I got this from an interesting article in Scotland Today and thought it was good that at least the movie brought thsi out:

And, for the first time on the big screen, the movie highlights the Scottish contribution to the battle by featuring bagpiper John McGregor who originally came from Aberfeldy in Perthshire.

While four Scots died during the battle of the Alamo, it is McGregor, a piper and second sergeant of Captain William R Carey's artillery company that has romantically captured the imagination of Alamo historians and enthusiasts.

In a bid to raise the morale of the besieged defenders, McGregor performed musical 'duels' with American folklore legend and second generation Scot, Davy Crockett, who played the fiddle. McGregor was said to have won the duels because he played the longest and loudest.

The pair's musical endeavours led to the enduring Alamo myth, now an urban legend, that the Mexican troops coined the word 'gringo' after hearing the defenders, many of them Scottish-Americans, singing rousing choruses of 'Green Grow The Rashes Oh!' as they faced certain death.

kat