The Involuntary American: A Scottish Prisoner's Journey to the New World

by Carol Gardner

A Common Man’s Survival After Being Captured at the Battle of Dunbar and Sold into Servitude in America 
In the winter of 1650–51, one hundred fifty ragged and hungry Scottish prisoners of war arrived at Massachusetts Bay Colony, where they were sold as indentured laborers for 20 to 30 pounds each. Among them was Thomas Doughty, a common foot soldier who had survived the Battle of Dunbar, a forced marched of 100 miles without food or water, imprisonment in Durham Cathedral, and a difficult Atlantic crossing. An ordinary individual who experienced extraordinary events, Doughty was among some 420 Scottish soldiers who were captured during the War of the Three Kingdoms, transported to America, and sold between 1650 and 1651. Their experiences offer a fresh perspective on seventeenth-­century life. 
The Involuntary A Scottish Prisoner’s Journey to the New World  by Carol Gardner describes Doughty’s life as a soldier, prisoner of war, exile, servant, lumberman, miller, and ultimately free landowner. It follows him and his peers through critical the apex of the Little Ice Age, the War of the Three Kingdoms, the colonization of New England, the burgeoning transatlantic trade in servants and slaves, King Philip’s and King William’s wars, and the Salem witch crisis. First­person accounts of individuals who lived through those events—Scottish, English, Puritan, Native American, wealthy, poor, working class, educated or not— provide rich period detail and a variety of perspectives. 
The Involuntary American  demonstrates how even indi­viduals of humble circumstances were swept into the mael­strom of the First Global Age. It expands our understanding of immigration to the colonies, colonial servitude, the link­ages and tensions between Europe, Massachusetts Bay, and America’s northeastern frontier, and of New England socie­ty in the early colonial period.

256 pages, Hardcover

Published December 20, 2018

About the author

Carol Gardner has more than 30 years’ experience as a writer, journalist and communicator. She earned a Ph.D. in English from The Johns Hopkins University, taught at Johns Hopkins, Wake Forest, and Florida State Universities, and has published both fiction and nonfiction pieces in a wide variety of books and periodicals, including The World of Baseball series, BluePlanet Quarterly, Northwest Review, Baltimore Review, Potomac Review, The Women’s Review of Books, Portland Press Herald, and The Washington Post. She is a past winner of a Maryland Individual Artists Award. She lives in Alna, Maine.

Reviews

[Lyle Probert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rounding up for good reads. Whilst there is little insight to be gained on the individual who is the centre of the book, the author uses what is available and proves important context in order to give a picture of his life and the world he lived in from lowland Scotland to the New England frontier. A enjoyable concise book here.

[Keri-Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A surprising page turner based on the true story of a man who was transported to the Mass. Bay Colony after the Battle of Dunbar.

[Emarie]

Fascinating history of how prisoners of the English Civil Wars were deported to the New England Colonies and what their lives were like.

[Nancy Noble · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm working on an archival project that includes the Doughtys, who are descended from Thomas Doughty. I learned about this book, and had to read it. Turns out there are other families in this collection that are also descendants of Scottish prisoners of the same era. It was fascinating to learn about this period of history that I knew nothing about. It's also a good background in 17th century New England history. Thank you for bringing to life this "father" of many of the Doughtys on the Maine coast.