Gen. Curtis has organized one black regiment in Arkansas, and is making good progress with another. Private letters from the fleet of Rear Admiral Porter state that he is filling up his crews with the able-bodied freedmen of Arkansas and Mississippi, of whom numbers are seeking service under the United States. It is thought that half the men who man the western flotilla will soon be of African descent. Of their competency as sailors and gunners no doubt is felt by our Admirals on the Mississippi, as none was experienced by our Admirals on the Atlantic during the last war.
Smyrna Times, Smyrna, DE