He was born in the Scottish Highlands in 1736 or 1738.
In 1781 was in Revolutionary War
Presbyterian (Covenanter)
In 1783 Obtained Land in the 96th District in Abbeville County, South Carolina
Residence: In 1804 Moved to Kaskaskia, Randolph County, Illinois
Residence: 1820 Baldwin Precinct, St. Clair County, Illinois
On 8 Sep 1781 was in Battle of Eutaw Springs
The final battle of the year took place at Eutaw Springs. General Greene's Army approached the army of Colonel Stewart located in Eutaw Springs 30 miles northwest of Charleston. Greene believed that if he could destroy Stewart he could end the British threat to the south once and for all. Early in the morning of September 8th American troops advanced on the British troops. The American attack floundered when the men stopped to plunder the camp. The British counterattacked and forced the Americans to withdraw. The end result however, was that the British were too weak to hold the field anymore.
History of Randolph County, IL by E. J. Montague:
1804: The Irish Settlement was increased by another party of emigrants from Abbeville, South Carolina, during the same year, or in the commencement of the year following. Absalom Cox, James and Archibald Thompson, William McBride and Robert McDonald, were the leaders of this party.
pg 44 - "Irish settlement (1802) took its name from the fact that a John Patterson from Abbeville district, SC & his family branched out beyond the limit of the other settlement & made a permanent location (Irish Settlement), he & subsequent settlers were from South Carolina or what is sometimes known as "South Carolina Irish".
Robert McDonald may have had three other daughters, but that's another mystery that will probably never be solved.
Robert "Robin" McDonald might have been born in 1755 by 1800 & 1810 census.
Township 4 Range 7: In this township Heacock (north) and Horse (SW) Prairies are located. The Kaskaskia (Okaw) River runs through the township. Settlers came early, Absalom Cox came from Abbeville, SC and claim #1044, his sons were John M and William Cox. Other early settlers were William McBride, Robert McDonald and James Thompson.Archibald Thompson settled on Heacock Prairie abt 1822. George Wilson's also settled on Heacock in 1827. George and James Wilson settled just south of present day Baldwin. George died there in 1856. John Adams came to Sec 20 in 1822, where he died in 1831. By 1822 other families where on Heacock Prairie: James Bean, Thomas McBride, James Redpath.
SOURCE:
http://www.iltrails.org_____
Below from Steve McDaniel:
"Robin McDonald, my Great Grandfather, was born in Scotland and there married his third cousin, Jean McDonald, and emigrated soon after to America and settled in the colony of South Carolina before the War of Independence. He joined the patriotic army under Gen. Greene and Francis Marios. He fought under the swamp fox Marion, and Nathaniel E. Greene at the battles of Eutaw Springs Guilford Court House.
"It was Gen. Marion who kept alive the spirit of independence and love of liberty in the hearts of the downtrodden colonists when the cruel Tarleton and the despotic Cornwallis had the Southern colonies completely within their power. In the deep swamps and inaccessible mountain fastnesses, Marion held his little band of unconquerable patriots who with keen vigilance watched every movement of their foes and would, when a favorable opportunity offered, descend upon them like a thunderbolt from the cloud, strike a terrific blow for liberty, then vanish apparently from the face of the earth, eluding all pursuit.
"In this way the British conquerors were made to feel the hand of vengeance after some acts of wanton cruelty under the very walls of their strongholds when this "Swamp Fox" would lead forth his invincible band, and strike before the foe could realize their presence, none could tell.
"Thus did Martin keep alive the love of liberty, till the immortal Greene, called the "Peerless Right Hand" of the great Washington, came and [was] defeated twice [by] the British Generals, so effectually that Lord Cornwallis was compelled to abandon the South to save his shattered army, and took a position in Yorktown where Gens. Lafayette and Washington forced him to surrender some months later and ended the war.
"Robin and Jean McDonald had two sons, William and Adam, and four daughters. One daughter married a Mr. McFerrin; one Mr. Hewitt; one Mr. Hill; and Katy, like her brother, Adam, lived and died single."
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http://www.theamericanrevolution.org/battles/bat_espr.aspThe Battle of Guilford (Courthouse)
Overview:
On the bright, late winter day of March 15, 1781, the Revolutionary War came to a remote county seat in north central North Carolina. Guilford Courthouse, with its population of considerably fewer than 100, was on this day the temporary residence of 4,400 American soldiers and their leader, Maj. Gen. Nathanael Greene. The British had overrun Georgia and South Carolina and showed every indication of ripping the stars and stripes of North Carolina and Virginia from the new American flag. From the ragged remnants of a defeated southern army, Greene had raised a new force comprising 1,700 Continentals (three-year enlistees in the regular army) and about 2,700 militia (mostly farmers who were nonprofessional temporary soldiers called up for short periods of service during an emergency). Early on the morning of March 15, General Greene deployed his men in three lines of battle across the Great Salisbury Wagon Road that led off to the southwest toward the camp of the British army commanded by Lord Charles Cornwallis. Although grossly outnumbered, Cornwallis nonetheless was certain that his redcoats, victors on scores of battlefields, could overcome the rebels.
Synopsis:
The battle began about noon and progressed unevenly. The first line of the North Carolina militia, its center deployed behind a rail fence facing cleared farm fields and its flanks extending into the forest, collapsed rapidly after the center of the line gave way. Before they retreated, however, the militia inflicted heavy casualties on the redcoats. One British officer later recalled that when his men of the 71st Highland Regiment were hit by a volley (a simultaneous discharge of firearms, in this case 1,500 muskets), "one half of the Highlanders dropped on that spot."
The second line proved to be an even greater obstacle for the British. Located in heavy forest and with noncommissioned officers ordered to shoot any men who ran away, the Virginia militia grappled with their attackers for about an hour in an action a British writer later described as "a number of irregular, but hard fought and bloody skirmishes."² After enduring more heavy losses, the redcoats finally were able to break through.
The heaviest fighting took place on the third line where General Greene had stationed his Continentals. Even here the intensity of the fighting varied; some new Continentals retreated after offering only token resistance, while other, more experienced soldiers fought furiously. In the final stages of the fighting Lord Cornwallis found portions of his army under simultaneous attack from two directions, as if caught between hammer and anvil. He extricated his men by firing two cannon directly into the mass of struggling soldiers, as if to blast them apart. A number of his own soldiers were killed in the process (another British officer, Brig. Gen. Charles O'Hara, begged him not to do it), but when the smoke cleared the battle was over. General Greene had ordered his army to retreat, leaving the British in possession of the battlefield.
Conclusions:
Such was the strange and untoward nature of this war, that victory now, as we have already seen in more than one other instance, was productive of all the consequences of defeat. The news of this victory in England, for a while, produced the usual effects upon the minds of the people in general. A very little time and reflection gave rise to other thoughts; and a series of victories caused for the first time, the beginning of a general despair. The fact was, that while the British army astonished both the old and new world, by the greatness of its exertions and the rapidity of its marches, it had never advanced any nearer even to the conquest of North Carolina. And such was the hard fate of the victors, who had gained so much glory at Guilford, as in the first place, to abandon a part of their wounded; and, in the second, to make a circuitous retreat of 200 miles, before they could find shelter or rest.
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The Battle of Eutaw Springs
Seven years of British determination to bring South Carolina to her knees met failure. The spirit that had long resisted royal edict and church canon, the fierce desire and indomitable will to be masters of their own destinies, and the dauntless courage that had carved a new way of life from a wilderness were again threatened by oppression; so, little difference was felt among nationalities and creeds, causing a unity to grow among the new world "peasants and shepherds" that shook the foundations of old regimes.
By midsummer, 1781, the Continentals under General Nathaniel Greene had gained virtual control of South Carolina. The retreating British. disillusioned and sick with summer heat, united forces under Colonel Stewart at Orangeburg and began their march to Charleston. Early in September the 2,300 well-equipped British camped in cool shade beside the gushing springs of Eutaw, little dreaming the Continentals were close upon their heels. General Greene, hearing of Washington's plan to encircle and embarrass the British at Yorktown, determined to prevent Southern aid from reaching the beleaguered Cornwallis. Contingents under Marion, Pickens, Lee, William Washington, Hampton and other South Carolina leaders were called together, and reinforcements from other colonies joined them. These 2,092 poorly-equipped, underfed, and near-naked Americans camped on Sept. 7th. on the River Road at Burdell's Plantation, only seven miles from Eutaw Springs. Strategy for the ensuing attack is accredited to the genius of the dreaded "Swamp Fox, " General Francis Marion, who knew every foot of the Santee swamps and river.
The 8th dawned fair and intensely hot, but the Americans, on short rations and with little rest, advanced in early morning light toward the springs. At their approach the surprised British left their uneaten breakfast and quickly threw lines of battle across the road in a heavily wooded area. Behind them in cleared fields stood a large brick home with a high-walled garden. The woods and waters of Eutaw Creek were on the north. Heavy firing soon crackled and boomed through the shady woods. At first the center of the American line caved in, but while opposing flanks were fighting separate battles, Greene restored the center with Sumner's North Carolina Continentals. The whole British line then began to give, but Colonel Stewart quickly pulled up his left-flank reserves, forcing the Americans to retreat under thunderous fire. The encouraged British shouted, yelled, and rushed forward in disorder; whereupon Greene (according to J. P. Petit) "brought in his strongest force: the Maryland and Virginia Continentals, Kirkwood's Delaware's, and Wm. Washington's South Carolina cavalry . . . with devastating effect." The British fled in every direction and the Americans took over their camp. Only Major Majoribanks, on the British right flank and pushed far back into the woods near Eutaw Creek, was able to hold his unit together. Major Sheridan took hasty refuge in the brick home, Colonel Stewart gathered some of his men beyond, and from this vantage they "picked off" many American officers and men.
Greene sent Wm. Washington's cavalry to deal with Majoribanks, but penetrating the woods with horses was too difficult, so Washington tried to encircle and rout, thus exposing himself to dangerous fire. His horse was shot from under him, he himself was wounded. and his company practically ravaged. When a hand to hand fight developed, a British soldier poised his sword over the wounded Washington, but Majoribanks saw and gallantly turned it aside.
In camp, eating the deserted breakfast, and feeling the battle was won, the hungry, thirsty Americans began plundering the English stores of food, liquors, and equipment. Thoroughly enjoying themselves they ignored their leaders' warnings and commands. Majoribanks, realizing the disorder, fell upon them. Sheridan and Stewart pounded at their right, and Coffin came in from their left. The stunned Americans fought this impossible situation bravely, but they were put to flight from the British camp.
After more than four hours of indecisive battle under a merciless sun, both armies had had enough. Casualties were extremely high. "Blood ran ankle-deep in places, " and the strewn area of dead and dying was heart-breaking. Greene collected his wounded and returned to Burdell's Plantation. Stewart remained the night at Eutaw Springs but hastily retreated the next day toward Charleston, leaving behind many of his dead unburied and seventy of his seriously wounded. The gallant Majoribanks, wounded and on his way to Moncks Corner, died in a Negro cabin on Wantoot Plantation. He was buried beside the road, but when lake waters were to cover that area his remains were removed by the S.G.P.S.A. to their present resting place at Eutaw Springs Battlefield.
The total casualties came to 1,188, according to Rev. M. H. Osborne. Many were buried where they fell, therefore the whole battlefield is a hero's cemetery, sacred to the memory of courageous men. Patriot blood shed at Eutaw was certainly not shed in vain. This last major battle in South Carolina completely broke the British hold in the South and, more important, denied needed aid to the North. Only six weeks later Cornwallis succumbed to Washington at Yorktown, and American Independence was assured.
Robert McDonald (Robin) 
