Scottish America

[Curmudgeon]

I'll be off the fora for the next couple of months (visiting without my computer), so herewith a potted history of Scottish America for your amusement.


The Scots of Ilkmore*

*Ilkmore is a compound word, -more is gaelic for “great’ or ‘large’ and ilk designates a location bearing the same name as the people inhabiting it, eg. Seton of Seton could also be called Seton of that ilk. Thus the Scots of Ilkmore are the Scots of Large Scotland.

Angus Og MacDonald, Lord of the Isles and The Douglas raise a revolt against the English-loving James III in 1486, but the revolt fails when Margaret of Norway makes an appeal to all loyal Scots to defend the Chief of Chiefs. Angus is exiled from the Isles for a time. He is followed into exile by over six hundred members of his sept [branch of the clan] aboard the ship Islaymore in 1488, shortly before the death of James III.

The Islaymore initially sailed south, raiding the western coast of England, while avoiding the Welsh and Cornishmen. Finding the pickings slim, Angus sailed further south, initially making for Africa with the aim of reaching India. Well short of the Canary Islands, Angus turned west. The reasons are historically unclear. Some believe that Angus was seeking a westward passage to the Indian Spice Islands [Indonesia], others that he intended a pilgrimage in the path of St. Brendan the Navigator in penance for his revolt against the king.

Whatever the reason, the Islaymore made landfall over a month later on a largish island [usually identified as Trinidad]. The Islaymore swept to the north and west in a great arc mapping the Outer Lordship of the Isles [Lesser and Greater Antilles]. The Islaymore’s crew made a semi-permanent camp at Stillwater [Santiago de Cuba] and wintered there. The following May, The Islaymore found a second [Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands] and third [Florida Keys] chain of islands to the northeast. While the islands were all mapped, Angus did not care much for his newly discovered Lordship. It was too hot, too wet when it wasn’t too dry and the natives [Caribs] were cannibals.

The Islaymore sailed north along the east coast of what would become Ilkmore. In general, he found it to still be too hot and too disease-ridden until he reached the Long Isle [Long Island, New York]. He explored well up the two rivers that emptied from the mainland near the southern tip of Long Isle but still didn’t care for what he saw. Continuing northward he found Floodtide Bay [Bay of Fundy] which reminded him greatly of his home.

He rounded the peninsula, passing through Canso Strait, sighting Black Cape Island [Cape Breton Island] which would later be claimed by the Douglases. He followed along the coast to Hot Water Bay [Bay of Chaleur] and up what was evidently a river which he named the St. Colum [St. Lawrence River]. As Angus proceded upriver, he finally found a land he could love: bleak, forboding and majestic, Angus made landfall near Stadacona [Quebec City]. He was greatly impressed with the fertility of the land, the plentiful timber and the cliffs that acted as a chokepoint controlling access upriver.

Angus and his men wintered five miles upriver from Stadacona and when the ice broke up in the spring, the Islaymore returned to Scotland. Angus intended to bring the Islaymore’s women back with him and set up a colony near Stadacona. Instead, he was summoned to Edinburgh to pay homage to James IV. Angus took the opportunity to press the king for his favour in settling his new found land. James IV was intrigued by the suggested wealth of Outer Lordship of the Isles and granted his authorization for Angus’ colony in exchange for Angus ceding the Outer Isles to the Crown.

The Scottish Parliament soon heard rumours of the king’s deal and there was a furor. In the end Angus’ land was divided into five parts. The Outer Isles were retained as the Crown’s own, Long Isle and its environs were granted to a coalition of the Lowland clans. Everything else was divided between the three great highland Captains. Angus, Captain of the West in Scotland, was made Captain of the East in the new lands, having authority over all lands whose waters flowed eastward. Gordon, Captain of the North in Scotland was granted “all lands surrounding such waters as may be found to flow to the west” and Campbell, Captain of the East in Scotland, was granted “all such lands as may be found with waters flowing northward, or absent such waters, those lands with waters flowing to the south.”

There was a minor migration of lowlanders to the Long Isle area, but the majority of highlanders had migrated to Ilkmore by 1600. The 1600 Census of All Scots indicated that there were seven highlanders in Ilkmore for every highlander that remained in the traditional highlands.

In 1540, William Campbell discovers the bay that will bear his name [White William’s Bay = Hudson’s Bay] after a voyage of five months. The record is murky as to the reasons but his crew mutinies and sets William, his son, John, and five loyal clansmen adrift in a longboat. The fate of the longboat is unknown for almost three years. In 1543, the remains of William’s loyalists are found in the smaller John’s Bay [James Bay], named for William’s son, who was set adrift with his father.

1540 also sees Mungo Murray reach Niagara Falls, which he uses as a base for his explorations of the Five Central Great Lochs: Standing Stones [Ontario]; Long Tail [Erie]; Boar’s Head [Huron]; Great Waters [Michigan] and Stammerer’s Great Sea [Superior]. [The other Great Lochs are Northern [Great Slave; Lesser Slave; Great Bear; Reindeer], Western [Lake Nipissing; Lake of the Woods, Lake Winnipeg, Lake Winnipegosis, Lake Manitoba] and Eastern [Lake Champlain, Lake George, Lake Oneida, Lake Onondaga, Lake Seneca, Lake Cayuga].

In 1650, Gordon establishes his Captaincy having reached the Cairnmore Mountains [Rockies]. The Cairnmore Mountains are actually three chains. The easternmost chain is the Cairnmore Mountains proper, the central range is the Selkirks and the westernmost chain is the Strathcona Mountains [Coastal, named in this timeline for Lord Strathcona].

Alexander MacKenzie reaches the Western Ocean on 17 July, 1657.

Up until 1839, Ilkmore is at war with itself and with the natives. Long Isle aside, war as practiced by both the natives and the highlanders is very similar, consisting of raids by bands of young men seeking glory and wealth. The principal wealth of the highlanders is cattle, which the natives quickly come to prize as well. Both sides also take prisoners and adopt them into their clan to replace battle losses. One feature of their warfare is the “melting away” after three or four unsuccessful attacks. The principal ranged weapon of both civilizations is the bow and arrow, though the highlanders have adopted the man-killing .54 flintlock rifle with socket bayonet by 1745 and the breechloading Ferguson after 1760. Still, ancient practices endure longer in Ilkmore with challenges between champions before battle is joined being readily adopted by the natives. Highland-native and native-highland marriages are common. In 1880, the poetess Abigail Pauline MacKenzie [an echo of Emily Pauline Johnston], princess [daughter of a hereditary chief] among the Tobacco tribe, publishes her most famous work Flint & Feather.

In contrast, the Long Isle makes few raids but is noted for its dogged slow retreats in the face of raids. Most raiders end up “melting away” at Long Isle. Long Isle differs from the highlands of Ilkmore by having an extensive system of roadways as they make great use of horses and coaches. In contrast, the highlanders have an extensive system of locks and canals connecting the waterways that form their principal transportation system.

The Reformation never reaches across the sea to Ilkmore and the culture remains both Catholic and one of hospitable partying. The bagpipes remain an instrument of war. Principal musical instruments for entertainment are the fiddle, the harp (partially replaced by the Spanish guitar), the tambour drum and the recorder. The principal dance forms are the square reel, the threesome jig and the strathspey.

(1 of 2)

[Curmudgeon]

The steam engine, both the expansion type and the Stirling type are the principal powerplant from 1740 through to about the mid 1870s. The steam engine drives the building of the Grand Trunk Railway connecting all of Long Isle and the East by 1820. The Crown finally settles the internal wars with the Treaty of Eternal Peace (1820) with his highland Captains, the Treaty of Eternal Peace (July 1823) [same signatories], the treaty of Eternal Peace (September 1823) [same signatories], the Treaty of Eternal Peace (1825) [same signatories], ending with the twelfth Treaty of Eternal Peace (1839), which was long know as the Treaty of Hope-Filled Truce. By 1849, the railroad had extended to the Western Ocean and to Albany Factory [York Factory], seat of the Campbells, in the north.

1876 sees the foundation of Baddeck Labs [at Baddeck, Nova Scotia]. Founding members include Sanford Fleming, Alan Napier and Alexander Bell. Baddeck Labs invents telephony communication which rapidly replaces the telegraph. Wireless telephony [radio] follows in 1881. Standard time zones as created by Sanford Fleming are adopted across Ilkmore in 1882, based on the time signal of the Dominion Observatory at Hamilton. Napier begins his public electrification grid in 1879 and it is complete across Ilkmore by 1905. In 1885, Bell begins his hydrofoil experiments. In 1899, Bell sets aside his hydrofoil experiments for aviation experiments with his Cygnet gliders. His experimental flights with the three gliders finally successful, he follows up with four experimental prototypes in heavier-than-air flight. Red Wing, White Wing, June Bug and Silver Dart are all successful, but it is the Silver Dart’s 1902 flight that catches the public’s imagination. Its inaugural flight was filmed from the cockpit as it made its five-mile journey. This film was sent by rail for showing at local cinemas prior to the arrival of the much-improved Silver Dart, which flew coast-to-coast across Ilkmore in a series of twenty-five to thirty-mile hops in 1904.

Andrew Douglas, the steel magnate, endowed Ilkmore with a nation-wide system of free public libraries after his death in 1760. By 1798, his project was largely achieved.

Ilkmore law, like Scottish law, is based in the Civil Code with precedent guiding but not binding its decisions which proceed from first principles, making it a closer match to the English equity courts, rather than the courts of common law. One major difference from continental civil law is the guiding principle from Brehon Law that the objective of cases is to “set matters aright”. Consequently, imprisonment, fines and death are comparatively rare legal penalties. A man who murders another is more likely to be ordered to provide for and keep his victim’s widow, orphans and aged parents in the style to which they were entitled until they remarry, reach majority, or expire, respectively. A sentence of death is more common when the victim leaves behind no supporters. The classic example being Andrew of Strathbogie who was hanged by his father’s own hand after he murdered his younger brother, Kenneth, and blamed it on the Frasers, causing loss of life in an unjust feud. Andrew was reputed to have pleaded, “Ye canna hang me, da. I’m your son.” To which his father replied, “Aye, so ye air, but yuir brither, Kenneth, was my bairn, tae,” just before he set Andrew’s horse to running out from under him.

The Crown discovered the Aztecs but made little headway against them as they did not invade in the year Reed One and the king did not have a beard [not mistaken for Quetzcoatl returning in a prophecy]. Additionally, the two sides were closely matched in effective weaponry. It wasn’t until the adoption of the Ferguson rifle that the Crown began to make serious headway in Mexico.

2 of 2

[Phil Masters]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

Generally why I think that the Scottish would have to reach out to their traditional allies, the French, for funding and support.

At which point, this basically turns into a "French America" timeline with some picturesque Scottish point men and disposable muscle. Which probably reflects how most French rulers saw the Auld Alliance, so fair enough.

Originally Posted by jason taylor

It would be like much of the US and Canada. Which supplied much of the population and culture.

And of course a number of Texans were descended from Scots.

I am rather dubious though about the claim that Scots did not have traditions of conquest, expulsion, genocide, imperialism and slavery.

I'm reminded of George Macdonald Fraser's comments about seeing a newspaper photograph of a Graham, a Johnson, and a Nixon* cheerfully hanging out together and shaking hands. Executive summary; a few centuries ago, on the Boarders, that meeting would have meant that somebody else was about to get slaughtered.

*Billy, Lyndon and Richard, of course.

Originally Posted by Curmudgeon

The Islaymore initially sailed south, raiding the western coast of England, while avoiding the Welsh and Cornishmen.

A really fine job of precision navigation and geographical finesse, that. And picking on the Cumbrians (and presumably the Irish) and Devonian seafarers wasn't usually considered a great way to get easy fights in those days.

Originally Posted by Curmudgeon

Whatever the reason, the Islaymore made landfall over a month later on a largish island [usually identified as Trinidad]. The Islaymore swept to the north and west in a great arc mapping the Outer Lordship of the Isles [Lesser and Greater Antilles]. The Islaymore’s crew made a semi-permanent camp at Stillwater [Santiago de Cuba] and wintered there. The following May, The Islaymore found a second [Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands] and third [Florida Keys] chain of islands to the northeast. While the islands were all mapped, Angus did not care much for his newly discovered Lordship. It was too hot, too wet when it wasn’t too dry and the natives [Caribs] were cannibals.

The Islaymore sailed north along the east coast of what would become Ilkmore. In general, he found it to still be too hot and too disease-ridden until he reached the Long Isle [Long Island, New York]. He explored well up the two rivers that emptied from the mainland near the southern tip of Long Isle but still didn’t care for what he saw. Continuing northward he found Floodtide Bay [Bay of Fundy] which reminded him greatly of his home.

The guy's talent for logistics and ship maintenance was certainly awe-inspiring. He's apparently kept most of his crew alive and his ship from falling apart, in unfamiliar tropical waters, over a period of years...

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by Phil Masters

I'm reminded of George Macdonald Fraser's comments about seeing a newspaper photograph of a Graham, a Johnson, and a Nixon* cheerfully hanging out together and shaking hands. Executive summary; a few centuries ago, on the Boarders, that meeting would have meant that somebody else was about to get slaughtered.

*Billy, Lyndon and Richard, of course.

Some things stay the same.

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by Phil Masters

At which point, this basically turns into a "French America" timeline with some picturesque Scottish point men and disposable muscle. Which probably reflects how most French rulers saw the Auld Alliance, so fair enough.


I'm reminded of George Macdonald Fraser's comments about seeing a newspaper photograph of a Graham, a Johnson, and a Nixon* cheerfully hanging out together and shaking hands. Executive summary; a few centuries ago, on the Boarders, that meeting would have meant that somebody else was about to get slaughtered.

*Billy, Lyndon and Richard, of course.


A really fine job of precision navigation and geographical finesse, that. And picking on the Cumbrians (and presumably the Irish) and Devonian seafarers wasn't usually considered a great way to get easy fights in those days.

It's less impressive than it sounds. He didn't hug the coast as tightly as say an ancient Greek ship in the Mediterranean but he wasn't sailing by log and staff either. All I mean by avoiding the Welsh and Cornishmen is that he didn't try to pick fights with them if he could avoid it. He didn't pick on his Irish relations much either. He seems to have been bent on stirring up trouble with the English for James III, and with 600 men, he looked less like a raider, being more than halfway to coming in war.

The guy's talent for logistics and ship maintenance was certainly awe-inspiring. He's apparently kept most of his crew alive and his ship from falling apart, in unfamiliar tropical waters, over a period of years...

Again, not so much. The Islaymore is an almost brand-new ship (about half the size of the Great Michael). It's probably pushing close to being as big a ship as could be built in any of the then-current shipyards in Scotland. [Great Michael wasn't built in Scotland, though commissioned by the Scots Crown.] He did keep most of his crew alive, more by good luck than proper planning and preparation, given what was known. His crew did suffer from tropical disease but I assumed that the island plants provided nutrition and medicinal cures. Natives largely steered clear of his main body due to their numbers and even when foraging, his men travelled in warband-sized (platoon-strength) groups. His cartography skills should impress though. His achievements there easily exceed those of Champlain for volume, if nothing else. The Islaymore spent two years in the tropics (and was careened over the winter at Stillwater.

Some additional points about Ilkmore. The military uniform of Ilkmore has a [rifle-]green coat [doublet] and as with the British scarlet jacket, it becomes a symbol of fair and honest dealing, being adopted by Ilkmore's Royal Mounted Rifles [R.C.M.P. analog].

Ilkmore has varied wildlife. Its inhabitants find hunting white-tailed bucks much like hunting red deer. There have been some imports from Europe, such as aurochs from Poland that were released into the wild, along with the European boar. Some animals have different names, the moose is the Ilkmore elk and bison are short-horned wisents rather than buffalo. Western Ilkmore has some Asian animals not seen in our timeline, mostly in the Cairnmore Mountains, such as the ounce (snow leopard) and Siberian tiger. The Rocky Mountain sheep and Rocky Mountain goat have interbred with feral European stock to the point where they are themselves domesticable.

One last point is that Jasper, home of the Gordons in this time, is located at the triple point of the continental divide, i.e. it is the dividing place for the eastern, western and northern waters. It now exceeds the old highland capital of Inverness for mystical significance. It has the Calgary Stone (a third piece of the Irish Stone of Destiny and a second piece of the Stone of Scone). Whoever sits on the Stone of Calgary at his coronation is the rightful king of Ilkmore. Likewise there exists a petrified footprint at Jasper, and if the rightful king steps barefoot upon it, he will hear three times the nine tums [or waves] of Ilkmore beating on its shores. Unlike Scotland's nine tuns, Ilkmore hears nine tuns from the east, nine tuns from the west and the nine tuns of the north.