From the Newbern Weekly Progress (Newbern, NC) 18 Jun 1861:

On Saturday last we were called upon by an officer of the Lauderdale (Ala.) Rifles, who gave us this interesting narrative of the adventures of the company while on their way to Virginia.

Richmond, Va., Jun 8, 1861
The Lauderdale Rifles left North Alabama last Monday with the hope and desire of reaching Richmond in three days, but owing to delays caused by the trains running off the tracks, we were not allowed to reach your beautiful city until last night about 12 o'clock. Allow me to thank the kind people of Alabama, Virginia, and part of Tennessee for their many kindnesses shown us, and especially the ladies of Dublin, Va., who gave us a very nice dinner. My object in addressing this short note to you, is two-fold first, to thank the good people of Virginia and Alabama; 2nd, and to make a true statement of the affray that took place about one mile this side of Strawberry Plains. We were detained at Strawberry Plains about two hours, and while there we saw the old flag of the once glorious Union; And the sight of that banner-now the emblem of tyranny and oppression-filled our men with rage, and immediately a determination arose to take it down; But the interference of our officers stopped them. In the meanwhile, there was a spy sent from the Union men who had just passed us with some five or six hundred strong, with some five or six flags, all indicating oppression, and by that means they found out that we were unarmed; and as we passed along the road where they had collected to something like two thousand strong to hear Brownlow, Maynard and others make their last desperate effort to carry Tennessee with the North, they begin to rock us and level their guns on us. Our men all saw the guns bearing directly upon us, but did nothing until they began to throw rocks at us, and then, and not until then, one of our men threw a rock at them, and immediately they began a heavy fire on us, which our men answered by firing some fifteen or twenty times at them with repeaters. The cars did not halt; So we do not know whether we hurt any of them or not. None of our men were hurt. Some balls they shot at us struck our car. Some hit above our heads, and some hit the side. We were in open cars. We did not have our flag up. It was kept down at the request of our friends at Strawberry Plains. W. C. Reeder, 1st Lieut. Lauderdale Rifle Co., Ala.