Tag: clann an sgeulaiche

Breadalbane Pipe Band – possibly the oldest known civilian pipe band.

The oldest civilian pipe band

Features

A small number of civilian pipe bands claim to be the oldest – or, at least, among the oldest. Wallacestone, Inveraray, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch, are among the small list and all four date to the mid-1880s. We think the latter two are in abeyance these days but Wallacestone is still […]

A contemporary painting of siege of the Alamo. Around 200 ‘Texans’ and 600 Mexicans were killed when General de Santa Anna stormed the Alamo in San Jacinto after a 13-day siege in March 1836. Just over three quarters of the Texans who died at the Alamo in 1836 were Scots or of Scots descent.

The piper at the Alamo

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Among the men who fought and died at the Alamo during the Texas War of Independence were several Scots. The best remembered of these brave Celts was John MacGregor. Born in Scotland, he was 34 years old and held the rank of Second Sergeant when the Alamo fell. During the […]