New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1861-05-15

II FROM Nel0 OliellS 70 LftclI10lG-E tstRHSaaSttc
i Demonstrations By the People-Ihe Feeling IN
East Tennessee first regiment Louisiana
| Volunteers Ordered 10 NORFOLK etc.
Special to the New Orleans Crescent.l
RICHMOND, VA, May 9, 1861
Ml'. Edior-We have had an intoerably long,
| but to most Of us rather pleasant, journey from
i New Orleans to this city. The reader may be
aware that portion Of the First Regiment of
i Louisiana Volunteers, Col. A. G. Blanchard com
| manding, consisting of companies and c of the
/ Orleans Light Guards, and of the Davis Guards
from Kentucky, numbering in all 226 men, left
New Orleans on the evening of the 2d-a portion
Of the regiment having preceded them, and another
portion to follow. We made rapid trip to Grand
Function, Tennessee, the point at which course
changed tr6fn due north to almost due east; and,
| froRrhy experience since, Judge that this expe-
/ dtous passage was due to the fact that the Super
intendent of the Mississippi Central, MFR. E. D.
Frost, accompanied us over his road, and prevent
| ed the bad management which afterwards de-
| tanned and annoyed us so much. With this excep-
/ ton which at the time seemed far more Disagree
| able and even unfortunate than it does now, the
whole trip was, as remarked above, rather pleas
ant, rendered particularly SO by the enthusiastic
demonstrations of the people along the route The
first marked symptom of popular welcome was at
Canton, Mississippi. We arrived there an hour or
two after day break, and found the whole popula-
ton of this town gathered to focus, having been
informed of our approach by q telegraphic dis
patch The ladies of the place had cooked an ex-
ceIlent and ample breakfast for the whole troop,
and when the train stopped they were already
congregated on the common to distribute it to the
soldiers with their own dainty fingers. From there
to Grenada we were greeted with fourishjng of
hats and handkerehiefs from almost every human
habitation, and with cheers from every station
where crowd could be collected large enough to
get up respectable hurrah.. At Grenada the
people turned out en- masse and Mr.. Crawford,
of that place, made the soldiers a neat speech,
which was briefly and appropriately responded to
by Col Blanchard The seminary girls turned out
and marched to the station in double fle and such
another trim precise, natty fullbreased battalion
Ihave never SEEM in my whole military experience,
before nor since.
We arrived at Grand Junction as per schedule,
and here our troubles commenced. The train as
signed to us consisted Of open cars, with barely
sufficient room for the troops, and it was only
through the eXertions of Capt. Barney, Superin-
tendent at that station, that an additional car was
obtained for the officers From that time until we
reached Richmond we were subjected to the most
vexatous delays occasioned chiefly by not having
the & privilege of the road, waiting for trains
that had the privilege and were to meet or over
take us, and failing to g make connections" in the
proper time, our time generally occurring in the
night, in the midst of a rain storm, when stack
of black cats would have been weak illustration
Of the darkness. The energy of our Colonel, and
| his determination to get on as fast as possible,
| made up in great measure for the dilatory pro-
gramme of the railroad officials, and we made the
journey in five days and three hours. The portion
| Of the regiment that preceded us the Louisiana
| Guards, Capt. Girardey, Montgomery Guards,
Capt. Nolan. and Emmett Guards, Capt. Nelligan-
| were eight days on the road, and we should pro-
badly have been as long, but for the fact of having
| a field officer in command, whose remonstrances
| were bound to be listened to. The Colonel at
| tributes this delay in forwarding troops to mis-
/ management, but does not assign the entire res
/ possibility to those In charge of the several rail-
/ road lines. He thinks that if timely notification
! of the approach of troops were given, ample
transportation would be furnished and time lost
/ in making the connections, or the transfer from
one train to another. | must do the railroad Off
cals the justice to say that, when it did not inter
| fere with their own arrangement, they made US
fairly fly over the road and did everything to speed
us upon our journey, yet the mail passed US twice
1 between New Orleans and Richmond No one
i will deny that the expeditions transportation of
troops for the defence of the country is infinitely
| more important than the regular or irregular con-
veyance of the mails, yet The railroad companies
can hardly be expected to neglect their mail con-
tracts for that purpose, if not notified of the time
4 when such transportation will be required. As
several bodies Of troops--a small armyin the ag-
gregate--have yet to pass over this line, it would
/ be well for those concerned to take the matter
into consideration.
1 Our passage eastward through West Tennessee
and North Alabama and Georgia was marked by
| the most earnest demonstrations of welcome and
/ God Bpeed-Old men, young men who had not vet
started for the wars ladies', girls and little child
rem fockipg from their dwellings to the nearest
i points along the route, cheering, waving hats,
handkerchefs, white hands, and. better than all,
the stars and bars of the Southern Confederacy.
4 Could the most obstinate of Northern fanatics,
placing the most implicit reliance in the power of
the Federal arm to crush the Southern rebellion, u
have been with us to see this spontaneous and
unanimous outpouring Of popular enthusiasm, his
cheek must have paled at the idea of subjngating
/ such a people. now fully aroused to the danger
4 with which their rights are menaced.
/ To my great regret, we crossed the Cumberland
mountains in dark, rainy night, whose black cur
tain completely hid from our eyes the magnificent
scenery, the oyerhanging crags and tho dizzy
abysses, which make this part of the road the adj
miration and the dread of travellers. On reaching
East Tennessee (that is the small portion of the
! State east of the Cumberland mouptains) we re-
i marked decided abatement of the enthusiasm
/ which had hitherto greeted our progress. Those
who did salute us did it with a Uin1 and furore
I that eeemed intended to assure us that we had
friends there as well as enemies, but class al
most as numerous stood and gazed upon us in sui
len silence as we passed, making no reply to the
| demonstrations of our rocking soldiers, and evil
IDENTITY not daring 10 express their real feelings,
their hostility TO Southern independence, in any
i other than passive way. This phenomenon was
/ explained TO my satisfaction by q gentleman Of
4 Knoxville the residence OF that uumasked hypo-
/ critic, the profane BrowDlow, who has for years
4 attempted to degrade aud desecrate religion by
claiming to ne one OF its ministers, and who is now
at heart and in word and deed a Black Republi-
can. Few persons in the South have an adequate
idea of the extent to which Abotionsm has colo
nized sundry localities in the Border States, and
ii even Tennessee, which is not border state The
i eastern part Of Tennessee, east 81 the Cu,nher-
i lahd mountains, is afflicted with colony Of this
i kind, and its perniGieus Influence upon the simple
minded mountain men of that region is painfully
evident. Owning no slaves, the latter know moth
Ing of the institution OF slavery, nor they care
Il to know, They have never suffered from the
i treaehery or violence Of Aboliti0nism; they have