FROM CAIRO TO THE DELTA.

BY COLONEL J. G. WILSON.

ONE of the leading arguments heretofore adduced by foreign tourists in favor of the Rhine over all American rivers, has been the interest thrown around that beautiful stream by its historic associations, rendering a journey up the great German highway of so much greater interest than a trip on the noble Hudson or the magnificent Mississippi.

War, from which springs almost all the charm and romance that appertain to the historic streams of the Old World, has laid its terrible hand upon the mighty Father of Waters, and the rivers of Europe, of Asia, and of Africa can no longer claim precedence on that score. For a thousand miles from Cairo to the Delta, its banks have become classic ground. Four years of bloody battles and terrible sieges-of thrilling exploits and romantic adventures, have thrown around the Mississippi an interest which no other river in our country can boast of. The fame of stout old Farragut and his heroic passage of Forts Philip and Jackson, and the renown of Grant and his wonderful siege of the "Western Gibraltar," will live forever. When France forgets Napoleon-when England no longer remembers the glory of her Nelson, then may their countrymen forget the fame of Farragut and Grant, and not until that time.

Cairo, now so quiet and deserted, was, when we first saw it, in May, 1861, the dirtiest, and, for its size, the busiest place we ever gazed upon. It was taken possession of at the inception of the war by our troops, and formed an admirable base of operations on the Ohio, Cumberland, Tennessee, and Mississippi Rivers. It was from this point that Grant proceeded to Paducah, to Belmont, to Fort Henry, and to Fort Donelson, where he won the first great victory of the war, which electrified the whole country. A few hours' sail south from Cairo brings us to Belmont, where "Unconditional Surrender" fought his maiden battle of this war; and a little lower down, on the opposite side, is Columbus, the most northerly point on the Mississippi ever fortified by the rebels, and of whose frowning battlements we heard so much.

We next approach Island Number Ten-now a negro colony-the scene of Colonel Bissell's gallant exploit, and which calls to mind the names of Admiral Foote and General Pope. Farther on we pass New Madrid, and then approach Fort Pillow, where Forrest committed acts of atrocity on the negro regiments which will forever brand his name with infamy. Many of the officers, as well as the men, were shot down in

cold blood after they had surrendered: vide Report of the Congressional Committee appointed to investigate the Fort Pillow

massacre.

Here is the Egyptian-named city of Memphis, the largest place between St. Louis and New Orleans, containing about twenty thousand inhabitants and very many handsome edifices. From its high bluffs, De Soto, the illustrious companion of Pizarro in the conquest of Peru, first gazed upon the turbid waters of the Monarch of Rivers, and from the same heights the inhabitants of Memphis looked down upon the naval engagement-confident of a rebel victory-which occurred there on a bright morning in June, 1862. South of the city is Fort Pickering, a formidable earthwork, nearly a mile in extent, commanding both the town and river, and constantly garrisoned during the war by a heavy force. It was to this place that Generals Hurlbut and Washburne ran en dishabille for shelter, on the memorable morning that Forrest's raiders dashed into Memphis, and so very unceremoniously disturbed the slumbers of unsuspicious soldiery and citizens, long before breakfast-time. We next pass Helena, a considerable town, where, as well as at Milliken's Bend and Port Hudson, our colored troops were baptized in blood, exhibiting courage-so said General Grant"unsurpassed by any white troops."

The next place of interest is Napoleon, at the mouth of the Arkansas River, after which we reach Gaines's Landing, where, in August, 1864, the steamer Empress was fired into by a rebel battery; nine killed and thirteen wounded-many mortally. This was the last and most severe disaster of the kind which took place during the war. But a few miles distant stood Greenville, where our boats were constantly fired upon; a bend in the river and the proximity of the channel to the bank, as at Gaines's Landing, favoring the rebel design of destroying steamers. On the 16th of April, 1863, as a division of the Sixteenth Army Corps was passing, on board of transports, en route for Vicksburg, thirteen soldiers were killed and wounded. A battalion of the 15th Illinois Cavalry, under Major Wilson, was immediately landed and went in pursuit of the flying rebels, while the infantry destroyed the town, in retaliation for the death of their comrades.

After passing Lake Providence and Milliken's Bend, we reach the mouth of the placid "Yazoo," the red man's "River of Death," which has now its stories of the struggles and adventures of the pale face, in addition to its old Indian legends. It was at Chickasaw Bayou, on the Yazoo, that Sherman was driven back with severe slaughter, in his unsuccessful attack upon the enemy, strongly fortified on the Walnut Hills. A few miles from the Yazoo we come to Young's Point, the place where General Grant was stationed with his army for a long time, patiently

planning and operating against the "Western Gibraltar." At a short distance to the south is the famous canal, or cut-off, from which so much was expected; and here, at last, is the contumacious stronghold, which required all Grant's military genius and persistency to conquer. After what has been pronounced by a high military authority as "one of the most remarkable campaigns and sieges on record," the persevering soldier was rewarded for all his toils and pains, and the old flag floated over the rebel city again, on the 4th of July, 1863. Here are still to be seen the caves into which the inhabitants crept to avoid our screaming shot and shell, during the evermemorable siege; and here still remain the prodigious lines of earthworks which, with the low hills, the defiles, and broken ground, extending in all directions for miles, offering such admirable facilities for defence, held us at bay for forty-seven days. A beautiful monument has been erected to General Grant in commemoration of the siege. The monument is a pyramid twenty feet high, surmounted with a fifteen-inch globe. On the principal side is a large American eagle, with widespread wings, which cover implements of defence; in one claw he holds the laurel, in the other an American shield, and in its beak a pennant inscribed: "E Pluribus Unum." The eagle sustains on its wings the Goddess of Liberty. On one side of the monument is inscribed: "To the Memory of the Surrender of Vicksburg by Lieutenant-General J. G. Pemberton, to Major-General U. S. Grant, U. S. A., on the 3d of July, 1863." On the space where the monument is erected stood a large tree, under whose branches the conference took place which resulted in the surrender of Vicksburg. The tree long ago disappeared, such relics as walking-canes, rings, &c., having been made from its trunk and limbs; and even its roots were dug up, to the depth of six feet.

As we glide along past the high bluffs which bristled with cannon from the Walnut Hills to Warrenton, we recall the stories of Ellett's dashing deeds-of Farragut's and Porter's gallantry-of the running past the batteries by our gunboats and transports," amid sheeted fire and flame "of the blowing up the propeller on which the unfortunate trio of Bohemians, Brown, Colburn, and Richardson, had taken passage of our expedition up the country with Blair's Division-of our cavalry experiences on the Big Black River, in the rear of Vicksburg-of the day the mine was exploded, and from our whole line, extending in a semicircle from near Warrenton to the Walnut Hills, belched forth, from every gun that could be brought to bear on the doomed city, its messengers of death and destruction. Many a well-fought field have we seen, but never until that sunny June afternoon did we fully appreciate Campbell's lines in Hohenlinden :

"And louder than the bolts of heaven,
Far flashed the red artillery."

We next pass Grand Gulf, a strongly-fortified point, which Admiral Farragut attacked in June, 1862, but which was not carried until April of the year following; a little farther on, Brulinsburgh, to which place Grant crossed his army on the transports, which ran past the Vicksburg batteries, and marched on Port Hudson, and from there pushed forward to Jackson; turning back, he defeated the enemy at Raymond, Edwards's Ferry, Champion Hill, and the Big Black, driving him into Vicksburg, and investing the place on the 17th of May. We next come to Natchez, a beautiful city, which never made an attempt at defence, although, from its high and commanding position, well calculated to do so successfully. The next point of interest is Red River, at whose mouth our gunboats kept watch and ward for nearly two years, and at the expiration of that period permitted their prey to escape them, and where, many fathoms deep, repose the remains of that noble Spanish knight, Hernando De Soto. Up this river went that famous expedition which terminated so disastrously for us, owing to a chapter of blunders. We happen to know that a certain basket containing wine, with the writer's name upon it, fell into the appreciating hands of Major-General Wharton, an old classmate, in command of the Texas cavalry, who pursued us so sharply, and who very kindly and considerately pledged the owner's health while drinking the same. Item: It was Widow Cliquot, and cost us exactly forty-eight dollars per dozen, in "lawful currency of the realm."

We next glide swiftly through Morgan's Bend and past Morganzie, a fortified position long held, and strongly, by our forces. A few hours' sail, and we reach Port Hudson, a place very similarly situated, and only less impregnable than Vicksburg, which successfully resisted all efforts of General Banks, the gallant Nineteenth Corps, and the Corps d'Afrique, until the eighth day of July, when the sorely-pressed garrison, commanded by General Gardner, a graduate of West Point, hearing of the fall of Vicksburg, made an unconditional surrender.

Twenty-five miles distant is Baton Rouge, with its battle memories. Here was fought a desperate battle between the rebel army, commanded by Breckinridge, and the Union forces under General Williams, who fell while gallantly leading his columns to the attack. The capital of Louisiana deserves that the origin of its name, of Baton Rouge, or Red Stick, should be recorded here. It is well known that the cypresstree, in the Southern country, rises to a wonderful height, and that its bark is of a reddish hue. Its trunk is shorn of branches and its head alone wears a leafy crown. In Nature's book of architecture it represents the pillar with its chapiter. Le Page

du Pratz relates that, in his time, there was yet to be seen, on the present site of Baton Rouge, a famous cypress-tree, out of which a carpenter had offered to build two boats, one of sixteen tons, and the other of fourteen. "As the wood of the cypress-tree is red, says Du Pratz, "one of the first travellers who arrived at this locality exclaimed that this tree would make a fine stick! Hence the name of Baton Rouge (Red Stick) given to this place. With regard to the tree, its height has not as yet been measured. It towers almost beyond sight." The next place of importance is Donaldsonville, which, like very many other towns along the river, shows unmistakably the marks and ravages of war. A few miles distant east, opposite to Point Hampton, is the famous Honmas plantation, the finest on the river, and now the property of John Burnside, Esq., of New Orleans.

Passing several small towns and villages, together with many fine sugar plantations, we arrived at Carrollton, a suburb of the "Crescent City." Here took place, in September, 1863, a grand review in presence of Generals Grant, Banks, Washburne, Stone, Herron, Thomas, and other minor military magnates. What a magnificent spectacle! What cheers rent the air when the historic colors of the old Thirteenth Corps dipped to the hero of Vicksburg, as he passed along the lines, followed by a brilliant cortege of captains and staff officers, who had great difficulty in keeping up with the Lieutenant-General, as he dashed along at a full gallop on a magnificent charger borrowed from Banks. Taking his position under a grand old oak, the troops passed in review before Grant, moving along with that easy, careless, accurate swing, which bespeaks the old Western campaigner. And the flags they carried! Terrible is an army with banners -if those banners are torn by the shot and shell of a score of battles. Belmont, Donelson, Shiloh, Arkansas Post, Port Gibson, Raymond, Jackson, Champion Hill, Big Black, and Vicksburg, were the names written, not in letters, but in bullet-holes, on the dear tattered and seedy-looking old rags. No bunting, however gay and gorgeous with new beauty, could be half so interesting to the thoughtful eye, and it was not surprising that the usually calm and collected Grant lifted his hat with real reverence and deep feeling as the grand old colors, surrounded by his old companions-in-arms, passed before him.

And here, at last, is the "Crescent City," the queen of the South-the plaything of monarchs-swapped," as boys swap their pen-knives. Discovered and lost by the Frenchpossessed by the gold-hunting Spaniard-again ceded to the French-exchanged for a kingdom with Napoleon, who traded in empires, and sold by him for a few millions to our Government, and captured from the rebels the last week of April, 1862, by the combined forces of the army and navy under Butler and