Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1864-05-12
The Fort Pillow Massacre.
Report or .Nessys. Wade
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WASHINGTON. Mays
The following is an extract from the re-
port OF Messrs Wade and Gooch, Of the
Conduct OF the War Committee, on the
Fort Pillow massacre.
feur Committee were instructed to in
quire only in reference to the attack, cap
ture and massacre at Fort Pillow, bat they
have deemed il proper to take some testi.
mony in reference to the operations of For
rest and his. command Immediately prece-
ding and subsequent to that transaction. -
IL will appear. from testimony thus taken,
that the atrocities committed at Fort Pillow
were not the result Of passions excited by
the heat OF conflict, but were the results of
policy deliberately decided upon, and up
hesitatingly announced Even the upcer.
tainty Of the fact Of these officers and men
belonging to colored regiments, who have
been taken by the rebels has failed to con
vince the authorities of our Government of
this fact; the testimony herewith submitted
must convince even the most skepiical that
it Is the intention of the rebel authoritie.
not to recognize tho officers and men of our
colored regiments as entitled to the treat.
ment accorded by all civilized nations to
prisoners of war. The declaration OF For
rest and his officers. both before and after
the capture of Fort Pillow. as testified to by
such OF our men AZ have escaped after be-
ing taken by them, contained 10 the vari-
Gus demands for surrender at Paducah. Co.
lumbus and other places; the renewal of the
massacre the morning after the capture Of
Fort Pillow; the statements made by rebel
officers to the officers Of our gunboats who
received the few survivors at Fort Pillow, all
this proves most conclusively the policy
Fort Pillow the brutality and cruelty of the
rebels were most fearfully exhibited.
The committee then detail at length the
taking OF the fort, and proceed TO say
Then followed a scene of cruelty and murder
without parallel in civilized warfare, which
needs but the tomahawk and scalping- knife
to exceed the most atrocious ever commit
ted by savages. The rebels CONNIE need an
indiscriminate slaughter, sparing neither
age nor sex. white nor black, soldiers nor
civilians The :oficers and men seemed to
vie with each other in the de,ilish work.
Men, women and children wherever found,
were deliberately shot down, beaten and
hacked with sabres. Some oiths chii1rsn,
not more than ten years old, were forced to
stand up and face their murderers, while be.
ing shot. The sick and wounded we're treat
ed without mercy. the rebels even entering
the hospital buildings and dragging them
out to be shot. or killing them as they lay
there unable to offer the least resistance.
All over the hillside the work of murder
was going on. Numbers of our men were
collected together in lines or groups and
deliberately shot. Some were shot while in
the river, while others on the bank were
T shot and then kicked into the water, many
of them living, but unable to make any ex
ertion to save themselves from drowning. -
Some Of the rebels stood upon the top of tn,
hill and short distance from its side, aud
called to our soldiers 10 come up to them
and as they approached shot them down il
cold blood and, IT their guns or pistols
missed, forced them to stand there unit
they were again prepared to fire. AL
quartsrl" Kill tho damned .niggers!"-
"Shoot them down." All who asked fo
mercy were answered by the most crue
: taunts and sneers. Some we're spared TO
time only, to be murdered under circum
! stances of greater barbarity. No cruelt,
which the most fendish maignity could de
wise was omitted by these lnurdsrers. On,
white soldier who was wounded in the lei
so as to be unable to walk was made to stant
up while his tormenters shot him. Other
who were wounded and unable to stand Up
were held up and again shot. One negro
who had been ordered by rebel officer I,
hold his horse, was killed by him when h,
, demonstrated. Another, a mere child
whom an officer had taken up behind hin
on his horse, was seen by Chalmers, who
once ordered him TO put him down anc
shoot him. which was dsne. The huts ant
tents, in which many of the wounded has
sought shelter, were set on fire both tha
night and the next morning, while tn,
wounded we're still in them, those only es
Gaping who were able to get themselves out
or could prevail on Others less injured t
help them out. and even some of these thu
seeking to escape the flames, were met b.
these ruffians and shot down, or had thei
brains beaten out
One man was deliberately fastened dow
to the foor of tent, face upward, by mean
Of nails driven through his clothing and int
the boards under him. so that he could no
possibly escape, and then the tent was sc
on fire. Another was nailed to the side o
building outside ofthe fort, and then tn
building set on fire aud burned. The char
red remains Of FIVE or six bodies we're after
ward found, and all but one body SO mucl
uiShsutOu uuu COusuiueu Uy the names q
not to be identified, and the identification
Of that one is not absolutely certain, al
though there can hardly be a doubt it wa
, the body Of Lieut.. Arbertsen, quartsrmas
ter Of the 18th Tennessee cavalry, and a M
tive OF Tennessee. These deeds Of murde
and cruelty closed when night came on. onl
to be revived the next morning. when tn,
, demons carefully sought among the dead "
ing about in all directions, for any othe
wounded yet alive, and those they foun,
were deliberately shot Scores of the dea,
and wounded were found there the day O
the massacre. by the men from some of eu
gunboats. who were Permitted to 70 OF
shore and collect the wounded and bury tb,
dead The rebels themselves had made ,
pretense. OF burying great many Of thei
victims, but they had merely thrown then
into the trenches aud bitches about the for
or the little hollows aud ravines on the hill
side. covering them partially with earth. =
Portions ofhsads and faces, hands and feet
were found protrudins in every direction
and were, when your committee visited ths
spot two weeks afterward. Although oar
ties Of men had beea sent on shore from
time to time, to bury the bodies unburisd
and re- bury the others. and were evan thsr