Flora MacDonald's Lament

DESCRIPTION: "Over hill and lofty mountains Where the valleys were covered with snow... There poor Flora sat lamenting... Crying, 'Charlie, constant Charlie, My kind, constant Charlie, dear.'" She hopes to meet him again, and repeats her refrain
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1779 (_The True Loyalist; or, Chevalier's Favourite_, according to Greig/Duncan1)
KEYWORDS: Jacobites love separation beauty royalty
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1720-1788 - Life of Charles Edward Stuart, "Bonnie Prince Charlie"
1722-1790 - Life of Flora MacDonald
1745-1746 - '45 Jacobite rebellion led by Bonnie Prince Charlie
Apr 16, 1746 - Battle of Culloden. The Jacobite rebellion is crushed, most of the Highlanders slain, and Charlie forced to flee for his life.
Jun 28-29, 1746 - Aided by Flora MacDonald, and dressed as her maidservant, Charles flees from South Uist to Skye in the Hebrides.
1774-1779 - period of Flora MacDonald's residence in North America
FOUND IN: US(SE) Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig/Duncan1 132, "Flora MacDonald" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore3 368, "Flora MacDonald's Lament" (1 text)
Roud #5776
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Johnson Ballads fol. 29, "Lovely Charly," J. Catnach (London), 1821
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Twa Bonnie Maidens" (subject)
cf. "Skye Boat Song (Over the Sea to Skye)" (subject)
cf. "Flora's Lament for her Charlie" (theme)
cf. "So Dear Is My Charlie to Me (Prince Charlie)" (theme)
NOTES [9852 words]: This is one of those ironic little songs because it's so false-to-life. It is apparently not the same as James Hogg's poem of the same title, and the editors of Brown seem to think it was inspired by Flora MacDonald's brief and unhappy visit to what was in the process of becoming the United States. It is certainly true that Flora MacDonald has become famous in North Carolina in particular, but this doesn't seem particularly American to me.
The problems with this song -- and most other Flora MacDonald songs -- include the fact that Bonnie Prince Charlie never showed any actual evidence of involvement with Flora MacDonald or vice versa. The love of his life, if he had one, was Clementina Walkinshaw, who bore him his only child, Charlotte the shadow Duchess of Albany. Charles and Clementina had met in early 1746, before Charles met Flora (Wilkinson, p. 157) His later marriage (in 1772) was a political match, and produced no children -- indeed, Charles apparently beat his wife as much as he slept with her. Charles also ended up having a brutal quarrel with Clementina, so Flora was probably lucky that there was no relationship. One British officer did once ask if Flora and the Prince had shared a bed; the lady of the house where they stayed emphatically denied it even while maintaining the fiction that the Prince was a maidservant: "I assure you it is not the fashion in the Isle of Sky[e] to lay the mistress and the maid in the same bed together" (Douglas-Flora, p. 48).
As Douglas-Flora remarks on p. 212 about James Hogg's song about Flora, and by implication all these soppy songs about Flora's relationship with Charles or vice versa, any such song "would have embarrassed its heroine and probably made her furious. Flora would have suggested that the oversentimental shepherd [i.e. Hogg]... might have chosen someone else as his subject; after all, there were plenty of other women ready to swoon for Charlie." Flora MacDonald, frankly, was too smart to do something that silly.
Nonetheless there were silly songs about their relationship and about Flora's life in circulation by 1748 at the latest (Toffey, pp. 151-152).
By the time Charles and Flora met, the Battle of Culloden had been lost and the Forty-Five was over. (For background on the whole Forty-Five, see the notes to "Culloden Moor.") Culloden had taken place on April 16. It was on June 21, while on the island of South Uist, that Charles and a handful of companions arrived at the home of 24-year-old Flora MacDonald.
It's not even clear she was a Jacobite. Her explanation to the Hanoverian government for helping Prince Charles was that she would have done the same for anyone in distress (see below). Her brother did not turn out for the Prince, which is why she was in South Uist when the Prince was there. Her future husband fought for the Hanoverians. Her stepfather also nominally served the government, though he was part of the plot to help the prince escape. Late in her life, crippled and in poverty, she would remark that she had served both the Stuart and Hannoverian dynasties and had no reward from either.
The song reports that "Flora's beauty is surprising, like bright Venus in the morning"; this seems to be another bit of romanticism. While she was not ugly, most reports do not describe her as particularly beautiful. To be sure, General John Campbell, who was in charge of confining her when she was arrested after helping Prince Charlie, called her a "very pritty young rebell" (Toffey, p. 67). But MacLeod, p. 1, describes her at the time she met the Prince: "Flora was then twenty four years old. She was short and had a small pointed face, and a wide mouth. Her eyes were various painted hazel and blue, and were described as being bright blue. She had a high forehead and dark brown hair, that showed a hint of auburn. Flora was a plain young lady, but she had a good complexion, and, in an age when so many suffered from the ravages of small pox, that made her handsome." People who met her described her as "of low stature, of a fair complexion and well enough shaped" (MacLeod, p. 84).
Samuel Johnson, who met her as a middle-aged woman in 1773, declared, "She is a woman of middle stature, soft features, gentle manners, and elegant presence" (Fraser, p. 129). When she arrived in North Carolina, she had some white in her hair, but her teeth were still good -- "the finest teeth I ever saw," according to a witness who also said that her eyes were blue (Fraser, pp. 136-137).
If you want to form your own opinion, there are surprisingly many paintings of her. The most famous of several portraits is by Allan Ramsay (the son of the author of the Tea Table Miscellany) which is now in the Bodleian Library (reproduced, e.g., facing page 216 of Wilkinson, in the photo insert in Kybett, on the cover of MacLeod, and on p. 180 of MacLean -- though that copy is too small and dark to be useful). Other well-known portraits are by Richard Wilson (Brumwell/Speck, p. 233) and W. Robertson. A portrait by Thomas Hudson was reproduced as a mezzotint -- according to Toffey, p. 86, folksong collector C. K. Sharpe had a copy of that one. it seems to give her higher, wider cheekbones than the others. Toffey says there were other "portraits" that were not taken from life. It is interesting that most of the portraits of her show her with Jacobite symbols.
The Ramsey portrait has a Jacobite rose and tartan, and the more detailed of two portraits by Richard Wilson shows her in a low-cut tartan dress with what Fraser, p. 95, calls "white Stuart ribbons." The portrait by W. Robertson also shows a tartan and ribbons. What is odd is that, although all the portraits show similarity in symbolism, I would never have guessed they were of the same young woman! Robertson's painting shows her with wide eyes and a very round chin; Wilson's has a pointed chin, Ramsay's has the pointed chin but a higher, perhaps squarer forehead and narrower eyes. The cheeks also differ from portrait to portrait. That's not just my opinion; Toffey, p. 94, says "All the portraits said to be of Flora do not give us a composite image of what Flora really looked like. The Ramsay Flora doesn't much resemble the Wilson Flora; the Wilson doesn't much resemble Robertson, and so on." They do all show her with dark hair.
Perhaps her looks were not very noticeable, but she clearly could charm men -- at least, one of Charlie's companions, Felix O'Neill, seems to have spent a lot of time flirting with her (MacLeod, p. 32), and she would also do relatively well with the men who later imprisoned her. Even in middle age, Samuel Johnson liked her. Whatever her appearance, people clearly took to her.
As Douglas-Flora, p. 78, comments, "It was not easy to be a heroine, but Flora carried off the part with dignity." Most ballad characters based on real life -- from Harry Hotspur ("Chevy Chase") to Naomi Wise, strike me as people I would not particularly like to know. Flora MacDonald seems like an exception.
MacLeod, p. 1, says Flora was the daughter of a gentleman farmer named Ranald MacDonald of Milton, South Uist (on the west side of the island, about three-fifths of the way from north to south), by his second wife and cousin Marion MacDonald. Flora had two full brothers. Her first language, as befits a resident of the Hebrides, was Gaelic, and her actual name was probably FIonnghal -- in full, Fionnghal nic Dhòmhnaill. When she signed her marriage contract, she signed it "Flory macdon[al]d." Most of her other extant signatures also read "Flory," not "Flora." Toffey, p. 35, suggests that her proper Gaelic name was "Floraidh." And there is dispute over whether her surname should be written "MacDonald," "Macdonald," or "McDonald," though the first seems to be the most common today and is the one I use.
Supposedly she was descended, in the twelfth generation, from King Robert II (Toffey, p. 23; Fraser says she was descended from King Robert III (but even if true, Robert III had died more than 300 years before her birth, so there were probably thousands of others who could say the same).
Most sources list the year of her birth as 1722; Fraser, p. 15, says 1722 or 1723. (I find it mildly ironic that, if 1722 is correct, she and Prince Charles both died in their sixty-eighth year.)
It will show you how poor the Hebrides were at this time that she came from a relatively well-to-do family, yet (if later reports about her residence are correct) she was born in a three-room house with a roof of thatch! Her father Ranald MacDonald of Milton died when she was very young, and her mother Marion MacDonald remarried in 1728, to Hugh MacDonald of Armadale, and had more children (MacLeod, p. 3; Fraser, p. 15; Douglas-Flora, pp. 5-9, mentions on p. 9 a story that her stepfather actually abducted her mother. Note that Marion MacDonald was a MacDonald by birth who married two other MacDonalds, so she was actually Marion MacDonald MacDonald MacDonald!).
According to Kybett, p. 227, Flora was unusually accomplished for a herdsgirl, having studied Latin and French as well as Gaelic and English (i.e. Braid Scots, at least according to Fraser, p. 17 -- though this is disputed. Since her native language was Gaelic, why could she not have learned British English? Toffey, pp. 123-124, says that most early authors said she had "the gift of cultured speech" -- i.e. British English -- while some North Carolina reports describe her as speaking with a brogue. We probably can't answer now, but given that she spent time in both Edinburgh and London, it's not impossible that she could use both varieties of English). Should her education surprise us? After all, she was the stepdaughter of Clanranald (Brumwell/Speck, p. 233) and knew their family well; she worked with Lady Clanranald during the Prince's flight. Toffey, pp. 59-61, says that reports in the earliest biographies, claiming she had been to school in Edinburgh, are almost certainly false (which probably knocks out the claim that she knew Latin), but there were teachers in the Isles who could have taught her quite a bit. (Toffey's suggestion on p. 63 is that many outside the Highlands did not think the Highlanders had enough culture to produce a Flora MacDonald, so she must have been educated elsewhere. This strikes me as likely -- but also as stupid. Flora's genuine abilities were surely mostly the result of native intelligence, not education.)
Wherever she was taught, Flora certainly had enough education to be able to read (though she later took remedial classes in writing; Douglas-Flora, pp. 10-11. It sounds to me, though, as if she was studying letter-writing, and writing style, at least as much as penmanship), and she could play the spinet, but she also learned how to tend herds, milk a cow, and make butter and cheese (MacLeod, p. 4). This was typical of women of her station; if there is anything unusual about her, it's that she was still unmarried at 24 when she met Charles. She was also said to be a good singer (Fraser, p. 78).
In early 1745, Flora's mother and stepfather moved from South Uist to manage a holding at Armadale, on the southeast coast of Sleat in Skye (MacLeod, p. 6; Fraser, p. 18) while Flora's brother Angus MacDonald of Milton took control of the Milton property on South Uist (which was, after all, his fathet's family holding; Douglas-Flora, p. 18) -- important, because it meant that Flora had reason to travel between the two islands: her full brother lived on one, her mother, stepfather and half-siblings on the other. Some time in early June 1746, Flora went from Sleat to South Uist to visit the family that had stayed there (MacLeod, p. 13; according to Douglas-Flora, p. 24, her brother Angus had married Penelope MacDonald and invited Flora to visit the new family). The Prince had been flitting around Benbecula and North and South Uist for some time, but eventually the search for him grew serious and his party knew that they had to find another refuge (Fraser, p. 13).
The government had been recruiting militia companies to search for the Prince. But companies recruited in the Hebrides often had dubious loyalty. One of those who led a company was Flora's stepfather Hugh MacDonald of Armadale (Douglas-Flora, pp. 22-23; MacLeod, p. 16). Even though he was supposedly trying to track down the Prince, he actually was working on a scheme to help Charles escape. (I note with interest that the general leading the hunt was a Campbell, John Campbell of Argyll, according to Toffey, p. 24. Might some of these MacDonalds have helped the prince just to thwart their Campbell rivals?)
Unless there had been some pre-arrangement with her stepfather, Flora was out herding when she first encountered the Prince (MacLeod, p. 21, thinks it likely that she was forewarned, but Douglas-Flora, p. 59, is convinced she was surprised). When the Prince's friends suggested she help him, Flora was concerned both for her safety and her reputation. (As it turns out, she and the Prince were only alone together once, briefly, and with others nearby, but she was truly concerned about how others would view her; MacLeod, p. 52.) As others have pointed out, her safety was genuinely endangered (she ended up in custody), but she won long-lasting fame and no one questions her virtue (MacLeod, pp. 24-25).
McLynn, p. 280, reports that "Miss MacDonald was at first taken aback by the audacity of the scheme and declined to be involved. The prince won her around. Though the best efforts of romantic novelists have not been able to work up anything remotely sexual between Charles and Flora, it is clear that [Charles's] famous magnetism once again did its work.... Flora already had a passport to go to Skye and she was known to be returning within days. The authorities would certainly become suspicious if she asked for a passport for a manservant to accompany her, but would not jib at a female attendant."
In fact the pass -- which was written out by none other than her stepfather, MacDonald of Armadale -- allowed her one man and one maidservant: "one Betty Burke, an Irish girl, who, as she tells me, is a good spinster [spinner]... I have sent Niel MacEachainn [=Neil MacEachen]... to take care of them" (Fraser, p. 24, quoting Flora's description of Hugh MacDonald's note). Hence the plan to disguise the Prince as "Betty Burke." This it meant that Charles had to leave behind one of his most loyal servants, Captain Felix O'Neille (MacLeod, pp. 34-35; the text of the pass is in Douglas-Flora, p. 31. According to Toffey, p.. 27, O'Neill did not speak Gaelic, so it would have been near-impossible to pass him off as a local).
It was a surprisingly complex conspiracy, with Lady Clanranald, e.g., being involved. Still, Flora seems to have done more of the planning than anyone else (MacLeod, p. 29). They had little choice but to seek Lady Clanranald's help; the prince could not fit into Flora's clothes nor the clothes of any woman near Milton (Fraser, p. 23), so Flora and "Lady Clan" had to prepare his clothes personally, lest one of the servants give the plot away (Fraser, p. 30).
Charles, for a brief time became "Betty Burke" (or "Bourke") and with the help of Flora -- and a lot of luck -- he managed to stay out of British hands. (It's possible that the Prince enjoyed playing dress-up; since Charles had also pretended to be someone else as he first headed for Scotland to start the rebellion; Hook/Ross, p. 18; played the role of a male servant for a time after separating from Flora; MacLeod, p. 66. And, as Betty Burke, he at least pretended to great concern about his apron; Fraser, p. 47. Half a decade later, he visited London, staying in disguise the entire time; Toffey, p. 112).
Charles and Flora were together for ten days "although she had barely spent that many hours in his company" (Kybett, p. 236).
His disguise probably wouldn't have fooled careful searchers. Charles was almost six feet tall -- extremely tall for a woman at the time -- and according to MacLeod, p. 37, he hadn't shaved for three weeks! Douglas-Flora, p. 1, also mentions his "arrogant manner." Indeed, when he arrived on Skye, those who saw him called him such things as "an odd muckle trallup of a carlin" (MacLeod, p. 49) who "managed 'her' skirts awkwardly," though he did not make a fuss about any part of his apparel except an uncomfortable hood (Fraser, p. 33).
The open boat is described by Fraser, p. 34, as 24 feet long, with two sails, having a shallow bottom and room for twelve. Those in the boat, in addition to the Prince, Flora, and Neil MacEachen, were John MacDonald (who steered her), his brother Roderick MacDonald, Rory MacDonald, John MacVuirich, and Duncan Campbell (MacLeod, p. 40; Douglas-Flora, p. 32). They could tell that the Prince was a man in disguise but were not told who he was -- despite which, several were taken prisoner along with Flora (MacLeod, p. 82).
The wind was calm, so the men had to row the thirty nautical miles to Skye rather than use the sails (Fraser, pp. 34-35); it was a slow, tiring crossing.
Flora later recalled, "At eight o'clock, June 28th, Saturday, 1746, the Prince, Miss Flora MacDonald, Neil MacKechan, etc., set sail in a very clear evening from Benbecula to the Isle of Sky[e]" (MacLeod, p. 40). The "Skye Boat Song (Over the Sea to Skye)" says that the Prince fell asleep in the boat, watched by Flora, but Flora reported that she fell asleep while the Prince stayed awake. The prince sang songs from the 1715 rebellion and earlier as they crossed over the Minch (MacLeod, p. 41). It was misty, so it was impossible to know just where they were (Fraser, p. 37). And it seems clear that they didn't really trust the Prince's disguise; when, as they approached Skye, they were hailed by a sentry post, they fled rather than try to approach the sentry, even after the sentry fired at them (MacLeod, p. 42). They eventually made land, and the Prince was turned over to other hosts -- with Flora doing a good job of tricking the soldiers in the area while the Prince was smuggled away from the boat (Douglas-Flora, p. 37; Fraser, pp. 40-42). His next stopping place was Kingsburgh House, home of Alexander MacDonald of Kingsburgh, which he reached on Sunday, June 29 (MacLeod, pp. 48-49. Remember that name; it will come up again). They had also visited the home of Alexander MacDonald, 7th Baronet MacDonald of Sleat, the chief of the whole area, and panicked his wife; she would eventually have her revenge on Flora and on Kingsburgh by turning her son, their landlord, against them.
When they parted, "[Charles] bade a courtly farewell to his savior Flora, 'For all that has happened, I hope, Madam, we shall meet in St James's yet.' But they were not destined to meet again, in London or any other place" (McLynn, p. 287; MacLeod, p. 57, cites variations on the quote as reported by different hearers and observes that both the Prince and Flora knew it would not happen). Like Lady MacDonald, she did end up with a lock of the Prince's hair as a memento (McLeod, p. 53. Several relics of his visit to Kingsburgh were also preserved -- Lady MacDonald was buried in at least one of the sheets he slept in; Fraser, pp. 46-47. The other sheet may have been used as a shroud by Flora herself; Douglas-Flora, p. 43, but Flora said both sheets had been used for Lady MacDonald; Toffey, pp. 29, 115).
After that, the Prince was taken to Raasay, and eventually back to the continent. Flora went home to her mother and stepfather at Armadale (MacLeod, pp. 58-59; Douglas-Flora, p. 45) -- to the surprise of her mother. Flora never even told her what she had been doing.
The British regulars had been tricked, but they were not totally fooled. They started investigating what had happened -- and using torture to gain information (Fraser, p. 58). Among those pulled in were Lady Clanranald, Kingsburgh (MacLeod, pp. 66-67), and of course Flora herself. She was ordered to come to Castleton, four miles from Armadale, and questioned heavily when she arrived. She offered a much embroidered account of what had happened and did not admit that "Betty Burke" was the Prince (Fraser, pp. 59-61).
"Flora MacDonald was arrested ten days later.... Flora was transported by ship to London and imprisoned.... As it happened, her fortitude and calm demeanor under questioning in London won her much respect and admiration, so that by the time she was released under the general amnesty a year later, Flora MacDonald had become a heroine" (Kybett, p. 237).
The arresting officer was Lt. Sandy MacLeod. whom she had already dodged once (MacLeod, p. 69). From Castleton she was put aboard a ship, the Furnace, and placed in the custody of a General John Campbell (MacLeod, pp. 70-71, who on p. 75 gives the date as July 11). She seems to have charmed him, as she had charmed others; while all the other Jacobite prisoners on the Furnace were kept in bad conditions, she was treated relatively well (MacLeod, p. 75) and even allowed to visit her family briefly before the ship sailed to the mainland (MacLeod, p. 79, says the ship was immobilized by bad weather), and to bring another girl with her (Fraser, p. 71. This young woman, Kate MacDonald, apparently spoke only Gaelic, and accompanied Flora only to Edinburgh, after which we know nothing of her; Douglas-Flora, p. 86). Part of the reason Flora was separated from the other prisoners was to keep them from concerting their stories (Douglas-Flora, p. p. 63). She told a more detailed story this time, admitting to having been with the prince but downplaying or hiding the parts played by friends and relatives (Fraser, pp. 66-67).
According to General Campbell, "I cannot but say I have a good deal of compassion for the young lady. She told me that she would have, in like manner, assisted anyone in distress" (Fraser, p. 76). This seems to have become part of the legend of Flora -- and to have influenced how she was treated.
On July 13, the Furnace left the Hebrides for the mainland, taking Flora with it. Felix O'Neille was also aboard; it was the last time they would see each other (MacLeod, pp. 76-77). She was then transferred to the Eltham which would take her to Leith on her way to London (Fraser, p. 74, 77). The idea in taking all these prisoners to Englahd was that juries in London would be less sympathetic than those in Scotland (Fraser, p. 75) -- but, once again, Flora seems to have been treated better than the other prisoners. Although not allowed to leave the ship at Leith, she was allowed many visitors, some of quite high station (Fraser, p. 79). But in November 1846 she was put on the Bridgewater and sent to London. There, she was lodged in an ordinary prison hulk for a couple of days before being moved to better accommodations (MacLeod, p. 87; Fraser, p. 81). But she continued to get visitors, some accounts say they included even Frederick, the Prince of Wales (MacLeod, p. 90; Douglas-Flora, p. 88, who suggests that the crown prince did it to spite his father and his brother Cumberland). She was also the subject of a biographical pamphlet, which was so inaccurate that it called her "Florence" rather than "Flora" (MacLeod, p. 90; this sort of inaccuracy would continue for centuries before anyone seems to have tried to do real research).
When it came time to question her, the Privy Council itself examined her (Fraser, p. 84).
"The charges against both Jenny [Cameron] and Flora were so preposterous that they could not have been believed by the most gullible enemy, but nonetheless the country was polluted by them during the '45 and after" (Douglas-Charlie, p. 4). She ended up spending about six months in custody (Magnusson, p. 626. Jenny Cameron, according to Toffey, pp. 78-79, was probably a woman of Edinburgh who had supported Prince Charles there, but there came to be quite a few legends about her joining the army, or being the Prince's lover, or some such thing).
A formal amnesty was proclaimed on July 4, 1747, and Flora was eventually released (MacLeod, pp. 92-93). She was turned over to Ann, Lady Primrose, who had become a friend. The Lady let her stay in London for a time (this was when several portraits of Flora were painted, though the famous Ramsay portrait was a little later, from 1848; Douglas-Flora, p. 97. I note the irony of Ramsay, who became King's Painter in 1760 -- Brumwell/Speck, p. 320 -- having painted the Jacobite heroine).
Lady Primrose also raised a subscription for her. This brought in over £1500, part of which was used to hire a chaise to take her back to Edinburgh (MacLeod, p. 93; according to Douglas-Flora, p. 89, she went with Malcolm MacLeod of Raasey; to avoid publicity, they posed as a brother and sister named Robertson).
On her way to Edinburgh, she stopped at York, where she spent time with Dr. John Burton, to whom she eventually gave an account of her adventures; it was mostly accurate as regards the Prince, though it otherwise did a good deal to cover up the involvement of her friends and relatives (MacLeod, pp. 96-97). Once she reached Edinburgh, she mostly kept a low profile.
In 1748, she finally headed back home to Skye (Fraser, p. 101; MacLeod, p. 101), but she spent the next two years commuting between the Hebrides, Edinburgh, and London (Fraser, p, 104). In that time, two of her half-brothers in Skye died, which perhaps explains part of why she did not settle in.
When she came back in 1750, she stayed -- and got married. We know nothing of her courtship. MacLeod, p. ix, says it was an arranged marriage -- not unreasonable for someone in her situation, and we know she arranged a marriage fro one of her daughters -- but Fraser, p. 104, seems to think otherwise. Douglas-Flora, p. 98, says merely that she had "received a proposal." However it came about, she accepted it. (I suspect MacLeod thinks it was arranged because Flora was too smart to choose such an incompetent spouse.) The date was November 6, 1850 (MacLeod, p. 107; Douglas-Flora, p. 100). Interestingly, they seem to have married in her family home at Armadale rather than in a church (Fraser, p. 104).
It was the one major mistake of her life -- although a very bad one; it would lead her to exile and loss of property, and indirectly to permanent injury and arguably the loss of two sons. Her husband was Allan, the son of Alexander MacDonald of Kingsburgh, in whose home the Prince had hidden (Magnusson, p. 626; MacLeod, p. xi). He was two years older than she, and brought rights to his father's holdings; he was a handsome, black-haired man, in line to inherit Sleat. On paper, he was quite a catch. As was she. As a result of the collections for her, she brought the tidy sum of £700 pounds to the union (Fraser, p, 105). They would have been set for life had not Allan been a complete financial incompetent.
Anyone who thinks prenuptial agreements are a modern invention should read the marriage contract (which, curiously, was not made up until after the wedding, according to Douglas-Flora, p. 100, who considers this proof that the marriage was arranged in haste). It was five pages long and covered multiple difficult situations, guaranteeing Flora an income if the marriage lasted -- or if it failed and they should "not Cohabit Together" (MacLeod, p. 108). Most of those provisions did not come up; Allan was granted the status of "tacksman" (landlord) of a substantial holding for 16 years, and they settled down on this property of Flodigarry -- Allan to manage the place and Flora, as it turned out, to have six children in their eight years there (MacLeod, pp 110-111); their seventh child came later (much later; Frances was born in 1766, seven years after the previous child, when Flora was 44; Douglas-Flora, p. 111. Does this say something about the marriage? I have no idea).
Based on Douglas-Flora, p. x, their seven children were: Charles (1751-1795), who served in the British army (his father had apparently tried to buy him a commission as early as 11764; MacLeod, p. 116) and left no descendants; Anne (1754-1834), who went to America with her parents and left four children; Alexander (1755-1781), who served in the British army with his father and was lost at sea; Ranald (1756-1782), who also served in the army and was lost at sea; James (1757-1807) came to America with his parents, and fought with the British in the revolution, then went back to Skye and had children; John (1759-1831), who did not go to North Carolina but served in the army and left a large family (more on him below; he was the great success of the family); and Frances, who also stayed in Scotland, then later married and moved to Australia. Thus the MacDonalds had, and presumably have, descendants in both Britain and America (though probably more in the former), and likely in Australia as well.
Fraser, p. 109, does note the interesting fact that they named their oldest son Charles, contrary to the Highlander custom of using maintaining family names. Was the use of that name another subtle hint of Jacobitism? Their first daughter, Anne, was named for their benefactress, Lady Primrose (Fraser, p. 111).
Theoretically, with her money and his properties, they should have had about as good a life as one could have in the Western Isles. And Allan was an innovator who tried to improve his land and with new ideas (Fraser, p. 114). There were two problems. One was relatively minor: their home at Flodigarry had for a long time been the preserve of a family named Martin, which wanted it back, and exerted pressure to get it (Douglas-Flore, pp 102-103). That probably wouldn't have mattered had the MacDonalds been successful tenants. But MacLeod, p, ix, says Allan was "hopeless with money"; his "financial affairs were to collapse twice" (MacLeod, pp 107-108. Their three oldest sons were also utter spendthrifts; Douglas-Flora, p.186. On p. 191 he says that Charles and Alexander had an "appetite for drinking and living which shocked their mother," though he offers no source for this belief). In 1764, Allan and Flora were forced to accept new terms for their properties, with increased rents and less security; they ended up losing Flodigarry and transferring to Kingsburgh (MacLeod, pp. 116-117). It seemed like an improvement -- Kingsburgh had four bedrooms! Their seventh and last child was born there. But their finances remained fragile. And then... Allan bought up thousands of Skye's cattle, and ended up selling them on the mainland at a loss. He was bankrupt, and the baronet who controlled Kingsburgh had little mercy for him, even though he was a fellow MacDonald (MacLeod, pp. 118-119; Fraser, pp. 116-117).
And although they were famous, and well-respected among their peers, there are hints they were not popular with their tenants, who didn't do much to help them maintain their home (MacLeod, p. 130); Douglas-Flora, p. 95, suggests that the people of the Hebrides thought she had been treated too well at a time when so many Highlanders were oppressed by the government.
Flora and Allan held on for a few years, but in 1771 the weather was disastrous in Skye; the year was known as the "Black Spring." And most of the land leases ended that year, and the tenants were told that rents would be going up. Much of the island's population was bankrupt (MacLeod, p. 124),
In the aftermath of that, many of the people of Skye decided that their best hope was to emigrate to America and start again. They petitioned the government for land in North Carolina. The government turned them down. They went anyway (MacLeod, pp. 124-125, Fraser, p. 122, quotes a different sources that say that 370 or 500 people had made the voyage! Often they went as indentured servants, because it was the only way to pay; Douglas-Flora, pp. 120-121). One of those who went was Flora's stepfather Armadale (Flora's mother seems to have been dead by then); another was her half-sister Anabella (Fraser, p. 123).
Then, on January 15, 1772, Allan's father, "Old Kingsburgh," died (MacLeod, p. 125).
Meanwhile, the English government set out to destroy the Highland way of life. As Dr. Johnson wrote, "We came too late to see what we expected.... The clans retain little now of their original character, their ferocity of temper is softened, their military ardour extinguished, their dignity of independence is depressed, their contempt for government subdued, and their reverence for their chiefs abated. Of what they had before the late conquest of their country [that is, before Culloden], there remain only their language and their poverty. Their language is attacked on every side. Schools are erected, in which English only is taught" (quoted on p. 131 of MacLeod).
Bankrupt, trying to survive on a half-deserted island, with their older relatives mostly dead and their oldest children off on their own, what was left for Flora and Allan in Skye, or anywhere in Scotland? They decided to follow their friends, relatives, and tenants who had gone to North Carolina (MacLeod, pp. 126-127) -- the area of the largest Gaelic-speaking settlement in North America; Gaelic continued to be spoken there until the mid-nineteenth century (Powell, p. 489). Several of Flora's relics of the Prince had to be sold to help finance their trip, such was their poverty (Fraser, p. 132). She did at least manage to provide for several of her children (mostly, according to several of the sources, by her own efforts; Allan couldn't seem to bring himself to do anything): Charles obtained a commission in the East India Company, Ranald a commission in the Royal Marines, and John was sent off for an education. Because there was no dowry for 16-year-old Ann, they instead traded on her youth and married her to a 40-year-old widower, Alexander MacLeod (Douglas-Flora, pp. 121-123).
As it turned out, all five of her sons entered British service, and both her daughters married soldiers (Toffey, p. 123).
(John turned out to be well worth his education; according to Thomson, p. 120, he became a surveyor -- a task requiring real mathematical skill -- and surveyed regions of India, Sumatra, and Boulogne. He helped create a naval telegraphy codebook. He translated books from French (MacLeod, p. 232), wrote about engineering, and made maps (Douglas-Flora, p. 206). He advocated for educational reform. He served with distinction in the military, earning a gold medal at the battle of Barrosa. In the end, he was even made a Fellow of the Royal Society, and met King George IV; Toffey, pp. 48, 195; Fraser, p. 192. And surely most of that skill came from his indomitable mother, not his feckless father. John's daughter, Flora Frances MacDonald Wyld, in her old age publshed the first full-length biography of her grandmother, The Life of Flora MacDonald, though its reliability is considered low and it is presented as a tale told to a fictional "Maggie"; Toffey, p. 48)
In 1773, just before sailing to America, she briefly met Dr. Johnson and Boswell in Skye (Fraser, p. xviii). This caused Johnson to write of her, "Her name will be mentioned in history, and if courage and fidelity be virtues, mentioned with honour" (Douglas-Flora, p. 132) -- a description now inscribed on her memorial in Skye.
If Flora had ever truly written her own lament, this would have been the time of it. She unquestionably grieved to leave the Hebrides. One of her writings makes this clear: "There will soon be no remembrance of my family in this miserable Island, the best of its inhabitance (sic.) are already making ready to follow their freinds (sic.) to America, while they have anything to bring them[,] and among the rest we are to go... as we cannot promise ourselves [anything here] but poverty and oppression" (Douglas-Flora, p. 127).
Allan and Flora, with those children they had not found situations for, left Kingsburgh in May 1774. All they had left for their future living, after selling what they could and settling their debts, was about £800 -- or roughly what Flora had brought to the marriage. Allan had, ultimately, contributed nothing (MacLeod, p. 133).
Several ships went from the Hebrides to North Carolina in this period; apparently it is not known which one they took (MacLeod, pp. 134-136; there is one late record that says they sailed on the Baliol, but MacLeod says that no such ship made a voyage to North Carolina. He thinks it most likely they sailed on the Cato but is not certain. He thinks it likely they went together but allows a possibility that Allan went on a slightly earlier boat. Cf. Douglas-Flora, pp. 135-137, which notes the high mortality rates on emigration ships and notes that the MacDonalds were lucky that no one in their immediate family died). They made landfall at Wilmington, then continued up the Cape Fear River to Cross Creek, the center of the Gaelic community in that colony (Fraser, p 135). This area is now known as Fayetteville, North Carolina (Fraser, p. 137); Cross Creek enters the Cape Fear east of the town, very near the modern Highway 210 bridge over the Cape Fear. According to Fraser, p. 138, they went first to Cameron's Hill, where her sister Annabella had already settled; I believe this is near the present town of Cameron, North Carolina. They eventually settled on land near Cheek's Creek in Montgomery County (Powell, p. 439).
1774 was an interesting time to arrive in North America; the Revolution had not started, but most of the colonies, including North Carolina, were resisting the English government in one way or another. You might think that a Jacobite heroine would oppose George III's rule. But "Allan had no argument with the government in London, but with his chief, Sir Alexander MacDonald," the man who had ruined his prospects and the son of the MacDonald of Sleat whose wife had been so frightened by the Prince's visit (MacLeod, p. 139). With sons in the British Army, it would certainly be uncomfortable for him to be on the other side!
Records of the MacDonalds in North America are few and not contemporary; there was for a long time even a dispute about where they lived in North Carolina (Powell, p. 439; MaLeod, p. 139). The best guess is that they ended up owning a plot of 475 acres, between 50 and 80 of them cleared, It appears they did not own slaves, but they did bring on two indentured servants as well as the two sons of their sons Alexander and James (Fraser, p. 141). There are hints they called the place "Kingsburgh" after their old home (MacLeod, p. 156).
When it became clear that there would be conflict between revolutionaries and loyalists, Allan does not seem to have hesitated; we don't know how Flora felt, but Douglas-Flora, p. 152, feels that Allan felt bound by his thirty-year-old oath to the crown (even though he was no longer in the militia) -- he had actually served under the Duke of Cumberland, the English commander at Culloden (Toffey, p. 137). He secretly made his way to North Carolina governor Josiah Martin to offer to recruit and lead a body of loyalists if the government could find weapons for them (MacLeod, pp. 152-153; Fraser, p 147). The governor was impressed with Allan; Martin wanted to raise a battalion which he would command as Lieutenant Colonel, and he wanted Allan to be his major (MacLeod, p. 154). Unfortunately, although Allan tried to keep his visit secret, the Patriots (rebels) caught wind of it. The MacDonalds probably would have been under suspicion anyway, since their third son, Ranald, was a junior officer in the British army besieging Boston (Fraser, p. 148. Ranald was actually in the British army that fought at Lexington and Concord, and was wounded in that campaign; MacLeod, p. 207).
It seems clear that most of North Carolina sympathized with the rebels. Martin's plans came to nothing; he was quickly forced to flee onto a British vessel off-shore (Fraser, p. 151); about all he accomplished was to interfere with the broader plans for the British government to raise colonial troops. Allan apparently had multiple British regiments that wanted his services; I confess that I could not figure out the chronology of all this. Allan managed to recruit enough North Carolinians that some of their wives would complain to Flora about him luring their husbands away (Fraser, p. 151).
Eventually, the British government came up with the plan for the expedition against Charleston led by Cornwallis and Admiral Sir Peter Parker (described in "Sir Peter Parker"). Charleston was in South Carolina, but the British thought they would bring in troops from North Carolina to help. And so the call went to Governor Martin, and on January 10, 1776, Martin put out his call for troops (MacLeod, pp. 164-165, who on p. 165 points out that Martin did not have the courage to go to the areas where the troops would be raised!). Allan was one of those appointed commissioner to raise the troops (Fraser, p. 154).
There is dispute about how much Flora helped with the recruiting of the troops (MacLeod, pp. 168-169), but the balance of the evidence is that it was mostly Allan's work, along with a few others such Flora's stepfather, Hugh MacDonald (formerly of Armadale). In the end, the Highlanders raised about 1400-1600 men (Fraser, p. 156) -- equivalent to a small brigade led by General Donald MacDonald (not a member of Flora's family). Much of Flora's heart must have been with the army, which included her stepfather, her husband, at least one and perhaps two sons, and her son-in-law! (MacLeod, p. 181). Allan's own regiment was called the North Carolina Highlanders; originally old Armadale was chosen to be its colonel, but he resigned the post due to age (MacLeod, pp. 174-175). Allan apparently then took command as the senior major. Unfortunately, as Allan had suggested to Governor Martin, they didn't have enough weapons for all of them (MacLeod, p. 174 and elsewhere), and what they had were old.
The Highlanders expected to be joined by troops from western North Carolina -- survivors of the Regulators (MacLeod, p. 173), for whom see "When Fanning First to Orange Came." But almost none of those troops showed up; the mountaineers had not been willing to commit themselves. So it was basically the Highlanders under Donald MacDonald on their own. There seems to be disagreement about Brigadier MacDonald's plans; was he levering the Rebels out of position by maneuver, not trusting his ill-armed troops, or was he being led along into making an ill-planned attack? Whatever the situation, Brigadier MacDonald became ill as the army approached the bridge over Moore's Creek. A subordinate took command, attacked on February 27, 1776 -- and was quickly defeated by a smaller force (Fraser, p. 157).
Powell, p. 41, claims that the rebels lost only one killed and one wounded, while the Highlanders had about seventy casualties and promptly fled. The rebels pursued; many of the Highlanders surrendered. "That day the Crown lost hundreds of guns, swords, knives, wagons, and supplies, as well as 850 soldiers captured, including General McDonald. The Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge was hailed as the Lexington and Concord of the South" (Powell, p. 41).
With Brigadier MacDonald out and the next-in-line, Lieutenant Colonel Donald MacLeod, among the dead, Allan MacDonald found himself commanding the badly bruised force of Highlanders (MacLeod, p. 189). The defeated army started to fall apart; Allan and others decided to lead the soldiers who had kept together back to their homes.
Details on the Highlanders' retreat are sketchy; little was recorded at the time. They managed to hold together for ten days. But on about March 9, 1776, Allan was captured, along with old Armadale and many others (MacLeod, p. 197. The Rebels claimed about 350 prisoners; MacLeod, p. 191). Allan was imprisoned in the town of Halifax, North Carolina, though his confinement was loose because he was in poor health (Fraser, p. 157). Apparently his and Flora's son James was also captured, but the boy managed to escape and make it home (Fraser, pp. 159-160). Allan was eventually taken from North Carolina to Philadelphia, on foot most of the way; he was a captive there when the Declaration of Independence was announced (MacLeod, pp. 198-199). Only when in Philadelphia was he permitted to write to Flora (MacLeod, p. 200).
Flora apparently suffered a bout of sickness at this time (indeed, she seems to have been prone to fever and illness for the rest of her life; I wonder if she didn't contract malaria or some such infection), and was left to manage her property alone. She couldn't even work the land on her own; while visiting a neighbor, perhaps to offer support, she fell from her horse and broke her right arm. And there was apparently no surgeon available, so it did not mend properly (Fraser, p. 162; Douglas-Flora, p. 173; Flora's own account of this is on p. 126 of Toffey).
Probably rebel raiders took some of the family's possessions (some of what is thought to be her silver plate is still in North Carolina; Douglas-Flora, pp. 173-174, and her son-in-law claimed that he had lost 360 of his books; Douglas-Flora, p. 175). In addition, some of the indentured servants ran off to join the rebel side (Fraser, p. 159). And her husband wasn't paid while in captivity, and he had spent most of his limited funds in raising the army. Once again he had bankrupted his family (Fraser, p. 161).
It is sometimes reported that she buried two children while in North Carolina; two bodies were later found and reburied as hers. But all of her known children are accounted for, and there wasn't much time for her to have more, and she never mentions losing children in North Carolina; this seems clearly to be incorrect folklore (Toffey, p. 127; most of the other biographies also tell of this only to discount it).
In 1777, Flora reportedly was called before a court and required to either take an oath of allegiance to the new United States or leave the country (MacLeod, p. 195). She refused to take the oath, or even acknowledge the court, and so her lands were confiscated. With nothing else to do, she briefly went to live with her daughter Ann MacLeod (MacLeod, pp. 195-196). Her fate was not unusual; many loyalists were driven out of North Carolina, and the United States, before North Carolina finally offered an amnesty in 1786 (Douglas-Flora, p. 201).
Allan was eventually exchanged, but according to Douglas-Flora, p. 179, he was the last of the Moore's Creek loyalists to be freed. The problem was those multiple offers of commissions he had received. The Rebels insisted that he was a lieutenant colonel, and should be exchanged for an officer of that rank; the British insisted he was a captain, and offered only a captain in return. Even when that was straightened out (apparently by an appeal to congress, in which he said that he was a militia colonel but a regular captain; Douglas-Flora, p. 180). Even when released, he did not come home (Fraser, p. 163) but stayed with the army.
Flora received an offer to go join Allan in New York, where he was happily leading a fancy-dress company (MacLeod, p. 205; note that this means he was serving as a captain, not some higher grade. His three oldest sons, Charles, Ranald, and Alexander, were also there in New York. Allan, as usual, spent all his money -- in this case, to equip his company; Douglas-Flora, p. 185). Flora, her son James, her daughter Ann, and Anne's four children headed for New York on a ship called the Sucky and Peggy (Fraser, p. 165; MacLeod, p. 211. Douglas-Flora, p. 187, calls the ship Sukey and Peggy, which is probably how we should pronounce the name, but probably wasn't how they spelled it at the time). Fortunately, their passage was paid for, since Flora had little more than the clothes on her back. And she had to leave behind her two half sisters and their families, as well as her stepfather (MacLeod, p. 212). She and Allan were reunited after two years apart (Fraser, p. 166). But he was still officially in the King's service, and racking up more debts. Eventually, probably against his will, he had to head for Halifax and go back into service (Fraser, pp. 167-168). Flora perforce followed him to Nova Scotia, though the cold was very hard on her given her illness. She also suffered another fall (it sounds as if her balance may have been affected by her illness), and hurt her other arm (Fraser, pp. 168-169). She did see some of her sons for part of this time, but her daughter Ann prepared to head back to London (Fraser, p. 168). Flora eventually decided to do that same, even though it meant leaving her husband behind (MacLeod, p. 216; Douglas-Flora, p. 194).
Flora returned to England in 1779. She took another fall on the difficult voyage home (Fraser, p. 170. Douglas-Flora, p. 194, suggests that it happened when the warship she was sailing on, the Lord Dunmore, sighted an unknown ship and cleared for action, with Flora leading the female passengers out of the way of the fighting sailors. It sounds as if her earlier and the damage to her arms made it hard for her to manage on shipboard). She spent a long time recovering from that and from the sickness that followed, and she now had rheumatism in both arms (Fraser, pp. 171-172). Arriving in London in December 1779, she spent the winter there, apparently sick (MacLeod, p. 218). The following spring she made it to Edinburgh, where she saw her song John for what proved to be the last time (MacLeod, p. 219). She finally made her way back to Skye (Fraser, p. 173), though she had no home there and had to stay in Dunvegan, the uncomfortable home of her daughter Ann (herself a refugee, since her husband Alexander MacLeod of Glendale was another North Carolina migrant who had lost his lands and his commission as well; MacLeod, p. 221. Douglas-Flora, p. 197, suggests that Flora wanted to leave, but Ann had her mother stay because of Flora's ill health).
Her son Alexander, who had been injured, was lost at sea in 1780 (Fraser, p. 170). Her son Ranald also died at sea, in a wreck off Newfoundland in 1782 (MacLeod, pp. 218, 226). Her sons Charles and James both served under the infamous Banastre Tarleton toward the end of the war, as did her nephew Donald; James was severely injured at the Battle of Camden (Douglas-Flora, p. 198). Both eventually made it back to Britain, though.
Her husband, who lost his command at the end of the Revolutionary War and was reduced to being a half-pay captain (MacLeod, p. 227), had laid a claim to lands in Nova Scotia (Fraser, p. 178) and stayed there for a time. But in 1784 he put in a request for reimbursement, and returned to London in 1785 to try to get money out of the government; he was broke again (Fraser, p. 179; MacLeod, p. 227; Douglas-Flora, pp. 202-203). Based on Douglas-Flora, he eventually was granted £516, or a bit more than a third of the £1341 he claimed; Toffey, p. 139, makes the payment £440. Generous, compared to a lot of awards, but it still left him broke. Husband and wife saw each other for the first time in five years; they had spent only one year of the last nine together (MacLeod, p. 230; on p. 234 he notes that Flora, in 1789 in her account of her time in North Carolina, sounded rather bitter about all that Allan had put her through).
It was their son John who had found them a place. John had lost his first wife and both their children in 1786-1787 and did his best to provide help (Fraser, pp. 183-184; Douglas-Flora, pp. 203-204. Happily, according to MacLeod, pp. 232-233, he married again, had seven more children, and died with an estate worth some £40,000. But he didn't retire and return to England until 1801, according to Douglas-Flora, p. 210). In late 1787, with that hep, Flora and Allan were able to rent a tiny holding on Skye named Peinduin (Fraser, p. 184; Douglas-Flora, p. 206). Both were in bad shape by then; she wrote in 1789 of her badly damaged arms, while Allan had "totally lost the use of his legs" (Fraser, p. 185; MacLeod, p. 233, and Douglas-Flora, p. 207, quote her writing to this effect. She believed that his disability was the long-term result of his having been imprisoned in America. Flora herself was able to sign her name to the memorial, but no more, because of rheumatism and her arm, Apparently both had healed crooked; she said that both were "cast," i.e. not straight; MacLeod, p 234).
Supposedly, when Bonnie Prince Charlie died, his younger brother Henry, the last of the Stuarts, offered Flora a pension if she would turn Catholic. But she stayed Presbyterian (Fraser, p. 188).
In 1790, she "was taken suddenly ill with an inflammatory complaint." She died at Penduin on March 4 (Fraser, p. 188; MacLeod, p. 234), with her mind still intact but her body very weary. Her crippled husband and two daughters were there; her surviving sons (Charles, James, and John) seemingly were not. She was buried in Kilmuir, site of the Kingsburgh family cemetery. There were many mourners (Fraser, p. 189), though I'm not sure many of them actually knew her.... In one last irony, her half-sister Annabella and Annabella's husband Alexander MacDonald soon after received the "tack" of Kingsburgh, and their son Donald soon married Flora's daughter Fanny, so that they, and Flora's husband Allan, went back to their lost holding of Kingsburgh.
Allan died two years after Flora. Their son Charles died in 1795. Their son John lived until 1831; her daugher Annie Macleod lived until her eightieth year, dying in 1834. Some of Annie's memories, and her daughter Mary Macleod's, were used in Alexander Macgregor's 1882 Life of Flora Macdonald.
Despite the many tragic events of her last years, Flora's memory came to be venerated. Magnusson, p. 626, reports that every bit of her burial stone in Skye was taken off by pilgrims; a new stone had to be put up in 1955.
More surprisingly, she is well remembered in North Carolina. From 1915 to 1958, there was a Flora MacDonald College at Red Springs, North Carolina (Powell, p. 439. Toffey, p. 181, says it was founded based on the false reports of Flora's Edinburgh education -- but still, it was a higher educational institution for women founded at a time when such were rare). There was also a major historical controversy about where she lived in North Carolina, and some dubious artifacts, including the bodies of the two children that were said to be hers, associated with her presence in America (Powell, pp. 439-440). In a deep irony, Douglas-Flora, pp. 217-225 and MacLeod, p. 237, says that she is best remembered in North Carolina, where she spent the least time and suffered the most, and is least remembered in the Hebrides, her true home. This perhaps matches the irony that she is remembered for her relationship with a man she barely knew and never loved, but her own family, including her highly distinguished son, are forgotten. Ironic, yet again, that Flora's hard life gave her much reason to lament, but no reason whatsoever to lament the prince she had saved.
I remember reading a suggestion that Bonnie Prince Charlie came too late to save the Stuart legacy and the Highland way of life, but he preserved the tartan and the folktales and the memory of the Highland culture. If this is true, second place in saving those things must go to Flora MacDonald.
And yet, "Life never recompensed Flora MacDonald -- that was left to posterity and was due in no small measure to her own strong character, her plain common sense, and [her] qualities of courage and fidelity.... An accident of history may have turned Flora MacDonald into a heroine, but she herself created the legend which has endured through two-and-a-half centuries" (Douglas-Flora, p. 226). I'm pretty iconoclastic, but I think every word of that is true.
For someone who became famous for sitting in a boat for a few hours, the number of books about MacDonald is stunning. Including the ones cited in this article, I am aware of the following (some of which may be historical fiction, though I've tried to omit those):
-- J. A. Carruth, Flora MacDonald, the Highland Heroine
-- Lillian de la Torre, The White Rose of Stuart: The Story of Flora MacDonald
-- Hugh Douglas, Flora MacDonald: The Most Loyal Rebel (cited in this article. It feels too willing to trust folklore about Flora in North Carolina)
-- Flora Fraser, Pretty Young Rebel: The Life of Flora MacDonald (cited in this article, but occasionally a bit sloppy)
-- James A. MacDonald, Flora MacDonald: A History and a Message
-- Jonathan MacDonald, Flora MacDonald: Heroine of the Jacobite Cause
-- Alexander MacGregor, The Life of Flora MacDonald
-- J. P. MacLean, Flora MacDonald in America (this is marketed as non-fiction, but the level of embroidery is so high that I refuse to touch it)
-- Ruaridh H. MacLeod, Flora MacDonald: The Jacobite Heroine in Scotland and North America (cited in this article. This is often very hard to understand -- MacLeod is not a good writer -- but his research and his attitude toward his sources are excellent; I would consider this the best of the books cited here)
-- John Toffey: A Woman Nobly Planned: Fact and Myth in the Legacy of Flora MacDonald (cited in this article, though it's less a biography than a commentary on other biographies)
-- Elizabeth Gray Vining, Flora MacDonald: Her Life in the Highlands and America (I haven't read this one, but it is supposed to be of high quality)
There is also at least one drama: "Flora MacDonald: An Historical Drama, In Three Acts," by Primogene Duvard. There was a 1948 movie, "Bonnie Prince Charlie," with David Niven as the prince and Margaret Leighton as Flora (though it was a very messy production; Niven said that there was no finished script and the writers were churning out scenes a day or two before they were filmed; Toffey, p 174). Toffey's chapter "Twentieth-Century Imaginings" lists very many other fictional presentatins.
Flora spent most of her life in relative poverty. How different from today! If she had been able to get a Life and Likeness licensing deal, she probably would have been set for life. Fraser's photo section shows a "Flora Macdonald Needle Book," a Staffordshire enameled figurine, a cigarette packed card insert, a doll (which doesn't even get her hair color right), and a scent bottle/bonbonniere
In conclusion, I emphasize again that, despite folklore, there was no serious relationship between the Prince and Flora; they barely knew each other. But given how his later life went, I can't help but think that he would have been better off had he married her; her skill in managing the aftermath would have been of great value to him as his life fell apart. Most real people who become folk heroes were disappointing in real life. Flora MacDonald was an exception; although she had fame thrust upon her, she seems to have been more intelligent and emotionally wise than folklore makes her. I am sure many others whose names are lost to history matched her gifts. I doubt many have exceeded her. I would have liked to meet her, for herself and not for her (non)-relationship with the Pretender. - RBW
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