The Soldiers' journal. (Rendezvous of Distribution, Va.) 1864-1865, 1864-04-27

ment, and on their refusal the worse than bar
barrie hordes were hurled against the fort in such
overwhelming numbers that after heroic and
almost superhuman resistance, the noble garri-
son was compelled to succumb-not surrender.
There was no capitulation, no armistice, ne
gotiation the order fight, the ultimatum
was fight, and though the blood poured almost to
darxen the waters of the river that rolled at their
feet the heroic garrison neither faltered nor fear
ed, but when crowded from the ramparts, Crap
pied their foe in hand-to-hand conflict until all
had either persisted or been borne down by the
resistless wave thatrolled over them. The negro
troops alone showed a disposition to shrink, but
then only when the bayonets of vastly superior
numbers were at their breasts and resistance
seemed madness. Driven to the bank of the
river, they could not do more than succumb be-
fore their on-coming and desperate foes, whose
evaporation was increased by the terrible resis-
lance they had met and the heavy loss they had
sustained Under ordinary circumstances the
conquerors would have honored the brave garri
son for its heroism, but not so in this instance
No sooner had they gained undisputed posses
sion of the fort than an indiscriminate slaughter
of it's inmates commenced. The hospitals
sacked the patients being in many cases bayo-
netted in their beds, and burned. Even women
and children were, if not murdered, subjected to
the most atrocious indignities and abuses. The
negro troops, who surrendered, numbering up
wards of three hundred, were deliberately shot
down; wounded negroes, unable to rise from
the ground where they had fallen, were bayo-
Melted in cold blood, and their white officers met
the same fate, not single officer of the entire
battalion escaping. Not content with despatch
ing the colored troops at once, plan was put in
operation which for fiendish inhumanity beggars
comparison. We refer to the burying of those,
the nature of whose wounds, as they supposed,
precluded the possibility of their being able to
extricate themselves from the confinement of
the grave, thus consigning the men who had
earned human consideration from their hands by
| their bravery to the horrible death produced by
suffocation. Five of these succeeded in working
their way through the fortunately insufficient
covering of earththat was thrown upon Them and
reached our lines after the enemy had retired,
but it will require the expositions of the Great
Judgment to develop the whole truth in reference
to this transaction.
Of the outrages committed by the rebels during
the war this is unquestionably the most appal-
ling, the most inhuman the most unjustifiable,
and that it will meet with the consideration at
the hands of the government which it's import
ance demands, we do not entertain doubt. If
the enemymean to inaugurate war of extermina-
tion let it be so understood and shall see who
can hold out the longest. If the negro is worthy
| of bearing arms in defence of the government by
the side of the white soldier, we unable to see
| WHY he is not entitled to the same protection
| awarded by the government to the white soldier
when captured in the line of duty. A committee
| has been appointed by Congress, whose duty it
will be to inquire into the which led to the
capture as well as to investigate the facts rela-
tive to the butchery of the colored portion of the