We are aware that Carruthers were in the Americas during the War of Independence (American Revolution) and most certainly in the Southern Campaign (1778–1781). We know this through not only the ancestry of such as our very own Dana Caruthers Norton FSA Scot, who has evidence of the same but of records that still exist. The Southern Campaign itself was the phase of the American Revolutionary War in which Carruthers descendants are most clearly visible. Unlike the northern Continental Army battles, warfare in the South was fought largely by frontier militia — exactly on the lands where the Scots-Irish folks, to include our own families lived.
By 1778, many Carruthers and derivations such as Caruthers/Carothers households had migrated along the Great Wagon Road into areas which became known as the Scots-Irish defensive border. They were Presbyterian communities who were made up of independent small farmers suspicious of a centralised authority and importantly were experienced in the militia tradition inherited from their Border warfare culture. Once the war moved south, Britain encountered the territory settled by such kinship groups to include:
- Shenandoah Valley, Virginia
- Mecklenburg & Rowan Counties, North Carolina
- South Carolina backcountry
- Western Pennsylvania frontier
The move south by the Kings army in 1778 was nurtured by a belief by the British command who had adopted the Southern Strategy, that they had strong ‘Loyalist’ support in the Carolinas. However, they were wrong and the region descended into a civil war where Patriot militia fought Loyalist militia, neighbour went against neighbour and families were divided along political lines. As such, Carruthers descendants appear on both sides, reflecting Scots-Irish divisions across the full frontier.
For Carruthers women, children, and elders, the Southern Campaign was fought on family-owned lands and meant food shortages as farms were burnt by opposing militias with at worst murder and at best forced evacuations, allowing property confiscation by those loyal to the British Crown. This did nothing but fuel the fire against the British authorities.
As such militias were formed where typical service patterns included duty militia rotations of 3-6 months away from their families where they acted as members of mounted rifle companies or were assigned as rangers and scouts. They were not always front line and as such would act as a protection of settlements, within their area against raids. As such, rather than being under the same regime as regular soldiers, they would have served under locally elected officers, fighting near their own communities and returning home between campaigns.
Carruthers and derivatives have been documented as being part of, or involved with, the North Carolina militia companies, South Carolina ranger units and Virginia frontier defence forces, as such they definately played their part.
One famous battle that always comes to the fore during research of this nature, was the Battle of Kings Mountain in October 1780, often described as ‘a frontier uprising rather than a formal army engagement’. This was a decisive Patriot victory, which shattered the Loyalist momentum in the south and was led mainly by Scots-Irish frontiersmen who were to become known as the Overmountain Men.
But why are we certain that Carruthers played their part?
Well, the Colonial fighters came from the same migration corridor which would have held Carruthers settlements and farmsteads but even more evidence is based Pension records, which confirm soldiers with the Carruthers/Caruthers surname were connected with the campaign.
However, this did battle not end the war as during the years 1780 – 1781, and after the British took Charleston and Camden, the loyalists attacked the farms and families of the patriots. Obviously, this didn’t go down well and it rekindled the skills that Carruthers and many other Scottish borderers had brought with them, that of guerilla warfare. It took little effort for the Patriot militias to use these skills by organising rapid response forces made up of local riflemen, mounted irregulars and scouts, where knowledge of the area was a huge advantage. As previously said, this warfare strongly resembled earlier Border Reiver tactics familiar to Scottish Border families and they were used to their best advantage.
At the Battle of Cowpens in January 1781, these tactics were brought to the fore and mirrored the style of militias training and education given to Frontier families, such as Carruthers. The fire-controlled volleys, leading to deliberate and controlled withdrawals drew British troops into set ambushes. Rather than fighting as a clan/family, Carruthers helped form the military backbone of the Southern backcountry resistance that ultimately defeated the British strategy in America.
However not all colonialists nor in fact Carruthers would have supported independence. Some family branches would have remained loyal to the Crown, joining Loyalist provincial units and being evacuated along with British forces. As such, after 1783 many Loyalist families to include those of our own, relocated north into Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Ontario, thus war permanently splitting Carruthers lines between the United States and Canada.
But what happened to those who stayed?
The Southern Campaign directly shaped later expansion and following the victory by the Patriots, veterans received land grants while other families moved through the Cumberland Gap, a pass through the Cumberland Mountains in the Appalachians, near the tripoint of Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee. This expanded the frontier westward with families taking up lands in Kentucky and Tennessee as well the Ohio Valley. As such many American Carruthers/Carothers lines originate from Southern Campaign veterans and most certainly tracing their origins back to Annandale, here in Scotland.
But how did we get there?
The history of the Carruthers family migration follows one of the best-documented population movements in the British Atlantic world. Although individual families differed, the majority of Carruthers lines follow a remarkably consistent four-stage migration pattern from Annadale in Scotland → Ulster → America → Western Frontier.
Phase I, pre 1600:
Originating in Annandale, Dumfriesshire in the Scottish Borders between Scotland and England, their society was one of the Border reiver culture where Kinship loyalty superseded over centralized authority. They were skilled horsemen and light fighters, used to guerilla style warfare as were all other riding families who were based around their fortified tower houses. Their skills were honed by the constant Anglo-Scottish wars, which were deemed useful when needed but after the pacification of the Borders (post 1603), the suppression of reiver families began, leading to the economic displacement of Border surnames.
Phase II, Plantation of Ulster 1606-1609:
During this period, Scottish Border families were encouraged to settle in northern Ireland, which was later to become known as the Border Clearances.
Our family it seems to have, although two were not plantation counties, moved mainly into Antrim, Down, Londonderry and Tyrone. Although not forgetting their heritage, this lead over time to an identity transformation into what was to become known as Ulster Scots. They however retained their strong Presbyterian tradition and a need for independence through strong clan kinship networks.
However, the dream of a better life was always over the horizon, and along with rising rent, continual religious discrimination and economic instability through population growth, people wanted to move. Some came back to Scotland, while others emigrated to the Americas.
Over 200,000 Scots migrated to Ireland, in turn around 2 million of their descendants, migrated to America in the 18th, 18th and early part of the 20th centuries.
Phase III — Emigration to Colonial America (1718–1775)
Beginning in 1718, large waves of Ulster-Scots took sail to America, arriving most commonly at Philadelphia, but also New Castle (Delaware), Baltimore and Charleston. It was here that some of the name changes occurred with clerks writing down and spelling what they heard. But a Carruthers remains a Carruthers irrelevant of the spelling.
As emigration grew, it seems however that Carruthers families rarely remained in coastal towns but instead followed the great inland migration artery down the Great Wagon Road: Pennsylvania → Shenandoah Valley → Carolinas. Records suggest that the most common settlement areas for Ulster Scots, to include ourselves was in the Pennsylvania frontier counties, Augusta County, Virginia counties of Rowan & Mecklenburg, North Carolina and the South Carolina backcountry, which as previously discussed, became major Revolutionary War militia regions.
Phase IV — Revolutionary Generation Movement (1775–1783) leading to the Appalachian & Western Expansion (1783–1820).
As we have alluded to, during the American Revolution Carruthers descendants served mainly in frontier militia where communities experienced civil war conditions but it was through this military service that western land opportunities were opened and families took advantage of it.
After independence, Carruthers families joined America’s largest internal migration following the primary routes along the Wilderness Road through the Cumberland Gap, valley routes into Tennessee and along the Ohio River and further, leading to immigration into Tennessee itself and into Mississippi.
In essence: Carruthers did not simply emigrate — they carried a Border frontier identity across the Atlantic, helping shape the Appalachian and early American frontier society.
As a family we have reached all corners of the earth, and although not all being born in Scotland and now retaining the other nationalities of our birth, our hearts and souls retain the anchor that is our Scottish heritage. For that, we remain a strong kinship group, proud of our Reiver ancestry, proud of our achievements and proud of our origins in Annandale, Dumfriesshire and long may that continue.
