of America of the manner in which the people of this portion of the country have been treated by Colonel [W. W.] Lowe, and Colonel A. C. Harding, of the Eighty-third Illinois Regiment, and other Federal officers commanding at Fort Donelson, on motion the Honorable Cave Johnson was called to the chair and Rev. Dr. McMullan was appointed secretary.

The following statement of facts was then made and unanimously adopted by the meeting as an expression of a part of the outrages that have been committed as above mentioned:

The commanders above named and others have been and still are engaged in arresting many of the citizens of this portion of country and placing them in a loathsome dungeon and keeping them there unless they take the oath of allegiance, these citizens being in no way connected with the Confederate Army. They have gone to the premises of many citizens, seizing them, and destroying or carrying away all their property of every description. In some cases they burn everything before them. They have taken away many hundreds of negroes. They have visited houses, insulting ladies, and threatening to shoot, stab, bayonet, or even burn them. They have robbed them of their wardrobes, not only those of men, but even those of women and children. They are in the habit of taking all the negroes whenever they go and also all the horses. They have burned the rolling-mill of Woods, Lewis & Co., destroying everything, and taking away 240 negroes. They have also broken up or destroyed the various iron mills and furnaces in this region of country, so that this interest, so important to the Government, is now, and until we can be protected must remain, wholly inoperative. We in this city have been visited by these men and threaded in a savage and brutal manner, and they daily threaten that they will return and utterly destroy the city and imprison all the citizens who do not take the oath of allegiance to the Federal Government. The aforesaid Harding visited a church in the country and arrested two ministers of the Gospel and placed them in prison, where they still are. He also took the horses and carriages from the congregation, and required the persons present, both male and female, to take the oath or go to prison, and he proclaims that every man in the country shall be arrested and either take the oath or go to the dungeon. This is our present condition. Now, we are wholly unprepared to repel these insults and oppression. It is true there are still many men here who are willing to meet them, but we are wholly destitute of both arms and ammunition, nor is there any military force in this vicinity that is able to repel them.

We think it will appear to the Department, as it is perfectly manifest to ourselves here, that unless these marauders can be driven from this region of country this whole region will soon be devastated by them.

We earnestly call the attention of the War Department to this subject in the hope that whatever can be done for the suppression and prevention of these evils will soon be accomplished.

In order that the whole matter may certainly and speedily be aid before the Department we send this paper by Villiam Hume, as our special agent and messenger.

C. JOHNSON,

Chairman.

B. B. McMULLAN, Secretary.

[Indorsement.]

OCTOBER 25, 1862.

Respectfully submitted to the President.

This information, coming from reliable sources, seems to justify the outlawry that has been denounced against Pope and others. The messenger