CHAPTER XV.
Distinguished Highlanders in American Interests
The attitude of the Highlanders during the Revolutionary War was not of such a nature as to bring them prominently into view in the cause of freedom. Nor was it the policy of the American statesmen to cater to race distinctions and prejudices. They did not regard their cause to be a race war. They fought for freedom without regard to their origin, believing that a just Providence would smile upon their efforts. Many nationalities were represented in the American army. Men left their homes in the Old World, purposely to engage in the cause of Independence, some of whom gained immortal renown, and will be remembered with honor by generations yet unborn. As has been already noted, there were natives of the Highlands of Scotland, who had made America their home and imbibed the principles of political liberty, and early identified themselves with the cause of their adopted country. The lives of some of these patriots are herewith imperfectly sketched.
GENERAL ALEXANDER McDOUGALL.
Gen. Alexander McDougall.
There are few names in the annals of the American Revolution upon which one can linger with more satisfaction than that of the gallant and true-hearted Alexander McDougall. As early as August 20, 1775, Washington wrote to General Schuyler concerning him: his "zeal is unquestionable."[178] Writing to General McDougall, May 23, 1777, Washington says: "I wish every officer in the army could appeal to His own heart and find the same principles of conduct, that I am persuaded actuate you."[179] The same writing to Thomas Jefferson, August 1, 1786, lamented the brave "soldier and disinterested patriot," and exclaimed, "Thus some of the pillars of the revolution fall."[180]
Alexander McDougall was born in the island of Islay in Scotland, in 1731, being the son of Ranald McDougall, who emigrated to the province of New York in 1735. The father purchased a small farm near the city of New York, and there peddled milk, in which avocation he was assisted by his son, who never was ashamed of the employment of his youth. Alexander was a keen observer of passing events and took great interest in the game of politics. With vigilance he watched the aggressive steps of the royal government; and when the Assembly, in the winter of 1769, faltered in its opposition to the usurpations of the crown and insulted the people by rejecting a proposition authorizing the vote by ballot, and by entering on the favorable consideration of a bill of supplies for troops quartered in the city to overawe the inhabitants, he issued an address, under the title of "A Son of Liberty to the Betrayed Inhabitants of the Colony," in which he contrasted the Assembly with the legislative bodies in other parts of the country, and held up their conduct to unmitigated and just indignation. The bold and deserved rebuke was laid before the house by its speaker, and, with the exception of Philip Schuyler, every member voted that it was "an infamous and seditious libel." A proclamation for the discovery of the author was issued by the governor, and it being traced to Alexander McDougall, he was arrested in February, 1770, and refusing to give bail was committed to prison by order of chief justice Horsmanden. As he was being carried to prison, clearly reading in the signs about him the future of the country, he exclaimed, "I rejoice that I am the first sufferer for liberty since the commencement of our glorious struggle." During the two months of his confinement he was overrun with visitors. He poured forth continued appeals to the people, and boldly avowed his revolutionary opinions. In every circle his case was the subject of impassioned conversation, and in an especial manner he became the idol of the masses. A packed jury found an indictment against him, and on December 20th he was arraigned at the bar of the Assembly on the same charge, on which occasion he was defended by George Clinton, afterwards the first governor of the State of New York. In the course of the following month a writ of habeas corpus was sued out, but without result, and he was not liberated until March 4, 1771, when the assembly was prorogued. When the Assembly attempted to extort from him a humiliating recantation, he undauntingly answered their threat, that "rather than resign my rights and privileges as a British subject, I would suffer my right hand to be cut off at the bar of the house." When set at liberty he entered into correspondence with the master-spirits in all parts of the country; and when the celebrated meetings in the fields were held, on July 6, 1774, preparatory to the election of the New York delegates to the First General Congress, he was called to preside, and resolutions prepared by him were adopted, pointing out the mode of choosing deputies, inveighing against the Boston Port Bill, and urging upon the proposed congress the prohibition of all commercial intercourse with Great Britain. In March 1775, he was a member of the Provincial Convention, and was nominated as one of the candidates for the Continental Congress at Philadelphia, but was not elected. In the same year he received a commission as colonel of the 1st New York regiment, and on August 9, 1776, was created brigadier-general. On the evening of the 29th of the same month he was selected by Washington to superintend the embarkation of the troops from Brooklyn; was actively engaged on Chatterton's Hill and in various places in New Jersey; and when General William Heath, in the spring of 1777, left Peekskill to assume the command of the eastern department, he succeeded that officer, but was compelled, by a superior force under Sir William Howe, to retreat from the town, after destroying a considerable supply of stores, on March 23rd. After the battle of Germantown, in which he participated, Washington, writing to the president of Congress, under date of October 7, 1777, says: