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Whenever I post an article which mentions the Scotch-Irish, I receive a comment or an e-mail or a contact form advising that I have erred and that the real name is (usually) Scots-Irish or (sometimes) Ulster Scots. Well, no it isn't. Since the late 17th century, Scottish persons who emigrated from Ulster to America have been known as, and have called themselves, Scotch-Irish. Mistake me not: I have no objection to any of the above-noted ethnic indicators. I use the name Scotch-Irish because it is the traditional term used in the United States generally and in the Backcountry where I...

The Scotch-Irish. A poem by Mrs. Kate Brownlee Sherwood, of Canton, O. From Scot and Celt and Pict and Dane, And Norman, Jute, and Frisian, Our brave Scotch-Irish come; With tongues of silver, hearts of gold, And hands to smite when wrongs are bold, At call of pipe or drum. By king and priest and prelate racked, By pike and spear and halberd hacked, By foes ten thousand flayed; They flung Drumclog and Bothwell Brig An answer to the gown and wig, And freedom's ransom paid. They fell, alas! on marsh and moor; They signed their covenants firm and sure...