The Cass County Republican. [volume] (Dowagiac, Mich.) 18??-1880, 1862-07-17


Memphis eight hours after the depart
ure of the flag ship, got aground on a
sand bar, at ] ! O'clock on Sunday night,
off Friar's Point, and was detained
twelve hours, when, by hard sparring
and strong pulling, she was got off
without sustaining any damage. Friar's
Point, it will be recollected, is the
place where, a little more than year
ago. Union men were barreled up and
rolled into the river. The Mississippi
chivalry, however, that attacks and
murders unprotected travellers, did not
make its appearance, either in force or
as idle spectators.
At the mouth of the White River,
the gunboat Cincinnati joined the feet,
and proceeded down the river.
SCENES ON THE RIVER.
The large plantations, which hereto
fore doomed with the luxuriant cotton
plant, now have their broad fields COW
cred with corn. skiing Cotton" has
been dethroned, and the least pretend
ing of all staples, Indian corn, now
rules. The question of Nothing TO eat
is just now much more vital than that
of "Nothing to wear"
The villages and even the plantations
seem to have been entirely deserted by
the chivalry, and only the negro slave
is left to guard his masters property.
At several points, large numbers of
slaves were collected on the bank of
the river to see SIDE Linkum gunboats."
Invariably demonstrations of Joy were
made by the sable group; hats, aprons,
and flaming cotton handkerchiefs were
waved, and the broad good humored
grin of the plantation negro displayed
the white line of worries across the
broad, black foreground. AT one point
the scene was quite amusing. About
200 plantation hands had assembled on
the bank, and evidently the conse-
qnences of a demonstration of wei
come to the Yankees was not lost sight
of for half dozen of the more enthu-
siastic of their number got down under
the bank and vigorously swung their
old white hats around their knees, not
daring to "throw it high in air' at joy
} full news, least perchance some Rebel
|. master in his wrath might order three
times thirty nine to he laid severely on
their loyal bodies. The women, seeing
the action of their Drawer brothers,
stopped down and waved their cotton
aprons SO as to be observed only from
the river, but all the time faces were
turned backward over the shoulder ia
keep watch over ''Massa" and his spies.
DESERTED.
Helena, where the Ohio Belle, the
first boat captured on the river by reb
! els, was taken from her owners and
the crew grossly insnlted, is now de-
serted by its plundering inhabitants
who have, not without cause, fed from
the wrath to come.
The "City of Napoleon" whose citi
zens were the first to fire into an un
armed boat, laden with scores of ladies
) and gentleman, is the very picture oil
the ''deserted village" The stores
} hotels, and private dwellings were al
closed, and not white man was seen
in the place; "nigger and a mule
were all that remained in sight, to give
evidence that life was still alive.
Along the river south of Napoleon
there was more evidence of faith in
the civilization of the men composing
the national army. In the villages
ladies were seen at nearly every house
and the men came out on the levee to
get a better view of the feet. On the
plantations, the families of the proprie
tors made no scruple in allowing them
selves to to seen, and the field hands
were at their accustomed labor. The
proportion of cotton being cultivated
increases as We go southwark, and al
together there is unmistakable evidence
of greater confidence in the stability
ofcommercial relations that is witnessed
further north.
REBEL BOATS IN THE YAZoO RIVER.
AT the mouth of the Yazoo River, a
portion of the ram fleet, which had
preceded the gunboats, was blockading
the stream. This river is the grea,
store honse of Rebel steamboat proper
ty; all the elegant New Orleans pack.
cts, and numerous smaller crafts, the
unfinished ram Arkansas, and the Van
Dorm, are reported to be mp the Yazoo.
Among the boats in good condition are
named the A. ]. Cotton, General Omit.
man, Louisville, Natchez, Vicksburg,
City of Memphis, Kennett, Prince OF
Wales, Magnolia, Magenta, and a mum.
Der of smaller boats-in all there are
about twenty-five vessels, all of which
with but little repair could be made
serviceable.
THE RAM ARKANSAS.
: Though the Southern people are ex
ceedingly fond of telling great stories
concerning things unseen, and love to
magnify the Importance and overrate
the power of munitions untried, they
seem to dwell with especial emphasis
on the construction and powers of their
unfinished gunboat ram, Arkansas.
This vessel was partially built at Mem
phis; it is eighty feet in length, thirty.
eight feet beam, and is driven by two
propellers of seven feet diameter, and