Rebellion Record: a Diary of American Events: Poetry and Incidents., Volume 5.
Frank Moore, Ed.

Southern ladies and Yankee toes.--Our corespondent down the Mississippi sends us numerous little trophies captured in the late expedition up the Yazoo, as described in his letter, published in this paper on Friday last.

If any body doubts the barbarism existing in the South, and the reported mutilation of the bodies of Northern soldiers by the rebels, the originals of the [29] letters from which the following extracts are made, can be seen at this office:

I want you to tell the ladies if nothing but the toes of a Yankee will satisfye them I will Bring them a pocket full.

“John promised to get some yankee toes but he has not done it yet but he got several other things that is a great deal better we could have got plenty of toes if we had tried but we concluded that we did not want any and I think that we will have an other chance yet.”

These letters were dated at Corinth, Mississippi, on the same day, April fourteenth, 1862, and are respectively signed “J. B. Sims,” and “H. J. Toler.” These were soldiers in the rebel army at Corinth, and they each wrote these letters upon note-paper bearing the shield, eagle, stars and stripes, the word “Union,” and the motto, “Emblem of our nation's Liberty,” at the head.

The envelope, enclosing one of them at least, has the stars, stripes, cannon, soldier, etc., of the Government, and the device “Our Union defenders.” This stationery they claim to have “captured from the Yanks.” Under the United States postage-stamp is written, “Played out,” while the other end of the envelope bears two confederate postage-stamps for five cents each.

Of course the letters are as vindictively hostile to Yankees as they well could be.--Chicago Journal.