Wilmington journal., 1875-01-08

creased until after the fight of Decan-
Der 7th, and that his proclan.tc.em lcem-
issued on that day, was publi,haa'
o'clock P M. In reply to a ons..: slo
by Mr.. Conger. he said the proclsun
tion was issued because one issnad !
Governor Ames was unfair and cs,a
lated to excite the people. On Ss
day, December 9Th, Crosby (tba un- "u,
ored sheriff. came to him and told h;"
the colored people in the country vna m
very much excited aba pit his beino "ele Gro
ont of office, and asked him TO sss;a. rus
him in preserving the Iesce, wbieb ehSlst s
promised to do. About o'clock new
morning DIR. Shannon Ind two otba. &
gentlemen came to bib house and
woke him up, and tdd him armaS
bodies of negroes were\marcb;no ".
the city. He told DIR: \Shannon ~ -
have the court house bell nd fire halIs
rung, so as to arouse Vie peon1a
though he had heard sdmanv spnb
rumors he thought little oAihem. Rnt
about O'Clock DR.. Hunt c&me to him
and reported that three Ortfour bnn
dred armed negroes were m&chno IN
the city by the Grove-Street toad, Ia
then issued his proclamationbrder;no
them to disperse and retire Ito th.'e
homes, and sent Policemen Wish and
Hayes to meet the negroes did read
the proclamation to them. Tiky ha3
white handkerchiefs on sticksl The.
returned at about half-past 9 IcIoci
and reported that the neRrds ha5
fired Oh them and would not\allov
them to approach.
After lSSnin0 tho v,rrolo r,nk:1
Mayor rode around town cautAnino
people who had arms to repair ; the
courthouse. The company that Vent
out on jackson road returned and re.
ported that they had q fight and h,A
killed fifteen or twenty negoes, butb
afterwards learned that not many lid
been killed. He then sent Eve oil.
zens on a scout on Warrenton road.
and fearing an outbreak in town re.
turned and told the police not to leave
their beats. The Warrenton road
scouts returned and reported no enc
my, but about the same time he receiv-
ed report of fighting on the jackson
road, and that the negroes had baen
routed, with twenty five or thirtv
killed. The reports were not official.
While at the courthouse Peter
Crosby, the colored sheriff, va
brought there under arrest by order of
Col. Miller, who was in command of
the citizens. Crosby was kept there
until everything had become quiet, and
was then sent to jackson. A third
fight occurred on the jackson road.
near the Pemberton monument, and
lasted half an hour, but was princi.
llx, OF Al
hardest fight of the day. He heard
that thirty or forty negroes had been
killed, and one white man (named
Brown killed and another white man
wounded. This was the last fight, and
occurred between 9 and 10 O'Clock
Brown, the white man killed, wss
coming into town from the country,
and did not belong to our force.
Cross-examined by Mr.. Conger
Could not tell how many were buried:
could tell o-morrow from the official
books of the undertakers; had heard
Of none Left unburied; bad heard Of
no colured men being killed since that
day, except one named Mack, killed
near Haynes Bluff, twelve miles dis
tart, where funeral procession was
fred into and Vaughan, white man,
killed. Crosby was brought to tho
courthouse about the time of the drst
fight by order of Colonel Miller did
not call upon any of the county off,
GERS to aid him in maintaining peace,
because he believed they were inter
ested with the negroes in the move
meut.
To General Hurlbut Colonel Mil
ler's command was of armed citizens,
without any regular organizations; Cap
tain Cowan also acted as an officer.
was down ON the levee when the bells
rang. Colonel Miller acted under Or
ders from me, but [ was not present
when the command started out. They
were called out under the spur of tho
moment, and variously armed, some
on horseback, but mostly on foot. Col.
Baird had no regiment. The armed
citizens were from Vicksburg about
one hundred came from Louisiana
next day, but they had no part in the
fighting. Col. Baird was appointed
by the Taxpayers League to take
charge of Crosby, which he did. Col.
Miller's men were adopted as part OF
the police force.
To MIR Speer: The last census
showed the population of Vicksburg
to be 1000, with a majority of blacks.
The majority of the latter in Warren
was three to one. The arming Of citi-
zens was to repel attack only. It was
supposed that the negroes were acting
under the orders of Crosby and Gov.
Ames. Those on Grove street were
commanded by Andy Owens. Cannot
remember the names of other COM
manders. Those ON Grove street had
come from Baldwin's ferry, twenty
three miles out. In all there were
about l 400 armed blacks. Those in
the city had arms then and saOaO. Some
stated their purpose was to reinstate
Crosby; others said 20 plunder the
town they had wagons and racks for
this purpose That was the spprehen-
sion ofthe citizens. This question gave
rise to considerable discussion among
members of the Committee, but was
finally allowed.
The Mayor, continuing: "MilleTs
orders were simply to defend the city;
in all there were only 225 men engaged
in fighting After the negroes were
driven back business was resumed a.
usual. There has been no disorder
since. The fight did not srise on the
color line, but from Crosby's resignation
and the attempt of the negroes to 70
instate him."
To Mr.. Speer: Governor Ames'
statement in his proclamation that the
whites wanted to deprive the negroes
of their rights because of their color
was untrue; no such thing was ever
even limited at.
To Mr.. Conger: The late meeting OF
the Taxpayers League was to make
Crosby give good bonds or resign,
To Mr.. Speer: A n injunction had
been granted few days before by the
Chancery Court restraining Crosby
from acting as sheriff, but did nos
know whether notice had been served
on him.
To Mr.. O'Brien: The Tax-Payers'
League was composed of Democrats
and Republicans, and the most SUD-
stantial and influential men OF the
city. Mr., Woodruff (the President)
was a Republican. Men who were
armed on the day ofthe fight belonged
to both parties. Prior to the fight
taxation and rascality had forced tde-
cent Republicans to quit the party.
On being asked to specify the Tss-
calls, the Mayor named Crosby (color..
ed sheriff. and Dorsey (colored clrcuis