Flora McDonald

PermalinkToday's AMIT, ,
Lead: One of the heroines of the American Revolution was no patriot at all.

Intro: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts.

Content: In 1745, the Highlands of Scotland rose against the English. The rebellion was called the Forty-five and, for a few months, the throne of King George II seemed threatened. Charles Edward Stuart, handsome, magnetic, and charming and rival heir to England’s crown, landed on the coast of Scotland. Charles Stuart marched south with a Highlander army, but his hesitation at the town of Derby, 100 miles from London, marked the high point of the rising. Stuart's retreat turned into a rout and in April 1746, the English destroyed the Highlander army at the Battle of Culloden. Its leader, with a bounty of £30,000 on his head, wandered around the Highlands of Scotland for months. He eventually got away, but only after receiving the aid of Flora McDonald. She disguised him as her maid and helped him escape to the Isle of Skye and from there to Europe.

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Robert the Bruce II

PermalinkToday's AMIT, ,
Lead: Some wag has said that treason is often a matter of timing. He could not have found a better example of that truism than the conflicted career of Scotland’s liberator, Robert the Bruce.

Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts.

Content: In the 1290s English King Edward I was meddling in Scottish affairs. He forced the Scottish nobles to heel and to accept his candidate for the empty throne, John de Balliol. This was a bit too much for the Scots who rebelled and took up with the French. Edward invaded in 1296 and beat them badly, confiscating the sacred Stone of Scone on which Scottish kings had been crowned. Edward also crushed William Wallace’s popular rebellion at Falkirk in 1298, but the English king, despite prodigious campaigning, could not completely subdue the Scots.

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Robert the Bruce I

PermalinkToday's AMIT, ,
Lead: During the late medieval period, English imperial ambitions in Scotland provoked a long and bitter time of warfare and savage cross-border conflict. This gave rise to the successful revolt and triumph of Scottish liberator, Robert the Bruce.

Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts.

Content: Since ancient times, Scotland has often been the suffering unfortunate in a long and troubled relationship with its southern neighbor, England. The Scots are a hearty race, independent and at times fierce in defense of home and hearth, but they also inhabit a wild and rugged country, not particularly rich in natural resources. The population was always smaller than England’s and suffered a climate that is severe during much of the year. The Clan structure of the Highlands and internal disputes generally prevented Scotland from mounting a united front when facing challenges from the south, a circumstance the English were all too happy to exploit.

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Slaughter under Trust: Glencoe, Scotland

PermalinkToday's AMIT, ,
Lead: Glencoe is one of the most beautiful valleys in the Highlands of Scotland. Through it the River Coe flows westward to Loch Leven and the sea. In the winter of 1692 it was witness to one of the saddest events in Scottish history.

Intro: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts

Content: Four years before, England and Scotland had acquired a new King and Queen. Weary of the rule of James Stuart, Parliament had offered the crown to James' sister Mary and her husband William, the rulers of Holland.

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Robert the Bruce of Scotland II

PermalinkToday's AMIT, ,

Lead: Some wag has said that treason is often a matter of timing. He could not have found a better example of that truism than the conflicted career of Scotland’s liberator, Robert the Bruce.

Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts.

Content: In the 1290s English King Edward I was meddling in Scottish affairs. He forced the Scottish nobles to heel and to accept his candidate for the empty throne, John de Balliol. This was a bit too much for the Scots who rebelled and took up with the French. Edward invaded in 1296 and beat them badly, confiscating the sacred Stone of Scone on which Scottish kings had been crowned. Edward also crushed William Wallace’s popular rebellion at Falkirk in 1298, but the English king, despite prodigious campaigning, could not completely subdue the Scots.

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Robert the Bruce of Scotland I

PermalinkToday's AMIT, ,

Lead: Through the years of lonely separation and worry that are part of the life of a military spouse, Mamie Geneva Doud Eisenhower never liked it but loved her Kansas farm boy and was there for the long haul.

Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts.

Content: Dwight Eisenhower was a second lieutenant fresh from West Point when he first laid eyes on Mamie Geneva Doud, daughter of a wealthy Denver family who wintered in San Antonio. She was standing on the porch of the Officer’s Club at Fort Sam Houston when as Officer of the Day he walked by on his rounds. She thought he was the most handsome male she had ever seen; he was struck with her vivacious personality and attractive, saucy looks. They were married in the summer of 1916.

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William Wallace III

PermalinkToday's AMIT,
Lead: His reputation was that of a hard-hitting guerilla fighter and anti-English rogue, but after Stirling Bridge, William Wallace became the symbol of the fight for Scottish independence.

Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts.

Content: England had conquered Scotland, but not the national spirit. Whereas many of the Scottish nobility were prepared to bow the knee to England, resistance continued under partisan leaders such as commoner William Wallace. In September 1297 he led a ragtag brigade to Stirling Castle, northwest of Edinburgh, an important English outpost. On September 11th an English army under the Earl of Surrey arrived to deal with this west-country upstart. Wallace was vastly outnumbered, but the English troops had to cross a narrow wooden bridge to get to him. When they did he and his band slaughtered them mercilessly as they poured off the bridge at the other side. As many as 5,000 English died in the day’s fighting. Wallace became a national hero.

 

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William Wallace II

PermalinkToday's AMIT,
Lead: In 1297 Edward of England crushed the weak Scottish army and established himself as ruler of the Kingdom to the North. His attempts to pacify the resistant Scots were complicated by guerilla fighters such as William Wallace.

Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts.

Content: In the years following the death of Scottish King Alexander III, King Edward I of England, had, with ill-disguised intensity, interfered in the affairs of his neighbor to the north. He tried to marry his son to Alexander’s heir, Margaret, but when she died, he shamelessly played the Scottish nobility against one another in their internecine conflict to determine who would be the next King of Scotland. Edward’s choice was John de Balliol whom he thought could be easily manipulated. When Balliol proved more resistant than expected, in 1297 Edward marched north and in five months had defeated the weak Scottish army, deposed and imprisoned John Balliol, and had himself made ruler of Scotland. To add insult to injury, he confiscated the legendary Scottish Coronation Stone of Scone and had it shipped south to Westminster.

 

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