Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Restrictions to Use

No usage restrictions.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Selected papers relating to North Carolina and North Carolinians, #3417-z, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Ambrose A Clegg, Jr. of Chapel Hill, N.C., 1959.

Location of Originals

Records held by the Division of Naval History of the United States Department of Navy.

Additional Descriptive Resources

A copy of the original finding aid for this collection is filed in folder 1.

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Processed by: SHC Staff

Encoded by: Noah Huffman, December 2007

Updated by: Kate Stratton and Jodi Berkowitz, January 2009

Conscious Editing Work by: Nancy Kaiser, July 2023 (added statement about "Croatan")

This collection was rehoused and a summary created with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

This finding aid was created with support from NC ECHO.

NOTE: "Croatan" (or "Croatoan") is an identity term that was used by the Indigenous peoples of the Hatteras and Roanoke Islands in the late 16th century. In subsequent centuries, the Indigenous peoples of Sampson, Craven, Robeson, Cumberland, Hoke and Scotland counties in North Carolina were thought to be the descendants of the Croatan Indians and were so called by North Carolina state officials; however, many tribal nations existed and exist now in this area who prefer to use their own identity terms, including the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, the Tuscarora Nation of North Carolina, and others.

In 2023, archivists examined the use of "Croatan" in Wilson Library archival collections and decided to leave this term in places where it refers to the Indigenous peoples of the Hatteras and Roanoke Islands, is part of a title, or is the proper name of a geographic feature or location. We have replaced "Croatan" with the appropriate identity term for materials that refer specifically to the groups noted above. When we are unable to make a determination, we use "Indigenous peoples." We recognize the complexity of this issue and welcome feedback on this decision at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu.

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• Albemarle (Ship)
• Anderson, Edwin Alexander, 1860-1933.
• Bagley, David Worth.
• Bogue (Ship)
• Croatan (Ship)
• Currituck (Ship)
• Hardison, Osborne Bennett, 1892-1959.
• Johnson, Felix Leslie, 1897-1981.
• Jones, John Paul, 1747-1792.
• Leggett, William Durwood, Jr.
• Long, Andrew T. (Andrew Theodore), 1866-1946.
• North Carolina (Ship)
• North Carolina--Biography.
• North Carolina--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Naval operations.
• North Carolina--History--Revolution, 1775-1783--Naval operations.
• Porter, David D. (David Dixon), 1813-1891.
• Raleigh (Ship)
• Roper, John Wesley.
• United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Naval operations.
• United States--History--Revolution, 1775-1783--Naval operations.
• United States. Navy--Officers--Biography.
• Wilkes, John, 1827-1908.

The collection includes reproductions of papers relating to North Carolinians in the United States Navy, naval vessels whose names have North Carolina associations, and Revolutionary and Civil War naval actions off the North Carolina coast. Included are biographical sketches of Edwin Alexander Anderson, David Worth Bagley, Osborne Bennett Hardison, Felix Leslie Johnson, William Durwood Leggett Junior, Andrew Theodore Long, John Wesley Roper, and John Wilkes; photocopies of letters and official communications relating to the USS Croatan, USS Currituck, USS North Carolina, and USS Raleigh; communications relating to John Paul Jones, 1778, 1779, and 1782, and to David Dixon Porter, 1864 and 1865; and histories of the USS Albemarle (three different ships), USS Bogue, USS Croatan (the first ship to be named for a North Carolina sound), and USS Currituck.