Saturday, September 24, 2011

September 23 - Tennessee Civil War Notes

1862, Randolph, Tipton County.
The Union river packet the EUGENE arrived at Memphis from St. Louis. A band of Confederate guerrillas fired o­n the boat, which was carrying supplies destined for the relief of families in Union occupied Memphis. The attack, carried out from the Tennessee bank of the Mississippi River, was unsuccessful, yet enraged General William T. Sherman. 
As retribution Sherman issued orders to burn the town of Randolph to the ground. The orders were carried out on the 25th.

 

23, An excerpt from George Hovey Cadman's letter home, his opinion of feminine pulchritude in Memphis
As for pretty girls in Memphis there are very few to be seen, what with Chawing Snuff and tight Lacing the women are all more or less ugly. I have heard and read a great deal of the beautiful daughters of the South, but must confess that I have not seen them yet, they are mostly sallow Complestion [sic] and to remedy this they lay paint on so thick that to me it appears disgusting. I have had a good chance of seeing the Ladies since we have been here at Church on the Public Roads and at their dwellilng, and there is the same mark of listlessness. I believe Tight-Lacing is the principal cause for that seems to be carried on to a greater extent here, than at any place I was ever at.
Correspondence of George Hovey Cadman, TSLA,

 

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