Scots-Irish.

This is coolbert:

Interesting article in the Sunday edition of the Chicago Tribune magazine. Written by James Webb. Naval Academy graduate and former Secretary of the Navy under Ronald Reagan.

This article is extracts from the latest book by Webb, "Born Fighting". Webb is talking here about the ethos of the Scots-Irish [Presbyterians]. Among the earliest settlers in this country [called Scots-Irish by Webb]. The group of people that primarily settled in the Appalachian Mountains from Pennsylvania to northern Georgia and Alabama. How this group has made disproportionate contributions to American history. The group that is quite often referred to disparagingly as "hillbillies".

Over many centuries, the Scots-Irish ethnic group have contributed many important personalities in American history.

Presidents such as Woodrow Wilson and Andrew Jackson.

Writers such as Mark Twain and Edgar Allan Poe.

Thespians such as Ava Gardner and John Wayne.

Singers such as Reba Mc Entire and Dolly Parton. Country music was invented by the Scots-Irish. [Traveling through Pennsylvania on a Sunday morning, all you can hear on the local radio stations is blue grass music].

Athletes such as Arnold Palmer. [Latrobe PA.]

The Scots-Irish are also highly religious, competitive, anti-authoritarian, intensely patriotic, naturally rebellious, stubborn, have a capacity for violence, and possess a highly developed unwritten code of honor and individual responsibility. They as a group despise aristocracy or anything that smacks of elitism.

And the Scots-Irish have a long, unbroken and very intense relationship to the military of the U.S.

Some of the most famous military men in U.S. history are from the Scots-Irish ethnic group. These would of course include Andrew Jackson [General Jackson before he was President Jackson], Stonewall Jackson, George S. Patton Jr., Alvin York, Audie Murphy, David Hackworth, John Mc Cain, and most recently Pat Tillman [football star/Army Ranger recently killed in Afghanistan].

The Scots-Irish, with their love of firearms, and the rugged lifestyle they profess and follow, seems to make them natural soldiers. Some of the traits and characteristics of the Scots-Irish serve them quite well in the military. Patriotism, the code of honor they stand by, the stubbornness, the capacity for violence in the right cause, these traits tend to make the Scots-Irish good soldiers. Of course, these positive traits are counter-balanced by the anti-authoritarian and rebellious nature of the Scots-Irish. Contradictions in the character of the Scots-Irish that can pose a problem for any commanding officer.

Webb did omit several incidents from Scots-Irish history that are indicative of the Scots-Irish character and how it relates to the military.

West Virginia [perhaps the epitome of Scots-Irish Appalachian mountain culture], seceded from Virginia and joined the Union forces during the American Civil War. Rebellious, individualistic, anti-authoritarian, anti-aristocratic, stubborn Scots-Irish would not join the rest of southern culture in the secession movement [albeit the West Virginians did secede from the rest of Virginia].

The same rebellious, individualistic, anti-authoritarian, anti-aristocratic, stubborn Scots-Irish character was present among members of the First Alabama Cavalry [U.S.]. Southerners from northern Alabama who fought on the side of the Union during the American Civil War and waged an intense and successful guerilla war against southern forces. Click here, and here to see web sites about the First Alabama Cavalry. Mind you, the latter site has heavy stuff on it. Read and you will see why I say that!!!

"The secessionists, the flatlanders, the planters, the so-called gentlemen whose fine daughters do not acknowledge your existence would have you fight their RICH MAN'S WAR. If you join their rebel army it will be a POOR MAN'S FIGHT."

And the presence of the Scots-Irish in large numbers is obvious at the Alamo, during the Texas War of Independence. You can see again, among the defenders of the Alamo, the same anti-authoritarian, naturally rebellious, stubborn people with a capacity for violence and a highly developed code of honor. Men that could handle firearms with proficiency. Jim Bowie was a famous duelist [Andrew Jackson was also a famous duelist] who of course invented the Bowie knife. Davey Crockett was a contemporary of Andrew Jackson and a Tennessean. Of the defenders at the Alamo, this comment is made about the ethnic breakdown by Bryan Perrett:

"Of the 189 men who served in the Alamo . . . those born in the United States numbered 128, the largest contingents coming from Tennessee with thirty-three, Virginia with thirteen, Kentucky with twelve and Pennsylvania with ten, the majority of their names revealing Anglo-Saxon or Celtic roots. Of the remainder, twelve were born in England, twelve in Ireland, four in Scotland, and one in Wales."

If you have to go to war, you want the Scots-Irish on your side, hopefully by your side!!

coolbert.