St. Cloud Democrat. [volume] (Saint Cloud, Stearns County, Minn.) 1858-1866, 1864-04-21
[ THE IAssAckE AT roRT PILLOW.
HORR1BEE DETAILS or THE An.
~ & FAIR, #s#
sepoys, Angels. tn ,Comrar ison with
= Rebels. b ss4
'orrel...pondence Caicnyie 7ri5rnae.

sepoys, Angels. in .Comparison with
= Rebels. b ss4a
Correspondence raieo:S5e tT,l5 bl;a
CAIRO. April 18th.
1t is reported that General Chalmers
at first commanded the Confederates at
Fort Pillow. Gen Lee, however, ar
rived just before the battle began, and
assumed command. General Chalmers
remarked to, Federal officer on the
STEAMER Platte Valley, that it was tIseir
intention torshow no quarter to home
made Nank ee<, (meaning Southerncrs,)
serving III the Union army, and ne
groes, but that genuine Yankees would
be treated as prisoners Of war.
10 the shame If the Americans be it
said, On, the steamer were found men,
some of them wearing the United States
uniform. who lionixed Chalmers, offer
ing him every attention, taking him
into toe ladies' cabin, aud extending to
film every Kindness and courtesy imag-
Unable, appearing to be highly honored
with his notice.
Those who thus disgraced the cause
by hvoring the villain Chalmers, must
not go unpublished, and their conduct
must be Investigated and rewarded ac-
cording to their deserts. 10 the hon.
or of others, one officer in particular
whose maine unfortunately We could
not learn, they refused to drink or have
any intercourse With Hhe barbarisns, as
they 30 truly proved themselves BY
slaughtering men who, with upl,fted
hands, failed to obtain mercy, but their
heads cleft from their shoulders, or laid
open with sabrcs, or their skulls stove
in with the butts of guns. After
throwing down their arms, after being
overpowered by overwhelming dads,
several small squads of negroes were
drawn up in line and shot down, A.
ter this, the poor creatures would take
refuge behind white men, when the
rebels would fire, frequently bringing
down both white and black. No at
tention Was paid to the wounded, and
the coalrlonest dictates of humanity
were utterly ddisregarded.
inside Of the works the most revolt
ing spectacle Imaginable presented it.
self: The dead and wounded were ly-
ing in heaps, writhing in agony, while
from the consuming buildings came
forth the death shrieks Of the burning
negroes.
Although nearly all the buildings in
the fort were burned, with their con-
tents, thirty or forty barrels of salt we're
preserved and carried off by the rebels.
The iron-clad gunboat No. : fred
about $50 rounds, when running out
of ammunition, and having kept up
continuous fire, her guns. which were
not large, became wholly ineffective,
and the rebels bringing the Parrot
gun from the fort 10 bear upon her, she
was obliged to haul cut of range. She
received little damage, save few holes
through her chimncys.
After the Platte Valley had landed,
and while the conference was going on,
q wounded man was seen crawling alons
the bank with great difficulty. He
was perceived by a rebel, who drew
sight Upon him, and firing, the wound
ed 'ukan feA dead
The enemy is s;6l TO have used six
small pieces Of artillery in the attack
probably the same used at Paducah.
OF the guns captured at the fort, it is
said several were rendered uscicss for
the present by our forces spiking them.
Forrest, with these guns, and the 1,ain
force, is said to have retrcated the same
evening to Brownsville, leaving Chal-
mers with brigade still at the fort
Chalmers would give the officers Of
gunbuats or others no satisfaction as to
his immediate designs, but stated, as
did Forest, that none approved of firing
into steamboats,.
They denied that it was their force
who were doing it, but bands Of rob.
bcrs who followed them, and whom
they would hang as fast as they could
catch them.
The correspondent Of the St. Louis
Union, who vas aboard the steamer
Platte Valley, at Fort Pillow, gives an
even more appalling description Of the
6endishncss of the rebels:
Many Of OUR wounded were shot in
the hospital, the remainder were driven
out and the hospital burned.
The morning after tho battle the reb.
els went over the field and shot all nc
groes who had not died from previous
wounds. Many Of those who escaped
from the works and hospitals, and who
desired to be treated as prisoners of
war, as the rebels said, were ordered to
fall into line, when they were immedi-
ately shot down.
Uf three hundred and fifty colored
troops not more than fifty escaped mas
sacre, and not one officer that command
ed survives.
Only four officers Of thu 18th Ten
nessee escaped death.
The loss of the 18th Tennessee is IS
killed, the remainder are wounded 10
captured
Gen. Chalmers told this corrtspohd.
ent, although it was against the policy
Of his government to spare negro col
diers or their officers, he had done I'LL
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