The Daily Dispatch: July 23, 1863., [Electronic resource]

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The raid on Rocky Mount, N. C.

The Yankee cavalry raiders from Washington, N. C., who visited Rocky Mount, N. C., Monday, numbered about 400. The village they visited is on the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad, in Nash county, N. C., about 27 miles from Weldon. There they burnt 5,000 bales of cotton, belonging chiefly to private individuals, and also the large cotton factory of Wm. S. Battle. The regular mail train for Wilmington passed Rocky Mount about thirty minutes before the raiders arrived, and thus escaped. The train on the branch of the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad, which runs to Tarboro', about fifteen miles distant, was not so fortunate and was captured and burnt. Two car loads of ammunition and 30,000 pounds of bacon on the train were destroyed. They destroyed the railroad bridge — about 300 yards long, over Tar river, and tore up a mile of the track. They then fell back to Tarboro', and very likely returned to Washington. --Telegraphic communication between this city and Wilmington is again uninterrupted. --During this raid the wires between Petersburg and Weldon were cut — by some Union man, doubtless.