#87 Adams Street#,
Between Second and Third,
#MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE#,

Have constantly on hand the best selected assortment of

#FIELD HANDS, HOUSE SERVANTS & MECHANICS#,
at their Negro Mart, to be found in the city.  They are daily
receiving from Virginia, Kentucky and Missouri, fresh supplies of
likely Young Negroes.

#Negroes Sold on Commission#,

and the highest market price always paid for good stock.  Their Jail
is capable of containing Three Hundred, and for comfort, neatness
and safety, is the best arranged of any in the Union.  Persons
wishing to purchase, are invited to examine their stock before
purchasing elsewhere.

They have on hand at present, Fifty likely young Negroes, comprising
Field hands, Mechanics, House and Body Servants, &c.

]

When the Civil War loomed close, sentiment in Memphis was divided, but at a call for troops for the Union, the State of Tennessee balked, and soon after it seceded from the Union and joined the Confederacy.  Many people believed, at that time, that if the entire South united, the North would not dare fight.  When the war came, however, Memphis knew where she stood; it is said that no city of the same size (22,600) furnished so many men to the Confederate armies.  In 1862, when the Union forces got control of the river to the north and the south of the city, it became evident that Memphis was likely to be taken.  A fleet of Union gunboats came down and defeated the Confederate fleet in the river before the city, while the populace lined the banks and looked on.  The city, being without military protection, then surrendered, and was occupied by troops under Sherman.  Nor, with the exception of one period of a few hours’ duration, did it ever again come under Confederate control.  That was when Forrest made his famous raid in 1864, an event which exhibited not only the dash and hardihood of that intrepid leader, but also his strategy and his sardonic humor.

General A.J.  Smith, with 13,000 Union soldiers was marching on the great grain district of central Mississippi, and was forcing Forrest, who had but 3,500 men, to the southward.  Unable to meet Smith’s force on anything like equal terms, Forrest conceived the idea of making a “run around the end” and striking at Memphis, which was Smith’s base.  Taking 1,500 picked men and horses, he executed a flanking movement over night, and before Smith knew he was gone, came careering into Memphis at dawn at the head of 500 galloping, yelling men—­many of them Memphis boys.  There were some 7,000 Union troops in and about Memphis at this time, but they were surprised out of their slumbers, and made no effective resistance.  The only part of Forrest’s plan which miscarried was his scheme to capture three leading Union officers, who were then stationed in Memphis:  Generals C.C.  Washburn, S.A.  Hurlbut and R.P.  Buckland.  General Hurlbut’s escape