L ‘ O UR D E B T T O C O R N E I US HA R N ETT . C . A lp h o n s o Sm ith . LL . D . N 8th ’ 1781 th e w THE 2 of Aprili , there died in to n of W m t a e fi ft - e m an e il ing on , at the g of y ight , a whos fam e as a c ivic le ader finds a unique attestation in th e ve ry h obsta cles that it h as h ad to surmount . Scholar though e was m a n , we look in vain for a book , a pa phlet , or even i entire speech of his own ind ting . If a funeral oration was pronounced over h im or a n obituary written about h im m . , neither has co e down to us There is not in ex is te n ce a statue or e ven a bust or picture of any sort to n m a m an w a i dicate to the eye wh at nner of he s . He left neither son nor daugh ter to pe rpetuate his n am e or in r i to pl e ad with posterity for his fame . The brief sc p tion which he asked to be plac ed upon his modest tom b m e m an a ak s no ention of y service , public or priv te , that w h o e m a he ever rendered . And yet , to one studi s i p r tially the annals of this State during the latt e r h a lf of th e c n m irres is ti eigh teenth century , the convi tio will beco e ble that the mightiest single force in Nor th Carolina his tory during th e whole of the R evolutionary pe riod was a e N e w e . Cornelius H rn tt , of Hanov r County Me m bers of t h e North Carolina So ciety of the Coloni a l m m h d a are Da es of A erica , th e onors of this y yours . In a W beh lf of the city of ilmington , of the County of New e e c Hanov r , of the Low r Cape Fear se tion , of the State of l n Ma 1 a d d li r in i mi t n N . 2 90 t A n a dr ess e e ed C . 7 v W g o , , y , , th e un veilin g of th e m o n umen t er ected to Corn elius Harn ett by l f l l D m A i th e N orth Car o in a Society o the Co onia a es of mer ca . ’ “ - Th in scri ti n on Har nett s tom Died A ril 20 1 1 is i e p o b , p , 78 , lain l incorrect His ill written in his own h an d writin is p y . w , g , A ril h Trad ition h as it tha he di d imm ediatel af ter d ated p 28t . t e y makin his ill g w . versit M a az Un i y g ine. North Carolina , in beh alf of the spirit of liberty in what i t m m ever breast bea ts , I th ank you for your e orial to t he dead and your ince ntive to the living . This monu ’ ment marks a n e w recognition of Harnett s services to his St a te and Nation . It means th a t his fam e enters to I t day upon a nother stage o i its tr iuin ph al progress . procl aims also th at the brave m e n who wrought with h im c m c th e in a p or coun il , the knighthood of Lower b e r e - re - ackno wl Cape Fear, shall again enthroned and edged . “ On th i s r n ank his s f t s r am g ee b , by t o t e , W e set tod ay a votive ston e ; Th at m m r m a th ir d d r d m e o y y e ee e ee , h n lik ou sir s ur s n s ar n W e e r e , o o e go e . Spirit th at m ad e th ose h er oes d are To d ie an d lea e their child ren f ree , v , Bid Tim e an d N ature gen tly spar e Th e sh af t w e raise to th em an d th ee . This is neither the time nor the place to enter upon a detailed biography of Cornelius Harn e tt . Such a biog ra h m a h m e p y is de possible , owever , by the co pl ted publi f l l ’ l * cation o th e Co on ia an d State R eco m s of N o rZ/zCaro in a . There are in these twenty - six volumes m ore th an eigh t hundred references to th e activities of Corn e lius Harnet t . A careful reading of these re ferences will convince any one th at Har ri e tt not only deserves to rank but will yet rank as a n ation a l figure in th e history of the Am erican R c c e R e v evolution . So losely was he conne t d with the o lutio n ar m e c y ovem nt , so a curately did he typify its e m a ee spirit and purposes , th at th re would see to h ve b n a sort of pre - established h armony betw e en the mind of m Cornelius Harri ett and the popul ar impulses of th e ti e . “ m hi r M s Th e best pr in ted record s are th o se o f N ew Ha ps e , a sach usetts n n ecticut e n n s l an ia Mar lan d an d N rth Car , Co , P y v , y , o o ” ’ lin r i H i t r l n r ifl s l a . H m a d w ar A e c n s T b o tem a vo . ( t s o y o y C p , II p . Our D ebt to Co l s H i t rn e iu ar r et . If it be true , as Browning says , that A people is but th e attem pt of m an y T ris t th m l l f o e o e co p eter i e of on e , then Cornelius Harnett is distinctively th e R evolutionary h ero of North Carolina . L e t me correct at the outset the mistaken idea that Harnett w as born in England . This view was universal t an d eliv un il the Honorable George Davis , in address U 8 1855 ered at the niversity of North Carolina , June , , showed that the historians h ad confused Harnett with his father , Cornelius Harnett , Senior , and th at th e son w as h almost certainly born in C owan County , North Car * a an olina . That he was born in North C rolina d in n h probably Ede ton , C owan County, is plainly estab lish ed by the following extract from a lett e r to Har a e em 1777 net t written by Governor C sw ll , Sept ber 2 , T “ We h ave been alarmed with th e rising of Tories an d form ing of conspira c i e s : the form er among the Highl anders an d R e gulators and in the county in th e which you h ad honor to draw your first breath , ” 0 M . 2 and in Bertie and artin He was born April , 1 7 3 s a f e w a 2 , and was thu but mon ths younger th n m m a m Sa uel Ada s , of Massachusetts , na e that was to be associ a ted with his in l ater y ears by friend and f o e . ‘ The only sketch t h at we h ave of H arn e tt s personal ap e aran ce m c a Mc ain e p is fro the pen of Ar hib ld L Hooper , e as th e who was a boy when Harn tt died and who , W m nephew of illia Hooper , signer of the Declaration of m n n e e Independence , had a y opportu ities of s ing th e ’ ’ Lipp i ncott s Pr on ouncing Diction ar y an d Dra ke s Dictio nar y of e r l A m r ican Biog ap hy both say that Har n ett was bo rn in En g an d . ’ ’ App leton s Cyclop aedia of Amer ican Biograp hy ( 1887) an d " ohn so n s “ Uni versa l Cyclopze di a ( 1894) say bor n pr obably in N or th Car oli ” n Th a ti n ( v i Am r i a n Bi ra h 189 7 an d a .