The Clay Piper
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THE CLAY PIPER Volume 3, Issue 1 www.firstcoasthighlanders.com www.facebook.com/firstcoasthighlanders MAY 2018 PRESIDENT’S CORNER Thank you for checking out our celebrated Saint Patrick’s Day and Valle Crucis, North Carolina. Come newsletter! This is my first Presi- traveled between South Georgia to fall, we plan to be better than ever. dent’s Corner in The Clay Piper and Central Florida. First Coast Highlanders is much I want to thank everyone for allow- When you read this, we will have more than its performers. There are ing me to be the president of the completed our Memorial Day cel- many behind the scenes who con- First Coast Highlanders. I hope you ebrations marking the end of one tribute to its success, whether by do- find this newsletter interesting and of our busiest seasons. During the nations or by their labor. Donors en- informative. summer months, there will be no able us to visit NAAPD and buy new Since our last major performances, but we will uniforms and instruments, among issue we have continue to practice, both individu- many other things. performed at ally and together, to keep our edge We could not get through the long the Highland and be ready to start up again in days at the Highland Games and Games, Celtic September. Celtic Festival, as well as our other Festival, sev- In July, several of the performing performances, without our volun- eral Kirkin of members will spend a week at the teers. Many thanks to all of you and the Tartans, and entertained the North American Academy of Pip- have a marvelous summer. lassies at their luncheon. We also ing and Drumming (NAAPD) in — EJB IN MEMORIAM Flowers of the Forest is an ancient Scottish folk tune Leland E. Chandler, 72, of Orange Park, FL passed commemorating the defeat of the Scottish army of James away on January 22, 2018. A veteran of the U.S. Navy IV at the Battle of Flodden in September 1513. Although and the U.S. Navy reserve for 12 years and was a the original words are unknown, Jean Elliot (1727-1805), member of the American Legion poet, says it well: post 250 and VFW Post 8255 both in Middleburg, Florida. I’ve heard the lilting, at the yowe-milking, Also, he was a member of the Lassies a-lilting before dawn o’ day; Penn York Highlanders Bagpipe Band and was a past member of But now they are moaning on ilka green loaning; the Clay County Sheriff’s Of- “The Flowers of the Forest are a’ wede away”. fice Pipe Band. He was a gentle soul, a devoted husband, father, Dool and wae for the order sent oor lads tae the Border! grandfather and a great friend. The English for ance, by guile wan the day, The Flooers o’ the Forest, that fought aye the foremost, Joseph Esposito was one of First Coast Highlanders’ The pride o’ oor land lie cauld in the clay. generous donors and a fan of the band. Joseph passed The pipe tune Flowers of the Forest is a soulful lament at away March 6th, 2018, at the assisted living center “Al- legro” in Fleming Island. Whenever we performed at which time we take a moment to remember the members the Allegro, Joe would make of our family who have gone before us. Recently, we have every effort to say thank you lost two of our own. We take this opportunity to pause to each of the members and in silence and recognize our very own who have left this tell us how much he enjoyed earth to go to the Great Highlands above and be with bagpipes and drums from First Coast Highlanders. their lord. WHAT’S YOUR CLAN? Steve Cohn, a FCH drummer and a The name means, “grey fort”. Its po- bagpipe student too, has provided us sition commanded the movement of with information about his family clan, shipping on the river. In the 15th cen- “Clan Colquhoun”. tury the castle fell into disrepair, and Sir Humphrey Colquhoun built a man- The lands in the Loch Lomond area sion on part of the ruins. In February have been within the family since 1603, the most notorious event in the 1150AD, when the lands were granted history of the clan occurred when the to the Laird of Luss. The Colquhouns Colquhouns and the MacGregors met conflicting accounts about the imme- originated at Old Kilpatrick on the in bloody battle in Glen Fruin. Al- diate cause of the battle. What we do River Clyde, and through the marriage though virtually deserted today, Glen know is that about 400 MacGregors of Robert of Colquhoun to the daugh- Fruin was populated by perhaps as and their supporters set off towards ter of the Laird of Luss in many as 200 farms. The Colquhoun territory. There was no road 1358, the Luss lands came rich fertile Colquhoun then, so they went westwards, possibly into their hands. lands were too much of a through the gap in the hills at Tarbet, The Colquhoun charters temptation for the Mac- and made their way south along the to Barony of Colquhoun, Gregors, whose inhospi- shores of Loch Long. They approached which runs eastwards table mountainous lands Glen Fruin along the valley of the Fruin from Dumbarton for six to the north and east had Water. The Colquhouns, forewarned, miles towards Glasgow, led them into a lifestyle marched up Glen Auchengaich burn. granted around 1240AD. which involved raiding When they entered Glen Fruin, they Since those times, there Crest: their neighbors, stealing found that the MacGregors had gotten has been a constant A stags head. their livestock and burn- there before them. They had divided Colquhoun presence in ing and looting homes. their forces into two and were able to the area. Luss and then Motto: Because of these repeated trap the Colquhouns between them. turned south down the If I can. raids of the MacGregors valley of the and their allies (espe- If you have Scottish heritage and can Region Dunglass Castle, now cially the MacFarlanes) tell a story about what you know of your Scottish Lowlands a ruin on a rocky out- the King had given the clan and sir-name, write it up and submit crop on the River Clyde, was an early Colquhoun clan chief authority to arm to The Clay Piper editor Bob Simpson, stronghold of the Kilpatrick family. his clan in self-defense. There are many [email protected]. SCOTTISH TIDBITS While at the Northeast Florida Highland Games, last with the line of succession to the February, I was asked about the white emblem on my Bal- English and Scottish thrones was il- moral (hat). I proceeded to tell them a little history of the legal. Catholics also hoped the Stu- Scottish Jacobites. arts would end the discrimination Jacobitism was a political movement in Great Britain against recusants. In Scotland, the and Ireland that aimed to restore the Roman Catholic Stu- Jacobite cause became intertwined art King James II of England and Ireland (as James VII in with the clan system. The emblem Scotland) and his heirs to the thrones of England, Scot- of a Jacobite is the White Cockade of land, France and Ireland. The movement took its name which we signify on our balmorals. from Jacobus, the Renaissance Latin form of James. “White Rose Day” is celebrated on 10 June, the anni- Adherents rebelled against the British government on versary of the birth of the Old Pretender in 1688. In 1708, several occasions between 1688 and 1746. The strongholds James Francis Edward Stuart, the son of James VII, who of Jacobitism were parts of the Scottish Highlands and became known as the Old Pretender, attempted an inva- the lowland north-east of Scotland, Ireland, and parts of sion with a French fleet carrying 6,000 men, but the Royal Northern England (mostly within the counties of Nor- Navy prevented it from landing troops. A more serious thumberland and Lancashire). Significant support also ex- attempt occurred in 1715, soon after the death of Anne isted in Wales and South-West England. and the accession of the first Hanoverian king. This rising The Jacobite’s believed that parliamentary interference continued on next page... SCOTTISH TIDBITS ...continued from previous page (known as The ‘Fifteen) envisaged si- land of Eriskay in the Outer Hebrides. and Hanoverian troops began to return multaneous uprisings in Wales, Devon, Several clans unenthusiastically joined from the continent. Charles’ position and Scotland. An attempted Jacobite him. At the outset he was successful, in Scotland began to deteriorate as the invasion with Spanish assistance in taking Edinburgh and then defeating Whig supporters rallied and regained 1719 met with little support from the the only government army in Scotland control of Edinburgh. After an unsuc- clans and ended in defeat at the Battle at the Battle of Prestonpans. The Jaco- cessful attempt on Stirling, he retreated of Glen Shiel. bite army marched into England, took north towards Inverness. He was pur- In 1745 the Jaco- Carlisle and advanced as far as south sued by the Duke of Cumberland and bite rising known as as Derby. However, it became increas- gave battle with an exhausted army at The ‘Forty-Five be- ingly evident that England would not Culloden on 16 April 1746, where the gan. Charles Edward support a Roman Catholic Stuart mon- Jacobite cause was crushed. Stuart, son of the Old arch. First Coast Highlanders represent a Pretender, often re- The Jacobite leadership had a crisis of Jacobite wearing a jacobite shirt, Bal- ferred to as Bonnie Prince Charlie or confidence and they retreated to Scot- moral.