Held in person at McKimmon Center: This course analyzes three groups of Scots who arrived in North Carolina during the late colonial and revolutionary periods. Lowland Scots generally came in with English settlers from Virginia or randomly. Scots Irish (Ulster Scots), perhaps 60,000, migrated largely from Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland and considered themselves Americans already. The Highland Scots, perhaps 20,000, emigrated from the Highlands and spoke Gaelic, often with no English language skills. Their attitude was they were Scots in a new land. Influential leaders for the Scots Irish were frequently Presbyterian ministers educated at the now-named Princeton University, led by John Witherspoon, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Largely current or former British military officers led Highland Scots, with strong allegiance to the Crown, and by Gaelic preachers from the Hebrides. Extensive data and pictorials on the pre-1800 Highland Scot churches is included in the second session. The third session dissects the civil war in NC between the patriots and loyalists (Whigs and Tories) during the Revolution.

Registration Deadline: Jan. 31