"Every line of strength in America's history is a line colored by Scottish Blood."

President Woodrow Wilson

Rickey E. Pittman, Grand Prize Winner of the 1998 Ernest Hemingway Short Story Competition, is originally from Dallas, Texas. He earned a BA in New Testament Greek and an MA in English from Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas. After moving to Monroe, Louisiana, Pittman was added to the Louisiana Roster of Artists in 1998. Working closely with regional art councils, he was commissioned to write historical plays for Franklin (1997) and Madison (1998) parishes. In addition to freelance journalism, editing, and nonfiction writing, he has published short stories, poetry, and three books. His first book was Red River Fever. His children's book, Jim Limber Davis: An Orphan in the Confederate White House and his short stories book, Stories from the Confederate South are his most current books with Pelican Publishing. Since 1994 Pittman has taught English at high schools and universities in Louisiana and Texas and currently teaches freshman English composition at Delta Community College in Monroe, LA.

Please visit his website at http://www.rickeypittman.com

The Murder of John the Red Comyn
at Greyfriar’s Church February 10th, 1306
 

John the Red and Robert the Bruce
Met on a cold day in Dumfries
The victory at Roslyn forgotten,
Because of pride and jealousy.

Bruce forged a plan of murder,
Of betrayal fed by greed,
With his brothers he conspired,
To commit the bloody deed.

An argument broke out,
It doesn’t matter why,
The Red’s blood darkened the soil,
As his soul rose to the sky.

Comyn land was divided
Among Bruce’s chosen few,
The clan was forced to flee,
To a land foreign, strange, and new.

A leader died at the church that day,
And never would return,
The victors write the history,
As the Cumming clan would learn.
 

The illustrious Clan Cumming,
Rivals of the Bruce for the crown,
The story of their troubled history
In Texas blood can be found.

For their sons died in the Alamo,
And languished in Mexican prisons
After thirsting in the desert
On the Santa Fe Expedition.

The ground was splashed with Scottish blood,
Wounded in America’s Civil War,
And soothed by a nurse named Kate,
Who healed hearts and bodies sore.

Today they are the honored clan
Of their Scottish kith and kin,
And today let us honor them,
The Cummings of old Scotland.