The national Republican., 1861-08-13
From the sout Invest.
Correspondence Of the N. Y. Tribune.

From the Southwest.
Correspondence Of the N. Y. Tribune.
JACKSONVILLE, Illinois, August 0, 1861.
Having recently returned from the southern
portion Of Texas, via the Indian Territory and
Missouri, 1t Is possible that may be 10 the pos-
sessit !, Of some information which may be Of
interest to some Of your readers
In company with former citizen of the State
OF New York, l lett Austin on the 4th of last
June. AT that time, business Of all kinds wa
in great measure suspended Even the ord
nary expenses Of the State could not be met.
Clerks in the various departments had to be
paid In State scrip, which was worth thirty
cents on the dollar, and daily decreasing in
value. Persons owning slaves, In many in
stances, were glad to hire them out for their
board and clothing. Texas Is now over five
millions OF dollars in debt, and has no resources
within herself, nor credit abroad.
AT the time of our departure, no person could
form correct estimate of the political condi
ton Of the State. In some sections, the seces
sion element was paramount; while in others
the Union mn were either Ia q majority or
were engaged in contending for their rights.
The strongest " Union counties are as follows .
Travis, Hays, Fayette, Bastrop, Bsxar, Collin.
Fanin, Lamar and Grayson all Of which, WI b
he exception of Bexar, voted for the Union >
'"os 0P''pe, anu many osuCE COuubicb WOulV
nave followed their example had the Union
men been allowed to vote, aud no fraud been
practiced by the secessionists. The German
population of Texas, so far as my experience
goes, are for the Union almost to a man.
In Austin, San Antonia, and in other places
OF less note, there is, to my certain knowledge
a secret society of Union men. What the ,b
ject Of this society may be, will not pretend
20 say, but the prevailing opinion was, that /
was organized for the purpose of carrying on,
some political measure of great importance to
the country.
Gov. Houston is living a retired life on his
plantation, near Galveston bay, and he takes
no part in the political affairs Of the day. 1,
is sold that neither to friend nor foe will h.
define his position; he claims TO be neutral III
the whrlwind Of passion now sweeping over
the country, but 1t cannot be that the old gen
eral has any particular love for those who dc
nounced him SO severely. Often have heard
Hamilton, Houston, Pascal and others, declare
in public that Secession, however successful
II might be, would be the death. knel of
slavery" The secessionists are now seeing II
verified. Many OF the planters were getting
sorely alarmed and a few Of them were begin
ming to think that the Yankees would fight.
But, nevertheless, they were confident of the
ultimate success Of Southern chivalry, and the
formation of new confederacy upon a negro
basis.
Finer crops than the present have never been
made in Texas. From the Rio Grande to the
northern boundary grain of all kinds is abund
ant, but the amount of land In cultivation Is
small, hence there will be little or no surplus
after the demands of the State are supplied.
As we came through Dallas we found about
thousand men waiting for arms from San
Antonio: when they arrived they were to march
for Fort Smith, Arkansas, where Ben McCullocb
was to meet them. Texas has about 5 500 men
in the field and they IRE badly armed and worse
drilled. About 5000 are under Ford on the
Rio Grande, watching the Mexican marauder,
Cortina; 1000 in and around Ell Paso, while
the remaining 1900 are scattered about pro
miscuously.
Crossing Red River at Culberts Ferry, about
the LIST Of July, we found the Indian tribes
quarreling among themselves. From the best
Information we could get, majority of the
Seminoles, Choctaws, Chickasaws, and Creeks
are In favor Of joining the South, while the full
bloods Of the Cherokee nation, with John Ross
at their head, declare that neutrality shall be
observed during the present crisis They were
arming themselves, and had announced that
they would stand by their chief to the last
We saw but one secession flag in the whole OF
the Indian Territory, and 1t was sticking out of
the roof of deserted house in Perryvil.e,
Creek Nation.
The Indians this season did not plant much
corn, but what they did plant will make more
than an average yield. Leaving the Chero-
kee nation at the Neosho river, we came into
Missouri, and found it in blaze of excite.
ment from one end to the other. Two miles
south of Carthage, we fell into the hands of
Gov. Jacksons command, the next morning
after his great fight with Col. Seigel. Proving
ourselves to be citizens of Texas, we were al
lowed to pass on without any serious detention
One ofJackson's captains told us that there were
5000 Of the Missourians engaged in the battle
on the preceding day, while the force under
Seigel amounted to about 800 men, and also,
to give the devil his due, the Dutch had made
a big fight Of it." Fully onehalf of Jackson's
men had no guns at all, and two.thrds of those
that had, were armed with old shot guns. The
Mssourians had but 200 wellarmed men in
their army. Jackson's army was one of the
most confused bodies of human beings ever
saw. Old gray-headed men and beardless boys
seemed to form the bulk of it, No order or
discipline whatever was observed. Every man
got along as best he could. Most of the troops
were mounted. Some rode fine horse., while
the majority were on mules and ponies, which
they caught along the road. Jackson had
seized upon all kinds of vehicles and teams to
transport his stolen baggage.