Tour Scotland travel video clip, with Scottish music, of the Flora MacDonald Monument on visit to Inverness in the Scottish Highlands. This brass statue is of Flora MacDonald, a Highland lady who helped Charles Edward Stuart escape from the Hanoverian forces after the Battle of Culloden. With a Scottish hound at her feet, she is depicted looking out over the valley and shielding her eyes. The statue was designed by Andrew Davidson, a sculptor from Inverness. Captain Henderson Macdonald bequeathed £1000 towards the cost of the monument, which stands outside Inverness Castle. The inscription on the statue reads, in English and Gaelic: " The preserver of Prince Charles Edward Stuart will be mentioned in history, and if courage and fidelity be virtues, mentioned with honour. ".
Flora MacDonald, Gaelic: Fionnghal nic Dhòmhnaill, was born in 1722 the third and last child of Ranald MacDonald, died 1723, and his second wife Marion. Her father was a member of the minor gentry, being tacksman and leaseholder of Milton and Balivanich; she had two brothers, Angus, who later inherited the Milton tack and Ronald, who died young. Her father died soon after her birth and in 1728, her mother remarried Hugh MacDonald of Armadale, Isle of Skye. Flora was brought up by her father's cousin, Sir Alexander MacDonald of Sleat; suggestions that she was educated in Edinburgh have not been confirmed. While some MacDonalds remained Catholic, particularly in the Islands, her family was part of the Presbyterian majority. Flora was visiting Benbecula in the Outer Hebrides when Prince Charles known as Bonnie Prince Charlie, and a small group of aides took refuge there after the Battle of Culloden in June 1746. One of his companions, Captain Conn O'Neill from County Antrim, Ireland, was distantly related to Flora and asked for her help. Passes were issued allowing passage to the mainland for Flora, a boat's crew of six men and two personal servants, including Prince Charles disguised as an Irish maid called Betty Burke. On 27 June, they landed near Sir Alexander's house at Monkstadt, near Kilbride, Isle of Skye. In his absence, his wife Lady Margaret arranged lodging with her steward, MacDonald of Kingsburgh, who told Charles to remove his disguise, as it simply made him more conspicuous. The next day, Charles was taken from Portree to the island of Raasay; Flora remained on Skye and they never met again. Eventually, Flors was arrested and held in the Tower of London in England, but released under a general amnesty in June 1747. She later married Allan MacDonald and Flora and her husband Allan emigrated to Anson County, North Carolina, America, in 1774, where they settled on an estate near Mountain Creek, named Killegray. When the American War of Independence began in 1776, Allan raised the Anson Battalion of the Loyalist North Carolina Militia, which had around 1,000 men, including his sons Alexander and James. En route to the coast for collection by British transports, they were attacked by an American force at the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge on 28 February 1776 and Allan was taken prisoner. In April 1777, the North Carolina Provincial Congress confiscated Loyalist-owned property and Flora was evicted from Killegray, with the loss of all her possessions. After 18 months in captivity, Allan was released in September 1777; he was posted to Fort Edward, Nova Scotia, Canada, as commander of the 84th Regiment of Foot where Flora joined him in August 1778. After a harsh winter in Halifax, in September 1779 Flora took passage for London, England, in the Dunmore, a British privateer. Allan, her husband, returned to Scotland in 1784, and they settled in Penduin on the Isle of Skye. She died died in 5 March, 1790 aged 68. The ancestors of the MacDonald family come from the ancient Scottish kingdom of Dalriada. The family name comes from the Anglicized version of the Gaelic personal name Mac Dhomhnuill. The surname MacDonald was first found in Kintyre, and much of the Eastern islands and coast-lands where members of this Clan, descended through Somerled, Lord of the Isles and had resided for many years. William Macdonald, a Scottish convict from Edinburgh, was transported aboard the ship Asia on July 29th, 1823, settling in Van Diemen's Land, Australia; John Macdonald, a Scottish convict who was convicted in Edinburgh, Scotland for 14 years, was transported aboard the Barossa on 8th December 1839, arriving in New South Wales, Australia; Janet Macdonald, aged 3, landed in Nova Scotia, Canada, in 1801; Norman and Elizabeth Macdonald, and their two children settled in Georgia, America, in 1741; Alastair Macdonald landed in Baltimore, Maryland, America, in 1803; James Macdonald landed in North Carolina, America, in 1772
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