The Sun.
London, England, 1861-07-10 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JULY 10, 1861.

REAT WESTERN RAILWAY.
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same evening.

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Established 1838.
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C. DOUGLAS SINGER, Secretary.
July 3, 1860.

GOVERNMENT SECURITY LIFE POLICIES.
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THOMAS H. BAYLIS, Managing Director.

COOL AND REFRESHING TOILETTE
V_.) REQUISITE. Oldridge's Balm of Columbia is
the most certain remedy for restoring and strengthening
the hair. By it whiskers and moustaches are produced and
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most delicate head-dress or bonnet can be worn without fear
of soiling. Price 3s. 6d., 65., and lis. C. and A. OLDRIDGE,
22, Wellington-street, Strand.

of acts which would not be tolerated in the worst

days of Corsican vendette, and which must be put
down, or the countries in which they are unpunished

will become as barbarous as jungles of wild beasts.
In the evening I started by railroad for the city of
Memphis, in Mississippi. There was a sleeping•car
on the train, hut the flying bug and the crea•
ture less volatile, more pungent and persistent,

which bears its name, murdered sleep, and when
Monday morning came I was glad to arise and
get into one of the carriages, although it was full of
noisy soldiers bound to the camp at Corinth, in the
State of Mississippi, who had been drinking whiskey
all night, and were now screaming for water and
howling like demons. At Holly Springs, where a
rude breakfast awaited us, the warriors got out on

the top of the oarriages and performed a war dance
to the music of their band, which was highly credit-
able to the carriage-maker's workmanship. Along
the road at all: the `settlements and clearings the

white people cheered, and the women waved white
things, and Secession flags floated. There is no
doubt of the state of feeling in this part of the
country ; and yet it does not look much worth
fighting for—an arid soil, dry water-courses, clay
ravines, light crops. Perhaps it will be better a
month hence, and negroes may make it pay. There
were many in :the fields, and it struck me they
looked better than those who work in gangs on the
larger and richer plantations. Among our passen-

hers "were gentlemen from Texas going to Rich-
mond to offer service to Mr. Davis. They declared
the feeling in their State was almost without ex-
. . .

ception in favour of Secession. It was astonishing
how positive all these people are that England is in
absolute dependence on cotton for her national ex-
istence. They are at once savage and childish. If
England does not recognise the Southern'Confede-
racy pretty quick, they will pass a resolution not
to let her have any cotton, except, &c. Suppose
England does ever recognise a Confederation based
on the principles of the South, what guarantee is
there that in her absolute dependence, if it exists,

similar coercive steps may not be taken against her?
" Oh ! we shall be friends, you know ;" and so on.

On the train before us there has just passed on
a company armed with large bowie knives and rifled
pistols, who called themselves the " Toothpick
Company." They carried a coffin along with them,
on which was a plate with " Abe Lincoln" inscribed
on it, and they amused themselves with the
childish conceit of telling the people as they went
along that " they were bound" to bring his body
back in it. At Grand Junction Station the troops
got out and were mustered preparatory to their
transfer to a train for Richmond, in Virginia. The
first company, about 70 strong, consisted exclusively
of Irish, who were armed with rifles without
bayonets. The second consisted of five-sixths Irish,
armed mostly with muskets ; the third were of
Americans, who were well uniformed, but had no
arms with them. The fourth, clad in green, were
nearl all Irish ; they wore all sorts of clothing, and
had no pretensions to be regarded as disciplined.
soldiers. I am led to believe that the great num-
bers of Irish who have enlisted for service indicates
a total suspension of all the works on which they
are ordinarily engaged in the South. They were
not very orderly. " Fix bayonets" elicited a won-
derful amount of controversy in the ranks. " Whar
are yer dhrivin to ?" " Sullivan, don't ye hear
we'er to fix beenits." " Ayse the sthrap of mee
baynit, Sarjent, jewel!" "If ye prod me wid that
agin, I'll let dayloite into ye," &c. Officer, reading
muster—" No. 23, James Phelan." No reply.
Voice from the ranks.—" Faith Phelan's gone ;
Shure he went at the last dipot." Old men and
boys were mixed together, but the mass of the rank
and file were strong, full-grown men. In one of
the carriages were some women dressed as " vivan-
dieres," minus the coquet air and the trousers and
boots of those ladies. They looked sad, sorry, dirty,
and foolish. There was great want of water along
the line, and the dust and heat were very great and
disagreeable. When they have to march many of
the men will break down, owing to bad shoes and
the weight of clothes and trash of various kinds
they sling on their shoulders. They moved off
amid much whooping, and our journey was con
tinued through a country in which the railroad
engineer had made the only opening for miles at a
time. When a clearing was reached, however,
there were signs that the soil was not withont rich-
ness and all the wheat was already cut and in sheaf.
The passengers said it was fine and early, and that
it averaged from 40 to 60 bushels to the acre (more
than it looked). Very little ground here is under
cotton. It was past 1 o'clock on Monday when the
train reached Memphis, in Tennessee, which is
situated on a highbluff overhanging the Mississipi.
Here is one of the strategic positions of the Con-
federates. It is now occupied by a force of Tennes-
seans, which is commanded by Major-General Pillow
whom I found quartered in Gayoso-house, a large
hotel named after one of the old Spanish rulers here,
and as he was just starting to inspect his batteries
and the camp at Randolph, 60 odd miles higher up
the river, I could not resist his pressing invitations,
tired as I was, to accompany him and his Staff on
board the Ingomar to see what they were really
like. First we visited the bluff on the edge of which
is constructed a breastwork of cotton bales, which
no infantry could get at, and which would offer no
resistance to vertical and but little to horizontal
fire. It is placed so close to the edge of the bluff at
various places that shell and shot would knock away
the bank from under it. The river rolls below deep
and strong, and across the roads or watercourses
leading to it are feeble barricades of plank, which
a howitzer could shiver to pieces in a few rounds.
Higher up the bank, on a commanding plateau,
there is a breastwork and parapet, within which are
six guns, and the General informed me he intended
to mount 13 guns at this part of the river, which
would certainly prove very formidable to such
steamers as they have on these waters, if any at-
tempt were made to move down from Cairo. In the
course of the day I was introduced to exactly 17
colonels and one captain. My happiness was further
increased by an introduction to a youth of some 23
ppwrahun
ont
pants,
1 aal adn
ds
thei
ap pt
areierrms
a,
endndrde
years of age, with tender feet if I may judge from
losous
oes
kd s
ooi nmf
abanr ge
arr
poe
oe nwt h cet uch
at ara
ywp, asl yum,
errand jean
eof
oGrehneerr avlo"yMa
gaeg,
agnl eds
w(leetcaums
ostrich feathers, and gold tassels looped at the side,
t
along-
side the bank at Chicksaw-bl ffs, too late to visit
the camp, as it was near midnight before we arrived.
binoyg.omTarhsistawrtaesd‘ for
u
esayof
Arkansas, Freighted deeply with the brave, the
I forgot to say that a large number of steamers
were lying at Memphis, which had been seized by
Gen. Pillow, and he has forbidden all traffic in boats
to Cairo. Passengers must go round by rail to
Columbus.

JUNE 18,

I have just returned from a visit to the works
and batteries at the intrenched camp at Randolph's
Point, 60 miles above Memphis, by which it is in-
tended to destroy any flotilla coming down the
river from Cairo, and to oppose any force coming
by land to cover its flank and clear the left bank of
the Mississippi. The Ingomar is lying under the
rugged bank, or bluff, about 150 feet high, which
recdes in rugged tumuli and watercourses filled
with brushwood from the margin of the river, some
half mile up and down
the stream at this point, and
Brigadier-General Pillow is still riding round his
well-beloved earthworks and his quaint battalions,
my base of opera-
while I, anxious to make the most of my time now
now writing in
the cabin, a long roofed room
asirdebeisloangs
room, 'with berths on each
side, which runs from stem to stern. of the American
opera-
tions, thatie s I,
haveam fairlycome
board,th e, r u
an
nd fora.m
boats over the main deck. This saloon presents a
curious scene. Over the bow,. at one side, there is
to the State of
an office for the sale of tickets, now destitute of
bar, where thirsty
souls, who have hastened on board from the camp
business,Teenesse Tennessee
for a julep, a smash, or a cocktail, learn with dis-
gust that the only article. to be had is fine Missis-
sippi water with ice in it. Lying on the deck in all
ra
tth teheiontgl other
attitudes are numbers of men asleep, whose plumed
felt hats are the only indications that they are sol-
diers, except in the rare case of those who have rude
uniforms, and buttons, and stripes of coloured cloth
on the legs of their pantaloons. A sentry is sitting
on a chair smoking a cigar. Re is on guard over
the after part of the deck, called the ladies' saloon,
and sacred to the General and his Staff and at-
tendants. Heis a tall, good-looking young fellow
in a gray flannel shirt, a black wide-awake, gray
trousers, fastened by a belt, on which is a brass
buckleinscribed " U.S.„' Ris rifle is an Enfield,
and the bayonet sheath is fastened to the belt by a
thong of leather. That youthful patriot is intent
on the ups and downs of fortune as exemplified in
the pleasing game of euchre, or euker, which is
exercising the faculties of several of his comrades,
who, in their shirt sleeves, are ern •'
ploymg the finest
faculties of their nature in that national institution ;
but he is not indifferent to his •
duties, and he for-
bids your correspondent's entrance until he has
explained what he wants and who he is—and the
second is more easy to do than the first. The
sentry tells his captain, who is an euchreist, that
I " It's all right," and resumes his seat and his cigar,

and the work goes bravely on. Indeed, it went on
last night at the same table, which is within a few
yards of the General's chair; and now that I have got
a scrap of paper and a moment of quiet, let me say
what I have to say of this position, and of what I
pitched
tni
eladyb
guns,ew d indicationpthomssgei
üblntyos im-
mediately4do2en--
visible of a martial character. But
e
asttaslulGeohepat
nlfecoweued: ntklereiarbrnsrsuoiaetpagvgfhnwll
.joieeutroci
inspection
spsdtsoedpao,
faeaebnafisteslt.
tnmutll
htctdoiiffhohetypateni
earthworks,i
el
tncoire,
hsiaogfi
hvprbns
weeawi
prepared
tfrndeehai.
pei
was
ahryi
orAhei
tfwmerscah,
dotmovsoelfuyoauueol
mslhwndoied.
have
hearbviirnseei
trees,
ridge-poled
ngso ett:
antagonist.
paligeeoloeomvFnl
spoken
iadsi
notee
on
smallrt
ehai
tlogi
thses hnet,
the side of the bank, considerably higher than
pounders, lay in the dust close to the land-
ing-place, with very rude carriages and bul-
lock-poles to carry them to the batteries.
A few men, 10 or 12 in number, were digging at an
encampment on the face of the slope. Others were
lounging about the beach, and others, under the
same infatuation as that which makes little boys
disport in the Thames under the notion that they
are washing themselves, were bathing in the Missis-
sippi. A dusty cart track wound up to the brow of
the bluff, and there disappeared. Some carts toiled
np and down between the boat and the crest of the
hill. We went on shore. There was no ostenta-
tion of any kind about the reception of the General
and his Staff. A few horses were waiting impa-
tiently in the sun, for flies will have their way, and
heavy men are not so unbearable as small mos-
quitoes. With a cloud of colonels—one late United
Statesman, who was readily distinguishable by his
air from the Volunteers—the General proceeded to
visit his batteries and his men. The first work in-
pected was a plain parapet of earth placed some
50 feet above the river, and protected very slightly
by two small flanking parapets. Six guns, 32-
pounders, and howitzers of an old pattern were
mounted en barbette, without any traverses what-
ever. The carriages rested on rough platforms,
and the wheels ran on a traversing semicircle of
plank, as the iron rails were not yet ready. The
gunners, a plain-looking body of men, very like
railway labourers and mechanics, without uniform,
were engaged at drill. It was neither quick nor
good work—about equal to the average of a squad
after a couple of days' exercise ; but the men worked
earnestly, and I have no doubt, if the Federalists
give them time, they will prove artillerymen in the
end. The General ordered practice to be made
with round shot. After some delay, a kind of
hybrid ship's carronade was loaded. The target
was a tree, about 2,500 yards distant, I was told.
It appeared to me about 1,700 yards off. Every
one was desirous of seeing the shot ; but we were
at the wrong side for the wind, and I ventured to
say so. However, the General thought and said
otherwise. The word " Fire !" was given. Alas !
the friction-tube would not explode. It was one of
a new sort, which the Tennesseeans are trying their
'prentice hand at. A second answered better. The
gun went off, but where the ball went to no one
could say, as the smoke came into our eyes. The
party moved to windward, and, after another fuse
had missed, the gun was again discharged at some
5 degrees elevation, and' the shot fell in good line,
200 yards short of the target, and did not ricochet.
Gun 2 was then discharged, and off went the ball,
at no particular mark, down the river ; but if it
did go off, so did the gun also, for it gave a frantic
leap and jumped with the carriage off the plat-
form ; nor was this wonderful, for it was an old-
fashioned chambered carronade or howitzer, which
had been loaded with a full charge, and solid shot
enough to make it burst with indignation. Turn-
ing from this battery, we visited another nearer
the water, with four guns (32 pounders), which
were well placed to sweep the channel with
greater chance of ricochet ; and higher up on the
bank, towards a high peak commanding the Mis-
sissippi, here about 700 yards broad, and a small
confluent which runs into it, was another battery
of two guns, with a very great command, but only
fit for shell, as the fire must he plunging. All
these batteries were very ill constructed, and in
only one was the magazine under decent cover.
In the first it was in the rear of the battery, up the
hill behind it. The parapets were of sand or soft
earth, unprovided with merlons. The last had a few
sandbags between the guns, Riding up a steep
road, we came to the camps of the men on the
wooded and undulating plateau over the river,
which is broken by watercourses into ravines covered
with brushwood and forest trees. For five weeks
the Tennessee troops under General Pillow, who is
at the head of the forces of the State, have been
working at a series of curious intrenchments, which
are supposed to represent an intrenched camp, and
which look like an assemblage of mud beaver dams.
In a word, they are so complicated that they would
prove exceedingly troublesome to the troops en-
gaged in their defence, and it would require very
steady, experienced regulars to man them so as to
give proper support to each other. The maze of
breastworks, of flanking parapets, of parapets for
field-pieces, is over-done. Several of them might
prove useful to an attacking force. In some places
the wood was cut down in front so as to form a
formidable natural abattis ; but generally here, as
in the batteries below, timber and brushwood were
left uncut up to easy musket shot of the works, so
as to screen an advance of riflemen, and to expose
the defending force to considerable annoyance. In
small camps of 15:or 20 tents each the Tennessee
troops were scattered, for health's sake, over the
plateau, and on the level ground a few companies
were engaged at drill. The men were dressed and
looked like labouring people—small farmers, me-
chanics, with some small, undersized lads. The
majority were in their shirt sleeves, and the awk-
wardness with which they handled their arms
showed that, however good they might be as shots,
they were by no means proficients in manual
exercise. Indeed, they could not be, as they have
been only five weeks in the service of the State,
called out in anticipation of the Secession vote,
and since then they have been employed by Ge-
neral Pillow on his fortifications. They have
complained more than once of their hard work, par-
ticularly when it was accompanied by hard fare,
and one end of General Pillow's visit was to in-
form them that they would soon be relieved from
their labours by negroes and hired labourers. Their
tents, small ridge-poles, are very bad, but suited
perhaps to the transport. Each contains six men.
I could get no accurate account of their rations even
from the Quartermaster-General, and Commissary-
General there was none present ; but I was told that
they had " a sufficiency—from or I.llb. of meat,
of bread, of sugar, coffee, and rice daily." Neither
spirits nor tobaeco is served out to these terrible
chewers and not unaccomplished drinkers. Their
pay " will be" the same as in the United States'
army or in the Confederate States' army—probably
paid in the circulating medium of the latter. Seven
or eight hundred men were formed into line for
inspection. There were few of the soldiers in any
kind of uniform, and such uniforms as I saw were
in very bad taste, and consisted of gaudy facings
and stripes on very strange garments. They were
armed with old-pattern percussion muskets, and
their ammunition pouches were of diverse sorts.
Shoes often bad, knapsacks scarce, head-pieces of
every kind of shape—badges worked on the front
or sides, tinsel in much request. Every man had a
tin water-flask and a blanket. The general ad-
dressed the men, who were in line two deep (many
of thorn unmistakable Irishmen), and said what
generals usually say on such occasions—compli-
ments for the past, encouragement for the future.
" When the hour of danger comes I will be with
nyodtranndot
indeedseem tGo
ecnaerrealmrucilhlowwh,eitnhear
yh
roundoeuwas.hiroarhte, dusty black frock coat, and ordinary
" unstripped" trousers, did not look like one who
could give any great material accession to the
physical means of resistance, although he is a very
energetic man. The major-general in fact is an
attorney-at-law, or has been so, and was partner
with Mr. Polk, who, probably from some of the
reasons which determine the actions of partners to
each other, sent Mr. Pillow to the Mexican war,
where he nearly lost him, owing to severe wounds
received in action. The general has made his in-
trenchments as if he were framing an indictment.
There is not a flaw for the enemy to get through,
but he has bound u p his own men in inexorable
lines also. At one of the works a proof of the free-
dom of "citizen soldiery" was afforded in a little
hilarity on the part of one of the privates. The men
had lined the parapet, and had listened to the plea-
sant assurances of their commander that they would
knock off the shovel and the hoe very soon, and be
replaced by the eternal gentleman of colour. "Three
cheers for General Pillow" were called for, and
were responded to by the whooping and screeching
sounds that pass muster in this part of the world
for cheers. As they ended a stentorian voice shouted
out " Who cares for General Pillow ?" and, as no
net
ognaellaanntswoffiereeedr,
wiast
Y
un
solicitude of his troops ; probably a temp -
mightth e beobi e unfairlyobject
o f
theoral inferredfaveu? tott
ps
jooxlpnu
in
dr
tiohtly c n
pe
id
Ir7iel cg ed w
Point
qu
eia
sti
;it
oh ha rd w
nn.o
doubt,
übotrk founda
very e;pr
or eus-
g