Scots in

By Jeremy Johnston and Chris Dixon

Dol siar . . . heading west . . .

n the songs of the Gaelic bards of old, this idea occurs time and again, often as an image of I coming home. If the Viking sagas are to be believed, one such bard may even have been the first “Scot” to sight the American mainland in 985 A.D. That may be no more than a story, but what is certain is that from the seventeenth century onward, Scots, and later Scots-Irish, immigrants played a vital role in the development of America. In the late 1600s, Glasgow, Scotland, was the European center for the Virginia tobacco trade in America, and Scots Presbyterian dissenters in search of religious freedom established their own colonies in South Carolina and New Jersey. In the 1700s, population growth, agricultural modernization, and political upheaval in Scotland were the driving forces behind more than 50,000 immigrants crossing the Atlantic, and, as the new Republic looked west toward the end of the century, many of the earliest “over-mountain men” settling the Ohio and Tennessee valleys were of Scots or Scots-Irish descent. It is little wonder, then, that in the 1800s, as the United States expanded into the areas we now think of as the West, Scots were so much to the fore. William Drummond Stewart

While many Scots came to America to begin a new life for themselves and their families, a few traveled to the West just for adventure and sport. Such was the case for William Drummond Stewart, who arrived in what is now Wyoming in 1833. Stewart was born at Murthly Castle, Perthshire, on December 26, 1795, the second son of Sir George Stewart and Catherine Drummond. Because he was second in line to the family estate, his father encouraged him to enlist

fall 2010 n 9 Scots in Wyoming

in the military, and he did so in 1813. management of the family’s estate, problem. Stewart gained the respect Serving in the 15th King’s Hussars, Stewart escaped across the Atlantic, of his fellow travelers despite donning Stewart fought Napoleon’s forces where he discovered the exciting formal hunting outfits that greatly at the Battle of Waterloo and was lifestyle of the American fur trader amused the trappers. decorated for leading a daring charge and encountered many noted In the next few years, Stewart found against the enemy line. frontiersmen, including William himself in the middle of a number When his father passed away, Clark of the Lewis and Clark Corps of of exciting and historical episodes Stewart inherited £3,000; however, Discovery. In 1833, Stewart paid $500 in the West. First, at the 1833 Green much to his frustration, his older to accompany the freighting firm of River Rendezvous, a rabid dog bit brother was entrusted with the Sublette and Campbell in their delivery one of his companions. Shortly after administration and distribution of his of goods to a site on the Green River in that, his party lost their horses and inheritance. Stewart’s life also became Wyoming for the annual rendezvous. most of their equipment to a band of more complicated when his liaison Dr. Benjamin Harrison, the son of Crow raiders. He later met Narcissa with a friend’s servant girl resulted in future President of the United States Whitman and Eliza Spaulding at the unplanned birth of his son George. William Henry Harrison—whose another rendezvous, the first Euro- He married the young lady and mother Elizabeth Ramsey Irwin was American women to cross South secured a residence for her and their of Scots-Irish descent—also joined the Pass, Wyoming, and travel overland son in Edinburgh, occasionally visiting entourage after his father encouraged to Oregon—an event then viewed them between his various adventures. him to seek adventure in the West as a significant landmark in opening Discouraged by his brother’s in the hope that the trip would cure emigration to Oregon Territory. control of his inheritance and the the younger Harrison’s drinking At yet another Rendezvous, Stewart witnessed an operation conducted by Dr. Marcus Whitman to remove an imbedded Blackfoot arrowhead from the back of famed mountain man Jim Bridger. During the 1837

Alfred Jacob Miller (1810 – 1874). Jim Bridger in a In Greeting the Trappers, ca. 1837, Alfred Jacob Miller (1810 – 1874) portrayed Stewart meeting trappers Suit of English Armor, 1837. Joslyn Art Museum, at the rendezvous. Watercolor on paper, 6.5 x 9.5 inches. Gift of the Coe Foundation. 8.70 Omaha Nebraska. JAM 1988 10 28 A

(Editor’s note: The Buffalo Bill Historical Center has numerous paintings and sketches by Alfred J. Miller in its collection. Check them out on your next visit.)

10 n Points West Rendezvous, the Scot presented 11th Infantry as a lieutenant- Moonlight and his men to endure a Bridger with polished steel body and in 1864 was promoted long, humiliating walk of more than a armor and a plumed helmet, two to full colonel. The following year, the hundred miles back to Fort Laramie. elements of the uniform of the British 11th Kansas Infantry marched to Fort When the Civil War ended, Moon- Life Guards. Bridger put on the armor Laramie, and Colonel Moonlight found light entered politics as a Republican. and helmet, and clanked around the himself in command of that Wyoming In 1867 he was appointed United rendezvous amusing his drunken military outpost attempting to curtail States Collector of Internal Revenue companions and Alfred Jacob Miller, Indian raids in the wake of the Sand and in 1868 was elected Secretary of an artist in Stewart’s employ, who Creek Massacre in southeast Colorado. State for Kansas. In 1870, he left the sketched the unusual scene. Using Jim Bridger as his guide, Republican Party over the issue of pro- When he learned of his elder Moonlight led five hundred cavalrymen hibition and was elected to the Kan- brother’s death, Stewart returned to west from Fort Laramie to the Wind sas State Legislature as a Democratic Scotland in 1839, but he was back River Valley hoping to surprise a large senator. When Democratic President in America in 1842 for a final get- camp. After a grueling 450- appointed him Ter- together with his former Rendezvous mile march through a cold Wyoming ritorial Governor of Wyoming in 1887, companions. Sir William Drummond spring without encountering any Moonlight vowed to protect common Stewart spent the remainder of his Indians, a disappointed Moonlight settlers from the powerful cattle bar- life on his Scottish estate gazing upon returned to Fort Laramie. Shortly after ons of the the paintings of Alfred Jacob Miller this unsuccessful expedition against and recalling his exciting days in the Cheyenne, two Oglala Lakotas Wyoming. He died in 1871. named Anog Numpa, or Two Face, and Si Sapa, or Black Foot, arrived at Thomas Moonlight Fort Laramie escorting a captive white woman and her child. A few years after Stewart’s Without trial or questioning, and escapades, Thomas Moonlight, despite the objections of many— another Scot, arrived in Wyoming to including the white captive herself— advance Euro-American settlement. Moonlight ordered the two men to be Born in Forfarshire in 1833, Moonlight hanged by the neck with chains. The ran away from home at the age of bodies of Two Face and Black Foot thirteen and became a sailor on a remained suspended for months vessel en route to Philadelphia. In from the scaffold on the bluffs 1853, after working in various settings, near the fort. After this infamous including a glass factory in New Jersey, hanging, Moonlight led another Moonlight enlisted in an artillery unit force against the natives hoping to of the and served win a great victory; however, on the plains of Texas, in the Seminole as the horses were War in Florida, and in Kansas. grazing, Indian Moonlight briefly left the military raiders seized in 1858 and settled on a farm in the opportunity Leavenworth County, Kansas; however, and drove the outbreak of the Civil War called most of them him back to service. He joined the away, leaving Thomas Moonlight portrait, no date. Wyoming State Archives, Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources. Sub Neg 2641 derivative.

Fall 2010 n 11 Scots in Wyoming

Wyoming Stock Growers Association. Highland clansmen raiding their of jobs after her first marriage ended Governor Moonlight traveled more neighbors for cattle. When the quarrel in divorce. Watson became involved than 1,200 miles throughout Wyo- between Wyoming homesteaders and in a relationship with a widower by ming that year, meeting settlers and cattle barons boiled over into an all- the name of James Averell, whose hearing their complaints. He received out range war, many Scots joined the mother was a Scot. Very likely, Aver- a warm welcome in Johnson County, fray. Ellen Liddy Watson, daughter of ell and Watson were, for all practi- soon to be the focus of an infamous Thomas Lewis Watson of Hamilton, cal purposes, husband and wife, but range war. Scotland, had the unfortunate Watson retained her maiden name to Moonlight’s relationship with the distinction of becoming the first secure additional acreage as a single Wyoming Territorial Legislature was a woman hanged in Wyoming, unfairly woman homesteader. Unfortunately, difficult one, resulting in seven vetoes earning the moniker, Cattle Kate and earning him as many enemies Watson. as supporters. When the legislative Current scholarship reveals that session ended, Moonlight published Ella Watson was a typical wom- an explanatory pamphlet titled Seven an homesteader who worked a Vetoes by Thomas Moonlight hoping variety to garner more support among the residents. However, his mishandling of the organization of Sheridan and Converse Counties cost him political support, especially in his former stronghold of Johnson County. When Republican Benjamin Harrison was sworn in as President of the United States in 1889, he replaced Moonlight with Francis E. Warren— possibly as payback for abandoning the Republican Party or for lack of effectiveness—much to the relief of many Wyoming residents. In 1892 Grover Cleveland won the presidential election in a rematch against Harrison and rewarded Moonlight by appointing him Minister to Bolivia, a position he held for four years. On February 7, 1899, Thomas Moonlight passed away in Kansas. Cattle Kate Watson

Cattle raids and rustling played a major role in Scotland’s past, with Ella “Cattle Kate” Watson on horseback. Wyoming State Archives, Department of State Parks and border reivers (border raiders) and Cultural Resources. Sub Neg 4104

12 n Points West Averell and Watson’s homesteads, lo- Association hired a Cheyenne-based Cattle Company in the east-central cated west of Casper, Wyoming, were news reporter, Edward Towse, to part of the state. Through his expertise, too close to the ranchlands of Albert write a sensational article accusing Clay became the president of the Bothwell, another whose surname Ella Watson of being a mean-natured Wyoming Stock Growers Association suggests a Scots heritage. Averell and and violent prostitute who exchanged and furthered its efforts to eliminate Watson were homesteading in the her services for rustled cattle. He the so-called rustlers, who were in wrong place at the wrong time. also noted that Cattle Kate was well many cases small homesteaders like To make matters worse, Averell known for using rough language. Averell and Watson trying to build up was outspoken in his opposition to Unfortunately, the libelous story their own ranches. the domineering cattle barons. On became a popular Wyoming legend In 1892, a group of armed men July 20, 1889, a group of six men, led and for years the innocent Ella Watson unsuccessfully invaded Johnson County by Bothwell, arrived at Watson and was characterized as the infamous hoping to rid the territory of this rustling Averell’s ranches, accusing both of Cattle Kate. element and its supporters. John Clay rustling cattle. They abducted the two later claimed that he knew nothing homesteaders and later lynched them John Clay of the invasion—eventually called the along the banks of the Sweetwater River, despite the valiant efforts of John Clay, Jr. was prominent in another settler of Scots descent, furthering Towse’s story, and in his Frank Buchanan, who fired his rifle memoirs, Clay accused Watson of at the lynching party. Buchanan and being “a prostitute of the lowest other witnesses to the hanging either type . . . she was common property died under mysterious circumstances of the cowboys for miles around.” or completely disappeared; thus, Clay, who hailed from Winfield the lynching party escaped any in Perthshire, acted as a ranch punishment for the crime. manager in the development of Fearing negative publicity resulting land in Wyoming for Scottish from the hanging of an innocent investors, including the extensive woman, the Wyoming Stock Growers holdings of the Swan Land and

John Clay, Jr., ca. 1890. Wyoming State Archives, Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources. Thorp Neg 195

Fall 2010 n 13 Scots in Wyoming

Johnson County War—and asserted Washington’s birthday, Scotland’s College in Powell, Wyoming, including that he took no part in planning national bard had written the famous American History and the histories any of the violent acts connected words: of Wyoming, Montana, Yellowstone to the Wyoming range war. He did, National Park, North American Indians, nevertheless, defend the actions of the But come, ye sons of Liberty, and the American West. invaders in his address to the 1893 Columbia’s offspring, brave as annual meeting of the Wyoming Stock free, Chris Dixon, senior research fellow Growers Association. He expressed his In danger’s hour, still flaming in in the Department of Modern Languages “respect for [their] manliness, their the van, at the University of Strathclyde in supreme courage under the adverse Ye know, and dare maintain, Glasgow, Scotland, is a member of the fire of calumny and the usual kicking The Royalty of Man! United Kingdom’s Chartered Institute of a man gets when he is down.” Clay Linguists and holds two master’s degrees also stated, “There will be a day of Burns could not have predicted that from Glasgow University. Dixon recently retribution.” Clay, Scottish promoter of as America’s westward progress came edited Four Years in Europe with Buffalo the Wyoming cattle barons, died on St. to Wyoming, so many of those “flaming Bill, a book by Charles Eldridge Griffin, Patrick’s Day in 1934. in the van” would be his fellow Scots. originally published in1908. The book, produced by the University of Nebraska Robert Burns Former Northwest College Assistant Press, is featured on page thirty of this Professor of History Jeremy Johnston issue of Points West and will be available Five years earlier, Wyoming had recently joined the Buffalo Bill Historical this October. marked its historic links with Scotland Center staff as Managing Editor of the in monumental fashion when Henry Papers of William F. Cody. A graduate Contact the editor for further reading Snell Gamley’s bronze statue of Scottish of the University of Wyoming with on “Scots in Wyoming.” poet Robert Burns was unveiled near bachelor’s and master’s degrees in the Capitol Building in Cheyenne. In American history, Johnston taught a 1794, to mark the occasion of George variety of history courses at Northwest

The dedication of the Robert Burns statue in Cheyenne, Wyoming, on November 11, 1929. Wyoming State Archives, Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources. Sub Neg 13178

14 n Points West