Strathconon, Scatwell and the Mackenzies in the Written Record c. 1463-c.1700

Although some writers have considered the earlier history of Ross, these studies tend to focus on dynastic and political events and not much is know about the internal workings of Ross-shire far less Strathconon in the historical record prior to the end of the fifteenth century.2 Strathconon, strategically situated in central Ross, was the key to the control of the earldom of Ross in that possession of these lands secured control of the few good access routes from coast to coast. The earldom of Ross and the possession thereof in turn was pivotal to the fortunes of the Macdonald Lords of the Isles in the fifteenth century who were fatally undermined by their loss of the area to the Stewart monarchy in 1475. This essay will consider the Strathconon and Scatwell area from the time of its earliest appearance in the historical record at the end of the fifteenth century (at much the same time as the Mackenzie clan themselves) and go on to concentrate on the area in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. An attempt will be made to pull together a variety of written sources in order to try to build up a picture of the area in this period inasmuch as the evidence will allow. These lands, Strathconon and Scatwell, which form the focus of this investigation, were a small part of a much wider (and expanding) estate that was controlled in this period, c.1463 to 1700 by the Mackenzies of Kintail / Seaforth

\u3cem\u3eUnited States v. Hodges\u3c/em\u3e: Treason, Jury Trials, and the War of 1812

In August 1814 a number of British soldiers were arrested as stragglers or deserters in the town of Upper Marlboro, Maryland. Upon learning of the soldiers’ absences the British military took local physician, Dr. William Beanes, and two other residents into custody and threatened to burn Upper Marlboro if the British soldiers were not returned. John Hodges, a local attorney, arranged the soldiers’ return to the British military. For this, Hodges was charged with high treason for “adhering to [the] enemies, giving them aid and comfort.” The resulting jury trial was presided over by Justice Gabriel Duvall, a Supreme Court Justice and Prince Georges County native, and highlights how the crime of treason was viewed in early American culture and the role of the jury as deciders of the facts and the law in early American jurisprudence. Contextually, Hodges’ trial took place against the backdrop of the War of 1812 and was informed by the 1807 treason trial of Aaron Burr

Sìol Torcail and their lordship in the sixteenth century

This article, based on a paper given at a conference discussing links between the Hebridean islands of Skye and Lewis, examines the lordship of Sìol Torcail, or the Macleods of Lewis which embraced both these islands together with parts of the adjacent Scottish mainland in the sixteenth century. The first section of the paper concentrates on the political (and dynastic) history of the Macleods of Lewis and their frequent rebellions in the face of the extension of royal control and pressure from neighbouring 'Highland' clans such as the Mackenzies of Kintail, a process which culminated in the expropriation of the Macleods and attempted plantation of Lewis (1598-1609) by lowland Scottish settlers. The fate of the Macleods of Lewis is discussed within the wider context of James VI & I' Highland policy, such as the Statutes of Iona, and the favouring of client clans such as the Mackenzies. The second section of the paper briefly considers the human and physical geography of the lordship of Sìol Torcail inasmuch as this can be reconstructed and the final section considers the fisheries which were, it is argued, of crucial importance in attracting outside interest to the area

The Journals of Lewis and Clark: Almost Home

My entry into the world of Lewis and Clark was quite indirect. My wife Faye saw an ad for the editorial position in a professional journal in 1978 and encouraged me to apply. That I was to be unemployed the next year was a compelling incentive. My professional interests in the American West, Native Americans, and historical editing gave me an edge. In fact, I was just completing editing the papers of Chief John Ross of the Cherokees, supported for four years by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) of the National Archives

Byng’s and Currie’s Commanders: A Still Untold Story of the Canadian Corps

In 1915, the Canadian Corps was little more than a rabble of enthusiastic amateurs. Yet by 1917-18, it had become an accomplished professional fighting force, one characterized by Denis Winter as “much the most effective unit in the BEF” and by Shane Schreiber as “the shock army of the British Empire.” While Canadian military historians have studied this evolution extensively few have examined the decisive element in the transformation—the development of a cadre of proficient senior combat officers. No one questions Currie’s status as Canada’s best fighting general, but of the supporting team he and his predecessor, General Byng, assembled we know precious little. Who, then, were the men commanding the Corps’ four divisions, 12 infantry brigades and supporting machine gun and artillery units—the senior officers whose abilities as trainers and fighters were integral to the CEF’s battlefield success

216 Jewish Hospital of St. Louis

https://digitalcommons.wustl.edu/bjc_216/1114/thumbnail.jp

216 Jewish Hospital of St. Louis

https://digitalcommons.wustl.edu/bjc_216/1089/thumbnail.jp

The decline of the cape gentry, 1838 - 1900

The final ending of slavery in 1838 marked a radical break in the agrarian history of the Cape Colony. The liberated slaves could and did make use of the mobility that emancipation allowed them. This amounted to a real negotiation of the price of labour, for at various points in the nineteenth century the price of labour threatened the very profitability of farming. For the greater part of the century many landlords were led, in the words of one colonial official, ‘to look back…with something very like an envious eye, to the days in which slavery was tolerated by law, because then the slaveholder could command labour whenever it was needed.’For the former slaveowners, the outcome was agricultural innovation and routine insolvency, and merchants came to have an increasingly important role in the rural political economy. But post-emancipation agrarian structures were not merely shaped by the incursion of merchant capital and the mobility of labour. The former slaveholders displayed a remarkable tenacity. Most significantly, Cape landlords were heirs to a carefully constructed political economy in which the rules governing the circulation of land and wealth were clearly defined in community and familial terms and in which the ties of credit ran both vertically and horizontally. This was a ‘moral community’ in which all were cushioned against the sometimes detrimental effects of participation in a market economy. It is for this reason that the intervention of English-speaking merchants, by not paying due regard to these rules, was of a qualitatively different kind. Community, in short, provides the backdrop against which much of the colony's agrarian history was played out.This article seeks to provide a rather different interpretation of the post-emancipation Western Cape than is at present on offer.</jats:p

216 Jewish Hospital of St. Louis

https://digitalcommons.wustl.edu/bjc_216/1107/thumbnail.jp

216 Jewish Hospital of St. Louis

https://digitalcommons.wustl.edu/bjc_216/1129/thumbnail.jp