Root partition full of files in /var/lib/postgresql/9.1/main/pg_xlog

[Ed Tarento <etarento@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi admins

I'm a newbie, I hope this is the right group and admit I have little postgres experience.  I'm working on a VM I can easily re-install so killing it doesn't matter.  The dir is full of 508 files, the last few of which look like:

-rw------- 1 postgres postgres 16777216 Aug 25 02:19 0000000100000001000000FA
-rw------- 1 postgres postgres 16777216 Aug 25 02:39 0000000100000001000000FB
drwx------ 2 postgres postgres     4096 Jun 13 13:24 archive_status
root@operations:/var/lib/postgresql/9.1/main/pg_xlog#

I have root access to the machine but I don't have any postgres access, other than sudo of course.  I've tried stopping my app, ensuring nothing postgres appears in ps and tried deleting the files but when I restarted my app, it didn't work.  I've checked (Google) as many posts as possible but can't find exactly what I need, i.e. the method of removing the offending files cleanly.

Here's as much as I can tell you

Debian 64 bit running on ESXi

postgres 9.1

I have some *nix experience, can use vi and sudo and the like

I hope you can help

Thanks