In 1722, on this day the incomparable Highland rebel Flora MacDonald was born in Milton South Uist, Scotland.

Hard Woman, Reboot
by Ed, Bagpipelover & Jackie RoseHer father died when she was a child, and her mother was abducted and married by Hugh MacDonald of Armadale, Skye. She was brought up under the care of the chief of her clan, the MacDonalds of Clanranald, and was partly educated in Edinburgh.

During the Jacobite Risings she was living on the island of Benbecula in the Outer Hebrides when Bonnie Prince Charlie took refuge there. In despair the Young Pretender had left the still undefeated Jacobite Army in the hands of his trusted companion, Captain Francis O'Neill. Planning to flee Scotland forever, the Prince sought her assistance only to discover that the MacDonalds were secretly sympathetic with the Jacobite cause.

She convinced the Prince to rejoin the Jacobite Army by promising to organize reinforcements from her own Clan. With fresh resolve, he inspired the "forty-five" rebels with a fiery new leadership that turned the tables on the Hanoverians.
This article is a reversal of the Jackie Rose story Hard Man which focuses on Captain Francis O'Neill.