*tumbles off of the hat rack*
Are there any new Fun Facts for today?
Uh, so.... no, not really. I'm out of town today, so I just scheduled some old posts to go up, and I don't think I'll have time to--WHAT'S THAT?!? A FUN FACT WITH A STEEL CHAIR?!???
[one steel chair beating later]
Today You Learned about Flora MacDonald!
Born in 1722 as a member of Clan MacDonald in the Hebrides of Scotland, she was a Scottish Protestant despite her clan's decision to mostly remain Catholic. After the Battle of Culloden in 1746, Flora just so happened to be on the isle of Benbecula when a group of refugees from the battle arrived, including... Prince Charles, the guy trying to re-establish the Stuart Dynasty in England. And remember, before the Stuarts were kings of England, they were kings of Scotland. Many Scots held loyalty to the Stewart line.
[Outlander is about these wars, I think? I don't know, I never watched the show/read the books, but I heard Nessie's in one of them.]
She had family members among the king's supporters, and one among the refugees, so Flora helped Prince Charles escape the English authorities. Because of her work, he was able to flee to the European mainland.
Flora, on the other hand, was eventually captured by the English, and locked in the Tower of London. She was eventually released in 1747, because she caught the sympathies of several aristocrats, and also claimed to the current crown prince of England that she would have happened any royal that would have asked for help in a desperate hour. In 1750, she married Allan MacDonald (same clan, not a relative, though, I think) and they moved to...
Anson County, North Carolina.
They raised a family there, and when the American Revolution began, her husband raised a militia for the Loyalists. You'd think they'd know better than supporting the English, but there ya go. Allan MacDonald led his militia against the Patriots, but was defeated and captured at the MOST AWESOME OF BATTLES, the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge (we've featured it before). The MacDonald plantation was confiscated, and later Allan MacDonald was released in a prisoner exchange--they ended up moving to Nova Scotia, and after that moved back to the Isle of Skye off the coast of Scotland, where they both died and are buried.
There's now a statue of her outside of Inverness Castle in Scotland (which includes her dog).
Now I started drafting this Fun Fact for the Fourth of July, but as she was a Loyalist, I didn't think it'd be wise. But she IS still pretty interesting, I think. She's still considered a major figure in Scottish history, and is celebrated by Americans of Scottish descent--and there's still a women's college named after her in North Carolina (at which two of her children are buried!).
I hope this was a good Fun Fact for you!
