Alexander Rose was a Highland Scot, a native of Inverness in Scotland. We know that he was born there around 1738, be we have no precise knowledge of his birth date or the names of his parents. He left Scotland and came to America before he was 18 years old, and we can readily guess why he did so. After the defeat of Prince Charles at Culloden in 1746, the Duke of Cumberland swept the Highlands with fire and sword and, in reprisal against the clans who had supported Charles, he destroyed by law the Scottish clan system. Depressed economic conditions, wide-spread unemployment and social disorganization followed which caused no less than 25,000 Highland Scots to emigrate to America between 1750 and 1775. In the vanguard of this exodus was Alexander who was a lad of about eight years when the Battle of Culloden was fought only a few miles from his home.