NORTH CAROLINA. 



arrived. They brought with them fourteen 

 pieces of rifle cannon of large size, one of 

 the pieces weighing 10,000 pounds, and three 

 box cars filled with ammunition of various 

 kinds, to be distributed to the patriotic com- 

 panies by the way side. 



On the night previous, four companies of 

 Petersburg riflemen and infantry, numbering in 

 all four hundred men, reached Norfolk. They 

 were followed by two additional companies of 

 one hundred each. 



On the 22d, three companies of troops from 

 Georgia arrived in the express train from Wei- 

 don ; the Light Guards, from Columbus, num- 

 bering eighty men; the Macon Volunteers, 

 eiffhty men ; and the Floyd Rifles, from Macon, 

 eighty men. The first and last commands 

 marched immediately to the naval hospital. 



About the same time the hull of the old ship 

 United States, in which Com. Decatur captured 

 the Macedonian, was taken possession of at the 

 navy-yard by an efficient crew and towed down 

 to the" narrow part of the channel, a mile below 

 Fort Norfolk, where she was moored across the 

 channel and sunk. Only a few feet brought 

 her in contact with the bottom. Any naval 

 force that might attempt to pass up the harbor 

 must remove the hulk, while, in the mean time, 

 the shot and shells from the two forts above 

 one on the right and the other on the left 

 would be poured into them. 



Norfolk thus was occupied by Confederate 

 troops, who remained in undisturbed possession 

 through the year. 



NORTH CAROLINA, one of the original 

 thirteen States, is bounded north by Virginia, 

 east and southeast by the Atlantic, south by 

 South Carolina and Georgia, and west by 

 South Carolina and Tennessee. The population 

 in 1860 was 631,489 whites, 30,097 free colored, 

 and 331,081 slaves. Total 992,667. The Gov- 

 ernor holds his office for two years. John "W. 

 Ellis, whose term of office ceased in January, 

 1863, died in 1861, and was succeeded by the 

 Lieutenant-Governor Clark. The Senate is 

 composed of fifty members, elected for two 

 years, and the House of Commons, as it is 

 called, of one hundred and twenty members, 

 elected for two years. The vote at the presi- 

 dential election in 1860 was 31 follows : Lin- 

 cola , Douglas 2,701, Breckinridge 48,539, 



Bell 44,990. The staple productions of the 

 State are Indian corn, tobacco, and sweet po- 

 tatoes. Lumber, pitch, tar, and turpentine, 

 with some rice and cotton, are articles of ex- 

 port from the State. 



The Legislature of the State being in session 

 in December, 1860, previous to the meeting of 

 the State Convention in South Carolina, a se- 

 ries of resolutions were offered proposing to 

 appoint Commissioners to the South Carolina 

 Convention for the purpose of urging that body 

 to await a general consultation of the slavehold- 

 ing States, and to provide also that the Commis- 

 sioners should attend the Conventions in other 

 States. They were made a special order, but 



did not pass. On the same day, in the Honse of 

 Commons, the following resolution was adopted 

 by a vote of 50 in favor, to 43 against it : 



Be it resolved, That the following message be signed 

 by the Speakers of both Houses of {his Legislature, and 

 sent by mail to the President of the South Carolina 

 Convention : 



Gentlemen of the South Carolina Convention : >* ill 

 rour State confer with our State, or all of the Southern 

 States, or all of the States of the Union, in Convention 

 or otherwise, in order that some honorable adjustment 

 of the present difficulties between the States may be 

 effected whereby a Constitutional Union may be pre- 

 served? 



In Pasqnotank County, in the northeastern 

 part of the State, nearly half the population 

 of which are slaves, the following resolution 

 was adopted at a general meeting, about Dea 

 20, 1860 : 



WTitreas some diversity of opinion exists in the State 

 of Xorth Carolina as to the policy to be pursued by the 

 State in the present alarming crisis in our political af- 

 fairs, therefore be it 



Resolved, By the people of Pasquotank County, in 

 general meeting assembled, that no sufficient cause at 

 present exists for a dissolution of the Union ; and that, 

 while such is our opinion, we take this occasion to ex- 

 press our disapprobation of the precipitate course 

 pursued by the people of South Carolina, and our 

 determination to resist any encroachment upon our 

 rights, in the Union, let it come from whatever quar- 

 ter it may. 



A strong Union sentiment was shown in the 

 State during the session of the Legislature, but 

 it was in favor of requiring additional guaran- 

 tees. The public sentiment at this time, being 

 the first of January, has been described in these 

 words : 



"The general feeling of North Carolina is 

 conservative. She would respond to any fair 

 proposition for an equitable adjustment of pres- 

 ent national difficulties, but will insist on her 

 rights at all hazards." 



On the 8th of January Forts Caswell and 

 Johnson were occupied by unauthorized per- 

 sons, who presented themselves with some 

 show of force and demanded their surrender. 

 Governor Ellis ordered them to be immediate- 

 ly restored to the proper authority. In a let- 

 ter to President Buchanan, on the 12th of 

 January, he thus describes his action : 



SIR : Reliable information has reached this Depart- 

 ment, that, on the Sth instant, Forts Johnson and Cas- 

 well were taken possession of by State troops and per- 

 sons resident in that vicinity ,"in an irregular manner. 



Upon receipt of this information, I immediately 

 issued a military order requesting the forts 10 be 

 restored to the authorities of the United States, which 

 order will be executed this day. 



Mv information satisfies me that this popular out- 

 break was caused by a report, very generally credited, 

 but which, for the sake of humanity,! hope is not true, 

 that it was the purpose of the Administration to coerce 

 the Southern States, and that troops were on their way 

 to garrison the Southern ports and to begin the work 

 of subjugation. This impression is not yet erased 

 from the public mind, which is deeply agitated at the 

 bare contemplation of so great an indignity and wrong ; 

 and I would most earnestly appeal to your Excellency 

 to strengthen my hands in" my efforts to preserve the 

 public order here, by placing it in my power to give 

 public assurance that no measures of force are contem- 

 plated towards us. 



