The Collision of Cultures during the Times of Rob Roy MacGregor

Statue of Rob Roy 

It wasn’t until I moved to Minnesota that I came to understand my ancestral history as a descendant of Rob Roy MacGregor, the legendary hero/outlaw--a hero to the people, but a thorn in the side of the corrupt British overlords.

Growing up in Central New Jersey, I saw little evidence of the native peoples who originally populated that land. The Raritan River rolled through our area, but I never grasped that the Raritan took its name from the Native American tribe that once occupied this region 300 years earlier.

In coming to Minnesota in the 1970s, the past was quite near at hand. The Battle of the Little Big Horn, that ended Custer’s ambitious and wreckless life, took place only 100 years earlier. Reservations and Native peoples are still all around us here, with tribal communities that continue to carry on many of the practices of their forebears. 

What I eventually came to understand was that the Scottish clan system was very similar to the tribes that lived on the land and organized their lives in a manner utterly different, with lawyers and title deeds to property and all the associated red tape. Scotland in earlier times was much like the West before the intrusion of “civilization.” 

 

During the era of Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and the Ghost Dancers there was a collision of cultures, with much misunderstanding and many unfortunate outcomes. I learned these things here in Minnesota, and recognized that this is what had happened in Scotland during the time of the Highland MacGregors. For nearly a century it was legal to shoot a MacGregor on sight.

In 1827 Sir Walter Scott wrote a novel titled Rob Roy, which showcased the stark contrasts between English urban society and the rugged Highland landscape. This contrast served as a central theme that highlighted the cultural, social, and value differences between these two worlds. These differences played a significant role in shaping the characters' perspectives, motivations, and decisions throughout the novel.

Engraving of Rob Roy

Last night I decided to go back in time and ask Rob Roy himself about the difference between English urban society and life amongst the Highland clans. Here was Rob Roy's reply.

"Ah'll tell ye, th' rugged Highland landscape is a stark shift awa' frae th' English urban scene. Th' Highlands are wild, untamed, an' marked wi' th' independent clan system. Th' Highland clans hae their ain complex social structures, an' loyalty tae yin's clan chief is o' utmost importance. We Highlanders cherish notions like honor, loyalty, an' rugged individualism. Oor way o' life is closely bound tae th' land, an' oor traditions are deeply rooted in a strong link tae oor environment."

"On th' ither haun, English urban society is bound tae commercial an' financial pursuits, social hierarchy, an' a mair centralized form o' governance. Th' English value stability, convention, an' a sense o' propriety. It's aw aboot a sense o' order, decorum, an' adherin' tae social norms." 

"As ye can ken, me heart bides in th' Highlands." 

My Take on Larry McMurtry's Custer

The name of the book is Custer. When I saw it, I wanted it. Seemed like a good suggestion for a Christmas gift, beautiful looking volume by any measure. It’s a good thing I did not read the reviews at Amazon.com because this is a two star product according to the 83 reviewers, some of whom called it shameful. Well, I found it a very interesting read, in spite of its shortcomings.

First off, I almost never read these kinds of books that are so beautifully laid out with coffee table excellence in terms of appearance. But this is Larry McMurtry and not just an unsung researcher or whoever assembles those books that we rarely read but love displaying. The Pullitzer Prize-winning McMurtry has given his love of the all things western one last long embrace.

McMurtry claims to personally own approximately one thousand volumes of Custer literature. Despite the brevity of his career, he was a man much written about. What’s interesting is that the book reads as if an elderly grandfather is simply talking to you, telling stories. Because of his lifetime of interaction with western history, McMurtry is more than acquainted with the cast of characters and he has opinions about all of them. On the other hand, elderly grandfathers sometimes ramble and repeat themselves and mix up their facts as this amazon.com reviewer notes.

Pretty Pictures, Nice Bibliography Approach this book as you would your crazy old uncle who corners you at the family gathering and begins to tell a story. You realize he has all the facts wrong, that he is rambling from point to point, that he is confusing characters in the story with each other--but you listen because you love him and don't want to hurt his feelings. Take this book with a grain of salt, look at the pretty pictures (ignoring the ones that are mis-labeled), and, if you have not already done so, read the real Custer books mentioned in the bibliography.

Frankly, I enjoyed the stories and the informal manner in which the Custer tale is presented. I liked the feel of the paper. I liked the illustrations, even if a couple were mis-labeled. Typos, and I did catch a couple mistakes, would be a publisher's fault I would think. That 40 of 83 reviewers at Amazon.com gave it a one star rating surprised me. Here’s another reviewer who cites the rambling.

Senile dementia or shameless exploitation This book reads like it was dictated and transcribed with no revision. It is hopelessly disjointed, rambling on, at times almost a stream of consciousness. In no way could this ever be considered an historical document. He simply repeats many of the conflicting accounts of "the battle", Custer's early career, his marriage, the "taming of the West"; his conclusion, over and over again is "we'll never know". If you know anything about these subjects, you will find this to be on an elementary school level.

My feeling is that a book like this for coffee tables was not intended to be a significant addition to the historical literature. It does offer interesting information that I’d not seen in  my other readings on this period of history. For example, the Native Americans did not all speak the same language and communication amongst whites and native and even natives themselves often resulted in misunderstanding and mis-communications. McMurtry shares several examples of the problems this caused.

In a nutshell, General George Armstrong Custer and his men were wiped out at the Little Bighorn because he was a glory-seeking jerk. Before the battle commenced his men were exhausted because he forced them without rest on a 78-mile march. As McMurtry and many others have written, the natives who were there saw that Custer’s soldiers had legs so shaky they could hardly stand.

In the aftermath, his wife Libby wrote several books and countless letters attempting to lay the blame for this disaster at the feet of Major Reno who purportedly was to bring his company of men up from the south. Custer had no clue how many thousands were gathered there and Reno and his men were lucky to have escaped with their hides. After many years of being smeared, Reno requested a Court of Inquiry and was exonerated. Alas, his troubles didn’t end there, but it’s Custer’s story being told and Reno has to leave the stage.

Meantime, if you're interested in re-visiting the Old West and see this book in the biography section of your library, check it out. For more about Custer, the bibliography of McMurtry’s book will take you well on your way toward a broader understanding of a very unfortunate chapter in our history. I refer here to the Indian Wars whose legacy leaves us much to be ashamed of.

As for the critics at amazon.com, I have no regrets about my purchase. I may even read it again.

Featured eBook of the Day: The Red Scorpion  

This Day In History

If you are ever in need of good water cooler material, I recommend a regular visit to The History Channel's This Day In History page. Today, for example, was the Battle of the Little Bighorn, also known as Custer's Last Stand, an enormous fiasco due chiefly to the enormity of William Armstrong Custer's ego. Mrs. Custer wrote many a book over the next thirty years in an attempt to portray her husband a hero. But honest historians have seen through to the haze and seen the arrogance that led to his destruction for what it was, an attempt to become president via the route of military heroics.

One weakness with regard to This Day In History is its tendency to feature U.S. achievements over global moments. Today, for example, is the 150th anniversary of Italian Reunification Day, also known as The Resurgence (il Resorgimento), a social movement that culminated in bringing the Italian peninsula back under the rule of a single state government.

On the other hand, any review of history will offer up varieties of focal points as to who, what, where and why certain people and events are significant. Mark Twain would add that most of history remains buried in our brains because a single day is filled with thoughts and impressions, musings and observations that may not be recorded but did indeed exist in history. Whose history ultimately matters anyways?

Well, here are the lead stories this site cites for the the week ahead. Something to talk about anyways.

Jun 25, 1876

Battle of Little Bighorn

June 26, 1948

U.S. begins Berlin Airlift

June 27, 1950

Truman orders U.S. forces to Korea

June 28, 1953

Workers assemble first Corvette in Flint, Michigan

June 29, 1995

U.S. space shuttle docks with Russian space station

June 30, 1936

Gone with the Wind published

July 01, 1997

Hong Kong returned to China

July 02, 1954

Birth of Dr. Ron Newman

(Happy birthday, bro'.)

Sitting Bull

“Only seven years ago we made a treaty by which we were assured that the buffalo country should be left us forever. Now they threaten to take that from us also.” ~Sitting Bull

Sitting Bull (Tatanka Yotanka) was the great chief of the Hunkpapa Lakota Sioux who is credited with defeating General Armstrong Custer at the Battle of the Little Big Horn. It could be argued that Custer destroyed himself, but this might diminish Sitting Bull’s role as a great man and for me I wish not to do so.

Chief Sitting Bull is on my short list of great men from whom lessons in leadership can be gleaned.

The relationship between white settlers and the robust tribal peoples who once populated this continent is certainly a tragic episode in history. It isn’t just the slaughters that took place, the misunderstandings, the broken treaties, the disease which ravaged the native populations… but rather, the loss of a way of life that was meaningful to those who valued it.

In the tribal cultures a chief did not attain his stature by a college degree or pedigree or appointment from some higher authority. And even if he had done so, no one would follow him or obey him unless they respected him. Thus, when the Sioux Nation gathered in Montana in the largest assembly of tribal peoples ever, it could only mean that the chief to whom these natives had been drawn was an exceedingly respected man. Respect was the coin of his worth.

By way of contrast, Custer was an ambitious, impetuous, arrogant jerk. But he was general and in U.S. military fashion his men were to fear and obey him. His wife spent thirty years writing books attempting to mythologize his greatness, but a simple reading of the details of his life paints a pretty clear picture.

I offer up my Sitting Bull portrait as a tribute to a great man. The expression is grim for he sees the future for his peoples. Yet, there is a dignity in the features, and if you can find the time to read his story, there are many lessons there on being a leader and a man.

EDNOTE: Most of the paintings and illustrations on my blog are available for sale. If you see something here that makes you say, "I gotta have it," be sure to let me know and we can negotiate a price. Feel free to click on images to enlarge.

Five People, Five Questions

One evening while dining out the week before New Year's, Susie asked me “If you could meet five people from history, who would you like to meet?” It was an interesting question. She said Jesus, Thomas Aquinas, St. Francis of Assisi, G. K. Chesterton, and C.S. Lewis.

The next morning it stimulated in me the follow up thought: What would I want to ask each of the five people I talked with from history.

I found the idea of it so stimulating that I decided to send this question to everyone in my Outlook Express address book. It seemed like a good way to discover which of my email addresses were obsolete, and would generate some potentially interesting replies. The replies did not disappoint.

I did include the disclaimer that I might place their responses on my website, but in the interest of a small measure of privacy I will use initials only here.

The question re-stated: If it were possible to have discussions with five people from history (past or present) … who would you want to talk to and what question would you like to ask them?

E.S., a writer from Duluth:
I had a hard time coming up with a list of five people, because the only historical figure I'd really, really like to meet is Mark Twain. But I worked on it and thought about it, and here's my list: Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, Molly Ivins, Rachel Carson, Jacques Cousteau. They all have one thing in common, they used their skills wholeheartedly to effect social change.

D.B. from Napa Valley:
Here is my answer to your your question. There is no importance to the order, just as I thought about them. I tried to stay away from those you already mentioned, but also I don't think I could look Jesus in the eyes, let alone ask Him a question. But I would have loved to have sat at His feet when he taught, and I would have loved to taken a class with C.S. Lewis. I am not sure my questions are good ones, but I respect each of these men, and would have been honored to have worked with or for each. I kept it to five, but if I think of some more I may send them later...

Abraham Lincoln – If you could only name one thing which sustained you through the stress and tribulation of the Civil War - what was it?
Thomas Jefferson – What was your greatest success, and what was your most disappointing failure?
Sir Winston Churchill – In your political career, what would you have done differently?
The Apostle Peter – Why do you think the Lord chose you to be the first leader of the Church?
Francis Schaeffer – What is the biggest failure of the Church of the twentieth century?

M.D. from New York:
President Eisenhower: where are the bodies from the Roswell crash kept?
Chris Columbus : what food did you bring aboard your ships?
Henry Ford; how would you feel if your cars could travel at 300 mph?
President Truman: what if we don’t drop the atomic bomb?
Jesus: why does the Lord make children suffer?

G.K. from Michigan:
These are the first five that came to mind. It is far to late for me to be up on Saturday night. I need to go to bed. Thank Susie for the challenge. I liked her choices too. In particular Chesterton and Lewis. I am hoping that there will be times of storytelling on the other side with all of the people that I admire for their stand for Jesus.

#1 My great- grandfather Henry Kins -- The question: Is our name really Kinserdahl or is it Hermundson? Is the story you told my Dad true about why you came to America true and if it isn't true why did you change our name?

# 2 Ulrich Zwingle - Was it really a difference about the Lord's Supper that drove you and Martin Luther apart and was that what prompted you to say about him , " We are not of the same spirit."

#3 General Armstrong Custer - Were you shot by an old man when you rode across the river like the native Americans tell the story and were you killed relatively early at Little Big Horn like they say or were you the last to die like the movies depict it. Also, was your motivation for attacking by yourself and not waiting for your re-enforcements, that you were wanting to run for president and wanted a glory story to kick off the campaign?

# 4 Lief Erikson - Did you discover America or did you get no further than Greenland?

# 5 The Apostle Paul - Did you really evangelize in Spain and get as far as Great Britain or are those just legends?

Stay Tuned for MORE QUESTIONS TOMORROW