The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1895-10-03
THE SCOTCH-lRlSH.
Prominence Of THIS Strain of Blood II, the
Pages of American History

IL paper reau DSIOr6 the M3SS3-
! chusetts Historical society Mr.. Sam
uel S. Green, librarian of the Worces-
ter Free library, has called atten-
ton to the singular degree in which
the Scotch-Ir have Illustrated in
America certain prevailing traits of
character and genius. Indeed the
most careless reader of our national
an nails must often, in lighting on
the fact that such men as Patrick
Henry, Jay, Fulton, Jackson, Cal
houn, Perry, Greeley, Morse, Sam
Houston. and no end of others were
all Of this descent, have raised in
wonder the question. HAS anybody
ever done anything who was not
Scotch Irish?" Mr.. Green's paper
makes one raise this question anew.
For centuries the Scotch were iso-
lated in their own barren and noun
famous country. Then. when large
numbers of them were colonized in
the north of Ireland, they were kept
equally isolated by position and re-
ligion. In this way they piled up
and set in adamant certain fixed and
salient characteristics. Hard strug-
giles to exc out a living had made
them shrewd and canny. Hard
struggles with fate had made them
heroic and indomitable. Their home,
whether in Scotland or the north of
Ireland, was a grand place to get
starved in and so be forced to emf.
CRATE. So all over Europe they be-
came known as brave and ready
witted adventurous. The Scotch arch
ers, the Scotch guardsmen described
by Walter Scott in Quentin Dur
ward, are the same class of men as
the Swiss papal guards. In the wars
of Spain with Holland and Belgium
the Scotch linesmen proved full
match for the terrible Spanish in
fantry, while under Gustavus the
Scotch pikemen won European re-
nown.
Sore beset in the north of Ireland
by hard times, failures of crops and
hostile legislation on the part of
England against their material sue
cess early in 1900 the Scotch Irish
began to emigrate to America. Such
settlements in New Hampshire as
Dublin and Londonderry show them
IN the north. But soon they were
everywhere. Pennsylvania, Mary
land, Virginia, the Carolinas, Geor-
gla found in them their leaders in
every enterprise. Of the tide of immi-
grafton into Kentucky, Tennessee,
Arkansas, Missouri, they were al
ways in the van, fond of frontier
life, great Indian fighters and then
equally ready to turn into success
ful farmers Or manufacturers. Light
on Daniel Boone, and one may be
sure without consulting biograph-
zeal dictionary that he was Scotch
Irish. But always they carried ideas
with them, immense believers that
they were in schools, churches, de-
batting societies, political clubs and
| in religious freedom.
| Here, then, was just the environ
ment in which to develop Patrick
Henry, himself but the highest crest
of flame in furnace that was burn
ing in the breasts of all his kindred.
| Here, again, just the environment in
which to breed Witherspoon, who,
when the congress faltered whether
to adopt and promulgate the Decla-
ration of independence, rose in his
| place and declared that "as his gray
head must soon bow to the fate of
all, he preferred that it should go
by the ak of the executioner rather
than that the cause of independence
should not prevail. Equally when
the battles of the Revolution came,
what a list of generals the Scotch
Irish furnished-Knox, Sullivan,
Clinton, Howard, Campbell, Pickens,
Morgan, Mad Anthony Wayne, all
as resolved as Stark at Bennington
to win before night or make Molly
Stark widow.
Equally in the war of 1912, Jack
son at New Orleans, Millar at Lun-
dy's Lane and Perry on Lake Erie
We're the three who did most to add
luster to the country. And the same
record holds true of the great edu-
Gators, inventors and divines of the
land. Strong in body and strong in
mind, self regulated in character,
yet fiery in passion, here was strain
of blood as telling in it's impress on
the manhood of the country as the
importation of the Arabian stock on
the racers, hunters and cavalry
horses of England. And the women
showed up as well as the men. In
their admiration for the mother of
Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry
the farmers of Rhode Island cried
out when the news came of the vic
! tory on Lake Erie, "This is Mrs.