580 Chronicles of the Cape Fear Rwer

of the Murchisons and other heroes of the Cape Fear. She was
Luola Murchison, and throughout an honored Christian life sus-
tained the virtues implied in her Indian name—‘“a true woman
and good to look upon.”’ From her earliest years she was trained
in patriotism, and when only four and a half years old gathered
in her grandfather’s barn the grains of corn from which her
heroic mother—the most beautiful woman in Cumberland
County and a devoted patriot—made gruel for the sick and
wounded soldiers when Sherman’s army devastated her grand-
father’s plantation, leaving food neither for the family nor for
the disabled Federals and Confederates whom they abandoned
to their fate. She brought to the office of president an ampli-
tude of mind, a strength of personality, a forceful energy, a
voluntary activity, an unlimited perseverance, and a wealth of
initiative that bore substantial and permanent fruit. During
the first year of her administration the Monument Committee
completed its work for the Harnett Memorial, and on May 2,
1907, the beautiful shaft was unveiled. The ceremonies upon
this occasion were imposing, but the most interesting feature of
the program was the presentation of the monument to the city
of Wilmington in the eloquent sentences of Mrs. Kidder as the
first monument ever erected in that city to the men of colonial
times. Too much can not be said in praise of this laudable

undertaking—costly in time and effort and money—and of the.

ladies who gave themselves so freely to its accomplishment. Of
Mrs. Sprunt’s part in carrying the work to completion, Mrs.
Kidder has recently written:

“The memorial to the ‘Men of the Cape Fear’ would have had
no existence but for the wonderful brain, energy, and foresight
of Luola Murchison Sprunt. This idea which I suggested to
the society as its specific work would have fallen to naught,
languished, and died but for her zeal and untiring work for its
completion. Through all her life she was my tower of strength,
and without her I could have accomplished nothing. Her with-
drawal from the presidency of the North Carolina Society of
Colonial Dames on account of failing health, which office she
filled with such signal ability, grace, and tact for six years, was
a matter of deep concern to the society. She set a high standard
for the emulation of the accomplished Dame who succeeded her,
Mrs. E. P. Bailey, another admirable daughter of the Cape
Fear.” Mrs. Bailey’s recent death is greatly deplored, but as
president of the society she is ably succeeded by Mrs. Waddell,
widow of Col. A. M. Waddell.

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Peace Restored 581

Mrs. Sprunt’s last report as president of the society indicates
the active work of the organization during her successful admin-
istration. The following account embraces a part only of that
work. The report itself, in its clear and succinct presentment,
attests the personal strength and ability of its author. After
mentioning the Harnett Memorial, Mrs. Sprunt stated that the
next undertakings were a contribution of the North Carolina
Society to the fund to restore the old church at Jamestown,
Virginia ; the collecting of relics, including such valuable speci-
mens as old deeds and records, personal heirlooms, rare old fur-
niture, portraits and miniatures for the Jamestown Exposition,
though these were not used, owing to the fact that the building
intended to receive them was not completed in time; the prepa-
ration of an original program celebrating the three-hundredth
anniversary of the first permanent English settlement in Amer-
ica, and the personal gift of these programs, which were very
elaborate and compiled by prominent men of North Carolina,
by Mrs. Sprunt to the State at large.

Following this work was the carrying out of a recommenda-
tion by the biennial council of 1906 to the State societies to
bring to the next council a detailed report of historic spots not
marked by other patriotic organizations. In this task Mrs.
Sprunt brought to her assistance some of the ablest men in the
State, and seventy-eight such spots belonging entirely to the
colonial period were found. For this work, as well as for her
report on it, the whole country is indebted to Mrs. Sprunt. The
Teport was so complete and authoritative that it was published
in the minutes of the National Society of Colonial Dames, and
1S Now in use by the North Carolina Historical Society as data.

Then came the unveiling of a tablet at Russellborough, com-
memorating resistance to the Stamp Act by the Cape Fear
Patriots of 1766, the base of which was built of stones taken
from the ruins of Tryon’s palace. 3

The next effort was to mark the site of Fort Johnston, the
first fort in the colony, built by act of the Assembly of 1748,
completed in 1764; and destroyed by the patriots July 18, 1775,
when the province of North Carolina forever laid aside the
Sceptre of royal rule. For authorization to mark this spot Mrs.
Sprunt appealed to the United States Government through the
Secretary of War, and, the appeal being granted, the tablet was
erected in May, 1911.

In addition, a tablet to Col. Maurice Moore, founder of the