Brownlow's Knoxville Whig, and rebel ventilator. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1863-1866, 1864-05-21

than ten years old were forced 10 stand
up and face their murderers whilc being
shot.
The sick and wounded were butchered
without mercy, the rebels evcn entering the
hospital buildings and dragging them ont TO
be shot, or killing them rs they lay there,
unable to offer the least resistance,
Al 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
those on the bank were shot and their bod
les kicked in the water, many Of them liv-
ing, but unable to make any cXcrtions 10
save themselves from drowning. Some of
the rebels stood upon the top Of n hill and
n short distance from its side, and called TO
our soldiers to come up to them, and as they
approached shot them down in cold blood,
and if their guns or pistols missed they
forced them to stand there until they were
again prepared to fire
One man was deliberately fastened down
to the floor of n tent face upwards, by means
of nails driven through his clothing into the
boards under him so that he could not pos
/ fire. Another was nailed to the side OF a
building, outside of the fort, and then the
building set on fire and burned,
The charrcd remains Of five or six bodies
were afterwards found, all but one so much
dsfgurcd and consumed by the flames that
they could not be identified, and the idcnti-
tication Of that one is not absolutely Ger
tain, although there can hardly be doubt
that it is the body of Lieut. Abertson
Quartcrmaster of the 18th Virginia cavalry
and n native of Tennessee
All around were heard cries Of no quarter
no quarter Kill the damned niggcrs
shot them down All who asked for mercy
were answered by the most cruel taunts and
snoers. Some We're spared for a time only
to be murdered under circumstances of
greater barbarity. No cruelty which the
most hendiSh maignty could devise was
omitted by these murdcrcrs.
These deeds of murder and cruelty closed
when night came on, only to be renewed the
next morning when the demons carefully
sought among the dead lying about in all
directions for any other wounded yet alive,
and those they found We're deliberately shot .
Some of the dead and wounded were found /.
the day of the massacre by the men from
some of our gunboats who were permitted
10 go on shore and collect the wounded and
bury the dead.
One white soldier who was wounded in .
the leg, so rs to be unable TO walk, was made
to stand up while his tOrmentors shot him, /
Others, who were wounded and unable to
stand up, were held up and again shot. one
negro, who had been ordcrd by 4 rebel otii (.
Ger 70 hold his horse, was killed by him |.
when he monstrated-anothcr, n mere
child, whom IN officer had taken up behind
him on his horse, was seen by Chalmers,
who at once ordered him to put him down !
and shoot him, which was done.
The rebels themselves had made n pre-
tcnce of burying great many OF the vic
Tins but thoy merely threw them into the
trenches and bitches about the fort, or the .
little hollows and ravincs on the hillside, .
covering them partially with earth, Portions
of heads and faces. hands and feet were
found portruding in every direction, and .
even when your committee visited the spot .
two weeks afterward, although parties Of
men had been sent on here from time to time
to bury the bodies unburicd, and rcbury the
others, and were engaged in the same work,
we found the evidences of this murder and .
cruelty still plainly visible. We saw bodies
still unburicd at some distance from the
fort, of some sick who had been met fleeing
from the hospital and beaten down and bru-
tally murdered, and their bodies left where
they had fallen
The huts and tents in which many Of the
wounded had sought shelter, were set on
fire both that night and the next morning,
while the wounded were still in them, those
only escaping who were able to get out
themselves, or could prevail on others less
injured to help them out and even some
of these thus seeking to escape the flames,
were met by these ruflians and shot down,
or had their brains beaten out.
Many other instances of equally atrocious
cruelty might be enumerated, but your Com
mlttce feel compelled to refrain from giving
here more of the heart sickcnng details,
and refer to the statements contained in the
voluminous testimony herewith submitted.
Those statements were obtained by them
from eve witnesses and sufferers. Many of
them as they were examined by your Com
missoncrs, were lying upon beds of pain
and suffering some so feeble that their lips
could with difficulty tell their story.
But two officers are known to be living,
and they are wounded One of them, Capt.
Porter, may even now be dead No hopes
were entertained of his recovery. OF the
men, from 300 to 400 are known to have
been killed at Fort Pillow, of whom at least
800 were murdered in cold blood. after the
fort was in possession Of the rebels, and our
men had thrown down their arms and
ceased to offer resistance.
When your Committee arrived at Mem
phis, they found and examined man, Mr..
McLeogan, who had been conscripted by
some of FORESTS forces, but with other con.
scripts, had succeeded in making his escape.
He testifcs that. while two companies of
rebel troops, with Maj. Bradford and many
other prisoners were on their march from
Brownsville to Jackson, Tennessee. Major
Bradford was taken by five rebels, one an
officer and led about tifty Yards from the