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 Report of the S 
 Conf Pam #291 
 
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R E I> O PI T 
 
 THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE 
 
 TO INQUIRE INTO CERTAIN OUTRAGES OF THE ENEMY. 
 
 The special committee, charged by a resolution of the House to 
 ascertain and report the facts connected with the recent outrages 
 alleged to have been perpetrated in the northeastern part of North 
 Carolina by the armed forces of the United States, and to recommend 
 8uch action as the dignity of the Confederate States should demand, 
 submit the following report : 
 
 The committee have taken several depositions, and collected such 
 further evidence as was accessible, for the purpose of obtaining a cor- 
 rect knowledge of the matters referred to them. This evidence is 
 now presented to the House, with a brief outline cf the facts proved. 
 
 In the month of December last, a large force of negro soldiers, in 
 the Eervice of the United States, and under command of Brigadier 
 General Ed. A. Wilde, invaded the county of Pasquotank. While 
 there, they arrested a citizen of the county, (Daniel Bright,) at hi* 
 own residence, and hung him on the side of the public road, a few 
 miles north of Elizabeth City. Upon his back, where he was sus- 
 pended, was placed a placard, with the following words: 
 
 " This guerrilla hanged by order of Brigadier General Wildl. 
 Daniel Bright, of Pasquotank county." 
 
 Daniel Bright was a member of the sixty-secon 1 Georgia regiment, 
 ander command of Colonel J. R. Griffin, and had received authority 
 from the Governor of North Carolina to raise a company in that 
 county for local defence. Failing in the eflfort, he had retired to his- 
 ferm, an-d was there seized, carried off and executed. 
 
 Two most respectable married ladies were also made prisoners — 
 Mrs. i hoebe Munden, wife of Lieutenant W. J. Munden, and Mrs. 
 Elizabeth Weeks, wife of private Pender Weeks, ot Captain John T. 
 Elliott's company. The first was arrested at her own house, in the 
 
presence only of her three children, of whom the oldest was ten ye^.rs 
 of age, on Saturday, the 1 2th day of December, conveyed a few miles 
 to Elizabeth City, confined in a room without fire, bed or bedding, 
 with several male prisoners, and tied by the feet and hands. A negro 
 guard was placed in charge of the pri^^oners. The succeeding day the 
 other lady, Mrs. Weeks, was placed in the same room. They wore con- 
 stantly guarded, and neither was allowed to leave the room, for the most 
 necessary duty, but in company with a negro armed soldier. For a more 
 minute recital of the indignities offered the sensibilities of the sex, the 
 committee forbear to do more than refer to the testimony of a fellow-pris- 
 oner, and another, a resident of the town and an eye-witness of what he 
 describes. Mrs. Munden was in delicate health, was forced from a 
 home immediately laid in ashes, with all it contained, without other 
 apparel than she wore upon her person, and passed several nights in 
 the cheerless and cold apartments to which she was confined at that 
 inclement season, before the humanity of her captors were so far 
 softened as to permit blankets to be furnished for her use. They 
 were kept until Thursday, and then removed to Norfolk. It has been 
 represented to her husband that when Mrs. Munden was carried ofi", 
 her wrists were bleeding from the stricture of the cords with which 
 she was bound. 
 
 The purpose of these arrests of unarmed and helpless women will 
 appear from the letter of General Wild to Captain Elliott, dated De- 
 cember 17th, which accompanies this report. In it he says : 
 
 *' I still hold in custody Mrs. Munden and Mrs. Weeks as hostages 
 for the colored soldier taken by you. As he is treated, so shall they 
 be; even to hanging. By this time you know that I am in earnest. 
 Guerrillas are to be treated as pirates. You will never have rest 
 until you- renounce your present course, or join the regular Confed- 
 erate army." 
 
 These ladies are still held in custody, as will be seen from the letter 
 of General B. F. Butler, in answer to a communication addressed to 
 him by Lieutenant Munden and Mr. Weeks, dated January 26th; and 
 while he states that he has countermanded the order for their execu- 
 tion, threatened in the event of the hanging of his *' colored" soldier 
 by General Wild, he does not disavow in any other respect the acts 
 of the latter. 
 
 Besides these acts of violence, it is in proof that several private 
 dwellings in Pasquotank and Camden counties were set on fire and 
 consumed, among which may be designated those of W. T. White, 
 Captain Willis Sanderlin and Major Gregory — the latter, an aged 
 citizen of more than sixty years, was seized and conveyed away. For 
 what purpose General Wild's own letter to Captam Sanderlin, written 
 after his retreat to Virginia, and bearing date December 22d, will 
 disclose. He says : 
 
 " I shall hold Major Gregory as a hostage for the colored soldier 
 captured near Shiloh, I shall treat him exactly as your people treat 
 that soldier. If they hang him, I shall hang Major Gregory; and 
 you know by this time that I keep my word." 
 
 Major Gregory was released afterwards and returned, not to his 
 
home, for that was destroyed, but to his friends, only to die from a 
 paralysis with which he was stricken while a prisoner in the enemy's 
 hands. 
 
 The committee invite attention to the minute account of the acts of 
 this marauding expedition, contained in a letter written at Norfolk, 
 December 28th, to the New York Daily News, manifestly prepared by 
 one familiar with its acts They insert a brief extract only : 
 
 ** Negroes were permitted to curse and abuse defenceless ladies, to 
 atrip them of their jewelry and clothing, and offer them indignities 
 which would offend delicacy to repeat. A small Confederate force 
 captured two of his negroes, in a skirmish, and for this he outraged 
 all the laws of.civilized war. He arrested two ladies of high character, 
 permitted a brutal negro soldiery to tie them hand and foot, (as I believe, 
 and am credibly informed,) and kept them in this condition for two 
 days and nights ; brought them to Norfolk, and now keeps them con- 
 fined in a close room. There he holds ttem as hostages for the return 
 of his negroes." 
 
 The committee find that both the companies which the Federal 
 officer designates as " gwerrz7/a.y," commanded, the one by Captain 
 Elliot, the other by Captain Sanderlin, were raised in those counties, 
 under authority of the Governor of North Carolina, for local defence 
 and to repel invasions ; were duly organized, and their officers com- 
 missioned by him; and for a year or more had been in the regular 
 service of that State. At the time referred to they had been attached 
 to, and formed part of, the sixty-sixth North Carolina regiment, un- 
 der command of Colonel James W. Hinton. 
 
 The committee content themselves with reporting the evidence to 
 the House with a short explanatory statement. The original letters 
 and placard referred to are before them, and are submitted with this 
 report. They forbear comment. It would add no force to the simple 
 narrative of facts. 
 
 W. N. H. SMITH, Chairman. 
 
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