Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1864-04-25
THE Red RIVER EXPEDITION.
THE ADVANCE INTO WESTERN LOU
IsIANA-sTRENGTH OF THE
OPPOSING FORCES.
SOCIETY IN THE INTERIOR OF LOU
IsIANA-THE COTTON QUEs-
TION.

Smiths troops have been tvted under Grant
ard Sherman, and can be depended on.
Porter's fleet consisting Of some nineteen
iron.clads fpartly and wholly, is formi-
dsble. Two Of the most powerful OF them,
however, have gone down the river, partly
10 be ready there for any emergency, and
partly because, with a falling river, there
Is danger they might be shut in here. In
addition to the forces moving against
Shreveport from this side, we have q re-
port Cprobably true) that General Steele is
moving down from Arkansas.
WHAT Is OPPOSED TO THEN.
From the best information an inclined
TO think there will be Walkers army Of
about five thousand men, Tsylor's Of about
three thousand, Green and Majors osEal-
~ from Texas shout four thousand, and
possibly some few more gathered at
Shreveport. Msgruder's army ten
thousand-ms also be marching up from
Houston but it will not probably 60 to
Shreveport: Shreveport is naturally
well protected by sW mps and the river !;
il is slso prepared with earthWorks, but
how formidable 1 cannot learn. In addi-
ticn the rebels have swift rsm-the
Webb-but she is not strong, and an iron
elsd-the Missouri-Yhich, they claim, is
powerful battery. There are also some
thirty two steamers in their possession.
STATE OF SOCIETY.
General Banks, in his efforts here to re-
organize society, viii have q serious task.
The town was never very fss ssiDsting, and
now it is shabby. Some Of the inhabitants
tell me the moral condition never was
lovely. Sundays were hardly noticed, ex-
oept by the women; gambling, drinking
and free intercourse with the colored Is
dies we're almost universal with gentle
men-and these were not done secretly
no disgrace attached to any one for these
gentIemsnly practices. Business is not.
Most Of the plantations in this region are
abandoned By their owners, who have fed
to Texas with their mules AMI sble.bOdied
negroes, leaving the old and the young for
us. The one god here was the slave. An
old negro man said to me:
Master lost two sons in the rebel army,
but when he lose me he hurt the most.
CoRE AND oorTos.
A great breadth Of lend (the most fer
tile in the world) had been ploughed about
Alexandria, and the corn was up; but now
all is lost and, 30 fsr as can see, hardly
corn enough to support the people will be
raised, and not pound Of cotton from the
mouth Of the Red River to ITS source.
am persuaded that thousands of these
people would have remsined loyal to the
Union had it been possible, and these re.
naming are taking the osth Of allegiance
in large numbers. More would do so if
they dared but as General Banks had or
ders to abandon this country once before,
ssy: "How soon may he be recslled now /;
and then what Is to become of as"
have no pity for the rich men who have
worked TO bring about this condition of
things, but an sorry for these people.
TIE WAY REBEL ABHRs WERE MADE.
It is the universal testimony of per-
AMI a5z3ds 10 .5t = HID a. NJ la sFs
willing, even anxious, to have somebody
else, and that somebody else who would be
forced to fight were the poorer whites and
the small farmers. So the oonscription
was necessary, and will tell how it was
enforced-nO one was spared: a party Of
cavalry were out after conscripts, and ct
a house on the north side of the Red Riv-
er, some thirty miles further, they found
8 boy II or Is years old, the only son Of
his mother, and she a widow; beside his
mother were three sisters. He was told
he must 20 along. he said:
"I cannot go-for my mother and sis.
ters viii starVe if do"
NE matter, you must 90; SO come on "
81 have no horse, and cannot 20.
+" You must and shall go-snd you must
steal horse"
They forced him away and forced him
to steal horse from q planter. This plan
ter came after them and demanded his
horse, and being q man Of some influence
the crime was laid upon this boy, who was
threatened with punishment and this
went on to such an extent that he took to
the woods for safety. As a deserter he
was followed and dogs were out upon his
track. BE was finally treed snd then shot
desd. The leader of this obi7alrous body
took his body cn his horse carried him to
his mothers house, threw him over the
fence and cried out: "Here is your son
l have brought him back"
This seems incredible, but il is told me
by person whom 1 cannot doubt. One
Of Dudley's men told me he had been in
the sTsmps for two years. He was driv-
en- from his home at first by the conscrip-
ton; he returned TO ii, WAS followed there;
was shot at as he stood in his own door,
escaped, and his house Was burned to the
ground.
1t seems that these recruiting parties
for the glorious Southern army carried
dogs, and that the recruits were hunted.
as we would hunt the "bounding foe."-
There is no accounting for the deeds of
chiVslry These hunted men are now
coming in to Us by hundreds, and are cal
led
THE PRoPosED COTTON SALE.