As a strong and serious man having passed his forty-sixth birthday, Lachlan McIntosh was head of his own family and the preeminent leader in the parish. Now he and the other men were assembled in the meetinghouse in the southern coastal town of Darien, near the Altamaha River. Lachlan’s brother George was there, along with his cousins and members of the Mackay, Dunbar, Cuthbert, and other clans, almost all of whose predecessors had served in the Highland Scots almost four decades earlier.

Lachlan was a tall man, robust but not obese, with strong, sloping shoulders and arms that seemed too long for his body. He had the bearing of a military officer and always dressed properly even in civilian attire. One not unattractive peculiarity in his appearance was that he had a widow’s peak that was carefully brushed to the center to form a distinctive curl. He usually had a glint in his eyes and slightly smiling lips, but the expression of bemusement could change instantly into one of fury if his hair-trigger temperament was aroused. Even his family and closest friends were reluctant to precipitate this change, but they still respected Lachlan because he was a fair man, his judgments were sound, and he was dedicated to the basic principles of the Scottish community.

Lachlan looked around him at the men in the meetinghouse and said, “All of us were embarrassed when the folks in South Carolina called us cowards and traitors to liberty, and declared an embargo against trade with Georgia. As you all know, our neighbors at Midway in St. Johns Parish are the only ones who will stand with us for freedom, and are willing to join us in renouncing our ties with this colony and aligning ourselves with the patriots in South Carolina. As Puritans from up north, they still have strong ties to the colonies that are already at war. However, I have just been informed that the Council of Safety in Charles Town expressed their appreciation for our offer but, after some considerable debate, have rejected it because such a great distance separates us and they prefer not to fragment our colony. We have called a meeting for next Thursday in Savannah, at Tondee’s tavern, so we can decide what we must do now in addition to sending useless petitions to Parliament about taxes and boycotting a few British goods that we don’t need anyhow.”