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Memphis is now the only large city in Tennessee which is not in the hands of Union troops. It stands on an elevated bluff on the left bank of the Mississippi, at the head of ship navigation, 790 miles by the river from New Orleans, and 240 from Cairo. It is the termination of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, and is a place of much business activity, being the distributing point for the produce of West Tennessee. The rebellion has probably ruined it. The following extract from a Cairo letter gives an idea of the state of affairs there at present:

The Memphis papers repeat the old catch-words about fighting till every man, woman, and child is killed, and the impossibility of subjugating the South; but abound in rebukes to the people for their lethargy, and implore them to fly to arms. They denounce with great bitterness citizens of Memphis for refusing to take Confederate money, and at the same time paying a premium of 25 per cent. For "Lincoln Treasury notes;" and one of them adds: "We warn these men to make their peace with their Creator, for this city will never be abandoned with them in it!" Even a year of the reign of terror has not produced "unanimity" in Memphis.

Harper's Weekly, March 15, 1862