I’ve been doing a lot of genealogical work lately and have
concentrated my efforts on the Highland line for several reasons. First, it has
the best documented and furthest reaching resources available going back to
around 30 years BCE thanks to Ancient Roman censi and Catholic birth,
baptismal, marriage and death records. Second, the Clan still exists as an
organized entity. The Clan Chief still lives in Castle Kismul on the Island of
Barra in the Western Hebrides of Scotland. And third, it’s fun. It allows you
to live in a fantastical recreation of the highly romanticized Highland Culture
presented in Outlander.
The basic story of Outlander is based on a young woman, just
after the end of the War in Europe, who visits the Highlands on a second
honeymoon to rebuild her fractured relationship with her husband whom she
hasn’t spent more than a few days with in 6 years. Through no fault of her own,
she falls through time to the early 1740’s Highland woodlands surrounding the
Celtic standing stones known as Craig na Duhn and into the hands of a very
nasty English ancestor of her husband called Black Jack Randall. She is rescued
by a group of Highlander rebels led by Dougal MacKenzie. They are on the run
from some mischief or other, but before they can go, a lad called Jamie must be
attended to as he has dislocated his shoulder. When the somewhat dim
Highlanders move to reset it, our heroine, Clare, comes to his rescue to reset
the shoulder as she was a nurse during the War. From that point on, Clare, out
of time and out of place, finds herself in one life-threatening situation after
another, always saved by our hero, Jamie. The story is told primarily from the
woman’s point of view, but Jamie is the embodiment of everything a woman (and
not too few men) would love to have in a partner.
Outlander is a masterpiece. The photography is gorgeous. The
script adaptation is gorgeous. The clothes are gorgeous. And Jamie is gorgeous.
Seriously, he is a very handsome guy (Sam Heughan) and I’m not big on redheads.
His character, Jamie, is a complicated character that can be stubborn and
gentle, courageous and compassionate, heroic and sensitive. Women viewers dream
of being swept off their feet. Men imagine themselves as him, conquering the
world with a beautiful woman at their side. I imagine it both ways.
So, after discovering my clan, watching Outlander and
learning something about Scottish history, I stepped out to a party wearing my
clan’s kilt. There is actually a book titled “So You’re Going to Wear the Kilt!”.
Really. The opening line is “The first consideration is a state of mind – your
state of mind the first time you wear a kilt…the first time you wear it by
yourself in daylight. You will be as nervous as a cat [at] a meeting of the
American Kennel Club…Every time you hear a laugh, a whistle or a car honk, you
will be sure it is meant for you.”
Okay. It was true, but not for long. I was walking down
Lincoln Road on South Beach and two fairly macho, straight-looking guys came up
to me and one of them said “I wish I had the balls to wear that!” I felt so
Jamie! I felt courageous, brave, handsome, sexy and powerful. Now, I will say
if you’re going to wear a kilt, you better mean it. You can’t be a wimp. Now I
wear the kilt almost every day and I get compliments and come-ons and all kinds
of attention. I get into clubs with velvet ropes around the block and the first
available table at the currently-in restaurant. Why? I think when you wear a
kilt you send a message of confidence and resolve.
The Highlanders were attacked and victimized for centuries,
but they always fought back. They overcame the Vikings, Edward the Hammer,
Henry VIII and Elizabeth who eventually flipped history by leaving her kingdom
to James VI of Scotland/James I of Great Britain. But, they succumbed to politics
and capitalism (not that there’s anything wrong with that). After the two
Jacobite revolutions and the failure of Bonnie Prince Charlie to complete his
conquests of the contravallation of the English, many Highlanders either
escaped or became gulls, forced to emigrate to the America’s. Others came
because they were no longer protected by the clan chiefs and sought economic
relief and lands in the colonies, primarily North Carolina. As the century
moved on, ancient agricultural techniques still used in the Highlands gave way
to more efficient farms and the industry of the lowlands. Population growth,
ironically the result of the new smallpox vaccination, forced others to seek
space across the pond.
Tens of thousands of Highlanders emigrated to North America
in the 17th and 18th Centuries. The first to come were
adventurous individuals not looking for land, but rather furs. They got along
well with the native population as they had similar tribal customs and even
dress. Of course, later, Highlanders of the 18th Century were
granted large land grants, built great plantations and owned hundreds of slaves.
In 1740, 340 Highlanders landed in Cape Fear. Only 22 individuals received land
grants. One who held land and was a member of the Colonial Council was Neal MacNeill.
He took responsibility for distributing funds to help settle Highlanders in the
primarily coastal lands of North Carolina. And my 5th Great-Grandfather,
Archibald McNeill settled many of his clan members in Cumberland County.
These Highlanders, banned from wearing the kilt in Britain
after the Jacobite defeat at Culloden Moor in 1746, proudly held onto their
culture in America. Here they freely practiced their Protestant religion, odd
when you consider they tried to place a Catholic back on the throne in Scotland.
To this day, Scots Highlanders can be seen wearing the kilt in North Carolina
to the kirk, to special events and to the Highland Games, which are traditional
annual events all over the United States. Their Highlanders ancestors were integral
to the evolution of the revolution. For a long time they remained Loyalists or
neutral. Why? Just like the Highlanders in Scotland, the American Highlanders
spoke Gaelic and lived in relative isolation. Many of the grievances of the
Northern Colonies just didn’t affect them. Additionally, Highland settlers were
well aware of the British reprisals against Highlanders after their defeat at
Culloden Moor who still lived in Scotland. For nearly a millennium and a half,
Highlanders suffered greatly at the hands of their Southern neighbors. Some of
the Highland settlers were retired British officers who lived on military
pensions.
Defeat is never easy to accept. On April 16th 1746
the Jacobites suffered a bitter defeat at the hands of the British at Culloden
Moor east of Inverness and nearly 30 years later, on February 27th
1776, they suffered another defeat when Highlander Loyalists, once again,
participated in a sword-wielding charge. At Culloden, thousands lost their
life. At Moore Creek Bridge, the Loyalist leader was killed, but the rest of
the Highlanders scattered. 850 soldiers were captured at The Battle of Moore
Creek Bridge, but it is hard to say how many were Highlanders as the Loyalist
troops were made up of many different groups including some French troupes. Some
Highlanders left North Carolina for Canada, but many Highlanders just never
showed up for the war and were persecuted by the Patriot troops who marched through
their lands near Cross Creek on their way to take on Cornwallis.
Highlanders are resilient people (or I wouldn’t be here!)
and, after the war, participated in local and national government. The
Declaration of Independence draws heavily from the 1320 Declaration of Arbroath,
a letter to the Pope pleading Scotland’s case for freedom from England.
Interestingly, Thomas Jefferson was himself, of Scottish descent. James Wilson,
a Scot from Fife and educated at the Universities of St. Andrews, Edinburgh and
Glasgow during the Scottish Enlightenment, was one of only six who signed both
the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Over 27 million Americans
have Scottish ancestry as do 61% of all American Presidents. Other famous Scots
include James Madison, Alexander Graham Bell, Jack Daniel, Bill Gates, Jimmy
Stewart, Neil Armstrong, Lucille Ball, Reese Witherspoon and Ronald Reagan.
When George II finally removed the Highlander threat in
1746, he also instituted civil laws banning the wearing of the plaid kilt, the
Gaelic language and disarmed the Highlanders. No wonder some 25,000 men, women
and children came to North Carolina, alone between 1747 and 1775. Another
25,000 settled in the other colonies during the same time. The first Scot to see
North America was a Christian Bard from the Western Hebrides who accompanied Bjarne
Hefjolfsson on his voyage around Greenland in 985 - 986. The first Scot to set
foot on North American soil was a slave owned by Leif Eriksson named Haki with
his wife Hekja in 1010 CE. Since before Roman Emperor Hadrian built his wall in
128 CE, European Outlanders have considered Scottish Highlanders to be
barbarians and feudal. There is no doubt that Highlanders were and are a proud
people, independent in nature.( Spoiler Alert: Even Clare and Jamie make it to
America to settle down and give rise to generations to come.)
So, when I wear the kilt it reminds me of how defeat and
suffering can be turned into success. How single individuals can affect the
history of all men without ever knowing it. I feel courageous, brave, handsome,
sexy and powerful. And in wearing the kilt, I cultivate new relationships and
meet all kinds of people from all over the world. I walk feeling calm and
confident without depriving anyone else of their ability to feel the same.
Sometimes I slip into a Scottish brogue just for fun. In my studies I’ve added Doric
Scots and Gaelic to my linguistic library. These new experiences contribute to
my own rich and interesting life and, I hope, to my ultimate goal of wisdom and
compassion – a theme I often repeat.
So don’t worry if you are an Outlander. Relish in the
under-appreciated Scottish history. Check out your own ancestry. You never know
what you’ll find, but one thing is for sure: we are all the result of a living
history from which we derive our values, customs, laws and country. The history
of our country, beginning with a simple complaint of taxation without
representation moving on through the great divide of the Civil War and now into
a new age of challenges, has evolved to one where everyone really is free to
follow his own path to the Highlands and beyond.
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