, 1861-05-24
ARKANSAS AS IT Is,
A Peep Into Memphis and the River
Camps.


A Peep Into Memphis and the River
CNmps.
Mr. CIe7elnnd, formerly hickman in this
city, but for the last three years General Eoad
Agent Of the Arkxnszs Stage Company, and
nho has been continually travelling over the
road between Little Rock, Madison, Claren-
don and Helen., arrived in This city on We'd
nesday, he having left that interesting country
Friday Of last week. l. day two before Ms. |
Cleveland left, the word Tas passed along the |
read for hundred miles to "hang him at !
sight" Learning this, his yalor, which some !
people call "dscreton,' u prompted him to take
horse and buggy and make q flying trip across
tho country to Clarrndon, where he left his
horse and buggy and proceeded on foot to
Madison, distance Of 70 or 50 miles, whence
he lock the cars ard reached Memphis on Fri
day.
Mr. c. says there is great excitement al
through ArIansas; IL Kinds Of bueiness are
ertirc1y neglected, with the exception Of
honging and 1ynching Union men, in which
the entire secession portion of the population
1E thoroughly enlisted for the war. Every
man has his cho1ce-to nyolunteet" or take
the hslter. He WIS allowed to proceed from
Madison to Memphis pcaceably because he
wa the 1oudest secession ta1ker" On board
the cnrs, and had accession badge pinned
eonspicuous1y on his coat. For thus sailing
Under false colors he's determined to repent
in suck cloth and ashes. !
Wien Mr. Cleveland reached Memphis, he
found that mere than o1o-haH Of the former
residents Of that doomed city had left It.
Every kind of business has been closed, ard
noihi1g il done but enlistiag soldiers for the
Southern armY-sl2te1s for which Gnu be
aeen on erery corner-eud drinking strJ Jchalno
whisky. The plan Of eaiistiag Is peculiar to
that latitude-she muster-ron and the halter
are offered at ths same tlme-you can sign the
Gee or take tho other. Sometimes man Is
let oil, If he declines to aign the musterrou,
with shaved head and coat Of tar and fcath-
ers.. l. committee has recently been formed
IN Memphis to mitigate these outrages, BY
simply sending the reeusanta off with their
heads shaved, or Eome Ike punishment M1.
Cleveland thinks there are net more ono thou-
sand troops in Memphis, and these almost En-.
ttre]y u14rzned aud of the most worthless
class. The best troops, when they reach my
degree Of efficiency, are sent to the encamp-
ments in the inter!or-Jschson, Madison,
Ran dolph, DC. The battery on the bluff Is
Jet incomplete, ard en.ir2ly unprotected from
attack, and ccu1d not under the most fayora-
be circumstances, resist the stack ct good
Eun-toat xad 4 Thousand men. There teem7
to be plenty Ct heavy ordnance in and shout
Memphis, hrt only few eman arms,
generally Of Al inferior quality, md very fe1
men capable Of using either those or the heavy
e. believes Memphis to be almost entirely un-
protected By the iorceEnow there
At Camp Rector, On the Arkansas shore ot
tie Mississippi, therc are about GOO troops,
a'most who'll! without small arms, and only
five or six hrass six.I oundera. Th: men are
almost entirely green, and 50 arc .he officers,
actual>y knowing nothing Of artillery eervice,
which is all they can employ there, because
they baEc nothing else.
o. the opposite side of the Mississippi, in
Tennessee, is Camp Harris, with about tue
game number Of Zen, and about the same de.
gree Of efidencT.
At Camp Randolph, about 10 miles aborc
Memphis, on the Tennessee side, there is from
1coo to 100 troops. Hero, like the camps be-
low, they are entirely without smau arms, and
thtY know little xboat the uses Ct artillery
At this place come two hundred troops, which
in this par. Of The country would be classei
rs stump tailnv verc landed from the J. II
Dickeg from Memphis, the boat upon which
Mr. ClevAland travelled ff11m Mempkis Il
Cairo, The ts1k among these troops was tia
a descent upon Union CITY and Columbus i,
Kentucky. b7 the "stumu tails was /,
contemplation. snd that at 70 remote period
II they do 10, our "boys" at Cairo mny hare
few houzs' fun in driving the ra.sals cut 6
Kentucky. When the Dlckey passed Un1o
: City and Columbus, there TITS noappearane
of troops at either OF those places.
HI. C. is firmly Of the opinion that 5000 (
6,ooo good troops could capture either or q
I or The places named above without much ii
! Acnlty, and thereby both Tennessee and 4
kansaa be saved nom tho impending
til ruin which now awaits them. In the !,
ter State, Is We have stated above, buslness
entirely abandoned The courts hare adjonr
ed"untE the close Of the war and no o.
whhteTcr. Il man wants psoTis1ons
clothes, he takes them where he can I'll
them, and If his right IL questioned, the
Volyet and the howleknNe settle it. The
Ere not enough provisions In the whole sta
foI.st the people to e1ceed thirty days, a.
WHEN these are eone' hof1on viii accumnla