the hours of the afternoon. Toward the close of the afternoon 
 it was observed that a considerable number of the Indians had found 
 a refuge under the bluffs of the river, where a part of the breastwork, 
 the formation of the ground, and the felled trees, gave them complete 
 protection. Desirous to end this horrible carnage, Jackson sent a 
 friendly Indian to announce to them that their lives should be spared 
 if they would surrender. They were silent for a moment, as if in 
 consultation, and then answered the summons by a volley, which sent 
 the interpreter bleeding from the scene. The cannon were now 
 brought up, and played upon the spot without effect. Jackson then 
 called for volunteers to charge : but the Indians were so well posted, 
 that, for a minute, no one responded to the call. Ensign Houston 
 again emerges into view on this occasion. Ordering his platoon to fol 
 low, but not waiting to see if they would follow, he rushed to the over 
 hanging bank, which sheltered the foe, and through openings of which 
 they were firing. Over this mine of desperate savages he paused, and 
 looked back for his men. At that moment he received two balls in 
 his right shoulder ; his arm fell powerless to his side ; he staggered 
 out of the fire, and lay totally disabled. His share in that day's 
 work was done. After being elected governor of Tennessee, this man 
 became the Washington of Texas. 
 
 A CHARACTERISTIC INCIDENT 
 
 of General Jackson, which I have not seen in print, was given me by 
 Judge Thomas Barry, of Sumner county, who knew*the general 
 well. The judge himself is a fine specimen of the race. Gen 
 eral Jackson, after his popularity had given him a large number 
 of namesakes through the country, was invited to a public dinner in 
 his honor at Hartsville, now in Trousdale county. After dinner, the 
 fond parents claimed the privilege of a hand-shake for the namesakes. 
 Judge Barry said that at a little distance he noted the fact that to 
 each of the boys the general gave a silver coin, accompanied by a re 
 mark he could not hear. Selecting one of the larger boys, he asked 
 him what the general had said to him. The boy replied, " IIo put his 
 thumb-nail on the word liberty, and said, ' For this our country fought 
 through seven years ; never give it up but with your life.'" To him
 
 SCOTCH-IRISH OF TENNESSEE. 163 
 
 liberty had a meaning. Men who followed him adored it. There 
 was a sacredness and awe in the tmes in which they spoke of it, show 
 ing its profound impress upon the strong mold of their natures. 
 Jackson not only delivered the south-west, -but gave us much of what 
 is distinctive in the principles, and all of what is marked in the meth 
 ods of the Democratic party, affecting the life of the nation as no man 
 after Washington and before Lincoln has done. 
 
 THE CONSTITUTION OP TENNESSEE, 
 
 in the formation of which he took a prominent part, was pronounced 
 by Thomas Jefferson the " most republican of all the constitutions 
 adopted by the states." Jackson's love of liberty and of the Union 
 atone for much of his personal tyranny when in office. His force of 
 will brooked no opposition ; his intensity allowed no friendship beyond 
 the bounds of agreement; his fiery temper was an exaggeration of 
 true Scotch Irish devotion to principle and enthusiasm for right. 
 
 Besides the prominent soldiers who co-operated with Jackson, we 
 have among his contemporaries of Scotch-Irish blood Hugh L. 
 White, who in one of Jackson's greatest extremities left the ju 
 dicial bench to lead a party of volunteers to the rescue. 
 A man who was brave as Jackson, as deeply enamored of his 
 country's freedom, but one who knew no arts to win popular applause 
 bevond lofty adherence to principle, the man who as a candidate for 
 the Presidency of the United States won the vote of his own stuto 
 over Jackson's active opposition, one of the purest and ablest of Amer 
 ican statesmen, second only as a statesman to one Tenuessean John 
 Bell. 
 
 The father of John Bell, Samuel Bell, came from North Caro 
 lina to Tennessee. His wife was Margaret Edmonson, of a family 
 largely represented in the battle of King's Mountain, and in all sub 
 sequent military expeditions from Tennessee Scotch-Irish on both 
 sides. 
 
 JOHN BELL 
 
 was a student with Craighead in his boyhood ; elected to Congress over 
 Felix Grundy, who was supported by the warm personal influence of 
 General Jackson; a warm admirer of J. C. Calhoun, but of such thor 
 ough independence of character, that he was placed as chairman of the 
 committee in the House before which it was supposed Mr. Calhoun's 
 resolutions would come for consideration ; elected speaker of the House 
 over James K. Polk ; supported Hugh L. White for President, and 
 while White carried the state, Bell carried the Hermitage district over 
 the whole force of the administration and the indomitable exertions
 
 164 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 of General Jackson ; entered the Senate, where he stood for the Union 
 through every change of administration ; favored the right of petition 
 on the part of the abolitionists when the whole South and many of the 
 northern statesmen refused them the privilege ; was secretary of war 
 under Harrison ; resigned when he could not agree with Tyler ; de 
 clined the offer of re-election to the Senate, on the grounds that E. H. 
 Foster deserved it at the hands of his party rare man ; was re-elected 
 at the next vacancy; stood for the compromise of 1850; opposed the 
 doctrine " to the victor belongs the spoils." One of the best, most 
 independent of American statesmen, who through all his career loved 
 the American Union more than he'loved party or power. 
 
 Before leaving John Bell, duty to the race whose place in Amer 
 ican civilization we are seeking to indicate, demands a reference to the 
 remarkable attitude held by him and Stephen A. Douglas at the sec 
 ond most critical juncture in American history. We have seen our 
 ancestral part in the earlier era ; again, in the trying epoch of the na 
 tion, when the hour came to test the power of the Union to hold in 
 one the states which had been gathered under the constitution, the 
 race stands out with a prominence that I have seen accorded them in 
 no annals of the times. 
 
 In the Presidential contest of 1860, Lincoln represented the ex 
 treme opinions of the North, Breckinridge the extreme opinions of 
 the South. The Scotch-Irish Bell and Douglas stood for the Union 
 under the constitution. They represented, the one, the conservatism 
 of the old Whig party, the other, the conservative element in the 
 Northern Democratic party. Whatever of honor there is in love of 
 the Union, we claim that honor for the Scotch -Irish, as represented 
 by these two sons in the hour of our country's greatest peril. 
 
 The chronological order of events demands that we turn back to 
 the period of the last Indian war, with the Se'minoles in Florida, when 
 Tennessee again is found with her volunteers in the fore-front of the 
 fight. General Robert Armstrong, Colonel Wm. Trousdale, and 
 Captain Wm. B. Campbell, leading spirits of the hour, were all 
 from Scotch-Irish ancestors. These we have traced ; many, perhaps 
 all others, were of the same blood, but the proof has not come to us, 
 though asked for again and again. 
 
 We ought to mention that pure man, Mr. Sommerville, cashier 
 of the bank at Nashville, by whose indomitable energy the mouey was 
 raised that enabled General Carrol to reach New Orleans at the crit 
 ical moment for the battle of New Orleans, where Jackson, with two 
 Scotch-Irish general officers and an army of like blood, won deathless 
 fame. The world has kept the name of the warrior, but allowed to
 
 SCOTCH-IRISH IN TENNESSEE. 165 
 
 be almost forgotten the name of the quiet patriot who " handled mill 
 ions, but died poor." 
 
 JAMES K. POLK. 
 
 We have found the first President Tennessee gave to the United 
 States of Scotch-Irish blood, so we find the second, 1 James K. Polk. It 
 is said by a historian that the most brilliant career of any man in the 
 White House was that of James K. Polk. About his early career 
 gather White, Bell, Cave Johnson, Catron, and the great Socratic 
 lawyer, John Marshall, of Williamson county. They, with his first 
 opponent for governor of the state, Newton Cannon, were of the same 
 race. In this canvass the latest historian of Tennessee says: "Polk 
 opened the campaign on his side by an address to the people of Ten 
 nessee perhaps the ablest political document which appeared in this 
 state up to the time of the war." 
 
 His agency in adding the boundless West to the domain of the 
 United States needs no eulogy at this late day. Without the Pacific 
 coast, as we have it, the United States would have been one of the 
 great nations of the world ; with it, she inevitably must hold at no 
 distant future an unrivaled pre-eminence. The time is now on us 
 when the world must realize that in potency we can be classed with 
 no other nationality. 
 
 In the Mexican war again we look for the Tennessee volunteers, 
 and in addition to the names of Trousdale and Campbell, that of B. F. 
 Cheatham, who had gone as captain in the First, when that regiment 
 was disbanded at the close of the year for which it was enlisted, raised 
 another regiment, of which he was made colonel. Cheatharn had the 
 blood of James Robertson in his veins. He proved in the war be 
 tween the states a veritable thunderbolt of war; a man of the stauuch- 
 est integrity. All the men from Tennessee prominent in the Mexican 
 war were of Scotch-Irish blood, with, perhaps, the exception of General 
 Gideon Pillow. I believe him to be of the same blood, from his relation 
 to Colonel Wm. Pillow, of whom Ramsey says: "Among other emi 
 grants from North Carolina to Cumberland was the father of William 
 Pillow. He came through the wilderness with the guard commanded 
 by Captain Elijah Robertson, and settled four miles south of Nash 
 ville, at Brown's station. The son, William Pillow, was in most of 
 the expeditions carried on against the Indians, from the time of his 
 arrival in the country to the close of the Indian war." 
 
 He was the hero and victor of Fort Donelson in the recent war. 
 He has never been accorded his due for his brilliant fighting there. 
 The Mexican war showed the volunteer spirit of Tennessee undimmed.
 
 166 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 Ten men volunteered their services for one accepted. Phelan's history 
 thus speaks of two of Tennessee's soldiers ia this war : 
 
 GENERAL WILLIAM TROUSDALE, 
 
 whose popular sobriquet was the " War Horse of Sumner County,** 
 was born September 23, 1790, in Orange county, North Carolina, and 
 was of Scotch-Irish descent. In 1796, his father removed with him to 
 Davidson county, Tennessee. When a boy at school he had joined 
 the expedition against the Creek Indians, and was at Tallahatchie and 
 Talladega. During the Creek war, in pursuance of some duty, he 
 swam the Tennessee river, near the Muscle Shoals, being on horse 
 back, although unable to swim himself. He was also at Pensacola and 
 New Orleans during the War of 1812. In 1835, he was in the state 
 senate, and in 1836 major-general of the militia. He fought through 
 the Seminole war of 1836. In 1837, he was an unsuccessful candidate 
 for Congress. In 1840, he was a Van Buren elector. He fought 
 through the Mexican war with great bravery, and was twice wounded 
 at Chapultepec. He was made brigadier-general by brevet in the 
 United States army for gallant and meritorious conduct in that en 
 gagement. Trousdale was a man of sound understanding and pure 
 character, and intellectually not inferior to his competitor. He was 
 elected by a majority of 1,390. 
 
 WM. B. CAMPBELL, 
 
 who opposed Trousdale in the next gubernatorial race, was descended 
 from a line of distinguished Revolutionary heroes. He finished his ed 
 ucation, which was solid and liberal, under his uncle, Governor David 
 Campbell, of Virginia, under whose supervision he studied law. 
 He returned to Tennessee, and in 1829 was elected attorney-general. 
 In 1836, he resigned his seat as a member of the legislature, and as cap 
 tain entered the Florida war, through which he fought with honor. In 
 1837, he defeated General Trousdale for Congress, and again in 1839. 
 In 1841, he was elected without opposition. He fought gallantly 
 through the Mexican war as colonel of the First Regiment, whose 
 desperate bravery won for it the sobriquet of "The Bloody First." 
 Campbell himself led the charge at Monterey, and his troops hoisted 
 the first flag on the walls of the Mexican city. This was perhaps the 
 most brilliant feat of arms accomplished during the war. The form 
 of Campbell's command to charge, " Boys, follow me," became his 
 toric, and was also the favorite battle-cry of the Whigs during the 
 campaign that elected him governor. In 1848, he was elected circuit 
 judge by the legislature, and in 1851 he was nominated by acclama-
 
 SCOTCH-IRISH OF TENNESSEE. 167 
 
 tion for governor by the Whigs. Trousdale and Campbell were cast 
 in the same mold. Both were men of pure character, of high pur 
 pose, of stern integrity, possessing sound practical sense, without bril 
 liancy of parts or fluency of tongue, and both were conservative and 
 courageous. " Two gamer cocks," says one writer, " were never pitted 
 against each other in a canvass for governor." 
 
 " Virginia and Massachusetts are the only states which have fur 
 nished more names that stand higher on the national roll of honor 
 than Tennessee. Not to mention Tennesseaus who, like Tipton, of In 
 diana ; Houston, of Texas; Benton, of Missouri; Garland and Sev- 
 ier and Hindman, of Arkansas; Claiborne, of Louisiana; Henry 
 Watterson, of Kentucky; Sharkey and Yerger, of Mississippi ; Gwin, 
 of California; and Admiral Farragut, have attained influence and 
 celebrity either local or national in other states, Tennessee has given 
 the national government a number of 
 
 PRESIDENTS AND CABINET OFFICERS 
 
 entirely out of proportion to its wealth and population. George W. 
 Campbell was secretary of the treasury under Madison. Andrew 
 Jackson was President from 1829 to 1837. John H. Eaton was sec 
 retary of war under Jackson. Felix Grundy was attorney-general 
 under Van Buren. John Bell was secretary of war under Harrison 
 and Tyler. Cave Johnson was postmaster-general under Polk, and 
 Polk himself was President from 1845 to 1849. Tennessee has fur 
 nished the House of Representatives two speakers, Bell and Polk, and 
 the Senate one presiding officer, in the person of H. L. White, in 
 1832. 
 
 " In addition to this, Tennessee has had two unsuccessful can 
 didates for the Vice-presidency, James K. Polk, in 1840, and A. J. 
 Donelson, on the ticket with Fillmore, in 1856, and two unsuccessful 
 candidates for the Presidency, H. L. White, in 1836, and John Bell, 
 in 1860. John Catrou was on the supreme bench of the United 
 States from 1837 to 1865. Joseph Anderson was the first comptroller 
 of the United States, from 1815 to 1836. William B. Lewis was the 
 second auditor from 1829 to 1845. Daniel Graham was register of 
 the treasury from 1847 to 1849, and A. A. Hall from 1849 to 1851 
 and 1853. 
 
 " In addition to this, Tennessee has furnished innumerable 
 representatives to the diplomatic service abroad, two of them, 
 George W. Campbell and Neil S. Brown, to the same court 
 Russia." 
 
 " The quaintest, the most striking, the most original figure in
 
 168 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 south-western history was David Crockett. Brownlow, the fighting 
 parson, the caustic writer, the politician, was a Tennessean governor 
 and senator. The filibustering expeditions, just preceding the war, 
 were full of romantic episodes. The leading figure in them was 
 William Walker, the ' Grey-eyed Man of Destiny,' whose exploits in 
 Nicarauga for a time attracted the gaze of Europe and America, 
 and whose sad and tragic fate has been described in the glowing and 
 sensuous verses of Joaquin Miller. The war between the states 
 brought to the surface many men of strong character and pronounced 
 individuality, but the most brilliant, the most original, the most at 
 tractive, the most dashing of all, was 
 
 N. B. FORREST, 
 
 a Tennessean. Joe C. Guild, the odd wag and the quaint humorist, 
 whose memory still lives in the traditions of the story-teller and the 
 anecdote-monger, was a Tennessean. Bailie Peyton, the peripatetic 
 politician and brilliant orator, was a Tennessean. The period from 
 1836 to 1860 was an era of great men and great orators. The style 
 of oratory was characteristic, and nearly always brilliant full of fire 
 and gorgeous flights of fancy and rhetorical adornment. Gus Henry 
 was the eagle orator. James C. Jones was a figure of national promi 
 nence, and was frequently suggested as a candidate for speaker. M. 
 P. Gentry was a leader in Congress, and an orator of the first magni 
 tude. After his first speech in Congress, John Quiucy Adams, who 
 took pleasure in observing new members of Congress, declared that 
 he was ' the greatest natural orator in Congress.' Laudon C. Haynes, 
 the Confederate senator, was also noted for the dazzling brilliancy of 
 his rhetoric." The Irish-Scotch William Walker, here mentioned, was 
 descended from the McClellans, a family whose genealogy is traced 
 back through many of the early settlers of Virginia, Tennessee, and 
 North Carolina to the north of Ireland, and thence to Scotland in the 
 twelfth century, where they held noble position. To the same fam 
 ily belongs Prof. A. H. Buchanan, of Cumberland University. The 
 record involves many of the best familes of Lincoln and Giles counties, 
 and of North Alabama. It will be filed with the historical papers. 
 
 PRESBYTERIANS. 
 
 We turn from the secular to the religious, and in as compact 
 manner as possible give the place of Scotch-Irish Presbyterians in 
 Tennessee ; as the family is largely represented in Tennessee, I begin
 
 SCOTCH-IRISH OF TENNESSEE. 169 
 
 with Dr. Witherspoon, a signer of the Declaration of Independ 
 ence.* 
 
 Dr. Caldwell, of North Carolina, first president of the State Uni 
 versity, has worthy descendants in Tennessee. The family honor has 
 been maintained in the worthy representative in Congress from the 
 Hermitage district, the Hon. Andrew Caldwell. Caruthers, of North 
 Carolina, has a large progeny in Tennessee. One was Judge A. 
 Caruthers, founder of the celebrated law school of Cumberland Uni 
 versity, whose influence as lawyer and Christian has gone far toward 
 peopling the south-west with Christian lawyers. His brother, Judge 
 Robert L. Caruthers, of the Supreme Court, the most powerful force 
 in giving success to the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. E. B. 
 Currie, of North Carolina, whose descendants have held distinguished 
 places in Tennessee history, especially in the postal service. Rev. 
 Gideon Blackburn was a right arm of power to General Jackson 
 through all the struggles of the early settlement of Tennessee. " It 
 is worthy of remark that the first four prominent educators of Tennes 
 see, Doak, Craighead, Carrick, and Balch, were all of Scotch-Irish 
 descent, and members of the same Presbytery. The Bible and the 
 school-book were borne together across the Alleghanies by men in 
 whose veins flowed the blood which had withstood the oppression of 
 three centuries." 
 
 That America should have owed its independence at the era 
 when it occurred, to the Scotch-Irish settlers, and foremost among 
 them to 
 
 THE PRESBYTERIAN PREACHERS, 
 
 that at the close of the revolutionary struggle, with the popularity 
 and decided prestige which belonged to that ministry, with the edu 
 cation and purity of life which was theirs in so eminent a degree, 
 with the priority of occupancy, that they should have been so quickly 
 distanced in the struggle for the rescue from sin and vice of the 
 hardy . settlers and their children by the Methodist preachers, is a 
 matter for profound study. The- Presbyterians held, as pioneers of 
 liberty, the foremost place in the popular mind and heart, and de 
 served the place they held. The Methodist preachers came out of 
 the struggle almost without a single laurel of freedom on their br<>\vs, 
 as preachers ; as men, many of them were soldiers before they became 
 preachers. The government of America had been fashioned in its 
 fundamental principles after the pattern set them by the Presby 
 terian Church. 
 
 * Omitted, as he was fully represented by another speaker.
 
 170 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 Before my recent studies, I had given to Thomas Jefferson and" 
 French political theories credit for a much larger share in our govern 
 mental principles and forms than I can ever do again. The great 
 principle of no taxation without representation, we owe to the Scotch- 
 Irish Presbyterians. For the insertion of the constitutional pro 
 vision against the union of church and state, we are alike indebted 
 to them. With all this debt of gratitude, we do well to ask why has 
 a church whose government for nearly a hundred years gave no voice 
 to the people on questions of taxation, and allowed little more indi 
 vidual freedom than Jesuitism itself, so surpassed in its growth 
 the church of our fathers? Results so stupendous as these are not 
 matters of chance. This is neither the time nor place to discuss 
 the problem. I present it because it is incumbent on some future 
 philosophic Christian historian of the race to solve it for the world's 
 good. 
 
 Do we find a part of the solution the following ? 
 
 Dr. McDonald, in his history of the Cumberland Presbyterian 
 Church, just from the press, says : 
 
 "The Southern Presbyterian Church, which has been so wonder 
 fully conservative, is seriously considering the propriety of changing 
 its standard on this subject. A standing committee has been ap 
 pointed to investigate the question. A long circular has been sent out 
 by one of that committee, ably advocating the change. This circular 
 shows that the ratio of increase in a hundred years between the Pres 
 byterian and Methodist Churches is as 47 to 1051. It shows that 
 ' aptness to teach,' which is a Bible qualification, is not proved by 
 the possession of a college diploma, which is not. Indeed, there is no 
 essential connection between the two." 
 
 SCOTCH-IRISH THREAD IN METHODISM. 
 
 We find the Scotch-Irish represented among the early Methodist 
 preachers of Tennessee, by Thomas Logan Douglass, Hubbard 
 Saunders, who married a daughter of General Russell, of revolutionary 
 fame, whose wife, Madam Russell, was a sister of Patrick Henry, 
 James Gwin, chaplain, adviser, and trusted friend of General Jackson,, 
 at some of the most critical periods in his stormy career, John McGhee, 
 who, with his brother, a Presbyterian preacher, had a large part in the 
 revival out of which sprung the Cumberland Presbyterian church. 
 Among the early laymen we find as members of the first society or 
 ganized at Nashville, General James Robertson and wife ; a little later, 
 Colonel Robert Weakley. Among the earliest converts in Sumner 
 county, Lindsay, McNelly, Crane, the Carrs, Cages, and Douglass
 
 SCOTCH -IRISH OF TENNESSEE. 171 
 
 family. But a little later, Mrs. Bowen, who was another daughter of 
 Geueral Russell, and pronounced by general Jackson the most remark 
 able woman he ever knew her place of prayer and devotional read 
 ing, the hollow of a sycamore tree, I have seen, the interior of which 
 she had liae-d with devotional clippings, prose and poetry. 
 
 The bishop, who had most to do in planting Methodism in Ten 
 nessee, Bishop William McKendree, and the bishop who last died iu 
 the state, Bishop McTyeire, were, as I take it, both Scotch-Irish. 
 Their names and places of birth indicate the fact, while their mental 
 characteristics are markedly of the racial type. Both of them bold 
 and urgent for the enfranchisement of the rank and file of the church 
 before they were separated from the mass by their elevation to the 
 episcopacy. Bishop McKendree, before he came under the personal 
 influence of Asbury, sympathized greatly with O'Kelly in his cry for 
 freedom of government, a cry which gave birth to Protestant Method 
 ism. 
 
 H. N. M'TYEIRE, 
 
 Before his elevation, was the resolute, adroit, persistent, and finally 
 victorious advocate for lay representation in the councils of the church. 
 Yet when clothed with the episcopal office, they were both as promi 
 nent for their high exercise of episcopal prerogative as was Jackson 
 himself in the presidential chair, or in the roll of military chieftain. 
 Strenuous for liberty when under authority, stalwart for prerogative 
 when gifted with authority. Of the men most marked in the history 
 of Tennessee, as exerting the most influential and long-continued in 
 fluence over the destinies of Methodism, we have John B. McFerrin 
 and David R. McAnally. Dr. McFerrin, in his History of Methodism 
 in Tennessee, speaking of Mr. Craighead, the earliest Presbyterian 
 preacher, says, "Mr. Craighead was a man of learning, and long 
 lived at his first residence in the state, and devoted most of his time 
 to the education of the youth of the country. In this field he was 
 very useful, and, as an educator, left a noble reputation. As a 
 preacher he was formal, and somewhat eccentric, but he has left be 
 hind him the savor of a good name." 
 
 It can be little doubted that had Craighead been writing of Mc- 
 Ferriu, he would have written "A strong man, gifted with power to 
 sway the masses, but as a preacher, of marked eccentricity." Most of 
 men who make the age feel them, and who leave behind them a dis 
 tinct impress, are written down by the many as eccentric. 
 
 JOHN NEWLAND MAFFET, 
 
 From the North of Ireland, the wonderful orator who swept like a
 
 172 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 comet over the Union, followed by vast crowds, was for a time a 
 resident of Nashville, and pastor of the leading Methodist church. 
 Philip Neely, perhaps the most eloquent of Tennessee's many eloquent 
 men. was Scotch-Irish. F. E. Pitts, who rivaled Whitfield in his 
 power to move masses, was of Scotch-Irish blood. Jesse Cunningham, 
 a preacher of East Tennessee, whose son, Rev. W. G. E. Cunning 
 ham, has won high position in Methodism, claims our notice, as well 
 as Peter Cartwright and James Axley. Dr. McFerrin, in his Method 
 ism in Tennessee, thus characterizes a band of Scotch-Irish preachers. 
 " The pathos of Massie and Lee, the logic of McHenry and Burke, 
 the polemical power of Page and Garrett, the zeal and piety of 
 Walker and Lakin, the unction and poetry of Wilkerson and Gwin, 
 the thundering and lightning of McGee and Granade, and the fine 
 talents and noble bearing of McKendree and Blackman, drew the 
 multitudes to Methodist meetings, and brought thousands of the best 
 people of the land into the church. And these men of God went into 
 the hovels of the poor and sought the halt and blind, the maimed and 
 the distressed, preached to them Jesus and the resurrection, and won 
 multitudes to the cross of Christ." 
 
 CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, OR THE IRISH-SCOTCH CHURCH. 
 
 This church is the child of the Irish-Scotch of Kentucky and 
 Tennessee. As the race itself is the synthesis of two races, the birth 
 of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church is the analysis of the two 
 races which reappear, the Scotch blood as Presbyterian, the Irish as 
 Cumberland. The one true to its logic, the other striding along across 
 all logical paths as enthusiasm may lead. Each is a source of honor 
 to the other, and, a second synthesis would be a blessing to our land, 
 the chief religious curse of which is the multiplication of sects. The 
 Cumberland Presbyterian Church has abounded in energy, which has 
 produced large results. 
 
 A very characteristic statement of the standpoint of its origin is 
 given in " McDonald's History," page 100. 
 
 " We have far more confidence in a system of theology growing 
 out of a revival than in a system made by scholastics writing in the 
 midst of their books and aiming at logical consistency." 
 
 Let us see the revival as it appears in history.* 
 
 The re-awaking Christian energy which ushered in the nineteenth 
 century, and which introduced a new method of spiritual propagand- 
 ism and enlightenment into American Christianity, was due to a man 
 
 * Phelan.
 
 SCOTCH-IRISH OF TENNESSEE. 17-'5 
 
 whose name has almost been forgotten by the great body of the peo 
 ple. This was James M'Gready, who was born in Pennsylvania, of 
 Scotch-Irish parents. Wheu young, he was removed to North Caro 
 lina, and was under the pastorate of John Caldwell. He was, as a 
 boy, of a naturally grave and serious disposition, and was early des 
 tined for the ministry. He thought himself devout and a true Chris 
 tian. But he accidentally overheard a remark made by one whom 
 he respected, that he had not a spark of religion in 'his heart. He 
 was aggrieved and surprised. He thought over what he had heard. 
 Light began to dawn upon him. Returning to North Carolina, he 
 commenced preaching in earnest. In 1790, he married, and took 
 charge of a church in Orange county. He was accused of " running 
 people distracted, diverting their attention from the necessary avoca 
 tions of life, and creating unnecessary alarm in the minds of those 
 who were decent and orderly in their lives." A letter written in 
 blood ordered him to leave the country. His church was attacked. 
 His pulpit was set on fire. In 1796, he removed to Kentucky. Here 
 he took charge of three congregations in Logan county Gasper river, 
 Red river, and Muddy river. He infused new life into them. The 
 people were aroused. His reputation spread. His influence grew. 
 People came miles and miles to hear him. The walls of sectarianism 
 were thrown down. He joined with Methodists in the work of reviv 
 ing the love of Christ. William M'Gee, a Presbyterian, was located 
 first at Shiloh, near Gallatin, Tennessee, then on Drake's creek, in 
 Stunner county. His brother, John M'Gee, was a Methodist. In 
 June, 1800, the two brothers assisted M'Gready at the Red river meet 
 ing-house, where the great revival fully developed itself. The crowd 
 was enormous, and many were compelled to sleep in the open air un 
 der the trees. It was noticed that some had brought tents and fond. 
 This suggested the idea of a camp-meeting. The next month, 
 
 THE FIRST CAMP-MEETING 
 
 the world had ever seen was held at Gasper river church, in Logan 
 county, Kentucky. The spirit spread wider and wider, farther and 
 farther. A peculiar physical manifestation accompanied these re 
 vivals, popularly known as the "jerks." They were involuntary and 
 irresistible. When under their influence, the sufferers would dance, 
 or sing, or shout. Sometimes they would sway from side to side, or 
 throw the head backward and forward, or leap, or spring. Generally, 
 those under the influence would, at the end, fall upon the ground and 
 remain rigid for hours, and sometimes whole multitudes would become 
 dumb and fall prostrate. As the swoon passed away, the sufferer
 
 174 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 would weep piteously, moan, and sob. After a while, the gloom would 
 lift, a smile of heavenly peace would radiate the countenance, and 
 words of joy and rapture would break forth, and conversion always 
 followed. Even the most skeptical, even the scoffers who visited these 
 meetings for the purpose of showing their hardihood, would be taken 
 in this way. As the inspiration spread, the 
 
 DEMAND FOR NEW PREACHERS 
 
 was greater than the church could supply. In this demand the Cum 
 berland Church had its origin. David Rice, the leading member of 
 the Transylvania Presbytery, visited the Cumberland country. Con 
 vinced that the revivals were doing great good, and appreciating the 
 lack of preachers, he suggested that laymen possessing the proper 
 qualifications for carrying on the work should be selected to apply for 
 membership in the Presbytery. Alexander Anderson, Finis Ewing, 
 and Samuel King applied, and were licensed to exhort. 
 
 Of Scotch-Irish we have marked these as prominent in the early 
 days of this church : Robert Donnel, Thos. Calhoun,T. C. Anderson, 
 J. M. McMurray. This church has come to number 150,000. 
 
 ALEXANDER CAMPBELL THE SCOTCH-IRISH CHURCH. 
 
 So large a place has been gained by the followers of the Scotch- 
 Irish Alexander Campbell in Tennessee, and he was himself so often 
 here, that no sketch of the religions of the race would be complete 
 without reference to him. A man who was bold enough to attempt 
 to reform, and in most of what he taught reverse the theology of the 
 ages, who fought his way single-handed and alone, who resorted to 
 no appeals to the passions, who was the death of enthusiasm, and 
 sought his conquests alone by the force of logic, arrests the pen of 
 history while he claims rightful place. He stands uniquely apart 
 from the religious reformers of the world as history has given them 
 to us. His success, which has been as marked as his courage was 
 dauntless, demands for him a foremost place among the celebrated men 
 of the race. John C. Calhoun, perhaps, of all the race, is his peer 
 in analytical powers, in persistence in unfaltering adherence to the re 
 sults of logic without giving place to either passion or expediency. 
 He belongs to the same Scotch-Irish family before referred to, was 
 brought up in the Presbyterian Church, trained in the theology of 
 the schools. He came on the scene of action just as the reverse tide 
 began to set in after the great excitement and religious furor of the 
 early part of this century. His movement has been improperly called a 
 reformation ; it was, in doctrine, methods, and purposes, a rebellion.
 
 SCOTCH-IRISH OF TENNESSEE. 175 
 
 The creeds of Presbyterian isra, the revivals of Methodists, Bap 
 tists, and Cumberland Presbyterians, were attacked with a persist 
 ency that knew no abatement. He had some grounds for his points 
 of attack. Protestantism had gone much too far along the line of 
 credal infallibility, while many of the churches of Kentucky and Ten 
 nessee had narrowed down evangelical methods to one, " the mourn 
 ers' bench or anxious seat," the evidences of conversion had practically 
 become the measure of the emotions. It has taken Alexander Camp 
 bell and his followers a half century to draw the old churches out of 
 the pent-up Utica, into which reverence for misplaced creeds on the 
 one hand, and exaggeration of emotion on the other, had drifted them. 
 The evidences of the good accomplished by him along these lines in 
 the life and action of the churches is becoming every day more ap 
 parent. When Christendom comes to 
 
 % 
 
 VALUE CREEDS AS MILE-STONES 
 
 to mark progress, instead of anchors to forbid further movement, the 
 followers of Alexander Campbell may be able to meet us half way, 
 and allow that creeds have a rightful place. Whether they do or not, 
 the age owes to Alexander Campbell a debt larger, perhaps, than to 
 any other one man of the pulpit of the century, Henry Ward Beecher 
 excepted. 
 
 Beecher denounced the binding nature of creeds as fearlessly as 
 did Alexander Campbell, but never was narrow enough in his intensity 
 to be blinded to the fact that it was the abuse, not the use of creeds 
 that had so damned up Christian growth. 
 
 The Scotch-Irish stick-to-right exaltation of minor points into 
 fundamental principles, the contentious character of the race, has no 
 better example than in Alexander Campbell and his followers. His 
 refusal of all creeds, his abandonment of all established forms of gov 
 ernment, was carrying to its extreme logical results the central prin 
 ciples of Scotch-Irish Presbyterianism. Taking the Bible as in 
 terpreted by every individual as the only source of right belief and 
 action, his Scotch-Irish blood at once .goes forward along its hereditary 
 tendencies to construe a book full of tropes, figures, and parables redo 
 lent of lofty imagery, by the literalism of the unimaginative Scotch 
 metaphysics, resulting in the narrowest of possible structures on the 
 broadest of foundations. Yet so just were many of his criticisms on 
 the credal and emotional religions of his day, so welcome was his 
 doctrine of equal rights in the kingdom of Christ to all members, so 
 attractive has been the field for activity presented to laymen, that,
 
 176 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 measured by the number of bis followers, be stauds unrivaled in the 
 history of the religious movements of the world. 
 
 A prophecy is on my lips, but I repress it. A single suggestion I 
 make. Had it not been for the exaltation of a symbol into the place 
 of a vital power by a faulty literalism, had it not been for the narrow 
 refusal to utilize such helps of government as Christian enlightenment 
 has approved, not as essentials, but as convenient scaffolding, their 
 success would have been as the torrent compared with the wave-like 
 growth of their history. 
 
 The following from Mr. Campbell shows his standpoint in contrast 
 to that given by McDonald as characteristic of Cumberland Presby^ 
 terian church : 
 
 "What I am in religion, I am from examination, reflection, con 
 viction, not from ipse dixit, tradition, or human authority; and, hav 
 ing halted and faltered and stumbled, I have explored every inch of 
 the way hitherto. Though my father and I accord in sentiment, 
 neither of us are dictators or imatators. Neither of us lead ; neither 
 of us follow." * 
 
 This, with the whole history of this church, so vividly recalls Par- 
 ton's picture of Scotch-Irish character in his life of Jackson, that we 
 call attention to it in closing. 
 
 " One trait in the character of these people demands the particu 
 lar attention of the reader. It is their nature to contend for what they 
 think is right with peculiar earnestness. Some of them, too, have a 
 knack of extracting from every affair in which they may engage, and 
 from every relation in life which they form, the very largest amount 
 of contention which it can be made to yield. Hot water would seem 
 to be the natural element of some of them, for they are always in it. 
 It appears to be more difficult for a North of Irelander than for other 
 men to allow an honest difference of opinion in an opponent ; so that 
 he is apt to regard the terms 
 
 OPPONENT AND ENEMY 
 
 As synonymous. Hence, in the political and sectarian -contests of the 
 present day, he occasionally exhibits a narrowness, if not ferocity of 
 spirit, such as his forefathers manifested in the old wars of the clans 
 and the borders, or in the later strifes between Catholic and Protestant." 
 It is strange that so kind and generous a people should be so fierce in 
 contention. " Their factions," says Sir Walter Scott, speaking of the 
 
 * Memoirs of Alexander Campbell, pp. 466, 467. [Letter to his uncle in 
 Ireland.]
 
 SCOTCH-IRISH OF TENNESSEE. 177 
 
 Irish generally, " have been so long envenomed, and they have such a 
 narrow ground to do their battle in, that they are like people fighting 
 with daggers in a hogshead." And these very people, apart frjotn 
 their strifes, are singularly tender in their feelings, liberal in gifts and 
 hospitality, and most easy to be entreated. On great questions, too, 
 which lift the mind above sectarian trivialities, they will, as a people, 
 be invariably found on the anti-diabolic side : equally strenuous for 
 liberty and for law, against " mobs and monarchs, lords and levelers," 
 as one of their own stump orators expressed it. The name which Bul- 
 wer bestows upon one of his characters, Stick-to-rights, describes every 
 genuine son of Ulster. Among the men of North of Ireland stock, 
 whose names are familiar to the people of the United States, the fol 
 lowing may serve to illustrate some of the foregoing remarks : John 
 Stark, Robert Fulton, John C. Calhoun, Sam Houston, David Crock 
 ett, Hugh L. White, James K. Polk, Patrick Bronte, Horace Greely, 
 Robert Bonner, A. T. Stewart, Andrew Jackson, Thomas Benton, 
 James G. Elaine, Judge Jervis Black. 
 
 Judging by the ocean-like roll of his heart, I am inclined to add 
 to these the name of Abraham Lincoln, and am much disposed to be 
 lieve that the sturdy honesty of Grover Cleveland springs from the 
 same source. 
 12
 
 178 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMEKICA. 
 
 SCOTCH-IRISH ACHIEVEMENT. 
 
 BY COLONEL A. K. M'CLURE, OF PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen: You have had very excellent samples of 
 the oratory of the Scotch-Irish, and I am not here to deliver an ora 
 tion, but 1 will give you a recess from Scotch-Irish oratory, by devot 
 ing a short space of the evening to a confidential conversation about 
 our distinguished race. The trouble with me is to know where to be 
 gin. If you are asked, Where have the Scotch-Irish been, and 
 where are they now ? the answer is, Where have they not been, and 
 where are they not? If you are asked what they have done, the an 
 swer of every intelligent citizen must be, What have they not done? 
 If you ask what distinguished places of trust and power they have 
 filled, the logical answer is, What place is there, in civil, military, or 
 religious authority, that they have not filled? To speak of such a 
 race, is to speak of the history of the past achievements of our land ; 
 and, strange as it may seem, this people whose history is written in 
 every annal of achievement in our land, is without a written history. 
 There is not a single connected history of the Scotch-Irish in Amer 
 ican literature, and there is not a history of any other people written 
 in truth that does not tell of Scotch-Irish achievement. If you were 
 to spend an evening in a New England library, you would find not 
 only scores, but hundreds of volumes, telling of Puritan deeds ; and if 
 you were to study them, the natural inference would be that the only 
 people that have existed and achieved any thing in this land were 
 the Puritans. They have not only written every thing that they have 
 done, but they have written more than they have done. The story 
 that they generally omit is their wonderful achievement in the burning 
 of witches. There is a complete history of the Quakers. You find it in 
 connected form in almost every library of any city. There is a complete 
 history of the Huguenots who settled in Carolina, and there is a con 
 nected history of every people of our land, save the one people whose 
 deeds have made the history of this country the most lustrous of all. 
 It is true, that those who write their history in deeds have least need 
 of history in the records of our literature, but the time has come in 
 this land when the Scotch-Irish owe it to themselves, and owe it 
 especially to their children, who are now scattered from eastern to 
 western sea, and from northern lake to southern gulf, that those who
 
 SCOTCH-IRISH ACHIEVEMENT. 179 
 
 come after us shall learn not only that their ancestors have been fore 
 most iu achievement, but that their deeds have been made notable in 
 history , as they were in the actions of men. Some of our more thought 
 ful historians or students of history will pretend to tell you when the 
 Scotch-Irish race began. I haven't heard even our Scotch-Irishmen 
 who have studied the question do the subject justice. No such race of 
 men could be created in a generation ; no such achievements could be 
 born in a century. No such people as the Scotch-Irish could be com 
 pleted even in century after century ; and while you are told that the 
 Scotch-Irish go back in their achievements to the days of John Kn<>x, 
 John Kuox lived a thousand years after the formation of the Scotch- 
 Irish character began. He was like the stream of your western 
 desert, that comes from the mountains and makes the valleys beauti 
 ful, and green, and fragrant, and then is lost in the sands of the 
 desert. Men will tell you that it disappears and is lost. It is not. 
 After traversing perhaps hundreds of miles of subterranean passages, 
 forgotten, unseen, it is still doing its work, and it rises again before 
 it reaches the sea, and again makes new fields green, and beautiful, 
 and bountiful. It required more than a thousand years to perfect the 
 Scotch-Irish character. It is of a creation single from all races of 
 mankind, and a creation not of one people nor of one century, nor 
 even five centuries, but a thousand years of mingled effort and sac 
 rifice, ending in the sieges of Derry, were required to present to the 
 world the perfect Scotch-Irish character. If you would learn when 
 the characteristics of the Scotch-Irish race began, go back a thousand 
 years beyond the time of John Knox, and find that there was a crucial 
 test that formed the men who perfected the Scotch-Irish character, 
 after years and years of varying conflict and success, until the most 
 stubborn, the most progressive, the most aggressive race iu achievement, 
 was given to the world. Let us go back to the sixth century, and 
 what do we find? We find Ireland the birth-place of the Scotch-Irish. 
 We find Ireland foremost of all the nations of the earth, not only in 
 religious progress, but in literature, and for two centuries thereafter 
 the teacher of the world iu all that made men great and achieve 
 ments memorable. For two centuries the Irish of Ireland, in their 
 own green land, were the teachers of men, not only in religion, but 
 iu science, iu learning, and all that made men great. She had her 
 teachers aud her scientists, men who filled her pulpits and went to 
 every nation surrounding ; and it was there that the Scotch-Irish char 
 acter had its foundation ; it was there that the characteristics became 
 evident which afterward made them felt wherever they have gone. 
 Those Irish were teachers of religion, and yet as stubborn for religious
 
 180 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 freedom as were the Scotch-Irish. Catholic, they often refused 
 obedience to the Pope. They were men of conviction ; they were 
 men of learning. They were the advanced outposts of the progressive 
 civilization of that day, and the cardinal doctrine of their faith, down 
 deep-set in the heart, was absolute religious freedom, and they even 
 combated the Vatican in maintaining their religious rights. 
 
 Then came the cloud that swept over the laud, and that effaced 
 this bright green spot from existence. Then came the barbarian from 
 the isles of the Baltic. He came with the torch of the vandal and 
 all the fiendishness of a barbarian, desolated the land, destroyed its 
 prosperity, overthrew its minsters, razed its churches to the earth, and 
 from that once bright green isle a land of desolation was made. 
 The Irish of that day were not to be conquered in a generation ; nay, 
 not in a century. It was only after two centuries of desperate, bloody 
 conflict, of sacrifice such as men to-day know not, that finally they 
 were almost effaced from the earth. But it was like the stream that 
 comes from the great mountains of the West, that had made the val 
 leys beautiful which it had traversed, and then disappeared in the 
 desert. The work of these men had perished and been overthrown 
 for the time being, but their teachings were eternal, and they are as 
 much impressed upon this audience now as they were twelve hundred 
 years ago in Ireland. Then history tells how the province was finally 
 laid waste, and, how, when it had ceased, by reason of its desolation, 
 to invite any to it, the Scotch-Irish were invited to come to Ulster, 
 and how there was literally founded the great people whose history 
 and whose achievements we celebrate now. They had undergone per 
 secution from King and Pope. Not until Pope Adrian and King 
 Henry, Protestant upon the one side and Catholic upon the other, had 
 united their arms, their schemes, and their statesmanship, was the 
 land laid waste so that the Scots alone could rebuild the destruction 
 which had been wrought. So great was the desolation, that prelates 
 denounced Catholicism one day, and again praised it ; the teachers at 
 the holy altar abjured Catholicism to Mary and Protestantism to 
 Henry. The church and state reeked with corruption. When there 
 was universal demoralization, even at the very altar of the holies, then 
 the Scots went to Ireland and settled in the province of Ulster, where 
 the history of the race properly begins. They made the laud again to 
 bloom and blossom, and upon every hand was brightness and pros 
 perity. They called a convocation of their clergy, and proclaimed 
 their profession of faith, the same that you would proclaim at your 
 altar to-night; and it seemed, at last, as though the angel of peace 
 had visited the land, and that now there should be freedom to worship
 
 SCOTCH-IRISH ACHIEVEMENT. 181 
 
 at the altar of their choice; that improvement, mental, social, relig 
 ious, and material, should go hand in hand again, and that Ireland 
 should become a place of plenty and of happiness. But scarcely had 
 they established themselves, and proclaimed their faith, and restored 
 prosperity for the desolation that they had found, when persecution 
 again came, with the power of Church and State. These people were 
 persecuted at their altars, in their homes, in their business, in all 
 things; they were condemned as felons, and compelled to flee from 
 their land. After a ceutury of conflict such as we know not now, 
 maintaining their altars and their homes and their rights, they seemed 
 again to have been scattered to the four quarters of the earth. Again 
 the bright mountain stream of education, religion, progress, and ad 
 vancement seemed to have been swallowed up by the desert in utter 
 hopelessness. It was then that John Knox came, and came as the 
 long-concealed sweet waters from the fountain of religion and of edu 
 cation, having long been swallowed up by the desert of desolation and 
 persecution, in all their splendor, pure as crystal, pure as heaven. 
 Again the people were taught that the religion and the education of a 
 thousand years before had not been lost ; that there was one character 
 of men, and one alone, in which was preserved eternally the truths 
 of progress, of freedom, of religion ; and finally, after conflict upon 
 conflict, and sacrifice upon sacrifice, these men presented what I regard 
 as the perfected Scotch-Irish character. At the siege of Londonderry, 
 after twelve hundred years of education and teaching, and utter pros 
 tration under persecution of all the power of Church and State to 
 destroy, the perfect Scotch-Irish character was presented to the 
 world ; and I thank the siege of Londonderry, because it was that 
 which sent them to the new world. Then they came fleeing from 
 home, from all which they loved, to the new world, as teachers of the 
 inalienable rights of man to worship the living God as he shall choose, 
 and maintain civil freedom as the highest right of God's created 
 beings. They came, and they settled in Pennsylvania, the Carolinas, 
 and Virginia ; and it was the Scotch-Irish people of the colonies that 
 made the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Without them, it 
 could not have been thought of, except as a passing fancy. When 
 the New England Puritan and the Virginia mixture of the cavalier 
 and Scotch-Irishman sat side by side, and presented to the memorable 
 Congress of Philadelphia the immortal document of the Declaration 
 of Independence, they did not voice the views or convictions of 
 Thomas Jeflforson or John Adams ; they voiced the teachings of the 
 Scotch-Irish people of the laud. They did not falter, they did not 
 dissemble, they did not temporize, when a foreign government became
 
 182 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 oppressive beyond endurance. It was not the Quaker, not the Puri* 
 tan, nor even the Cavalier nor the Huguenot nor the German ; it was 
 the Scotch-Irish of the land whose voice was first heard in Virginia. 
 In the valley of Virginia was the first declaration of independence; 
 not a formal declaration, but it was there that, the smothered feelings 
 of these people were first declared. Next, in North Carolina, at 
 Mecklenburg, came the declaration of independence in form, arid from 
 the Scotch-Irish of that region. Next came the declaration of my 
 own state, at Carlisle, Pa. There was the declaration made by the 
 Scotch-Irish, that the colonies must be free from the oppressive hand 
 of Britain. They had taught this, not only in their public speeches, 
 they had taught it at their altars, from their pulpits, in their social circle ; 
 it was taught upon the mother's lap to the Scotch-Irish child ; and it 
 was from these, and these alone, that came the outburst of rugged, 
 determined people that made the declaration of 1776 possible. They, 
 and they alone, were its authors, and when they made a declaration, 
 they meant to maintain it by all the moral and physical power they 
 possessed. When a deliverance came from the Scotch-Irish when 
 they demanded that they must and shall be free, it was no mere diplo 
 matic declaration ; it was no claim to be tested and disputed and be 
 recalled in season. When the Scotch-Irish of this land declared that 
 the American colonies should be free, it meant that the Scotch-Irish 
 blood was ready to flow upon the battle-field, that the Scotch-Irish arro 
 ws ready to wield the battle-ax, and that, come weal or woe, they 
 meant to maintain the declaration with their lives. (Applause.) 
 
 I wish the truthful history of the Declaration of Independence 
 had been written. It has not been done, and I am sorry that it will 
 never be written, for the reason that it now can not be done. I wish 
 that some other people, some other race than mine, had been in a po 
 sition to write the true history of the Declaration of Independence. 
 The Scotch-Irish can not write it, because in the writing they would 
 make themselves immortal. There is no passage in history that tells 
 you that, after the passage of this declaration by the Congress of the 
 colonies at Philadelphia, two of Pennsylvania's representatives were 
 recalled and retired for disobedience to the will of the people, and new 
 men sent to complete the work. Need I tell you that these men were 
 not Scotch-Irish ? It was, perhaps, well for young American students, 
 that they have not by history been told how the Continental Congress, 
 even after passing the memorable Declaration of Independence, shiv 
 ered at the consummation of its work; how men shuddered and hesi 
 tated at affixing their names to the document that would make them 
 traitors to their King; and it was not until John Witherspoon, the
 
 SCOTCH-IRISH ACHIEVEMENT. 183 
 
 Scotch-Irish Presbyterian preacher, the lineal descendant of John 
 Knox, rose in his place, with his venerable silvered head and earnest 
 oratory, and declared that his gray head must soon bow to the fate of 
 all, and that he preferred it to go by the ax of the executioner rather 
 than that the cause of independence should not prevail, that the hes 
 itating were made to stand firm, that the quivering heart beat its 
 keenest pulsations for freedom, and made every man come up, one 
 after another, and affix his name to the immortal document. What 
 might have been the history of that day, if John Witherspoon had 
 not lived, and had not stood there, as John Knox stood, centuries be 
 fore, to present the teachings of religion, science, education, and free 
 dom, from which could be drawn the inspiration, generation after gen 
 eration, for twelve centuries? Had he not been there, I know not 
 what might have been the record of that day. I only know, and re 
 joice for freedom and civilization, that John Witherspoon lived, and 
 that, as ever, the Scotch-Irish ruled the great event of the day. How 
 have they written their history amongst us ? When the battle came 
 for freedom, I need not tell you where they were. I need not tell you 
 that, of the whole Scotch-Irish race on this continent, there was but a 
 single exceptional community where there was not the most devoted 
 loyalty to the cause of freedom for which the colonies fought; and 
 these might have been patriotic if they had not been Scotch-Irish. 
 They had given their solemn promise, upon parole and pardon, when 
 condemned unjustly, and when it was a choice between freedom and 
 death, and when their King had given them permission to settle in the 
 new country, that they would maintain their loyalty to the King that 
 pardoned them. This little community in North Carolina was faithful 
 to its oath, and became apparently unfaithful to its liberty. This is 
 the record of the whole disloyalty of the Scotch-Irish race in this 
 country to the struggle for freedom, and this stands out with the 
 stamp of Toryism ; but it is made lustrous by the fidelity to the oath 
 given to a King who had granted pardon. 
 
 As I told you when I began, I know not where to turn to tell you 
 of Scotch-Irish achievement. I know not where to begin, where to 
 go, or where to stop. Don't imagine, from what I have said, that the 
 Scotch-Irish were all angels. They were very human. Dr. Macin 
 tosh, in his address to you, summed up the Irish character pretty well 
 in a single sentence. What were your words, doctor? 
 
 Dr. Macintosh : 
 
 I said the Scotch-Irish kept the commandments of God, and 
 every thing else they got to lay their hands on. (Laughter.)
 
 184 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 Colonel McClure : 
 
 I want to get it from the mouth of the reverend doctor, because 
 he knows them quite as well as I do. That was the truth of them. 
 They were a thrifty people. In my own state they had a conflict with 
 the Quakers. The Quakers concluded that Scotch-Irish immigration 
 ought to be stopped, and in one of their petitions sent to the council of my 
 state, they declared that the Scotch-Irish were ' a pernicious and pug 
 nacious people." They were in perpetual conflict. The truth is, the 
 Scotch-Irish were ever upon the outskirts of civilization. The Quakers 
 lived where they could live in peace. They were a lovely people, and 
 we have the conviction that they founded Pennsylvania in peace. So 
 they did. The truth is, they did every thing to aid warfare, and 
 left the Scotch-Irish to fight it out. They would go amongst the In 
 dians, and trade with them, and give them ammunition and firearms, 
 because they were peaceful brothers, and the Indians would murder 
 the Scotch-Irish, and the Quakers while dwelling in peace did great 
 good in dealing justly with the Indian and getting him to kill the 
 Scotch-Irish. They were in constant conflict. The Scotch-Irish en 
 tered the Cumberland Valley when the Quaker was scarcely outside 
 of Philadelphia. They had gone to Fort Pitt, and settled in Western 
 Pennsylvania, when the Quaker was dreaming of peace along the 
 banks of the Delaware ; and it was one perpetual struggle of noble 
 daring and courage to maintain their homes against the Indians in 
 that state. But the Quaker always protested, always complained, and 
 in every possible way sought to limit Scotch-Irish immigration, or drive 
 it from the state ; and they did drive many from the state. Turn to 
 South Carolina, and you will find settlements of Scotch-Irish from 
 Pennsylvania, who took with them the names of Pennsylvania coun 
 ties Chester, Lancaster, York. Before the Revolutionary War they 
 settled many counties on the borders, simply because they got 
 away from the Quakers, who constantly complained of and criticised 
 them. These Quakers made the truest charge they ever did when 
 they said : " These men absolutely want to control the province them 
 selves." Of course they did. There never was a Scotch-Irish com 
 munity anywhere that did not want to boss every job around it, and of 
 course these people in Pennsylvania wanted to control the colony. The 
 Quakers wanted nobody but themselves. The Scotch-Irish were the 
 pioneers of civilization, and wherever they went with their trusty 
 rifles and built their log-cabins, there was the school-house, there was 
 the little log church, for religion and education went hand in hand
 
 SCOTCH-IRISH ACHIEVEMENT. 185 
 
 with the Scotch-Irish wherever they weut, from the time of the Revo- 
 ution until now; and what was true of Pennsylvania was true of every 
 part of the land where they settled. They dominated, and that was 
 the cause of complaint against them. They dominated, simply be 
 cause in the nature of things it could not be otherwise. They were 
 born and educated a thousand years as leaders of men ; they were men 
 of conviction ; they were men of faith in religion, faith in God, and 
 faith in themselves, and tell me why should not such a people at that 
 day resolve that the land belonged to the saints, and that they were 
 the saints? 
 
 Men have inquired whether there is not a decadence in the 
 Scotch-Irish character, and men of thought and students of the race 
 have at times hesitated to answer. Let me say that if there shall be 
 decadence in the Scotch-Irish race, there shall be no conflicts worthy of 
 the Scoth-Irish character to develop their grandeur and their hero 
 ism. (Applause.) Turn but back to the last great conflict between the 
 North and the South, and there was not a man upon the battle field 
 that was not made more heroic by Scotch-Irish leaders and Scotch- 
 Irish soldiers. There would have been thousands fewer fallen in that 
 conflict but for the pertinacity of the Scotch-Irish character and its in 
 fluence throughout the whole American people; and after read, 
 ing all of Grecian and Roman story, there is nothing in human 
 history, 'there is nothing in all the conflicts of men, ancient or modern, 
 that evidenced such matchless heroism as was shown by the blue and 
 the gray that stands to-day lustrous over all the heroism of the earth 
 a> the heroism of the whole American people. Tell me not that there 
 is decadence in the Scotch-Irish character. There is no decay, but there 
 is no achievement to-day, because there is nothing heroic to achieve. 
 He is foremost in the conflict, when the conflict is for the right. He 
 is but a man as all men are, human, full of all its infirmities, but the 
 grandeur of his character, fixed twelve hundred years ago, is to-day 
 as perfectly true to its teachings as when Ireland, in her grandeur, 
 was the teacher of the world. When these men fail in achievement, 
 it is because there is nothing to achieve. However, they will be felt 
 when the battle field is not to be found. When there are no conflicts 
 in statesmanship, when the great issues have passed, think you that 
 the Scotch Irish teaching is still and unheard and unfelt in civiliza 
 tion? No. When the tempest is still, and all is calm and beautiful 
 around you, the dews of heaven make the flowers jeweled in the morn 
 ing, and your fields green with the promise of future plenty. Thna 
 with the Scotch-Irish character, in conflict grander than all ; when
 
 186 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 every conflict shall have been won ; when free is the banner of faith, 
 and liberty has triumphed, then, as gentle as the dews of heaven, will be 
 felt the teachings of the Scotch-Irish in behalf of a civilization which 
 has grown for centuries and centuries, until, in the fullness of time, 
 will the Scotch-Irish character stand out grandest and most beneficent 
 in all the achievements of men. (Applause.)
 
 ADDRESS OF HON. BENTON M'MILLLN. 187 
 
 ADDRESS OF HON. BENTON McMILLIN. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, and Fellow Citizens: I am 
 happy to have the privilege of meeting and greeting you on this 
 auspicious occasion. It is said to be well for a speaker who comes be 
 fore an audieuce for the first time to, by some means, get into their 
 good graces at an early moment. I am going to do that by an 
 nouncing that I am too selfish toward myself and too generous to you 
 to detain you long from the good feast that awaits you from the lips 
 of one more eloquent than I could possibly be. 
 
 It is well for us to be here to-day, not simply because Scotch-Irish 
 blood flows in our veins, for that of itself is a minor consideration. 
 But why, my friends, are we here? It is to commemorate the deeds 
 of a glorious ancestry, not because they were our ancestors, but be 
 cause, by that commemoration, we may possibly instill into the young 
 men, upon whom the responsibilities of government and the responsi 
 bilities of defending religious liberty are soon to rest, ideas which will 
 nerve them to come up to those responsibilities with more of patriotic 
 fervor and more of religious zeal than was possessed before the meet 
 ing of this assembly. (Applause.) 
 
 It was not my pleasure to be with you at the opening of this 
 congress, as had been arranged, for the reason that I was from home 
 in New York when the invitation reached me about the time of the 
 opening of this assembly, and did not get back home so as to be here 
 at the inauguration of the exercises. This I say in justification of 
 myself. I am glad to come into your midst. I have heard much of 
 this glorious land in which you live, and its unstinted hospitality ; I 
 had heard of the magnificent and fiery spirit of its sons ; I had heard 
 of the beauty and feeling of its daughters ; but I can truly say, in the 
 language of one of old, that the half had not been told. (Applause.) 
 
 I take another pleasure in coming here. It is the home of one 
 of the purest patriots, one of the greatest friends I ever had, a man 
 who Tennessee regrets and the nation regrets is stricken with affliction 
 to-day, and for whom the prayers of all patriotic people ascend on this 
 goodly morn ; need I say that I speak of your own distinguished fel 
 low citizen, General Whitthorne? (Applause.) 
 
 My friends, it has been said, in language more eloquent than I 
 can command, that the history of the Scotch-Irish race is the history
 
 188 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 of the combat against physical force and the combat against oppression 
 of the church by the state. I rejoice in the little blood that flows in 
 my veins from that stock. I rejoice in the memories that cluster 
 around the illustrious heroes that this country has had, and I am glad 
 that it is impossible for the historian to omit from the pages of glori 
 ous deeds the actions of these thrice-glorious men. Suppose that they 
 could be obliterated, what would you have ? The conquest of Mexico 
 by your own immortal Polk would be unknown, the defense of New 
 Orleans by -Tennessee's glorious sons would be unrecorded, the great 
 intellectuality of Calhoun would be unknown to American youth as 
 an inspiration to exertions, and that fierce and fiery appeal of a Henry 
 to his countrymen to rush to arms would never have resounded down 
 the ages to awaken every man with the love to be free. It may be 
 truly said of the Scotch-Irish race what was said by Byron, the great 
 poet, when he spoke of Corinth and said : 
 
 "Many a vanquished year and age 
 And tempest's breath and battle's rage 
 Have swept o'er Corinth, yet she stands, 
 A fortress, formed to freedom's hand." 
 
 So it is with the Scotch-Irish race. They stand to-day as they have 
 stood through the ages and the centuries, defending freedom, proclaim 
 ing the freedom of the press, freedom of religion, and freedom of the citi 
 zen. Those three freedoms we come up to-day as Scotch-Irishmen to 
 again proclaim the faith of their sons as it was the faith of our fathers. 
 (Applause.) 
 
 A peculiarity of the Scotch-Irishman is that he is not the kind 
 of a believer in freedom of religion which is described so graphically, 
 and I fear so truly, by Artemus Ward, when in his book he praises his 
 ancestry as follows : " The Wards is a noble family. I believe they 
 are descended from the Puritans, that baud of religious patriots who 
 fled from the land of persecution to the land of freedom, where they 
 could not only enjoy their own religion, but prevent every other man 
 from enjoying his." That is the difference between the Scotch-Irish 
 love of freedom and the love of freedom which he says characterized 
 the Puritan. My friends, when I look around at the great country 
 that is our common blessing to-day, I feel that on its account it is not 
 amiss for us to meet here and commemorate the noble deeds by all 
 races and in all ages. We have sixty odd million people in these 
 United States. We have more Jews than Jerusalem, more Irish than 
 Dublin, more Scotch than Edinburgh, more Germans than Berlin, and 
 still have more than 50,000,000 of native born, American citizens,
 
 ADDRESS OF HON. BENTON M'MILLIN. 189 
 
 noble sons of noble sires from every clime and every country. Thus 
 far we have got along reasonably well, but the time will come when 
 the vast public domain, acquired [\>y our ancestors, will uot be here 
 unoccupied as an inviting field in times of calamity and distress tliat 
 may occur in the east and the south. My prediction is that it will 
 then require all the patriotism of the patriot, and all the wisdom of 
 the sage to correctly steer this government between all the breakers 
 that will rise of anarchism on one side and socialism and the disposi 
 tion to control by other than patriotic means on the other. It is 
 characteristic of the Scotch-Irish race that in its ranks, so far as I 
 know, there has never been found a single anarchist or socialist. On 
 the contrary, there has never been found a single Scotch-Irishman that 
 was not able to defy power and potentate, be he king or anybody else, 
 who stood in the pathway of progress and of right. When I look 
 around in this beautiful country, I rejoice that there is a considerable 
 amount of Scotch-Irish blood in the southern states of the Union ; and 
 in what I shall say, it is not my purpose to deal with any part of my 
 country except as a patriot talking of a part of the whole country, 
 every foot of which is loved, and every foot of which every man of 
 the South stands ready to defend. (Applause.) I don't recur to the 
 past save for the lessons of wisdom and instruction and patriotism that 
 it may give us. Twenty odd years ago there was not in all this land, 
 from Kentucky to the gulf, hardly a single thoroughly fenced farm ; 
 our homes were desolated, our farms yielding nothing, our country de 
 populated. The same spirit that had characterized our Scotch-Irish 
 ancestry, characterized the people of the South, and they have caused 
 this country to bloom as the rose, until to-day it is hardly possible for 
 a stranger to detect that the blighting hand of war ever fell upon it. 
 I also speak the truth of history when I say that at the close of the 
 late war there was eleven millions of people in the South, seven mil 
 lions of whom could not have bought their kettle, and yet the coal 
 that lights the streets of London is mined in Kentucky, and the iron 
 that makes the screw to fasten down the coffin lids of the dead English 
 man comes from Tennessee and Alabama, and is manufactured in Con 
 necticut. Who is there that could have done more than this, more than 
 Aladdin with his lamp? You men of the South deserve much; you 
 were never discouraged in defeat. But a most potent factor in the re 
 habilitation of the South was its glorious women. When impartial 
 history shall have been written, it may be truly recorded that she who 
 saw disaster with a smile, who encountered defeat and poverty with 
 out any thing of encouragement ; she who uprooted the thorn and 
 planted the rose; she, the woman of the South, deserves the praise
 
 190 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 for what has been done ; and she deserves the praise for keeping our 
 young men in firmness and uprightness which alone should character 
 ize a man made in the image of his almighty God. (Applause.) My 
 friends, we have a glorious country, and the reason I rejoice that 
 there is Scotch-Irish in my veins, is not simply because it is Scotch- 
 Irish, but because it gives a little more grit and a little more resolu 
 tion to see the right and to have the courage to do it, and be a better 
 American citizen ; for, after all, my greatest ambition is to be one of 
 the best of American citizens. But I promised you in the beginning 
 that I was not going to detain you. Complying with that promise, 
 and thanking you for your kind attention, I give place to one who can 
 more fittingly entertain you. (Applause.)
 
 JOHN KNOX IN INDEPENDENCE HALL. 191 
 
 JOHN KNOX IN INDEPENDENCE HALL. 
 
 BY REV. JOHN S. MACINTOSH, D.D. 
 
 As we pace the story-laden Piazzetta of San Marco, we think with 
 stirred souls of the ducal makers of Venice ; as we sit toward sunset 
 beneath the heavy shadows of the historic Campanile, we behold move 
 past in stately progress the majestic makers of Florence ; as we rest by 
 the banks of the turbid Thames, we stand amid the crowding captains 
 and statesmen, who have been the makers of our own ancestral 
 Britain ; and as we turn aside from the glare of broad sunlight and 
 the din of the thronged streets into the cool shade and the sacred si 
 lence of our own dear hall of liberty, our common nation's hallowed 
 home of freedom, we face the crown and glory of all these mighty 
 men, the makers of our own republic. 
 
 But who made these makers of our land, we can not but ask, as 
 we front our great dead once more ? Whence came these souls of purest 
 flame, whose glowing spirit fires blazed the new and broad pathway to 
 rest and freedom, to happy homes and ever-enlarging power for the 
 weary and the downtrodden from a score of the old world's packed and 
 groaning serf-pens ? Who were the sires of the fathers of our republic ? 
 Who breathed into them their quickening spirits; who flashed into 
 their capacious hearts the impulsive inspirations ; who unbarred for 
 them the way to new life, new rights and duties? Question of deep 
 est interest ! Few studies so tempting as the studies of origins ! What 
 so enchanting as the search after the upper fountains of great world 
 streams, the Niles and the Congos? Who, then, the sires of our fathers; 
 whence their origin ; what the fountains of these life streams that flowed 
 together into the glorious tide of a new land of freemen ? 
 
 Like most potent incantation works swiftly the question. And 
 forms hoary and honored to us rise like Samuel's at Endor from graves 
 of quiet dignity ; and as these august ancients gird us round, forward 
 with glad, bold, almost defiant cry of recognition and right filial pride 
 start the Puritans, to show and claim as their all-honored sires, Milton, 
 and Hampden, and Sydney, and Pym, and, greatest among the great, 
 England's uncrowned Protector ; and forward bound with Gallic eager 
 ness the Huguenots to lay their reverent hands on Conde and Coligny, 
 and Calvin and our own Lafayette ; and forward stride with firm foot 
 the Hollanders, pointing out majestically, and linking their descent 
 with William the Silent and the sage De Witt, the dashing Egmont,
 
 192 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 and the fearless Van Horn ; and forward come the Germans, and 
 trace their blood to the Hohenzollerns and Saxon electors, and Luther, 
 lordliest of them all. But amid these many gladsome and proud voices 
 of childhood, and amid these bold, true claims upon the bluest blooded 
 ancestry any land can show, one group has hitherto been strangely 
 silent. Have these silent ones, then, no sacred obligations to grand 
 ancestral dead ? Have they had no divine preparations for their 
 achievements through God-given and God-taught sires? Call they no 
 Heaven-built man father? Are they the American Melchisedeks, 
 kings verily by all mightiest proofs and world-wide confession, but 
 kings without royal parentage? Nay, verily! But while Puritans 
 have made this land, and as many more as they could reach, ring time 
 and again with Mayflower and Mayflower's men and women and their 
 glorious ancestry, while Dutch and Germans and French, and the sons 
 of St. George, have long lifted trumpet tones of self-gratulation be 
 cause of their great fathers, this silent, patient group, not the smallest 
 in the land, not the weakest, as every battle field and place of state 
 and church and busy life may prove, not the least laurelled, as shows 
 the country's roll of honor, not the least trusty nor backward in 
 danger's hours, nor giving fewest chieftains to the makers of this com 
 pacted empire of freemen this silent band of proud self-repressive- 
 ness has hitherto said but little as to their own intellectual, political, 
 patriotic patriarch, the high-towering soul of impulse, the new creative 
 force, who under God has been the fountain and origin of their most 
 marked qualities, their national and everswelling glory. Have, then, 
 we Scotch and Scotch-Irish, for we have been the silent band, unor 
 ganized and unbound till this happy hour, have we no prophet ? Can 
 we call no seer as sire from honored grave, to say of him with reverent 
 affection, "He is the soul of fire the Lord sent to stir the flames of 
 new daring within our fathers' souls?" Strange if we, of all, had not! 
 Looking round the portrait-lined walls of our hall of freedom, gazing 
 on and studying with pious steadfastness, those strong, masterful, dis 
 tinct faces from Witherspoon's and Henry's, round and round, faces 
 that throw out into so rugged and characteristic boldness of relief, the 
 Scotch and Scotch-Irish makers of this republic, we must feel it pass 
 ing strange indeed, if no one grand, lone chieftain can be planted at 
 the head of our clan, and with a fearless, intelligent pride, pointed out 
 as noblest among the very noble the peculiar and royal leader of a 
 peculiar and royal race. 
 
 Peculiar and royal race ; yes, that indeed is our race ! I shrink 
 not from magnifying my house and blood with a deep thanksgiving to 
 that Almighty God who himself made us to differ, and sent His great
 
 JOHN KNOX IN INDEPENDENCE HALL. 193 
 
 messenger to fit us for our earth-task ; task as peculiar and royal as is 
 the race itself; I shame me not because of the Lowland thistle and the 
 Ulster gorse, of the Covenanters' banner, or the Ulsterman's pike. If 
 we be not the very peculiar people, we Scotch-Irish are a most peculiar 
 people, who have ever left our own broad, distinct mark wherever we 
 have come, and have it in us still to do the same, even our critics be 
 ing judges. To-day we stand out sharply distinguished in a score of 
 points from English, French, Dutch, German, and Swede. We have 
 our distinctive marks ; and like ourselves, they are strong and stub 
 born ; years change them not, seas wash them not out, varying homes 
 alter them not, clash and contact with new forms of life, and fresh 
 forces of society blur them not. Every one knows the almost laugh 
 ably dogged persistency of the family likeness in us Scotch Irish a' the 
 warld ower. Go where you may, -know it once, then you know it, ay, 
 feel it forever. The typal face, the typal modes of thought, the typal 
 habits of work, tough faiths, unyielding grit, granitic hardness, close- 
 mouthed relf-repressiou, clear, firm speech when the truth is to be 
 told, God-fearing honesty, loyalty to friendship defiant of death, con 
 science and knee-bending only to God these are our marks ; and they 
 meet and greet you on the hills of Tennessee and Georgia you may 
 trace them down the valleys of Virginia and Pennsylvania, cross the 
 prairies of the west and the savannahs of the south, you may plow the 
 seas to refiud them in the western bays of Sligo, and beneath the 
 beetling rocks of Donegal ; thence you may follow them to the maiden 
 walls of Derry, and among the winding banks of the silvery Baun ; 
 onward you may trace them to the rolling hills of Down, and the busy 
 shores of Antrim ; and sailing over the narrow lough you will face 
 them in our forefathers' cottier-homes and grey keeps of Galloway and 
 Dumfries, of the Ayrshire hill, and the Grampian slopes. 
 
 These racial marks are birth-marks, and birth-marks are indelible. 
 And well for us and the world is it that they are indelible. They are 
 great soul-features, these marks. They are principles. The principles 
 are the same every-where ; and these principles are of four classes, 
 religious, moral, intellectual, and political. 
 
 Of the religious, the denominational, the confessional, I will not 
 speak, for this is neither time nor place. While I am churchman of 
 my church through and through, and to the last drop of my heart's 
 blood; while I would nail the blue banner of Presbyterianisna to 
 the very tip of the mast, and nail it there, and fight to death to keep 
 it there, while I do not cease nor hesitate to claim for my church the 
 truest apostolicity, the fullest catholicity, and the sweetest charity, 
 13
 
 194 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 all in its own place and time ; but the place and the time for this ec 
 clesiastical distinctiveness is not here, is not now. 
 
 On this common platform of a race's rally 1 hail as brother my 
 Episcopal brother, Dr. Beckett, and my Methodist brother, Dr. Kelly, 
 as eloquent on the platform as he was dashing and daring in the 
 charge. I hail as brother all in whose veins runs the good old blood of 
 loyalty and liberty, whether he be of Scotch church, or Anglican, or 
 Latin. I hail all with gladness who come from town or hamlet, hiJl 
 or glen, that lies any-where between Cork's green coves or far Loch 
 Awe. 
 
 On broader lines than sect or party, than clique or section, we 
 want to start and run this great brotherhood. We grasp hands all 
 round ; we stretch across a continent ; we welcome all our kith and 
 kin. Let there be no strife, for we be brethren. 
 
 And such I take it, from my conference with them, are the 
 thoughts and desires of all the busy and able officers of this Congress. 
 Such I know to be the aims and the wishes, heartfelt wishes, of him 
 who is in very truth the father of our Congress, who first thought of it, 
 who has wrought for it with that quiet, resolute energy so character 
 istic of our race, who has joyed in its triumphant and rising success, 
 but who, with a self-sacrificing modesty, as noble as it is rare, has not 
 suffered himself to be seen or heard in public, yet has been felt every 
 where, and always for " sweetness and light," my dear friend, the 
 Hon. Thomas T. Wright, of Florida ; dear to me as the boy from 
 Ballymonev, little moorland town of Ireland's Antrim, so closely 
 linked to me and mine, but dearer far for his unwearying kindness 
 and manly virtues. 
 
 The sectarian and the confessional topics I shall avoid, and of the 
 moral I shall say naught except as involved in the intellectual and the 
 political. With ourselves, as citizens and patriots and politicians, or 
 rather statesmen, I would here exclusively deal, and then with the 
 great personal historic impulse and force that lie behind us in our pe 
 culiar and royal citizenship and patriotism 
 
 As citizens, we are pre-eminently thinkers and politicians, that is, 
 thoughtful patriots, who have an enlightened and conscientious policy 
 for the guidance of land. In holding by and working out their intel 
 ligent patriotism, our fathers and brethren have ever demanded, have 
 toiled for, paid, fought, suffered, and died for two all-precious boons, 
 the school and the people's limitations of governmental control. Ed 
 ucated freemen we want to be, and educated freemen who shall say 
 with sovereign authority, and will and strength backing up and en 
 forcing our utterance, " thus far shall the ruler come, but no farther."
 
 JOHN KNOX IN INDEPENDENCE HALL. 195 
 
 To us an enlightened public opinion is essential ; a public opinion, 
 not the haughty mandate of a despot, nor yet the bigot cry of any 
 self-conceited separatist ; and that enlightened public opinion imme 
 diately influential and operative ; and, when duly formulated and ex 
 pressed, final and mandatory. Hence, wherever our race is, and has 
 been found, there, sooner or later, these three things are met: ra 
 tional, right-built politics, regulated liberties, and representative gov 
 ernment; or as a quaint, alliterative friend put it once, the pedagogue 
 and the press, the pulpit, platform and parliament. Whosoever 
 would sway us must give the reason, the whole reason, and nothing 
 but the reason, and that the sufficient and the right. Our race is 
 every-where hard-headed and firm-handed ; we are a people of logic 
 and law, of truth and reason, of rights and duties ; we call for free 
 dom chartered by highest and impartial law, and upheld by the con 
 scientious convictions of the independent commonwealth ; \ve work 
 for the willing cohesion of self-respecting and brotherly freemen ; we 
 exact the bold and honest execution of the common law ; we pride 
 ourselves upon our sacred love of the old customs, " the use and the 
 wont," so long as these are reasonable, just and useful ; we admit 
 changes slowly, but ours is a fearless acceptance of the new, if right, 
 needed and practical. We have feelings, the " perfervidum ingcnnnn 
 Scotornm," but it is " passion's steed curbed by reason's master hand." 
 Not traditions, but truth sways us ; but only truth that can be tested 
 through and through, truth put logically, argumeutatively, judicially. 
 Not the haughty dictates of despotic arrogancy constrain us, but law \ 
 law being the voice and assertion of righteousness, righteousness being 
 articulate, active, aggressive. Hence we seek truth that goes back to 
 final truth ; hence we labor for laws going back to supreme righteous 
 ness. Therefore, have we ever thought and sought that the moral 
 should bulk both in the intellectual and the political. We wish the 
 supreme code both in our schools and in our senates. 
 
 This union of all-ruling truth and right you may easily find in 
 all our characteristic philosophy and religion, in our church and" our 
 conduct, in our politics and our patriotism. The tone we love best 
 and bow before most readily is, "I speak as unto wise mea judge 
 ye what I say." 
 
 Hence, the world has in the Scotch-Irishman a man as distinct 
 from the Puritan as the Puritan is from all other men; and the Puri 
 tans of England and the Presbyterians of the Lowlands and of Ul 
 ster were the two pillars of our national temple. As we enter the 
 hallowed court of our country's sanctuary, and gaze upon and contrast 
 this "Jachin" and this " Boaz," the pillar-man "established of Je.
 
 196 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IX AMERICA. 
 
 hovah," and this other pillar-man " strengthened from on high," we see 
 that while the Puritan believes in personality, the Scotch-Irish believes 
 in partnership ; while the Puritan believes in separation, the Scotch- 
 Irish in representation ; while the Puritan believes in individuality, the 
 Scotch-Irish in equality ; while the Puritan believes in independency, 
 the Scotch-Irish in liberty ; while the Puritan believes in experiment, 
 the Scotch-Irish in experience ; while the Puritan believes in the town 
 meeting, the Scotch-Irish in the state house ; while the Puritan be 
 lieves in the congregation, the Scotch-Irish in the assembly. 
 
 And so up they rise, burly men of brawn and of brain, who say 
 in the market, "A man's a man for a' that;" who say in the forum, 
 " Give a reason for the hope that is in you ;" who say in the common 
 wealth, "We be brethren, let there be no strife;" who say in the 
 church, "Call no man master, for One is your Master;" and on the 
 battlefield, "No surrender," and " Keep your powder dry and trust 
 in God;" great, strong, kindly, true-hearted men if at times a trifle 
 grim and hard ; men of reality, on whom their fellows lean'; men be 
 lieving in broad humanity, solid reason, free conscience, God-taught 
 faith, and godly works showing forth faith ; men fearing God, but no 
 other. 
 
 That is how I think of them ; that is how I have seen them in 
 a score of strangely diverse lands ; that is how they have met me as 
 man and minister ; that is how they have greeted and wrought with and 
 helped me, by the old ingle, on the perilous glacier, in fire, and on 
 flood, at the hospital bed and on the play-ground, when they have 
 marched out to battle, and when they have laid themselves down to 
 die, may the God that made them thus, their fathers' God and their 
 God, bless, preserve, and keep them every-where ! 
 
 So traditions and history show them from 1889 to 1776, from 
 1776 to 1688 to 1547. 
 
 But at that eastertide of 1547, you face a break, a vast, deep gap; 
 up to that date and up to that garrison chapel at old St. Andrew's, 
 where John Rough summoned out the God-sent maker of the newer 
 and world-stamping Scotland, you never miss the one characteristic 
 face, the one faith, the one force; but before that day there was no 
 such Scotland, no such Lowland band of intelligent patriots, no call 
 for common schools, and the broad equality of daring freemen, no con 
 certed readiness to do and die fora free creed and a free country; 
 while from that hour onward, these are never wanting, and they only 
 strengthen, as the Scotch and Scotch-Irish multiplying from that 
 creative moment spread themselves across the glad earth that welcomes 
 them.
 
 JOHN KNOX IN INDEPENDENCE HALL. 197 
 
 That hour and that gap are epochal. Such hours and gaps meet 
 you ever and anon, as you steadily push your way down the historic 
 pathway. On this side it is the polytheists of Ur of the Chaldees, on 
 that the monotheists of the tents of Mamre ; on this side it is the 
 slaves of the Egyptian brick-kilns, on that side it is the jubilant free 
 men of the Red Sea ; on this side it is the broken-hearted serfs of 
 Spain, on that side it is the sturdy burghers of the Dutch Republic. 
 
 So 'twas in Scotland. There had been the "making" of men, 
 but the men had not been made. 
 
 Suddenly the men are, and never henceforth disappear. No doubt 
 there were antecedents; no doubt there was a long patience of divine 
 toil; no doubt He who sees the end from the beginning had made His 
 beginning far off in the dim distances of the race-moviugs and race- 
 miuglings. No doubt for over even twelve centuries, the older Scot, 
 with his poesy and piety from Erin's isle, the roving Pict with north 
 ern daring, and the free-souled Teuton, had poured into the Strath- 
 clyde, there in turn to conquer and be conquered by the splendid Brit 
 ish race of Arthur and his knightly band ; and thus furnish the pe 
 culiarly rich and varied blood of our ancestors. But preparation is 
 not product. Possibilities and promises are not active aud victorious 
 powers. 
 
 Here is my point of agreement with my friend Colonel McClure, 
 and also my point of divergence from him. During twelve hundred 
 and sixty years, the path is wending slowly to the Scotch, whom we 
 know, and the Scotch-Irish, but the new man .is not on the path. 
 
 You have the raw material, but not the finished work. It is the 
 difference between the crystalline mass and the crystal itself. There 
 in the great bowl you have the crystalline mass ; shoot your electric 
 bolt through it, you have another and a new thing, the true crystal, 
 with its strange property and exact angles. 
 
 Up to that eastertide, 1547, your crystalline mass is gathering; 
 then came the master-chemist, his hand shot the charge, aud the crys 
 tal is. 
 
 I see Michael Angelo in the quarries of Carrara ; his great far- 
 seeing eye falls on a great block of fresh-hewn marble ; the master 
 pauses, then starts, and bids them send him that huge block. Now 
 in his work-place I see the prince-sculptor walk up and down, his 
 whole soul heaving with his thoughts and plans, beside him the raw 
 material of the rough block, with its possibilities. 
 
 Now he works ; the flaming spirit burns in his eager hands, and 
 the creative soul passes through skilled, plastic fingers, into the dead, 
 dull thing, from change to change it is carried by the artist's strength,
 
 198 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 till at last before the wondering world it lives the Moses with the 
 Law! 
 
 So do I see, before 1547, lying between the Grampians and the 
 Dee, all across the historic Strathclyde, rarest raw materials, but after 
 1547 1 see leaders of the world with the law of God iu hand and heart. 
 
 The same, yet not the same. Name and fortune all changed. 
 You stand at the Straits of Dover and look across. On each side there 
 is the same geologic formation, the same old, rich chalk ; but in be 
 tween has burst the mighty tide of the sea, and on the one stands 
 France, on the other Britain, with histories, and fortunes, and futures 
 all so different. 
 
 And thus the race is in itself the same before 1547 as after, but 
 there is a great gulf, and in between rolls one vast vitalizing tide of 
 life. That separating, yes, transforming tide, was a man with such 
 race-changing, and race-stamping force, as scarce another has owned 
 and wielded. 
 
 The epochal gap is such at eastertide, 1547. 
 
 And in that epochal gap stands one great prophetic form, our 
 ancestral seer. Before that Samuel of the later hour, you meet not our 
 " school ;" before him you see not our characteristic features of faith and 
 freedom; after him you always do. And this lone, massive, formative 
 man, sent by the Nations' King just as our motherland grew hot to 
 whitest heat, and fit for the " crown-mark," is John Knox, at once 
 our Moses and our Joshua, father of the school, father of chartered 
 freedom, father of Scotland, of Ulster; yes, of us all! Here is the 
 one man who, God-taught and God-fitted, taught our common family 
 how to balance and harmonize the freeman's individual rights with 
 dutiful and just submission, the supreme power of the people, with 
 the support and recognition of constitutional rulers. 
 
 From exile and from bondage he came back to his native land iu> 
 the darkest of her dark days, to find Scotland the enslaved province 
 of a foreign and greedy state ; to find no true people, no sturdy com 
 mons, no brave burghers ; to find no constitution, no folk-made laws ; 
 to find no common schools, no free creed or free church ; and he left 
 behind him a steady, courageous. God-fearing nation in a freed land ; 
 a sturdy, truth-seeking, school-building, conscientious peasantry ; a con 
 quering, colonizing people, who guard righteous liberties and love their 
 Bible, that divine Magna Charta of real freedom ; who sing " Scots- 
 wha hae," or raise "plaintive martyrs" or "wild Dundee" amid the 
 snow of Suuherlandshire and Canada, the Alleghanies or the Rockies; 
 who build states beside the rolling Ohio or the floods of the gulf, and 
 feel their strong hearts leap with gladness, here in the frosty blasts of
 
 JOHN KNOX IN INDEPENDENCE HALL. 199 
 
 Minnesota, or there in the soft airs of Louisiana, here on the hills and 
 downs of Virginia, or there in the vast wheat-fields of our West, as 
 some familiar voice lifts up the old race words : 
 
 " Breathes there a man with soul so dead 
 Who never to himself hath said, 
 This is my own, my native land." 
 
 Before Knox wrought and enstamped himself, our race had abili 
 ties; after him we have achievements; before him capacities, now 
 careers; before him powers, now performances; before him strug- 
 glings, now success. 
 
 In long years of somewhat close historic reading and of sharp, 
 interested studies of national departures and racial trends, I have 
 found many a marked and self-impressing leader who, for some time, 
 has made a nation wax and molded it at will ; but then new fires 
 came and a new stamp. But I have not found one such other case 
 in profane history where a single leader has so deeply, pervasively, and 
 permanently eustamped himself on a people who, of all folks, stand 
 foremost among the self-asserting races. 
 
 Knox, under God, made the Scotch and the Scotch-Irish. All 
 the race recall him ; and the larger they are in characteristic build 
 and features, the more obtrusive they are in racial majesties, by just 
 so much the more do they reveal their great forefather's face. 
 
 His own quaint but invaluable history, McCrie's Life, Moncrieff's 
 Studies, Cunningham's Lectures, and Froude's all graphic pages prove 
 that Knox, first man of English speech, formulated, threw in covenant 
 or charter form the balancing principles of individual independence 
 and the authority of a constitutional government. His was indeed 
 the earliest hand that penned any thing I can call a declaration of in 
 dependence. He boldly taught broad and stirring Scotland these les 
 sons, and put the generative words into clear writ, "The authority of 
 kings and princes was originally derived from the people ; that the 
 former are not superior to the latter, collectively considered ; that if 
 rulers become tyrannical, or employ their power for the destruction of 
 their subjects, they may be lawfully controlled, and, proving incorrigi 
 ble, may be deposed by the community as the superior power; and 
 that tyrants may be judicially proceeded against even to a capital 
 punishment." Mark well these propositions; they are far-reaching; 
 they are fruitful. They will appear and reappear ; they are met con 
 stantly in Knox's preaching; they are written with large letters in his 
 famous "Counterblast;" they are restated in his memorable answer to 
 Queen Mary ; they are set forth afresh in his declaration to Elizabeth;
 
 200 TIIE SOOTCMI-iUISil IX AMERICA. 
 
 they underlie all the Covenants; they are heard among the Lords of 
 the Congregation ; they were pealed across Scotland by the Covenant 
 ers; they were frequent maxims of Paden and Cameron, and Walsh, 
 by Carrick's side, and the Valley of the Six Mile Water ; they were 
 battle words for the Ulster Volunteers; they survive to this very hour 
 among the Presbyterians of Connor; they were fires in the heart of 
 Patrick Henry; they were the familiar thoughts of John Witherspoon ; 
 they lie behind the war of independence ; their spirit greets the world 
 in our declaration ; and, therefore, walks forth as master spirit their 
 immortal author in the dear old hall of my native city. Johannes 
 Knox, semper virens, semper vivans ! 
 
 Observe well, the influence of this prophetic patriot was felt most 
 at St. Andrews, through the long Strathclyde, in the districts of Ayr, 
 Dumfries, and Galloway, the Lothians and Renfrew. There exactly 
 clustered the homes which thrilled to the herald voice of Patrick 
 Hamilton ; there were the homes which drank in the strong wine of 
 Knox ; there were the homes of tenacious memories and earnest fire 
 side talk ; there were the homes which sent forth once and again the 
 calm, shrewd, iron-nerved patriots who spurned as devil's lie the doc 
 trine of "passive resistance;" and there mark it well, were the homes 
 that sent their best and bravest to fill and change Ulster; thence came 
 in turn the Scotch-Irish of the " Eaglewing;" thence came the settlersof 
 Pennsylvania, Virginia, the Carolinas, Tennessee and Kentucky ; and 
 the sons of these men blush not as they stand beside the children of the 
 "Mayflower," or the children of the Bartholomew martyrs. I know 
 whereof I affirm. My peculiar education and somewhat singular 
 work planted me, American born, in the very heart of these old an 
 cestral scenes; and from parishioners who held with deathless grip 
 the very words of Peden, Welsh, and Cameron , from hoary headed 
 witnesses in the Route of Antrim and on the hills of Down, have I 
 often heard of the lads who went out to bleed at Valley Forge to die 
 as victors on King's Mountain, and stand in the silent triumph of 
 Yorktown. We have more to thank Knox for than is commonly 
 told to-day. 
 
 Here we reach our Welshes and Witherspoons, our Tennents and 
 Taylors, our Calhouns and Clarks, our Cunninghams and Caldwells, 
 our Pollocks, Polks, and Pattersons, our Scotts and Grays and Ken 
 nedys, our Reynolds and Robinsons, our McCooks, McHenrys, McPher- 
 sons and McDowells. 
 
 But the man behind is Kuox. Would you see his monument? 
 Look around. Yes! To this, our own land, more than any other, I 
 am convinced, must we look for the fullest outcome and the vet all
 
 JOHN KNOX IN INDEPENDENCE HALL. 201 
 
 unspent force of this more than royal leader, this masterful and mold 
 ing soul. Hither came the men most thoroughly saturated with the 
 teaching of Knox, because of their very special training and exper 
 ience in Ulster, on which most fertile theme time will not suffer me 
 even to touch; here they met those singular, historic provocations 
 that imperiously summoned forth into fiercest but still strongly ruled 
 action the mightiest and most characteristic powers of their souls ; here 
 they had acute call and most magnificent reason to stride into justest 
 battle for the very principles that were of all ancestral gifts the very 
 dearest and most sacred ; here they were given of the wise God and 
 the most foolish George the field and opportunity to let stream forth 
 floods of energy in the seeking of a new home of freedom ; here they 
 triumphed ; here they won no second place in state and church, ou 
 bloody field and hall of legislation, on the billow and in commerce ; 
 here they hold their own, and grow and multiply, and give themselves 
 fullest scope and sweep to the good of the common country, and their 
 own honor and the glory of the God whom alone they fear. Carlyle 
 has said: "Scotch literature and thought, Scotch industry; James 
 Watts, David Hume, Walter Scott, Robert Burns. I find Knox and 
 the Reformation at the heart's core of every one of those persons and 
 phenomena ; I find that without Kuox and the Reformation, they 
 would not have been. Or what of Scotland?" Yea! verily! no 
 Knox, no Watts, no Burns, no Scotland, as we know and love and thank 
 God for! And must we not say no men of the Covenant; no men of 
 Antrim and DOWH, of Derry and Euniskillen; no men of the Cum 
 berland valleys; no men of the Virginian hills; no men of the Ohio 
 stretch, of the Georgian glades and the Tennessee Ridge; no rally at 
 Scoone; no thunders in St. Giles; no testimony from Philadelphian 
 Synod; no Mecklenburg declaration; no memorial from Hanover 
 Presbytery; no Tennent stirring the Carolinas ; no Craighead sowing 
 the seeds of the coming revolution; no Witherspoon pleading for the 
 signing of our great charter; and no such declaration and no such 
 constitution as are ours, the great Tilghman himself being witness 
 in these clear words, never by us to be let die: "The framers of the 
 Constitution of the United States were greatly indebted to the stand 
 ards of the Presbyterian Church of Scotlaud in modeling that admira 
 ble document." 
 
 Never, then, to us of the Scotch and Scotch-Irish lineage race of 
 resolute and orderly citizens, never let the name of Knox bo other 
 than battle-blast and household boast, nor his memory ought save in 
 spiration yes, consecration !
 
 202 THE SCOTCH-IRIS. 1 JN AMERICA. 
 
 SCOTCH-IRISH SETTLERS IN SOUTH CARO 
 LINA, AND THEIR DESCENDANTS IN 
 MAURY COUNTY, TENNESSEE. 
 
 BY HON. W. S. FLEMING, COLUMBIA, TENN. 
 
 It is not my purpose, in this paper, to dwell at any length upon, 
 or to magnify and extol the racial characteristics of the Scotch-Irish 
 uor to investigate the causes which led them to leave their homes in 
 Scotland, and to find new homes in the province of Ulster, Ireland ; 
 nor to inquire into the motives, be they civil or ecclesiastical, which 
 induced or impelled them to seek an abode in the then wilds of 
 America. All this has been done and will be done by abler pens 
 than I can wield, and tongues in strains more eloquent than I could 
 ever dare to attempt. My humble purpose is to trace in brief the 
 history and progress of one colony or society, more or less connected 
 with each other by ties of affinity and consanguinity. And instead 
 of entering into an elaborate discussion of or treatise upon the man 
 ners, customs, habits, and genetic characteristics of the race in detail, 
 I will attempt to illustrate their distinctive traits of character by a 
 very brief historic sketch of this little colony ; for its history is that 
 of many others, if not nearly all, who emigrated from Ulster to 
 America. In the language of the Roman poet : 
 " Ex uno disce omnes." 
 
 From 1730 to 1734, this colony, the parent of one in this county 
 of Maury, to be mentioned presently, migrated to Williamsburg 
 District, South Carolina, of which Kingstree is the county seat. Of 
 those who came during the above period were the following heads of 
 families : James McClelland, William and Robert Wilsou, James 
 Bradley, William Frierson, John James, Roger Gordon, James Arm 
 strong, Erwin, Stuart, McDonald, Dobbins, Blakely, Dickey, and per 
 haps a few others. In the last named year, to wit, 1734, John 
 Witherspoon, of the same family with the distinguished signer of the 
 Declaration of Independence, born near Glasgow, Scotland, in 1670, 
 and who had removed to County Down, Ireland, came to Williams- 
 burg, bringing with him his four sons, David, James, Robert and 
 Gavin, and his daughters, Jennet, Elizabeth and Mary, with their hus 
 bands, John Fleming, William James (father of Major John James, of
 
 SCOTCH-IRISH SETTLEMENTS IN SOUTH CAROLINA. 203 
 
 revolutionary memory aud distinction) and David Wilson. All these 
 colonists were from County Down, Ireland. They were all members 
 of the Presbyterian Church, or reared and indoctrinated in its faith. 
 Consequently one of their first cares was the erection of a house for, 
 the worship of God ; and the present, known as Bethel Church, is the 
 representative and successor of the original body constituted and 
 established by them. In 1849 three of the original elders, to wit, 
 William James, David Witherspoou, and John Fleming, died of a sin 
 gular epidemic, known as the " Great Mortality," which ravaged the 
 country, carrying off no less than eighty persons of the little town 
 ship. For many of the foregoing facts I am indebted to a historical 
 discourse delivered on the 120th anniversary of this church, in 1856, 
 by Rev. James A. Wallace, its then pastor. 
 
 It is proper to notice another family or connection of Scotch- 
 Irish, who, coming clown from Pennsylvania through Virginia and 
 North Carolina, settled in or near the " Waxhaws," in Lancaster 
 District, South Carolina. These were the Stephensous, the Dun- 
 laps, the Crawfords, Blairs, Fosters, and General Andrew Jackson's 
 parents, who were nearly related to the Crawfords. I mention these, 
 because both before and after the immigration to Tennessee they be 
 came connected by intermarriage with the Williamsburg branch. 
 They were all of the same religious persuasion, and all of the John 
 Knox type. During the War of Independence every man of these 
 settlements capable of bearing arms was in the field on the side of 
 liberty. There was not a "tory" among them in a district abound 
 ing with " tories." 
 
 In the address alluded to above Mr. Wallace eays : " Among 
 the descendants of the Irish Presbyterian colonists of the township, 
 the name of 'tory' was unknown. 'Liberty or death' was the 
 motto of every man ; and it was the immutable sentiment of every 
 heart." They mainly formed " Marion's Brigade," whose patriotism 
 and deeds of daring have passed into song and story and become 
 household words, lisped long after by their children, and inspiring 
 with sentiments of chivalry the youthful minds of their descendants. 
 With them were many descendants of the French Huguenots, those 
 sterling Christian patriots, exiled by the revocation of the Edict of 
 Nantes, united with them in one common faith, political and religious. 
 Shoulder to shoulder stood these two distinct races, through all the 
 terrible scenes of bloodshed and danger, battling for the same eternal 
 principles of truth and liberty" Man's heritage in the Church and 
 man's heritage in the State." Simms says: " The people of Will 
 iamsburg were men generally of fearless courage, powerful frame,
 
 204 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 well-strung nerves, aud an audacious gallantry that led them to delight 
 in dangers. They felt that ' rapture of the strife ' in which the Goth 
 delighted." 
 
 They took part in every battle fought in the state of South Caro 
 lina, and some of them took part in the Battle of King's Mountain, 
 the thunder of whose guns sounded the key-note of Cornwallis' dirge. 
 Besides many minor engagements with British troops and lories, they 
 participated in the Battles of Eutaw, Cowpens, Monk's Corner, Fort 
 Motte, and Georgetown. But I must not dwell longer upon the pat 
 riotism and gallantry of this people in the old Revolution. Their 
 record is without a stain their escutcheon untarnished. 
 
 And now let us trace for a brief space some of their descendants, 
 and follow them to this state aud to this county. If this course will 
 in any way illustrate the Scotch-Irish character, then the attempt will 
 not be without profit. This account deals with the people of a settle 
 ment, known as " Zion's Church," all of them Scotch-Irish an off 
 shoot of the Williamsburg colony a swarm from that as the parent 
 hive always regarded as a peculiar people, more so formerly than at 
 present ; peculiar in its intermarriages within itself, so to speak ; pe 
 culiar in its systematic and thorough instruction of the young in the 
 Westminster Confession and the Shorter Catechism ; peculiar in its 
 rigid observance of the Sabbath, such as no shaving, no chopping of 
 wood, no cooking except the drawing of coffee, no dinings, no visiting 
 except of the sick, upon that holy day ; peculiar in the religious in 
 struction given on Sundays to their slaves, of whom they possessed a 
 very large number ; peculiar in their very exalted standard of honesty 
 and morality; peculiar in their entire exemption from all legal prose 
 cutions involving crime or moral turpitude. Many, if not most, of 
 these peculiarities are, or were, common to the Scotch-Irish race, but 
 not to those outside of it. 
 
 About the 25th of March, 1805, James Armstrong (my maternal 
 grandfather), Moses G. Frierson, James Blakeley, and Paul Fulton, 
 with their respective families, emigrated from Williamsburg, South 
 Carolina, being members of Bethel congregation, under the charge 
 of Rev. James White Stephenson, D.D. After six weeks of labor 
 ious travel they reached the vicinity of Nashville on the 8th of May, 
 1805. In the fall of the same year they removed to the neighbor 
 hood of Franklin, Williamson County, Tennessee, where they rented 
 temporary habitations for themselves, and also secured places for some 
 of their friends and relatives, who proposed to follow them the ensu 
 ing year.
 
 SCOTCH-IRISH SETTLEMENTS IN SOUTH CAKOLINA. 205 
 
 Accordingly, on the 6th of March, 1806, the following, with their 
 several families, left their native homes in South Carolina to seek their 
 abode in the wilds of Tennessee and join the four families who had pre 
 ceded them, and with whom they were closely connected, to wit: John 
 Dickey, Mrs. Margaret Frierson, Mrs. Jane H. Blakely, Samuel Frier- 
 son, Thos. Stepheuson, Wm. Friersou, Wm. I. Frierson, Samuel With- 
 erspoon, Elias Frierson, John W. Stephenson, and Mrs. Mary Fleming- 
 (my paternal grandmother), with her four boys. They were singularly 
 blessed and providentially favored in their long and tedious journey by 
 reason of the clemency of the weather, the low stage of the many 
 water courses they had to cross, the facility for obtaining food and pr. - 
 visions in abundance along the way, and their entire exemption from 
 disease and death, although attended by a large number of slaves. 
 This company reached their friends in Williamson county about the 
 middle of April, 1806. True to their religious training and habits, 
 they soon resolved to meet every Sabbath for the purpose of reading 
 the Scriptures, and of prayer and praise. They accordingly erected a 
 stand, where they spent most of each Sabbath in religious exercises. 
 In the fall of 1806 they received a visit from their old pastor, Dr. 
 Stephenson, who remained long enough to preach on several occasions. 
 Soon they resolved to purchase land suitable and sufficient for a perma 
 nent settlement. A part of General Green's 25,000 acre grant was 
 selected as the most eligible and desirable they could find. This lies 
 in Maury county. The next question was whether it could be bought 
 and titles could be secured from Green's heirs. Accordingly a mes 
 senger was at once dispatched to their home on Cumberland Island, 
 off the coast of Georgia, near the mouth of the River St. Mary, to 
 ascertain whether a purchase could be made, and if so, to pay the 
 purci.ase-money and have the title papers executed. Captain George 
 Dickey, one of the colony, undertook the apparently perilous journey, 
 through the tribes of Indians then settled along the Tennessee ami 
 Chickamauga Rivers and the mountainous regions of North Georgia. 
 The response was favorable for a sale, which was soon effected. Eight 
 square miles, lying in oblong shape, were purchased at $3 per acre, the 
 total amount being 815,360. This purchase lies in Maury county, its 
 nearest boundary line to Columbia, the county seat, being about five 
 miles west of that city. 
 
 This purchase lay in an unsettled, wilderness state at that time, a 
 few scattering habitations in remote parts of the county probably not 
 one upon the entire Green survey. The county had not as yet re 
 ceived its name; no settlement to be found, dating back as far as a 
 year ; the whole face of the country densely covered with cane, so that
 
 206 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 in but few spots here and there could a man see fifty steps in any di 
 rection around him. Wild game abounded, such as wolves, bear, deer, 
 and turkeys. 
 
 On a given day every able-bodied man, with as many men slaves 
 as he could spare, was present on the land so purchased, at a desig 
 nated spot, for the double purpose of dividing the land and of erecting 
 a large log-house, to serve as a house of public worship. This church 
 or meeting-house was built as near the center of the purchase as pos 
 sible, regard being had to the procurement of water. This was not a 
 matter of much difficulty, as the tract abounded in springs of water 
 of excellent quality, as does the entire country. 
 
 Upon assembling, some proceeded to survey the land and lay it 
 off into lots or smaller tracts, to suit families, while others were en 
 gaged in getting out timbers for and in constructing the church build 
 ing. In less than one week it was finished, and the land divided into 
 suitable shares or sections. Then each returned to his home and fam 
 ily in Williamson county, about thirty miles distant, to make prepara 
 tion for his removal. 
 
 Think what a people this was ; not a cabin was built, nor a move 
 made in the direction of home and individual comforts, until a house 
 for the worship of Almighty God was first built. In the fall of 1807, 
 most of the little colony returned to their new purchase to rear tem 
 porary huts or cabins for their families ; and early in January, 1808, 
 a general move was made to their new homes and cheaply constructed 
 habitations. Their labors were now arduous. Provisions must be 
 hauled thirty miles in midwinter, along narrow, newly-made, muddy 
 roads ; the dense cane must be chopped out and the ground cleared for 
 cropping. All these things required the closest attention, as well as 
 untiring industry. 
 
 Soon after their removal, they began to hold services in their log 
 church or meeting-house. Remarkable punctuality characterized their 
 attendance on divine worship. The utmost unanimity, unaffected 
 friendship, and cordial hospitality prevailed among them. They were 
 yet without a pastor, or "stated supply, " v yet they never failed to 
 keep up sermon reading, singing, and prayer on the Sabbath. This 
 state of affairs, however, did not long continue, for, in April, 1808. 
 there was an addition to their number in the arrival of Dr. Stephen- 
 son, their former pastor, Dr. Samuel Mayes, Robert Frierson, and 
 Joshua Frierson, all from the same church in South Carolina. Dr. 
 Stephenson, who was from the Waxhaw settlement, had been pastor of 
 this people for some fifteen or twenty years. A sketch of his life may 
 be seen in Dr. Howe's " History of Presbyterianism in the Carolinas."
 
 SCOTCII-IUISII SETTLEMENTS IX SOUTH CA1I >U.\A. 207 
 
 These last immigrants, at first, rented farms for a year or two ia 
 Williamson county.. One of them, old Mr. Robert Friersou, beiug a 
 very old man, died, and on his death-bed requested that his remains 
 should be taken to the new settlement, and be buried in the church 
 yard there, which was done, and so he became the first solitary tenant 
 of that sacred spot. 
 
 In the spring of 1809, Dr. Stephenson, having married Mrs. Mary 
 Fleming, who, with her four boys, had already come to the country, 
 as before stated, removed from Williamson county, where he had 
 rented for about a year, to the Ziou neighborhood, and became at once 
 what is termed "stated supply." An incident is related of him, that 
 occurred during the war of the Revolution. In one of the battles, I 
 do not remember which, but fought desperately, either at Eutaw, the 
 " Cowpeus," or Fishing Ford, as he had his gun to his face, and was 
 in the act of firing, a ball from the side of the enemy struck his gun 
 near the lock and severed the barrel from the breech. At the instant 
 a comrade fell dead by his side, and he instantly seized his gun and 
 continued the fight. 
 
 This settlement possessed a large number of slaves, and in pro 
 portion to the whites had a much larger number than any other settle 
 ment in the county, and probably in the state. For many years they 
 had been brought over from Africa to Charleston, and their ancestors 
 had been large purchasers. These slaves were, without exception, 
 kindly treated and cared for, both as regards their temporal and 
 spiritual interests, and the slaves loved their masters. They became, 
 when converted, members of the same church, worshiped with them, 
 by having their own particular seats assigned to them, and partook of 
 the sacraments with them, but not occupying the communion-table 
 at the same time. I do not remember any more impressive and touch 
 ing sight to my youthful mind than to witness them (the communi 
 cants) corne down from the galleries, where they always sat during 
 service, and march up the two aisles in the body of the church, with 
 a white elder at the head of each column, singing as they went to oc 
 cupy the seats around the long-extended table, just before occupied by 
 the white communicants. 
 
 Soon after Dr. Stephenson took charge of the church the session 
 concluded that a certain number of their body should employ a por 
 tion of each Sabbath in catechising and instructing the young people 
 of the congregation. The plan succeeded admirably in familiarizing 
 them with the larger and shorter catechisms. 
 
 In the beginning of 1811, the permanent white members of the 
 congregation, young and old, male and female, numbered about one
 
 208 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 hundred and forty. Of course, the number of communicants was 
 much less, not exceeding probably thirty or forty, and this was a very 
 rapid increase. It may not be out of place to state that in this year 
 (1811) a presbytery was for the first time constituted or organized. 
 Its style was "The Presbytery of West Tennessee," and was held at 
 Bethsaida, on Fountain Creek, in Maury County. Dr. Stephenson 
 was made moderator, and Dr. Duncan Brown clerk. The other minis 
 ters present were Rev. Messrs. Blackburn, Donald, and Gillespie. 
 
 In the spring of this year the congregation resolved to provide 
 ways and means for the erection of a brick building as a church. The 
 work and materials were distributed among the members in the pro 
 portion of their taxable slave property ; and on the 5th of Augnst, 
 1812, the corner-stone of this grand old church was laid. In the sum 
 mer and fall the walls were carried up, and in the spring of 1813 the 
 house was ready for preaching, and was accordingly so used. 
 
 Of these men it might be truly said, what their hearts designed to 
 do, their hands, with all their might, pursued. 
 
 Here we might close the early history of this church and congre 
 gation, but I must be permitted to add that, within a few feet of this 
 old church building, a new church edifice was erected and received as 
 finished on the 20th of March, 1849, being the same now standing, 
 and in which the congregation now worship. It is built of brick, large, 
 commodious, and well appointed. 
 
 Of the ministers who have had charge, from the beginning to the 
 present time, are the following, in the order in which they officiated, 
 to wit: James White Stephensou, D.D., who served them about forty 
 years some sixteen in South Carolina, and about twenty-four in this 
 church. He died January 6, 1832. James M. Aornell, a native of 
 New York, was elected to succeed him, January 9, 1832, and died 
 March 4, 1850. Rev. Duncan Brown, quite an old man, filled the 
 pulpit from time to time till the call of Daniel G. Doak, who was 
 elected as "stated supply," June 20, 1850, and on account of ill- 
 health resigned his position in 1855. Rev. A. A. Doak, father of 
 Editor H. M. Doak, was then called, but remained only a short time, 
 less than a year, as now remembered. Rev. I. Tilghman Hendrick, son 
 of Dr. I. T. Hendrick, formerly of Paducah, Ky., was elected pastor 
 October 1, 1857. In a few years he died, and upon his death the 
 pulpit was supplied by various ministers as Rev. C. Foster Williams, 
 Rev. William Mack, D.D., and perhaps some others, until Rev. S. 
 W. Mitchell was called, who filled the pulpit for several years, and 
 until his recent resignation in the fall of 1888. A call has been made
 
 SCOTCH-IRISH SETTLEMENrs IN SOUTH CAROLINA. 209 
 
 and accepted by Rev. Mr. Kennedy, who will enter shortly upon his 
 duties as such minister. 
 
 Very few of that congregation, who reached the age of responsi 
 bility, have ever neglected to unite with the church ; and I may be 
 allowed to say I can now recall but three or four instances in which 
 any male descendants of these fathers have left the church ; but, I am 
 happy to further say, that in these few instances they have shown 
 themselves consistent, efficient, useful Christians. 
 
 From this congregation as a mother hive, her children have, 
 from time to time, swarmed, so to speak, and formed colonies or 
 settlements in all the Gulf States; and wherever they have mi 
 grated, they have carried with them the faith of their fathers. From 
 this stock, I venture to say, there have sprung a greater number 
 of ministers of the Gospel of the Presbyterian faith than from any 
 other in the United States. It may be interesting to some to know 
 who they were and who they are. 
 
 I will first give the names of the ministers who are the direct 
 descendants of the original colonists and founders of Zion Church, 
 without regard to chronological order : W. Vincent Frierson, de 
 ceased, of Pontotoc, Miss.; W. Vincent Frierson, Jr., of the same 
 place; John Stephenson Frierson; John Simpson Frierson, late de 
 ceased, and W. J. Frierson of Columbia, Tenn.; Jerry Wither- 
 spoon, Nashville, Tenn.; T. Dwight Witherspoon, Louisville, Ky.; 
 S. Reese Frierson, deceased, Stark ville, Miss.; Jno. C. McMullen, 
 Chester, S. C.; Rev. Fulton, S. C.; Thomas R. English, York- 
 ville, S. C.; W. D. Heddelston of Kentucky ; then Robert Gayle 
 of Mississippi and A. I. B. Foster of Tennessee. These two be 
 came and now are Methodist preachers. In all there are fifteen min 
 isters, thirteen Presbyterian and two Methodist, descendants of the 
 original colonists. 
 
 This estimate does not embrace the three brothers, David E., Ed 
 win O. and M. L. Frierson, whose father did not immigrate to Tenn 
 essee, nor David E., Jr., son of David E., located in Lewisburg, W. 
 Va. If these are added then we would have nineteen from this 
 family connection. All these were descendants of Scotch-Irish Pres 
 byterians, who emigrated from County Down, near Belfast, Ireland, 
 to Williamsburg District, South Carolina, from 1730 to 1734. 
 
 Of the ministers, who intermarried with some of the colonists, 
 
 their daughters, grand or great-granddaughters, may be numbered 
 
 James White Stephenson, D. D. Duncan Brown, D.D., James M. 
 
 Arnell, J. Tilghman Hendrick, C. Foster Williams, S. W. Mitchell, 
 
 14
 
 210 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. 
 
 and Thomas A. Hoyte of Philadelphia. All these preached in Zion 
 at different times, and the last mentioned three still survive. 
 
 Then there were Thomas R. English, Sr. , deceased, of South 
 Carolina ; James P. McMullen, deceased, of Alabama, who fell in 
 battle at the head of the regiment of which he was chaplain ; M. C. 
 Hutton, of Alabama, and L. R. Amis, of Tennessee. All these inter 
 married with descendants of these colonists, the last named being a 
 Methodist preacher, quite young and promising, in all eleven of these, 
 added to the nineteen , give us thirty. 
 
 Four of these early colonists were soldiers in the war of inde 
 pendence, to wit, Dr. Stephenson, James Armstrong, Dr. Mayes, and 
 David Matthews. This entire connection of people, or rather their 
 ancestors, were all Whigs in that war, and fought under Greene and 
 Marion and at King's Mountain. They or their descendants fought 
 under Jackson in the War of 1812-14. They were fully represented 
 in the Seminole War of 1837. In the war with Mexico, in 1848, her 
 sons stood before the walls of Monterey, and their blood stained the 
 plains of Buena Vista. In the late war, their bones lay scattered on 
 nearly every battle field of the south. At the tap of the drum, at 
 the call of the bugle, they have always been ready, without compul 
 sion, to' gallantly respond. 
 
 So it seems that rigid instruction in the Calvinistic or John Kuox 
 faith of their Scotch ancestry was not inconsistent with their ideas of 
 a lofty patriotism. 
 
 From this little colony of Presbyterians, or rather their descend 
 ants, Tennessee has had some dozen of representatives in her legis 
 lative halls, one speaker in the state senate, one United States senator, 
 one judge on the supreme bench of the state, two chancellors in 
 Middle Tennessee, several editors, besides many very eminent law 
 yers and skillful physicians. 
 
 Last of all, but not least, I have never known or heard of one of 
 their descendants being convicted of or charged with any capital or peni 
 tentiary offense, or any less offense or misdemeanor, involving moral 
 turpitude or degradation of character. 
 
 The record thus given of this, the oldest Presbyterian church in 
 Maury county, is worthy of preservation, and may be viewed with 
 pride and veneration by every descendant, however remote they may 
 be removed from the home of their fathers, or wherever in this broad 
 land Providence may have cast his or her lot.
 
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