you've probably heard the sky boat song
i'm hoping most scots know about flora
macdonald taking bonnie prince charlie
over the sea to sky but have you ever
wondered
what happened to her after that this
video
is for you
hiya i'm bruce fumi if you're interested
in the people
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in the meantime let me tell you a story
it's the 27th of june and it's the
anniversary of flora macdonald taking
bonnie prince charlie
over the sea to sky on his escape route
back to france now
i assumed that everyone had heard the
story of flora macdonald and how she
ended up
in a boat with a pantomime dame in the
middle of the night in a hebridean
waters in june 1746
but last night my 27 year old son said
that he'd never heard
of flora macdonald and he lives with me
can you do me a favor in the comment
section below
just say yes or no to let me know if you
knew
the story of flora macdonald helping
bonnie prince charlie to escape
on a boat to sky in the comments section
of the youtube video
okay if you don't know the background
and the detail to that story and how it
all happened
if you let me know in the comments
section if enough people are interested
then i'll definitely put that in a list
of videos to make
however today i thought i'd tell you
what happened to flora macdonald
after this day in scottish history
and that's why today i'm at
dunstaffonish castle just outside obama
now if you haven't been to both these
places then you should go
and hopefully this video will give you a
wee taste
now having rescued bonnie prince charlie
from the hanoverian state on the 12th of
june
1746 flora was arrested as she made her
way to a solicitor
somebody had grasped and she was put on
a prisoner ship called the furnace
and here at don stafford was one of the
several stops in the way south
to the tower of london
a previous stop had been an armadale in
the south side of the sky where the
ferry stops now
and there flora was taken by escort for
one visit
to our mother and one of the conditions
set by the english-speaking authorities
was that she was under no circumstances
to converse
in gaelic now think about that for a
minute
culloden has just been lost and in the
fever pitch of the duke of cumberland's
butchery in the highlands
you're a young lassie in the hands of
the same british
army committing unimaginable atrocities
torture
rape theft murder under the flag that
will become known
as the butcher's apron
many traitors like you will be hung
drawn in quarters you have no idea
what lies ahead you're allowed one last
visit
with your mother but you're not allowed
to speak
in her tongue
after don stafford leith and then
finally london
to the tower were the other traitors now
they tell me that flora's strength the
character and attractiveness of visage
and spirit
meant that she did much better than most
remember to london jacobites
she was a celebrity to be visited she
was even visited by the prince of wales
the heir to the throne the elder brother
of the duke of cumberland
can you imagine and to him she said of
her aid to bonnie prince charlie
i would have done the same thing for you
if i found you
in distress that actually sounds a wee
bit rude doesn't it
a year after she was captured on the 4th
of july 1747
a general amnesty was declared and flora
and others were released
to go home now living in scotland as a
sky
celebrity has a sting in the tail
i know when i was at school they always
told us the illusion of s sounds like
snakes
but there's no need for fangs when
there's venom
and envious tongues you can imagine how
many fish wipes their wear and sky
and the jacobite heroine returning from
london was both jealously guarded
and regarded with jealousy
our marriage to alan another mcdonald
made the scots magazine of the day
but all celebrity comes to a price and
so did land in the highlands as people
made way for sheep she and alan tilled
the land with sweat and tears and
attempts
improvement
but eventually they like so many others
made another boat trip over the sea to
the carolinas
now in 2020 with the success of
outlander jamie and claire fraser
are probably the most famous inhabitants
of the argell colony in the carolinas
but in the closing months of the real
1774
it would have been alan and flora
mcdonald
now you're probably wondering what was
going on
in the american colonies in the 1770s
well imagine the post jack about
rebellion scotland during the highland
clearances
was a bit like a frying pan
say and let's say the colonial americas
were like
i don't know a fire and the space in
between was the atlantic
well allen and flora sailed from
campbelltown in august
1774 on the two-month journey to the
colonies
and halfway through that journey as they
enjoyed the pleasures of an
18th century cruise in the atlantic
something else from the buffy mom
in september 1774 the first continental
congress convened
and it endorsed the proposal of another
scotsman
called john adams the americans would
resist
all taxes in disguise and boycott all
british goods from
december 1774. welcome to the americas
flora
you'll be picking aside then should
natalie avoided losing her head while
trying not to pick size during the
jacobite counter revolution
why on earth would you want to pick a
side in the american rebellion
now if you're wondering why a glorious
day an auburn promenade
has changed a wet day in perthshire
somebody forgot to press the record
button and when i find out who it was
what was about to say was i've always
found it surprising
how scots and highlanders in particular
came down to the side of the british
crown
during the american rebellion rebellion
revolution the semantics are important
for keeping our american cousins in
their place
some say that we were people who liked
oregon tradition
others make the point that for three
generations highlanders
had tried to stand against the british
state and where did it got them
the banning of the kill that's my next
video
the decimation of their culture the loss
of their lands and the death
of their sons this time
let's be in the winning side for once
so when the revolution saw a rebellion
started
alan mcdonald became an officer in the
forces of the british crown
and flora went out as a recruiting
sergeant for the regime that only a few
years before
had locked her in the tower of london
at the battle of moore's creek bridge
flora's husband and son
survived but they were both captured
and they spent a large part of the war
as prisoners she
as a woman alone fending off the raids
attacks and intrusions
of their neighbors the american
revolutionaries
did you know in thomas jefferson's
original draft of the american
declaration of independence the scots
were singled out for contempt
and they were named the line
was removed possibly with influence of
john witherspoon
or john adams the guy who we mentioned
earlier who was scottish
in 1778 flora had to drop everything and
escape by ship
when a short-term flag of truce was
raised in wilmington north carolina
once more she sailed over the sea this
time
to canada and what was left of the
macdonald family
like so many other highlanders
persecuted by the revolutionaries
regrouped in canada but these were harsh
times
in a harsh land now they're left
hardships in the hebrides
but the american experience had taken a
heavy toll
dreams crushed in the carolinas and then
one
nova scotian winter and
flora she just wanted to go home
she took a boat over the sea to sky
her husband alan stayed on for a while
in canada till the end of the war
he'd hoped to make a new start with the
compensation that he was due
for his losses fighting for the british
crown
now you might be surprised to know
that the british state dragged out the
compensation claims and payments were
paltry
when they finally came and so two
elderly scanners
found themselves back in their island
without the wherewithal to make a new
life
but with the health complications that
had come from years of fighting for
and against being imprisoned both for
and by
the british state their sons had fought
and some had died in the service of that
state
their one good fortune was that their
son johnny had done well enough working
as a surveyor
for the british government in india that
he
could send back a pension that kept his
parents
in their faltering years now don't get
me wrong
whilst the british state showed itself
ungrateful to those who carried its
banner
bonnie prince charlie died in 1788
with much self-pity but little
expression of gratitude
to the young woman who rushed all to
take him
over the sea to sky 42 years before
and now an old woman our passing two
brought the lamenting of the pipes
two years later our graves are regular
tourist attraction right next to the
museum of island life at kilmur
it's a beautiful spot and well worth a
visit our memorial is engraved with the
words
of samuel johnson no jacobite or even a
scottish file
he said her name will be mentioned in
history
and if courage and fidelity be virtues
mentioned with honor
in flora mcdonald's time the two biggest
events
in the island of skye were her wedding
and her funeral
now she's even revered in the carolinas
i hope you've been entertained and
informed by this wee video and most of
my customers
for whatever it is that i do here come
from word of mouth
now there's two ways that you can spread
the word one
is by giving a thumbs up on youtube and
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