From the South

PITMAN’S FERRY, Ark. 8.

Gentlemen who have been in the South since the commencement of the blockade, arrived here today.  They say they left Memphis two weeks since, coming to Jacksonport on the steam ram Hale, which arrived there last Tuesday; but her officers hearing that our troops were marching on that town, she immediately started down the river.  Our troops reach there the following evening.

Provisions, clothing, and all merchandise are very scarce, throughout the South.  Tennessee money is at a premium of 20 per cent., and gold 100 per cent.  Drafting for the army is going on regardless of position and money.  Union men are flying to the mountains and swamps.

Fort Pillow is the only defense on the Mississippi that is considered secure on the water side.

Price’s army has gone to Fort Pillow and Corinth.  The force at Corinth is supposed to be 100,000.  Fifteen boats are now at Little Rock, taking on board 12,000 Arkansas troops for Corinth.  The rivers have been very high, and Napoleon is now flooded.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Saturday Morning, May 10, 1862, p. 1