CAIRO [IL] CITY WEEKLY NEWS
1861-1862

CAIRO [IL] CITY WEEKLY NEWS, February 28, 1861, p. 3, c. 2
Gipseys [sic].--We are told that there is a small gang of prowling Gipseys [sic] in the woods lying between Cairo and Cache river.  If such is the case the thieving vagabonds should be driven from the country.  Who knows but the murder we elsewhere allude to may be charged them.

CAIRO [IL] CITY WEEKLY NEWS, February 28, 1861, p. 3, c. 7
Cocoaine.  This article is no compound, but is made from the cocoanut oil; and is offered as one of the finest articles for the Hair now in use.  for sale by Humphreys & Brown.

CAIRO [IL] CITY WEEKLY NEWS, February 28, 1861, p. 4, c. 7
Anna Lang, Midwife, offers her professional services to the citizens of Cairo and vicinity.  Calls will receive attention either day or night.  Residence near the Catholic Church.

CAIRO [IL] CITY WEEKLY NEWS, February 28, 1861, p. 4, c. 5
Benzine.  For removing grease or stains of any description from the most delicate fabrics, without injuring the color or lustre [sic].  Also for cleaning kid gloves.  For sale at City Drug Store.

CAIRO [IL] CITY WEEKLY NEWS, April 18, 1861, p. 3, c. 3
Midwifery.  Mrs. Wilhemina Miller, having had much experience, and possessing the theory of the science, offers her professional services in the line of Midwifery, in the City of Cairo.  She may be found at the residence of C. M. Caterloh (?), on Sixth street. 

CAIRO [IL] CITY WEEKLY NEWS, June 13, 1861, p. 1, c. 5
                An Incident of the War.--The following incident occurring, as related, at Camp Dennison, Ohio, probably has its parallel, at many other camps, even if not yet discovered:
                "At Camp Dennison, the other day, a remarkably soft voiced young soldier begged the Colonel of his regiment to exchange him from a company in one letter of the alphabet to another.  His associations were not pleasant.
                Something in the demeanor of this young soldier interested the Colonel.--For a moment he scanned him with the eyes of the American eagle--and this, since the secession dust is no longer thrown in his eyes, is a very sharp-sighted bird--and thus said:
                "Young man, you are a woman!"
                The young woman burst into tears, and confessed that she was not what she seemed to be.  It is not a strange story to be true! [sic?]  She volunteered that she might follow her lover to the wars.  She had been in camp three weeks, performing all the duties of a soldier.  She had passed surgical inspection, and was regularly sworn into the service." 

CAIRO [IL] CITY WEEKLY NEWS, July 11, 1861, p. 2, c. 7
A Union Company of Kentucky Girls.--A female military company, named the Union Captivators, has been formed at Falmouth, Kentucky, and over thirty of the young ladies of the place have joined the organization.  The uniform is an apron of the old-fashioned cut, made of red, white and blue--that part covering the bosom representing the stars, and the lower part the stripes. 

CAIRO [IL] CITY WEEKLY NEWS, December 5, 1861, p. 1, c. 1

                                                                (For the Cairo City Gazette.)
                                                                                Army Nurses.

Band of kind, unselfish women,
Who dar'st to brave the cannon's peal,
To wound, is stern man's sterner duty,
'Tis thine to watch, to soothe and heal.
Shrink not tho' some may scorn the calling,
Of benefactress of thy race;
Thy God hath formed thee for a helper,
That post of hon'r is thy place.
Thou'st left thy home, and dear home comforts
To witness carnage, blood and death
Thou'lt hear loved names in feeble whisper
Sobbed out with many a dying breath.
But there's a might in human kindness,
A power reactive to uphold;
That takes thy strength to aid the feeble,
But gives thee back an hundred fold.
Like rays of light thy deeds of goodness,
Out-shining ever from one source;
And ever crossing cast no shadow,
Upon each other's radiant course.
Strength equal to thy day'll be given,
And when sweet peace regains control,
Thy deeds will shine like tints of heaven,
Around a dark and bloody scroll.
                                                                                                M.D.

 CAIRO [IL] CITY WEEKLY NEWS, April 3, 1862, p. 1, c. 3
[Correspondence of the Cairo Gazette]

From the Tennessee River.

                                                                                                Pittsburg Landing, Tenn.,
                                                                                                                March 25, 1862.
... Savanna [sic] is the best town I have seen on Tennessee river.  Florence, Ala., is said to be larger, but I have not been so high up yet.  Savanna has about 5,000 inhabitants.  We went ashore at day-break Monday, and found most of the troops had gone up the river.  The town runs back on a street from the river and contains some pleasant residences.
                The Citizens of Cairo Present Regimental Colors to the 48th Illinois Volunteers.
                Mr. Safford, of your city, came up with us and brought a stand of Regimental Colors to present in the name of the citizens of Cairo to the 48th Illinois Volunteers.  The regiment was under orders to proceed up the river when we arrived, and the brief and interesting presentation ceremonies came off on the bank of the river just before the regiment went aboard the steamer Choteau.  The Stars and Stripes used by the regiment at Donelson, were peirced [sic] by a dozen bullets yet waved gracefully in the breeze during the presentation of the "colors."  The 48th now has the finest banner I have seen in the army.    The following inscriptions upon it, in letters of gold, indicate the high respect and confidence the people of Cairo have in this regiment.  Let it be remembered this regiment was in barracks at Cairo during the winter and the citizens had an opportunity of becoming acquainted with it; also that Cairo is the home of its gallant Colonel, which make this present an expression of their admiration for him both as a citizen and an officer of merit.  On the upper edge is inscribed "Forty-eighth Regiment Illinois Volunteers" and an eagle soaring upward bearing "E Pluribus Unum" in its mouth, and an olive branch in its claws.  Under it is another eagle following in the ascent bearing in its mouth "State Sovereignty--National Union."--  Beneath the last eagle, in large letters, "The Union, the Government, the Laws, no more, no less."  On the left is a striking representation of the Fort at Cairo.  On the right, the Ohio levee and block of brick building.  Two steamboats, one anchored and the other running are seen in the river, while in the distance from the Fort, Bird's Point and Fort Holt are visible.  On the staff is a silver plate with "Presented to the 48th Regiment Illinois Volunteers by the citizens of Cairo, Illinois."  The regiment is justly proud of their banner, and will take good care of it on any battle field. ... I visited the hospital of the regiment, and found it in fine condition.  Quite a number of patients have been in the hospital since the battle of Donelson, consequent on exposure to cold and fatigue on the battle field.  But they are all well cared for by Assistant Surgeon Dr. Young, who has a word of kindness for every one, and gives his entire attention to his work. ... Nom de Plume.

 CAIRO [IL] CITY WEEKLY NEWS, December 25, 1862, p. 1, c. 5-6

A Confederate Romance--History of Mrs. Anna Clark.

                A Cairo correspondent of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes:
                Among the prisoners brought here is a young person wearing the uniform of a private in the Confederate army.--Not above medium height, rather slight in build, features effeminate but eye full of resolution and spirit, the party is not disagreeable to look upon.  The descriptive roll calls him Richard Anderson.  A note to Gen. Tuttle, however, from the Provost Marshal at another point, explained that, for once, "Richard was not himself," but another personage altogether.  In fact, that Richard Anderson was no less a personage than Mrs. Anna Clark, wife of the late Walter Clark.  When requested to tell her story, she revealed the following incidents in her history.  They may be true or untrue, but the relator appeared perfectly truthful and candid in her recital.
                Mrs. Clark is a native of Iuka, Tennessee.  Early in the war her husband joined a regiment, and left her at home to manage as best she could.  She did not manage as a prudent wife should.  She fell in love with a gallant hussar, belonging to a Louisiana regiment.  She determined to follow this love.  She dressed as a trooper, procured a horse, and enlisted in his company.  For four months she remained attached to the cavalry service of the Confederate army, but the fatigues of that department were more than she could bear, and after one or two narrow escapes from serious fits of sickness, she resolved to leave the mounted service and enter the infantry branch, for which, she argued, she was by nature better fitted.  Her exchange was effected.  She left her trooper's command and joined a company in the Eleventh Tennessee infantry.  In this regiment she served under the name of Richard Anderson, until the battle of Richmond, Kentucky, where she with others was made prisoner.  Her husband was killed at Shiloh or Donelson, she never knew which.  At the former battle, Mrs. Clark, according to her own story, performed prodigies of valor, frequently having to stand upon the dead body of a comrade to obtain a sight of the enemy, upon whom she continually emptied the contents of her musket.
                Thus, for over ten months, as cavalry, and then as infantryman, then as prisoner of war, this woman endured the brunt war.  The latter sphere she found irksome enough, and she desired nothing better than to be sent to Vicksburg, there to be returned to her friends, promising that she had had enough of this latter life, and would there again assume her apparel and the condition of her sex.  Some benevolent ladies and gentlemen contributed to her purchase of a dress and other suitable clothing, and yesterday she was a woman once more.  She was sent to the department of the Provost Marshal, and Gen. Tuttle will undoubtedly forward her to Vicksburg with the next batch of prisoners. Mrs. Clark is not yet thirty years of age, and dressed in the costume of a lady is not by any means an unpresentable woman.  She is well informed upon politics, literature, and other general topics, and has less of the rowdy in her conversation and air than one would expect from her late associations.