Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1864-04-13
THE WHITE REFUGEES AT CAIRO.

THE WHITE kEFUUEEs Al eAino'
We have before us circular issued by
the officers of the Cairo Relief Association
for relieving the wants of the numerous
refugees from rebeldom, which are crowd
ing into that city. 1t represents sad
state of restitution. and appeals to the
philanthropic for sympathy and aid for
them. We have room for only the fol-
lowing extract:
"Ihe reign of terror which exists
throughout all the rebel states lying in
and adjacent to the Mississippi valley has
no parallel in the most barbarous annals
of our country. Their able bodied men
have been conscripted, or fleeing to the
woods and swamps have been hunted with
blood hounds and shot like beasts. Their
crops have been destroyed. Their lands
laid waste. Their cattle and teams driv-
en- off. Their granaries robbed. Their
cotton burned. Their houses sacked and
RACED. Women have been stripped OF
their clothing, aud turned naked upon the
world. Men, deserving from a service
they hated, have been caught and made
to "dance wild on the wind from the
branches of trees which overhang their
own dwellings Children, intercedlng,
have been shot. Mothers, imploring mer-
cy have had their infants stabbed on
their breasts. Sympathy with the Union
cause has been made the soul occasion for
atrocities unheard of in intestine war.
The rich and poor alike are PROSTATE,
smitten and suppliant from their very des-
titution.
"Ihey are sent here by the military au-
thorities, on government transports and
steamers, and landed on our levee at all
hours of the night and day. There they
are left shelterless and penniless, their flu
ture an aimless blank More than two
hundred have recently been set on shore
at a late hour Of the night and COM
PEELED to remain exposed to the incIem-
encies of the weather until morning.
The average number per month now OK.
ceeds two thousand, with prospect of
an increase rather than diminution of
arrivals lsf
"A few have teams or money enough to
take them hundred miles into the coun-
try by railroad Some have friends in
the North who would assist them on their
reaching them. Nearly all are anxious
to get into the rural districts, where they
can find homes and make an honorable
livelihood by their labor. Some, indeed,
who have been taught and accustomed to
look upon labor as mental, may have to
learn by sad experience the blessing and
dignity of manly toll.
mine tenths of all are women and chill
dren, four fifths of whom are children Of
tender years But very few are infrm
from age.
1.-THE only gratuity they receive from the
general government after arrival is rations
of -four and bacon, with fuel, and the oc-
cupancy of one small barrack
1.-THE benevolent people Of the North, in
response to the earnest solicitations Of
Rev. E. Folsom. Post Chaplain, have con-
tributed about $4,000 and large amount
of clothing. G. N. Shpman. Agt. U. S.
S. Commission. has. with this money, fur
nished transportation to about 1000 per-
sons, aud disbursed the clothing judicious-
ly to many more.
"Should these private enterprises fail or
prove inadequate, as there is reason to
apprehend, the situation of new, arrivals
must become Acknowledgements on
despair.
Money may be RENTED in drafts to our
treasurer; clothing or other goods through
any Sanitay Commission, marked, white
Refugees, Cairo, Illinois" Full and fire.
qeut reports will be sent to all who may
contribute"