The Alleghanian. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1859-1865, 1862-01-23
THE NEGROES AT PORT ROYAL:

THEIR "DEEP AND ABIDING LOVE" OF SLAVERY,
THEIR FOOD, CLOTHES, ETC.
The correspondent of the New York
Times gives the following interesting ac-
court of the negroes at Port Royal:
The entire coast from Warsaw Sound,
forty miles below Port Royal, at least
to North Edisto Inlet, forty miles above
the same place, is deserted by its white
inhabitants the slaves are everywhere
practically free; the batteries, which are
erected at every point where ingress could
be had by an Invading force, were un-
doubtedly abandoned within week after
the fight at Hilton Head, and the guns
removed This state Of affairs exists in
wards for distance, at the least of ten
miles, and in many places of thirty. Half
the cotton houses in this region must have
been burned, in a majority of instances
by troops, not by their owners. The only
places where firing of any Importance has
occurred against our forces are the Ossft-
bow Sound, and about seven miles up
Warsaw river. At these two places bat
teries have still been retained. These are
Doth in Georgia, but, unless on Stono
Inlet, there is no place on the coast of
South Carolina below Charleston where
the rebel flag yet faunts. At no place in
South Carolina have the rebels showed
fight since their defeat on the 7th of No
yember. Beaufort was at once abandoned,
and our reconnoitering parties have no
where encountered an enemy. Blufton
has been approached by the Mayfower,
ali unarmed ferry-boat, and no gun fired
pickets of the enemy have been driven in,
have been captured, but never, except in
one solitary instance on Port Royal Island,
fred musket. A large reconnaissance
made last week iu gun-boats went within
fifteen miles in direct line from Charles
ton, landed at a town called Rockville,
where 900 rebel troops had been posted,
but these scampered before the landing
was complete, and left their tents, camp
equipage, important letters and papers in
the hands Of our troops, not firing gun,
although their numbers must at least have
quadrupled those who were sent ashore;
so the original panic seems not at all to
have subsided-(an inference.) The
slaves have, in various instances, assisted
in the capture OF their masters, have also
several times of late asked to be be armed,
which was not originally the case. Col
onies Of them have been established, not
only at Hilton Head, but on Otter Island,
in St Helena Sound, and at the mouth Of
Edisto Inlet. At both these places they
are protected either by gun-boats or by
the guns of the batteries put up by the
rebels but now occupied by the Union
forces. Schooners belonging to the rebels
have been chased in these inland waters,
and captured or burned. The universal
story OF The negroes is that the poor whites
are unwilling to fight, and certainly there
seems an unWillingness somewhere. If
ever South Carolina desperation is to be
manifested, one would think it would be
now they talk in their newspapers and
in the private letters [ have seen of hoist
iag the black flag; Of neither giving or
asking quarter but we have taken
number of prisoners, who seemed not
averse to submitting to the fate Of prison
ers of war. They have allowed small
parties to venture near them under un-
favorable circumstances, without ever
making'an attempt to cut them oft they
have allowed single gun-boats to get
aground six or seven miles In from the
coast, and to lie in this comparatively
solitary and defenceless condition all night
and indeed for twentyfour hours, without
molesting them they have not stood
when their pickets were approached by
small parties on water and in exposed sit
uations. All this may be part of a con-
certed plan, to induce feeling of security
in the Yankees, but tie facts are exactly
as / state. Not solitary instance Of
pluck has been manifested by South Car
oliniaus since their defeat. They shoot
their unarmed negroes, and burn their
own cotton houses, but no other exam
pie of desperation has yet been afforded.
There are now in Beaufort district alone,
am informed by official personages, no
less than 10000 slaves, whose masters
have fed, and Beaufort district is but
small portion of the country at present in
our hands. | have accompanied num-
Der Of the reconnoissanoes made III all
directions from this post, both by sea and
land have witnessed the exploration OF
the country from Tybee Island on the
south to North Edisto on the north, an
extent of at least sixty miles, and have
penetrated as far into the interior, on
some Of these ex cursions, as our troops
have yet gone. Everywhere | fnd the
same state of things existing everywhere
the blacks hurry in droves to our lines
they crowd in small boats around our
ships they swarm upon our decks ; they