Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1861-10-31
Intere.,Inn IRON CnIro.

Interesting from Cairo.
Correspondence " the n. Y. Tfibune.l
OAIRo, Oct. "a, 1861.
In order to give a reply to flag OF truca
sent up about week ago by the rebels from
Columbia, 40 miles below, our little tugboat
Sampson went down to-day with party OF
officers and a few civilians. When we were
within three miles of Columbus they fred
gun to bring us to; but We kept on, when
another gun was fired, and we only stopped |
when we arrived opposite the town. Here they |
would have fred again, and with shot but |
our boat is so small, being only about fifty |
tuns that they were not certain OF hitting |
US, and were likely to fre into one Of their
camps across the river. One Of their boats
then came out and we were requested TO go
up the river to land. Col. beaufort there
upon requests conference with the officer
commanding, when q person comes forward
and calling himself Gen Pillow, requests as
TO land up the river, that is, at the point
whore they first fired Col. Beaufort cOOlly
replies that his orders are that he shall land at
the town of Columbus; and at last, and after
some more parleyiRg, landing was made,
and Col. Beaufort was introduced 10 the Cen
eral Commanding, Bishop Leonidas Polk.
The greeting between the two was quite cor
dial, and certainly should have been so under
other circumstances, since the parties were
once classmates. Thereupon the soldiers and
spectators on shore, numbering Eve or six
thousand columbus itself has but q few
hundred inhabitants), gave great shout
and the armament seemed broken up with
the noise and confusion.
An exchange Of prisoners then took place,
we giving up three and they giving up six
teen. After that some Of our party went in
| to the town, some of whom exchanged friend
" glasses of brandy and champagne, and it
appeared to those competent 70 judge that
their liquors are very good. Whether it was
/ accident or not cannot decide, but there
was great display of ice and divers luxu-
ries of which they have been partially desli-
tute, and that they have an abundance OF
everything.
One of cur party, seeing boy selling
Memphis newspapers, cried out "Here, boy,
give me a paper" but Immediately hun
dred voices rose, crying, "DOn't let him have
IL" but the charms of quarter ot dollar,
notwithstanding its eagle and stars, were too
much, and a copy of the Appeal of the 22d
inst. was brought away. 1t contains many
lies and no news.
A civilian Of onr party, in company with
a gentleman of the place, got quite ''mellOw'
and of course friendly, and says to the other,
while Pillow whe standing by, "Tell me how
many men have Jou got these few thousand
here cannot be all y "Oh, no." was the re-
ply, "this is only a fatigue party" 1t so
happened shortly after that an officer came
to Pillow and requested some soldiers to
work on the fortifcations. "Well," says
Pillow, "take men out OF the camp" "But
there are none there says the officer; "they
have all come down to the river, and there
amt maa on the hill" Pillow shoves out
his foot upon the officers to give him the
hint, but it was too late.
The soldiers looked well, but they
wore a great variety of uniforms, AID had
quite a shabby appearance The rank of the
officers seems to be indicated in quite sim
gular manner-thatis, by stars on collar Of
peculiar construction passing around the
neck. The lowest officer has one star, the
next highest in grade two stars, or perhaps
more, till an officer of high rank will have a
row quite around his neck, and the grand
leader of all has two rows and besides this,
they have stlrs on tn cir coat sleeves, as well
as stripes of red flannel, which sometimes get
greasy.
They had the news that fight was going
on in Washington this morning, and that the
id AbOlidonists," which is their phrase,
were being tremendously whaled, and also
they had the news that JEFF. Thompson had
met our men at Pilot Knob, No. defeated
them with great slaughter, took 700 prison.
ers, and that the remnant of our forces were
retreasing with loss at every step, upon Cape
Girardeau. We have news of jeff here al
50, but it happens to be the reverse.
One of the principal citizens of Columbus
sent up word to. one of the principal men in
Cairo that when "this business was settled, .
he was coming up to give his old friend one
of the biggest thrashings be ever had In
Oeu0I Uu6 WahJeU 10 get a chance at another
Cairo citizen with his revolver. And yet,
should these parties meet to o.morrOw, 1 think
they weuld do so as friendly as ever.
An old steamboat Captain of our party met
smother gentleman of the same class, and was
told in confidence that the whole of their ef-
fective force does not exceed 6, 900 men, and
that brigade was goingto start to join Har-
dee tomorrow, who was going to join Buck
ner, and they intended to take Louisville
within ten days. While they are doing this,
it would naturally be proper for Us 70 step
uown and take Columbus, and 1 should NOT
wonder if we should doso. We can do it.