Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1864-05-07

arms Of slavery and oppression, and sail
ing down the river under the stars an
5 stripes" to receive their freedom as tn
as nations gift.
At one or the places where we wer
loading cotton, the executive officer took ,
- lot Of men ashore on 3 sort Of an expedi
uon- Had mules hitched up, and set ne
eroes to drawing cotton to the bank. 4
>. lot OF the boys brought some poultry a.
board, and We hsd some rebel chicken foI
supper. We are noW-Tuesdsy afternoon
stopping ct the bank about fifteen miles
above Columbis and the boys have been
ashore and got some more poultry. chick.
n ems turkeys, &C., together with some small
n pigs and l hardly know what besides
!; Ihe negroes, male and female, and above
81 the little negroes, make such a noise.
talking, crying, and making a general
tumuit hardly know what / write.
Inc stream looks quite narrow in COM
psrison with the Mississippi. When the
little stesu.tug Pansy came alongside Of
the coal barge and put in the FIRST fifteen
bales Of cotton, spoke of before, the cot
ton got hre, and it was with difficulty we
extinguished it. We now have an immense
pile Of cotton over and around the powder
maEagine. Two cook stoves in front to-
getner with the fire under the fire under
the boilers, the boat loaded with careless
} oontrsbands, at first thought person
WoHldimagine il was somewhat dsnfer
but feel sale enou gh-such is the force Of
hsoiti and constant scquaintadce with
dsDger.
Ihe government officers got some in
formation relative to what prizes were te
be had up this river, in the following
manner. In the fore part Of March, when
We took possession Of Trinity, in the for
mer expedition up this river, we came
across a man who WAS g UnionisE, and |
nsd lately come to that place from Vicks- |
burg to visit his sister, and through him
information wss obtsined as to the cotton |
steamboats, go, in this direction. The |
man was detained to accompany US, and
Is now on the Lafayette. Captain Foster
was on our boat Friday, and remsine
until 1t was nearly morning. We were up
nearly sll night loading ootton.
No2r some splendid residences along the
riVeri noticed novel way of building
fences. What are called Talbot trees are
set out along in row, straight as a bee
line. The tops are trimmed, as l am in.
formed, every year, as they are very
thrifty and grow fa5t-s small plant, no
larger than your finger, set ont one year,
VIII be ss large as your arm the next. so
tney arrive ct suitable size in very
teW years. Some that I saw seemed TO be
a iootand half through, tops cut of, and
sll but few branches. These snswertbe
purpose of posts Mortices are cut into
the trees, and rails are then inserted about
SIX nigh, short distance apart. One Of
these fences extended mile or two. Ino-
ticed lane Of this description which look.
ed very beautiful, and afforded a nice
shady walk Of ornamented trees.
When / come to look l see that the boats e.
that left us got large additional amount .
Of cotton, while we were stopping. think
we have taken In all about $500 bales.
Tuesday night the negroes had grand
dance on board, 10 the music of the tam n
BORNE and violin. Dinah and Sambo d
Atripped the light fantastic toe" at a great n
ratei and it was not very pleasant for the
nerves. as the dsrkies sweat and =
steamed ana lmpregnated the sir win the
strong monia peculiar TO their species.
1 am informed that the rebels have
burned some thirty or forty thousand a,
bales Of cotton around Monroe. We have :
on board here 130 negroes, men, women u
and children. l judge there are 500 or
500 on all the different boats, we are b,
bringing down. Cotton is secreted alI :.
around in the woods, 10 keep it away
from the Yankees. II
Noticed to day where the guerrillas had
encsmped on the borders Of the river
Last night the men we're ordered to keep =,
their clothes on, and stay by their guns y
sll night, so as to be ready at moments ol
warning. The men also stood by their a.
guns this forenoon. ia
An intelligent negro" on board here :,
says that in section Of country he trav- 70
be saw splsndid country mansions, one or
two miles apart, deserted by the lordly "
owners, who are in the rebel army, and in
the plantations grown up to grsss and =,
weeds.
At Monroe couple Of Frenehmen came 20
in q skif TO the Lafayette to see Captain
Foster. 1 expect one or both Of them had
lost some cotton. Our boat was anchored
a little way off. I could not hear all the i"
but got something Of the ol
drift of it. They presented q document P
to show that they we're under French pro- in
lection, and that their cotton was not hs-
bic to confscstion; but the Captain
q could not seOit" Be gave them tier
ribie talking to"-told them they we're y
foreigners, seeking the protection Of this ri
the best in the world, and
after they had left, or been bsnished by -
the tyranny Of their own country, and "
we're now, and had been, furnishind the
rebel army with clothes and provisions,
that they might succeed in their devilish n
purpose Of stsbbing the Goddess of Amer =
lean Liberty - the Palladium Of free p
he had no sympathy for R
them, and could afford them no relief. II d,
they wanted any information in regard to =,
their rights under the protection of -
France, to read the report Of the Seoreta- "
ry Of the Treasury. So they received no Vi
comfort. 1t is now nearly 9 o'clock, and
Thursday evening, and we sre still at
Trinity, where, think, we will stay for
the night, and viii suspend writing until NJ
tomorrow or next day. in
We got nine recruits by our expedition, q,
four white men and five negroes one Of the
negrOs is acting as Captains steward. We II
got him at Monroe. He says his master
ordered him 10 hide three nice horses,
which he did, but We usd no means of car m
rying such property. Another fastened
up female slave to keep us from finding y
her, and the slave from following the 81
eussed Yankess." Another mistress Of q di
slave, who got away and is now with US, h;
burned up all her best clothes TO keep her
from escape, but she was not to be foiled d
10 that way, and came TO us with what V
she could find an now nearly through d
with my rambling remarks, and if you =,
can read it will be thankful. fear "
have worried yosr patience.
Reported Arrest Of B. r. TayIor,