Unintended Consequences:  As Goes The Scottish Tartan So Goes The Confederate Flag?

Dennis Garvin
Dennis Garvin

It would appear that we are witnessing another ironic historical convergence.  I refer to the recent actions taken against the flag of the Confederacy.  Also, the statue of Jefferson Davis in Richmond, Virginia was vandalized recently.

 It is clear that there is a media-fuelled movement to remove all visual symbols of the Confederacy.  EBay has stopped selling Confederacy flags, yet Nazi memorabilia is okay.  This is a delayed action taken by an abstract victor against the abstract vanquished.  While it is highly doubtful that any person who recently displayed the Confederate flag did so because he supported the history of American slavery, it is also irrelevant.

Here is the irony.  Most historians, whether or not they embraced a sympathy for the Confederate cause, agree that the literate southern male of the pre-Civil War era was greatly influenced by the novels of Sir Walter Scott (‘Ivanhoe,’ ‘Rob Roy,’ ‘Waverly,’ etc).  The romance of these books inspired the southern male in his speech, his behavior, even his anachronistic chivalry.

Scott’s stories largely took place in the Scottish Highlands around the time of the second Jacobite rebellion.  This was the attempt by Scotland to free itself of the tyranny of English overlordship. The supposed leader of this revolt was Charles Stuart (from which we get ‘bonny Prince Charlie’).  This rebellion was ended by the battle of Culloden, 1746; the Scots defeated by the Army of the English Duke of Cumberland.

The defeat of the Confederacy in our Civil War became known thereafter as the ‘lost cause.’  It achieved a certain romance, part of which accounted for the popularity of ‘Gone with the Wind.’  While most of that romance has faded, it is important to recall that the lost cause of the Confederacy was preceded by the Scottish lost cause.

What is not generally known is that, in the aftermath of the rebellion’s defeat, the English government undertook a program known as the Highland clearances.  It was aimed at destroying the Highland culture.  Men were deported to America in indentured servitude, land was confiscated.  The ironic part of my story is here:  the English also outlawed the tartan.  Factories were not permitted to make it.  People wearing or otherwise displaying tartan were jailed.  Plaid became associated with rebellion.

This suppression of Highland scot culture persisted until, you guessed it, the novels of Sir Walter Scott.  His books were so full of romance, adventure, and melancholy that they became wildly popular in England.  The Prince Regent was an ardent fan.  Suddenly, encyclopedias came out detailing the tartans specific to each clan.  The public was hooked- tartans were back in vogue, back in production, and Highland history was the stuff of romance, enjoying a cultural affection that it had never had before.

Here is the irony:  the author who ended the suppression of the symbols of the Scottish lost cause wrote the books that animated much of the heart of the Confederate cause.  Now, on a delayed basis, we are seeing a ‘Confederate clearance’ of southern symbols eerily reminiscent of the ‘Highland clearances’ attempted by the English.  It should be noted that the resurgence of Scottish culture made the English government appear to have been, historically, both silly and vindictive.

Will the same thing occur here? Will this precipitous attempt to remove all traces of the Confederacy backfire?  Will it confer upon the ‘lost cause’ a legitimacy as fanciful as the Scottish phenomenon?  The American public is no less fickle than that of 19th century England.  Americans love romance; add some tragedy, even better.

In the meantime, stayed tuned while the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences votes to retroactively strip ‘Gone with the Wind’ of its ten Academy Awards.

Dennis Garvin

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