[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 80 (Thursday, May 31, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E918]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             HONORING BRIGADIER GENERAL JETHRO EXUM SUMNER

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. HOWARD COBLE

                           of north carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 31, 2012

  Mr. COBLE. Mr. Speaker, the citizens of the Sixth District of North 
Carolina wish to honor Revolutionary War Brigadier General Jethro Exum 
Sumner's recent re-interment at the Guilford Courthouse National 
Military Park in Greensboro, North Carolina. Brig. General Sumner 
received his full Masonic Rites for his great contributions to the 
Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, as well as to the state of North 
Carolina and the United States.
  Born in 1733 in Virginia, he was a Sheriff, Justice of the Peace, and 
a member of the Provincial Congress of North Carolina. He fought during 
the French and Indian War as a commissioned officer in the Virginia 
Regiment, and served as Paymaster of the provincial troops of North 
Carolina. In 1776, he was appointed to the Provincial Congress as 
Colonel of the 3rd North Carolina Regiment. He earned his way from 
Colonel and all the way to Brigadier General of the Continental Army 
during the American Revolutionary War, fighting at Eutaw Springs and 
Camden. He recruited soldiers for General Nathanael Greene, before the 
battle of Guilford Courthouse. If it wasn't for Sumner's recruiting, 
Gen. Greene would not have been as successful.
  He was a member of Blandford-Bute Lodge, which is now Johnston-
Caswell Lodge #10 of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. He was the 
one who planted the seed to form the Grand Lodge of North Carolina 
after the American Freemasons split from the Grand Lodge of England. He 
also was an officer of the lodge. Sumner was active in the creation of 
the Society of Cincinnati, serving as its first president. After he 
died in 1785, he was buried in Warren County, North Carolina. In 1891, 
his remains were moved to Guilford Courthouse by order of the North 
Carolina General Assembly.
  In a public event on May 29, 2012, Brigadier General Jethro Sumner 
was laid to rest under a newly-restored memorial at Guilford Courthouse 
National Military Park in a Masonic Funeral Ceremony. As a member of 
the Masonic Society, I was invited to attend the ceremony, but because 
of my congressional responsibilities, I had to return to Washington and 
was unable to participate.
  On behalf of the citizens of the Sixth District of North Carolina, we 
wish to honor Brigadier General Jethro Exum Sumner's re-interment and 
recognize his service and accomplishments.

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