Reports of the Committee on the Conduct of the War

Answer. Yes, sir; I saw four white men and 25 negroes that I spoke of that were shot in the fort. The white men didn't commence flying from the fort, though they threw their guns down, until they saw there was no quarter shown them.

James McCoy sworn and examined.

By the chairman:

Question. Where do you reside?

Answer. When I am suffered to live at home I live in Tennessee.

Question. You don't belong to the army?

Answer. No, sir; but I have been with the regiment six months. The head officers were old acquaintances of mine. I once lived with Major Bradford.

Question. Were you at Fort Pillow at the time the attack was made?

Answer. Yes, sir; I was in Fort Pillow at headquarters.

Question. Will you tell us what you observed there?

Answer. About daylight in the morning part of the pickets came in and said the rebels had captured some of the pickets and were coming. I had not got out of bed then. Major Bradford was up immediately the alarm was given. I had had my hands mashed a few days before. Major Bradford told me I had better go on the gunboat, as I would be in the way because I could not hold a gun. I went on board the gunboat, and about sunrise the firing commenced. The gunboat immediately played up and down the river, where I could see everything going on at the fort. I could not see over the bluff. Major Bradford had a flag and stood on the edge of the bluff and motioned to the gunboat where to throw their shells. We had a great many guns on the boat, and about 20 used their guns all the time. The rebel sharpshooters would come over the hill and shoot at the boat and everybody that passed.

Question. Where were you when the flag of truce came in?

Answer. I was on the boat.

Question. What did you see?

Answer. As soon as the flag of truce came in the gunboat stopped firing. It was about 3 o'clock when it came in, and while it was in the enemy were creeping up constantly, sharpshooters and all, nearer and nearer. I saw a great many creeping on their hands and feet, getting up to the hill close to the fort. I don't know what was back of that. Some men in the fort told me that they had advanced and got close to the fort before the flag of truce was taken out. I saw them gathering around there all the time, and all that time they were stealing from the commissary's stores blankets and everything else they could get at. I reckon I saw 200 men climbing the hill with as much as they could carry on their backs, shoes, &c.

Question. Why did our officers permit that without firing on them?

Answer. The gunboat, I think, was almost out of ammunition and had nothing to shoot; and none of them supposed the gunboat would stop shooting, but she ran out of ammunition.

Question. Were you there until the place was taken?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. What happened after that?

Answer. About the time the rebels got over the fort there was just a cloud of them, our men in the fort running out. About 500 secesh cavalry, as well as I could see, came up and turned in to shooting them down just as fast as they could. I heard a great deal of screaming and praying for mercy. The negroes took a scare from that and ran down the hill and into the river, but they kept shooting them. I was not more than 400 yards off, on the gunboat. I don't suppose one of them got more than 30 yards into the river before they were shot. The bullets rained as thick in the water as you ever saw a hailstorm.

Question. Were those men armed who were shot?

Answer. No, sir; they threw down their arms.

Question. How many were shot?

Answer. I don't know how many. They lay thick there the next morning, beside those they had buried.

Question. You came back there the next morning?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. What do you know about their burying men who were not dead?

Answer. I don't know anything myself, only what I heard.

Question. Did you go up there where they had buried them?

Answer. No, sir.

Question. What did you hear about it?

Answer. I heard one of them say that he saw where a negro was buried, and saw a large mass of foam and dirt where somebody had been breathing through the earth. He brushed it off and saw a negro there still breathing. I saw one or two who looked as if they had been buried when they came on board. I heard one ask them if they had been buried, and they said "Very near it." I don't think they were wounded. One of them had been in the dirt. I don't know whether he played dead and was buried or not.

Question. Do you know anything of their killing the men in the hospital?

Answer. Not of my own seeing. Mr. Akerstrom was in his office down under the hill after the flag of truce was in, and made some signs for us to come to him. Since that time I have been told that they wounded him and then nailed him to a door and burned him up, but I didn't see that myself.

Question. When did you hear about this nailing to a building and burning him up?

Answer. Since we came up here.

Question. Were you on board the gunboat the next day when some of the rebel officers came on board?

Answer. I was on board the Platte Valley.

Question. Did they come with a flag of truce?

Answer. A flag of truce was hoisted, and when we got in to the shore some of the rebel officers came on board the Platte Valley.

Question. How were they received by our officers?

Answer. Just as though there had been no fight. Some of the officers on the Platte Valley took one of the rebel officers up to the bar and treated him, and some would ask the rebel officers what made them treat our men as they did. He said they intended to treat all home-made Yankees just as they did the negroes. I went to Captain Marshall and asked him to let me shoot him. He said that the flag of truce was up, and it would be against the rules of war to shoot him.

Question. Do you know what officers treated him?

Answer. I don't know; they were all strangers to me. The gunboat first landed, and then the transport Platte Valley came up and took the prisoners, and then another boat came up and laid alongside of her. The three lay there together.

Question. Do you know of anything further on the subject that is important?

Answer. I don't think of anything now.

William E. Johnson, sworn and examined.

By Mr. Gooch:

Question. To what regiment do you belong?

Answer. I am a sergeant of company B, of the 13th Tennessee cavalry.

Question. Were you at Fort Pillow at the time of the attack there?

Answer. No, sir; I was at Memphis. I came up to Fort Pillow the morning after the fight, on the Platte Valley, within some six or eight miles below Fort Pillow, and then got on the gunboat 28.

Question. Did you go on shore at Fort Pillow?

Answer. No, sir; I saw some of the rebel officers come down and go on board the Platte Valley; and some of our officers were drinking with them, and making very free with them. I did not particularly notice what rank, but I took them to be captains and lieutenants.

Question. Did you hear the conversation between them?

Answer. They were making very free with one another, joking, talking, and running on. I did not feel right to see such going on, and did not go about them.

John W. Shelton, sworn and examined.

By the chairman:

Question. Where were you raised?

Answer. I was born in Arkansas, but raised principally in Tennessee.

Question. To what company and regiment do you belong?

Answer. Company E, 13th Tennessee cavalry.

Question. Were you at Fort Pillow when the attack was made there?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. Were you wounded there?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. Before or after the surrender?

Answer. It was after I surrendered.

Question. Where were you when you were shot?

Answer. I was under the hill, going up the hill.

Question. What did they say when they shot you?

Answer. I asked them if they did not respect prisoners of war; they said "no, they did not," and kept on shooting; and they popped three or four caps in my face with a revolver after they had wounded me.

Question. Did you see them shoot any others after they had surrendered?

Answer. Yes, sir, lots of them; negroes and white men both. They shot them down wherever they came to them.

Question. Were you there the next day after the battle?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. Did you see them shoot anybody the next day?

Answer. I saw them shoot negroes, not white men.

Question. How many did you see them shoot that day?

Answer. I saw them shoot five or six on the hill where I was; they said they shot all they could find.

Question. Were you in the hospital there?

Answer. I was in a house there with the wounded.

Question. Did you see them kill anybody there that was wounded?

Answer. They took two negroes out and shot them.

Question. Did you see them burn any buildings the wounded were in?

Answer. Not the one we were in. I was told they fired some buildings that wounded negroes were in.

Question. Were you where they buried any of the killed?

Answer. I saw them bury some in a ditch in the evening.

Question. Did they separate the whites from the blacks?

Answer. I cannot tell; I was not close enough. I saw them carry them there and throw them in the ditch.

Question. Did you hear anything about their nailing a man to a building and then setting it on fire?

Answer. I heard of it, but did not see it.

Question. When did you hear of it?

Answer. After I came up here.

John F. Ray, sworn and examined.

By Mr. Gooch:

Question. To what company and regiment do you belong?

Answer. Company B, 13th Tennessee cavalry.

Question. Were you at Fort Pillow when it was attacked?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. At what time were you wounded?

Answer. I was wounded about 2 o'clock, after the rebels got in the breastworks.

Question. Was it before or after you had surrendered?

Answer. It was after I threw down my gun, as they all started to run.

Question. Will you state what you saw there?

Answer. After I surrendered they shot down a great many white fellows right close to me – ten or twelve, I suppose – and a great many negroes, too.

Question. How long did they keep shooting our men after they surrendered?

Answer. I heard guns away after dark shooting all that evening, somewhere; they kept up a regular fire for a long time, and then I heard the guns once in a while.

Question. Did you see any one shot the next day?

Answer. I did not; I was in a house, and could not get up at all.

Question. Do you know what became of the quartermaster of your regiment, Lieutenant Akerstrom?

Answer. He was shot by the side of me.

Question. Was he killed?

Answer. I thought so at the time; he fell on his face. He was shot in the forehead, and I thought he was killed. I heard afterwards he was not.

Question. Did you notice anything that took place while the flag of truce was in?

Answer. I saw the rebels slipping up and getting in the ditch along our breastworks.

Question. How near did they come up?

Answer. They were right at us; right across from the breastworks. I asked them what they were slipping up there for. They made answer that they knew their business.

Question. Are you sure this was done while the flag of truce was in?

Answer. Yes, sir. There was no firing; we could see all around; we could see them moving up all around in large force.

Question. Was anything said about it except what you said to the rebels?

Answer. I heard all our boys talking about it. I heard some of our officers remark, as they saw it coming, that the white flag was a bad thing; that they were slipping on us. I believe it was Lieutenant Akerstrom that I heard say it was against the rules of war for them to come up in that way.

Question. To whom did he say that?

Answer. To those fellows coming up; they had officers with them.

Question. Was Lieutenant Akerstrom shot before or after he had surrendered?

Answer. About two minutes after the flag of truce went back, during the action.

Question. Do you think of anything else to state? If so, go on and state it.

Answer. I saw a rebel lieutenant take a little negro boy up on the horse behind him; and then I heard General Chalmers – I think it must have been – tell him to "take that negro down and shoot him," or "take him and shoot him," and he passed him down and shot him.

Question. How large was the boy?

Answer. He was not more than eight years old. I heard the lieutenant tell the other that the negro was not in the service; that he was nothing but a child; that he was pressed and brought in there. The other one said: "Damn the difference; take him down and shoot him, or he would shoot him." I think it must have been General Chalmers. He was a smallish man; he had on a long gray coat, with a star on his coat.

Daniel H. Rankin, sworn and examined.

By Mr. Gooch:

Question. To what company and regiment do you belong?

Answer. Company C, 13th Tennessee cavalry.

Question. Were you at Fort Pillow at the late attack there?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. Will you state what happened there?

Answer. The worst thing I saw was the rebels moving up on us while the flag of truce was up at the fort. One part of their army moved right up on the brink of the ditch, and when the firing began, they rushed right into the fort. Before that the rebels were off two or three hundred yards. They tried twice to make a charge, but they did not succeed; they did not get within twenty or thirty steps of the fort then. I saw a great many men shot after they surrendered, white and black both.

Question. Are you sure you saw the rebels moving up towards the fort while the flag of truce was in?

Answer. Yes, sir; I saw them.

Question. When were you shot?

Answer. After I surrendered.

Question. Where were you when you were shot?

Answer. About half way down the bluff.

Question. Had you your gun when you were shot?

Answer. No, sir; if I had had my gun I would have shot the fellow who shot me. He was not more than ten steps from me. He was loading his gun, and I saw him shoot a man near me. As he fired at him I threw myself over the bluff, catching hold of a little locust. He aimed at my body and hit me in the leg. I then dropped down and got into the river, and afterwards got out and crawled behind a stump with two of my company. Some darkeys came there, and we told them to go away; we saw the rebels were shooting them, and we allowed if they were not with us we might get clear. I went back to where I was shot, and some fellow fired at us, but did not hit us. We begged him not to shoot; that the place was surrendered to them. One of our fellows threw up his hands, but they fired at him and hit his arm. We were carried out about two miles from the fort and then paroled.

Question. How long did you stay where you had been carried out from the fort?

Answer. I staid there some eighteen or twenty hours; from about 8 o'clock at night to about 4 o'clock the next evening. In that time my wound was dressed, and I was paroled somewhere between 3 and 5 o'clock. I got three of the rebels to help me up about a half a mile to a citizen's house, for I was not able to walk. I found out that the gunboat had a flag of truce, and I got an old man then in the house to saddle up a horse and carry me to the fort. Two rebel doctors went along with me. When we got there a rebel lieutenant colonel took my parole from me, said it was forged, and that he was going to take me back. The doctors told him my parole was right, and that I was not able to travel. They took me down to the gunboat No. 28, and then I went from that boat to gunboat No. 7, and then I went on the flag-ship.

Lieutenant William Clary, sworn and examined.

By Mr. Gooch:

Question. What is your rank and position in the service?

Answer. I am second lieutenant of company B, 13th Tennessee cavalry.

Question. Were you at Fort Pillow when it was attacked?

Answer. No, sir; I was sent to Memphis the day before, and returned to Fort Pillow the morning after the fight. I came up on gunboat No. 28. The rebels were at Fulton, about two miles and a half below Fort Pillow. We fired at them, and the rebels at Fort Pillow heard it, and thought we were bringing up re-enforcements, and then they set the town on fire.

Question. When did you get up there?

Answer. Early in the morning, or little after daylight.

Question. When did you land at Fort Pillow?

Answer. We got there about 8 o'clock in the morning, and shelled there an hour or so. The rebels were occupying the fort in large numbers. By and by the rebels came down with a flag of truce, and I went on shore to see what was wanting. One of the officers of the 6th United States heavy artillery said he did not like to go on shore for fear the rebels would kill him. I went on shore with one of the naval officers and saw General Forrest's adjutant general, Major Anderson. He said if we would recognize the parole of Forrest we might take our wounded on the gunboat; and that was agreed upon. I rode all around the battle-ground, and saw some of our dead half buried, and I saw five negroes burning. I asked Colonel Chalmers, the general's brother, if that was the way he allowed his men to do. He concluded that he could not control his men very well, and thought it was justifiable in regard to negroes; that they did not recognize negroes as soldiers, and he could not control his men. I did not see any white men burning there; if there were any, I did not recognize them as such. Their faces were burned, and some of them were sticking out of the tents and houses with their clothes partly burned. The negroes were lying upon the boards and straw in the tents which had been set on fire. It seemed to me as if the fire could not have been set more than half an hour before. Their flesh was frying off them, and their clothes were burning.

Question. How many did you see in that condition?

Answer. I saw five.

Question. Did they burn the hospital?

Answer. I saw the hospital burning, but I do not know whether they moved the sick out or not before they burned it. I understood the rebels went in where there were some 20 or 30 negroes sick, and hacked them over their heads with sabres and shot them. The negroes had been moved from the heights up on the hill into two large tents by us; but I do not think our men had been moved up there. I went through the hospital tents up there the morning before I started down to Memphis, and saw them full of colored troops. Dr. Fitch told me that he had his hospital flag on every bush around the bottom of the hill. At the commencement of the fight the major had told him to take his instruments and his medicines down under the bluff and stick up flags there, and have the wounded taken down to him. But the doctor said they did not notice his flags at all; that some of his patients were wounded there. He was wounded himself and taken prisoner and paroled.

Question. Did you see them shoot any colored men that morning?

Answer. I saw them shoot one man just before we landed with the flag of truce. An escort of about 20 men rode up to a livery stable and set it on fire. The gunboat fired at them but did not hit them, and they got on their horses and rode off at a trot. There were some paths down the hill, and a man came along down one of them; I saw them halt; the foremost one, an officer I think, pulled out a revolver and shot very deliberately at this man, and then they galloped off in quick time. He did not kill the man, however, for I saw him walking along afterwards. I do not know whether the man was white or black.

Question. Did you hear anything of their nailing men to a building and then burning it?

Answer. Yes, sir; I heard of it. And I heard a lady say that a man was nailed to a building that was burned. She said she was well acquainted with Lieutenant Akerstrom before the fight took place. Some one asked why he was not buried. Some of the rebels said he was a damned conscript that had run away from Forrest. But I never heard Lieutenant Akerstrom say any such thing.

Question. Who was that lady?

Answer. Mrs. Ruffin, the wife of Thomas Ruffin.

Question. Where is she now?

Answer. I think she is at Cairo now. Her husband did not get wounded, but he was sick. I heard an ensign on gunboat 28 invite General Chalmers and some of his aides-de-camp to come on board the gunboat, and I saw Major Anderson and several other confederate officers on the Platte Valley drinking at the bar, and I saw a couple of army officers drinking there with them, and there might have been some naval officers with them too, but I am not certain of that. The clerk of the Platte Valley, General Forrest's adjutant general, Major Anderson, and an ensign of gunboat 28, took the names of the paroles. I did not take the names myself, because I was busily engaged going over the battle-field to find out if any of our men were left alive. I heard a great many rebel soldiers say they did not intend to recognize those black devils as soldiers. They said this to me as I was speaking about the slaughter there. They also expressed the opinion that if we had not been fighting with black troops they would not have hurt us at all; but they did not intend to give any quarter to negroes.

Dr. Stewart Gordon, sworn and examined.

By the chairman:

Question. What is your position?

Answer. Acting assistant surgeon, United States army.

Question. Where are you now stationed?

Answer. I have charge of ward N, Mound City general hospital.

Question. Is that the ward in which are the colored men we first examined yesterday?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. Have you prepared a statement of the condition of the men in that ward whose testimony we have taken?

Answer. I have it here; it is a brief history of their cases, where they were wounded, how they were wounded, and the condition they are in. – (Appendix to this deposition.)

Question. Were you here in the hospital when those men were brought in?

Answer. I was.

Question. Had you any conversation with them then?

Answer. Yes, sir; with the greater part of them.

Question. Did you hear their testimony yesterday?

Answer. I did.

Question. Did the statements they made to us correspond with the statements they made to you when they were first brought here?

Answer. They did.

Question. So far as you can judge, from your experience as a medical man, are their statements in relation to their injuries corroborated by the appearance of the injuries themselves?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. How many of those men have died since they have been received here?

Answer. Only one in my ward.

Question. How many are there now who you think will not recover?

Answer. I think there are three who will not recover; perhaps more.

Ward N.– Private Elias Falls, company A, 1st Alabama artillery, shot in arm while fighting, shot in thigh after being prisoner, flesh wound, condition favorable; Private Duncan Harden, company A, 1st Alabama artillery, shot in arm while fighting, arm broke, shot in thigh after being prisoner, flesh wound, favorable; Private Nathan Hunter, company D, 1st Alabama artillery, shot in side and hip after surrender, flesh wound, condition favorable; Sergeant Benjamin Robinson, company D, 1st Alabama artillery, shot in thigh and right leg after surrender, flesh wound, favorable; Private Daniel Tylor, company B, 1st Tennessee artillery, shot in right shoulder, shot in right eye after surrender, destroying sight, unfavorable; Private John Haskins, company B, 1st Tennessee artillery, shot in left arm after surrender, flesh wound, slight, favorable; Private Thomas Adison, company C, 1st Alabama artillery, shot in nose and right eye after surrender, destroying sight, unfavorable; Private Alfred Flake, company A, 1st Alabama artillery, shot in left hand while lying sick in hospital, flesh wound, unfavorable; Private Manuel Nichols, company B, 1st Alabama artillery, shot in left side before, and right arm after surrender, flesh wound, serious, unfavorable; Private Arthur Edmonds, company C, 1st Alabama artillery, shot in head and right arm after surrender, causing fracture of arm, condition favorable; Private Henry Hanks, company A, 1st Alabama artillery, shot in left side after surrender, wound serious, condition unfavorable; Private Charles Key, company D, 1st Alabama artillery, shot in right arm after surrender, fracture of arm, condition favorable; Private Henry Christon, company B, 1st Alabama artillery, shot in back before surrender, wound serious, rather favorable; Private Aaron Fintis, company D, 1st Alabama artillery, shot in both legs after surrender, flesh wound, slight, condition favorable; Private George Shaw, company B, 1st Tennessee artillery, shot in left side of head, shot in right wrist after surrender, not serious, favorable; Private Major William, company B, 1st Tennessee artillery, shot through nose after surrender, not serious, condition favorable; officer's servant William Jerdon, 13th Tennessee cavalry, shot in left ankle, amputation, shot in left arm, fracture of arm after surrender, very unfavorable; Corporal Alexander Naison, company C, 1st Alabama artillery, shot in right side of head after surrender, not serious, favorable; Private Thomas Gadis, company C, 1st Alabama artillery, shot in right hip after surrender, serious, condition unfavorable; Corporal Eli Cothel, company B, 1st Alabama artillery, shot in right leg while fighting, shot in left arm after surrender, flesh wound, favorable; Private Sandy Cole, company D, 1st Alabama artillery, shot in right thigh and arm after surrender, flesh wound, condition favorable; Private Nathan Modley, company D, 1st Alabama artillery, shot in right knee after surrender, injury of joint, condition unfavorable; Private John Holland, company B, 1st Tennessee artillery, shot in right thigh after surrender, flesh wound, condition favorable; Private Robert Hall, company C, 1st Alabama artillery, sabre cut of head and left hand while lying sick in hospital, died.