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A Letter from Newbern, North Carolina, dated Sept. 22, 1775, says, “This week will ever be remembered as the most remarkable epoch in the annals of this country, for the discovery of the grand repository and dark depositum of Governor Martin's infernal magazine, which, with cool deliberation, he intended to deal out in missive weapons of death to the good people of this province. In the palace garden, and under a fine bed of cabbage, was found and dug up a barrel, conaining about three bushels of gunpowder; in

the palace cellar was also dug up two quarter casks of the same commodity, the casks quite new, and marked R. B. In the palace garden was also dug up about 1000 weight of musket balls, lately cast, about 500 weight of iron swivel balls, a large quantity of small shot, lead, iron, worms for the cannon, with swabs, rammers, artillery boxes, matches, and the whole apparatus for his park of artillery, which he certainly would have mounted at the Palace, had not the appearance of the people of Newbern, on his attempting to move the Palace guns, driven him from the trenches before he had made them quite tenable. It is said his Excellency, the night before he took his precipitate flight from the Palace, buried these engines of death, as they might remain in places of safety till he or his creatures might have an opportunity to use them. The Palace cannon, it is said, were spiked up after his Excellency left the Palace, by a person who will no doubt, be obliged to answer for his conduct, as it is improbable the Governor could procure those deadly weapons without assistance. The Committee of this town and country are using their utmost diligence to discover the authors of so black a treachery.”

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Additional Notes for Electronic Version: Although the source for this document is not given, it was mostly likely taken from a newspaper.

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