Quote Originally Posted by davidlpope View Post
I just wanted to second Todd's point and urge that a clear distinction be made between the Scots Highlanders and the Scots-Irish/Ulster Scots/ Irish Presbyterians/ Northern Dissenters during the Revolution, at least in North Carolina.

The Scots Highlanders were overwhelmingly Loyalists, despite the fact that many of the key Highland leaders (Flora MacDonald's husband, for one) had risen against the Hanoverians in the '45. They settled in the Cross Creek-Campbelltown area of NC (now Fayetteville) and managed to keep spoken Scots Gaelic alive in that area through the mid-nineteenth century.
The biggest engagement involving Scots Highlanders was Moore's Creek Bridge, which featured the last highland broadsword charge in history (ironic that it took place in America...).

The Scots-Irish, on the other hand, were much more inclined to the Revolutionary cause, and tended to settle in the backcounty after having traveled south from Pennsylvania and Virginia down the Great Wagon Road. Their style of guerrila warfare/ long rifle prowess/ buffer to the Native Americans/ folk culture/ music is what is often immortalized as emblematic of frontier culture (Davy Crocket, Hatfields and McCoys, etc.)

We tend to lump these groups together (as well as obliterate the distinctions between Borderers, Lowlanders, Highlanders, Islanders, etc.) as a result of a Pan-Scottish consciousness, or perhaps through American ignorance, but historically there were very clear distinctions. All that being said, I think that it's a better bet (if one is going to generalize) to say that, in the American Colonies, Highlanders supported the Crown and the Scots-Irish fought against it.

Cordially,

David
Well said and spot on, David!

Todd