Captain Otway Patriot, Privateer Legislator Arma

To TH E M E MORY OF A M E R I C A ’ S N A V A L H E R O E S W ITH FEELINGS OF T HE DEEPEST ADMIRATION FOR THEIR ACT S OF SPLENDID DARING FOR T HE HONOR OF OU R COU NTRY TH IS WORK I S RESPECTFU LLY bE DIC ATE D C o p y ri gh t 1 905 W AL T E R F R A N CIS B U R NS INTRODUCTION . A careful and sustained search fo r written and traditional records o f those w ho shared in the na t io na l defence in 1 8 1 2 has revealed a lamentable dearth o f authentic informa tion both i n offi cial and o o f he r private circles . America has been pr digal ' s a heroes . Contemporaneous foreign history show wealth o f smallest details in their perfected sys tems w a s o f War Office Records . But America in her infancy ; a struggle for even the form o f the co n s t i t ut i o n itself was raging while the war o f 1 8 1 2 s i f w a be ng waged . Such o ficial records as were kep t were despoiled by the British invasion o f o f Washington . The vast extent the country and the rap idly shifting scenes o f action also co ntri buted much to the difficulty o f accurately recording a h events . But bove all the fact that so many w o acquitted themselves most bravely in this struggle t o o - n s- i retired their h me life , and , Cincin at u l ke , 7 took up the arts of peace with the happy reflection ’ of d uty perfo rmed has made the hi sto rian s wo rk n f s a mo st di sco uragi g and di ficult ta k . The w r iter w a s actuated by family intere st in gathering information o f hi s immediate ancestry ; a s o n s f but the work went with increa ing di ficulty, as he soon found himself invo lved in a tangle o f s o o f im hi t rical detail , and confronted by a mass o o o s perfect and contradict ry l cal traditi n , he was impelled t o place the re sult o f his pains -taking i n s i t i n o n t o ve t ga o in a permanent f rm . It is si cerely be hoped that others may be pro mpted t o perpetuate the memo ry o f those who have co ntributed t o the making of a nati o n and that there may be evolved from the chao s of the pa s t a la sting memorial to o s the act r in the great drama . E special thanks a r e due t o those w ho have rendered material assistance in gathering and veri fy i ng information and fo r the interest that they s have di played in the subj ect . The writer feels under great obligati o ns to many who have entered up o n the work o f co llecting facts i n the life and d o ings o f Captain Otway B urn s and who were actuated solely by pride in the career o f an illus t r i o s u North Carolinian . Foremo st amo ng these i s the H o no rable Chief u u o J stice Walter Clark , of the S preme C urt of o a North Car lin , who in a letter to the writer says “ Yo u have do ne great service t o the state o f N o rth Caro lina in having the useful and ho norable career n o f yo ur grandfather traced out a d p ut up on record . This state is too prone to neglect to record the f o s h s fame o her s n w o have erved her well . In ” n o n neglecti g their fame she ha s neglected her w . D n Pr o fe s Kemp Plummer Battle , LL . , Alum i so r o f s o f Hi tory in the University North Carolina , has been indefatiga ble in the res earch w o rk upon o this l cal , as well as national , historical subj ect, o and has br ught to bear upon the work his sixth , ” o r hi s to rical sen se with which he is so eminently o end wed . f . o . o . C . Mr R mulus A Nunn , Newbern , N , o a nd has pr ven a most competent tireless ally , not only in the efficient discharge of the onerous duties o f o f s chairmanship committee , but in the tedious and exacting w o rk o f investigati o n and proof o f s No t o r f his detail . a p tion o work left his hands until he w a s po sit ive o f its full a ut henticity . 9 The writer gratefully acknowledges the many courtes ies and the willing assi stance o f all w ho n have co tributed to the success of this undertaking . A T R FRAN C I W L E S BU RN S . 1 0 City , 9 5. 10 CAPTAIN OTWAY BURN S . T he deeds and character o f Captain Otway Burns are most eloquently and graphically described in the scho larly and graceful orations which are f . o reproduced in their integrity There is , course , some repetition in the statement o f facts ; but the use o f the collected material by two men o f such eminent atta inment s serves to show t he worki ngs o f i t w o tra ned minds up o n the sa me ma terial . The n a o s o f a deductions , inferences , and me t l pr ces es trained j u r i st and o f a keen histo rian acting upo n the same premises form a study o f interesting psycho fo r logical importance . Mutilation convenience or fo r practical pu rpo ses would under these circum stances be unpardonable . The oration of the Honorable Chief Justice . C . Walter Clark was delivered at Beaufort, N , in 1 0 1 o n t he o o t he o f July , 9 , occasi n f unveiling a monument erected to the memo ry o f Captain Otway t Burns by his descendants . It was vastly o the I I honor o f the state that a ceremony which might easily have been regarded as a family co mme mo o n rati was , by the numbers and the eminence of tho se who participated in it from all parts of the state , transformed into a tribute from North Caro lina to the memory o f one whom her people were o glad to h nor . 1 2 P R O G R A M o f the Ceremon ial Exercises at the Unveiling of the Monument erected to the memo ry o f C A P T A I N O T W A Y B ~U R N S BY H I S DES CEN DANT S U R . BEA FO T, N C 2 1 0 1 July 4 , 9 . “ a SONG Ame r i c . e T o as P Noe . R h m . PRAYER v. “ ” i a SON G C olumb . INTRODU CTION OF O RATOR n h s . a r le s . A r a t C h L be y , E q A H e i t lar k hi us t ce Wa l e r C . OR TION on . C fJ l UN E I Mi s The o dor a lt o na i k e h s . V I N . W W L G . s a s SALU TE Ne w be r n Na va l R e s e r ve . D H r na da . R e Mr . o BENE ICTION v. y I 3 The dest r uctive pro cess of the years i s strik i ngly sh o wn by the small mass of authentic material left o ut o f which t o construct a narr ative of the life o f o ne who se s malle s t acti o ns wer e once o n o ne o s s every lip . One by th e cogni ant o f his deeds o f n a nd o u a s dari g c r ge have pa sed away . With true N o rth Caro lina indifference his deed s were rarely co mmitted t o paper a nd hence it is no w perhap s impo s sible w ith the u tmo s t diligen ce to compile a n arrative of the career o f Captain Burn s which is worthy O f him o r to give it that interest which would attach to a co mplete and accurate f n n s statement o the stirring eve ts i which he hared . An d first I may be pard o ned fo r a word as to the hi sto r ic i n tere st attaching t o the city and county which a r e mo st intimately associated with his fame and which hold his ashes and the mo nument which r we a e about to u nveil to his memory today .

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