FLORA MACDONALD AND NORTH CAROLINA.

Otago Witness, Issue 3338, 6 March 1918, Page 47

FLORA MACDONALD AND NORTH CAROLINA.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —It is a far cry from the Hebrides to the old American State of North Carolina, yet both are closely associated with the Scottish heroine, Flora Macdonald. By a recent .mail I received from the Scottish Society of America, Red Springs, North Carolina, a beautifully-printed and illustrated biography of Prince Charlie's preserver, Flora Macdonald, containing, inter alia, most ■ interesting details of her efforts to maintain British supremacy at the outbreak of the American War of Independence. Of all those who served Prince Charlie Flora Macdonald, perhaps, suffered the least of all, her 12 months' captivity on the troopship in Leith Roads and in London being really a triumph, as she was courted and feted by the most notable people of the day. The lasting fame and permanent place in history which the gallant Flora owes to her cliivalrous connection with Prince Charlie are too well known to be recapitulated; but her associations with North Carolina are less known. In 1750 she married the son of Macdonald of Kingsburgh, where in 1773 she entertained that stout old Tory and Jacobite, Dr Johnson, who describes her as of middle stature, soft features, gentle manners, and elegant presence. In 1774 the Macdonald family, like so many others of their clan, emigrated to North Carolina, arriving there at a time when the troubles between England and the_ American colonists were reaching a crisis. With characteristic loyalty, which scorns danger, and the path of the mere timeserver, Flora Macdonald gave her enthusiastic support to the minority who upheld the British connection. A Highland regiment was formed, and in Cross Creek, now Fayettville, visitors are still shown "Flora Macdonald's Tree." To-day, besido the dusty highway, a broken old stump lifts its head. It was once a great oak, and under its spreading branches the Scottish heroine took her stand on February 18, 1776. the dark day of the " Highland march out." Flora said of herself that she had fought for both the House of iStuart and the House of Hanover, and had. been worsted in the service of each. The regiment, raised partly by her energies, came utterly to grief _in its first encounter with the wily colonists, most of -the loyalists being taken prisoners, including Flora's husband. At Wilmington, North Carolina, in order to meet her expenses, Flora eold her precious silver, prized because it was the gift of admiring friends in London, when, as the " Prince's preservsr," she was the centre of popular interest. On Castle Hill, in Inverness, the capital of the Scottish Highlands, is a striking marble statue of Flora Macdonald. A scheme is now in progress to perpetuate her memory in North Carolina by the formation of a great educational institute.— I am, etc., C. 0. Bagnall. Palmerston North.