540 



NORTH CAROLINA. 



Treason shall consist only in levying war against 

 this State, or in adhering to its enemies, giving them 

 aid and comfort ; or in establishing, without the au- 

 thority of the General Assembly, any government 

 within its limits separate from the existing Govern- 

 ment ; or in holding or executing in such usurped 

 government any office, or professing allegiance or fidel- 

 ity thereto, or assisting the execution of the laws 

 under color of authority from such usurped govern- 

 ment; and such treason, if proved by the testimony 

 of two witnesses to the same overt act, or by confes- 

 sion in open Court, shall be punished with death. 



The forces of the State, under orders of the 

 Governor, seized the Federal forts on the coast, 

 and took possession of the mint at Charlotte, 

 and the arsenal at Fayetteville, gaining, by the 

 seizure of the latter, 37,000 stand of arms, 3,000 

 kegs of powder, and an immense supply of 

 shells and shot. Of course, these acts placed 

 the State in the same category with the seceded 

 States, and the ports of North Carolina were, 

 therefore, included in the blockade ordered by 

 the Government. 



The State Convention assembled on the 20th 

 of May, the eighty-sixth anniversary of the 

 Mecklenberg Declaration of Independence. 



On the 21st the ordinance of secession was, 

 passed by the State Convention, as follows : 



We, the people of the State of North Carolina, in 

 Convention assembled, do declare and ordain, and it 

 is hereby declared and ordained, that the ordinance 

 adopted by the State of North Carolina, in the Con- 

 vention of 1789, whereby the Constitution of the United 

 States was ratified and adopted, and also all acts and 

 parts of acts of the General Assembly, ratifying and 

 adopting amendments to the said Constitution, are 

 hereby repealed, rescinded, and abrogated. 



We do further declare and ordain that the Union 

 now subsisting between the State of North Carolina 

 and the other States, under the title of the United 

 States of America, is hereby dissolved, and that the 

 State of North Carolina is in the full possession and 

 exercise of all those rights of sovereignty which belong 

 and appertain to a free and independent State. 



Done at Raleigh, 20th day of May, in the year of our 

 Lord 186L 



The following ordinance was also passed : 



We, the people of North Carolina, in Convention 

 assembled, do declare and ordain, and it is hereby de- 

 clared and ordained, that the State of North Carolina 

 does hereby assent to and ratify the Constitution for 

 the Provisional Government of the Confederate States 

 of America, adopted at Montgomery, in the State of 

 Alabama, on the 8th of February, 1861, by the Con- 

 vention of Delegates from the States of South Carolina, 

 Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, 

 and that North Carolina will enter into the federal as- 

 sociation of States upon the terms therein proposed, 

 when admitted by the Congress or any competent 

 authority of the Confederate States. 



Done at Raleigh, 20th day of May, in the year of our 

 Lord 1861. 



Military preparations were immediately com- 

 menced, and as early as the 15th of June the 

 State had raised a force of twenty thousand 

 volunteers. 



The following delegates to the Confederate 

 Congress were elected by the Convention: For 

 the State at large, W. W. A very and George 

 Davis; 1st district, W. N. H. Smith; 2d, 

 Thomas Ruffin ; 3d, T. D. McDowell ; 4th, A. 

 "W. Venable ; 5th, John M. Morehead ; 6th, R. 



C. Puryear; 7th, Bnrton Craige; 8th, A. D. 

 Davidson. 



The flag agreed upon for the State was said 

 to be handsome. The ground was a red field, 

 with a single star in the centre. On the upper 

 extreme was the inscription, " May 20, 1775," 

 and at the lower, "May 20, 1861." There 

 were two bars, one of blue and the other of 

 white. 



On the 15th of August the Legislature con- 

 vened in extra session. The stay law of the 

 previous session had been pronounced uncon- 

 stitutional by the Supreme Court. The Sena- 

 tors elected to the Confederate Congress were 

 George Davis and Wm. T. Dortch. Mr. Davis 

 was one of the delegates at large from the 

 State to the Provisional Congress, having been 

 chosen by the Convention. Mr. Dortch was one 

 of the Commoners from the county of Wayne, 

 and also Speaker of the House of Commons of 

 the State. Mr. Davis belonged to the Whig 

 organization, and Mr. Dortch to the Democra- 

 tic, in former years. 



The sixth ballot in the House of Commons, 

 on the llth September, was as follows : Dortch 

 39; Bragg 15; Person 30; Outlaw 7; Avery 

 22; Davis 13; Clingman 26; Graham 30; 

 Scattering 11. 



After a session of forty days, the Legislature 

 adjourned, sine die. A militia bill was passed, 

 also an amended stay law, a revenue bill, and 

 also bills for paying the soldiers of the State, 

 providing means to carry on the war. An ad- 

 ditional sum of one million in Treasury notes 

 was authorized to be issued. 



The Governor now set to work to place the 

 means of coast defence in a satisfactory condi- 

 tion. At the same time troops were sent for- 

 ward to the Confederate army as fast as they 

 could be equipped. No notice was taken by 

 the Secretary of War of the request for a few 

 well drilled regiments for the coast defence, 

 although the Governor offered fresh levies in 

 their place. The State, like South Carolina and 

 others, was expected to defend herself. The 

 capture of the forts at Hatteras Inlet occa- 

 sioned intense excitement, and although the 

 work of the expedition extended no farther 

 than to " take and hold " those positions, it re- 

 vealed such a degree of weakness to resist any 

 naval attack, that it awakened the first serious 

 apprehensions among the people for the cause 

 of the Confederacy. 



A Union movement was set on foot soon after 

 the capture of the forts at Hatteras Inlet, by a 

 small number of persons in Hyde County. Al- 

 though insignificant at first, it nevertheless 

 awakened the apprehensions of the State author- 

 ities, which led to its speedy suppression. It 

 was feared that more than half the counties of 

 the State would become Union if the move- 

 ment was suffered. This movement consisted 

 in a meeting of some citizens of the county on 

 the 12th of October, who passed a series of res- 

 olutions, and adopted a declaration of inde- 

 pendence of the State Government. On the 



