Memphis Daily Appeal

No more quiet than those of Memphis. They seem to be aware of the fact that the national grip upon the town will never be given up, and whether willingly or unwillingly, have made up their minds to submit to the power of the government and the restoration of order and law. Unlike the people of Nashville and New Orleans and many of the Virginia towns, they do not hesitate to mingle freely with the "invaders," and their women, in passing our soldiers up the streets, do not describe semi-circles as they sweep by, and gather their skirts closely about them, as if fearful of contamination. Except the unfortunate difficulty between the rebel priest and an officer of the gunboat Carondelet, no collisions have occurred between the Memphis and our people, and matters remain as quiet and I may add, almost as destitute of interest as at any time since the occupation of the city. Indeed, Memphis has not in years known such an orderly week as the one just drawing to a close.

The 47th Indiana regiment and Col. Slack, which has been stationed at Hickmanville for two months past came down the river at an early hour yesterday morning and aroused the Memphians by beating their stirring reveille on the bluff. This peculiar roll of the drum never sounded so pleasantly to me as in the stillness of that sultry June morning. Our display of troops here has not been very imposing; and the arrival of Col. Slack's regiment was anxiously looked for: not that it was really needed, for with a hundred guns frowning upon the city not the least danger was to be apprehended, even if we had not a single soldier in town, but simply that the Memphians might see how well a good body of "Yankees" looked. About eight o'clock Col. Slack's regiment between eight and nine hundred strong, were moved into platoons, and marched through the city to the race course where they have pitched their tents. They presented a fine appearance indeed, and by their steady tramp, skillful maneuvers, and soldierly bearing were greatly admired. It was refreshing indeed to see the gleaming of their bright bayonets in the rays of the morning sun, and hear the stirring notes of Yankee Doodle in the streets of this former hot-bed of the rebellion.

This display of troops is but the beginning of what the Memphians are yet to witness. Gen. Lew Wallace's division of six or eight regiments, is now encamped about eight miles back of the city, and will probably march through the town tomorrow morning. This division has followed the line of the Memphis and Charleston railroad from Corinth, leaving fatigue parties on the route, and strong guards at such bridges as have not yet been destroyed. It is thought this road can be placed in working order as far as Corinth within the next two weeks.

I have heretofore neglected to mention that the old jail in this city, the most disgraceful "black hole," on the continent was destroyed by the rebel leaders a day or two previous to the occupation of the city by our forces. They fired it, but it would not burn, and then it was pulled down. The reason of this was, that these men were afraid, when the city fell into our hands, as they knew it soon must, that some of them might be imprisoned within its lathsome walls, as they had imprisoned Union men there. This jail, as I have said, was the vilest hole on the continent, and men confined there for a month have endured all the horrors of a "middle passage." I have seen in came from its cells reeking with filth with their clothes almost rubbed from their backs, and wearing a look of semi-idiocy, which had been imparted to them by a thirty days' confinement. It is a pity that some of those who sentenced men to this vault-like hue of torment for opinion's sake, will not themselves have been made to undergo a little of the punishment they so readily inflicted upon others.

Let Miss Dix rejoice that the Memphis "black hole" is no more.