The Clearances

[macwilkin]

Pages 150 to 154 of Meyer's book, The Highland Scots of North Carolina 1732- 1776, describes 3 reasons, at least for North Carolina Scots: 1. some Highlanders (Campbells) had it as it as "part of their tradition to defend the HOuse of Hanover." 2. "The fear of reprisal was probably a second factor....No group of people in the empire was any better acquainted with the painful aftermath of an unsuccessful revolution than the Highlanders....Even though Highlanders who were too young to remember the Forty-five had heard many stories of the brutalities, atrocities and destruction inflicted by the British Army under the Duke of Cumberland." 3. [The NC governor's policy of land grants] " must have been a third factor in influencing some of the Highlanders....the pressure of population and the changes in the agricultural system of the Highlands forced many people from the land. Thus the Highlanders land hunger is understandable."

Loyalties are often divided. I had ancestors who fought on both sides during the Revolution and the Civil War. And similar conflicts of interest can cause history to be interpreted different ways.

I guess history is like memory: selective and not altogether rooted in the facts.

Sir,

Many thanks for the specific passages from Meyer. My copy is at home on the shelf, so I wasn't able to quote directly from it.

Meyer's point about the collective memory of the '45 is spot on; Many Highlanders reasoned that the American Revolution would fail, just as the '45 did, and being on the losing side twice was somewhere they didn't want to be.

Interestingly, Fernec Szaz, in Scots in the North American West writes of anti-Scottish attitudes on the part of the rebels, from Thomas Jefferson's mention of "Scotch mercenaries" in the original draft of the Declaration of Independence*, down to a 1782 resolution passed by the State of Georgia that declared the Scots had a "decided inimicality to the Civil Liberties of America." (pp. 5-6) Flora MacDonald, famed of song and story as the woman who rescued the Bonnie Prince after Culloden, immigrated to North Carolina with her husband, only to return to Scotland after the war.

btw, Dr. Duane Meyer, the author, was a professor at my alma mater. He retired not long after I began my undergraduate work, so I never had the pleasure of taking a class with him.

Regards,

Todd

*native Scot John Witherspoon of New Jersey successfully lobbied TJ to remove this passage from the Declaration.

[ThreadBbdr]

Guys, we need to start a book list of recommened reads.

Here's what I have so far

Prebble, John "The Lion in the North"

Prebble, John "Highland Clearances"

Webb, Jim "Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America"

Fischer, David H. "Albions Seed: British Folkways in America

More? pros and cons?

Note: Links are to Amazon and Amazon.uk

[Sheep In Wolf's Clothing]

OOHHH another book list!!
I'll add:
John Prebble Mutiny about the of the highlander regiments between 1743 and 1804

John Prebble Glencoe Title says it all

John Prebble The Kings Jaunt About the 1822 visit of George IV to Scotland

J.D. Mackie A History of Scotland A good general history of Scotland book

Jenni Calder Scots in Canada I really liked this book because a good deal of the book dealt with the Scots that settled in my area of Ontario. I can drive to many of the towns mention in the book in under 45 minutes. (most of these towns have Scottish place names!)

And finally any book by David R Ross. He is more of a common mans historian and I have really enjoyed his books. I highly enjoyed his book Desire Lines His Website : http://www.davidrross.org/

I am looking forward to more book suggestions!
Sara

[Pleater]

The reason for the monoculture of potatoes which made the blight so devastating is that it enabled families to survive on far smaller areas of land than would be required of they were growing - for instance - grain.

The potato produces a large amount of food from a small plot, it can be kept for long periods, it does not require processing - no miller to pay, and it can be cooked easily on a domestic hearth or simple camp fire - no baker to pay, and it will suport life - it has vitamins and if eaten whole, which was quite common, a family would stay healthy.

In areas where vines were grown the use of copper solution to deter blight was bound to be discovered - Boreaux mixture was sprayed onto vines to prevent mildew - so potatoes being grown alongside would be likely to get a covering too, and then there would be the possibilty of the whole field showing blight and dying off, except for the strip alongside the vinyard - the reason eventually was realised, and the technology and chemicals to protect the potatoes were already available.

However - the number of vinyards in Ireland and Scotland in those days was probably about zero, so the situation of grapes and potatoes growing alongside eachother would never occur.

[Makeitstop]

I am continually surprised by just how little most people I meet know about history. Particularly since I expect other college students to know the barest of essentials, and professors to know enough to carry on a conversation without unknowingly embarrassing themselves.

I know the schools I went to weren't very helpful. After moving past the sanitized, kids version (which is fine with me, as the real stories are a bit hard for your average 7 year old to handle) I moved onto schools that did not have history classes, and instead had "social studies" which contained the occasional bit of history, but for the most part was about whatever the teacher wanted to rant about. I probably learned more about their pets, kids and problems with technology than I learned about ancient history, anything in Europe before WWII or the actual contents of constitution.

The few teachers who actually taught something resembling history made the same mistake mentioned earlier in this thread, caring more about dates than either telling the story or understanding it's significance.

Things got better once I got to college, but even then there were problems. The basic history class that everyone takes here has a lot of bad information in it, and any time history comes up in other classes, their is a 75% chance that what they are teaching is demonstrably false. Luckily, these days when I object I can back up my claims with 2 minutes, a laptop and a wireless connection.

Of course, I don't know nearly as much about history as I should. I've read a bit, watched the history channel whenever possible, and looked things up whenever I came across something I didn't know, but there's still far too many gaps in my knowledge.

But at least I know more than my friends. Sure it's frustrating when I get nothing but blank stares after any reference to history, current events, or future events, but at least its good for the ego.

[Riverkilt]

What great reading...love this board.

I have a copy of a petition my four great grandfather Gray Macdonald made to Lord Macdonald April 3, 1803 pleading to stay on his rented land in someplace I've yet to locate called Peinchoinnich. Probably on the North end of the Trotternish Penisula of Skye.

He must have been successful since his son and grandson didn't sail for Cape Breton Island until 1854. My grandfather Murdoch wrote me that they were headed for Virginia/North Carolina to link up with kin but got blown off course by a storm and were so sick by the time they made land they stayed. No one's ever said if they were sailing of their own choice or were part of the last of the clearances.

Thanks for the book lists too.

Ron

[Bellfree]

Thanks, Todd, for that addition. After a couple of years of retirement, I confess to feeling almost giddy at participating in a footnoted discussion again!
Andy

[Coemgen]

I'm just glad I was brought up with a great love for learning in general, especially history and reading.

My parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles are all college educated, many have master's degrees, and there's a smattering of doctoral degrees too, as well as technical training from military service that many of my relatives went through.

I and my brother and sister have been, from the time we were able to understand it, taught to learn and study all the fields of knowledge.

This all makes it very easy for me to forget that most people aren't as blessed as I have been with a great education and a love for learning. It was a genuine shock to me when I went to public school and found that my peers didn't want to read or study history or literature, that they didn't want to understand math or science.

Oh dear, I'm rambling again. Well, all this to say that we need to take a step back and remember that not everybody has the opportunities that we have to learn about these things. There are many subjects on which I am woefully ignorant, many more than those in which I know enough to be of intellectual use. As they say, a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing.

[Detroitpete]

I think it was in the first two chapters of Meyer's work that lead me to a footnote and further reading. I'll suggest Seton and Arnot (I think) Prisoners of the '45, 1928.

See what happens when you jump into this pool with both feet! Is there ANYTHING on this site that doesn't lead to some sort of obsession?

[Stratherrick]

JS Sanders

Thanks for bringing up The Clearances. I have to measure my words about it as I've, in the past, stepped over the line into political musings, but I'll give it my best to stay on the right side now. You say:

It is worth remembering, that while the rest of Scotland was permitting the expulsion of Highlanders, it was also forming the highly romanticized notion of kilts & tartan.

Aye, Scott and the painter, Landseer, drew up a view of the Highlands far removed from the true picture of what was going on on the ground. Many an Edinburgh, or London, wall is festooned with a tranquil view, deaf to the cries of those being burnt out of their homes and sent packing into winter wastelands.

Following on from the works of John Prebble, though there are a number of more modern expositions on the subject, another excellent book, a short novel by Iain Crichton-Smith, called "Consider the lilies" has recently been reprinted. It really looks at the human cost of the events.

Finally, in agreement with some previous posts, having read Scottish history for most of my 50 years on the planet, I'd say it's nigh on impossible to understand The Clearances without reference to Culloden and IT'S aftermath of literal rape and pillage.

Thankfully, my family glen/strath, Stratherrick, was spared the worst of The Clearances as Lord Lovat was appreciative of how many fighting men he could call upon from that long, wide valley. The same could not be said of 'Butcher' Cumberland's men who raped my ancestors, burned their crofts and took away their cattle and, hence, their livelihoods.

What a good thread!

Slainte

Bruce