It Happened Here A
sk any self-respecting Scot about Flo- ra MacDonald and even now, all these years after her death, you're likely to
see their eyes go misty with respect. Much to the delight of local Scots then and now, the Jacobite heroine resided here in Fayetteville from 1774 to 1775. MacDonald earned her fame in June 1746
when she helped Bonnie Prince Charlie es- cape capture after Scotland's bloody Battle of Culloden, despite then living in an area con- trolled by the Prince's enemies. To distract the knights who were looking for the Prince, Flora performed a highland dance which is still performed today and now called the "Flora McDonald's Fancy". She was arrested for her role in the prince's
escape and was briefl y imprisoned in the Tow- er of London before being released in 1747. Three years later she married Allan
MacDonald, a captain in the British army, and in 1774 they moved to North Carolina, where he fought for the British during the American Revolutionary War. A historical marker here reads: Near this spot the Scottish heroine bade farewell to her husband
Allan MacDonald of Kingsburgh, and his troops during the
march-out of the Highlanders to the Battle of Moore's
Creek Bridge, February 1776
According to legend, Flora MacDonald
stood at the site of what is now the Gilbert Theater in downtown Fayetteville and ex- horted her husband and his troops as they went off to fight, and eventually lose, the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge in February
of 1776. Worse, Allan was captured in the battle and held as a prisoner of war for two years. After his capture, Flora and their children went into hiding before being reu- nited in 1778, when they all moved back to Scotland. H
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