University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER XXXIX.

June 19th.—It is probable the landlord of the Gayoso
House was a strong Secessionist, and resolved, therefore, to
make the most out of a neutral customer like myself—certainly
Herodotus would have been astonished if he were
called upon to pay the little bill which was presented to me in
the modern Memphis; and had the old Egyptian hostelries
been conducted on the same principles as those of the Tennessean
Memphis, the "Father of History" would have had
to sell off a good many editions in order to pay his way. I
had to rise at three o'clock A. M., to reach the train, which
started before five. The omnibus which took us to the station
was literally nave deep in the dust; and of all the bad roads and
dusty streets I have yet seen in the New World, where both
prevail, North and South, those of Memphis are the worst.
Indeed, as the citizen, of Hibernian birth, who presided over
the luggage of the passengers on the roof, declared, "The
streets are paved with waves of mud, only the mud is all dust
when it's fine weather."

By the time I had arrived at the station my clothes were
covered with a fine alluvial deposit in a state of powder; the
platform was crowded with volunteers moving off for the wars,
and I was obliged to take my place in a carriage full of Confederate
officers and soldiers who had a large supply of
whiskey, which at that early hour they were consuming as a
prophylactic against the influence of the morning dews,
which hereabouts are of such a deadly character that, to be
quite safe from their influence, it appears to be necessary,
judging from the examples of my companions, to get as
nearly drunk as possible. Whiskey, by-the-by, is also a sovereign
specific against the bites of rattle-snakes. All the

dews of the Mississippi and the rattle-snakes of the prairie
might have spent their force or venom in vain on my companions
before we had got as far as Union City.

I was evidently regarded with considerable suspicion by my
fellow passengers, when they heard I was going to Cairo,
until the conductor obligingly informed them who I was,
whereupon I was much entreated to fortify myself against the
dews and rattle-snakes, and received many offers of service
and kindness.

Whatever may be the normal comforts of American railway
cars, they are certainly most unpleasant conveyances
when the war spirit is abroad, and the heat of the day, which
was excessive, did not contribute to diminish the annoyance
of foul air—the odor of whiskey, tobacco, and the like, combined
with innumerable flies. At Humbolt, which is eighty-two
miles away, there was a change of cars, and an opportunity
of obtaining some refreshment,—the station was
crowded by great numbers of men and women dressed in their
best, who were making holiday in order to visit Union City,
forty-six miles distant, where a force of Tennessean and Mississippi
regiments are encamped. The ladies boldly advanced
into carriages which were quite full, and as they looked quite
prepared to sit down on the occupants of the seats if they did
not move, and to destroy them with all-absorbing articles of
feminine warfare, either defensive or aggressive, and crush
them with iron-bound crinolines, they soon drove us out into
the broiling sun.

Whilst I was on the platform I underwent the usual process
of American introduction, not, I fear, very good humoredly.
A gentleman whom you never saw before in your life,
walks up to you and says, "I am happy to see you among us,
sir," and if he finds a hand wandering about, he shakes it
cordially. "My name is Jones, sir, Judge Jones of Pumpkin
County. Any information about this place or State that I
can give is quite at your service." This is all very civil and
well meant of Jones, but before you have made up your mind
what to say, or on what matter to test the worth of his proffered
information, he darts off and seizes one of the group
who have been watching Jones's advance, and comes forward
with a tall man, like himself, busily engaged with a piece of
tobacco. "Colonel, let me introduce you to my friend, Mr.
Russell. This, sir, is one of our leading citizens, Colonel
Knags." Whereupon the Colonel shakes hands, uses nearly

the-same formula as Judge Jones, immediately returns to his
friends, and cuts in before Jones is back with other friends,
whom he is hurrying up the platform, introduces General
Cassius Mudd and Dr. Ordlando Bellows, who go through
the same ceremony, and as each man has a circle of his own,
my acquaintance becomes prodigiously extended, and my
hand considerably tortured in the space of a few minutes;
finally I am introduced to the driver of the engine and the
stoker, but they proved to be acquaintances not at all to be
despised, for they gave me a seat on the engine, which was
really a boon, considering that the train was crowded beyond
endurance, and in a state of internal nastiness scarcely conceivable.

When I had got up on the engine a gentleman clambered
after me in order to have a little conversation, and he turned
outto be an intelligent and clever man well acquainted with
the people and the country. I had been much impressed by
the account in the Memphis papers of the lawlessness and
crime which seemed to prevail in the State of Mississippi,
and of the brutal shootings and stabbings which disgraced it
and other Southern States. He admitted it was true, but
could not see any remedy. "Why not?" "Well, sir, the
rowdies have rushed in on us, and we can't master them;
they are too strong for the respectable people." "Then you
admit the law in nearly powerless?" "Well, you see, sir,
these men have got, hold of the people who ought to administer
the law, and when they fail to do so they are so powerful
by reason of their numbers, and so reckless, they have things
their own way."

"In effect, then, you are living under a reign of terror,
and the rule of a ruffian mob?" "It's not quite so bad as
that, perhaps, for the respectable people are not much affected
by it, and most of the crimes of which you speak are committed
by these bad classes in their own section; but it is
disgraceful to have such a state of things, and when this war
is over, and we have started the confederacy all fair, we'll
put the whole thing down. We are quite determined to take
the law into our own hands, and the first remedy for the condition
of affairs which, we all lament, will be to confine the
suffrage to native-born Americans, and to get rid of the infamous,
scoundrelly foreigners, who now overrule us in our
country." "But are not many regiments of Irish and Germans
now fighting for you? And will these foreigners who

have taken up arms in your cause be content to receive as
the result of their success an inferior position, politically, to
that which they now hold?" "Well, sir, they must; we
are bound to go through with this thing if we would save
society." I had so often heard a similar determination expressed
by men belonging to the thinking classes in the
South, that I am bound to believe the project is entertained
by many of those engaged in this great revolt—one principle
of which indeed, may be considered hostility to universal
suffrage, combining with it, of course, the limitation of the
immigrant vote.

The portion of Tennessee through which the rail runs is
exceedingly uninteresting, and looks unhealthy, the clearings
occur at long intervals in the forest, and the unwholesome
population, who came out of their low shanties, situated
amidst blackened stumps of trees or fields of Indian corn,
did not seem prosperous or comfortable. The twists and
curves of the rail, through cane brakes and swamps exceeded
in that respect any line I have ever travelled on; but the
vertical irregularities of the rail were still greater, and the
engine bounded as if it were at sea.

The names of the stations show that a savant has been
rambling about the district. Here is Corinth, which consists
of a wooden grog-shop and three log shanties; the acropolis
is represented by a grocery store, of which the proprietors,
no doubt, have gone to the wars, as their names were suspiciously
Milesian, and the doors and windows were fastened;
but occasionally the names of the stations on the railway
boards represented towns and villages, hidden in the wood
some distance away, and Mummius might have something
to ruin if he marched off the track, but not otherwise.

The city of Troy was still simpler in architecture than the
Grecian capitol. The Dardanian towers were represented
by a timber-house, in the veranda of which the American
Helen was seated, in the shape of an old woman smoking
a pipe, and she certainly could have set the Palace of Priam
on fire much more readily than her prototype. Four sheds,
three log huts, a saw-mill, about twenty negroes sitting on
a wood-pile, and looking at the train, constituted the rest of
the place, which was certainly too new for one to say, Troja
fuit, whilst the general "fi'xins" would scarcely authorize us
to say with any confidence, Troja fuerit.

The train from Troy passed through a cypress swamp, over

which the engine rattled, and hopped at a perilous rate along
high trestle work, till forty-six miles from Humbolt we came
to Unidn City, which was apparently formed by aggregate
meetings of discontented shavings that had travelled out of the
forest hard by. But a little beyond it was the Confederate
camp, which so many citizens and citizenesses had come out
into the wilderness to see; and a general descent was made
upon the place whilst the volunteers came swarming out of
their tents to meet their friends. It was interesting to observe
the affectionate greetings between the young soldiers, mothers,
wives and sweethearts, and as a display of the force and earnestness
of the Southern people—the camp itself containing
thousands of men, many of whom were members of the first
families in the State—was specially significant.

There is no appearance of military order or discipline
about the camps, though they were guarded by sentries and
cannon, and implements of war and soldiers' accoutrements
were abundant. Some of the sentinels carried their firelocks
under their arms like umbrellas, others carried the but over
the shoulder and the muzzle downwards, and one for his
greater ease had stuck the bayonet of his firelock into the
ground, and was leaning his elbow on the stock with his chin
on his hand, whilst sybarites less ingenious, had simply deposited
their muskets against the trees, and were lying down
reading newspapers. Their arms and uniforms were of different
descriptions—sporting rifles, fowling pieces, flint muskets,
smooth bores, long and short barrels, new Enfields, and the like;
but the men, nevertheless, were undoubtedly material for excellent
soldiers. There were some few boys, too young to carry
arms, although the zeal and ardor of such lads cannot but
have a good effect, if they behave well in action.

The great attraction of this train lay in a vast supply of
stores, with which several large vans were closely packed,
and for fully two hours the train was delayed, whilst hampers
of wine, spirits, vegetables, fruit, meat, groceries, and all the
various articles acceptable to soldiers living under canvas
were disgorged on the platform, and carried away by the expectant
military.

I was pleased to observe the perfect confidence that was
felt in the honesty of the men. The railway servants simply
deposited each article as it came out on the platform—the
men came up, read the address, and carried it away, or left it,
as the case might be; and only in one instance did I see a

scramble, which was certainly quite justifiable, for, in handing
out a large basket the bottom gave way, and out tumbled
onions, apples, and potatoes among the soldiery, who stuffed
their pockets and haversacks with the unexpected bounty.
One young fellow, who was handed a large wicker-covered
jar from the van, having shaken it, and gratified his ear by
the pleasant jingle inside, retired to the roadside, drew the
cork, and, raising it slowly to his mouth, proceeded to take a
good pull at the contents, to the envy of his comrades; but
the pleasant expression upon his face rapidly vanished, and
spurting out the fluid with a hideous grimace, he exclaimed,
" D—; why, if the old woman has not gone and sent me a
gallon of syrup." The matter was evidently considered too
serious to joke about, for not a soul in the crowd even smiled;
but they walked away from the man, who, putting down
the jar, seemed in doubt as to whether he would take it away
or not.

Numerous were the invitations to stop, which I received
from the officers. "Why not stay with us, sir; what can a
gentleman want to go among black Republicans and Yankees
for?" "It is quite obvious that my return to the Northern
States is regarded with some suspicion; but I am bound to
say that my explanation of the necessity of the step was
always well received, and satisfied my Southern friends that I
had no alternative. A special correspondent, whose letters
cannot get out of the country in which he is engaged, can
scarcely fulfil the purpose of his mission; and I used to point
out, good-humoredly, to these gentlemen that until they had
either opened the communication with the North, or had
broken the blockade, and established steam communication
with Europe, I must seek my base of operations elsewhere.

At last we started from Union City; and there came into the
car, among other soldiers who were going out to Columbus, a fine
specimen of the wild filibustering population of the South, which
furnish many recruits to the ranks of the Confederate army
—a tall, brawny-shouldered, brown-faced, black-bearded, hairy-handed
man, with a hunter's eye, and rather a Jewish face,
full of life, energy, and daring. I easily got into conversation
with him, as my companion happened to be a freemason, and
he told us he had been a planter in Mississippi, and once
owned 110 negroes, worth at least some 20,000l.; but, as he said
himself, "I was always patrioting it about;" and so he went
off, first with Lopez to Cuba, was wounded and taken prisoner

by the Spaniards, but had the good fortune to be saved from the
execution which was inflicted on the ringleaders of the expedition.
When he came back he found his plantation all the
worse and a decrease amongst his negroes; but his love of
adventure and filibustering was stronger than his prudence
or desire of gain. He took up with Walker, the "gray-eyed
man of destiny," and accompanied him in his strange career
till his leader received the coup de grace in the final raid upon
Nicaragua.

Again he was taken prisoner, and would have been put to
death by the Nicaraguans, but for the intervention of Captain
Aldham. "I don't bear any love to the Britishers," said he,
" but I'm bound to say, as so many charges have been made
against Captain Aldham, that he behaved like a gentleman,
and if I had been at New Orleans when them cussed cowardly
blackguards ill-used him, I'd have left my mark so deep on a
few of them, that their clothes would not cover them long."
He told us that at present he had only five negroes left, "but
I'm not going to let the black Republicans lay hold of them,
and I'm just going to stand up for States' rights as long as I
can draw a trigger—so snakes and abolitionists look out."
He was so reduced by starvation, ill-treatment, and sickness
in Nicaragua, when Captain Aldham procured his release,
that he weighed only 110 pounds, but at present he was over
200 pounds, a splendid bête fauve, and without wishing so fine
a looking fellow any harm, I could not but help thinking that
it must be a benefit to American society to get rid of a considerable
number of these class of which he is a representative
man. And there is every probability that they will have a
full opportunity of doing so.

On the arrival of the train at Columbus, twenty-five miles
from Union City, my friend got out, and a good number of
men in uniform joined him, which led me to conclude that
they had some more serious object than a mere pleasure trip
to the very uninteresting looking city on the banks of the Mississippi,
which is asserted to be neutral territory, as it belongs
to the sovereign State of Kentucky. I heard, accidentally,
as I came in the train, that a party of Federal soldiers
from the camp at Cairo, up the river, had recently descended
to Columbus and torn down a secession flag which had been
hoisted on the river's bank, to the great indignation of many
of its inhabitants.

In those border States the coming war promises to produce

the greatest misery; they will be the scenes of hostile operations;
the population is divided in sentiment; the greatest efforts
will be made by each side to gain the ascendency in the State,
and to crush the opposite faction, and it is not possible to believe
that Kentucky can maintain a neutral position, or that
either Federal or Confederates will pay the smallest regard
to the proclamation of Governor Magoffin, and to his empty
menaces.

At Columbus the steamer was waiting to convey us up to
Cairo, and I congratulated myself on the good fortune of arriving
in time for the last opportunity that will be afforded of
proceeding northward by this route. General Pillow on the
one hand, and General Prentiss on the other, have resolved
to blockade the Mississippi, and as the facilities for Confederates
going up to Columbus and obtaining information of
what is happening in the Federal camps cannot readily be
checked, the general in command of the port to which I am
bound has intimated that the steamers must cease running.
It was late in the day when we entered once more on the
father of waters, which is here just as broad, as muddy, as
deep, and as wooded as it is at Bâton Rouge, or Vicksburg.

Columbus is situated on an elevated spur or elbow of land
projecting into the river, and has, in commercial faith, one of
those futures which have so many rallying points down the
centre of the great river. The steamer which lay at the
wharf, or rather the wooden piles in the bank which afforded
a resting place for the gangway, carried no flag, and on board
presented traces of better days, a list of refreshments no longer
attainable, and of bill of fare, utterly fanciful. About twenty
passengers came on board, most of whom had a distracted air,
as if they were doubtful of their journey. The captain was
surly, the office keeper petulant, the crew morose, and, perhaps,
only one man on board, a stout Englishman, who was
purser or chief of the victualling department, seemed at all inclined
to be communicative. At dinner he asked me whether I
thought there would be a fight, but as I was oscillating between
one extreme and the other, I considered it right to conceal
my opinion even from the steward of the Mississippi
boat; and, as it happened, the expression of it would not have
been of much consequence one way or the other, for it turned
out that our friend was of very stern stuff. "This war," he;
said, "is all about niggers; I've been sixteen years in the
country, and I never met one of them yet was fit to be any

thing but a slave; I know the two sections well, and I tell
you, sir, the North can't whip the South, let them do their
best; they may ruin the country, but they'll do no good."

There were men on board who had expressed the strongest
Secession sentiments in the train, but who now sat and listened
and acquiesced in the opinions of Northern men, and by the
time Cairo was in sight, they, no doubt, would have taken
the oath of allegiance which every doubtful person is required
to utter before he is allowed to go beyond the military post.

In about two hours or so the captain pointed out to me a
tall building and some sheds, which seemed to arise out of a
wide reach in the river, "that's Cairey," said he, "where the
Unionists have their camp," and very soon stars and stripes
were visible, waving from a lofty staff, at the angle of low
land formed by the junction of the Mississippi and Ohio.

For two months I had seen only the rival stars and bars,
with the exception of the rival banner floating from the ships
and the fort at Pickens. One of the passengers told me
that the place was supposed to be described by Mr. Dickens,
in "Martin Chuzzlewit," and as the steamer approached the
desolate embankment, which seemed the only barrier between
the low land on which the so-called city was built, and the
waters of the great river rising above it, it certainly became
impossible to believe that sane men, even as speculators,
could have fixed upon such a spot as the possible site of a
great city,—an emporium of trade and commerce. A more
desolate woe-begone looking place, now that all trade and
commerce had ceased, cannot be conceived; but as the southern
terminus of the Central Illinois Railway, it displayed a very
different scene before the war broke out.

With the exception of the large hotel, which rises far
above the levee of the river, the public edifices are represented
by a church and spire, and the rest of the town by a
line of shanties and small houses, the rooms and upper stories
of which are just visible above the embankment. The general
impression effected by the place was decidedly like that
which the Isle of Dogs produces on a despondent foreigner as
he approaches London by the river on a drizzly day in November.
The stream, formed by the united efforts of the Mississippi
and the Ohio, did not appear to gain much breadth, and
each of the confluents looked as large as its product with the
other. Three steamers lay alongside the wooden wharves
projecting from the embankment, which was also lined by

some flat-boats. Sentries paraded the gangways as the
steamer made fast along the shore, but no inquiry was directed
to any of the passengers, and I walked up the levee
and proceeded straight to the hotel, which put me very much
in mind of an effort made by speculating proprietors to create
a watering-place on some lifeless beach. In the hall there
were a number of officers in United States uniforms, and the
lower part of the hotel was, apparently, occupied as a military
bureau; finally, I was shoved into a small dungeon, with
a window opening out on the angle formed by the two rivers,
which was lined with sheds and huts and terminated by a
battery.

These camps are such novelties in the country, and there
is such romance in the mere fact of a man living in a tent,
that people come far and wide to see their friends under
such extraordinary circumstances, and the hotel at Cairo was
crowded by men and women who had come from all parts
of Illinois to visit their acquaintances and relations belonging
to the State troops encamped at this important point. The
salle à manger, a long and lofty room on the ground floor,
which I visited at supper time, was almost untenable by reason
of heat and flies; nor did I find that the free negroes,
who acted as attendants, possessed any advantages over their
enslaved brethren a few miles lower down the river; though
their freedom was obvious enough in their demeanor and
manners.

I was introduced to General Prentiss, an agreeable person,
without any thing about him to indicate the soldier. He
gave me a number of newspapers, the articles in which were
principally occupied with a discussion of Lord John Russell's
speech on American affairs: Much as the South found fault
with the British minister for the views he had expressed, the
North appears much more indignant, and denounces in the
press what the journalists are pleased to call "the hostility of
the Foreign Minister to the United States." It is admitted,
however, that the extreme irritation caused by admitting the
Southern States to exercise limited belligerent rights was not
quite justifiable. Soon after nightfall I retired to my room
and battled with mosquitoes till I sank into sleep and exhaustion,
and abandoned myself to their mercies; perhaps, after
all, there were not more than a hundred or so, and their united
efforts could not absorb as much blood as would be taken out
by one leech, but then their horrible acrimony, which leaves

a wreck behind in the place where they have banqueted, inspires
the utmost indignation and appears to be an indefensible
prolongation of the outrage of the original bite.

June 20th.—When I awoke this morning and, gazing out
of my little window on the regiments parading on the level
below me, after an arduous struggle to obtain cold water for a
bath, sat down to consider what I had seen within the last
two months, and to arrive at some general results from the
retrospect, I own that after much thought my mind was
reduced to a hazy analysis of the abstract principles of right
and wrong, in which it failed to come to any very definite conclusion
: the space of a very few miles has completely altered
the phases of thought and the forms of language.

I am living among "abolitionists, cut-throats, Lincolnite
mercenaries, foreign invaders, assassins, and plundering Dutchmen."
Such, at least, the men of Columbus tell me the garrison
at Cairo consists of. Down below me are "rebels, conspirators,
robbers, slave breeders, wretches bent upon destroying
the most perfect government on the face of the earth, in
order to perpetuate an accursed system, by which, however,
beings are held in bondage and immortal souls consigned to
perdition."

On the whole, the impression left upon my mind by what
I had seen in slave states is unfavorable to the institution of
slavery, both as regards its effect on the slave and its influence
on the master. But my examination was necessarily
superficial and hasty. I have reason to believe that the more
deeply the institution is probed, the more clearly will its unsoundness
and its radical evils be discerned. The constant
appeals made to the physical comforts of the slaves, and their
supposed contentment, have little or no effect on any person
who acts up to a higher standard of human happiness than
that which is applied to swine or the beasts of the fields "See
how fat my pigs are."

The arguments founded on a comparison of the condition
of the slave population with the pauperized inhabitants of
European states are utterly fallacious, inasmuch as in one
point, which is the most important by far, there can be no comparison
at all. In effect slavery can only be justified in the
abstract on the grounds which slavery advocates decline to
take boldly, though they insinuate it now and then,, that is,
the inferiority of the negro in respect to white men, which
removes them from the upper class of human beings and

places them in a condition which is as much below the Caucasian
standard as the quadrumanous creatures are beneath the
negro. Slavery is a curse, with its time of accomplishment
not quite at hand—it is a cancer, the ravages of which are
covered by fair outward show, and by the apparent health of
the sufferer.

The Slave States, of course, would not support the Northern
for a year, if cotton, sugar, and tobacco became suddenly
worthless. But, nevertheless, the slave-owners would have
strong grounds to stand upon if they were content to point to
the difficulties in the way of emancipation, and the circumstances
under which they received their damnosa hereditas
from England, which fostered, nay forced, slavery in legislative
hotbeds throughout the colonies. The Englishman may
say, "We abolished slavery when we saw its evils." The
slave-owner replies, "Yes, with you it was possible to decree
the extinction—not with us."

Never did a people enter on a war so utterly destitute of
any reason for waging it, or of the means of bringing it to a
successful termination against internal enemies. The thirteen
colonies had a large population of sea-faring and soldiering
men, constantly engaged in military expeditions. There was
a large infusion, compared with the numbers of men capable
of commanding in the field, and their great enemy was separated
by a space far greater than the whole circumference of
the globe would be in the present time from the scene of
operations. Most American officers who took part in the war
of 1812–14 are now too old for service, or retired into private
life soon after the campaign. The same remark applies to
the senior officers who served in Mexico, and the experiences
of that campaign could not be of much use to those now in
the service, of whom the majority were subalterns, or at most,
officers in command of volunteers.

A love of military display is very different indeed from a
true soldierly spirit, and at the base of the volunteer system
there lies a radical difficulty, which must be overcome before
real military efficiency can be expected. In the South the
foreign element has contributed largely to swell the ranks with
many docile and a few experienced soldiers, the number of
the latter predominating in the German levies, and the same
remark is, I hear, true of the Northern armies.

The most active member of the staff here is a young
Englishman named Binmore, who was a stenographic writer

in London, but has now sharpened his pencil into a sword,
and when I went into the guard-room this morning I found
that three fourths of the officers, including all who had seen
actual service, were foreigners. One, Milotzky, was an Hungarian;
another, Waagner, was of the same nationality; a
third, Schuttner, was a German; another, Mac something, was
a Scotchman; another was an Englishman. One only (Colonel
Morgan), who had served in Mexico, was an American.
The foreigners, of course, serve in this war as mercenaries;
that is, they "enter into the conflict to gain something by it,
either in pay, in position, or in securing a status for themselves.

The utter absence of any fixed principle determining the
side which the foreign nationalities adopt is proved by their
going North or South with the state in which they live. On
the other hand, the effects of discipline and of the principles
of military life on rank and file are shown by the fact that
the soldiers of the regular regiments of the United States and
the sailors in the navy have to a man adhered to their colors,
notwithstanding the examples and inducements of their
officers.

After breakfast I went down about the works, which fortify
the bank of mud, in the shape of a V, formed by the two
rivers—a flêche with a ditch, scarp, and counter-scarp.
Some heavy pieces cover the end of the spit at the other side
of the Mississippi, at Bird's Point. On the side of Missouri
there is a field intrenchment, held by a regiment of Germans,
Poles, and Hungarians, about 1000 strong, with two field batteries.
The sacred soil of Kentucky, on the other side of the
Ohio, is tabooed by Beriah Magoffin, but it is not possible for
the belligerents to stand so close face to face without occupying
either Columbus or Hickman. The thermometer was at
100° soon after breakfast, and it was not wonderful to find
that the men in Camp Defiance, which is the name of the cantonment
on the mud between the levees of the Ohio and Mississippi,
were suffering from diarrhoea and fever.

In the evening there was a review of three regiments, forming
a brigade of some 2800 men, who went through their drill,
advancing in columns of company, moving en echelon, changing
front, deploying into line on the centre company, very creditably.
It was curious to see what a start ran through the
men during the parade when a gun was fired from the battery
close at hand, and how their heads turned toward the river;
but the steamer which had appeared round the bend hoisted

the private signs, by which she was known as a friend, and
tranquillity was restored.

I am not sure that most of these troops desire anything but
a long residence at a tolerably comfortable station, with plenty
of pay and no marching. Cairo, indeed, is not comfortable;
the worst barrack that ever asphyxiated the British soldier
would be better than the best shed here, and the flies and the
mosquitoes are beyond all conception virulent and pestiferous.
I would not give much to see Cairo in its normal state, but it
is my fate to witness the most interesting scenes in the world
through a glaze of gunpowder. It would be unfair to say that
any marked superiority in dwelling, clothing, or comfort was
visible between the mean white of Cairo or the black chattel
a few miles down the river. Brawling, rioting, and a good
deal of drunkenness prevailed in the miserable sheds which
line the stream, although there was nothing to justify the
libels on the garrison of the Columbus Crescent, edited by one
Colonel L. G. Faxon, of the Tennessee Tigers, with whose
writings I was made acquainted by General Prentiss, to whom
they appeared to give more annoyance than he was quite wise
in showing.

This is a style of journalism which may have its merits,
and which certainly is peculiar; I give a few small pieces.
"The Irish are for us, and they will knock Bologna sausages
out of the Dutch, and we will knock wooden nutmegs out of
the Yankees." "The mosquitoes of Cairo have been sucking
the lager-bier out of the dirty soldiers there so long, they are
bloated and swelled up as large as spring 'possums. An assortment
of Columbus mosquitoes went up there the other day
to suck some, but as they have not returned, the probability
is they went off with delirium tremens; in fact, the blood of
these Hessians would poison the most degraded tumble bug in
creation."

Our editor is particularly angry about the recent seizure of
a Confederate flag at Columbus by Colonel Oglesby and a
party of Federals from Cairo. Speaking of a flag intended
for himself, he says, "Would that its folds had contained
1000 asps to sting 1000 Dutchmen to eternity unshriven."
Our friend is certainly a genius. His paper of June the 19th
opens with an apology for the non-appearance of the journal
for several weeks. "Before leaving," he says, "we engaged
the services of a competent editor, and left a printer here to
issue the paper regularly. We were detained several weeks

beyond our time, the aforesaid printer promised faithfully to
perform his duties, but he left the same day we did, and consequently
there was no one to get out the paper. We have
the charity to suppose that fear and bad whiskey had nothing
to do with his evacuation of Columbus." Another elegant
extract about the flag commences, "When the bow-legged
wooden-shoed, sour craut stinking, Bologna sausage eating,
hen roost robbing Dutch sons of—had accomplished the
brilliant feat of taking down the Secession flag on the river
bank, they were pointed to another flag of the same sort
which their guns did not cover, flying gloriously and defiantly,
and dared yea! double big black dog—dared, as we used to
say at school, to take that flag down—the cowardly pups, the
thieving sheep dogs, the sneaking skunks dare not do so,
because their twelve pieces of artillery were not bearing on
it," As to the Federal commander at Cairo, Colonel Faxon's
sentiments are unambiguous. "The qualifications of this
man, Prentiss," he says, "for the command of such a squad of
villains and cut-throats are, that he is a miserable hound, a
dirty dog, a sociable fellow, a treacherous villain, a notorious
thief, a lying blackguard, who has served his regular five
years in the Penitentiary and keeps his hide continually full
of Cincinnati whiskey, which he buys by the barrel in order
to save his money—in him are embodied the leprous rascalities
of the world, and in this living score, the gallows is
cheated of its own. Prentiss wants our scalp; we propose a
plan by which he may get that valuable article. Let him
select 150 of his best fighting men, or 250 of his lager-bier
Dutchmen, we will select 100, then let both parties meet
where there will be no interruption at the scalping business,
and the longest pole will knock the persimmon. If he does
not accept this proposal, he is a coward. We think this a,
gentlemanly proposition and quite fair and equal to both
parties,"