In an earlier post, Todd, I did not mean to imply that the plantation folk thought of themselves as "Irish" as in natives, but that they had no connection or communication with their former homeland and, if they did think of themselves as Scots, they did not think of themselves as Highland Scots. The Gaelic was quickly lost, even among those who came in from the Southern Isles.
Rex,

My apologies; I should have been a bit more clear in making that explanation for general purposes. In the US, there is a common myth that to be "Scots-Irish" is to be half-Scottish, half-Irish, and is still quite common, so that you will find folks who are Evangelical Protestants wearing green on St. Patrick's Day and espousing the romantic "Irish Rebel" mythology that the Irish-American community loves over here, but whose ancestors no doubt manned Derry's Walls and fought with William at the Boyne!

Of course, we're drifting towards "The Troubles" now, so I'll try to reign my thoughts in.

T.