MISSISSIPPI. 



651 



It is safe to estimate the aggregate annual 

 income of all the above societies at about 

 $5,000,000. These figures do not include the 

 receipts of the purely home missions, either of 

 Great Britain, the continent of Europe, or 

 America. Nor does this calculation include 

 the money raised for the Bible and tract so- 

 cieties of the Protestant nations of the world. 



The aggregate number of missionaries at 

 work in different parts of the earth is about 

 2,400, aided by about 7,000 assistant mission- 

 aries, native pastors and catechists. 



Nineteen of the above societies reported, in 

 1859, an aggregate membership of 310,524. 

 The total Protestant population of Asia was 

 estimated, in 1863, at 479,000; in Africa at 

 719,000 ; in Australasia arid Polynesia at 

 1,000,000. 



The Roman Catholic Church has, since 1822, 

 an Association for the Propagation of the 

 Faith, which has its centre in Lyons, France, 

 and receives its contributions from the Ro- 

 man Catholics of the whole globe. Its annual 

 receipts were, from 1843 to 1857, between 

 three and four million francs (with the excep- 

 tion of the year 1848, when they fell to 2,845,- 

 691 francs, and 1852, when they rose to 4,790,- 

 468). Since 1857 they have been as follows: 

 in 1857, 4,191,716 fr.; in 1858, 6,684,5(57 fr.; 

 in 1859, 5,260,595 fr.; in 1860, 4,547,399 fr. ; 

 in 1861, 4,700,227 fr.; in 1862, 4,721,194 fr. 

 More than one half of this sum is contributed 

 by France alone : in 1862, 3,175,473 fr. Aus- 

 tria and Bavaria have special associations for 

 foreign missions, the Society of S. Leopold, 

 and the Society of St. Louis, but the annual 

 income of each is small. There is also a juve- 

 nile missionary society called the Society of 

 the Holy Childhood of Jesus, which was es- 

 tablished in 1843, and like the Society for the 

 Propagation of the Faith, receives its contribu- 

 tions from all Roman Catholic countries. Its 

 receipts in 1861 amounted to 1,401,601 francs. 

 For the results of the Roman Catholic missions, 

 and statistics of Roman Catholic population in 

 pagan countries, see ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 



MISSISSIPPI. The desolation wrought in 

 this State during the year, in consequence of the 

 war, is almost indescribable. "When Gen. Grant's 

 army advanced as far south as Oxford and the 

 Yallabusha at the close of 1862, the inhabitants 

 had an opportunity to purchase a few of the 

 most indispensable articles of clothing and 

 household economy, but in the part of the State 

 between Jackson and Granada there has not 

 been even the most meagre stock of goods taken 

 for three years. The destitution of the poor 

 there reduced them almost to a state of barbar- 

 ism. Of the fifty plantations on the road from 

 Lagrange, Tennessee, to Holly Springs, Missis- 

 sippi, only five were occupied. The rest were 

 abandoned, and in a majority of instances, the 

 buildings were burned. On the 26th of May, 

 an expedition consisting of the 10th Missouri, 

 7th Kansas and 15th Illinois cavalry and 9th 

 Illinois mounted infantry, left Corinth for the 



purpose of a raid through a portion of country 

 which had escaped the ravages of war. The 

 expedition passed to Florence, Ala., and Savan- 

 nah, Tenn., and returned to Corinth on the 

 31st, being absent five days and nights. "What 

 it accomplished in so short a space of tune ia 

 thus described : 



We burned seven cotton factories, costing an aver- 

 age of $200,000 each. The Southern Confederacy had 

 offered for the largest $1,000,000, containing three 

 hundred looms. They employed on an average one 

 hundred men and the same number of women and 

 children each. But their contents were more valuable 

 than the buildings and machinery, having a large 

 amount of stock and manufactured goods ou hand. A 

 large amount of steam flouring and saw mills were 

 likewise burned. A number of blacksmiths' and wag- 

 onmakers's shops were destroyed, they being employed 

 on Government work, and containing large numbers 

 of wagons, arms of all kinds, &c., &c. A ton of pow- 

 der, a large number of arms of English manufacture, 

 600,000 rounds of fixed ammunition, each cartridge 

 having the crown of England stamped upon it, and 

 several boxes containing shell were destroyed. A num- 

 ber of dwelling houses were accidentally burned by 

 our shells. The splendid bridge near Florence was 

 burned. All along the route, both going and return- 

 ing, our command marched in linethrougn the waving 

 wheat, just ripe, utterly destroying it. An immense 

 ("immense" is not the word language cannot de- 

 scribe the scene the smoke arising from burning corn 

 cribs in every direction, and for miles each side of our 

 path) amount of forage was destroyed ; some was pass- 

 ed by on account of the close proximity of dwelling 

 houses. Large quantities of meat, &c , we^e used, but 

 more wasted and destroyed. The people appear to 

 think that starvation is staring them in the face ; but 

 let their Government protect them, and they will no 

 doubt fare very well. We captured two majors, two cap- 

 tains, four or five lieutenants, and about one hundred 

 men. A large rebel flag was also captured. An im- 

 mense amount of stock horses, mules, oxen, cows, 

 carriages, &c., &c. was taken and turned over to the 

 Government. About twenty men, who have escaped 

 conscription by lying in the bush and other places of 

 concealment, accompanied us into camp, and are join- 

 ing some one of our regiments here. We brought about 

 one thousand contrabands men, women, and children 

 about two hundred and fifty of them joining the 

 negro brigade. And all with a "loss of less than thirty 

 wounded and missing. 



About the same time an expedition consist- 

 ing of six brigades, and numbering about ten 

 thousand men, moved up between the Big 

 Black and Yazoo rivers. The object was to 

 destroy the resources of the country, to prevent 

 the enemy from subsisting their armies, and to 

 drive out any force that might be in that re- 

 gion. The results of the expedition are thus 

 described : 



We have marched over a hundred miles in a week 

 during the hottest kind of weather. We destroyed all 

 the forage and supplies and cotton, and drove off all 

 the cattle, horses, and mules between the two lines for 

 a distance of fifty miles. We met no considerable body 

 of the enemy, and had only one or two slight skir- 

 mishes ; but we ascertained where the enemy was con- 

 centrating, and gained much valuable information 

 which may be of use hereafter. It was made our 

 painful but imperative duty to destroy everything 

 corn, cotton, meat, mills, and cotton gins that we 

 could find, sparing only dwellings and a small supply 

 of provisions for each family. The command will 

 rest here for a day or so, and then return to Vicks- 

 kurg, which cannot hold out very long against our 

 lorces. 





