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The Fiery Cross

The first form of Christianity among the Scotch Highlanders was Roman Catholicism and among all the Highland Clans the cross was a holy emblem and as such was viewed with awe and reverence.  The Scotch Highlanders were a fighting race, feuds between different Clans were common, and rarely ever were the Highlands in a state of peace and quiet.  Some of the Clans were friendly to each other and mortal enemies of others.  Each Clan was ever on the alert for fear of invasion of its territory by an enemy.  These attacks were sudden, unheralded, and accompanied by the burning of houses and villages, the killing of the inhabitants, and the carrying off of cattle, sheep, and other live stock, which constituted the principal source of wealth in those regions.

Each Clan had a fixed place of rendezvous where they met at the call of the Chief, in case of sudden alarm or attack.  When an emergency arose for an imminent gathering of the Clan to resist the incursion of an enemy, the "Fiery Cross" was immediately sent by the Chief through the territories of his Clan as a signal for all the fighting men to gather at once at the rendezvous, armed for war.

The Cross, of whose origin I can find no record, was small enough to be easily carried in one hand and was fashioned of wood chiefly of the yew tree or hazel in the form of the Latin Cross of history.  The manner of procedure seemed to vary.  Sometimes the ends of the upper and two horizontal arms were set on fire and then the blaze was extinguished in the blood of a goat slain for the purpose; at other times one of the ends of the horizontal piece was burnt or burning while a piece of white cloth stained with blood was suspended from the other end.

Two men, each with a "Fiery Cross" in his hand, were dispatched by the Chief in different directions, who ran shouting the war cry and naming the place and time of rendezvous.  As the runners became weary the crosses were delivered to others and, as each fresh bearer ran at full speed, the Clan was assembled very quickly.

Those who disregarded the summons of the "Fiery Cross" were looked upon as traitors to the Chief and Clan and the most horrible imprecations were called down upon their heads.  Old men cursed their delinquent sons, maidens despised their guilty lovers, all the members of the Clan united in heaping shame and abuse upon them as worse than worthless cowards.

Woe to the wretch who fails to rear
At this dread sign the ready spear!
Far o'er its roof the volumed flame
Clan Alpine's vengeance shall proclaim,
While maids and matrons on his name,
Shall call down wretchedness and shame,
And infamy and woe.
When flits this cross from man to man,
Vich-Alpine's summons to his Clan,
Burst be the ear that fails to heed!
Palsied the foot that shuns to speed!
May ravens tear the careless eyes,
Wolves make the coward heart their prize!
As sinks that blood stream in the earth,
So may his heart's blood drench his hearth!

No excuse was accepted for not responding to the summons; the call was absolute, imperative, and urgent.  The groom forsook his bride at the church door; the pall-bearers abandoned the funeral bier, wherever the Cross was met.

Fast as the fatal symbol flies,
In arms the huts and hamlets rise,
The fisherman forsook the strand,
The swarthy smith took dirk and brand;
With changed cheer, the mower blithe
Left in the half-cut swath his scythe;
The herds without a keeper strayed,
The plough was in mid furrow stayed,
The falc'ner tossed his hawk away,
The hunter left the stag at bay;
Prompt at the signal of alarms,
Each son of Alpine rushed to arms.

Probably the only time the "Fiery Cross" was ever used in the lowlands of Scotland was in the year 1547 during the minority reigns of Mary Queen of Scots and Edward VI of England.  The English government was in favor of a marriage between the two young monarchs in order to unite the two kingdoms, to which the dominant party in Scotland objected.  The English army invaded Scotland and the Scottish governor, fearing the people might not obey an ordinary summons to arms, sent the "Fiery Cross" throughout the country, Lowlands as well as Highlands.  The cross was fastened to the point of a spear and sent with great rapidity from town to town, village to village, and hamlet to hamlet, with the result that in a wonderfully short time an army of 36,000 men had assembled for the defense of the realm.

One of the latest instances of the "Fiery Cross" being used in the Highlands was by Lord Breadalbane in the Stuart uprising of 1745, when the cross went around Loch Tay, a distance of thirty-two miles, in three hours, to raise his people and prevent their joining the rebels.  In 1715 it went the same round and 500 men assembled the same evening under the command of the Laird of Glenlyon to join the Earl of Mar." (Browne.)

The western portions of Virginia and the Carolinas, the northern portions of Georgia and Alabama, and most of Tennessee, were settled by the hardy race of Scotch-Irish, in whose veins the Scotch blood was warm.  Thomas Dixon, in "The Clansman," makes mention of the use of the "Fiery Cross" in the rites and ceremonies of the Ku-Klux Klan, which organization originated and flourished among the Scotch-Irish of those regions.

In these days of peace and civilization we no longer need the "Fiery Cross" to summon us to deeds of war and violence; but we will cherish it as the symbol of unity and loyalty among kindred and make use of it in summoning us to gather together in Clanship, in inspiring cordiality among us, and in fostering home ties.

All honor to the Fiery Cross - may its mission never cease!

By permission of The American Clan Gregor Society - From the American Clan Gregor Society 1987 yearbook which was reprinted from the 1911/12 yearbook.  The first yearbook cover on which the "Fiery Cross" was used was 1914 and used continuously ever since.  It may have been used on gathering programs even before that.  Dr.  Magruder's article (1911-1912 ACGS Yearbook) provides a little history, for newer members, on the use of the "Fiery Cross" on our yearbook covers.

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