The General Who Might Have Been President

This blog is about General James Birdseye McPherson who was the second highest ranking Union officer killed during the Civil War. I could find little information about the family except that his father, William, was born in Scotland. His Mother was Cynthia Russell McPherson and I assume she was also born in Scotland. I did find one source which said his father was an unsuccessful blacksmith and became ”mentally unstable.” We also know there were four children in the family and James B. was the oldest.

Because his father was unable to support the family, it was necessary that James find a job and help his mother. His employer, Robert Smith, took an interest in the young man and helped him spend two years at the Norwalk Academy. In 1849, again with the aid of Robert Smith, he entered West Point. He was now twenty years old. A gifted student, he graduated in 1853 first in his class. Included in his class were men who fought on both sides of in the Civil War including Philip H. Sheridan and John Bell Hood. Eleven years later it would be Hood’s battle order at Atlanta which would result in the death of Gen. McPherson.

After West Point, McPherson was commissioned a lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers and at the outbreak of the Civil War he was in San Francisco supervising the fortification of Alcatraz Island. It is said that no Union officer “had a more meteoric rise than McPherson.” In August 1861, he was a first lieut. and by October 8, 1862, he was a major general and in command of a division in the XIII Corps. He participated in the battles of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson as did many men from Illinois. He was also at Shiloh.

One of his finest moments as an officer came during the siege of Vicksburg. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant cited him for “conspicuous skill and personal bravery” and promoted him to Brig. General. On March 26, 1864, he assumed command of the Army of Tennessee which he led in the campaign of North Georgia.

After a meeting with Gen. Sherman on July 22, 1864, McPherson and one orderly were riding back to a battle which had just started. They entered a grove of woods and had traveled only about 100 yards where a cry of “halt” rang out. He stopped for a moment and saw a line of gray skirmishers. He raised his hand as if to tip his hat and made a quick turn to the right. The skirmishers let go with a volley. Gen. McPherson staggered in his saddle for a short distance and then fell to the ground. Only one bullet had found the General but several found his horse which was probably put down.

His troops soon recovered his body, tore a door from its hinges and improvised a bier. Gen. Sherman came to see his friend and it was reported that “tears rolled through his beard and down on the floor.” There are those who believe that his death was one of the heaviest individual losses suffered by Union forces during the war. Many believed that had he lived, he would have been elected President of the United States. Gen. Grant said “the nation had more to expect from him than from almost anyone living.” James Birdseye McPherson was only 35 years of age when he died. Among his friends were: Rutherford B. Hayes, James Garfield and Ulysses S, Grant. His body was taken back to Clyde, Ohio for burial.

 McPherson was engaged to be married to Emily Hoffman of Baltimore. While serving at Vicksburg, he was given leave to be married but before he reached Baltimore, he was returned to active duty. After his death, Emily mourned for a year and it is said she never left her room. She remained a spinster for the rest of her life. But, in 1876, she made an attempt to have her soldier buried in Washington, D.C.  A group of strangers arrived in Clyde, Ohio to remove the body but were met with fierce resistance that included the use of firearms. No one was going to take their hero from his home in Ohio.

Miss Hoffman, unable to have the body of her hero soldier began working to have a statue erected in his honor. She called on two of his closest friends for aid, President Ulysses S. Grant and General William T. Sherman. Her brother-in-law, one of the founders of Wells Fargo offered to pay for the statue. Congress provided the location and the granite base. McPherson Square and the Metro rail station in Washington are named in his honor. At the center of the square is the statue of McPherson on horseback. Thousands of people pass the statue every day, yet I wonder how many know the story?

In Chicago, the James B. McPherson Elementary School located in the Ravenswood area was named in his honor. The school has a website but nothing is written about its history. I wonder if the students know the story?

Here are just a few other honors for this outstanding SOLDIER

• Fort McPherson near Atlanta, Georgia named in his honor.
• McPherson, Kansas named in his honor. There is also a statue of him in the park across from the McPherson County Courthouse
• McPherson County, South Dakota, named in his honor
• McPherson Road in Ayer, Massachusetts was named in his honor.
• In Clyde, Ohio, there is a school, a cemetery, and State Route 20 are all named for the General

There is more to the story but this is all the space left. I will publish tomorrow and the next day, two letters from General Sherman to Emily Hoffman. One letter was written before his death and another written after his death. They add a great deal more information to this story.

Wayne Rethford, Past President
Illinois St. Andrew’s Society
Scottish American History Club
630-629-4516

Don’t forget the History Club meets September 8. The program will be presented by the Eastland Historical Society. Reservations are helpful. Call 630-447-5092.

Dr. Moses Scott

Moses Scott, a Remarkable Man and a Great American

(The following article was written by Margaret Teiwes who is a member of our History Club.  She, and her husband, Harry, live in Wheaton, IL. and almost always attend the history tours.  She shared with me her family history and I said if she would summarize the information we would publish it as a blog.  Moses Scott has earned the right to be remembered and we are happy to place his story on the Internet.)
Moses Scott (1738-1821) was a remarkable man. He was a leader of men, soldier, physician, judge, patriot, church elder and trustee, friend, husband and father of eight. He was born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania and was the eighth of nine children born to Scottish parents John and Jane Mitchell Scott.

John Scott, a weaver by trade, emigrated from Scotland to Ireland and then in 1722 sailed for the Pennsylvania colony. In his new country he was a farmer but continued the weaver's trade and trained his eldest son, Robert, to work the loom. Little is known of his wife, Jane Mitchell, except that she was the mother of his nine children.

The Scott family attended the Neshaminy Presbyterian Church in Warwick, Pennsylvania which was founded by the Rev. William Tennent, a Scotch-Irish clergyman. Rev. Tennent also established the Log College which is considered to be the forerunner of Princeton University. He invited Rev. George Whitefield, the great English preacher and evangelist, to preach at his church at least twice during the time the Scott family attended. Surely, Whitefield's preaching had a spiritual impact upon the Scott family. Moses was instructed in the doctrines of the Presbyterian Church and was a faithful Christian to the day he died.

He was about twelve or thirteen when his father died leaving him and his younger brother, Matthew, orphans. It's assumed his older, adult siblings cared for them after their father's death in 1749. When Moses was seventeen years old he left home and joined the military. This was during the time of the French and Indian War.

He was among the Pennsylvania Provincials who joined the army of General Edward Braddock. The General had as his personal aide, Colonel George Washington. The army set out to attack the French held Fort Duquesne in southwest Pennsylvania and to drive the French out of the Ohio Valley. Unfortunately, Braddock's army was ambushed by the enemy and many were slaughtered, including General Braddock. A few years later another attempt was made to capture the fort. This time the Pennsylvania Provincials joined the British army under the command of General John Forbes. They took the fort, rebuilt and renamed it Fort Pitt- Pittsburgh.

Scott, who by now was an officer, resigned from Provincial Service in order to study medicine. The only "medical school" at that time was the Pennsylvania Hospital which was founded by Benjamin Franklin in 1751. However, the primary manner for training doctors was through an apprenticeship with another doctor. Young men would reside in their mentor's homes and were expected to do menial tasks apart from their medical studies. Most likely, this is how Moses Scott received his medical training.

He married Anna Johnson in 1765 which was the same year he commenced his medical practice in the Brandywine area of southeast Pennsylvania. Their first five children, all girls, were born during their ten year stay in Brandywine. Eventually, they had eight children - seven daughters and one son. Shortly before the start of the Revolutionary War, the family relocated to New Brunswick, New Jersey where they remained the rest of their lives. The family attended the New Brunswick Presbyterian Church where Scott served as Elder, Trustee, and Treasurer. In 1815 the church organized its first Sunday School and their daughter, Hannah, was its first Superintendent.

At the outset of the war, Scott joined the 2^nd Regiment Middlesex Militia as a surgeon. A few months later, July 2, 1776, he was commissioned by the Continental Congress to be Physician-General of Military Hospitals. His rank was Surgeon, and in 1777 he was appointed Surgeon of the Hospital and Assistant Director-General. He was in charge of General Hospitals in Morristown and New Brunswick. Scott was present at the battles of Brandywine, Germantown, Trenton and Princeton.

Surgeon Scott had his war stories too and here is one among several. During the winter of 1776, the British General Howe made a surprise attack on New Brunswick. Dr. Scott was at home and about to sit down to dinner when he was warned that British soldiers were about to storm his home. They wanted to seize the rebel doctor. He narrowly escaped, but instead they seized his dinner, plundered his home and confiscated all his medical supplies and equipment for their own use. A Tory neighbor warned the soldiers the doctor may have poisoned the medicine in order to kill the enemy. All the medicine was taken outside and dumped into the street in front of his house.

Once more he resigned from the army and returned to civilian life and to private practice. He continued to be active in the medical profession and earned accolades and appointments: He was President and Treasurer of the Medical Society of New Jersey (the first in America), Fellow of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York City, founding member of Somerset District Medical Society, Judge of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas, Somerset County; Justice of the Peace, Middlesex County; Elder, Trustee, Treasurer of New Brunswick Presbyterian Church.

During the Howe's winter stay in New Brunswick, the church was used by British soldiers as a barracks and stable. It is said the church was desecrated and torched when the troops left and could not be used as a house of worship again. The congregation was scattered and did not meet for several years. In 1784 Scott was part of a group of men who helped to reestablish and reorganize the church. Eventually, a new and larger building was erected on a different site. The New Brunswick Presbyterian Church still exists, but again, in a different building. When the church celebrated its 225 anniversary in 1951, Moses Scott and Hannah Scott were among the few early members who were especially honored.

Moses Scott died December 28, 1821 and was buried in the church cemetery. One hundred years later his and Anna's remains were removed and interred in Van Liew Cemetery in New Brunswick.

Moses Scott was, indeed, a remarkable and industrious man who contributed much to his country and to those who knew him. He needs to be remembered. 

Wayne Rethford, President Emeritus
Illinois St. Andrew's Society
630-629-4516

The next meeting of the Scottish American History Club will occur on September 8 in Heritage Hall at the Scottish Home, North Riverside, IL.  The program will be given by the Eastland Disaster Historical Society.  The Eastland, a passenger ship, rolled over while docked in tfhe Chicago River.  A total of 844 people lost their lives that day and it is the largest loss of life from a single disaster on the Great Lakes.  Members of the Eastland Society will have stories, films, and personal testimonies about the disaster.  Reservations are requested, please call lthe Scottish Home 708-447-5092.

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I Shall Do Something For Your Race

In 1826, a young man was traveling through the wilderness of Tennessee in a wagon loaded with salt. We are not sure where he found the salt but we can be quite sure he was going to Indiana. The wagon was probably pulled by oxen and the roads were treacherous. It was night and the wagon slipped off the road. He was in serious trouble and only 16 years old. Nearby was a house.

The house was occupied by an African-American family who were freed slaves. We know neither their names nor how they became free. It must have been difficult to answer the door that night. Freed slaves lived in constant fear that they would be kidnaped again and sold back into slavery. However, this family rose above their fears and not only opened the door but invited him in and provided food. He was also invited to spend the night in their humble home.

The next morning the family helped get the wagon free so that Samuel Meharry could resume his long journey. “I have no money,” he said, “but when I can, I shall do something for your race.” Goodbyes were said and it would be 50 years before this American-Scot would fulfill the promise.

My oldest daughter, Elaine, did a search on Ancestry and found him in the 1850 census living in Tippecanoe County, Indiana. He was married to Rebecca who was 37 while he was 39. Samuel Meharry had a personal estate of $5,500. There were no children but five other people were living in the house ranging in age from 7 to 36. Three had been born in Germany.

The 1860 census has the family living in the same area but now he owns real estate valued at $51,610 and personal property of $3,000. He has done well in the last ten years. There are six other people livening on the property, ranging in age from 12 to 26. Two were born in Germany, one in Prussia and two in Ohio. In the 1880 census there are two adopted children perhaps the two from Ohio.

Samuel Meharry was basically a farmer but on his tombstone is the word “Reverend.” It may be that he was a circuit rider on Sunday but a farmer on Monday. Here the facts get a little unclear but this is what we presently know.

In 1876, the United Methodist Church and its Freedmen’s Aid Society were seeking aid to establish a medical program to train freed slaves and their children. At that time no medical school in the Southern states would admit African-Americans and most in the North were closed as well. Samuel Meharry was approached and remembered his pledge: “I have no money, but when I can, I shall do something for your race.” The first gift of $500 came from Samuel Meharry. In time, he and his four brothers would contribute $30,000 in cash and property to establish what would became today’s Meharry Medical College. It was first a department of Central Tennessee College.

The college was chartered in 1915 as a separate school and “is the largest private historically black institution in the United States solely dedicated to educating healthcare professionals and scientists.”

Today, the college is located in Nashville, Tennessee and is affiliated with the United Methodist Church. It is in partnership with nearby Vanderbilt University and Nashville General Hospital. It is also close to Fisk University and Tennessee State. Meharry has approximately 218 full-time faculty members with an enrollment of around 1,000. Read more.

“I have no money," he said, "but when I can, I shall do something for your race.”

Wayne Rethford, President Emeritus
Illinois St. Andrew’s Society
630-629-4516

This coming Saturday, August 4, is an important date on the calendar. It is the annual Scottish Home Picnic now almost 100 years old. The Museum will be open from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. Everyone is urged to attend. Visit us at the Scottish Home, 28th and Des Plaines Avenue, North Riverside, IL. Join us for piping, Highland dancing, games for adults and children, a huge jumble sale, great food and, of course, a trip to the museum in Heritage Hall.

Google Analytics tracks visits to the History Club website and they report that since January 1, 2012, slightly more than 6,000 people have visited and have viewed 10,398 pages. Most of the visits have been to Elaine’s name list. Click here

The Wilson Families of Lake Forest, Illinois

The Wilson family name comes from several countries including Scotland. In Scotland the name may have begun with the Vikings who arrived in medieval times. Like others,  the Wilson’s of Scotland moved to Northern Ireland and then to America. They are often called Scots-Irish because many people believe that the Scots and Irish intermarried before coming to America. Most historians believe this is not true, especially those who came before the American Revolution. Only in the United States is the term "Scots-Irish" used - the more correct term being “Ulster-Scots.”

In 2010, some of you traveled with us to Lake Forest on our annual history tour. Since then, we have been working on a video of Lake Forest Scots and the homes they built. David Forlow has done most of the work. Elaine and I have been interested bystanders helping where we can           

Around 1900, 17 Scottish-born people with the last name of Wilson lived in Lake Forest. If we count families born in the U.S. to Scottish ancestors, it brings the total to 30. They were mostly common folk, hard-working and industrious. Here is a brief summary of some of these families:

• William Wilson was a chauffeur living with his Scottish born wife, Mary, and their children, on an estate on the 1400 block of N. Green Bay Rd.  
• Another William Wilson, was a coachman for a private family. His wife Lottie, son David and daughter Jane were all born in Scotland. 
•  George Wilson was the gardener for the Chatfield-Taylor family. His sisters, Lizzie and Mary, worked for the same family.  They were all born in Scotland and lived on Illinois Road.      
• A few doors away on Illinois Road lived Scottish born David Wilson with his wife and five children.  David was a carpenter.  
• Two other Scottish carpenters named Wilson, lived a block away on Washington Circle. One was Thomas Wilson with his wife Mary and a Scottish-born niece, Mary Lindsey. A couple of houses down lived Alexander Wilson, with his wife Rachel and son Alexander II - all born in Scotland.  
• There was a golf club maker named Alexander Wilson and another with the same name was the Reverend Alexander Wilson a Presbyterian minister.  
• Scottish-born James Wilson was a gardener for the Clow family at their estate, “Landsdowne,” in Lake Bluff.          

"It seems that some Scottish Wilsons cultivated souls and the others the land." ~  David Forlow

Thomas Edward Wilson is the most remembered today. He was born in Canada, 1868, and was Scots-Irish. (His biographer says he was very proud of his Scottish heritage.) He worked in the meat packing business where he started as a clerk. He rose quickly through the ranks and by 1916 was running a business known as Wilson and Company, the third largest meat packing company in the country.  His empire stretched from Canada to South America. Murdo MacKenzie came from Tain, Scotland, to manage his operations in Brazil.  MacKenzie oversaw a herd of 250,000 cows distributed over nine million acres.

By 1918, Wilson and Company had assets of more than $129 million. (That is several billion in today’s money.) Thomas Wilson owned “Edellyn Farm,” 450 acres just north of Lake Forest which was named for his son Ed and daughter Helen. After Thomas’ death, 200 acres of the farm were sold and that land became part of the Lakehurst Mall. Mr. Wilson  kept Scottish Clydesdale horses and raised champion Scottish short horn cows at Edellyn Farms.

But it’s not the meat packing business for which Thomas Edward Wilson is remembered. You see, like his fellow Scots, Thomas was thrifty and saw any unused parts of an animal as waste. Thomas found a way to use animal by-products, which were usually discarded. Instead, he made tennis racket strings out of the waste.

It is this little side business for which he is remembered today - the Wilson Sporting Goods Company. It is one of the most recognizable brand names in the world.

Thomas E. Wilson was a major figure in the development of 4-H clubs in America. He died in 1968. 

Wayne Rethford, President Emeritus
Illinois St. Andrew’s Society
Scottish-American History Club
630-629-4516

August 4th - Scottish Home Picnic. Museum open from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.  For more information click here.
September 8 - History Club meeting - Presentation by the Eastland Historical Society
October 6 - History Club tour - Dundee and Elgin, Illinois
November 3 - History Club meeting.  TBA

A Perfect Day for a Cruise

It was July 25, 1915 and the Western Electric Company was to have its annual picnic. The plant, located in Cicero, Illinois, was the manufacturing arm of the Bell Telephone Co. It employed thousands of people most of whom were Czech and Polish immigrants.

The street cars were crowded with families and young people headed to the Chicago river. They carried picnic baskets and were dressed in their best. Awaiting the 7,000 people were five ships, including the S.S. Eastland. It was going to be a perfect day for a cruise on Lake Michigan and a picnic at Michigan City, Indiana.

The Eastland was tied up along the river between LaSalle and Clark streets. (This is across the street from the offices of Bill Campbell where our Board of Governors often meets.) It was to take on board 2,500 people but before everyone had boarded, the Eastland began to list. It finally capsized throwing many into the river and trapping hundreds below as a light rain began to fall.

More than 800 people died on that fateful morning. Most of the dead were taken to the Second Armory where Scots had often celebrated. (After the dedication of the Robert Burns statue in Garfield Park in 1906, a party was held at the Second Armory. Hundreds of Scots attended and danced until the break of day.) I am told that seven Scots died on the Eastland but I don’t presently have their names.

The armory building would later become part of Harpo Studios owned by Oprah Winfrey. Many now believe the studio is haunted. Staff “has reported hearing whispering voices, the laughter of children, sobbing sounds, old-time music, the clinking of glasses and the marching of many feet.” One apparition has been called the “Gray Lady.”

Across the Chicago River from the Eastland stood the Reid Murdoch building and it becomes the focus for this blog. It was built in 1913 as a food processing plant and very much according to the Burnham vision for Chicago river usage. In the center of the 400,000 square foot building is a three-story clock tower which faces the river. When the Eastland disaster occurred, the basement and first floor of the Reid-Murdoch building was used as a temporary hospital and morgue. The building is now the headquarters of Encyclopedia Britannica and was once used by the City as its traffic courts. Here is a look at the lives of these two men: Reid and Murdoch.

Simon Somerville Reid was born in Duffus, Scotland, in 1829 and came to America when he was 14 years old. Apparently his first stop was in Buffalo, New York. Later in the company of his new wife and Thomas Murdoch, he moved to Dubuque, Iowa. Here they sold provisions to wagon trains headed west. With the advent of trains and the decline of the wagon trains, they moved to Chicago and engaged in the food processing business. The company had several locations in Chicago.

Mr. Reid was an elder in the First Presbyterian Church in Lake Forest, IL. “He was a quiet, unostentatious businessman with a kindly heart and genial disposition, which won for him the respect of all with whom he came in contact.” Mr. Reid died February 13, 1892. He left a wife, three daughters and a son. They donated Reid Hall to Lake Forest College in 1892 and lived at the southwest corner of College and Sheridan Roads.

Thomas Murdoch was born in Forres, Scotland, in 1828 and came to America in 1851. (It is possible he knew Simon Reid in Scotland. David Forlow, who has done considerable research on both men tells me their home towns were less than 15 miles apart.) Mr. Murdoch first settled in Canada but moved in 1853 to Buffalo, New York. The next year, he moved to Dubuque, Iowa, with Simon Reid where they started a wholesale grocery business. By 1864, Murdoch is in Chicago and one of the founders of Reid, Murdoch and Fisher. By 1865, the business was known as Reid-Murdoch. Mr. Murdoch never married and lived mostly in hotels on the south side, especially the Lexington. He died at the Metropole hotel. (There is information that he owned a house in Lake Forest but I don’t have an address.) Mr. Murdoch was a founding member of the Art Institute and The Chicago Home For The Friendless.

I have yet to find an indication that either man was a member of the Illinois Saint Andrew Society, but there is evidence that Mr. Murdock was a supporter. He included the Society in his will but the major portion of his four million dollar estate went to family and the old Presbyterian hospital. He built a mansion at 2130 Prairie Avenue in Chicago and was a member of the Second Presbyterian church. (That mansion and many others, were demolished and the land used as parking lots for the 1933 World’s Fair. Sad!) Not sure why he built a house if he lived mostly in hotels. But, in 1914, his niece, Mrs. Julius B. Cone, lived in the house which had been designed by Henry Ives Cobb. (He also designed the mansion of Dr. John McGill at 4938 S. Drexel Blvd.) Mr. Murdoch died on December 25, 1909 and is buried in the Lake Forest Cemetery very close to his life-long friend Simon Reid.

In 1945, the Reid Murdoch & Co. was acquired by Consolidated Grocers Corporation for seven million dollars and the Reid Murdoch Division was changed to the Monarch Finer Foods.

Wayne Rethford, President Emeritus
Illinois St. Andrew’s Society
Chicagoscots.net
630-629-4516

On Saturday, July 21, 2012, the Eastland Disaster Historical Society will have a public wreath-laying at noon on the Chicago River between Clark and LaSalle. More details are on their website.

Death by Firing Squad

The majority of Scottish people think with a clear, logical mind, but William Walker was a little different. Intelligent, educated, charismatic, he lost it all to a firing squad in Nicaragua.

William Walker was born in Nashville, Tennessee in 1824. His father, James, was the son of a Scottish immigrant. Mary, his mother, was a daughter of Lipscomb Norvell who was an officer in the Revolutionary War from Virginia. He was taken prisoner at Charleston. It is believed that Lipscomb Norvell was the first Revolutionary War officer buried in the Nashville City Cemetery. There is a branch of the Norvell family that is Scottish, but I don’t know about this Lipscomb Norvell.

William graduated from the University of Nashville, summa cum laude at the age of fourteen. He spent the next two years in Europe and studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh and other universities in Germany and Paris. Revolutions were occurring all across Europe in 1848 as people demanded more freedom and the right to rule themselves. Walker must have been influenced by the political thoughts of this time. Later, he received a medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania and practiced briefly.

Medicine did not appear to interest him so he moved to New Orleans to study law and apparently did practice for a short time. But once again, he changed professions and became part owner of a newspaper, The New Orleans Crescent. By 1849, he was on the move again, this time to San Francisco where he was a journalist. He fought three duels in San Francisco and, while the reason is unknown, he was wounded in at least two duels. He was a restless soul looking for something that would satisfy.

Here is the strange part of his life. He decided to conquer the Mexican territories of Baja, California and Sonora. With an army of 45, he captured LaPaz, and declared himself to be the President of the new Republic of Lower California. He put his captured territory under the laws of Louisiana and moved his capital to Ensenada. A lack of supplies and resistance by the Mexican government forced him to retreat back to U.S. territory where he was put on trial for conducting an illegal war. It took eight minutes for the jury to find him innocent.

The Chicago Daily Tribune ran a story on January 10, 1854, about “president” Walker and a manifesto he had just released. “The document is a rich one, and causes a smile at its absurdity, though we feel indignant at its presumption.” What Walker was doing was called “filibustering,” which is an attempt by a privately funded military expedition “to take over countries at peace with the United States.” It obviously is a violation of the law. We now understand the word as a parliamentary procedure used in Congress which occasionally is also at war.

William Walker was still being moved by some ideology because his next attempt was to take over Nicaragua. This was before the Panama Canal was built and before a railroad was constructed across the land separating the Atlantic from the Pacific. Interestingly, Nicaragua had given the rights of transport across this strip of land to a company controlled by Cornelius Vanderbilt. The story gets rather complicated now because William Walker shows up with 300 “colonists.” His downfall came because he sought to take control of Vanderbilt’s company and he should never have tried that. After the third attempt to take Nicaragua, he was captured and put before a firing squad. He survived the first round from the firing squad and was finally killed with a single bullet to the head. You have to wonder what he could have accomplished in the field of medicine with a different mind set.

This intelligent, educated, charismatic Scottish American is buried in the Cementerio Viejo, in Trujillo.

(Walker’s exploits have been used in two movies: “Burn!” starring Marlon Brando (1969) and Alex Cox’s “Walker” in 1978. He is also mentioned in “Gone with the Wind”, Part V, Chapter 48.)

Wayne Rethford, President Emeritus
Illinois St. Andrew’s Society
Scottish American History Club
630-629-4516

August 4, 2012 - Scottish Home picnic. We will have the museum open from 10-2

Next week our blog will be about the Eastland disaster and a Scottish connection

     

Life, Fortune and Sacred Honor

Duncan Bruce in his book the “Mark of the Scots” says “At least twenty-one of the fifty-six men who risked their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor in signing the Declaration of Independence were of Scottish ancestry, including two native Scots: John Witherspoon and James Wilson.”

James Thomson, creator of the Scottish American Hall of Fame lists only ten because that was the number the plaque would hold. His plan was to have a second plaque listing the remaining Americans of Scottish descent who signed the Declaration.

Here are the 21 names:

John Witherspoon, Thomas Jefferson, James Wilson, George Read, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas McKean, George Ross, James Smith, George Walton, Stephen Hopkins, Edward Rutledge, Josiah Bartlett, Thomas Nelson, Jr., George Taylor, Joseph Hewes, William Hooper, Philip Livingston, Matthew Thornton, Lewis Morris, John Hart, and Abraham Clark.

Here is a short summary of ten who signed, perhaps we can get the remainder next year.

1.    Edward Rutledge was the youngest signer at age 26; Graduate of Oxford; Lawyer; Fought in several important battles during the war; Died in 1800 at the age of 50.

2.     John Witherspoon, born in Yester, Scotland; President of Princeton University; Lost a son in the battle of Germantown; 12 children; Lineally descended from John Knox.

3.     Philip Livingston was the grandson of David Livingston born in Blantyre, South Lanarkshire, Scotland, the pioneer medical missionary to Africa; Promoter and fund raiser for the revolutionary army.

4.     George Ross, a Scottish-American whose nephew’s wife, Betsy Ross, made the first national flag.

5.     Matthew Thornton; Ulster Scot; Noted physician; Elected to Congress from New Hampshire; Appointed surgeon to the New Hampshire Militia troops; Married Hannah Jack; Five children.

6.     Thomas McKean; Great-grandfather was from Argyllshire, Scotland; Governor of Delaware; 11 children. During the war, he wrote, “hunted like a fox by the enemy, compelled to remove my family five times in three months....”

7.     George Read; Lawyer; elected to the first Continental Congress; Elected twice as Delaware State Senator under the new Constitution.

8.     James Wilson; Born in St. Andrew’s; Delegate from Pennsylvania; Associate Justice of the Supreme Court; Strongly advocated for independence.

9.       George Taylor; son of a clergyman; Ulster Scot; Delegate from Pennsylvania; Ironmaster and a working man (may be the only working man who signed;) Secured the first munitions contract for the continental army.

10.      Thomas Jefferson; Educated by Scots; American of Scottish heritage on his mother’s side; Duncan A. Bruce states that he was a descendant of a sister of King Robert I of Scotland; Died on the Fourth of July 1826.

The Declaration of Independence was printed by John Dunlap and was first read in public by Colonel John Nixon - both American Scots. Twenty-five generals and perhaps half the revolutionary army were Americans of Scottish descent.

Uncle Sam is the national personification of the United States. It is based on a real man, Samuel Wilson, whose parents sailed to America from Greenock, Scotland, and who has been officially recognized as the original Uncle Sam. In the War of 1812, he provided the army with beef and pork in barrels all prominently labeled “U.S.” “But it was jokingly said that the letters stood for “Uncle Sam.”  Soon, Uncle Sam was used as shorthand for the federal government.”

(I have often used the following the statement in speeches but never have been sure of the actual source. This quotation is taken from an article by Sarah Powell and published on the web site of Burke’s Peerage and Gentry. If anyone can find the original source, please let me know.)

 “If all else fails, I will retreat up the valley of Virginia, plant my flag on the Blue Ridge, rally around the Scotch-Irish (Ulster Scots) of that region and make my last stand for liberty amongst a people who will never submit to British tyranny whilst there is a man left to draw a trigger.”
                                                                       George Washington at Valley Forge

On this July 4th, let us be thankful for our freedoms and appreciate those who have sacrificed to make it all possible.

Wayne Rethford, President Emeritus
630-629-4516
chicagoscots.net