American Scottish History
Part 1

Got a story of a Scots ancestor?  Then do send it in for inclusion on these pages to Alastair McIntyre

1932, A True History of the United States

• An Historical Account of the Settlements of Scotch Highlanders in America
  Prior to the peace of 1783 together with notices of Highland Regiments amd Biographical Sketches by J. P. MacLean (1900) (pdf)
• Colonists from Scotland: emigration to North America, 1707-1783
  By Ian Charles Cargill Graham (1956) (pdf)
• The American Civil War Story
  With the Declaration of Independence in 1776, 13 former British colonies became the United States of America, but by the 1830s it was clear the new nation was divided. Adam IP Smith explains how the issue of slavery, above all, created discord between north and south, and forced political tension to rise. (pdf)
• The Photographic History of The Civil War
  In Ten Volumes, Francis Trevelyan Miller - Editor-in-Chief and Robert S. Lanier, Managing Editor. Thousands of Scenes Photographed 1861-65, with Text by many Special Authorities (1911) (pdf)
• Scotland and the American Revolution
  Scottish historian Andrew Mackillop explored his homeland’s role during the American Revolution. He argued that despite fighting for the losing side in the war, many Scots gained land and increased their social status after the war.
• How the Army Runs
  A Senior Leader Reference Handbook for the US Army (2013) (pdf)
• The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography
• The American Commonwealth
  By James Bryce in three volumes (1888)
• How Scotland's influence created the United States Sovereign Identity and Laws
  By Gary Gianotti
• Lamb’s Biographical Dictionary of the United States
  Edited by John Howard Brown in seven volumes (1900)
• William Winter
  Poet, Writer and Critic
• Cadwallander Colden
  A Representative Eighteenth Century Official by Alice Mapelsden Keys, Ph.D. (1906) (pdf)
• Trails of the Pathfinders
  By George Bird Grinnell (1911)
• The Mandate of the Governor's Task Force on Hunger
  To study the problem of hunger in Washington State (1988) (pdf)
• The American Commonwealth
  By James Bryce (1908) (pdf)
• American Military Biography
  Containing the Lives and Characters of the Officers of the Revolution who were most distinguished in achieving our National Independence, Also the life of Gilbert Motier La Fayette, Major-General in the Continental Army,, Marshall of France and Commander-in-Chief of the National Guard (1830) (pdf)
• The Life and Military Character of Maj. Gen. Scott
  Together with his Views upon the Principal Moral, Social and Political Topics of the Age, With full Particulars of the Surrender of the Castle and City of Vera Cruz. (1847) (pdf)
• The Justice and Necessity of the war with our American Colonies examined
  A Sermon Preached at Inveresk, December 12, 1776 being the Fast-Day appointed by the King, on account of the American Rebellion by Alexander Carlyle, D.D. Minister of Inveresk, and Almoner to his Majesty (1777) (pdf)
• Official Reports of Generals Johnstone and Beauregard of the Battle of Manassas, July 21st, 1861 (pdf)
  Also Official Reports of the Battle of 10th Sept., Brig. Gen. Floyd commanding; Engagement at Oak Hill, Mo., Brig. Gen. Ben McCulloch commanding; Engagement at Lewinsville, Sept. Wth, Col. J. E. B. Stuart commanding; Engagement on Gieenbrier River, Oct. 3d, Brig. Gen. H. R. Jackson commanding; Engagement at Santa Rosa Island, Oct. 8th, Maj. Gen. Braxton Bragg commanding; Engagement at Leesburg, Oct. 21st and 22d, Brig. Gen. N. G. Evans commanding; Bombardment of Forts Walker and Beauregard, Nov. 11th, Brig. Gen. Thomas F. Drayton commanding; Engagement at Piketon, Ky.,Col. John S. Williams commanding; Battle in Alleghany Mountains, Dec. 1Sth, Col. Edward Johnson commanding; Battle of Chustenahlah, which took place in the Cherokee Nation, on the 26th of Dec, 1861, Col. James Mcintosh commanding: Battle of Belmont, Nov. 7th, Leonidas Polk, Major-General commanding. (1862)
• New York State's Progressive Men
  An Encyclopedia of Contemporaneous Biography compiled by Mitchell C. Harrison (1900) in 2 volumes.
• Patrick Sinclair
  By William L. Jenks (1914) (pdf) Lieutenant-General Patrick Sinclair (1736 – 31 January 1820) was a British Army officer and governor in North America. He is best remembered for overseeing the construction of Fort Mackinac on Mackinac Island in what was to become the U.S. state of Michigan.
• James Baird Weaver
  By Fred Emory Hayes
• The Cabin
  By Stewart Edward White (1911)
• The Scotch Society in the American Colonies in the Eighteenth Century
  By Rev. Hnry . Sefton, B.D., S.T.M., Ph.D.
• Scotland and the Scots
  Essays illustrative of Scottish Life, History and Character by Peter Ross (1899)
• The Argyle Settlement
  In History and Story by Daniel G. Harvey (1924) (pdf)
• A Voice to the United States of America
  From the Metropolis of Scotland; Being an Account of Various Meetings held in Edinburgh on the Subject of American Slavery upon the return of Mr. George Thompson from his mission to that Country (1836) (pdf)
• Memoir of Alexander McLeod, D.D.
  By Samuel Brown Wylie, D.D.
• Life of John Albert Johnson
  Three times Governor of Minnesota bu Frank A. Day and Theodore M. Knappen (1910)
• Scotsman in Buckskin
  Sir William Drummond Stewart and the Rocky Mountain Fur Trade by Mae Reed Porter and Odessa Davenport (1963)
• An American Railroad Builder, John Murray Forbes
• James McHenry
  Soldier-Statesmen of the Constitution
• Adam, James N.
  Mayor of Buffalo
• The Life of John Paterson
  Major-General in the Revolutionary Army by His Great-Grandson, Thomas Egleston, LL.D. (1898) (pdf)
• Another Scottish American Worthy
  By Richard Waugh
• Adirondack Murray
  A Biographical Appreciation by Harry V. Radford (pdf)
• The Life, Public Services, Addresses and Letters of Elias Boudinot, LL.D
  President of the Continental Congress edited by J.J. Boudinot in Two Volumes (1896) 
• British Artisan Expedition to America
  Equipped and sent out by and at the expense of the Dundee Courier and Dundee Weekly News Newspapers.
• New Aberdeen
  Or The Scotch Settlement of Monmouth County, New Jersey by James Steen (1899) (pdf)
• Privileged Characters
  By M. R. Werner (pdf)
• National Conference of State Legislators at the Scottish Parliament.
  The first time they have met outside North America.
• Scotland and US Founding Fathers
  A short video from the National Library of Scotland
• Pedestrian Tour of a Scottish Emigrant in the Middle States of America
  Article from Tait's Edinburgh Magazine
• Fighting Scots in the Frontier Army
  A talk given by Chris Dixon of the University of Strathclyde.
• Slavery
  An exploration of Slavery in connection with the Scots.
• Aberdeen, Washington
• Chronicles of the Cape Fear River 1660 - 1916
  By James Sprunt
• Frontier House
  A six part video series about modern American families trying to live as the Pioneers did back in 1883.
• The Barnum and Bailey Circus
  A complete book about the circus
• War between the States
  A whole section on the War between the States and the many Scottish influences
• Scots Descendants
  This is a page of mini bios of Scots descendants mostly in America. In here you can learn some of the background of people of Scots descent and how they contributed to the American way of life.
• Scots and Scots Descendants in America
  by D. MacDougall, 1917
• Miss Duncan MacDonald
  A prominent Scots-American
• Biographical History of the American Irish in Chicago
  Edited by Charles French (1897)
• The Scottish Highlanders going to Carolina
  from the Celtic Magazine of 1876
• Historians and the Scottish-American Connection
  The links between Scotland and America stretch back over three centuries. Perhaps one can officially date them from 1650, when a group of Scots gathered in Boston to create the first Scots’ Charitable Society, an organization to aid fellow immigrants who had fallen upon hard times.
• The Southern States of America
  Published in 1909. A 12 volume publication but only the first 3 volumes published here.
• U.S. Representative Mike McIntyre
  A brief Biography
• Counties
  This is where we list individual counties where we have some historical information.
• South Carolina
  Some pictures from my time in South Carolina.
• Highland Scots of North Carolina
  By Duane Meyer (pdf)
• Donna Flood's Stories
  A collection of stories by Donna Flood on her Scots and Indian heritage.
• Scots in the North American West
  A book about the period between 1790 - 1917
• John Stewart's Memorandum
  An account of how the settlement of Greenbrier came into being.
• Lady Malcolm Douglas-Hamilton
  Died 14th January 2013 aged 103.
• Consulate General of the United States, Edinburgh, Scotland
  Their web site in Scotland.
• Archiving Early America
  This is an excellent site with documents on early American history.
• Westward Ho
  From 1860 to 1862, Pony Express riders carried mail n relays from St. Joseph, MO to Sacramento, CA.  Riders were out of "St. Joe" had only a brief gallop to the wide Missouri River where ferry boats conveyed them over the river.
• Hood's Texas Brigade
  John Bell Hood was born June 29, 1831 in Bath County Kentucky.  His father, Dr. Julius Hood taught John the aspects of medicine from a young age but John was not interested in becoming a doctor.  He longed to go to West Point Academy and become a  cavalry officer so he could serve his country as his grandfather and uncle had during the Revolutionary War.
• Sam Houston
  Houston was strongly criticized for his actions and military strategy of the Battle of the Alamo.  Some of his peers thought he was cowardly to Santa Anna but at the Battle of San Jacinto, he had mustered enough troops to defeat the Mexican army.  Houston was injured in the San Jacinto skirmish and was sent to New Orleans for treatment. Upon his return to Tejas, he was elected president of the new Republic of Texas.
• Col. Thomas Peck Ochiltree
  An Unsung Hero - Col. Thomas Peck Ochiltree.
• Laurence Hutton
  Author, Essayist, critic
• The Scots and their Descendants in Illinois
  By Thomas C. MacMillan, M.A., LL.D.
• The Revolutionaries
  Cornwallis decided to divide his own force into three parts.  One would be left to guard Camden under Lieutenant Colonel Lord Francis Rawdon.  Tarleton and his 1,100 cavalry and foot soldiers would become a fast-moving hammer that would pursue Brigadier General Daniel Morgan and finally crush him against an anvil.  Cornwallis's third force, which would hover in North Carolina and intercept the rebels as they fled from Tarelton's onslaught.
• Declaration of Independence
  About the Declaration and the Scottish influence.
• A Friend's Soliloquy - 1943
  This poem was written in 1943, paying homage to all the boys who went to war.
• Trails to nowhere and to everywhere
  In the early 1800's,  American history reveals the old west had lots of trails as the western migration continued to lead thousands of easterners west to explore the new frontier, seek their fortune, stake their claim,  homestead a portion of the large land grants that were available to them.
• History of Philadelphia 1609 - 1884
  By J. Thomas Scharf and Thomson Westcott in 3 volumes
• Reflections of a 20th century man
  I was born John William Fulks in Marceline, Missouri on November 6, 1920, the same day Warren G. Harding was elected president of the USA during the final days of Woodrow Wilson's administration. It was just 2 years after the end of World War I, the "war to end all wars" and only 8 years since the Titanic sank off the Newfoundland coast on April 15, 1912.
• The Skidmore family of Braxton County
  He served as a private in the Virginia Militia and participated in the Battle of Point Pleasant October 1774 under the command of his brother, Captain John Skidmore.
• Tails of the Trails of the Smoky Hill River
  The old western frontier of the 1800's was a wild and woolly beginning of the western migration of settlers, those coming from the Eastern states to look for fortune and fame in the untamed territories.
• William Walker
  The King of the Filibusters (pdf)
• The Scotch Element in American Civilization
  By Neva Beryl Wiley (1909) (pdf)
• Captain Philo Norton McGiffin
  Descended from the Clan MacGregor and the Clan MacAlpine (pdf)
• Mexihoma
  Upon the conclusion of the Mexican War in 1848, the northern and western boundaries of Texas had not been settled with Mexico. No Man's Land is the Neutral Strip with metes and bounds as follows: One half degree south of the 37th parallel latitude and three degrees east and west of the East 103rd degree longitude, a rectangle of land bordered by Kansas on the north, Texas panhandle on the south, New Mexico on the west and the Ok. Cherokee Strip on the east.
• Presbyterian Pioneers in Western Pennsylvania
  The Reverend Charles Clinton Beatty (c.1715-1772) was born in County Antrim, Ireland, to John Beatty, a British army officer, and Christiana Clinton, aunt of George Clinton, the first governor of New York.
• Governor Patrick Henry
  Colonel Rogers Clark from Virginia, with Governor Patrick Henry's help, recruited Scotch-Irish and German frontiersmen from Southwest Virginia, and from Washington and Greene Counties Tennessee (then in North Carolina) and rafted his men 1000 miles down the Ohio River from Pittsburgh (Ft. Pitt), Pennsylvania (on right) in winter to make a successful surprise attack against British installations in present -day Illinois and Vincennes, in present-day Indiana.
• Robert Forbes
  Is now living retired at Carbondale, where more than forty years ago he had his first experience in Kansas as a coal minor. Thus he was identified with Carbondale in the height of its prosperity as a mining center.
• Longhorn Country
  No history of the cattle industry can be told without beginning with Texas and the Texas Longhorn. Texas was the original home of ranching and became the major blending pot for the evolution of the history-making Texas Longhorn breed of cattle.
• Mississippi and Beyond
  Wilmington North Carolina situated on Cape Fear River, 20 miles from the Atlantic Ocean, is known for her harbor, accommodating the large ocean going vessels.  The city is located in a highly productive agricultural district of which many Scots settled centuries ago.
• Remember the Alamo
  A cry of victory and defeat, heard around the world for centuries, the last fatal attempt by a handful of frontiersman trained only to hunt with a squirrel rifle and a Bowie knife who came from all parts of the eastern territories and gave their lives for freedom's call.
• Famous Frontiersmen
  By Charles H. L. Johnston (1913) (pdf)
• Judge Ochiltree
  David Ochiltree came to America in 1739.   Duncan Ochiltree came to America in 1739, no further record...As I read this record, I surmise that David and Duncan are Lord Ochiltree's two sons. There is no mention of Lord Ochiltree arriving in America.
• The Chisholms
  For hundreds of years the Chisholm name has left significant marks in American History. Adam Chisholm, captured at Preston and was transported to American on the Elizabeth and Ann from Liverpool 29 June 1710.
• The Old 300
  Although many cultures can stake a claim on the settlement of early Texas - mostly the Spanish, Indians and French - it was the Scots and others of Celtic descent who led the way in truly taming the wild territory and bringing it forward to a republic.
• Civil War Notebook
  When 19 year old Daniel Chisholm joined the army, the United States was at war with itself.  Leaving his hometown of Uniontown, Pennsylvania in 1864, Chisholm fought with Army of the Potomac in the final campaign of the Civil War, as Gen. Grant pushed his superior numbers in bloody head-on collision with Gen. Lee's dwindling Confederate Army.  
• A Western Tail
  No Man's Land", the "Neutral Strip". or Public Lands, as it was called variously, was a political and geographic paradox.  It was an ungoverned rectangle of land bordered by Kansas on the north, Texas on the south and New Mexico on the west, an the Cherokee Strip on the east.
• Isaac Tichenor Goodnow
  A lot has been said of the new School Marm,  was she a pretty young girl from the East, how much learning did she have, she is too young to teach these kids and on and on and on. Most of the time, she would live in a Boarding House, or some family home, depending on what was available.  And sometimes she would be a spinster, or a married lady, or the teacher could be the minister of a local church.
• John Andrew Howell
  The history in verse by John Andrew Howell was written at the beginning of the 1900's...and as the reader follows along, read carefully and grasp the meaning of the messages as they were seen from this very specially gifted person.
• The Titanic
  A unique poem by John Andrew Howell.
• History of Webster County in Verse
  Another poem by John Andrew Howell
• Juliette Gordon Low
  Founder of Girl Scouts of the U.S.A., was born October 31, 1860, in Savannah, Georgia, and died there January 17, 1927.
• Scots-Irish
  This article was originally published in The Irish At Home and Abroad journal of Irish genealogy and heritage (volume 2 #1, 1994/1995). Published four times yearly.
• The Alamo - James Bowie
  James Bowie was a descendant of the Maryland Line of Bowies who originated in Stirlingshire, Scotland. Known for his famous "Bowie knife" and a sometimes reckless adventurer, Jim Bowie is now immortalized as one of the true folk heroes in early Texas.
• Memoir of Colonel John Allan
  An Officer of the Revolution by George H. Allan (1867) (pdf)
• General and Mrs Custer
  General Custer and his brother, Tom and his   wife, Libbie (Elizabeth Bacon Custer), were of Scottish ancestry. General Custer is of the Wilson-Ochiltree families.
• Medal of Honor
  Scots-Irish that won this distinguished award.
• Clans of the Ponca
  Yes, there was, of course, great intermarriage between the Scots and my mother's people. The Native culture is as strong as the Scots and the two people were compatible. I will try to elaborate.
• Henry Van Deman Faris
  Of Kanopolis, is a Kansas around whom center many associations of territorial and pioneer times. He is by five years the oldest living pioneer in Kansas west of Salina. He has been continuously identified with Ellsworth County more than half a century.
• Scottish-American Military Society
  The Scottish American Military Society was founded and chartered in North Carolina April 12, 1981, as a non-profit organization.
• The Scottish-American History Club
  This is part of the Illinois St Andrew Society site and contains a number of their newsletters which go out every quarter. I was totally amazed at the amount of information they contained about Scottish-Americans. I  highly recommend you visit this site as there is some great reading which I just know you will enjoy.
• Scots and the American Indians
  An interesting account of the connections between the Highland Scots and the American Indians.
• The Indian Territory 1861 - 1865
  This is an account by Thomas F. Anderson "of the part taken by our Southern Indians in the war between the States, but have to depend on memory. Strange to say, my recollection of what took place under my observation in the war with Mexico in 1845 and '47, is more vivid than that of our last war. But few dates are remembered". The Scots and Scots-Irish were very involved in this account which is why we've included it.
• James Britton Bailey
  Britton Bailey was a straight shooting pioneer who endured many hardships. In stature he was a large man, feared and respected by the Indians and his neighbors. One of the "Old 300"
• Neil McLennan
  Early settler, was born on the Isle of Skye in 1777. He immigrated in 1801 to North Carolina with numerous family members and friends; in 1816 they moved to Florida.
• Thomas Spalding
  Known as Georgia’s Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Spalding was born at Frederica (on St. Simon’s Island, Georgia) on March 25, 1774. His ancestors were from the Highlands of Scotland, and were among the band of hardy warriors which Oglethorpe brought to Georgia to form a bulwark for the New Colony against the Spaniards in Florida.
• General Lewis Lawrence Griffin
  Around 1810, a young man named Lewis Lawrence Griffin settled in Twiggs County. The very poor native Georgian would become president of the Monroe Railroad and the founder of the city of Griffin.
• Bios on Our Scottish Ancestors in KANSAS
  A collection of around 30 bios on folks of Scots descent in Kansas.
• Teddy Roosevelt
  The Rough Rider President of the United Sates of America.
• The Ringing of a Silver Bell
  Bell and Joe had suffered every insult from the weather as far as the drought was concerned.  The last hammer to fall was the loss of the well. She knew they could not survive without the precious water for them and for their livestock.
• Judge Arthur MacArthur
  Father of General Arthur MacArthur and Grand-Father of General Douglas MacArthur
• Millburn
  A small town in New Jersey, USA
• A Scotch Trader
  Old letters from friends in America to their Scotch frienids at home written in Colonial times
• Windham, New Hampshire
  A Scotch and Scots-Irish Settlement
• Into the West
  A 6 part Video Presentation
• The Eugenics of PRESIDENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN
  His German-Scotch Ancestry Irrefutably Established from Recently Discovered Documents by James Caswell Coggins, A.M., S.T.D., Ph.D., LL.D. (pdf)
• John Taylor
  A Scottish Merchant of Glasgow and New York 1752-1833 by Emily Johnston de Forest (1917) (pdf)
• Into the West
  A 6 part Video Presentation
• The Scotch Ancestors of President McKinley (pdf)
• Into the West
  A 6 part Video Presentation
• Great Words by Great Americans (pdf)
• A History of Rowan County, North Carolina
  Containing Sketches of Prominent Families and Distinguished Men with an Appendix by Rev. Jethro Rumple (1881) (pdf)
• A Scotch Farmer
  The true story of Peter Morrison, a Scotsman, who built up an American farm that today is one of the conservation showplaces of northern Michigan.
• Tracing Our Threads
  The Kilbarchan Weaving Project on Display at Folk Art Center, NC
• The inauguration of the Rev. John Maclean, D.C.
  Tenth president of the College of New Jersey, Wednesday, June 28, 1854
• The National Trust for Scotland Foundation USA
  2021 Great Scot Award Recipient Brian Cox (pdf)
• The Freemasons' Monthly Magazine
  Volume 11 by Charles W. More, Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts (1862) (pdf)
• Children of the Market Place
  By Edgar Lee Masters, "This remarkable book is above everything else a study of Lincoln and Douglas, and as such it is not only able and fascinating, but strangely timely. A picture humanly attractive and far-reachingly instructive." —Edwin Bjorkman in the New York Herald (pdf)
• Autobiography of Rev. James B. Finley
  Or Pioneer life in the West edited by N. P. Strickland, D. D. (1857) (pdf)
• One Hundred Years Ago
  An Historical Discourse delivered by the Rev. George Duffield, D.D. during the Centenary Celebration of the First Presbyterian Church of Carlisle, P.A., July 1st, 1857. (pdf)
• The Palatine and Scotch-Irish Settlers of Lebanon County
  Paper Read Before the Lebanon County Historical Society, August 17, 1900 By George Mays, Philadelphia, P.A. (pdf)
• ScotsInUs Podcasts from The American Scottish Foundation
  Listen to a collection of many podcasts produced by the Scottish American Foundation. [external link]

Continue on to Part 2

E-text of the book "A New Voyage to Carolina", by John Lawson written c1700