Scots‑Irish Backcountry Won the Revolution

The article contends that southern backcountry militias—largely Scots‑Irish settlers with a hard‑edged frontier culture—were pivotal in turning the war at King’s Mountain and Cowpens. It connects their origins as British‑managed borderers (and later Ulster planters) to their American squatter ethos and willingness to fight, challenging the New England‑centric narrative of independence. — This reassigns credit for U.S. nation‑founding and helps explain enduring regional political cultures by rooting them in settler‑group history and southern campaign outcomes.