646 



NEW ORLEANS. 



" True Delta" office, and by the aid of Northern 

 printers, selected from the different regiments 

 of national troops, the document was speedily 

 set up, and was worked off in the edition of the 

 paper for May 2. 



The landing of troops at New Orleans and at 

 Algiers, on the opposite side of the Mississippi, 

 meanwhile went vigorously on, and, by the di- 

 rection of Gen. Shipley, the military governor, 

 the principal points of approach to the city 

 were occupied in force, with pickets thrown 

 out as far as the crossing of the Jackson and 

 Jefferson railroad. Gen. Butler established his 

 headquarters at the St. Charles hotel, and an- 

 other large hotel, the Evans House, on Poydras 

 street, was converted into a hospital. A suffi- 

 cient force of gunboats remained in front of the 

 city to oppose any sudden rising of the inhab- 

 itants or attack by a Confederate army, while 

 the remainder with a portion of the mortar fleet 

 proceeded up the river to Carrollton, Baton 

 Eouge, and other places. "Whether, on account 

 of the hopelessness of opposition, or of the in- 

 difference with which the large foreign element 

 in the population (about 40 per cent.) regarded 

 the fate of the city, or because perhaps the in- 

 habitants were satisfied with the immense de- 

 struction of cotton and sugar which had already 

 been accomplished, the city remained compara- 

 tively tranquil. " Our streets," says the " Delta" 

 of May 1, " are remarkably quiet. Most of the 

 stores have been closed since Friday last (April 

 25), and remain closed, with a few exceptions. 

 The principal hotels are closed, and there is 

 some difficulty among those who have been in 

 the habit of making these establishments their 

 homes in effecting other arrangements. The 

 bar rooms have all been closed since Friday 

 last. For some days there was great difficulty 

 in passing the miserable currency we are'cursed 

 with, but, thanks to the judicious measures 

 taken by the authorities, confidence in it has 

 been partially restored. The markets are still 

 very meagrely furnished, and, to provide regular 

 supplies of food for this large population, will 

 require all the wisdom of those who have our 

 welfare in their keeping, for the ordinary in- 

 tercourse between the city and country must, 



to a considerable extent, continue* broken up. 

 ***** 



" The movements in financial circles during 

 the past week have been of the most restricted 

 character ever witnessed in the Crescent City. 

 The banks kept their doors open for a few hours 

 daily to pay depositors' checks and renew ma- 

 turing obligations ; but they peremptorily re- 

 fused to receive deposits or transact any other 

 kind of business. Their presidents also held 

 one or more informal meetings with the view of 

 adopting some uniform policy in their future 

 management; but no definite conclusion was 

 arrived at, and each one is still at liberty to 

 adopt such action as circumstances may sug- 

 gest." 



The first consideration brought to the notice 

 of the military and municipal authorities was 



the destitute condition of a large portion of the 

 population, who were literally at the point of 

 starvation ; and in accordance with a recom- 

 mendation from the mayor and common coun- 

 cil Gen. Butler gave orders, on May 2 and 3, 

 for the safe conduct of cargoes of flour, live 

 stock, and other necessaries from Mobile and 

 various places in the interior. These proving 

 ineffectual to relieve the prevailing distress, he 

 issued on the 9th of the month a proclamation, 

 known as General Order No. 25, the purport of 

 which can be best understood by quoting the 

 document in full : 



HEADQUARTERS, DEPARTMENT OP THE GTTLP, | 

 NEW ORLEANS, May 9, 1862. J 



The deplorable state of destitution and hunger of 

 the mechanics and working classes in this city has 

 been brought to the knowledge of the Commanding 

 General. 



He has yielded to every suggestion made by the city 

 government, and ordered every method of furnishing 

 food to the people of New Orleans that that govern- 

 ment desired. No relief by those officials has yet been 

 afforded. This hunger does not pinch the wealthy and 

 influential, the leaders of the rebellion, who have got- 

 ten up this war, and are now endeavoring to prosecute 

 it, without regard to the starving poor, the working 

 man, his wife and child. Unmindful of their suffering 

 fellow citizens at home, they have caused or suffered 

 provisions to be carried out of the city for the Con- 

 federate service since the occupation by the United 

 States forces. 



Lafayette square, their home of affluence, was made 

 the depot of stores and munitions of war for the rebel 

 armies, and not of provisions for their poor neighbors. 

 Striking hands with the vile, the gambler, the idler 

 and the_ ruffian, they have destroyed the sugar and cot- 

 ton which might have been exchanged for food for the 

 industrious and good, and regrated the price of that 

 which is left, by discrediting the Very currency they 

 had furnished while they sloped with the specie, as 

 well as that stolen from the United States, as the 

 banks, the property of the good people of New Orleans, 

 thus leaving them to ruin and starvation fugitives 

 from justice many of them, and others, their associates, 

 staying because too puerile and insignificant to be ob- 

 jects of punishment by the clement Government of the 

 'United States. 



They have betrayed their country. 



They have been false to every trust. 



They have shown themselves incapable of defending 

 the State they have seized upon, although they have 

 forced every poor man's child into their service as, 

 soldiers for that purpose, while they made their sons 

 and nephews officers. 



They cannot protect those whom they have ruined, 

 but have left them to the mercies and assassinations of 

 a chronic mob. 



They will not feed those whom they are starving. 



Mostly without property themselves, they have plun- 

 dered, stolen, and destroyed the means of those who 

 had property, leaving children penniless and old age 

 hopeless. 



Men of Louisiana, working men, property holders, 

 merchants and citizens of the United States, of what- 

 ever nation you may have had birth, how long will 

 you uphold these flagrant wrongs, and by inaction suf- 

 fer yourselves to be made the serfs of these leaders ? 



The United States .have sent land and naval forces 

 here- to fight and subdue rebellious armies in array 

 against her authority. We find, substantially, only 

 fugitive masses, runaway property owners, a whiskey- 

 drinking mob, and starving citizens with their wives 

 and children. It is our duty to call back the first, to 

 punish the second, root out the third, feed and protect 

 the last. 



Heady only for what we had not prepared ourselves, 



