Posted on 04/13/2011 3:25:29 AM PDT by MadMitch
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/features/Scots-and-the-American-Civil.6750042.jp
IN May, 1864 a young Glaswegian by the name of Bennet Graham Burley stared at the dark, dirty water rising up through a grille and flooding over the floor of his cell and considered his alternatives, neither of which were good. He could remain in this dank, filthy cell in the Union prison on Pea Patch Island in the middle of the Delaware
I wonder what the gain was for a Scotsman to fight in the American Civil War? I can understand them fighting against the hated Sassanachs in the Revolutionary war, but the civil war?
/mark
Scots are fiercely independent (and stubborn) people. It’s not that surprising that many would side with states favoring “local control” over centralized authority. After all, Scotland had been an independent country for centuries before being folded into the UK. Many Scots chafed against this imposition of a higher authority and presumably those most upset about Scotland’s loss of independence may have emigrated to the U.S., i.e., “land of the free and home of the brave.”
He maintains that was it not for Scotland's involvement, the war would have ended two years earlier: "After the battle of Gettysburg and Lee's retreat into Virginia, the South had shot its bolt and would have quickly come to a negotiated settlement, but we resupplied them with Blockade Runners running in ammunition from British Bahamas, and so later the American government wanted compensation for those two years of extra carnage."
At the end of the war, America's initial calculation was that Britain owed her £8 billion.This was later reduced to £3.5 million, which the United Kingdom eventually paid in 1871.""
Many of us still do.
I was reading about this — did you know that at the time that Edward Longshanks conquered Scotland, the population of England and Wales was just 4 million people? And that of Scotland was 1 to 1.5 million only? I doubt the English were able to control much beyond the castles.
Fame and fortune. Read the story.
thanks — I only had read page 1 of 3!
hmmm, someone trying to gin up a little “two-minute hate” against Scots?
Wow, I have to send this to my mother. She was born in Glasgow! Grew up on Princess street (of all names lol) Speaking of the CW, here’s a colorization I did of Lincoln last year if anyone wants to use it. I tried to make it look like it was a photo taken two seconds ago, but I couldn’t bring up the background enough, like his ears for example. Not enough info in the original pic. Maybe someone else can work on it. improve it
http://i889.photobucket.com/albums/ac94/Naomid_02/lincolncolor.jpg
hmmm, someone trying to gin up a little “two-minute hate” against Scots?
Nope.
Scots and Irish settled (were pushed)into the areas in which Bluegrass later evolved. KY, TN, NC, northern AL.
They needed more space to practice their bagpipes. Scottland, having more than a hundred pipers at the time, was full up.
Somebody refresh my memory. What part, if any did the French play in the American Civil War? I know what all they did in the American Revolution but don’t remember about the C.W.
It wouldn't have mattered which side the Scotsman fought for, it would still be there from some quarter. People at F.R. love to rehash the Civil War and if you are on the "wrong" side, better put on your flame retardant pants.
Excellent Book
Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America
http://www.ashbrook.org/publicat/oped/owens/04/webb.html
Excerpt from the review:
Some 95 percent of the Ulster Scots who immigrated to America ended up in the South, so that region and the Scots-Irish are irrevocably linked. And of course, the mythic event for the South, even more than for the rest of the country, is the Civil War and Reconstruction. Despite the fact that poor whites, especially the Scots-Irish, had no stake in the preservation of slavery, the planter class was successful in recruiting them for the war: they formed the core of the Confederate armies that struggled against the odds for four long and costly years. But the impact of the Scots-Irish did not stop here. They also provided the bulk of Union soldiers in the Western armies—Hoosiers, Buckeyes, and other “butternuts” who had immigrated to the southern tier of the Old Northwest from south of the Ohio River as well as making up most of the unionist groups of east Tennessee, Western Virginia and North Carolina, and Northern Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana that resisted central Confederate authority just as assiduously as they had federal.
No matter the cause of the war, the Scots-Irish paid a high price as a result of the Civil War. Studies have shown that the economic status of the Scots-Irish is similar to that of black southerners. But since they are lumped in with other non-ethic whites, they do not benefit from “affirmative action.” America’s elites do not see this. All they see are rednecks waving the Confederate flag.
Thank you for posting the article. It was truly fascinating for history buffs like me.
Another wee articile for you.
http://www.scotsman.com/features/American-civil-war-how-a.6749113.jp
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
