A Great Book:
Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America
by James Webb
the Scots-Irish were 40 percent of the Revolutionary War army; they included the pioneers Daniel Boone, Lewis and Clark, Davy Crockett, and Sam Houston; and they have given America numerous great military leaders, including Stonewall Jackson, Ulysses S. Grant, Audie Murphy, and George S. Patton, as well as most of the soldiers of the Confederacy (only 5 percent of whom owned slaves, and who fought against what they viewed as an invading army).
It illustrates how the Scots-Irish redefined American politics, creating the populist movement and giving the country a dozen presidents, including Andrew Jackson, Teddy Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan. And it explores how the Scots-Irish culture of isolation, hard luck, stubbornness, and mistrust of the nation’s elite formed and still dominates blue-collar America, the military services, the Bible Belt, and country music.
Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America
http://www.amazon.com/Born-Fighting-Scots-Irish-Shaped-America/dp/0767916883
Former navy secretary Webb (Fields of Fire; etc.) wants not only to offer a history of the Scots-Irish but to redeem them from their redneck, hillbilly stereotype and place them at the center of American history and culture. As Webb relates, the Scots-Irish first emigrated to the U.S., 200,000 to 400,000 strong, in four waves during the 18th century, settling primarily in Appalachia before spreading west and south. Webb’s thesis is that the Scots-Irish, with their rugged individualism, warrior culture built on extended familial groups (the “kind of people who would die in place rather than retreat”) and an instinctive mistrust of authority, created an American culture that mirrors these traits.
Author James Webb: my grandmother’s maiden name was Webb.
Considering all the Scotch Irish freedom fighters that came to Texas, it stands to reason that many of thier terms became Texas jargon too.
My dad always used a term “black Irish”, “black Dutch” to describe someone’s ancestry. I do know he was not talking about African ancestry. I think he was referring to the Spanish gene pool giving them dark hair and eyes. Does anyone else know for certain or have you ever heard the term?
Loved it. But a much more scholarly book is Albion’s Seed, Four British Folkways in America by David Hackett Fisher.
He goes into depth about the origen of the Scots/Irish immigration into the U.S. in the 1700s and the three migrations west via different geographical treks.
No son of Scotland or N. Ireland should be without it. Kind of pricey though Amazon has some used.