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St Andrews Day

The Scots may have been the most influential people on the modern world.

- Although the Scots are less than 0.5 percent of the world’s population, 11 percent of all Nobel prizes have been awarded to Scotsmen.
- In 1805, At the battle of Trafalgar, the British under Nelson won a decisive naval battle off southern Spain against the French and Spanish. Approximately 30% of Admiral Nelson's fleet hailed from Scotland, and Scottish industry provided the timber products, sails, ropes, iron cannons and iron balls.
- Of course the Scottish invented Scotch, but also Reverend Elijah Craig, a Baptist minister and Scotsman is credited in 1789 with being the first to make bourbon. The limestone in Kentucky makes the water virtually iron-free. The first bourbon recognized by brand outside of Kentucky was likely produced by Dr. James Crow, another Scotsman who settled near Rev. Craig. He was known by locals as Jim Crow.
- Scotland invented branch banking and so brought banking facilities to the people and the world.
- Scotsman, Alexander Fleming, discovered Penicillin.
- Scotsman, Alexander Graham Bell, invented the telephone.
- Scotsman, Captain Patrick Ferguson, invented the breech loading rifle.
- Scotsman, Henry Faulds pioneered the use of fingerprints as means of undisputed identity of people.
- Scotsman, James Watt, developed the first efficient steam engine and in so doing started the Industrial Revolution.
- Scotsman, John Boyd Dunlop, invented the car tire.
- Scotsman, John Chalmers, invented the adhesive postage stamp.
- Scotsman, John Logie Baird, invented the Television.
- Scotsman, John Napier, invented logarithms and the decimal notation.
- Scotsman, John Paul Jones, founded the American Navy.
- Scotsman, Kirkpatrick Macmillan, invented the bicycle.
- Scotsman, Major General Lachlan Macquarie, know as the 'Father of Australia',
- Scotsman, Robert Stirling, invented the Stirling engine in 1850. Stirling engines are being studied at NASA for use in powering space vehicles with solar energy.
- Scotsman, Sir John Alexander MacDonald, was the first Prime Minister of Canada under confederation.
- Scotsman, Thomas Blake Glover, was one of the founding fathers of modern Japan.
- Scotsman, William Paterson, founded the Bank of England.
- The Scots invented Golf.
- The Scots invented suspenders.
- The world’s first university faculty of engineering and technical science was in Glasgow.

The "founding fathers" of the United States were largely of Scottish descent, playing a leading role in laying the foundation on which the USA stands today.
- 9 of the 13 colony governors made in the new USA were Scottish.
- 9 of the signatures on the Declaration of Independence were from Scottish descent.
- 35 U.S. Supreme Court Justices, 25 of them are in the Great Americans Hall of Fame are of Scottish Descent
- 61% of American Presidents are of Scots or Scots-Irish descent.
- Almost half of the Secretaries of U.S. Treasury and a third of the Secretaries of State were Scots.
- Freemasonry originated from Scotland and the original American Freemasons were almost exclusively Scottish.
- James Pollock, of Scottish descent, put the slogan "In God We Trust" on American coins.
- More than 100 governors of pre- and post- Revolutionary America were of Scottish birth or descent.
- Scottish who emigre to the US are five times more likely to become dollar millionaires than those from any other country, according to a study by Thomas Stanley and William Danko. In their book The Millionaire Next Door, they analyzed the ethnic backgrounds of the wealthiest members of American society and discovered that while people of Scottish origin make up only 1.7% of the population, they comprise 9.3% of its millionaires.
- There are estimated to be 20,000 Americans living in Scotland and half a million visit each year.
- It is estimated that 15% of Canadians are of Scots descent.

Quotes

"Every line of strength in American history is a line colored with Scottish blood."
- American President Woodrow Wilson
"If all else fails, I will retreat up the valley of Virginia, plant my flag on the Blue Ridge, rally around the Scotch-Irish of that region and make my last stand for liberty amongst a people who will never submit to British tyranny whilst there is a man left to draw a trigger."
- George Washington, Valley Forge.

Americans of Scottish descent include...

- Alexander Macomb, the "The Hero of Plattsburgh", the Commanding General of the United States Army and commander at the Battle of Plattsburgh.
- Arthur MacArthur, army general, father of Douglas MacArthur;
- Christopher “Kit” Carson, frontiersman, explorer, and hero of many dime novels.
- David Glasgow Farragut, the first rear admiral, vice admiral, and admiral in the United States Navy during the Civil War known for saying "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!"
- Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone, frontiersmen who died at the Alamo.
- George B. McClellan, formed the Army of the Potomac and briefly the general-in-chief of the Union Army in the American Civil War.
- George Rogers Clark, Frontier hero of the Revolutionary War
- George S. Patton, U.S. outspoken, vulgar, and charismatic commander of the Seventh United States Army, Third United States Army, and pioneering mobile warfare strategist of World War II.
- Henry Knox, an officer of the American Continental Army, United States Army, and the first United States Secretary of War.
- J.E.B. Stuart, a Confederate States Army general of the American Civil War and reconnaissance pioneer.
- John Paul Jones, first American naval hero (Revolutionary War) known for responding for a demand for surrender with "I have not yet begun to fight!"
- Joseph E. Johnston, a career U.S. Army officer with distinction in the Mexican-American War and Seminole Wars, and one of the most senior general officers in the Confederate Army in the American Civil War.
- Stonewall Jackson, a Confederate general during the American Civil War and one of the most gifted tactical commanders in U.S. history
- William (Billy) Mitchell, a United States Army general, known as the father of the U.S. Air Force
- William Clark, explorer who led the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1803 to 1806 across the Louisiana Purchase to the Pacific Ocean, claiming the Pacific Northwest for the United States
- William Moultrie, an American Army brigadier general successfully defended a fort on Sullivan's Island (re-named Fort Moultrie) and prevented the overtaking of Charleston, South Carolina.
- Winfield Scott, the longest serving General in American history (War of 1812, Mexican-American War, Black Hawk War, Second Seminole War, American Civil War), and developer of the Anaconda Plan to defeat the Confedracy in the American Civil War.

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