An Historical Account of the Settlement of Scotch Highlanders in America by J.P. MacLean

The Real Josey Wales

Let us begin with an extract from Josey Wales creator, Forest Carter’s novel The Vengeance Trail of Josey Wales.

This extract was Carter’s explanation for Wales’ background.

THE MOUNTAIN CODE.

“The Code was as necessary to survival on the lean soil of mountains, as it had been on the rock ground of Scotland and Wales. Clannish people. Outside governments erected by people of kindlier land, of wealth, of power, made no allowance for the scrabbler.

“As a man had no coin, his coin was his word. His loyalty, his bond. He was the rebel of establishment, born in this environment. To injure one to whom he was obliged was personal; more, it was blasphemy. The Code, a religion without catechism, having no chronicler of words to explain or to offer apologia.

“Bone-deep feuds were the result. War to the knife. Seldom if ever over land, or money, or possessions. But injury to the Code meant---WAR!

“Marrowed in the bone, singing in the blood, the Code was brought to the mountains of Virginia and Tennessee and the Ozarks of Missouri. Instantaneously it could change a shy farm boy into a vicious killer, like a sailing hawk, quartering its wings in the death dive.

“It all was puzzling to those who lived within government cut from cloth to fit their comfort. Only those forced outside the pale could understand. The Indian—Cherokee, Comanche, Apache. The Jew.

“The unspoken nature of Josey Wales was the clannish code. No common interest of business, politics, land or profit bound his people to him. It was unseen and therefore stronger than any of these. Rooted in human beings’ most powerful urge—preservation. The unyielding, binding thong was loyalty. The trigger was obligation.”

I offer that fictional extract as it mirrors the factual found in this volume of 1900 that tells the history of the hard men and women who settled the Appalachias.

I was raised in this region, still reside here and find much of what is outlined in this volume still pertinent and explanatory of mindset—something that many outsiders will never get.

Let us go to an extract from the factual.

“These Highlanders were a race of tall, robust men, who lived simply and frugally and slept on the heath among their flocks in all weathers, with no other covering from rain and snow than their plaidies. It is reported of the Laird of Keppoch, who was leading his clan to war in winter time, that his men were divided as to the propriety of following him further because he rolled a snowball to rest his head upon when he lay down. "Now we despair of victory," they said, "since our leader has become so effeminate he cannot sleep without a pillow!"

Hardness was a virtue.

Now there are some dry places here and there as the author lists families that crossed the pond and settled, but for those of the region or who have an interest in what was considered the original Wild West, well, this is a mighty fine read for that cadre.

Enjoy!