The Charlotte journal. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1835-1851, 1849-05-25

who led the first company, and Col. Dur. (
yea, who was by bis eide, until We go,
'two.,birds of the way across the street. /
The Sheriff was just behind.
Al this time we were assaiIed by vol |
ley If stones, by which more than two.
thirds in The ffont rank were more or less
injured-ihe Captain, the Colonel and
myself being struck too eight out Of the
eleven men constituting The front rank
were more or less injured. AT this time
a pistol was fred by sono man in the mob,
within very short distance Of The troops,
by which Capt. Shumway was wounded in
the leg, aud, as ! believed, Gen. Hall in
the itce, although did not hear II TILL Of.
forwards; previous To this, the crowd had
been repeatedly notified by Gen. Hall aud
myself. aud lay other persons whose voices
| did no, recognise, that they must dis.
perse, or they would he fred upon; was
partly Knocked down al this time, aud
when rose, found three or four Of tho
front rank down likewise, and the head Of
,he ,lumn forced back towards the Ope.
ra House The shower of stones at this
time being incessani, orders we're then
given BY myself aud repeated by Colonel
Duryea. to charge bayouels the attempt
wss made, bu, the mob was SO close up n
the troops, pressing upon them, that there
was no room for the troops To charge, and
some Of the men had their muskels seized
1 b. he crowd.
( The troops by this time were forced
back TO the side. walk; stated TO the Sher.
i'll that it was impossible for US TO nam,
thin our position Without firing. several
times called cut 10 the crowd, that thcy
must hold back, or We would fire.
Gen. Hall, who was a short distance
from me, exclaimed, Fire over their
heads" The order 10 fire was repeated
by myself and Col. Duryea, and the men
fred over the heads of the mob, agaius,
the walls Of Mrs. Langden's house. A
shou, was then made by the mob, They
have only blank cafirdees-give it to
them again p aud another yolcy Of stones
came Instantly.
The troops were then ordered bv the
colonel and my self 10 fire again, Gen. Hall
saying, =" Fire low" and then, for the frs,
time the mob began to give way. The
troops then moved forward and crossed
the street, driving the crowd before them
until the troops got near the corner OF
lafayette Place.
The mob here rallied. at the corner Of
Lafayette Place on one side aud al the
corner Of the theatre md on broken
ground, al the opp site side, and advanced
again Nth fresh showers of stones on the
troops. Several Of the military were hort
severely al this second attack, and order.
we're given to the troops TO fire, one hall
obllquely 10 the right and one half obique.
ly 10 the left on those two bodies. This
was done, and the crowd fell back into
Lafayette Place, and beyond the broken
ground behind the theatre. There wa.
no firing after this by the troops, but The
mob kept up constant attacks with stone;
and BRICK bats. The whole number o
military engaged in the coufic, was abou
two hundred and ten, one half in the line
towards Broadway, aud the other in The
line towards the Bowety. The mob has
been variously estimated q. from ten 10
twenty thousand; It was exceedingly dark
the lamps having been put out, as was
Informed, aud all that | could see was a
dense mass az people before me previous
TO leaving Eighth street to 90 TO the
front Of the theatre with the troops,
sent TO the Arsenal to order up the light
artillery, and detachment of the sixth
regiment 10 support il; they arrived on
The ground after the firing Ind ceased ;
one gun was stationed facing the Bowery
and Il t other facing Broadway the infan.
try disposed al each end, aud some al the
rear Of The lheatre, and notice given to
The mob that If they did not dispense,
they would be fired Upon again, and
the artillery used if necessary after
this. the mob gradually dispersed and the
s,onng ceased upwards Of fifty men, Of
this small military detachment OF two hun
dred and ten men, were disabled, and
chiefly before any firing by the troops;
do not believe that the troops could be
FIRE 1t was entirely impossible for hem to
/ maintain their position without firing
/ have been upwards of thirty.fve years en-.
gagged in military duties, have been out on
several occasions OF mobs, but never saw
one so bad as that on Thurs day. and never
before had occasion to give an order to
j fire.
In corclusion, be desired to state that
no one could deplore the event more than
he does.