Pam --

Many Southerners are descended from what one English minister called "vile" Scots Irish Presbyterians. Scroll down to the bottom of this page for a description --

Here's a reviewer's summary of James Webb's book titled: Born Fighting: How the Scots Irish Shaped America.

The Scots-Irish provided the bulk of the Confederate Army although few held any slaves. During the decades following the Civil War, their poverty was worse than before the war, reaching a nadir during the Great Depression of the 1930s. This poverty prompted another mass migration to other parts of America which was accelerated by the mobilization for World War II. As a consequence, the Scots-Irish have been distributed through most of America, except perhaps New England. Their numbers and characteristics, especially their willingness to accept and absorb spouses from other ethnic groups into their extended families, have made the Scots-Irish folkways a key part of the American character.