Flora MacDonald
Macdonald, Flora (1722–1790), a Scottish heroine. She is celebrated in Scottish folklore for aiding “Bonnie Prince Charlie” (Charles Edward Stuart, the “Young Pretender” to the English throne). After his defeat at the Battle of Culloden (1746), Charles took refuge on the island of Benbecula in the Hebrides. Flora Macdonald disguised him as a servant girl and smuggled him to the Isle of Skye, from where he later escaped to France by sea. Flora was arrested and sent to the Tower of London, but was freed in 1747.
In 1750 Flora married a clansman, Allan Macdonald. They came to America in 1774 and settled near what is now Fayetteville, North Carolina. Allan Macdonald was a Loyalist officer during the American Revolution. He was captured in 1776 and held prisoner for the rest of the war. Flora returned to Scotland in 1779.