THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF FLORA MACDONALD By James Banks, Esq. - 1857 … With Refutations
Source: MISCELLANEOUS ANCIENT RECORDS OF MOORE COUNTY, NC by Rassie E. Wicker - 1971 - Pgs. 514 through 517
Contact: Myrtle Bridges
About the year 1854, James Banks, a well-know Fayetteville Attorney delivered an address in which he related the adventures of the celebrated Scottish heroine, Flora MacDonald. The interest aroused by the address led to its publication in the University Magazine, and later, in the pamphlet form bearing the title: The Life and Adventures of Flora McDonald. (1857) For more than one hundred years thereafter, incidents related to this pamphlet concerning her American interlude were accepted without question both here and in Scotland and were widely quoted by writers on the subject. As far as the present writer has been able to learn, no additional research was done until about the year 1965 when the writer, in attempting to minutely locate the site of Flora and Allan's Anson County plantation, began to realize that Banks statements did not accord with the records then known to the writer. The discovery led to a long and tedious investigation of the entire subject, the result being the revelation to still more mis-statements, for some of which Banks cannot be held entirely blameless. In the interest of brevity Bank's statements with their refutation. Page numbers refer to Banks' pamphlet. (Banks) p. 18 - "In 1750, Flora was married to Alexander McDonald of Kingsboro', son of Kingsboro' who aided in the Prince's escape." (Wicker) This is, of course, an inexcusable error. Allan's name appears repeatedly in records which were available to Banks. He says: "For a time she resided at Cameron's is correct, but there she was in the home of Alexander MacDonald and his wife Annabella, Flora's half-sister. This stay lasted only while Allan was looking around for a plantation." Alexander bought Mt. Pleasant from Duncan Buie in early July, 1772. (Cumberland Deed Records, Book E. p. 26.) February 10th, 1776, only three days before joining General MacDonald's forces, he conveyed this plantation to Donald Cameron. Despite this, he claimed the place lost by confiscation. (Claims of Alexander McDonald Transcription in N.C. Department of Archives and History) Cameron held this deed, unregistered, until 1789, which suggests to the writer that there may have been some arrangement between himself and MacDonald by which he might reclaim his plantation in the event that he later decided to return to North Carolina. Banks, an attorney, should have been aware of these deeds. (Cumberland Deed Records, Book I. p. 330) (Banks) p. 19 - "Upon her arrival at Wilmington, a ball was held in her honor which she graced with her presence and took pleasure in the degree of attention paid to her eldest daughter Anne, who was just blushing into womanhood." (Wicker) - At that time Anne and Alexander MacLeod had been married more than three years, and three children had been born to this union. A fourth child was born at Glendale sometime during 1776. There are no records that such a ball was held. (Banks) Pg. 20 - "In 1775 her daughter Anne married Alexander McLeod of Glendale, in Moore County." (Wicker) - They were married in 1770. (Banks) Pg. 20 - In order to assemble the Scotch, balls were given in different parts of the settlement, some of which Flora attended, with her daughter, now Mrs. McLeod, and her younger daughter Fanny …" (Wicker) - Fanny (Francis) remained in Scotland, and never came to America. Much later she became the bride of Donald MacDonald, son of Alexander MacDonald of Mr. Pleasant. (Banks) Pg. 20 - "Early in January, 1776, Kingsboro' McDonald purchased a tract of land from Caleb Touchstone on the borders of Richmond and Montgomery counties, and named the place Killegray. Here two of Flora's children died, and the present owner, McLelland keeps the spot fenced in, in sacred memory of Flora's offspring." (Wicker) - The writer, from other evidence, accepts the Touchstone part of this paragraph. However, he found no record that Caleb at that time owned any land in the area described. In Allan's claim (See Allan's claim, page 371, this volume - Miscellaneous Ancient Records of Moore - Wicker) he states that his plantation consisted of a tract of 475 acres and another of 50 acres. The "evidence" which would have given details of his purchase is missing from the record of his claim. The writer's investigations in 1965 -'66 revealed that at that time (1774-'76) Caleb did own 475 acres, plus two other tracts of 50 acres each, on Cheek's creek, in Montgomery county about four miles northwest of the so-called Killegray place. This 475 acres was a going plantation when Allan purchased it, with dwelling, far buildings, cleared land, orchards, and a grist mill, and was probably the home of Touchstone. In support of the writer's conclusions of 1966, a letter recently discovered in the Public Records Office, London, written by the then governor Martin in late May or early June, 1775, to his secretary at new Bern, in which he states that he expects to spend a part of the summer of 1775 at the plantation of Allan McDonald on Cheek's creek, in Anson county and should there be an enquiry about his whereabouts, the secretary was to say that he had gone to the town of Salisbury. The place now known locally as the Killegray place contains 205 acres, lying athwart (across) the Richmond-Montgomery County line. The records show that from about 1772 until 1824 this tract was owned and occupied by one Isaac Armstrong. (This conclusion from an extensive study of the Richmond county deed records, Rockingham, N.C.) Killegray is the name of a small island lying between North Uist and Harris which for centuries had been the domain of MacLeod of MacLeod (Dunvegan). Had Allan given a name to his plantation, surely it would have been Kingsboro' and nor Killegray. The composition of Flora's family is easily determined by a study of her own letters, and there is no place in it for these children. She was 54 years old when she came to North Carolina, and unless she was another Sarah, there is no chance they were born after her arrival. Responsible historians both here and in Scotland reject this story. (Banks) p. 21 - "Of her five sons, Charles, James and John were in the British army and Ranald and Sandy were in the naval services of England; and of her numerous family none except her daughter Fanny was at home …" (Wicker) Sandy (Alexander) and James were both present at Moore's creek. Alexander was taken prisoner but James escaped capture and returned to Cheek's Creek. Fanny was of course, in Scotland. Flora herself wrote:" … during one of these visits (she) fell from her horse and broke her right arm … and having no comforter but a young boy her Son, the oldest Alexander being prisoner with his father." (Banks) p. 21 - "After many and various difficulties with Whig scouts, Captain Ingram (a Whig) granted her a passport in 1779, by which she was enabled to reach Fayetteville and Wilmington; thence she made her way to Charleston, from which port she sailed for her native land, leaving her husband a prisoner in Halifax jail … On the passage, the vessel was attacked by a French cruiser; during the engagement Flora refused to go below, and remained on deck; urging the men to deeds of daring. Her arm was broken in the fight …" (Wicker) Here again Banks confuses Allan and Flora with Alexander and Annabella. From Alexander's claims: "That your memorialist's family consisting of a wife and five children … suffered cruelties which exceed description, being frequently plundered of the common necessaries of life, and at last stripped from even their body clothes and turned out of their house into the woods, where they must have perished for want of food and cloathing had not their miserable plight wrought on the feelings of one of their Captains who had the humanity to conduct them within the British Lines and was rewarded with all the money your memorialist upon the evacuation of Charles Town embarked with his family for Britain, that he arrived in London in February, 1783 …" Actually, the captured officers at Moore's Creek remained at Halifax (N.C.) only a short time, and were marched to Philadelphia and turned over to the American Congress. Allan secured an exchange for himself and his son, Alexander, and went to New York, where he engaged in enlisting a company for General Howe, and later went on to Nova Scotia, where he joined the 84th Highland Regiment, then being formed. On February 21, 1778, Major MacLeod, Flora's son-in-law, arrived at Wilmington under a flag, where he obtained the permission of Governor Caswell to remove his wife and four children, his wife's mother, Flora and their women servants from the state. A messenger was sent to inform them of his arrival, and upon their arrival at Wilmington, they set sail for New York, where Flora rejoined her husband. From there they went to Halifax (N.S.) where Allan, after a short captaincy in the 84th regiment, undertook to develop his bounty land, while Flora, in October, 1779, sailed for Britain on a privateer with 24 guns. The story of her action when the vessel was attacked by a French privateer has been repeatedly told, and that during the action between the two ships, she refused to go below, but cheered the men, and in the fray, suffered a broken arm. However, she wrote: In our passage spying a sail, made ready for action and in hurrying the ladies aboard below, to a place of safety, my foot skipping a step in the trap fell and broke the dislocated arm in two …" Banks p. 21 - "Two letters written by Flora McDonald in 1780 and 1782 … while her husband was in prison …" (Wicker) Her husband was in Nova Scotia, and had not been a prisoner for more than two years, being released by the Congress in August, 21, 1777. The letters referred to are reproduced in Bank's pamphlet, and had he analyzed their contents, he would have learned that Allan was not in prison. Alexander MacGregor in his book "The Life of Flora MacDonald (1882) which went through four editions, gives credit to "an American writer", no doubt Banks, for that part dealing with Flora's adventures in North Carolina. In several cases he quotes Banks verbatim. J.P. MacLean's "Flora MacDonald in America" faithfully retells Banks' version, despite the fact that MacLean spent several months in Cumberland and Robeson counties while compiling his book. He was assisted in his endeavors by the late Angus Wilton MacLean, who at the time was governor of the state.
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