The Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1861-1862, 1861-12-07

i y
like lighting cocks the conttabands furnish
ling the iutaries Of secesk at the lowest prices
A letter tosthe Boston Traveller thus tell
how they DO things down there;
The country for many miles in this vicin
ity is'almOst entirely deserted by the white
population, the negroes selling anything they
can lay their hands upon, for mere song
For instance a party from our ship left this
morning in one or the boats and landed about
three miles up the river then proceeding .
mile or two into the country they purchased
from the negroes at their Oscn price the follow
ing, viz: One large fat sheep for GO cents; 81
spring chickens for rs cents; 4 fat turkeys fol
5 cents each also a good lat bullock at a
price fear you would not feel disposed to
believe, therefore will not name it." ra.
Another Hilton Head letter of Nov. 25th
states that large number of men are max
ing additions and Improvements to the forts,
and some 1900 men are throwing up line Of
trenches about mile in the rear 81 tie fort
which will extend atf6ss the island This is
intended to be formidable fortification, for,
in addition to the trenches, which are to screen
infantry, here are, at short intervals, bastions
upon which are mounted heavy siege guns,
part of which are rifed and Of the largest cal
ibre. The writer says: ..
"Thc health of our troops here is very good
at present, with the exception of the 9th
Maine, which has been somewhat unfortunate
in this respect. Our men have Jared better
since landing here than the army regulations
allow. We found large fields of sweet pota-
toes, peas beans and corn, which looked par
ticdlarly tempting to our men, (many of whom
arc New England farmers, and in fact, already
ripe for the harvest. They therefore immc-
diately set about harvesting their crops fer
the rebel owners; and as they were the pro-
dict Bf the boasted soil of South Carolina, not
few of the men were possessed with de-
sire to try the quality of it. and, finding it very
palatcable, there is now good prospect that
the entire crop will be speedily consumed.
We have also in more than one sense, put an
cffectual blockade upon one of the cotton ports
Of South Caorlina for VIC have taken the har-
scstins Of somc of the cotton plantations into
oar own hards particularly the field upon
which our brigade is encampcd. When we
landed We were ordered back about two miles
and to pitch our tents in a vast cotton field
The cotton Was all ripe for picoking and &6 at
once set about picking it up by the roots tc
make room for our tents. We cannot say
that this is the most profitable mode of har'
vcsting the article and as this is oNr iirs
cxpcricace in the business do not rec ,mlncnc
the method to our Southern friends" as a
Yankee improvement Until We e&perinicn'
further. We can at least sat that It is the
most oxpoditiv,'s way that we can cancoiyc
of. The cotton raised here is of the fines
grsdc-sea-island cotton, and it is pity that
such quantities Of it should bt wasted. IN the
storchouscs upon some Of the plantations arc
large quantities, which had been picked be-
fore we arrived, which has been taken posses
sion Of Also in one storchousc, upon the
north side of the island, VIC found seven thou
sand bushels Of corn, which our teams arc
now removing tn our stcrehouscs. Taking il
altogether; our forces have not only got pos
session of an important point, but large a
mount Of army stores have fallen into Their
hands,"