A Sketch of Cairo--One of the numerous correspondents gathered at Cairo, Illinois, in view of an advance from that point, writes:
You have heard of the modern Cairo, (pronounced Ka-ro) of its subterranean situation on the delta between the Ohio and the Mississippi rivers; but not the most graphic power for descriptive narrative can give a faithful picture.  I am sitting by a window in the St. Charles, the great hotel of the place, of which the less said the better.  The view is up the Ohio and I will note the objects which appear in view.  Far up the river, in the back ground, is a dark belt of woods bordering the Ohio.  Nearer, along the levee, are fifteen or twenty steamboats, most of them in Government employ, with volumes of black smoke ascending from their tall stacks of chimneys, and puffs of steam vanishing in the air.  In the middle of the stream is the Taylor--Commodore Foote's flag-ship--looking like a coal transport, black all over, with the exception of one white strips along the guards.  Still nearer are the nondescript gunboats--a cross between the floating battery, a dredging machine, and a mud-scow.  The sailors call them mud turkles.  More of them anon.
Ascending the levee is the front street of the city, occupied by a train of cars standing upon the track of the Illinois Central railway.  The company threw up the embankment, or rather filled it in.  Stepping down from the embankment upon the natural alluvium, I beheld dwelling houses, from a white-painted two story house down to a (illegible) a shanty as can be found outside of Dublin.  The mud cannot adequately be put into the picture.  There is thick mud, deceptive mud, impassable mud, which appears to the sight--to say nothing of the peculiarties that are understood by the nose, for within forty feet of my window is a horse stable and a pig yard--not an enclosure, but the street, where slops from the horses and washes from the sinks are trodden with the manure from the stables.  You remember Bunyan's description of the Slough of Despond, into which all the filth and slime of this world settled--a description which, graphic as it is, might have been heightened if he had seen Cairo.
But to go on with the picture:  There are sheds, shanties, stables, pig-sties, woodpiles and carts, wagons, barrels, boxes--the debris of everything, thrown over the area.  Of animate things are water-carts--two horse teams which are supplying the inhabitants with drinking water from the river.  There are truckmen stuck in the mud.  There are two pigs having an irrepressible conflict; also two dogs--one a big black one, with a white nose--one little white one, smart, active and energetic, setting an example to our Generals.  They are harrassing a foe, charging on the front, on the right flank, on the left flank, of a formidable enemy--three hogs, while a fourth is advancing to their aid with as much despatch as can be expected, considering that the mud is more than leg deep.  Twenty feet distant from the conflict, soldiers in their blue coats, officers with swords, sash and belt displayed--ladies and gentlemen are picking their way along the sticking sidewalks.  This is Cairo.  Delectable place!

Ulysses S. Grant was born in Ohio, and moved to Illinois, and is a graduate of West Point.  He served in the Mexican war, and for eleven years was attached to the 4th Infantry.  At the taking of the city of Mexico he was 2d Lieutenant and Acting regimental Quartermaster General; his conduct on that occassion was reported as "distinguished for gallantry."  At the end of the war he settled in mercantile business at Galena, but when volunteers were called for, raised a regiment of infantry in Illinois.  In September, Col. Grant was appointed Brigadier General by Congress, and superseded General Prentiss at Cape Girardeau, Mo.  He took command of Southwest (southeast) Missouri, and established his headquarters at Cairo.  It was General Grant who first occupied Paducah, Ky.  He was recently made a Major General.

GENERAL SHERMAN SUPERSEDED
Sun Newspaper, January 12, 1863

    Mrs. Harvey sends the following list from Cairo:
        Post Hospital, Cairo, Ill., Oct. 7.
    List of soldiers in hospital:
    William Cox, C, 18th, pneumonia.
    J. R. Knupp, B, 18th, anemia
    Charles S. Fay, I, 33d, typhoid fever
    William Grey, H, 27th rheumatism
    J. Eerusas, I, 27th, bernia
    Allen Welcher, B, 29th, gunshot wound
    Nelson C. Hyer, C, 11th, general debility
    Chas. M. Round, K, 16th, diarrhea
    The above were all on furlough.
        Jno. P. Taggard,
        Post Surgeon in charge.