Quote Originally Posted by MMI View Post
It's interesting to note the resistance to the idea that Loyalists could provide any inspiration or example to America[
I'm not denying that Loyalist actions could provide inspiration, or at least admiration, among Americans. I just don't know of any. The only one quoted here is apparently not verifiable, and is largely interpreted as being legend rather than history. It might be true, and if so is certainly admirable on her part.
Except that the MacDonalds were impoverished before they came to America. And some of the merchants were very wealthy indeed.
You were right, they were impoverished. I missed that, sorry. But the article by Deanna Kerrigan does say that MacDonald gave his oath in order to receive a commission, not in order to emigrate.
I am pointing out that the rebels behaved just as badly.
As has been noted many times, in many places, bad things happen in war, committed by all sides.
Would you allow people with a history of rebellion travel to a volatile country without giving assurances of loyalty?
I haven't found anything that says that Allan MacDonald was a Jacobite or a rebel. He was a Captain when Flora married him, presumably in the British Army. As such he would naturally have taken an oath of loyalty.
George Washington, I would add, would also have sworn an oath of loyalty when he joined the British Army’s Virgina Regiment – but he broke his word.
Washington resigned his commission sometime after the French and Indian War. I don't know what kinds of oaths he might have made, but breaking those oaths in light of what he perceived as wrongdoing by the Crown does not, in my opinion, impugn his honor.
I do see their decision to support the Crown as noble, and the point to be drawn from it is how one must accept one’s duty to one’s country. Surely you can’t denigrate that?
The fact that MacDonald held to his oath is certainly worthy of admiration. It's doubtful that Flora would have been required to pledge any oath: as a wife it would have been expected of her to support her husband's decisions.
The story is repeated without mentioning it is only a legend in my own quoted source. It is clearly well-believed, and if it is not true, then, just like Arthur and the burnt cakes, or Robert the Bruce and the spider, it ought to be.
LOL! Yeah, there are many stories which ought to be true, whether they are or not.

She’s evidently a Carolinian, and has an Irish name. I could be forgiven for supposing she’s a Catholic.
I haven't been able to find anything about Deanna Kerrigan. By your own admission you are guessing about her background and motives. Perhaps it's your irrational dislike of Irish-Catholics which are leading you to your conclusions?
How you managed to obtain that reading is beyond me: “Revolutionary state government” is quite different from “angry local patriots”. Flora was made homeless by the rebel government in a deliberate political act, and the fact that she had to hide causes me to believe that she feared for her safety. Remember, Ms Kerrigan told us that Flora settled in Wilmington among a substantial population of other Scots. Who were the angry local patriots?
According the the Wikipedia article, "After her husband was taken prisoner, Flora remained in hiding while the American Patriots ravaged her family plantation and took all her possessions." It says nothing about the government.

A Wikipedia article (which is consistent with other articles I found) regarding the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge where Allan MacDonald was captured states that "The battle had significant effects within the Scots community of North Carolina, where Loyalists refused to turn out when calls to arms were made later in the war, and many were routed out of their homes by the pillaging activities of their Patriot neighbors."
Anyway, surely Flora’s fortitude in the face of such intolerance is admirable.
Agreed.
It’s not her fame that’s important, but the inspiration she gave her fellow Loyalists, and the legacy she has left to America.
I will concede that her actions were admirable, and are still admired by the descendants of the Scottish loyalists surviving in North Carolina today. I'm not certain I could be inspired by someone who gave up and returned to Scotland at least 5 years before the Revolution ended, though. However, she was in her late 50's by then, hardly the age to be roughing it in the Americas.

On a personal note, MMI, I want to say that, while I have always enjoyed history, especially military history, I was never that well read on more than the basics of the American Revolution. Your posts have been education in themselves and have certainly inspired me to do additional research into areas I hadn't even known existed. Thanks for that.