MEMPHIS. 



569 



held subject to the claim of the owners. Ten- 

 nessee or Southern paper might be used for the 

 purchase of cotton, or buyers might give obli- 

 gations to pay at the end of the war, or at the 

 pleasure of the Government, or might deposit 

 the value of it with the quartermaster, to be 

 held in trust for the planters. This order was 

 soon afterward modified by direction of the 

 Government at Washington. 



A few days later Gen. Grant directed Gen. 

 Sherman to u take possession of all vacant stores 

 and houses in the city, and have them rented 

 at reasonable rates, and to be paid monthly in 

 advance." These buildings, with their tenants, 

 were to be turned over to the proprietors on 

 proof of loyalty. Houses, which had been 

 leased by disloyal owners, were also to be 

 seized, and the rents appropriated by the 

 United States. 



Early in August Gen. Grant ordered the 

 families of all persons absent in the Confederate 

 States to be sent out of Memphis. 



On the 9th of the same month it was an- 

 nounced that one artillery and three infantry 

 companies, comprising in the aggregate 400 

 men, had been enlisted in Memphis for the Fed- 

 eral army and had taken the field, and two 

 others were recruiting. 



Toward the close of the month Gen. Sher- 

 man issued an order prohibiting the importa- 

 tion and sale, except by permit, of arms, am- 

 munition, salt, and salt meat ; and commanding 

 dealers to keep an account of goods received 

 and the disposition made of them, said account 

 to be subject to inspection at all times by the 

 provost marshal. Dealers in arms and medi- 

 cines, detected in endeavoring to get the same 

 outside the Union lines, were to suffer the ex- 

 treme penalty of military law. 



A meeting of citizens was called by the Gen- 

 eral on the 7th of September, at which he 

 made an address in answer to various com- 

 plaints which had been made of his adminis- 

 tration. The attendance was very large, and 

 an unmistakable feeling of loyalty was indicat- 

 ed by the assembly. 



About the 10th a joint order was issued by 

 Gen. Sherman and TV*. D. Gallagher, agent of 

 the Treasury Department, for the regulation 

 of commercial intercourse between Memphis, 

 Helena, and other points. Xo boats were to 

 receive goods without permits, and persons 

 who had never encouraged secession were to 

 receive facilities for shipping supplies on their 

 taking oath that no part of the same were to 

 be sold to disloyal parties. 



Up to this time, with the exception of gue- 

 rilla raids in the neighborhood of the city, no 

 hostile operations had taken place near Mem- 

 phis since its surrender, and the military gov- 

 ernment, as a general thing, had been lenient. 

 The operations of the partisan corps, however, 

 became more serious; transports plying be- 

 tween Cairo and Memphis were fired upon 

 from the shores, and about the end of Septem- 

 ber Gen. Sherman ordered that for every boat 



fired upon thereafter, ten disloyal families 

 should t>e expelled from the city. In accor- 

 dance with this threat thirty families soon 

 afterward received notice to quit the place, but 

 the provost marshal was subsequently directed 

 to grant fifteen days' grace to afford the Con- 

 federate Government an opportunity to dis- 

 avow the actions of the guerillas. 



On the 25th of October Gen. Sherman pub- 

 lished stringent regulations for the government 

 of the city. A military commission of three 

 army oflicers was to sit daily to try offenders 

 under the laws of war. Vagrants, thieves, and 

 other disreputable characters, were to be or- 

 ganized into gangs and set to work in the 

 trenches or on the streets. Citizens lurking 

 about the camps were to be treated as spies. 

 The inhabitants were to keep within doors be- 

 tween tattoo and reveille, unless attending 

 church, places of amusement, a party of friends, 

 or necessary business. After midnight, all per- 

 sons must be in their houses, except the guard. 

 Assemblages of negroes were forbidden, except 

 by permission previously obtained from the 

 provost marshal. 



On the 7th of November another Union meet- 

 ing was held at Memphis. 



About the same time the General command- 

 ing prohibited the importation of liquors, ex- 

 cept by gentlemen-citizens and officers, for the 

 exclusive use of themselves and their families ; 

 by regular apothecaries for medicinal purposes, 

 to be retailed on a physician's prescription ; or 

 by keepers of hotels and licensed saloons, in 

 limited quantities, not exceeding one month's 

 supply at a time. 



Gen. Sherman took the field about the mid- 

 dle of December, and the command of Memphis 

 devolved upon Gen. Hurlbut, who immediately 

 caused all drinking saloons to be closed. 



On the 21st of December the guerillas, who 

 had been for some time growing daily bolder 

 in their operations about Memphis, burning 

 cotton, intercepting supplies, and forcing con- 

 scripts into the Confederate army, attacked the 

 suburbs of the city, committed great depreda- 

 tions, and carried off 100 head of cattle and 

 180 mules. The next day a meeting of the cit- 

 izens was held to provide means of defence. 

 On the 24th the guerillas appeared again, drove 

 the Federal pickets within the fortifications, 

 and plundered the neighboring shops and 

 houses. Two companies of citizens were im- 

 mediately enrolled for home defence, and the 

 provost marshal interdicted for the time all 

 trade with the surrounding, country. The ar- 

 rival of two regiments of Federal troops, how- 

 ever, soon quieted the public alarm. In con- 

 sequence of these occurrences, the election for 

 member of Congress in the district of which 

 Memphis forms a part, which was to have 

 been held, under Governor Johnson's proc- 

 lamation, on the 29th of December, was post- 

 poned twenty days. A quiet state of affairs 

 ensued. The population of Memphis in 1860 

 was 22,623. 



