A procession of several hundred stout negro men, members of the
"domestic institution," marched through our streets yesterday in
military order, under the command of Confederate officers. They were
well armed and equipped with shovels, axes, blankets, &c. A merrier
set never were seen. They were brimful of patriotism, shouting for
Jeff. Davis and singing war songs, and each looked as if he only
wanted the privilege of shooting an Abolitionist.
An Abolitionist could not have looked upon this body of colored
recruits for the Southern army without strongly suspecting that his
intense sympathy for the "poor slave" was not appreciated, that it
was wasted on an ungrateful subject.
The arms of these colored warriors were rather mysterious. Could it
be that those gleaming axes were intended to drive into the thick
skulls of the Abolitionists the truth, to which they are wilfully
blind, that their interference in behalf of Southern slaves is
neither appreciated nor desired; or that those shovels were intended
to dig trenches for the interment of their carcasses? It may be that
the shovels are to be used in digging ditches, throwing up
breastworks, or the construction of masked batteries, those
abominations to every abolition Paul Pry who is so unlucky as to
stumble upon them.--Memphis Avalanche, Sept. 3.