San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1881-08-18
49,

NlOtuoN VI uutsoAVuD osAAsAAOAAS JVs uAso
was still beautiful, and full Of enthu-
siasm, and abiding loyalty 10 the
British crown. Misfortune caused
Flora and some Of her family to join
some Of their kindred who had set
tied in North Caroline, and she abode
for q while at Cross Greek (now Fay
etteville).
In the winter Of ls49 I started to
follow tho line Of the retreat Of Cen
eral Greene before Cornwallis, across
North Carolina from the Catawba to
the Dan, in 17sl, but soon turned
eastward to Fayetteville, whore I ar
rived toward sunset. In the evening
I called ON Mrs Mel, an aged
and sprightly Scotch woman, who, I
was told, remembered Flora Macdon-
aid. She was enthusiastic in her
praise of that noble woman from the
Hebrides. She described her as "not
very tall, but q very handsome and
dignifed woman, with fair complexion,
sparkling blue eyes, the finest teeth
ever seen, and her hair, partly COW
cred with q pretty lace cap, was
slightly streaked with gray. Her
kindly voice was sweetest music"
continued Mrs. Mol, "and oh,
how the poor and the church missed
her when she went home, after seeing
much trouble here"
"Is her dwelling here yet stand
ing!" I asked
"No; it was partly burned in the
great fire here about twenty years
ago. As you pass from the market
house to the courthouse, you may see
the ruins of it, near the creek" she
said.
Stepping to quaint chest Of
dra wers, Mrs. Mol took out q
dingy-looking letter written by Flora
to her MRS. Nc L---'s) eldest sister,
then a maiden Of twenty, dated Feb
ruary l, 1776, It was brief note,
but it was an exceedingly interesting
one, as it was in the bold hand-writ.
ing of the heroine Of Skye.
at was sent" said the old lady,
from her new home in the Barbecue
Congregation, and as you will see, she
wrote her name 'Flory.'"
"Then she did not live here long, l
said.
"No /; she soon moved to the Bar
bacue Congregation, about twenty
miles north OF here"
On the day when that note was
written, the royal Governor Of North
Carolina issued proclamation call
ing upon all friends of the King to
assemble with arms, at Gross Greek,
and Join his standard. The Macdon
aids were all loyalists, and now the
troubles of Flora in North Carolina
began. Her husband and others, to
the lumber Of about fifteen hundred,
mostly Scotchmen, readily observed
the call.
"Flora came with her husband and
friends, said Mrs. Mel, I:remem
ber seeing her riding along the line
on large white horse, and encour-
aging her coantrymen to be faithful
to the king: Why, she looked like
a queen. But she went no further
than here, and when they marched
away, she returned to her home"
Nearly month later these Scotch
loyalists were routed, dispersed, made
prisoners, or killed in battle on
Moore's Greek, Flora's husband was
among the prisoners, and twas sent
to Halifax jail. He was soon after
ward released, when he left North
Carolina with his family for Scotland
in British sloop Of war. The cour-
age of the English sailors appeared
to desert them, and capture seemed
inevitable, when Flora assembled to
the deck, and by words and deeds
SO stimulated their spirits that
they beat off the enemy, and the
Macdonalds were landed safely on
their native soil Of Skye. During the
engagement Flora was severely
wounded in the hand. She said,
stmetimes. when speaking of the Pc
culiarity Of her situation,
II have hazarded my life both for
the house Of Stuart and the house OF
Hanover, and / do not see that I am
a great gamer by it.
Flora Mcdonald was the mother
of five sons and two daughters. She
retained much OF her beauty and all
her dignity and loveliness of charsc-
ter until the last. She was always
modest, always kind, always sweet
and benevolent in disposition. She
died early in March, 1890, and were
buried in the cemetery Of Kilmuir, in
the isle OF Skye. Her shroud, as
she requested long before her death,
was made of the sheets in which
Prince Charles Edward reposed on
the night he slept at Kingsburg
Her funeral was attended by fully
three thousand persons. Two years
later the remains Of her husband was
laid by her side. For eighty years
her resting-place was covered only
by the greenswarl In 1871 bean
tiful monument was erected over
them
awhen the news Of Flora Mac ,
donald's death reached the Barbacue
Congregation said Mrs McL"l
~a solemn funeral service was held
in the church thera when DR.. Hal.
who died in 1926, in the eighty-sec-
oud year Of his age, preached the