** He represented the borough of Wilmington in the Provincial Assembly, in 1770-71, and was chairman of the most important committees of that body. From one of the reports of a committee of which Harnett was chairman, I copied till accompanying signature of the patriot. In 1772, Mr. Harnett, with Robert (afterward General) Howe, and Judge Maurice Moore, constituted a committee of the Assembly to prepare a remonstrance against the appointment, by Governor Martin, of commissioners to run the southern boundary line of the province. In 1773, Josiah Quincy, the young and ardent patriot of Boston, while traveling in the South for his health, passed a night at Wilmington, at the residence of Mr. Harnett, whom he denominated "the Samuel Adams of North Carolina" (except in point of fortune). "Robert Howe, Esq., Harnett, and myself," he wrote, "made the social triumvirate of the evening." The plan of "Continental Correspondence" was a subject for discussion that evening, and Quincy returned to Boston, feeling that with such men as Pinckney, Rutledge, Gadsden, and Harnett, as leaders, the South would co-operate with Massachusetts in resistance.
* Samuel Johnson, Cornelius Harnett, Samuel Ashe, Abner Nash, James Coor, Thomas Jones of Edenton, Whitmill Hill, William Jones, Thomas Jones of Halifax, Thomas Person, John Kinchen, Samuel Spencer, and Waightstill wery, composed this first provincial council. They were to meet quarterly.
** This sketch is from a pencil drawing made in 1851 by Mr. Charles Burr. It is situated about a mile and a half from the center of Wilmington, on the northeast branch of the river. I am informed by Edward Kidder, Esq., of Wilmington, through whose kindness this and several other drawings in his vicinity have been procured for my work, that it has never been altered since Mr. Harnett occupied it. This is a view of the south point.
** In December, 1773, Mr. Harnett was placed on the Committee of Correspondence for Wilmington district. In that sphere he was the master-spirit of the Revolution upon the Cape Fear and its vicinity. In the Provincial Congress of 1775, he represented his old constituents; and when a provincial council was appointed to fill the vacancy in government caused by the abdication of Martin, he was made its president, and became, in that capacity, actual governor of North Carolina. He was a member of the Provincial Congress which assembled at Halifax in the spring of 1776, and was chairman of the committee appointed to consider the usurpations, &c., of the imperial government. He submitted a report on the twelfth of April, which contained a resolution empowering the delegates of North Carolina in the Continental Congress, to use their influence in favor of a Declaration of Independence. When, in the spring of 1776, Sir Henry Clinton, with a British fleet, appeared in the Cape Fear River, that commander honored Harnett and Robert Howe, by excepting them in his offer of a general pardon to those who should return to their allegiance, as published in his proclamation issued to the people of North Carolina from the Pallas transport. They were considered arch-rebels. When, on the twenty-second of July, 1776, the Declaration of Independence arrived at Halifax, Harnett read it to a great concourse of citizens and soldiers. When he concluded, the latter crowded around him, took him upon their shoulders, and bore him in triumph through the town. In the autumn, he was on a committee for drafting a State Constitution, and a Bill of Rights; and to his liberal spirit the people were indebted for the claim in the first document, guaranteeing the privilege of enjoying the public offices and emoluments to Dissenters and Churchmen, equally. Under the new Constitution, Richard Caswell was made the first governor of the state, and Harnett was one of his council. He was afterward elected to fill his place in the Continental Congress, and Cornelius Harnett's name is attached to the "articles of confederation and perpetual union." When the British afterward held possession of the country around the Cape Fear, Harnett was made prisoner, and died while a captive. His remains lie buried in the northeast corner of the grave-yard attached to St. James's Church, in Wilmington, and at the head and foot of his grave are two upright slabs of brown stone. On the one at the head is inscribed, "Cornelius Harnett, Died, 1781, aged 58 years."
Friendship of lhe Highlanders courted.—Called to take up Arms by Donald M'Donald.—Flora M'Donald.
had adopted measures for the defense of the province. The two battalions of five hundred men each were attached to the Continental army, and the committees of safety were requested to employ all the gunsmiths in the colony, that might be procured in making muskets. Two Gospel ministers were sent by the provincial council to explain to the Highlanders and others the nature of the quarrel with the mother country, and endeavor to win them to the patriot cause. In the mean while, Governor Martin had busy emissaries among the Highlanders and Regulators, endeavoring to unite them in favor of the king. This was an object of great importance; for if he could embody a strong force of Loyalists in the heart of the province, he could easily keep the sea-board quiet, especially after the arrival of Sir Henry Clinton with troops from the North, then daily expected. He had also received intelligence that Sir Peter Parker, with a strong squadron, bearing Lord Cornwallis with a considerable force, would sail for America at the beginning of 1776. These anticipations gave the governor pleasing hopes for the future.
While Lord Dunmore, as we have seen, was making a demonstration against the lower counties of Virginia, * Governor Martin prepared to strike a blow against the patriots in North Carolina. He gave Donald M'Donald, an influential Highlander at Cross Creek, a commission of brigadier general, and with it a large number of copies of a proclamation, with a blank left for the date, which commanded all the king's loyal subjects in North Carolina to join his standard. M'Donald had discretionary powers concerning the distribution of these proclamations. While Colonel Robert Howe, with North Carolina troops, was absent at Norfolk, in Virginia, whither he had gone to assist Colonels Woodford and Stevens against Dunmore, M'Donald set up the royal ensign at Cross CreekFeb 1, 1776 (now Fayetteville), and issued some of the proclamations. The loyal-hearted Scotchmen, not fully comprehending the nature of the difficulties, obeyed blindly; and in a few days more than one thousand of them, with many timid Regulators, in all fifteen hundred strong, gathered around the standard of the Highland chief. M'Donald was a brave veteran, and had fought valiantly for the Pretender on the field of Culloden, and his influence over his countrymen was very great.
At Cross Creek lived Flora M'Donald, the noble and beautiful girl who saved the life of Charles Edward, after the defeat of the troops at Culloden. ** She was now the wife of
* See page 534.
** The Pretender, while a fugitive among the Highlands of Scotland, was discovered by his enemies, and fled in an open boat to South Uist, an island on the west coast, where he found refuge with Laird M'Donald. His pursuers discovered his retreat, and three thousand English soldiers were sent to search every nook and dell, crag and cottage upon the island. A cordon of armed vessels surrounded South Uist, so that escape appeared impossible. But escape from the island was neeessary for the safety of the prinee. Lady M'Donald proposed that he should put on the garb of a servant-woman, and, in company with a lady as waiting-maid, leave the island. Who had the courage? Flora M'Donald, from Millburg, a beautiful girl just from school at Edinburgh, was there on a visit. Her step-father was then on the island, in command of a corps of soldiers searching for the prinee. Regardless of the certain displeasure of her father and the extreme peril of the undertaking, Flora acceded to the proposal of Lady M'Donald to save the prince; and that very night, in company with a trusty officer, she went among the crags of Carradale, to the cave where the royal fugitive was concealed. Great was the astonishment and delight of the prince when he was informed of the plan for his eseape. Within a day or two, Flora procured a passport from her unsuspecting step-father for herself, a young companion, a boat's crew, and Betsey Bourke, an Irish woman, whom Flora pretended she had procured as a spinster for her mother. The prince, attired as Betsey Bourke, embarked with Flora and her companions, on the twenty-eighth of June, 1746, for the Isle of Skye. A furious tempest tossed them about all night, and a band of soldiers prevented their landing in the morning. They finally landed near the residence of Sir Alexander M'Donald, where the prince was concealed in the cavity of a rock, for the laird was his enemy, and his hall was filled with soldiers seeking the fugitive. Flora touched the heart of Lady M'Donald, and by her aid the prince and the maiden made a safe journey of twelve miles on foot, to Potaree. There they parted forever, the prince to escape to Franee, Flora to be soon afterward carried a prisoner to London and east into the Tower. The story of her adventure excited the admiration of all classes, and as she was not a partisan of the Pretender, nor of his religious faith, the nobility interfered in her behalf. The father of George the Third visited her in prison, and so much was he interested in her that he procured her release. While she remained in London, her residence was surrounded by the carriages of the nobility; and Lady Primrose, a friend of the Pretender, introduced her to court society. When presented to the old King George the Second, he said to her, "How could you dare to succor the enemy of my crown and kingdom." Flora replied with great simplicity-, "It was no more than I would have done for your majesty, had you been in like situation." A chaise and four were fitted up for her return to Scotland, and her escort was Malcolm M'Leod, who often said afterward, "I went to London to be hanged, but rode back in a chaise and four with Flora M'Donald." Four years afterward she married Allan, the son of the Laird M'Donald, and became mistress of the mansion where the prince passed his first night in the Isle of Skye. In 1775, Flora and her husband, with several children, arrived among their countrymen in North Carolina. Full of loyalty, she encouraged her countrymen to rally in defense of the royal cause. After suffering much, they embarked in a sloop-of-war for Scotland. On the voyage, the vessel was attacked by a French cruiser, and the brave Flora, who was on deck during the action, was severely wounded in the hand. They reached their country, where Flora lived until the fifth of March, 1790. She was buried in the cemetery of Killmuir, in the Isle of Skye; her shroud was the sheet in which the prince slept while under her guidance; and three thousand persons stood and wept as her coffin was let down into the grave.