Evening star., 1864-05-06
THE FORT PILLOW MASSACRE.


Messrs. Wade and Gooch-to proceed forth
| with 10 such place as they may deem nscssss.
| ~ and take testimony. i 5aA ~s'.
That Sub. COMMITTEE have discharged that
DUTY, returned 10 this city and submitted 70
| the Joint Committee q report with aecompany-
| ing papers, and testimony.
1t appears from the testimony thus taken
| that the atrocities committed at Fort Pillow
| Were not the result OF passions excited By Ia
heat of conflict, but were results Of d policy
deliberately decided upon and unhesitaiiuelv
announced. Even II the uncertainty Of ne
| ored regiments W ho have beretofore been tsfeu
prisoner RS by the kebeis, has failed to conyince
| the AUTHORITIES of cur Government OF this fact
| the testimony herewith submitted mast aon,
vince even the most skeptical that II is the In
| tention OF the Rebel authorities not to recoe-
| nize the officers and men OF our colorpd !reei.
| ments as entitled to he treatment accorded by
| all civilized nations to prisoners of war.
| The declarations Of Forrest and his omeers,
both before and after the capture Of Forr Pn.
| low, as testified to by such Of our men as have
escaped after being taken prisoners bv him.
| the threats contained in the various demands
| for surrender made at Paducah, Columbus,
and other places; the renewal OF the massacre,
the the mernng liter the &c capture OF Fort Pow
officers OF our gunboats who received the few
! survivors at ort Pilow-all this proves most
| coDclnsiyely the policy they have determined
| 10 adopt. .- -. =.
Concerning the massacre the Committee say:
Then followed scene OF crnelty and mur-
der without a parallel In civilized warfare, and
which needs but the tomahawk and scaipine
knife to exceed the worst atrocities ever COM
mitted by savages. The Rebels commenced an
iDdiscriminate slaughter, sparng neither age
| nor sex, white or black, soldier or Civilian.
The officers and men seemed to vie with sach
| other in the devilish work Men and women.
and even children, wherever found were de-
lberately shot down, beaten and hacked with
| sabres, Some Of the children not more than
| years old, were forced to stand up aud face
| ther murderers while being shot!
| The sick and the wounded were butchered
without mercy. the Rebels even entering the
hospital building and dragging them out 70 be
shor, or killing them as they lay there unable
to offer the least resistance. All over the hill
side the work OF murder was going on. Num-
bers of our men were collected together in Aves
or groups and deliberately shot Some were
shct while in the river, while others On the bank
We're shot and their bodies kicked into the
water, many OF them still living, but unable to
make any resistance to save themselves from
| GROWING. Some OF the Rebels stood upon the
top OF the hill or short distance down is side
and called to our soldiers to come mp 70 the ~,
and as they approached shot them down In
cold blood; If their guns or pistols missed fire
ordering them to stand there until thev were
again prepared to fire. Allaround were heard
cries OF ssNo oquarter, no quarter: kill the d. d
mig gers: shoot them down." sar-
All who asked for mercy were answered by
the most cruel taunts and sneers Some v7ero
spared for time, only to be murdered under
circumstances of greater cruelty No cruelty
which the most fendish malignity could de.
wise was omitted by these murderers. One
white soldier, who was wounded in one bsg go
as to be unable to walk, was made to stand up
while his to-menters shot him. Others who
were wounded and unable to stand mp, were
held up and again shot. One negro, who had
been ordered by rebel officer to hold his horse
was killed by him when he remounted. Auoth-
er. mere child, whom an officer had tax n up
behind him on his horse, was seen by Chalm.
ers. who at once ordered the officer to put him
down and shoot him, which was done. The
huts anG tents in which many Of the wounded
mao sought shelter, Were set on hre, both that
night and the next morning, while the wounded
men were still in them; those only escaping
who Were able to get the mselves out, or who
could prevail on others less injured than tn en-
selves TO help them out; and even some of those
thus seeking to escape the fiames were met by
these rufians and brutally shot down or had
their brains beaten out -
One man was deliberately fastened down to
the floor OF tent, face upwards, by means OF
nails driven through his clothing and with the
boards nnder him, so that he could not possibly
escape, aud then the tent set on lire. Another
was nailed to the side of a building outside OF
the fort, and then the building set on fire and
burned. The charred remains Of Ave or six
bodies were afterwards found all but one SO
much disfgured and consumed by the flames
that they could not be identified, and the idsn-
tiheation OF that one is not absolutely certain,
although there can hardly he doubt that it
was the body of Lieut.. a. Kerstron. Q uarter.
master OF the 18th Cavalry and a native Ten
nessean. Several witnesses who saw the re-
mdiHst duu WHO were personally acquainted
with him, while living, have testified tina, 1t is
their frm belief that u was his body that WAS
thus treated. II p
These deeds of murder and cruelty closed
when night came on, only TO be resumed the
next morning, when the demons carefully
sought among the dead lying about in every
direction for any OF the wounded yet ahvs,
and those they found were deliberately shot.
Scores of the dead and wounded were found
there the day after the massacre by the men
from some Of our gnnboats, who were permit
foA m no an hnr md nNll thA
and bury the dead. The Rebels themselves
had made q pretense CT burying great many
of their victims, but they had merely thrown
them without the least regard to care and de-
cency. into trenches and ditches about the fort,
or the little hollows and ravines on the hill
side, covering them but partially with earth.
Po, tons OF the heads and faces. hands and
feet were found protruding through the earth
In every direction. In some instances the
living were buried with the dead, f.w of
whom succeeded in digging them, elves ont, or
were dug out by others, one Of whom was
found by your Committee in Mound City Hos
pital and his testimony taken. - ..
And even when your Committee visited the
spot, two weeks afterwards, although parties
Of men had been sent on shore from time to
time TO bury the bodies unburied, and Ne barry
the others, and were even thus engaged in the
same work, we found the evidence Of this mur.-
der and cruelty still most painfully apparent
We saw bodies still uEburied st some distance
from the fort of some sick men who had been
met fleeing from the hospital, and beaten down
and brutally murdered and their bodies Ie.t
where they had fallen. We could still see the
faces, hands and feet Of men, white and black.
protrudiDg out OF the ground. whese graves
had not been reached by those engaged In re.
interring the victims Of the massacre. And al
though great deal Of rain had fallen within
the previous two weeks, the ground, moro es-=
pecially on the side and at the foot Of the hluf
where the most Of the murders had been COM
mitted, was still discolored by the blood of our
brave but unfortunate men, and the logs and
trees showed but too plainly the evidence of
the atrocities perpetrated here.
REBEL RAID ON PIEDMONT.
but Very Little Damage Effected.