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A Clash of Cultures...Carruthers in the Arizona Indian Wars

A Clash of Cultures…Carruthers in the Arizona Indian Wars

Occupied from 1862 to 1894 — this fort was the center of military operations during the Apache War When the United States acquired the area from Mexico, they inherited a corridor that became nationally prominent as the Southern Overland Mail Road, connecting the eastern U.S. to California. Unfortunately, Apache Pass lay in the heart of Apacheria. Because there was a fairly reliable water source…

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WARDENS OF THE BORERS

WARDENS OF THE BORERS

Background of the situation; Originally, the area known as Strathclyde covered both sides of what is now the Scotland and England border.  Inhabitants of both sides of the border spoke the same language and families settled on what became later, both sides of the border.  When Strathclyde became part of Scotland, the Scottish border lay considerably South of its present position.  It was not…

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The border Reivers

The Armchair Archaeologist…. This is the Hermitage Valley from Timothy Pont’s survey of Liddesdale, circa 1583. For ten years, from 1978 until 1988, my family and I lived at Dinleyhaughfoot, just above the “tower” marked as “Graistounhauch” on the map above, and I know this area well. But back in those days, there was no “Google Earth,” and almost all of the overflight photographs were held by…

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Border Reivers-West March Warden is Murdered by the Armstrongs.

Border Reivers-West March Warden is Murdered by the Armstrongs.

Sir John Carmichael of that Ilk was murdered in June 1600 by a party of  Scottish Reivers  as he rode from Langholm to Lochmaben to attend a Warden Court. THE RIVERS ESK AND EWES AT LANGHOLM. Sir John was born in 1542, son to an illustrious family which hailed from Lanarkshire. He was a direct ancestor of the Earls of Hindford. He was Scottish Deputy March Warden at the ‘Day of Truce’ which was…

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Border Reivers – the ‘Great Cause’

Border Reivers – the ‘Great Cause’

Big List of Scottish Clans….. Alexander III In 1286 Alexander lll of Scotland died when his horse was blown over a cliff whilst on his way to Kinghorn in Fife on a stormy gale-strewn night. He was on his way to see his new wife, his second wife, Yolande de Dreux. So ended what is sometimes known as Scotland’s Golden Age: an age when peace reigned between Scotland and its southern neighbour…

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PRIVY COUNCIL OF SCOTLAND

PRIVY COUNCIL OF SCOTLAND

(And the Carruthers) As I research the Carruthers family in Scotland I find more and more about our Border Reivers and begin to understand just how difficult it must have been to live back then. I did come across an old book showing how some of our earlier Carruthers were quite the rascals but I wouldn’t want it any other way. I’ll start off with the explanation of what a ‘Privy Council’ is that…

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16th century Fatlips Castle Border Peel tower in Roxburghshire, Scotland

16th century Fatlips Castle Border Peel tower in Roxburghshire, Scotland

                                                      Fatlips Castle as it stood in 1857   Fatlips Castle, a 16th century pele tower of rectangular stone was founded by the Turnbulls of Barnhill. The castle sits in Roxburghshire atop the Minto Crags 2 miles northeast of the village of Denholm and 1 mile east of the village of Minto. The entrance to the tower leads to a vaulted basement with a…

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Border-Reivers-Kinmont-Willie-Armstrong-Trail

The-Kinmont-Willie-Armstrong-Trail Carlisle-Castle A Trail in Kinmont Country embraces the places associated with the homes of the main protagonists in the capture and rescue of Kinmont Willie Armstrong,most notorious of the 16th century Border Reivers, and the sites where men of the Scottish Border clans and their English adherents met in secrecy to lay their plans, and thus challenge the…

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Swords of the "Border Reivers." Of Hearts, Heart brooches, Heart burials, and "Rules of Engagement," ....

Swords of the “Border Reivers.” Of Hearts, Heart brooches, Heart burials, and “Rules of Engagement,” ….

                                                        “I give Thee my Heart”…..                                                     Not words to be spoken lightly?                                                                   Scotland’s “Holy Trinity.” The three great heroes of the Wars of Independence. (Keeping it brief!)   William Wallace, Robert  Bruce, and Sir James “The Good” or if…

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Guns of the "Border Reivers." A very good Nuremberg all steel wheellock pistol circa 1585.

Guns of the “Border Reivers.” A very good Nuremberg all steel wheellock pistol circa 1585.

An extremely rare “plain” wheellock pistol circa 1585. From the workshop of Peter Danner. (Ex. Evan Perry collection. Ex. Royal Armouries.) (photos courtesy of F.J.A.G.) Odd View eh?   And why you ask is it so very rare?…   Well… it’s because our old friends the “Victorians” took most of the surviving examples, and “improved” them with lots of lovely etching and gilding… and the ones that…

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Armour 2. The Real Thing, a fighting breastplate of the era of the Border Reivers, circa 1590.

Armour 2. The Real Thing, a fighting breastplate of the era of the Border Reivers, circa 1590.

A fine battered and battle scarred breastplate of the late 16th century. I have often been asked just what kind of armour the Border Reivers wore, and apart from the upper echelons of society the answer must always be the same…..Whatever they could get their hands on! “Scottish” armour near enough does not exist. Some was made in the 15th and 16th centuries, mostly by French armourers in Royal…

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The Eildon Hills, Sacred Mountains of the "Scottish Borders", and "La Belle Dame Sans Merci"

The Eildon Hills, Sacred Mountains of the “Scottish Borders”, and “La Belle Dame Sans Merci”

     The Eildons.   This is a view of the Eildon Hills, near Melrose, with the Pringle Tower of Smailholm in foreground. It was taken from just west of Kelso on the road to St Boswells. The Eildons are one of the most important sites in the Borders, and though the obvious archeology has been at least partially investigated, much yet remains to be done. The North hilltop is surrounded by ramparts…

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Swords of the "Border Reivers."

Swords of the “Border Reivers.”

“Number 33.” “The “Amen” Sword?” A German Military backsword of Landsknecht form, circa 1525. A rare German backsword of “Landsknecht” form. Circa 1525. Blade marked with the number “33.” (Photos courtesy of F.J.A.G.) Dimensions :- Backsword, with ricasso, and twin fullers as far as the double edged tip. Overall Length :-  40 and one half inches. Blade Length :- 35 and one sixteenth…

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THE BORDER REIVERS

In 1286, King Alexander III of Scotland was on his way to his new young wife’s bed, during a storm, when he fell over a cliff. Whether his tumble was assisted or not isn’t recorded but his lust-driven freefall to oblivion was to have enormous consequences for the border between Scotland and England. From this point in time begins the story of the Border Reivers, also known as Riding Surnames and…

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The "Steel Bonnet" A Master at work. A very good and untouched South German Burgonet circa 1580. It gets no better than this!

The “Steel Bonnet” A Master at work. A very good and untouched South German Burgonet circa 1580. It gets no better than this!

It gets no better than this! Photos courtesy of F.J.A.G. This is a “munitions” burgonet, circa 1580. Untouched. Not even cleaned!   But… a “munitions,” (?) burgonet with a one piece skull, hammer raised by a Master Armourer.   Although from an armoury containing mostly “munitions quality” helmets, this one stands out.   It bears neither an armourers mark or a guild mark. But with work of this…

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Garrey Edward Carruthers

Garrey Edward Carruthers (born August 29, 1939) is an American politician and academic who served as the 27th governor of New Mexico and the Chancellor of New Mexico State University. He previously served as special assistant to the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture from 1974 to 1975, director of the New Mexico Water Resources Research Institute at NMSU, state chair of the Republican Party of New…

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James Carruthers

  Hall of Fame Class of 1990 Information submitted in a nomination letter to the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame by Ralph “Doc” DesRoches. Red Carruthers was a true friend of the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame. With the help of Betsy and Phillip Palmedo, he helped create the Palmedo National Ski Library using the more than quarter ton of ski books of the late Roland Palmedo. James H. “Red”…