The New Era, Fort Smith, Arkansas
January 16, 1864
HOW THE REBELS ENFORCE THE CONSCRIPTION- A Mississippian communicates the following to the Memphis Bulletin: “Each conscript band has a set of negro hounds attached to it. The conscripters come up to a mn’s house, and announce that the incumbent, young or old, shall go with them to headquarters. They take no denial. The headquarters are at Grenada. The conscripters announce to the head conscript officer that they have such a person (calling him by name), and before the luckless man can have an opportunity to say a word, they are ordered to take him to the guard house. There the unfortunate remains for two or three days, until a sufficient number are obtained, and they are sent off to the conscript camp, where they are placed under such surveillance that escape is next to impossible. They are denied all opportunity now to go and see their families, or even take sufficient clothing. They are unceremoniously dragged off, and never permitted to have an opportunity to show that they were unfairly dealt with. Some instances are recorded where persons have refused to go with the conscripters, and they were generally shot down on their own premises.
