WE have already referred to the part played by the
Scots as a race and as a moral force in the American Revolution; it
remains to dwell particularly upon some of the individual characters in
the great drama, which resulted in the separation of the Colonies from the
mother country.
Of Washington’s major-generals at the time of
discharge, the following were Scottish: Henry Knox (Mass.)
; William Alexander (N.
J.) ; Alexander
MacDougall (N. Y.) ;
and Arthur St. Clair (Pa.).
Of twenty-two brigadier-generals, these were of
Scottish blood: William Irvine (Pa.)
;
Lachlan MacIntosh (Ga.)
; John Paterson (Mass.)
; Charles Scott
(Va.) ;
and John Stark (N. H.). Of English and Scottish decent,
George and James Clinton (N. Y.); Edward Hand (Pa.); and Anthony Wayne
(Pa.).
Other generals of Scottish blood during the
Revolutionary period were: John Armstrong (Pa.)
; Francis Barber (N. J.)
; William
Campbell (Va.) ; George Rogers Clark (Va.); William Davidson (N. C.); John
Douglas (Conn.); James Ewing (Pa.); Robert Lawson (Va.); Andrew Lewis
(Va.); William Maxwell (N. J.) ;
Hugh Mercer (Pa.) ;
James Moore (N. C.)
; John Nixon (Pa.)
; Andrew Pickens
(S. C.) ; James
Porter (Pa.) ;
Joseph Reed (Pa.); Griffith Rutherford (N. C.); John Mori.n Scott (N. Y.);
Adam Stephen (Va.); and William Thompson (Pa.).
General Hugh Mercer (1720-1777) was born in Aberdeen,
and served as assistant surgeon in the army of the Young Pretender in the
‘45. In 1747 he emigrated to this country, and settled in what is now
Mercersburg, Pa. He took an active part and saw much service in the French
and Indian wars of 1755, and was severely wounded in Braddock's campaign.
On the outbreak of hostilities with the mother country he was chosen,
at Washington's request, brigadier-general (June, 1776). He led the
patriots, who crossing from Perth Amboy, October 16, 1776, fought the
successful engagement at Richmond, Staten Island; accompanied the
commander-in-chief in his retreat through New Jersey; and was severely
wounded in the battle of Princeton January 3, 1777, and died January 12. A
sword that he handed to his friend, General Jacob Morgan, after he had
received his mortal wounds, was presented by General Morgan's
daughter-in-law, Mrs. George W. Morgan, to the St. Andrew’s Society of
Philadelphia, November 30, 1841, and is one of the treasures of the
society. A monument to his memory was erected by the
St. Andrew’s Society of Philadelphia in Laurel Hill
Cemetery. Mercersburg and Mercer County, Kentucky, are so named
in his honour.
Robert Erskine, geographer and chief engineer on
General George Washington's staff, was a son of Ralph Erskine of
Dunfermline, Scotland. After his death Washington personally placed a
stone over his grave in Ringwood, N. J.
Richard Montgomery, the first American general killed
in the war, December 31, 1775, was an Ulster-Scot. With
him fell the talented young Major John Macpherson, Jr., of
Philadelphia, who accompanied him to Quebec. Macpherson was a graduate of
Princeton and admitted to the bar, though but twenty-one years old when
the war began. His father, Captain John Macpherson (1726-1792), son of
William Macpherson and Jean Adamson of Edinburgh, was notable in the
British navy and afterward settled in Philadelphia. Another son, General
William Macpherson (1756-1813), was serving as a lieutenant in the British
army at the outbreak of the war. He resigned his commission and in the
Colonial service received the highest commendation from Washington and
Lafayette. The father and two sons were honored members of the
Philadelphia St. Andrew’s Society.
Major-General Arthur St. Clair (1734-1818) was a native
of Thurso, studied at the University of Edinburgh, and after trying the
medical profession left it for the army. He came to America in 1758
with his command and served as a lieutenant under
Geheral Amherst and under General Wolfe at Quebec. in 1864 he married and
settled in Bedford, Pennsylvania. He was an ardent and enthusiastic
patriot and was commissioned colonel, 1775;
brigadier-general, 1776; and major-general, February 19, 1777, after the
battle of Princeton. He served with distinction throughout the war. When
he received the news of the Declaration of Independence, at Ticonderoga,
he had it read after divine service, and then said: "God save the Free and
Independent States of America." He spent almost his
entire fortune in raising volunteers and in aiding Washington and his
army. General St. Clair was president of the Continental Congress of 1787,
and from 1788-1802 was the first Governor of the Northwest Territory.
Thomas Leiper (1745-1825), a native of Strathaven,
Lanarkshire, Scotland, and a resident of Philadelphia, was a noted
Revolutionary soldier, patriot, merchant and philanthropist. He was one of
the organizers of the First City Troop, Philadelphia, and served in action
at Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine, Germantown and Monmouth and in special
service at Yorktown. He was for sixty years identified with the business
and civic life of Phila
delphia; was President of the Common Council,
1801-1805, 1809-1810; and built the first experimental horse-railway in
America in 1809.
Major-General William Alexander (1726-1783), who
claimed to be the Earl of Stirling, was one of Washington’s most trusted
and loyal aides. He was born in New York City, son of James Alexander, who
came from Scotland in 1716, and Mary Sprott, daughter of John Sprott, of
Wigtown, Scotland. William Alexander, as major, commanded the first
regiment of militia raised in the Province of New York, and was placed in
chief command of the city in 1776. He fought in the battles of Long
Island, Brandywine, Germantown and Monmouth, and was in command at Albany
at the surrender of the British army at Yorktown. General Alexander was
one of the first governors of King’s College (now Columbia), a
mathematician and astronomer of repute and fifth president of the New York
St. Andrew’s Society, 1761-1764.
William Moultrie (1731-1805), a distinguished patriot
and one of the most prominent generals of the Revolution, was born in
England, the son of Dr. John Moultrie of Cuiross. He was brought to
Charleston by his parents when two years of age. At the outbreak of the
Revolution he espoused the side of the colonists. For his brave defence of
Charleston against the British fleet under Sir Peter Parker he received
the thanks of Congress in 1776, and Fort Sullivan, at the mouth of the
harbour, which he had successfully held, was renamed in his honour Fort
Moultrie. In 1782 Congress made him a major-general, and in 1785 and again
in 1794 he was elected Governor of South Carolina. In 1802 he published in
New York his Memoirs of the American Revolution so far as it Related to
the States of North and South Carolina
and Georgia. The author's position as governor afforded him ample
facilities to consult original authorities, and the result of his
researches is an extremely interesting book.
When Washington bade farewell to his generals, General
Knox, it is stated, was the first to rush forward and grasp his hand, and
the two firm friends wept at the parting. Washington, when he became
President, made him a member of his first Cabinet. Henry Knox was born in
Massachusetts in 1750 and was descended from those Ulster-Scots who came
to New England under the Rev. Boyd in 1718 and founded Londonderry, N. H.
He died in 1806. He was brilliant and impulsive and held the highest
confidences of his chief.
Brigadier-General Lachlan McIntosh (1727-1806), born in
Iverness and emigrated to the Scotch colony in Georgia, was appointed by
General George Washington commander-in-chief of the western department in
1778, with headquarters at Pittsburgh. He fought with great distinction
throughout the war.
The Scottish communities of the South, Georgia, North
and South Carolina and their frontiers, contributed a large amount of fine
fighting material to the cause of the Colonies. General Daniel Morgan,
though of probably Welsh descent, was a Presbyterian elder, General Andrew
Pickens was a Scot and an elder in the Presbyterian Church, and nearly all
the soldiers who fought under them at Cowpens and elsewhere were
Presbyterians. Hanna states that at the battle of King’s Mountain, Colonel
Campbell, Col. James Williams (who was killed), Colonel Cleaveland,
Colonel Shelby and Colonel Sevier were all Presbyterian elders. At Huck's
Defeat, Colonel Bratton and Major Dickson were both elders in the
Presbyterian Church. Major Samuel Morrow; who was with Colonel Sumter at
King’s Mountain, Blackstock and other engagements, and who served in the
army to the end of the war, was for nearly fifty years a ruling elder in
the Presbyterian Church. (Hanna, v. 1, p. 29.).
