[RAYMOND] PRE-LOYALIST SETTLEMENTS OF NOVA SCOTIA 29 
time; but there is no record of any formal or legal change of the name 
having been made. The change was effected by a mere simplification 
of spelling, and the name continued to be pronounced much the same 
as it had been.” 
The McNutts were of the same rugged stock that gave to Ulster 
many of the characteristics its people yet retain. Their crossing over 
to Ireland at this particular time was a part of the movement that led 
many other restless spirits to leave the banks of the Clyde for the heaths 
and downs of the Foyle. 
Having turned their faces westward, the McNutts somewhat later 
yielded to the lure of the call of a yet more distant west and emigrated 
to America; but it was during their sojourn in Ireland that Colonel 
Alexander McNutt, the subject of this sketch, was born. “No re- 
searches,”’ writes Mrs. McCormick, “have so far been able to fix the 
exact date of the birth of Colonel Alexander McNutt.’’ He was the 
oldest son of Alexander—one of the four brothers who went to Ireland— 
and was born in Ireland about the year 1725. Alexander McNutt, sr., 
was the first of his name to cross the Atlantic and his youngest son, 
James, was born in Maryland in 1738, not long after his father’s arrival 
in America. Colonel Alexander McNutt did not leave Ireland until a 
little later. The date of his coming to America is uncertain; but it 
was certainly earlier than 1753, as is shown by the court records of 
Augusta county in Virginia. He had obtained a good education, for 
those days, in Ireland and was, moreover, a young man of excellent 
address. This proved to his advantage in later life. 
Upon his arrival in Virginia he gained the good-will of Governor 
Dinwiddie. The governor, in 1756, sent an expedition! to ravage the 
country of the Shawnee Indians and destroy their villages in retaliation 
for outrages they had committed against the white settlers. Major 
Andrew Lewis was in command, and Alexander McNutt accompanied 
the expedition as a volunteer, with private instructions to report to 
Dinwiddie the subsequent proceedings. After much hardship and 
with some loss of men and supplies the expedition reached a point 
within ten miles of the Ohio river. It was learned that the Shawnese 
towns were a short distance beyond the river. A council of war was 
held and it was decided that in view of the distance from the base 
of supplies, the difficulty of crossing the river and other obstacles 
it would be wise to retrace their steps. Mr. MeNutt urged a forward 
movement, insisting that an attempt should at least be made to punish 
1 For the particulars connected with this expedition the author is indebted to 
the Hon. William A. Glasgow, of Lexington, Virginia, a great-grandson of Colonel 
Alexander MeNutt’s brother John. 
