, 1864-04-21

| were unable to identify 1t. have also taken
1nll notes Of the sta cments Of two officers of
els A. Smith, and ed Lieut.. VIM Cleary, from
| which produce the following: ~
srATEAESTs or TWO OFFICERS.
These officers were not present at the fight
| on Tuesday, being absent on detached SER
vice, but they returned early on Wednesday,
hour OF ofsur1ender, which ngrces substantially
with that of Mr. Rcytlle, I take up the re-
| maiudcr:
! The ribels had no sooner entered the forti-
ficatioDs than a scene Of terror ensued. Thero
IVES NO retreat. The Confederate forces sta-
tiolcd below tie hill cut that OF most effect
] ual]y- Our men were shot down both from
the front AID tho rear. In many instances
they were known to beg for life upon their
knees. but begged in vain There was no
| mercy shown., They were made to stand up
only 10 be shot down -
Capt. Bradford OF company A, 18th Ten
| neseec Cavnlry, was on duty ss the sisual Of.
! t1cer for the gunboat. and was seen with the
signal flags IN his hand. Forrest Immediate
II ordered him shot His words were:
session." And the order was all too soon
obeyed. Captain Bradford fell, fairly rlddIed
with bullets, full regiment having exhaust
ed their pieces upon him. This was all after
the surrender had been made By Major Brad
LieutenantJ ]. c. Akerstrom, from all nc eau
learn, and from an examination into the facts.
the discovery Of his body. and It's position
must have been severely wounded, and then
nailed to the side Of building and the stru.-
ture get on fire. He was thus first. wounded
and then tortured to final death, all after he
had made known that hc surrendered,
lajor Bradford, the commandaut Of the
troops, after the death Of Major Booth. was
fired upon all the time he was making e,p
pals Of surrender. The rebel officers toid
MN; That Ee had it not in his power to sur
npon, ran into the 1iyerand swan ont eomo
forty yards Hc was still q target for their
rifles, but ill failed to strike him. he 1ya7
then ordered to return and did so, and ran
sp the bank, his white handkerchief in his
land, saying be had surrendered the place,
but the firing still continued with tho same
result, be still remaining unhprt.. He ran
IN among the rebel soldiers to prevent fur
ther use OF their muskets. There vera sey.
eru rebel officers present, looking on, and
none interiercd. But, finding they lad SO
iar failed to hit hlm they at last took HIN In
charge. Flo was afterwards paroled to the
limits Of camp. But that same night, as tfe
rebels claim, be violated his parole and es-
capped. This story, however, does not cor
respond with that OF other prisoners who cs-
capped from the coufederates after they had
started IRON the vicinity. These latter say
the Major was taken ont on the Hatclie Bot.
tom and there executed.
On Wednesday morning, when Licutcnsuts
Smith and Cieary visited the fort, they learn
cd that the rebels had entered the negro. hos
pital and bntchered about thirty sick and
convaleEcents they hnd found there, and then
set fire 10 the hospital builiny Their bodies
were partially consumed. On that very.
morning, the morning after the fight, when
their passion had had time to cool, party Of
the confedcEatcs were seen BY the officers
mentioned 10 come upon the battle-ground
fhp Erann nf thn hun nut nh
as were not dead yet and dispatch them with
strokes OF their sabres anu bayonets, and
shots from muskets. and rcyolycrs. In one
instance wounded white soldier who had
lain upon the field unattended, without
drink or food, for nearly twenty -four hours,
saw rebel cavnlryman passing: him, and
cried out pltcously for some water. The cow
nrd)y rebel turned deliberately IN his saddle,
drew his revolver and fired three shots at him
for his Enins, missing him fortunately each
time. Thc poor fellow is still alive and like
ly to recover.
The rebels also drove good many white
md black soldiers into the river aud shot
them there or drowned them. They killed
every white officer oTer negro troops except
irg one. He hns since died from bis wounds
FROM the best Information that can be OBJ,
tanned at present, think the number Of pris-
oners taken away from the fort by the rebels
cannot be far from one hundred and one
whites, and about forty colored It Ia also
pretty conclusirely shown that they hung,
shot, and otherwise executed nil the latter
as they marched toward Brownsville. In this |
manner they were rid Of them, and each col |
ored mans body was made to serve ns sort !
Of warning to the few remaining negroes in |
the country not to follow their example In |
joining the Union forces. Licutenants Smith |
and C]eary Judge that out Of the seven hun
the surrender. including the conralescents
and those sick in hospital, the rebels have
about one hundred white prisoners, and
there are still living some fifty wounded who
were paroNd, and are In our hands at Mound
City and other places, Hence the real loss in
hundred aud fifty. All but twenty-five were
killed after the surrender. All bat two of
the wounded were wounded after the sur
render.
STATEMENT OF A pART1C1rAToR IN THE DE-
TENSE. |
We have seen aud couverBed with GENTLE
man just arrived from Fort Pillow, Tempo
rary resident there, not connected with The !
the army, but who took part In the gnllant
defense Of the Fort, From his statement, no
Of that day were even more terrible than first |
reports seemed to Indicate. The first assault |
BY Chalmcrs' division Of the rebels, com |
menced about five o'clock ii the morning. |
The women and childen were got iuto dat |
BOAT anu to"ed to safe distance just before |
il to the fort to assist In its defense. The de-
1enee OF the fort VAS maintained until near
two o'clock p. H., during the period Of |
: which three distinct charges were made and |
reEulsed With severe loss to the enemy at !
each time. At two o'clock nag OF truce was
sent in With demand for the surrender of /
the fort. MINOR Booth, tue commander OF |
the fort, having been killed carly in the day, |
the ting was received By Major Bradford. lie /
replied that be could NOT give positive an-
or inf - ~ ,knI
boat No. Z, which had borne distinguished
part In the defense. He made IN attempt to
do 60, hut On account Of the loss Of his sic-
pals, he was unable, aud about one !
hour was exhausted in making the
in the fort, ane While there should have bsea
cecession OF all hostile operations, Forest
quietly and secretly gathered his division In
close proximity to the fort, and so protected
that it was impossible to reach them cfTectu-
aily with Us guns, or IN any way to severely
damage him. When he had got his men In
proper position, he demanded Of Maj. Brad
ford for an immediate response to his dc.
mand for 4 surrender. Maj. Bradford replied
lhat II he wanted the tort he must come and
take it. The assault Was Immediately made,
and a. Was Of the most desperate character.
The enemy soon gained entrance, and the-lit-
We gafrls0n At once orcrpowered. When
this took place our men Immediately threw
down their arms, and cried out that they sur
rendered 10 this the rebels paid no ntteu- |
ton, but commenced IN indiscrimiuate !
shooting. The men seeing that they were to
have no quarter, rushed over the rear Of the
tort and down the steep precipice toward the
river. The rebels poured down toward the /
river On each side Of the fort In immmcnse \
Numbers, completely hemming in, the poor,
veterans, and shooting them down as thev;E
run, moi notwithstanding they continually cried
for quarter, snd in this way the carnage con-:
tinued for nearly m hour, until out of the
7C0 men. blacks and whites, who were inside
Of Fort Pillow at the commencement Of the
strife, not more than 100 to $50
remained aliye-fulI six hundred had fallen
victims 10 the infernnl host led by the gucrIl-
Ia chief While this thing was going On, the
ficD0E continually shouted with demoniac
hate and laughed with derisiyc mirth. con-
tinual}y applying the most optroblous cpi-
thets to their poor victims. Poor negroes
would drop on their knees aud plead for mer-
or knock out their brains with the butt OF
their mnsSct- In the slaughter there was no
diacr3minGtion-white aud black were served
alike Whenever Union soldier could be
reached, wounded or not, he was immedi-
atcly slaughtered In cold blood Our inform.
ant only escaped by walking up to rebel Of,
hcer, While Ills men were pouring yol]ey
INTO small band Of Federal soldiers, who
had crowded together In corner, and Insist:
Ing That he TSas citizen, and demanding to
be treated as prisoner. Five OF six poor
wounded fellows were discovered by tho de- l.
mons, l'ying behind log. where they had
6een carried BY their comrades, and white