| Title: | Extracts From an Emigrant Letter From New Orleans |
|---|---|
| ID | 3979 |
| Collection | Irish Emigration Database |
| File | 1861-70/3 |
| Year | 1862 |
| Sender | unknown |
| Sender Gender | male |
| Sender Occupation | unknown |
| Sender Religion | unknown |
| Origin | New Orleans, Louisiana, USA |
| Destination | Belfast, N.Ireland |
| Recipient | unknown |
| Recipient Gender | unknown |
| Relationship | re American Civil War |
| Source | The Belfast News-Letter, Thursday, 3 April, 1862 |
| Archive | The Central Library, Belfast |
| Doc. No. | 102323 |
| Date | 03/04/1862 |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | EMG |
| Log | Document added by LT, 19:02:01. |
| Word Count | 678 |
| Genre | |
| Note | |
| Transcript | A LETTER FROM NEW ORLEANS. We have been favoured, by a lady in Belfast, with a letter, received on Tuesday, from her nephew in New Orleans. The letter was written at the close of November last, but was delayed, owing to the difficulty and uncertainty of transmission. the following extracts are of interest:- " A stray vessel now and then runs the blockade, but her cargo is but a drop of water in a bucket. Gunpowder has advanced from 50c. to 300c.; coffee, from 12c. to 100c.; woollen yarn from 40c. to 2d. 50c.; salt, from 1d. per sack to 10d.; and everything in proportion; calicoes, from 12c. to 60c.; shoes, from 5d. to 7d. Even envelopes have advanced from 4d. per 1,000 to 8d. per 1,000; letter-paper the same way; soap, from 5c. to 30c.; candles, from 30c. to 75c. Some articles have advanced considerably over 1,000 per centum.... I am a member of Co. [Company?] E Confederate Guards. Our guns are the old-fashioned musket, with flint-locks, altered to use percussion caps. At 120 yards, I put two out of three balls in the inner target-ring. We then had them rifled, and use the Minie ball - eight to the pound. The guns now carry 250 yards. We cannot do better. Our regiment did not cost the Government one dollar. Every man paid for his own uniform, arms, &c., &c., even to powder and balls. We do not intend to be paid, so that will, altogether, save the Government 25,000 or 30,000 dollars. Very few of the volunteer companies cost the Government a dollar for their outfit. If the men were unable to pay, the citizens furnished the companies with money.... Thirteen months ago we were one people; to-day we are bitter foes. Seven months ago the reconstruction of the Union was not only possible, it was probable. To-day, it is far beyond the bounds of possibility. The mere idea of such a Union is so supremely ridiculous that no sane Southern man entertains it. As for subduing us, believe me, neither you nor I will live to witness our subjection. They may ruin us, kill us, lay waste our fields, and station an armed man in every house; but sibdue us - never. As an evidence of the feeling of our people, the planters in Beaufort district, South Carolina, in which Port Royal is situated, set fire to their cotton, and laid in ashes their own fields, rather than run the risk in its benefiting the enemys. Throughout the cotton States, planters have their cotton stowed in lots of 50 to 100 bales on their plantations, which they will set fire to, in case the federalists should land anywhere in the vicinity of their plantations....We had a review of our Home Guards on Saturday, and turned out 28,870 men - all citizens of New Orleans. We had previously sent 12,00 to Virginia, Kentucky, and Florida. The 28,870 and 12,000 are of the first division, and comprise only the men between eighteen and forty-five years of age, in the parishes of Orleans and Jefferson. The other parishes sent 18,000 men to the seat of war, and have a reserve force of 35,000 men. The only trouble is want of arms. Out of the 28,000 at the review on Saturday only about 12,000 were armed. We loaned the Confederate Government 70,000 guns at the commencement of the war, and they are to be returned to us; 7,000 arrived on Monday week. We have now several companies armed with pikes in place of guns. We are daily expecting a renewal of the Kentucky battle, and have sent one floating-battery, tug boats metamorphosed into gun- boats, and an iron-ribbed floating machine called the Ram, or the Turtle, or the Nondescript. I have not room to describe it. Columbus, Kentucky, is about 1,000 miles above us. It takes five days to get there. If the Federals defeat us there, they purpose [propose?] taking Memphis, Tennessee, which is 800 miles above us; then comes the attack on New Orleans, by the Lakes, the river above and below." |
