Memphis Daily Appeal

FROM MEMPHIS.

We were called upon by a gentleman, an old resident of Memphis, who left that city last Saturday morning, arriving here to-day. The Federals continue to work on the fortifications, greatly extending them, and all the negroes found upon the streets are daily impressed to labor. Buildings are being removed without regard to ownership, and the position is fast being made impregnable as military science can devise. The Federal forces in the city have been reduced to a brigade, all the rest having been dispatched down the river. Business in a retail way is brisk, and the city presents a somewhat more lively appearance than during its earlier occupation. The transactions are, however, all small, compared with those of former years. Cotton arrives only in small quantities, and to supply family necessities, yet the aggregate makes up a somewhat respectable footing. Business at the landing seems lively, but it is principally on government account. The faces in the stores are principally new. The negroes brought from Holly Springs, Grand Junction, etc., by Grant's army, are quartered in sheds in the vicinity of the Charleston depot, several thousand in number. They are in a most wretched condition, suffering greatly from a lack of food and clothing, as well as the small pox and other pestilential diseases. The hardships they are compelled to endure are thinning out their numbers by scores.