This mammoth volume
on Cape Fear in North Carolina is of more value to the local
historian than to the general reader. It is an exhaustive account
from the foundation of the colony to the State in recent times. To
us the most interesting chapter is one by David Macrae, dealing with
a visit to the Highland settlers in the 'Scotch County,'
North Carolina having been a place of Highland emigration after
Glencoe and the '45. Flora Macdonald joined this group in 1775 and
was received with great honour and Highland music at Wilmington. We
get pleasant glimpses of MacRaes and of the Highland Jacobite
settlers who became British loyalists in America. [This taken from
the Scottish Historical Review]
Here is the preface
top read here...
Preface
There are what are
called labors of love—when men turn from their work in the business
world and at great pains seek to accomplish something for the
benefit and advantage of others.
The present
publication is the fruit of Mr. James Sprunt's desire to collate
information of general interest concerning the Cape Fear River,
because he has an abiding affection for the noble stream with which
he is so familiar and is animated by a purpose to preserve in
convenient form some account of local incidents that are worthy of
being remembered.
In the years just
before the war, when I first began to know the active men of
Wilmington, none stood higher in public esteem than Mr. Alexander
Sprunt. He was a thorough man of business, whose intelligence and
sterling worth commanded admiration, while his brother, Rev. James
M. Sprunt, who was teaching the Grove Academy in Duplin, added to
the credit of the name. These two brothers had come to the Cape Fear
some ten or fifteen years earlier and had won what is most to be
valued in life—the good opinion of those who knew them. The passage
of time has yearly added to the reputation of the name, until now it
stands unexcelled in the business world.
The father of these
brothers, Laurence Sprunt, a farmer near the famous town of Perth,
in 1812 married Christiana McDonald, daughter of a Highland family,
whose brother, John McDonald, was a prosperous planter in Jamaica,
and whose cousins, the Menzies, in Scotland, were prominent and
wealthy. After his marriage Laurence Sprunt occupied a small farm
known as Viewfield, near Perth, and there were born his children,
Alexander, James Menzies, and Isabella, all of whom were educated in
Edinburgh.
After graduating,
Alexander became a partner in the firm of Reed, Irving & Co., of
London and Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, and as junior partner had
personal charge of the business at Trinidad, and in the conduct of
his business often made trips up the Orinoco River, Venezuela. For a
brief while he returned to Scotland and married there Jeanie Dalziel,
a lady of rare personal and intellectual gifts, whose life was
consecrated in its beautiful Christian devotion. In the biography of
another it is incidentally mentioned that "in 1841 Alexander Sprunt
was a ruling elder of the Presbyterian Church in Trinidad, a
merchant of high standing, a Queen's Commissioner, or Magistrate."
That he had already attained an enviable position and enjoyed a good
name is easily apparent. But through the unfortunate consequences
following the emancipation of British slaves, Mr. Sprunt was
deprived of his accumulations, and after some ineffectual efforts in
Scotland to repair his broken fortune, he removed to Wilmington,
whither his brother, Rev. Doctor James Menzies Sprunt, subsequently
a chaplain in the Confederate Army, had preceded him. An expert
accountant, he soon found employment in the Commercial Bank, and
later with T. C. & B. G. Worth. On the breaking out of the war he
sailed in the Edwin with a cargo to Barbadoes, and loaded a return
cargo of coffee, sugar, and molasses, but when almost in sight of
Cape Fear, the Edwin was taken by a Federal cruiser and Mr. Sprunt
was imprisoned at Baltimore until Lord Lyons, the British Minister,
secured his release. It was, however, six months before he could
succeed in crossing the Potomac and rejoining his family in
Wilmington.
During those years
his son, James Sprunt, after studying at various preparatory
schools, one year in Mr. Muncie's school in Glasgow, one year under
his uncle at Kenansville, four years at Jewett's Academy, one year
at Colonel Radcliffe's Military Academy, and one year at Mr.
Mengert's school, had made excellent progress; but while in his
fourteenth year, under the pressure of circumstances, he was put to
work with Worth & Daniel. This did not arrest his education,
however, for he attended night school under Professor Tallichet in
French and English literature, and, as he had a desire to serve the
State at sea, he studied navigation under Captain Levy, a former
United States naval officer. But disappointed in securing the
appointment he coveted, eventually he sailed as a passenger on a
blockade runner to Bermuda, with the promise of Captain Burroughs to
give him a position on the North Heath, a vessel then building on
the Clyde. When the North Heath arrived at Bermuda, Captain
Burroughs appointed him purser of that vessel; but after sailing
they encountered a terriffic storm, escaping shipwreck only by
splendid seamanship and the most heroic exertions; and they had to
put into Bermuda for repairs. There Mr. Sprunt was long ill with
fever, and the North Heath sailed without him; but after a little
while Capt. J. N. Maffitt appointed him purser of the steamer Lilian
and on the Lilian he passed through all the dangerous and exciting
experiences of a daring blockade runner. On the third outward voyage
the Lilian was chased, bombarded for eight hours, disabled, and
captured; and Mr. Sprunt, sharing the fate of his associates, became
a prisoner of war. Subsequently he escaped, but met shipwreck on
Green Turtle Cay, and it was eight months before he reached home, he
having in the meantime served as purser of the Confederate steamer
Susan Bierne of which Eugene Maffitt was chief officer; and he
continued on this blockade runner until Fort Fisher fell.
On his third inward
trip he had imported ten barrels of sugar, which his father sold,
investing the proceeds in 24 bales of cotton. Sherman's raiders
burnt twelve of these bales, but with great difficulty the others
were saved, and after peace they were sold at 48 cents a pound. With
the proceeds the firm of Alexander Sprunt & Son was founded in
1865-66, and although like others it has suffered the vicissitudes
of changing conditions, it has successfully weathered business
storms, repaired disasters, and surmounted most discouraging
difficulties. Always adhering to the principles of its wise and
righteous founder, who passed away thirty years ago, it has, under
the masterful direction of Mr. James Sprunt and his brother, Mr.
William H. Sprunt, prospered, continually increasing in strength and
reputation until it has attained a unique position in the business
world.
Upon the death of his
father, who had represented the British Government in North Carolina
for about twenty years, Mr. James Sprunt was, without solicitation
on his part, appointed British Vice Consul, and from this
appointment, May G, 1884, to tbe present time he has held that
honorable post. During these thirty years he has been twice thanked
by the British Government—once by the British Admiralty for his
correction of its important aids to navigation, and again by Lord
Salisbury, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, for his official report
on the Cuba man-of-war incident
In 1907 the German
Emperor appointed Mr. Sprunt Imperial German Consul for North
Carolina and sent him his autograph commission, a very high
compliment, which was not solicited by him nor by his friends. Mr.
Sprunt acted in that capacity for five years, during which he was
twice complimented by the Imperial Chancellor Von Bulow for his
official reports, and when he resigned in consequence of impaired
health, Emperor William very graciously decorated him with the Order
of the .Royal Crown, which is only given for valor in battle and for
distinguished services to the State.
During the years
covering Mr. Sprunt's activities, Wilmington has made most
gratifying progress. The facilities of commerce have been
multiplied; the trucking industries have been largely developed; the
jobbing business has attained remarkable proportions; the bank
deposits have tremendously increased; and, with the removal of
obstacles, the enterprise and capabilities of the Wilmington
merchants have achieved splendid results. Indeed there has been
progress all along the line, resulting in a general diffusion of
prosperity.
But no other factor
leading to these notable results has been so effective as the
business inaugurated by the firm of Alexander Sprunt & Son.
The combined
production of cotton in North Carolina and in South Carolina in a
good season is approximately two and a half million bales, of which
the local mills take by far the greater part. Of the residue, the
principal export house in Wilmington, Alexander Sprunt & Son, buys
from the producers directly through their local agents at a hundred
and fifteen interior stations about half a million bales. These
large exports, of the value of thirty million dollars, pay tribute
to Wilmington to the extent of over a million dollars annually in
railroad freight, in handling expenses, trucking, compressing, and
storing; and besides, from fifty to a hundred thousand dollars are
left by the trans-Atlantic steamers in the port of Wilmington for
port charges and expenses. Indeed, the eight hundred employees of
this company, white and black, contribute much of the money in
circulation in Wilmington that supports the retail trade.
Nearly thirty years
ago the present senior partner in this house foresaw that the
sources of cotton supply and demand would ultimately be brought into
closer relations; and he made a tour of seventeen foreign countries
in which American cotton was used, and established direct business
relations between the foreign consumers and the Wilmington firm. It
was the pioneer movement, and the working details were difficult.
Indeed, some of the obstacles seemed almost insurmountable. The
depth of water in the Cape Fear and on the bar was not sufficient to
float safely the most desirable class of vessels for the export
trade, and shipowners were slow to trust their vessels upon a
tortuous stream in shallow water with only three feet rise of tide.
Moreover, the capital of the firm was limited, and their business
was conducted strictly on the conservative principles laid down by
the founder of the firm which still bears his name; but in the end
caution and perseverance established confidence and brought success.
It is a remarkable fact that from the beginning of the firm in
1865-66 up to the present time, although hundreds of millions of
dollars have passed through the main office in Wilmington and their
branches in Boston and Houston and Liverpool, Bremen and Havre, not
on any occasion has their paper ever been dishonored.
As circumstances
permitted, the requisite accessories were installed. The Champion
cotton compress was put in operation by the firm, and the Wilmington
Compress and Warehouse is chiefly owned and operated by them. The
plant is among the best and most complete in the South, representing
a large outlay in capital, and it is so conveniently arranged as to
afford the most improved facilities for the loading and unloading of
five large steamships simultaneously.
It is noteworthy that
the partners in the Boston office, the Houston office, and in the
Bremen and Havre firms were all trained from boyhood in the
Wilmington office; Mr. William H. Sprunt, now the most active
partner, having been born in Wilmington. It has been a Wilmington
business, first and last, fortunate in its operations and beneficent
in its results.
All through life Mr.
Sprunt has had close association with the Cape Fear River and the
bark bearing his hopes and fortunes has had its home on the bosom of
that historic stream. Not only his business but the pleasures and
happy incidents of his daily life have been so blended with its
waters that he cherishes a warm affection for the river itself. Thus
he has been minded to preserve its traditions and its tales—the
preparation being indeed a labor of love, undertaken in a spirit of
grateful return for the many blessings he has enjoyed both at his
home in the city and at his home at Orton, which alike are redolent
with delightful reminiscence.
S. A. Ashe.
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