View complete article and references at Commemorative Landscapes of North Carolina at: https://docsouth.unc.edu/commland/monument/394

Description: This granite and sandstone arch sits on the site of the Fayetteville Independent Light Infantry's historic parade grounds. The granite arch frames a free-standing granite marker inscribed to commemorate the service of the company throughout its 200-year history. The granite crossbeam of the arch's crown is also inscribed, and the structure rests atop a masonry base of granite stones. The granite columns of the arch, which rest on bases ornamented with acanthus leaves, were salvage from the Cumberland County Courthouse destroyed by fire in 1953. The base of the columns with the leaf ornamentation appear to be made from sandstone and were originally installed as the columns' capitals at the entrance to the courthouse.

The inscription on the front face bears that Latin phrase Qui Ne Habeat Famem Pugnae Discedat: "He who has not the hunger for this fight, let him depart."

Additonal images:Image of the arch facing the street | Image of the Old Cumberland County Courthouse showing columns

Nickname: FILI Monument

Inscription:
Front, facing the street:

Crown of the arch: 1793 FAYETTEVILLE INDEPENDENT LIGHT INFANTRY 1993

Marker: THE FAYETTEVILLE LIGHT INFANTRY COMPANY / F.I.L.I. / 1793 - 1993 / HE THAT HATH NO STOMACH TO THIS FIGHT LET HIM DEPART / THIS MONUMENT WAS DEDICATED ON THE TWENTY FIRST DAY OF AUGUST IN THE / YEAR OF OUR LORD ONE THOUSAND NINE HUNDRED AND NINETY THREE TO THE / MEMORY OF THE HONORABLE AND VALIANT MEN WHO HAVE SERVED THE / FAYETTEVILLE INDEPENDENT LIGHT INFANTRY COMPANY AND IN HONOR OF THE / BICENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF THE GRANDE OLDE COMPANY ON THE TWENTY / THIRD DAY OF AUGUST OF THE SAME YEAR AND SHALL SERVE AS AN INSPIRATION / TO ALL FUTURE GENERATIONS WITH THE SINCERE ASSURANCE THAT THEY WILL / PROTECT AND PERPETUATE THIS VENERABLE AND ANCIENT COMMAND / "QUI NE HABEAT FAMEM PUGNAE DISCEDAT" / WAR OF 1812 / WAR BETWEEN THE STATES / SPANISH - AMERICAN WAR / MEXICAN BORDER SERVICE / WORLD WAR I / AND WHETHER DYING IN PEACE OR IN WAR AMONG THE HIGHEST HONORS THAT / CAN BE PAID MY REMAINS WILL BE THAT THEY MAY FOLLOWED TO THE GRAVE / AS THOSE OF SO MANY OF MY NOBLE COMRADES HAVE BEEN BEFORE ME IN THE / SOLEMN RITES OF MILITARY BURIAL BY THE FAYETTEVILLE INDEPENDENT LIGHT / INFANTRY COMPANY / MAJOR ROBERT STRANGE / COMMANDING OFFICER / 1823 - 1826

Rear, facing the park:

Crown of the arch: 1793 FAYETTEVILLE INDEPENDENT LIGHT INFANTRY 1993

Marker: THE FAYETTEVILLE LIGHT INFANTRY COMPANY / F.I.L.I. / 1793 1993 / WHEREAS IN OBEDIENCE TO PRESIDENT GEORGE WASHINGTON'S MILITIA ACT / AND THE THREAT OF WAR WITH EUROPEAN POWERS, THE F.I.L.I. WAS ORGANIZED / ON OR NEAR THIS SPOT ON AUGUST 23, 1793 UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF CAPTAIN / ROBERT ADAM, LIEUTENANT JOHN WINSLOW AND ENSIGN ROBERT COCHRAN, AND / WHEREAS THE F.I.L.I. SERVED AS AN ACTIVE INDEPENDENT MILITARY COMPANY / FROM THE TIME OF ITS ORGANIZATION THROUGH THE FIRST WORLD WAR / HAVING BEEN BESTOWED WITH WREATHS OF LAUREL AND HAVING CRIMSONED / MANY A BATTLEFIELD WITH ITS BLOOD, GIVING TO THE WORLD A BRILLIANT / PLEDGE OF THE MANNER IN WHICH THE CITIZEN SOLDIER WOULD DEFEND ITS / FIRESIDES AND ALTARS AND THEN WIPE THE BLOOD FROM THEIR SWORD AND / QUIETLY SHEATH IT WHEN PEACE WAS ACHIEVED AND ONCE MORE TAKE THEIR / PLACE IN THE OCCUPATION OF PEACE AND / WHEREAS THE F.I.L.I. HAS BEEN THE CONSTANT GUARDIAN OF THE PEACE OF / THIS COMMUNITY: PROMPT TO OBEY THE CALLS OF PROPER AUTHORITY TO / SUPPRESS ANY INFRACTION OR ASSIST IN THE DUE ADMINISTRATION OF THE LAWS / AND ALWAYS READY TO SERVE THEIR COMMUNITY IN HER HOUR OF UTMOST NEED, AND / WHEREAS THE F.I.L.I. HAS ALWAYS BEEN A VOLUNTEER COMPANY: ITS RANKS / COMPRISED OF CITIZEN SOLDIERS WHO HAVE ALL AT STAKE IN THE WELFARE OF / THEIR COMMUNITY: EVER VIGILANT AND ALWAYS PREPARED TO PROMPTLY RESIST / ANY AGGRESSION AND EVER MAINTAINING THEIR CHARACTER AS SOLDIERS / AND GENTLEMEN, AND / WHEREAS THE F.I.L.I. BEARS THE DISTINCTION OF BEING THE OLDEST / INDEPENDENT MILITIA UNIT IN THE SOUTH AND THE SECOND OLDEST IN THE / NATION IN CONTINUOUS EXISTENCE AN HONOR THAT ONLY ANTIQUITY CAN / CONFER AND WHEN ACCOMPANIED BY UNTARNISHED FAME IS EVER A JUST / SUBJECT OF PRIDE, AND / WHEREAS THE F.I.L.I. WAS SELECTED FOR ITS ANCIENT AND HONORABLE / HISTORY TO REPRESENT THE SOVEREIGN STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA AS A / CHARTER MEMBER OF THE CENTENNIAL LEGION OF HISTORIC MILITARY / COMMANDS AND HAS EVER SINCE REPRESENTED OUR FAIR STATE AS A LINK / BETWEEN PAST AND PRESENT AND AFTER TWO HUNDRED YEARS SERVES AS / NORTH CAROLINA'S SOLE HISTORIC MILITARY COMMAND AND IS CHARGED WITH / PERPETUATING THE CUSTOMS OF THE MILITIA, THEN THEREFORE BE IT / RESOLVED THAT WE CALL UPON ALMIGHTY GOD TO ACCEPT AND RECEIVE OUR / DEPARTED COMPATRIOTS WHO HAVE CLOSED THEIR EARTHLY PILGRIMAGE INTO / HIS ETERNAL CARE AND MAY THIS GENERATION STRIVE TO EMULATE THEIR / VIRTUES AND MANIFEST THE RICH TRADITION OF THE PAST AND PRESERVE THE / INTEGRITY OF ITS NAME THROUGH THE AGES TO COME AND THEREFORE BE IT / FURTHER / RESOLVED THAT THE YET UNBORN GENERATIONS WHO WILL SERVE IN THE / RANKS OF THIS ANCIENT AND HONORABLE CORPS WILL CHERISH THE SPIRIT / WHICH PROMPTED ITS FOUNDERS TO ESTABLISH IT, AND THIS SAME SPIRIT SHALL / PERPETUATE ITS EXISTENCE FOR ALL CENTURIES TO COME, SO MOTE IT BE / ALMIGHTY GOD AND HEAVENLY FATHER, WE PRAY FOR THY SPECIAL BLESSING / FOR THE FAYETTEVILLE INDEPENDENT LIGHT INFANTRY COMPANY WHICH THOU / IN THY GREAT GOODNESS HAS PRESERVED THROUGH ALL THE CHANGES AND / CHANCES OF MORTAL LIFE TO THIS ITS TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY. MAY / THE MEMBERS OF THIS COMPANY EVER EXHIBIT IN THEIR LIVES THE HIGHEST TYPE / OF MILITARY DUTY, THE LOVE OF GOD, THE LOVE OF COUNTRY, THE LOVE OF / LAW DIVINE AND HUMAN, AND THE LOVE OF ALL KNIGHTLY AND HEROIC / VIRTUES. WE ASK IN THE NAME OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. AMEN.

Dedication date: 8/21/1993

Materials & Techniques: Granite, sandstone

Sponsor: The Fayetteville Independent Light Infantry. The granite columns, from the Old Cumberland County Courthouse, were donated by Bruce and Keith Cain of the Fayetteville Monument Company.

Unveiling & Dedication: The dedication was conducted as a military ceremony to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Fayetteville Independent Light Infantry (F.I.L.I.) and the service of its veterans. All 75 current members of F.I.L.I. were present including veterans from all wars since World War I as well as active service members. The company members were dressed in wool dress uniforms similar to those originally used by the company in the 1800's. The ceremony began with the dedication of a marker at the Fayetteville Arsenal followed by a procession to the Cross Creek Cemetery across from the parade grounds, with the arch dedication following. The celebration featured a color guard with fife and drum players and bagpipers. Company members fired vintage bolt action rifles in a 21-gun salute at the ceremony. Hal Broadfoot, Jr. read the closing remarks from the welcome given by his ancestor Major John Broadfoot at the centennial celebration in 1893. A smaller monument was also dedicated to Isaac Hammond, a free black man, who served as the first fife player for the original company formed in 1793. He is buried somewhere on the parade grounds.

Subject notes: The memorial was dedicated on the Bicentennial of the creation of the Fayetteville Independent Light Infantry Company, reportedly the oldest militia in continuous existence in the South and the second oldest in the country on the date of its dedication. The company was created as an independent militia and legalized by the Militia Act of 1792 and was likely raised in response to fears that the country might become involved in the French Revolutionary Wars or a possible rebellion of enslaved people against their enslavers in Haiti. The organization furnished volunteer troops to all foreign and domestic conflicts from the War of 1812 through World War I. In the Civil War, the F.I.L.I. joined up with the Confederate effort under the 1st North Carolina Volunteers. The company apparently refused to give up their Confederate gray uniforms following the war and enlisted in the Spanish-American War wearing their gray. The company also served in World War I as Company F of the 119th Infantry Regiment. Today the F.I.L.I. are a fraternal service organization and continue to honor their veterans annually.

Location: The arch is located in a park at the intersection of North Cool Spring Street and Meeting Street on the western side of North Cool Spring Street. The park has historically served as the official parade grounds of the Fayetteville Independent Light Infantry. The inscribed faces of the arch face east and west.

Landscape: The memorial arch is located in the lawn of a small park surrounded by pedestrian paths and mature shade trees. Other small memorials are located near the base of the monument.

City: Fayetteville

County: Cumberland

Subjects: Civil War,Local History,Spanish American War,Veterans of Multiple Wars,Voluntary Organizations,War of 1812,World War I