three hundred yards of the rebels, who were | at breakfast, fired several rounds, killing fifteen and wounding twenty. The rebels broke and fled. The secession gangs had, for some time previous, been guilty of committing several outrages. Jesse Jeems, a Union man, was hung, and his body was cut down by the women and decently buried by them. A man named Brown was hung; another old man was reported to be horribly inutilated and left in the woods. Old man Russell, who came along with the party, had been taken prisoner by the secessionists, who swore him to meet them on Saturday at "Job Teherbaugh's.” Old man Russell, in disregard of an oath exacted under compulsion, preferred to pay a visit to "Uncle Sam "instead of Teherbaugh's. Doc. 76. AFFAIR AT QUANTICO CREEK, VA. NORTH CAROLINA RESOLUTIONS, ADOPTED BY THE CONVENTION IN HYDE CO., N. C., OCT. 12, 1861. THE following resolutions were re' and passed unanimously and without discussion : By a meeting of citizens of North Carolina, held in Hyde County, Saturday, Oct. 12, 1861, Resolved, That we do hereby voluntarily and deliberately reaffirm our loyalty to the Government of the United States, and express our unalterable attachment to that Constitution which is the basis of the Union founded by our fathers. Resolved, That while, as a law-abiding people, we accept the Constitution and laws of the Commonwealth of North Carolina, as they were prior to the treasonable and revolutionary innovations of the conspirators against the Union in this State, we do, nevertheless, utterly repudiate, reject, and disavow all acts of any Convention or Legislature done in contravention of our primary and permanent allegiance to the Federal Government, or in derogation of its authority, as imposing no obligation that loyal citizens are bound to respect. LIEUTENANT HARRELL'S REPORT. U. S. STEAMER UNION, ACQUIA CREEK, Oct. 11, 1861. SIR: I have the honor to submit the following report for your information: Being informed of a large schooner lying in Quantico or Dumfries Creek, and knowing also that a large number of troops were collected at that point, with the view of crossing the Potomac River, as was reported to me, I conceived it to be my duty to destroy her. With this object in view I took two launches and my boat and pulled in for the vessel at half-past two o'clock this morning. One of the launches was commanded by Midshipman W. F. Stewart, accompanied by the Master, Edward L. Haynes, of the Rescue, and the other by Acting Master Amos Foster, of the Resolute. I also took with me the pilot of the vessel, Lewis Penn. Some little difficulty was experienced in finding the entrance to the creek, which you will remember is very narrow, but having found it we pulled up this crooked channel, within pistol shot of either shore, until we discovered the schooner. She was close to the shore in charge of a sentry, who fled at our approach and alarmed the camp. She had a new suit of sails, and all the furniture complete in the cabin, which was collected together and fired, producing a beautiful conflagration but unfortunately revealing our position to the enemy, who commenced a rapid fire from both banks of that narrow and tortuous stream, intermingled with opprobrious epithets, until we were beyond their range. Our crews returned a random fire from the boats and two steamers, gave three cheers, Resolved, That no State authority existing, and pulled for their vessels, the light from the which we can consistently recognize or obey, burning schooner guiding them on their way. and desiring to secure the benefit of law and Her destruction was complete, and, although order, now virtually suspended amid the anthe clothes of the men and the boats were per- archy of usurpation which prevails within our forated with balls, not a inan was killed. Off- borders, we declare our wish for the estab cers and men vied with each other in the per-lishment, at an early day, of a Provisional formance of their duty. Acting Master Foster State Government for the loyal people of North applied the match in the cabin of the doomed Carolina. VOL. III.-Doc. 13 Resolved, That we owe no obedience to the commands of the Acting Governor of North Carolina, nor to any other public officers, however validly constituted, who have transferred the duty they owed to the Union to the spurious Government self-styled the Confederate States of America. They have vacated, by the fact of their treason, the positions to which they were elevated by a confiding but betrayed people; and the rightful power to fill their vacancies reverts to the loyal men among their constituents. STATEMENT OF GRIEVANCES. The following is the report of the Committee appointed by a meeting of the citizens of Hyde County, North Carolina, to draw up a statement of grievances and a formal declaration of independence: Appealing to that sacred right of protest and resistance which is inherent in all oppressed communities and with a firm trust in the Almighty ruler of mankind, whose good providence is declared in history, and who can never tolerate the permanent ascendency of wrong, we do hereby, on behalf of the people of North Carolina, deliberately and solemnly proclaim our independence of the spurious Government designating itself the Confederate States of America, and the revolutionary and treasonable dynasty which now usurps the governing power of our own State. We repudiate the unwarranted arrogations of authority asserted by these bold, bad men-traitors alike to the Federal Union and to the people of North Carolina; we disclaim and disavow all participation or acquiescence in their twofold treachery; we denounce their wanton crimes against heaven and humanity; and we now and hereby reaffirm our unalienable allegiance to the Government of the United States, and resume all those elements and parts of sovereignty which belong, in subordination to the National Constitution, to the freemen of this Commonwealth. In vindication of the justice of our cause, and in deference to the judgment of the world, we proceed to set forth some of the considerations which impel us to this declaration. The tyrants whom we now arraign before the tribunal of public conscience bave sought to deprive us of the precious heritage of our American citizenship, won for us by the heroic toils of our sires of the Revolution, and handed down to us to be transmitted to our children. They have not only attempted the abrogation of the Constitution of the United States, but have addressed themselves to the sweeping mutilation of our municipal statutory law as embodied in the Code adopted 1st January, 1856. They have violated nearly every section of that venerable work of our fathers, the Bill of Rights, which the State Constitution solemnly declares to be an integral portion of itself, and never to be violated on any pretence what ever. They have placed us in the false attitude of revolt, against a beneficent and protecting Government which has never done us an injustice, and which was full of blessings to us all. They have made loyalty a crime, and betrayed many of our people into rebellion by false pretences and intimidation. They have endeavored, by the grossest falsehoods, persistently repeated, and by exaggerated appeals to prejudice and passion, to inflame our minds against our fellow-citizens whose inter course with us has been productive only of benefits. They have destroyed a commerce with our Northern brethren, which afforded a means of livelihood to no small portion of our people, and thereby brought the horrors of starvation to our doors. They have inaugurated a neighborhood warfare of the most cruel and unpitying ferocity, which spares neither age, sex, nor condition, but which arrays brother against brother, father against son, and substitutes for the kindly intercourse of friend with friend a fiendish hatred, espionage, and persecution. They have invaded the sacred precincts of the household, and sundered the dearest ties of human nature. They have torn husbands and fathers from their homes, and robbed families | of their natural protectors. They have perpetrated the most shocking barbarities, and established a reign of terror and alarm without precedent in civilized history. They have countenanced outrages and bloodshed, and encouraged mobs and riots. They have sanctioned the proceedings of irresponsible and self-constituted vigilance committees and other bodies utterly unknown to the laws, tolerated with complacency their proscriptive and indiscriminate violence, and applauded their atrocious deeds. They have brutally murdered inoffensive and harmless persons, some of them of great age, and who would have soon departed from amongst us in the ordinary course of nature. They have offered rewards for the lives of freemen guilty of no crime, and put prices upon their heads. They have organized fraud and falsehood, and made a system of robbery and theft. They have taught our youth habitual disrespect of law, and inculcated lessons of sedition and unbridled license. They have used every agency of bribery and corruption to consummate their ends. They have invited foreign tyrants to our shores, and sought, through the intrigues of commissioners abroad, to barter away our chartered liberties. They have confiscated the property of citizens without just cause. They have denied us the exercise of the elective franchise, and set at nought that provision of our organic law which affirms that elections ought to be often held. They have destroyed the freedom of speech and of the press. They have arrested peaceful and unoffending citizens without due process of law, and suspended the writ of habeas corpus. They have recklessly disregarded the will of the people to abide by the compact of National Union, as repeatedly declared in public meetings throughout the State, and by the emphatic and overwhelming vote of the qualified electors of the Commonwealth, in February last. They have set aside the solemn and deliberate disapproval of the machinations of the disunionists, pronounced by a majority of the people in refusing to authorize the call of a State Convention. They have prostituted their official positions to the purposes of a secret and infamous conspiracy which had predetermined the destruction of the Union, regardless of popular dissent, and, in the unscrupulous zeal of their treason, they have assumed powers without warrant, express or implied, in the Constitution. They have allowed the people of the State to be made subject to the payment of illegal and exorbitant taxes and imposts without their consent. They have denied our citizens the sacred and inviolable right of trial by jury in questions respecting property. They have put freemen to answer criminal charges without presentment, indictment, or impeachment. They have convicted freemen of crimes without the unanimous verdict of a jury of good and lawful men in open Court, as heretofore used. They have disregarded the right of every man in criminal prosecution to be informed of the accusation against him, and to confront the ac They have arrogated the authority, through a Convention summoned with indecent haste, and acting in flagrant defiance of the wish of the people, to perform an act legally impossible, and therefore without effect or force, in de-cusers and witnesses with other testimony, comcreeing the secession of this Commonwealth from the National Union. The ordinances of this Convention have never been submitted to the people for their ratification or rejection. They have commissioned ten men as representatives of the State, in a body called the Confederate Congress, unknown to and unauthorized by the laws, and occupying an attitude of open hostility to that Constitution which North Carolina has formally and definitely ratified and accepted as the supreme law of the land. And, as if to omit no incident of a complete disfranchisement, they have withheld from the electors the poor privilege of designating such representatives. They have raised and kept up armies to crush the liberties and waste the substance of the people, and have subordinated the civil to the military power. They have deprived the people of the right to bear arms in their defence, but have obliged them to assist in the unhallowed work of their own enslavement. They have required excessive bail, imposed excessive fines, and inflicted cruel and unusual punishment. They have instituted a system of illegal searches and seizures, in granting general warrants, whereby officers and messengers have been commanded to search suspected places, without evidence of the fact committed, and to seize persons not named, and whose offences were not particularly described and supported by evidence. They have restricted the people of their right to assemble together to consult for their common good. They have taken and imprisoned freemen, and disseized them of their freeholds, liberties, and privileges, and outlawed and exiled them, and destroyed and deprived them of their life, liberty, and property, contrary to the law of the land. They have delayed and denied to freemen restrained of their liberty, the remedy guaranteed by the Bill of Rights to enquire into the lawfulness of such restraint, and to remove it if unlawful. pelled freemen to give evidence against themselves, and refused them a speedy and impartial trial. They have suspended the laws and their execution without warrant or necessity, and permitted the prevalence of anarchy and disorder. They have confounded the legislative, executive, and supreme judicial powers of government, which ought to be forever separate and distinct. They have permitted the interference of persons from outside our boundaries in regulating our internal government and police, the right of which belongs solely and exclusively to the people of this State. They have welcomed armed invaders from other States to assist in the subjugation of our citizens. They have secretly promulgated, and in some instances openly proclaimed, their purpose to confer official honors and emoluments and peculiar privileges upon a certain set of men separate from the community: to restrict the right of suffrage to a few, and to substitute a life tenure of public office for the term fixed by law. They have practically annulled the cardinal axiom of popular government and initial declaration of our Bill of Rights, that all political power is vested in and derived from the people only. Wherefore, from these tyrants and public enemies we now dissever ourselves, socially and politically, forever. And with a full and lively sense of the responsibilities which our action devolves upon us, and reverently invoking the aid and guidance of Almighty God, we pledge to each other, for the maintenance of this solemn compact, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. MARBLE NASH Taylor, HATTERAS, HYDE COUNTY, 1861.} Doo. 78. time for an explosion, I directed Commander Handy to return to his ship, with his crew, to ATTACK ON THE UNITED STATES FLEET start his water, and, if necessary, at his own AT THE SOUTHWEST PASS OF THE MISSISSIPPI. OFFICIAL REPORT OF CAPT. POPE. UNITED STATES STEAMER RICHMOND, Southwest PASS OF MISSISSIPPI RIVER, Oct. 13, 1861. SIR: I have the honor to make the following report: At forty-five minutes past three A.M., October 12, 1861, while the watch on deck were employed in taking coal on board from the schooner Joseph H. Toone, a ram was discovered in close proximity to this ship. By the time the alarm could be given, she had struck the ship abreast of the port fore-channels, tearing the schooner from her fastenings, and forcing a hole through the ship's side. Passing aft, the ram endeavored to effect a breach in the stern, but failed. Three planks in the ship's side were stove in about two feet below the water line, making a hole about five inches in circumference. At the first alarm, the crew promptly and coolly repaired to their quarters, and as the ram passed abreast of the ship the entire port battery was discharged at her, with what effect it is impossible to discover, owing to the darkness. A red light was shown as a signal of danger, and the squadron was under way in a very few minutes, having slipped their cables. I ordered the Preble and Vincennes to proceed down the Southwest Pass while I covered their retreat, which they did at fifty minutes past four A. M. At this time three large fire rafts, stretching across the river, were rapidly nearing us, while several large steamers and a bark-rigged propeller were seen astern of them. The squadron proceeded down the river in the following order: first, the Preble, second, the Vincennes, third, the Richmond, fourth, the Water Witch, with the prize schooner Frolic in tow. When abreast of the pilot settlement, the pilot informed me that he did not consider it safe to venture to turn this ship in the river, but that he believed he could pass over the bar. I accordingly attempted to pass over the bar with the squadron, but in the passage the Vincennes and Richmond grounded, while the Preble went over clear. This occurred about eight o'clock, and the enemy, who were now down the river with the fire steamers, commenced firing at us, while we returned the fire from our port battery and rifled gun on the poop; our shot, however, falling short of the enemy, while their shell burst on all sides of us, and several passed directly over the ship. At half-past nine, Commander Handy of the Vincennes, mistaking my signal to the ships outside the bar to get under way, for a signal to him to abandon his ship, came on board the Richmond, with all his officers and a large number of the crew, the remainder having gone on board the Water Witch. Captain Handy before leaving his ship had placed a lighted slow match at the magazine. Having waited a reasonable request, to throw overboard his small guns, for the purpose of lightening his ship, and to carry out his kedge with a cable to heave off by. At ten A. M. the enemy ceased firing, and withdrew up the river. During the engagement a shell entered our quarter-port, and one of the boats was stove by another shell. I have this morning succeeded in getting this ship over the bar. The McClellan and South Carolina are using all exertions to get the Vincennes off. The Nightingale is hard and fast ashore on the end of the bar. I have succeeded in reducing the leak of this ship so that our small engines keep the ship free. This is only temporary, and the ship will have to go to some place and have three planks put in. I have received rifle guns, and placed the 32pounder on the forecastle and the 12-pounder on the poop. Could I have possibly managed this ship in any other way than keeping her head up and down the river, I would have stopped at Pilot Town to give battle, but this was found too hazardous, owing to her extreme length. The attempt was made, but a broadside could not be brought to bear without running the ship ashore. I then concluded, as advised, to start for the bar, and trust to the chance of finding water enough to cross. In narrating the affair of the river, I omitted to state that the ram sunk one of our large cutters, and a shot from the enemy stove the gig. I am pleased to say that the Vincennes is afloat, and at anchor outside on my starboard quarter. Assistant-surgeon Robinson, from the Vincennes, is ordered to temporary duty on board this ship. Assistant-surgeon Howell, condemned by survey, will return in the McClellan. The Master of the Nightingale will deliver fifty tons of coal to the McClellan. This, together with what I will take out, will, I trust, lighten her so that we can haul her off. Very respectfully, JOHN POPE, Captain. To Flag-officer WM. W. MOKEAN. A NATIONAL ACCOUNT. A correspondent on board the United States sloop of war Richmond gives the following account of the attack: U. S. SLOOP RICHMOND, HEAD OF PASSES, MISSISSIPPI RIVER, Oct. 16, 1861. DEAR MOTHER: When I last wrote we were at the mouth of Pas à l'Outre, with nothing to vary the monotony of our situation but an occasional visit by the rebel steamer Ivy. She is a small Mississippi tow-boat, with one or two guns on board. She is very fast, as was proven a few weeks ago, when the steamer Water Witch attempted to head her off. The Ivy was down the Southwest Pass, about thirty miles from us; the Water Witch started up Pas à l'Outre; the shore people immediately tele Certainly not a very enviable position. We have sent off for more guns, but they may not arrive in time to save us from a humiliating retreat or possible capture. graphed around to the Ivy, when she quickly | got under way, as we could see by the smoke which came pouring up thicker and blacker than was wont to be. After running a little way up the pass she stopped. We now con- October 13th.-Our worst fears are now fully cluded that the Water Witch would certainly realized. About four o'clock on the morning overhaul her in a short time. We saw the of the 12th instant the much-heard-of Boomblack smoke pouring out in immense volumes, erang Battering Ram, or whatever it may be and from its direction we could see that she called, came down upon us, but failed in her was bound up the pass at a rapid speed. The object, although the blow was a heavy one; race now became exciting. The Ivy soon came she only succeeded in starting three planks on up so that we could see her from this ship, and our port bow, producing a very inconsiderable we now saw that she had a schooner in tow, leak. As soon as she struck they sent up a and was making very rapid progress up the pass. rocket, and started up the river. We slipped We soon saw that they would be able to make our cable, and started the engines so as to bring the head of the passes before the Water Witch the ship clear, and gave her two or three broadcould possibly do it. In a few minutes the lat- sides. She was struck, but being iron cased our ter commenced firing, and the Ivy and the shell did no damage that we could observe. As schooner both returned it. After a few shots soon as "The Ram" sent up the rocket above were exchanged in this way, the WaterWitch, all mentioned, three very bright lights were sudthe time running them up the river, finally gave denly burst upon us, about two or three miles up the chase, and sent boats ashore to ascertain up the river-a more grand and at the same the suitableness of the ground for the location time impressive sight we never witnessed. The of a battery, and at the same time a boat visited night was very cloudy and dark, otherwise "The the shores to cut the telegraph; all of which | Ram" would not have been able to come so close was successfully accomplished, and it was con- upon us before being reported by the look-outs. cluded that we were to proceed up the pass to We were coaling ship at the time, and everyprotect the men while so engaged. We accord-body on deck was wide awake. I was on watch ingly ran down to the Southwest Pass, the at the time, and had just come up from the enNiagara taking our position. After getting gine room to see to the coaling, when the steamer aground once, we succeeded in getting over the was reported under our port bow. "Then there bar, and are now at the head of the passes, the was hurrying to and fro, and gathering in hot Vincennes, Preble, and Water Witch being at haste." All this was done in an exceedingly anchor near us. We have been visited occa- short space of time; but when the fire-ships sionally by the Ivy, otherwise we have had were lighted, we had a good survey of the river, nothing to relieve the monotony of our life until and saw that we had ample time and space yesterday, when the Ivy came down closer than to work in. The Vincennes and Preble got usual. Nobody expected her to fire, but could under way and went down the pass. The hardly divine what her object might be unless Richmond and Water Witch remained to reit was to give us a shot, or else to draw our fire, connoitre and see what could be done. The so that they could get the range of our guns, fire-ships kept advancing steadily upon us. and know where to take up their positions They appeared to be directed by steamers bewhen they send down the flotilla which has hind them, so that there was no chance of avoidbeen building at New Orleans for the last few ing them by getting out of the current of the months. While we were speculating thus upon river; and then these ships or rafts were so arthe object of her present visit, and surveying ranged that by the use of screens we were preher closely from all parts of the ship, we sud-vented from seeing what was behind them, or denly saw a puff of white smoke, and soon after a shot struck the water a few yards ahead of us. They fired another, which came nearer, and a third, which was a shell, and burst close to us, scattering the pieces all around. It made a very disagreeable sound, particularly the pieces, which came very near us. After they kept bursting near us, and the pieces flying all around, and some of them going away over us, we fired, and so did the Vincennes and Preble, but could not reach her. The Water Witch got up anchor and went after them, when they soon travelled up the river with all convenient haste. This morning there are two in sight up the river, and it is possible that there are more, and probably with heavier armaments. This is a fine prospect for us; we are not able to reach them, while they can stand off and deliver their shell on our decks without let or hindrance from us. VOL. III.-Doc. 14 to ascertain what number of armed vessels there The |