(Transcriber’s Note:  The Raleigh Register had correspondents who wrote in 
regularly from the army.  Their letters were never signed by their own names, 
but as “Volunteer” or “Justice”.  One, however, signed with his initials:  “J.D.G.”  
From his observations of being in some type of officer position, and with 
Company H, he may have been Sgt. Joseph D. Gorman, however, as stated 
below, he came home early due to sickness so who the other correspondent(s) 
are is unknown.)

Fayetteville Observer, Tuesday, July 21, 1846

Our Volunteer Regiment
From the Raleigh Register

It will be seen from the official notification of the Adjutant General, contained 
in this paper, that the Regiment of Volunteers called for by the President from 
this state, has been completed by lot, and is now ready for any emergency 
that may arise.  The names of thirty two companies were placed in the wheel 
and the ten, announced by the Adjutant General, were drawn therefrom.  
Since then, we learn, some six or eight additional companies have been 
tendered, making in all about thirty companies which have volunteered their 
services in this State, where only ten were required.

Official
North Carolina
Office of Adjutant General
Raleigh, July 10, 1846

The following companies of volunteers, from No. 1 to No. 10 inclusive, have 
been selected by lot from the whole number, whose service have been 
tendered under the requisition from the War Department of the U.S. and are 
arranged in the order in which they were drawn, to wit:

1.	Rowan Co., Richard W. Long, Captain
2.	Orange Co.
3.	Buncombe Co., Will D. Jones, Captain
4.	Lenoir Co., James Davis, Captain
5.	Ashe Co., Andrew J. Vannoy, Captain
6.	Surry Co., George W. Brown, Captain
7.	Davie Co., D.W. Smith, Captain
8.	Cherokee Co., John S. Powel, Captain
9.	McDowell Co., John S. Brown, Captain
10.	Caswell Co., Archer Lea, Captain

The captains commanding the foregoing companies will immediately forward 
to this office rolls of their respective commands, containing the names of the 
commissioned and non-commissioned officers and privates.

Robert W. Haywood
Adj’t. General, N.C.M.

Raleigh Register and North Carolina Gazette, Tuesday, Aug. 4, 1846

Late From the Army
We have been permitted to make the following extracts from a letter, addressed 
by Mr. J.H. High, a volunteer in General Taylor’s army, and a native of this city, 
to his brother, a resident here, which contains some interesting details in relation 
to the condition of the army:
“We shall remain at this place at least a month, if not longer.  We have to remain 
until Gen. Taylor gets a supply of provisions for us.  He has made a requisition 
of 1,000 wagons, to convey the baggage, etc.  The general is, himself, at 
Matamoras, with 9,000 troops, awaiting reinforcements to take Monterey.  A 
regiment left this morning for Bureta, 18 miles from this place.  There are 5,000 
troops here, awaiting Gen. Taylor’s orders.  This point is entirely surrounded by 
the Gulf of Mexico; nothing to be seen, but sand, sky and water; not a tree on 
the island; not a stick of wood to be found of any description.  We use stone 
coal for cooking, and it makes excellent fires; and we have many of the luxuries 
of life in great abundance, such as oysters, fish, etc., plenty of old bacon and 
corn bread and occasionally, fresh meats.  We suffer most for good water.  We 
have to dig a hole in the ground, about two feet deep and then put in a barrel, 
when it is called a well.  We have seven or eight hundred on the island. The water 
is, of course, a little brackish.  Major Ringgold’s remains lie at Point Isabel, just 
in sight of us across a little stream.  His grave is enclosed with muskets around.  
They intend removing his remains to Baltimore in a short time.  We have a number 
of Mexican prisoners here, left by Gen. Taylor.  They are rough looking chaps, 
but appear to be well contented.”

Raleigh Register and North Carolina Gazette, Tuesday, Jan. 19, 1847

Our Regiment Complete

We make this annunciation with confidence, for, although nine companies only 
have been officially reported, yet there are so many nearly completed, that long 
before this paper reaches our distant readers, the Regiment of North Carolina 
Volunteers will be under marching orders.  We subjoin the names of the captains 
of the volunteer companies and the order of precedence is indicated by the letters 
of the alphabet:

Company A, Captain Richard W. Long, Rowan
Company B, Captain Louis D. Wilson, Edgecombe
Company C, Henry Roberts, Wayne
Company D, Martin Shive, Cabarrus
Company E, Tilmon Blalock, Yancy
Company F, W.E. Kirkpatrick, Cumberland
Company G, G.W. Caldwell, Mecklenburg
Company H, Wm. S. Duggan, Edgecombe
Company I, John Cameron, Orange
Company K (nothing follows)

We understand the “Orange Boys” were so much afraid of being left out that they 
knocked up His Excellency, the Governor, at 2:00 in the morning to get their 
commission.

Raleigh Register and North Carolina Gazette
Tuesday, March 2, 1847

John A. Lane, a private in the Cumberland and Bladen Company, died on 
Tuesday last, of hemorrhage of the lungs.

There is nothing like the sickness among the troops that there was a week or 
two ago.

The Orange Volunteers, being a detachment only, have been divided and 
apportioned off to other deficient companies, chiefly to Yancy, so that by 
this and other changes, nine complete companies have been made up, 
leaving one yet to be gathered.  Towards this, some twelve or fifteen men 
from one of the western counties came down on the railroad on Monday and
Lt. Col. Fagg has bone to Buncombe for more recruits.  By the apportionment 
of the Orange Volunteers among the other companies, Capt. Cameron is left 
without a command.

The nine companies range alphabetically thus:
A, Edgecombe, Capt. Wilson
B, Wayne, Capt. Roberts
C, Cabarrus, Capt. Shive
D, Yancy, Capt. Blalock
E, Edgecombe, Capt. Duggan
F, Caswell, Capt. Williamson
G, Rockingham, Capt. Henry
H, New Hanover, Capt. Price
I, Cumberland, Capt. Kirkpatrick

Companies A & E left for Brazos Santiago on the 15th inst., in the Schooner 
E.S. Powell.  Companies B, C & D will, it is expected, leave tomorrow in the 
brig Samuel N. Gott.  Major Stokes will go with them.

The schooner Harrison Price has been contracted for by Lt. Fremont, the 
government agent, and will probably get away in four or five days, taking 
companies H & I.
Wilmington Chronicle


Fayetteville Observer, March 10, 1847

The schooner Florida left for Brazos Santiago Friday last having on board the 
last of the nine companies of the North Carolina Regiment:
Company F, Caswell, Capt. Williamson
Company G, Rockingham, Capt. Henry
Col. Paine went out in the Florida
Wilmington Chronicle

Fayetteville Observer, March 20, 1847
Edward Cantwell of Wilmington has been appointed 2nd lieutenant in the 12th 
Regiment of Infantry, one of the new regiments.  E.N. Saunders of North 
Carolina has been appointed 2nd lieutenant of infantry in the 12th Regiment

Fayetteville Observer, Tuesday, May 4, 1847

The Matamoras Flag of the 11th ult says:
Lt. Stanton of the North Carolina Regiment, came down the river on Friday last 
in charge of a number of sick volunteers belonging to his regiment.  On the 
passage down, two of them died, viz; George W. Barnes, 1st Sgt, Company 
A; J.J.F. Stokes, 3rd Corp., Company F.   Our regiment was stationed at 
Cannargo(?) at the last date.

Raleigh Register and North Carolina Gazette, Tuesday, May 11, 1847

We have had the pleasure of seeing Major Theophilus H. Holmes, of the U.S. 
Army, who arrived here a few days ago on a visit to his family in this place, 
from whom the active operations on our southern frontier have separated him 
for the last two years.  During that period he has had the good fortune to be 
engaged in the defense of Fort Brown, and the brilliant battles of Monterey, 
and Vera Cruz.  At Monterey, especially, he distinguished himself by coolness 
and courage in the most exposed situations, for which our readers will recollect 
he was especially named in the dispatches, and to which he owes his 
promotion to a majority.  It gives us pleasure to thus mention the distinction 
of a gallant North Carolinian.  Major Holmes describes the operations before 
Vera Cruz as affording the most perfect exemplification of the certain results 
of science in war.  Nothing was omitted or overlooked, from the greatest to 
the most minute particular, of what was essential to the triumph of our arms; 
and the result followed with the precision and certainty of a mathematical 
demonstration.  Gen. Scott is said to  have declared, that in 72 hours the 
castle and city would surrender.  In 70 hours after this, they did so.  To all 
the masterly arrangements of Gen. Scott it was undoubtedly owing that the 
strong city, and still stronger castle, were gained with so little loss of life on 
our side.  Major Holmes has proceeded to Washington.  
Fayetteville Observer


Fayetteville Observer, Tuesday, May 18, 1847

The Hillsborough Recorder contains two letters from volunteers in Mexico, which 
contain some interesting particulars.  One, dated at Camargo, April 5, says:
“Our camp us just out of the town, upon the banks of the St. John(?).  We are 
obliged to drink the river water as there are no springs within this part of the 
country and it is not made more palatable by seeing the number of dead mules 
on its banks.  If we are left at this place for the summer, one half of our regiment 
will die.  The heat even now is almost unbearable, being more sultry than ours 
is in August.  A large majority of the men have been sick with dysentery, the
 most fatal disease of this country, although they are now getting better.  
Our major is now quite sick with fever. 

The other, dated at St. Francisco, 56 miles beyond Camargo, April 10, says:
Our numbers have been badly thinned by disease.  Both the Edgecombe 
companies have scarcely enough men to stand guard.  This is disheartening:  
men dread sickness more than death.  Yesterday Col. Paine passed us with 
the Second Battalion, consisting of 200 wagons from the Brazos, and the 
worst used up men I never saw in my life, out of four companies not sixty 
men capable of doing duty.  The weather has been very hot and sultry but it 
commenced raining yesterday and the air is a little cooler, the mud is knee 
deep and our tents are flooded with water.  While I am writing a man from 
Edgecombe lies dead, from that fatal disease, diarrhea.  What will be the 
feelings of that man when he stands at the foot of God and the spirits of 
thousands stand pointing to their ghastly wounds?  But ‘tis done and God 
forbid another drop of blood should be spilt in this horrid war.  Words cannot 
express what the eye can see and from the mouth of the Rio Grande to 
Monterrey is nothing but a vast extended graveyard; the American soldiers, 
they have whitened the plains with their bones and made the natives wealthy 
on the spoils of war.

A Gallant North Carolinian
The Raleigh Register has on various occasions praised Lt. Bryan for his 
gallant behavior at the Battle of Buena Vista and we observe that the good 
people of Raleigh, of which city he is a native, are about to present him with 
some testimonial of their regard.  This is as it should be; the life of a soldier 
is hard and dangerous enough, Heaven knows, and every brave act should 
be remembered and rewarded.  But in praising one distinguished son of 
North Carolina, our friend Gales has omitted to mention another and, it 
detracts nothing Lt. Bryan’s well earned reputation to say it, a more 
distinguished one, for it was he who, when the battery to which Lt. Bryan 
was attached, was captured by the enemy, gallantly threw himself in the 
front of their advancing columns, and drove them back in confusion.  Nay, 
he did more:  to use the language of the “noblest Roman of them all” it was 
owing to his efforts on this occasion that the “day was saved.”  Here is 
what Gen. Taylor said:  “In the meantime, the firing had partially ceased 
upon the principal field.  The enemy seemed to confine his activity to the 
protection of his artillery and I had left the plateau for a moment when I was 
recalled thither by a very heavy musketry fire.  On regaining that position, I 
discovered that the infantry (Illinois and Kentucky) had engaged a greatly 
superior force of the enemy—evidently his reserve—and that they had been 
overwhelmed by numbers.  The moment was most critical.  Capt. O’Brien, 
with two pieces, had sustained this heavy charge to the last, and was finally
obliged to leave his guns on the field—his infantry support having been 
entirely routed.  Capt. Bragg, who had just arrived from the left, was ordered 
at once into battle.  Without any infantry to support him, and at the imminent 
risk of losing his guns, this officer came rapidly into action, the Mexican line 
being but a few yards from the muzzle of his piece.  The first discharge of his 
canister caused the enemy to hesitate, the second and third drove him back 
in disorder and saved the day.”

Does not this heroic conduct deserve notice, not only in North Carolina but 
throughout the length and breadth of the land?  Suppose Bragg’s efforts on 
that memorable occasion had failed?  The day would have been lost in all 
probability—Taylor and his army would have been destroyed…….Honor, 
then to the noble North Carolinian who thus rolled back the tide of battle 
and “saved the day”.

Raleigh Register and North Carolina Gazette
May 28, 1847

Capt. William J. Clark’s company of newly raised infantry, took up their line 
of march from this city on Monday last, en route for Charleston, their place 
of embarkation, for the seat of war.  This company is composed of a sturdy, 
athletic set of men, who look as though they were able to do service on the 
field of battle; and we hesitate not to say, that when the occasion shall offer, 
that our gallant young townsman and his fine looking corps, will add fresh 
lustre to the ancient fame of our noble old Commonwealth.

Raleigh Register and North Carolina Gazette
June 4, 1847

Our Army Correspondence

Camp Paine, Camargo, Mexico
May 3, 1847

My Dear Sir:

Soon after the arrival of our regiment at this place, on the 7th ult., I wrote, 
according to promise, a cursory detail of this country and its people—such, 
at least, as I had the opportunity to observe, in a hurried and somewhat 
hazardous march up the Rio Grande to this place.  We have been 
unoccupied here now about a month, and but very little has occurred worthy 
of note; but still, I feel that it is due to you, to give some information of us 
and our condition.

Two weeks ago, we moved our camp to the north bank of the San Juan 
(pronounced in Mexican, Sawn Whan) about two miles above the town, in 
the chapparal, where our police guard, under the direction of our excellent 
adjutant, O.A. Buck, cleared us an excellent camp ground.  The next
morning, Col. Paine, with a detachment of two companies and 50 dragoons 
(regulars), escorted a large train of provisions and military stores, to Monterey. 

Soon after the departure of Col. Paine, the officers left, named our encampment 
after him, as a mark of their high estimation of his military genius, and his 
invaluable service to the regiment.  He is a strict disciplinarian and by his 
promptness, unceasing energy and faithful discharge of every duty, and strict 
enforcement of it from others, has won the entire confidence, respect, and 
admiration of the whole regiment, both officers and men.  We have heard from 
him by a downward train, but he is still absent, though he is expected back 
in a day or two.  

We now have four companies in the detached service.  But as the colonel 
was accompanied by Adjutant Buck, I have not yet had an opportunity of 
paying my respects in person to old Rough and Ready, as I feel particularly 
anxious to do.  Of course, therefore, you must not expect any further 
description of places and persons in these foreign parts, in this letter.  But I 
go next week, and you shall be promptly furnished with my observations, if 
they be worth transcribing. 

Our muster rolls to the 1st of May have just come in and it was in looking over 
them that I felt it due to you now to write, as they enable me to give you a full 
and complete list of the deaths which have occurred in the regiment since we 
left Smithville.  I begin with the companied in alphabetical order and give the 
places of death as well as the county from which the soldier came:

Company A, L.D. Wilson of Edgecombe, captain
Calvin Johnson of Edgecombe, died at Matamoras, on the 28th March
Wm. H. Spencer, of Warren, died at Matamoras on the 6th April
George W. Barnes, Edgecombe, died on board steam boat, April 8
Amos Edwards, Edgecombe, died at Matamoras on the 18th April
Littleton T. Griffin, Edgecombe, died at Camargo, 26th April
Wm. Parker, Edgecombe, died at Camargo 29th April

Company B, H. Roberts of Wayne, captain
Willie Baily, of Johnston, at Camargo, April 23
Benjamin Alford, Wayne, Point Isabel, April 20

Company C, M. Shive of Cabarrus, captain
Enoch Flowers, Anson, Matamoris, March 25
Martin Stough, Cabarrus, on the road to this place from Matamoras, 
March 27

Company D, T. Blalock, Yancy, captain
Thomas Curran, Granville, on board of the Gott, at sea, March 8
Wm. H. Keith, Yancy, at the Brazos, March 15
Jno. Ledford, Yancy, Camargo, April 17
George Miller, Orange, Camargo, April 25
David Poor, Yancy, Camargo, April 26

Company E, W.H. Duggan, Edgecomebe, captain
Gideon Barnhill, Martin, Matamoras, March 21
Wright Durden, Edgecombe, St. Francisco, April 9
Ephraim Flora, Edgecombe, Camargo, April 23
Patrick Hardy, Martin, Camargo, April 27
J.J. Stokes, Edgecombe, on board steam boat near Matamoras, April 9
Hardy G.L. Calhoun, Edgecombe, Camargo, May 1

Company F, George Williamson, Caswell, captain
Jas. H. Miller, Caswell, on board the Florida, March 17

Company G, P.M. Henry, Rockingham, captain
None

Company H, W.H. Price, New Hanover, captain
Jno. Waler, New Hanover, on board the H. Price, at sea, March 11

Company I, W.E. Kirkpatrick, Cumberland, captain
William Caison, Camargo, April 16 (county not shown)
Richard M. Johnson, New Hanover, Camargo, April 20

Most of these deaths were from typhoid fever, some from the prevalent 
diarrhea, and a few from old chronic diseases. Young Keith was killed by 
the falling of some timbers of the vessel which were broken off by the 
steam boat which went out to land them at the Brazos.  The sea was 
rough and before the steamer could be fastened to the vessel, she caught 
a part of her rigging; a large piece of timber was broken off, and fell on him, 
fracturing his skull and producing death in a short time.

Those that died at Matamoras, were in the general hospital at that place.  
The deaths at sea were old cases of disease.  The burial service for the 
sea is particularly solemn and impressive.  They were buried in their full 
uniforms, closely sewed in their military blankets; and with sinkers to their 
feet, were thus consigned to their watery graves.  The ceremony is simple 
but most impressively awful and brought tears to many a soldier’s eyes that 
would not quail to any enemy and I hope produced in the minds of many, 
serious considerations for their final dissolution and destination.

The one who died on the road, also had to be committed to his final resting 
place without a coffin, as no plank could be obtained, and there are no trees 
here large enough to have them made from.

Our daily sick reports average more than a hundred, but I am well pleased to 
inform you, that under the treatment of our vigilant and skillful physicians, they 
are improving and the cases are not as severe as formerly.

The men have been very imprudent in the sue of the water, and as we are 
obliged to use from the river, which is rotten limestone, its imprudent use is 
very deleterious, when not fatal.

In a late dispatch, however, from General Taylor, we are assured that we shall 
soon be ordered up to Monterey, and that in no event will he march upon San 
Luis Potesi without all the regiments now called into the service for the war 
with Mexico.

We are all anxious to go to Monterey, as we learn that the troops are quite 
healthy there.

We have no army news.  I will keep you advised of all our movements of 
interest and importance.

I am, very respectfully,
Your obedient servant and friend
A Volunteer

Raleigh Semi Weekly Register
June 18, 1847

Our Army Correspondence

Monterey, Mexico, May 26, 1847

I know of nothing I can write more interesting to you than a description of 
the country and occurrences since I left Camargo.  The face of the country 
between Camargo and Monterey is one continual broken wilderness, up hill 
and down dale, abounding in Prickly Pear and Mosqueet trees, and as you 
advance toward Monterey, the Palmetto becomes quite plenty.  

I left Camargo on the 20th April, having only been informed the evening 
before, that our company (H) and Company F had been detailed to escort 
a train of wagons up to Monterey.  We went the first day to the 9 mile 
Rancho.  On the 21st, after a hot day’s march, we arrived at Mier.  I visited 
the town the next morning and found it a rather old, dilapidated looking place,
i.e., what I saw of it; but take it in all, it is rather a pretty place and beautifully 
situated.

We had two swivels in our train, captured at the Battle of Monterey, carrying 
pound balls or 18 musket balls.  One was placed under my command, with 
one man to assist me and six to protect, in case of an attack which we 
anticipated before we arrived at Monterey. The next day we arrived at Canales’ 
camping ground, on a beautiful little stream called Canales Run, by far the 
loveliest I have met with in Mexico, and about the size of Walnut Creek.

On the 23rd we made an early start, and having a pretty fair road, and little 
delay, arrived at our camping ground, 12 miles, by 2:00, near a Rancho called 
Ponta Cuba, burned by the volunteers.  It appears to have been quite a 
Rancho, as some of the houses were well finished and seem to have been 
well fortified.  We here met companies C and G, on their return march, having 
guarded a train within thirty miles of Monterey, and meeting a train on its way 
down, unguarded, returned with it.  Here a volunteer belonging to Company C, 
was shot through the head while after a beef in the chapparal.  

The detachment of men from our company, with Lt. Singletary, and 11 others 
assigned to our company, took up the line of march at 7:00 the next morning,
at 11:30, orders were given to prepare for an attack, caused by Capt. Bunch, 
Commissary, having been lanced through the jaw; he being alone in advance 
when the train was set upon by a couple of Mexicans, --we fired two shots at 
them and hearing a rustling at the chapparal from another quarter, thought it 
best to retire.  The attack, however was not made and without any other 
accident, we arrived at Ceralvo about 2:00.  

Ceralvo is quite a handsome place—the church shows at a long distance; 
and the Cordilleras are in full view—and a splendid sight they are to look upon:  
mountain rising upon top of mountain, like the rolling of old ocean’s waves, 
lashed to fury by revengeful Neptune, or like the dark, black clouds of 
September’s thunderstorm frowning down upon us.  

The water of Ceralvo is the best I had tasted in Mexico; they have fine wells, 
and the appearance of the whole town looks most beautiful; here and there, 
scattered through its whole length, are fig, orange pomegranate trees in all 
their luxuriance and beauty.  About 13 miles below Ceralvo, is the spot on 
which Urrea made his attack upon a train that was going down.  At that time, 
there were no American troops stationed at Ceralvo; he took some 50 or 60 
wagons and retired to make his second attack, and although he sounded his 
bugle twice for the charge, thought it best to retire altogether.

Today a private belonging to Company H was run over by a wagon and his 
legs were badly crushed.  Nothing else occurring during the day, we halted 
after a nine mile march at Robbers Rancho.  This appears to have been a 
pretty strong place, but is now all burned down, and from its near vicinity to 
the mountains, must have been a great resort for the young brigands.  On 
the 26th, nothing occurred that I am aware of, though rumor has it that two 
lancers were taken by the dragoons and shot; and after a 19 mile march over 
the roughest road I ever saw, we camped at the deserted rancho (also burned) 
at the very foot of the Cordilleras.

On the 27th, we made an early start, and in 5 miles met a train going down.  
The Lancers shot one of the advance guard in the down train, through the thigh, 
but the lancer was killed by la ranger.  We passed the spot where a train was 
attacked, some 60 wagons burned and 40 or 50 Americans killed.  It is horrid 
to look upon the sight—the bones, however, have been buried lately and the 
sight is not quite so bad.  We passed through a little place called Ramos, a 
most lovely situated place, but not nearly deserted.  Also Marin, which has a 
fine church and some find buildings. At this place, the Kentucky and Mississippi 
volunteers, had a brush with the Mexicans a day or two after the battle of 
Monterey.  We camped a after three miles further march, at the head of the 
San Juan river.  On the 28th, we made quite an early start and for the first time 
saw signs of cultivation, passed through Ava, Frea, also nearly deserted, San 
Francisco, and several Ranchos and halted about 3:00 at General Taylor’s 
camp, at Walnut Springs, five miles from Monterey.

Yours, Etc.
J.D.G.

Raleigh Register and North Carolina Gazette
Tuesday, June 29, 1847

Among the list of deaths in the hospital at Matamoras, during the month of 
May, we notice those of Jackson Rogers, James L. Barnes, G.H. Shultz, 
Reuben Harrell and Benjamin Little of the North Carolina Regiment.  Two 
companies of North Carolina Volunteers left Monterey on the 29th May for 
Saltillo

Raleigh Register and North Carolina Gazette
July 15, 1847

Our Army Correspondence

Headquarters N. Carolina Regiment of Volunteers
Walnut Springs, near Monterey, Mexico

The Old North State has reported herself in person at headquarters, and we 
think a favorable impression has been made.  Our station is at Camargo.  
Col. Paine moved forward with 150 men to escort a train of wagons and 
General Taylor has given him leave to remain here as long as he likes.  

We have been at this place eight days, but shall soon return, as the colonel 
is getting anxious to see his men again.  Of all places in Mexico, Camargo 
is the worst.  In dry weather so very dusty and in wet weather, muddy and 
such water!  I would prefer drinking from the dirtiest mud hole in North 
Carolina, rather than from the San Juan.  

The soldiering comes very hard on the men; many were sick when we left 
Camargo and one had died.  If we are obliged to remain at  Camargo, our
regiment will suffer much during the warm weather.

Gen. Taylor is camped in a beautiful grove of large trees—the first I have 
seen in Mexico—and excellent water is gushing out all around us, forming 
the most beautiful springs I ever saw.  Three regiments of volunteers and 
two companies of regulars, is the amount of force in this camp.  Monterey 
is four miles distant from the camp and is garrisoned with the Ohio Regiment, 
the term of service of which expires in about one month.  When all the troops, 
whose terms of service expires in June, leave the filed, General Taylor will 
have but four companies of regulars, and four regiments of volunteers, viz: 
North Carolina, Massachusetts, Virginia and the second Mississippi unless 
the ten regiments begin to arrive, and with this force, he will be obliged to keep 
open a line three hundred miles in length, or fall back and relinquish possession 
of some of the important places.

Monterey is a beautiful place for a Mexican city.  On three sides it is flanked 
by lofty mountains, that do not appear to be more than half a mile distant, and 
are not in reality more than three.  I have visited several places rendered 
interesting by recent events—the Bishop’s Palace, Arista’s Garden, the Black 
Fort, and the redoubts on the eastern and southern sides of town—Arista’s 
Garden is the most beautiful place I have seen for a long time.  It is surrounded 
by a massive wall of stone.  

The day before yesterday, Col. Paine and I visited the Hot Springs.  They are 
situated about four miles from here, at the foot of the mountain.  The water is 
so warm, that at first we could not bear it on the skin, but soon it became 
delightful and is a most luxuriant bath. 

The Mexicans are constantly cutting off individuals, who stray out of camp or 
who fall behind the trains, as they pass from one place to another.  Yesterday 
I saw a young man of the Indiana Battalion brought in.  He was out hunting, 
and was found with his throat cut, and more than a mile from General Taylor’s 
camp.  As we came up, Capt. Bunch of the Kentucky Cavalry, was lanced 
through the cheek by a lancer.  He was about half a mile ahead and was 
attacked by four men with lances.

Col. Paine spends much of his time at headquarters and appears to be on 
very good terms with Old Rough and Ready, and frequently takes tea or 
dines with him.  I have had the pleasure once of supping at his table. 

Raleigh Register and North Carolina Gazette
July 28, 1847

We have been favored, says the Fayetteville Carolinian, with the perusal of a 
letter received by a gentleman in this place from a sergeant of the Cumberland 
and Bladen company, dated Monterey, June 28, from which we make the
 following extracts:  “Our regiment has suffered severely by sickness, the two 
Edgecombe companies have suffered more than any other companies in the 
regiment—they were large companies when they left North Carolina but both 
companies will not make one now.  Our company has, since its arrival at 
Camargo, lost seven men and we have all the time averaged from ten to twelve 
on the sick list.  Those that have died are William Caison, Richard Johnson, 
Wm. M. Whitley, T.H. Josey, Daniel Melvin (Bladen), E. James and Corp. 
Samuel R. Ricards.  The Caswell company, within three weeks, lost nine men, 
their names are:  W.H. Glasgow, (first initial illegible) R. Wright, Benjamin 
Cossantis, R.B. Chandler, H. Roland, J. Bracher, S.H. Thompson, J.A. Cox, 
J.H. Miller and Yancy Carver.

Raleigh Register and North Carolina Gazette
Wednesday, Aug. 11, 1847

Mr. Joseph D. Gorman, one of the Raleigh volunteers for the Mexican War, 
returned to this city on Saturday last, having been discharged from service 
on account of bad health.  He left General Taylor’s camp on the 1st July, at 
which time and place he heard from the North Carolina Regiment.  They 
were then at Saltillo, where they would remain until General Taylor was ready 
to make his advance upon San Luis Potosi.  There had been about 125 
deaths in the regiment, and there were about 200 on the sick list, many of 
them dangerously so, six having died of measles at Monterey the night previous.  
It was believed that Old Rough and Ready would surely make a move upon 
San Luis some time during the present month, August.  He also speaks in the 
most glowing terms of the popularity of General Taylor with his man and says 
all the Army are for him for next president, against the world.

Raleigh Register and North Carolina Gazette
Aug. 14, 1847

The Standard publishes a letter from Captain Wm. J. Clark, which gives the 
following deaths in Companies G and I:
Nathan Perry of Franklin Co
John B. Roy of Washington, Sergeant
Timothy C. Jones, of Bath, Beaufort County
James M. Brady of Catawba County
Charles Airey of Gold Hill, Rowan County
Fenner Fink of Granville County
Rufus R. Hildreth of Anson County

Raleigh Register & North Carolina Gazette
August 18, 1847

Our Army Correspondence

Camp on the Battlefield of Buena Vista
July 17, 1847

My Dear Sir:

I advised you of our arrival here, soon after it occurred, and at that time 
intended to have sent you the monthly list of deaths up to the 1st inst., 
from the 1st May, in the regiment; but as all the reports were not then in, 
I could not.  I now copy the lists of May and June for you, but as the list is 
rather a long one, I must omit all except the company to which they 
belonged.  

In the month of May, there died belonging to Company A, commanded 
by 1st Lt. Jo. S. Pender:
Joel D. Braswell
Jackson Rodgers, Jr.
Thomas Wiggins
William Abrams
William Edwards
John H. Schultz
Reuben Horn

Company B, under Capt. H. Roberts
Jackson Daniel
William Sykes
Elijah Rivenback
James Peel
James Whitfield
John A. Boyt

Company C, under Capt. M. Shive
None

Company D, under Capt. T. Blalock
Thomas Butler

Company E, under Capt. W.S. Duggan
Hardy G.L. Calhoun
Lemuel Wren
Jas. L. Barnes
Joseph Proctor
William Griffin

Company F, under Capt. George Williamson
Myles Boyce
William H. Glasgow

Company G, under Capt. P.M. Henry
None

Company H, under Capt. Wm. H. Price
Charles H. Utley

Company I, under Capt. Wm. E. Kirkpatrick
William W. Willoughby
Elias Jones

Company K, under Capt. L.P. Tipton
None

During the month of June:

Company A
Dempsey Hicks
Henry Bell
William A. Amason

Company B
Williamson Hicks

Company C
William McDuffie

Company D
George Hensley

Company E
Guilford Joyner
George Lowe

Company F
Yancey Carver
Benjamin Cosand
Richard R. Wright
Jas. M. Chandler
Jas. A. Cox
Jeremiah Bradshear
Henry Roland, Jr.
Jno. H.Thompson

Company F
Robert J. Sapp
Daniel Hall
Wm. Scott

Company I
D.J. Melvin
Jas. H. Josey

Company K
None
(Transcriber’s note, nothing shown for G or H)

Out of this large number, more than two thirds have died of diarrhea, so 
prevalent and so fatal in this country.  The others have fallen victims about 
equally between measles, pneumonia, epilepsy and typhoid fever.  We 
have about 100 men now sick, left in the different hospitals from this place 
to the Brazos, and it is believed we have lost many that were left behind, 
of which we have no official account as of yet.  We now have present for 
duty 400 non-commissioned officers and privates and 18 officers; sick—
non-commissioned officers and privates, 137; officers, 18; discharged 
non-commissioned officers and privates, 33; officers, 4.  

It is with feelings of no ordinary character of sorrow that I have to furnish 
you with such details of our regiment.  In the list of mortality are many 
brave and noble spirits; and I hope it will be some consolation to their 
surviving and weeping friends and relatives, to know that they bore their 
sad fate with a fortitude becoming a soldier and received every attention 
the nature of the case would admit of.

Though the service rendered the government by the regiment has been of 
such a character as to elicit no public applause, yet its labors have been 
more severe that if it had been in actual engagements with the enemy; 
and it has suffered as great a loss by disease as other regiments did in 
the hardest fought conflicts of the war.

In a day or so after I had written my last, Lt. Col. Fagg, with Capt. Tipton’s 
fine mountain company and several detachments, arrived in camp—they 
had not lost a man till they reached this place, but I regret to say they have 
since, as also have several other companies.

This is a delightful spot, and it is hard to conceive why it is so sickly.  We 
are surrounded on all sides by lofty, rugged mountains, with a constant and 
healthful breeze of fresh air; and nearly in the center of the plain in which we 
are encamped, gushes forth a dozen large fine springs—sufficient to furnish 
one of Bonaparte’s largest armies with fine, fresh water.  Even in mid-day, in 
the sun, it is not half as hot as with you; and morning, evening and night, it is 
cool and pleasant.  In fact, our nights are actually invigorating and delicious—
charmingly sweet.  In truth, we pity you all, during your long, sultry, summer 
days, with not a breath of air, and dust enough to choke your carriage wheels, 
while we are here in a broad, open plain, with not a tree, or shrub or flower, to 
break the monotony of our mountain breezes—unsurfeited by spicy dinners, 
regaling ourselves upon the wholesomeness of pickled pork, smoked middling 
and hard bread.  It is indeed noted, of not perfectly delicious, to be a soldier.

I am truly yours,
A Volunteer

Weekly Register and North Carolina Gazette
Wednesday, Sept. 15, 1847

We copy from the “Greensboro’ Patriot” the extracts of a letter addressed to that 
paper from Captain Henry of the North Carolina Volunteers, now in Mexico:

On arriving, I immediately reported to General Wool’s headquarters, and knowing 
him to be a stickler for military order and exactness, I had my company in the 
best order, with knapsacks packed—muskets and bayonets glistening, jackets 
buttoned up to the very nick, close around the glazed leather stock—actually 
shining with a high polish—canteens and haversacks well stored with water and 
provisions—and after receiving from the gallant general the highest praise, we 
marched in regular order to the position assigned to us in the encampment.

I will gladly give you an extended description of the celebrated battle field, 
were I not certain that a more minute and accurate account has already 
been sent to the States concerning Buena Vista.  General Wool’s 
encampment is three miles this side of the battle field and six miles out 
from Saltillo, upon an extensive plain, and upon the borders of the most 
beautiful rivulets of water I ever beheld.  The three regiments of Mississippi, 
Virginia and North Carolina are now encamped in regular order and thus 
extending over an immense distance across the plain, presents a most 
striking and beautiful appearance.  But so expansive is the plain, and so 
imposing are the proportions of the vast mountains close at hand, that a 
large body of troops on parade do not strike the beholder with half the effect 
which might be expected.

General Wool is, as you are no doubt aware, the very best disciplinarian in 
the army and in the performance of his duties, recognizes no officer or corps 
though he has frequently, in “general orders”, expressed himself wonderfully 
pleased and surprised at the rapid improvement of the three regiments in 
camp duties, drill and general discipline.  

On my first arrival, he expressed to me great satisfaction and very much 
pleasure in having the North Carolina regiment with him on this line of 
operations, and said his knowledge of the character of the “Old North State” 
was the harbinger of something good to be expected from her regiment—on 
several occasions since the arrival of our regiment, he has privately 
expressed himself not at all disappointed in his expectations in regard to it.

Regimental and dress parades, as well as all the various drills, by company 
and battalion, are regularly kept up, and the admirable system of camp police, 
observed in the camp especially by our own regiment, is the subject of general 
remark.

It is a lamentable fact, that our regiment, is, like the Mississippi Regiment, 
much reduced by sickness and death.  They have made sad havoc in the rank 
and file of many companies.  A great many officers have been and are now sick, 
and on today I understand the aggregate number on the sick report is 150.  In 
fact, the two Edgecombe companies are nearly broken up, and both at this 
time number only about 35 effective men each, will, no doubt, be in a short 
time merged in one company.  It appears that the lower country North 
Carolinians  cannot stand this country so well as the upper country “boys” 
and it is noticed as a remarkable fact, that the further north from which the 
troops come, the healthier and more efficient soldiers they are for this climate 
and service.  

I am extremely sorry that since I addressed you last, my own company 
has experienced considerable sickness.  The privations which it underwent, 
on the march to this place, and for some time after being in camp, proved 
highly injurious to its health.  My command were, in such a manner, hurried 
off from Camargo as an escort to a large wagon train, which had gotten under 
way for some miles before I had received any order to march, that being 
deprived of all means of transportation, my men had not the opportunity to 
take with them their best blankets or watch coats.  And on arriving at camp 
without tents, axes, spades or hatchets, and with very few mess pans and 
camp kettles, you can well imagine how much we were exposed to very 
great inconveniences and to the infestations of the climate.  In a few days, 
some fifteen or twenty of my company were stricken with measles, colds, 
etc., and ever since, the number of sick has varied daily from twelve to twenty 
five.  All, I am happy to say, are now improving and I congratulate my friends, 
that in a few days, there is a prospect of my company being completely 
restored.  

In connection with the health and general condition of the company, I am 
much pained to announce the deaths of some excellent men since I last 
addressed you.  It is indeed a painful task—but truth and candor, as well as 
a sense of duty, compel me to do it promptly.  All of these unfortunate, but 
noble and gallant young soldiers had been left sick at Camargo and 
Monterey—had partially recovered and joined us in Saltillo—but, alas!  The 
too sudden transition from the sultry and murky country below to the high, 
bleak and cool country among the mountains, caused a fatal check upon 
their improving health, and at once prostrated them.  But, several of them, 
never again joined us as the following statement will show, viz.:

Sgt. A.M. Strong died in Monterey July 17, 1847
Sgt. J.P. Wright died in Saltillo July 10, 1847
Corp. J.F. Bouldin died in Saltillo July 13, 1847
Private Daniel Hall, died at Camargo June 10, 1847
Private Wm. Scott, died at Monterey June 22, 1847
Private Alexis Newman died in Saltillo July 5, 1847

I should neglect the narration of the most interesting affair witnessed by me 
since I have been in Mexico were I not to tell you of the celebration we had 
on the glorious 4th of July.  Only think of the birth of our national independence 
being joyously celebrated in the city of Saltillo in northern Mexico just 14 
months after the commencement of a national war. 

At an early hour in the morning, the military guard paraded on the plaza in fine 
style, and with excellent field music and a band, we marched to the almada, 
a public garden in the suburbs of the city, and upon the whole the most 
beautiful and pleasant place I ever beheld where I was called upon to read 
the most celebrated of all state papers, the Declaration of Independence.  I 
did so to the best of my ability, but I assure you, sirs, that the most 
overwhelming associations of the novel occasion, well nigh caused me to 
falter in the accomplishment of such a task.  It was said to have been the 
first time the Declaration was ever read to Mexico, or at least this portion of 
Mexico, and you may well imagine with what intense interest the vast crowds 
of Mexicans, both ignorant and enlightened, that followed us in good order, to 
the almada, and listened to the reading of this great document.  

After the ceremony was over, the battalion marched back in quick time to the 
plaza to the tune of “Yankee Doodle” and being dismissed, the different 
companies filed off in excellent order to their respective quarters.  Thus, was 
celebrated in Saltillo, Mexico, the 71st anniversary of our independence, the 
participation in which on my part, I shall ever look upon as the most pleasing 
reminiscence of my life.

Raleigh Register and North Carolina Gazette
September 18, 1847

Camp Battleground of Buena Vista
August 2, 1847

My Dear Sir:

It affords me pleasure to inform you that orders were read to us a few 
mornings ago, to hold ourselves in readiness to march further into the 
interior, in two or three weeks.  We shall march through to Zacatecas 
and proceed thence either through San Luis Potosi or through 
Gaudalaxara upon the city of Mexico.

Troops are being ordered up from the Rio Grande as fast as possible and 
by the time of our departure, from present indications, we shall be able to 
move forward six or seven thousand strong.  

Since I last wrote to you, General Cushing has arrived at camp, and 
taken charge of the brigade now here.  He is a splendid looking officer, 
and possesses fine military talent.  I am more than delighted to inform 
you that he has selected Adjutant O.A. Buck, of our regiment as one of 
his aides.  Our regiment parts with its worthy and universally esteemed 
adjutant with regret for our (I fear) irreparable loss, when, at the same 
time, we are both pleased and proud that one so worthy had receive a 
proper reward by promotion.  You well know, that both depraved and 
debased must be the soul who could entertain for a moment any ill will 
to Adjutant Buck, now promoted to Aide to General Cushing with the 
rank of colonel.

For its fine training and soldier-like bearing and warlike deportment, our 
regiment is deeply if not mainly indebted to the unceasing labors of 
Adjutant Buck.  Collected together, as our regiment was, from all parts of 
the state, where each militia captain was “lord of all he surveyed”, and 
formed what code of military law and discipline it seemed to him meet, 
rest assured it required an energy that never tired, a patience and
forbearance but few possess, to tame them down gently to the strict rules 
and hard discipline of regular service.  This, Adjutant Buck has performed 
and the regiment as a body feel their obligation and are ready to 
acknowledge it by a proper sense of gratitude.

I regret to inform you that the regiment is still quite sickly—about 200 daily 
are reported and now and then a death.  

Col. Paine has sent home on the recruiting service, Captains Price, of 
Company H and Williamson of Company F and Lt. Tatem of Company K, 
and it is to be hoped that they will succeed, as the soldiers who now come 
out will pass immediately into the interior where, I think, it must be more 
healthy than even in your city.

Very Respectfully,
A Volunteer

Fayetteville Observer
Sept. 21, 1847

We truly regret to announce the death of Captain Martin Shive, of the 
Cabarrus Company, which occurred in Mexico on the 15th August.  It 
will be recollected that, when the Mecklenburg and Rowan companies 
showed such a spirit of insubordination last winter, an attempt was made 
to involve Captain Shive in the rebellion, and, at the very height of the 
disaffection, marched for Mexico.  Raleigh Register 

Raleigh Register and North Carolina Gazette
Wednesday, Sept. 22, 1847

We extract the following from the New Orleans Picayune, which contains 
sundry letters from Mexico:

“Since my last, two companies of the North Carolina regiment have been 
ordered to the support of Captain Prentiss’ battery, on the hill above Saltillo.  
One of these companies, commanded by Captain Henry, is the crack corps 
of the regiment and has been stationed in town ever since their arrival.  It 
had no participation whatsoever in the late mutinous outbreak.  Mr. Buck, 
formerly adjutant of the regiment, but recently appointed aide-de-camp to 
General Cushing, has been elected captain in the regiment to fill a vacancy 
and will not go to Vera Cruz.”

“The mutiny in the North Carolina regiment has been effectually quelled.  
On the morning after it broke out, a number of the officers of the regiment 
signed a petition to the colonel to resign, which he very properly refused 
to listen to, but laid it before Generals Cushing and Wool.  It was 
considered by the commanding general, that there was a participation 
in the mutiny, and two of the signers were dishonorably discharged from 
the service.  As soon as this was known, seventeen officers tendered 
their resignation, but after 24 hours had elapsed, they thought better of 
it and begged leave to withdraw, expressing all due contrition, and leave 
was granted.  Thus quiet and subordination has been restored.  The 
three regiments have all been separated:  the North Carolina ordered to 
the rear, and the Virginians to the front.  The soldier who was wounded 
by Col. Paine at the time he shot at the mutineers was a Virginian, and 
has been dishonorably discharged from the service.”  

Raleigh Register and North Carolina Gazette
September 29, 1847

We had not intended to make any commentary on the unfortunate 
occurrence in the camp of our regiment at Buena Vista until the facts 
should be ascertained by the proper military tribunal, which we had 
supposed would be constituted for that purpose.  But the subject having 
become a theme of general discussion, and a portion of the press having 
indicated a disposition to censure in advance the commanding officer, 
we deemed it our duty to inquire into the circumstances, so far as known 
here, from any authentic source, and to lay the results before our readers.

It appears that the North Carolina regiment had been some time in camp 
with those from Virginia and Mississippi—the soldiers of the two latter 
had taken up an aversion to Col. Paine and, as he was informed, 
frequently had threatened his life, and advised his own men to take it.  
Their hostile feeling was further manifested by saluting him with insulting 
noises as he passed their quarters, in the discharge of his duties as field 
officer of the day.  These insults coming from crowds of men were noticed 
in no other way than by complaint to their officers.  He had never spoken 
to these soldiers unless brought into contact with them in the course of 
duty, which he had some soldiers confined for breach of discipline.  

This state of feeling having gone on for several weeks, on the night of the 
14th, a crowd of more than 100 men from the Virginia regiment entered 
the encampment of the North Carolina regiment and in the presence of 
many of its men and several of its officers, committed a gross outrage of 
military order, interfering with the internal arrangements of discipline therein.  

At the time of this occurrence, which took place in the tent of the colonel, 
who happened to be in another part of the camp, the lieutenant colonel 
and major were both sick, but the former went out and attempted to arrest 
some of the perpetrators, but from the tardiness of the sergeant in ordering 
out the guard, they all escaped.  

On the following evening, the 15th, the same crowd commenced parading 
the North Carolina streets in bands, passing several times before the door 
and around the tent of the colonel, making insulting and provoking sounds.  

Col. Paine went out into the crowd of Virginia volunteers and succeeded in 
arresting two men with his own hands and reported them to their colonel, 
who put them into confinement.  This suppressed the riot for half an hour, 
when bands of the other regiments again began to parade the North Carolina 
camp and to throw stones at the colonel under the cover of darkness.  He 
twice attempted to arrest some of them in person, but they escaped to their 
quarters, cursing him as they fled.  The design to do him personal injury 
being now apparent, the colonel ordered out a guard, as well for his own 
safety as to preserve the quiet of the camp.  He therefore ordered a detail 
of eight men to guard his quarters.  It was now about 8:00 p.m.  Six of them 
were brought in and placed under the command of the sergeant major with 
instructions to place two sentries in the rear of his tent, to prevent any other 
then men of his own regiment from passing and to take up all strangers 
attempting to pass.  The Virginia soldiers had been previously notified that 
they would not be allowed to enter his encampment.

After posting the sentries with these instructions, the sergeant major went to 
the company from which the remaining two men had been ordered, to learn 
why they had not been furnished and in a very short time the sergeant of that 
company came to inform the colonel that his men positively refused to obey 
the order.  The colonel immediately repaired to their quarters and found them 
in a state of open mutiny and ordering some of them to be arrested, he was 
obliged to draw his sword and raise it over the head of one before he could be 
compelled to aid in executing this order.  

After sending four or five of the ringleaders to the provost guard, the rest 
became obedient and two men were added to the guard as required.  The 
colonel, it being near 9:00, returned to his tent, and large stones were 
thrown at him by persons hidden in the darkness, one of them, weighing 
more than a pound, struck the clothes of 2nd Lt. White, who was at his side.  
The colonel sent out persons to discover the perpetrators of this outrage, and 
after a while went out himself to the front of his encampment.  On his return 
by a different route, he stopped at the tent of one of the officers and spoke to 
him of what was going on, but received no reply.  Going a few steps further, 
he was met by Drummer Stubbs, who in much excitement informed him that 
a large crowd of soldiers from the other regiments had assembled near the 
tent of Lt. Col. Fagg (who lay dangerously ill in bed), that they were engaged 
in earnest conversation and feared intended harm to him (Col. Paine).

The colonel instantly called to a lieutenant who was near and directed him 
to bring twenty men from his company to his tent, telling him of the 
assemblage just referred to and his apprehensions of their evil intent, he 
himself continued walking towards the tent of Col. Fagg.  Before arriving 
there, he saw a body of thirty or so men assembled in the officers’ street, 
in the quarters of Company D.  He turned and approached them.  They 
were engaged in conversation in a low, earnest tone.  He discovered that 
they were soldiers of other regiments, and before being observed by them, 
he challenged them and ordered to stand.

They began to move, and he approached nearer, still ordering them to halt 
or he would fire.  The crowd broke as he came nearer, and ran in opposite 
directions.  Before and after they ran, he called “halt or I will fire”.  They 
continued to run, at the same time threatening  him, and he fired his pistol 
into that part of the crowd which ran towards the front, and immediately 
called on the officers to call out their companies under arms.  One person 
fell at the fire and another exclaimed with curses “he has shot  me in the 
hand.”  The first was Private Bradley of Buncombe County, mustered into 
service with a detachment of supernumeraries under Lt. Col. Fagg, and 
attached to Company A on reaching the army—and the other was a private 
in the Virginia regiment.  

This occurred about 9:30 p.m., when, by regulations, every soldier is 
required to be in his tent, after the Virginia soldiers had been notified that 
they must not enter the encampment of our men, as above stated, and 
after ferment and repeated warnings from the colonel to the men on the
right wing of the camp in which Company A was situated, not to be out 
of their tents that night—telling them of the precautions he had taken to 
guard against violence, and of the danger that would be incurred in being 
out.  

Col. Paine immediately sent to the Virginia regiment for a surgeon to
assist in examining the wound of Private Bradley, who died of the same, 
next morning.

Immediately on the report of the pistol, the sergeant attempted to bring 
the guard to the colonel, but two of them deserted.  Passing along the 
line towards the extreme right, to see that the companies turned out, 
the colonel discovered that, notwithstanding his repeated orders, no 
obstacle had been opposed to the entrance of men from other regiments 
into his camp, although the officers of that wing had command of their 
companies.  Soon after, in the main street of the camp, he met General 
Cushing and his staff, and an officer of the Virginia regiment, the latter 
insisting that Col. Paine should go into his tent, for he had positive 
assurance that his life was in danger and informed him that the officers 
of the Virginia regiment had taken every prevention to put a stop to their 
men leaving their quarters.  

By this time, General Wool and staff, with a guard, had arrived, and thrown 
a line of sentries between the North Carolina regiment and the others—
and the disturbances ceased.  Major Stokes, though very unwell, turned 
out and rendered every assistance to the colonel in command.  Lt. Col. 
Fagg was extremely ill the whole night and could not get out.  Officers 
of the Virginia Regiment also made generous offers to support the colonel 
if needed, and assured him that this was a common feeling among the 
officers of that regiment.  

Of his own company officers, then in camp, only three made any tender of 
active assistance, and the lieutenant who was ordered to bring the twenty  
men failed to do so.  

Quiet prevailed the remainder of the night and since.  On the next morning, 
a paper signed by most of the company officers of the regiment, then in 
camp, was sent to the colonel, stating, in substance, that the signers, 
“believing  it necessary for the quiet and harmony of the regiment”, request 
the surrender of his commission.  The adjutant, Lt. Singleton, refused to 
receive this paper and it was sent to the colonel by a private soldier.  He 
received it with surprise and immediately laid it before General Wool, 
without comment.  Upon which, the general forthwith issued an order 
dismissing from the service the two officers most prominent in signing; 
also dismissing with dishonor, the Virginia private who was wounded in 
the hand and one in Company A, who belonged to the same detachment 
with the unfortunate Bradley, and who had gone from his own company to 
that in which he was originally recruited, and dissuaded the men from 
turning out as guards, swearing that there was not a man in his company 
who would turn out.

On the day following, the greater number of the officers who had signed 
the petition above referred to, severally tendered their resignations, each 
assigning as the cause, that he was “unwilling to sanction(?) his silence, 
the imputation cast upon him, in common with others, in connection with 
the unfortunate occurrence of the 15th August.”  These were handed the 
colonel by General Cushing.  The resigning officers were sent for by 
General Wool and after a conference with him, we understood to have 
withdrawn resignations and consented to strike their names from the 
paper.  Several of the officers subsequently communicated with the 
colonel in regards to the paper in question, and explanations took place, 
re-establishing their kind relations.  

Capt. Henry’s company was not in camp, at these occurrences, and 
Captains Price and Williamson and Lt. Tatham, were absent on recruiting 
service.  General Wool has ordered a separation of the North Carolina and 
Virginia and Mississippi regiments, and they were encamped, at the last 
notice, five miles apart.

General Wool approved entirely of the course of Col. Paine throughout the 
mutiny.  But the colonel requested a court of inquiry, which was ordered to 
be composed of General Cushing and Col. Hamtrauck(?)  But the latter 
officer being ill, and before his recovery, the former being ordered to General 
Scott’s command, the court did not set.  We hope, however, that another 
will be constituted, at the earliest day practicable.  We learn that General 
Cushing and Wool diligent inquiry for causes of  complaint against Col. 
Paine, but could hear of nothing except “austerity of manner”.  Whatever 
other causes may have existed, of which, being ignorant, we say nothing, 
none in our opinion could justify the outrages attempted upon the order of 
the camp and his personal safety

Fayetteville Observer
Sept. 21, 1817

(Transcriber’s note, following is an extract from the above newspaper, giving 
a slightly different slant on what they felt was the problem, and probably 
was the newspaper referred to above in the first paragraph of the article in 
the Raleigh Register.)

We believe that there was never a more unfortunate appointment than that 
of Col. Paine.  The man, from all accounts, could not, had it been his 
desire to render himself odious, have pursued a more effectual course to 
attain this end than the one he has pursued.  

He commenced by acting the petty tyrant and he has continued to enact 
the character ever since he has been with the regiment.  We will do Col. 
Paine the justice to state, that in our opinion he has thus acted rather 
from a want of judgment than from any inherent badness of heart.  The 
truth, we believe, is that he is a very vain man, and rather weak with all, 
and the appointment of colonel inflated him far beyond his natural 
proportions.  He, like many other men, could not bear the honors heaped 
upon him by Governor Graham, without being puffed up to a pitch far 
beyond the limits which nature had prescribed for him.  He treated his 
men with all the haughty bearing and rigor of discipline which might be 
expected from the commander of a regiment of Russian boors.  The 
consequence is, that the North Carolina, the Mississippi, the Virginia 
Volunteers cordially hate and despise him; nor is this feeling confined to 
the rank and file. The officers have been made to feel his “rigor of 
discipline” as well as the men, and are equally dissatisfied.  How the 
matter will terminate, we do not know; but we fear it will not end with the 
killing of the killing of the unfortunate man.  We, for one, would advise Col. 
Paine to resign; we predict that he will be compelled to do so at any 
rate…….We say let him come home and let the regiment have a 
competent commander whom it can respect and treat with common 
respect.

Raleigh Register and North Carolina Gazette
November 24, 1847

We find in the Greensboro Patriot a letter from Captain Henry, dated at 
Saltillo, October 10, from which we take the following passages:

I have visited the camp of our regiment daily for a fortnight, on my regular 
trips to Buena Vista, to attend a general court martial now in session 
there and of which Col. Paine, Lt. Col. Fagg and myself are members.  
I perceive almost daily improvement in the discipline, order and police 
of our regiment, and I unhesitatingly declare, that, instead of confusion 
and disorder so prevalent in other regiments, I find perfect quietude and 
contentment now pervading from the “Old North State” regiment.

It should be published to the world, that while it is extremely difficult to 
confine the men of the other regiments within the chain of sentinels even
by day or night, and to restrain some of them from escaping to Saltillo 
upon bacchanalian adventures, or even from committing depredations 
upon the enemy, in the meantime not a single officer, non-commissioned 
officer or private of our regiment, has been known to adventure to Saltillo 
without the proper passport, although within two miles of the city, and not 
a single instance of the slightest imposition or depredations upon the 
Mexicans has been committed by any of them.

A new supply of clothing, which they will receive today, a little more 
attention to cleanliness of dress and accoutrements, added to the 
excellent drill and police duties enforced by Col. Paine, and the two 
other excellent field officers, will make our regiment equal to any of the 
old regiments of “infantry of the line” and certainly superior to the 
volunteer regiments now here.

But the effect produced by a large and full regiment under good discipline 
will be lost with us, so meager and reduced in rank and file in every 
company from death and discharges.  The health of the regiment is 
better now than it ever has been, the number of sick not being more
than sixty five, and scarcely any of them in the hospital.  

Since I last addressed you, Capt. Pender, our Quartermaster, has died 
and his remains have been sent to Monterrey.  Col. Paine has been 
extremely unfortunate in regard to his staff.  Our regularly appointed 
Assistant Commissary Exum Whitaker and Assistant Quartermaster 
Solomon Pender, have both died; Capt. Buck left him in the midst of 
his late troubles (not agreeably to his consent) to become a temporary 
aide-de-camp to General Cushing—and I am sorry to add that our 
highly esteemed Assistant Commissary W.P. Graves, lately appointed, 
vice Whitaker, deceased, is at this time quite ill at Saltillo, from the 
prevailing disease of this country.

Col. Paine has labored under these and many other disadvantages, 
since he has undertaken the functions of his present station, and the 
result of all his labors and persevering efforts has proved him to be no 
ordinary man.  If he has been too rigid in his discipline for an officer of 
volunteers, I am sure it was an error of the head, and not of the heart, 
and I am equally sure that I am right in saying that both officers and 
men will like him and every other disciplinarian in the regiment, much 
better at the end of their service for the elevation which this discipline 
will give them.  The resignation of officers of our regiment has not yet 
come to an end.  Capt. Roberts of Wayne County has resigned and 
will shortly set out for home; he has had bad health ever since he has 
been in this country.

Raleigh Register and North Carolina Gazette
January, 1848

Our Army Correspondence
Camp Arispe’s Mills, Mexico
Dec. 20, 1847

Mr. Gales—Sir:

The unfortunate disturbances in the North Carolina regiment having been 
carried to such an extent and having been canvassed so much in the 
newspapers, it is with reluctance that I now undertake to correct some 
of the glaring misstatements made in the letter of the officers of the 
N.C. Regiment to General Taylor, asking for an investigation of Col. 
Paine’s conduct.  I am sorry that the officers were not governed by 
more truth than they seem to have been.

I consider it to be the duty of everyone to correct such misstatements, 
as far as it is in his power.  I quote from the letter referred to:  “While in 
camp, near Monterey, on or about the 25th June, Private Thompson, 
N.C. Volunteers, under arrest, was brought before the colonel and having 
saluted him in the usual way, was ordered to stand with his hat off—not 
doing this very readily, Col. Paine attacked him with his fists and 
continued the scuffle for several minutes (Thompson in the meantime 
merely warding off the blows) until exhausted by his efforts, he 
concluded this performance by throwing a tin basin at his head.  This 
occurred in the most public part of the camp.”

The whole story is this:  on the evening before Thompson was carried 
before Col. Paine, he (Thompson) was lying down about 25 steps from 
Col. Paine’s tent, in company with some three or four others, in a state 
of intoxication.  He was abusing Col. Paine at a great rate, and was 
heard by the colonel, who was in his tent.  He stepped up to where
 Thompson and the others were, and asked “Who is this valiant man?”
 upon which there was a dead silence.  The sergeant or corporal of the 
guard was called and Thompson ordered to the guard tent, and the 
colonel returned to his own.  

The next morning, Thompson was carried before Col. Paine and did not 
salute him at all, upon which Col. Paine ordered him to stand with his 
hat off; when he replied:  “I pull off my hat to no man”, upon which Col. 
Paine struck him with a wash basin (tin) and ordered him back to the 
guard tent and irons to be put on him.

That afternoon, Thompson at his own request was carried before Col. 
Paine, when he said he was that morning laboring under the effects of 
his spree of the day before, and was sorry for what happened; when 
Col. Paine ordered the irons to be taken off and Thompson released.  
I was an eye-witness of the whole affair.

The colonel striking at Thompson might have been a little rash, but 
cannot be construed in any other way.

In the language of General Order No. 44:  “Had the company officers 
of N. Carolina regiment, as a body, uniformly and actively discharged 
their duty to their men, and the colonel, these unfortunate and disgraceful 
occurrences would not have happened.”

Col. Paine never has received that support from the subaltern officers 
of the regiment, to which he is, as their commander, entitled; and again 
if they had kept “their tongue between their teeth” a little more, in the
presence of their men, much of the feeling which not prevails would have 
been avoided.

I will refer again to the letter to General Taylor:  “In two other instances 
has he been guilty of violence to men under his command, not belonging 
to his regiment—in one case using his fists, and in the other, knocking 
a man senseless with the swingle-tree of a wagon.”  The first case where 
it says “using his fists” I have never heard of before.  The other was a 
teamster attached to his command, who kept a traveling grog shop and 
when spoken to about it by Col. Paine gave him some insolence, when 
he took up a swingle-tree and struck him.  I never heard of him knocking 
him senseless. The whole letter to General Taylor is about the smallest 
thing I have seen for some time.

I am sorry that anything should have happened to tarnish the good name 
of our regiment, which it sustained from the Brazos up to its present 
encampment, and which is to be attributed entirely to the rigid discipline 
of Col. Paine.

I say here, that there is no man, other than Col. Paine, in North Carolina, 
who could have taken charge of the North Carolina regiment and sustained 
for it the enviable reputation it ahs with the commanding officers of the 
division of the army.  Every North Carolinian ahs cause to be proud that 
he is the commander of the regiment.

The communication in the “Standard” from “A Volunteer” heads any article 
I have ever seen.  It must have been written by some of those volunteers 
at home, for in it he shows his utter ignorance of all military discipline as 
is evidenced by his idea that the colonel, in introducing himself to his 
regiment, should have run on in a foolish, childish way.  No, sir, Col. 
Paine commenced his discipline, which was rigid from the beginning, 
and impressing upon his men the fact, that they could never make soldiers 
unless they were attentive to duty and obedient and respectful to their 
officers. This course he has always pursued and to what effect will be 
seen from the fact that there has never been a general review that the 
North Carolina regiment has not been complimented upon their 
soldier-like appearance and skill in maneuvering. 

There are many parts of this communication which I would notice, but 
it is too contemptible, and I believe that the citizens of the Old North 
State will look upon it in this light.

I am opposed to prolonging this discussion, but I have noticed these 
in justice to Col. Paine.
JUSTICE    


Fayetteville Observer, Tuesday, Nov. 2, 1847

We regret to learn, by a letter from Capt. Kirkpatrick, dated Arispe’s 
Mills, Sept. 23, that Captain Pender, Quartermaster of the Regiment, 
died on the 22nd.  Captain Kirkpatrick mentions that Lt. Dunham as 
being sick—the rest of this command, who went from this county, 
were all well.  We learn verbally from Raleigh, that Lt. Singletary arrived 
there a day or two ago from Washington, on his way to Mexico—having 
been restored to his rank, as we understand, of taking his old place or 
of accepting another commission.

Raleigh Register and North Carolina Gazette
December 29, 1847

Our Army Correspondence
Headquarters N.C. Regiment Volunteers
Arispe’s Mills, Nov. 20, 1847

Dear Sir:

Knowing the deep anxiety by all at home, to hear from their friends and 
relatives out here, I send you a list of deaths occurring in the N.C. 
Regiment for the month of October last, and promise to hereafter furnish 
you, immediately at the expiration of each month, an official account of 
any alterations which may take place in the regiment.

Died:

Company A
David Williams
Wm. Hawkins
Jas. B. Harrison
S. Tyson

Company C
Uriah Scott
D.C. Kluff

Company D
Wm. Smith
Berry Ray

Company E
Elijah Pippin

Company F
Lorenzo Bradshear
George Morton

Company G
Samuel Terry
Richard Cardwell
Wm. T. Wadlington

Company H
Isaac Harvey

Company I
Dorsey Jones

Company K
Nathan Tatham
J.H. Hightower
Wm. Wilson

Two officers, Capt. Roberts and Lt. Thompson, resigned, and there 
were 21 discharges on Surgeons’ Certificates of Disability, for the 
same month, making an aggregate of 44.

The health of the regiment has improved wonderfully in this month; 
up to the present date, not a death has been reported and but very 
few cases of sickness.  We have very cool weather, which suits the 
boys exactly.  They are all fat and lively, and one of the happiest and 
most orderly regiments that has ever been in the country—and all, 
through the “rigid discipline of Col. Paine!”  I have done the colonel 
great injustice in many of the letters written by me and sent home; 
but I am now satisfied, that he is the very man for this command—
none others would have done half so well.  Those that were most 
bitter in denouncing Col. Paine, a short time since, have come out 
boldly and openly in his defense and can but pity the poor, miserable 
attempt, made by the Loco Foco papers of North Carolina, to impair 
the reputation of the colonel, as a commanding officer.  In short, ALL 
men of both parties, are completely disgusted with such stuff and 
hope we have seen the last of it.  The statement of the unfortunate 
affair of the 15th August last, as it appeared in the Register, was the 
fairest I have ever seen published.  It was, in fact, exactly as it 
occurred and I was present and saw it all.

Raleigh Register and North Carolina Gazette, Saturday, Jan. 22, 1848

From a letter to a gentleman in this city, by an officer of our regiment, 
we learn that only one man of the regiment died during November—
Jesse Miller of Company K.  There were four discharges for the same 
month, making a loss of five men.  “We shall not be so fortunate” says
the writer “during the present month (December).  Up to this date, (11th), 
two have already died and six have been discharged.  Among the list of 
deaths, I am sorry to record the name of C.H. Shaw, Company A, from 
Wake Co., who died in Saltillo on the 3rd December.  He was a fine 
soldier and the “pet” of his company.  On the 6th, Private James Sharpe, 
of Company K, died at Saltillo.  The health of the regiment is better at 
this time.  The morning report represents only 54 on the sick list, instead 
of two or three hundred, as has been the case heretofore; and many now 
on the hospital are convalescing.  Col. Paine will leave for Monterey in a 
few moments, having been ordered by Gen. Wool to report himself in 
person, at an early day.  Nobody here knows for what.  

Fayetteville Observer, April 11, 1848

We have politely been shown a letter from an officer in our regiment at 
Saltillo, dated 12th March, which states that the court of inquiry on the 
subject of the dismissal of Lts. Singletary and Pender had concluded its 
labors.  The result is not stated as we presume that it is not to be divulged 
until submitted to the president.  The writer states that Col. Paine had 
gone to Monterey and it was understood would proceed thence to the 
U.S. and probably resign his commission, a circumstance which, the 
writer says, “he fears will be no advantage to the regiment either here or 
at home.”  Previous to his departure the officers of his regiment united in 
giving him a most splendid and costly supper, “the grandest affair I have 
seen in Mexico since I have been there.  I don’t think this looks like we 
don’t respect him.”

Raleigh Register and North Carolina Gazette, Saturday, July 15, 1848

The Boys Coming to Vote!2
We learn from the New Orleans Picayune of the 4th inst., that the transport 
schooner Maj. Barbour, brought over from the Brazos three companies of 
the North Carolina regiment (Companies C, D, and F) with the following 
officers:  Col. Paine, Capts. Area and Constable, 1st Lt. D.S. Johnson 
and 2nd Lts. Wiley, Mitchell, Jones, Blackwelter and Nicholls.  The 
transport schooner Maj. Bache has brought over Companies I and K 
of this regiment, under the command of Capt. Kirkpatrick.  The schooner 
Capt. Page brought over Company H and  detachment of the same 
regiment.  All above left the Brazos on the 28th and arrived in the river 
on Sunday, 2nd inst.


Fayetteville Observer, Aug. 1, 1848

Six companies of the North Carolina Regiment, viz., C, D, F, H. I and K, 
arrived at Smithville on the 24th ult., on the barque Yarmouth.  They were 
accompanied by Col. Paine.  Two companies, G and B, arrived at Old Point, 
Va., on the 22nd, in the brig Tally-Ho, from Brazos, accompanied by Major 
Stokes, Captains Henry and Singleton and Lts. Masten, Stubblefield, Daniel 
and Webb; with Capt. R.J. Mitchell, Asst., Qtr. Master and Capt. S.P. 
Tipton of Co. H.  The two remaining companies, A and E, also arrived at 
Old Point on the same day, in the Heroine from Brazos, accompanied by 
Lt. Col. Fagg, Capts. Daggan and Buck, Lts. McCarroll, Bullock and Pitt 
and Surgeon Cobb.


Transcribed by Christine Spencer July 2008





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