Brownlow's Knoxville Whig. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1866-1869, 1867-11-06
FORT PILLOW.
A Few Facts from an Eyewitness Re
pIy 10 the Letter OF Gen. Forrest.


ply TO the Letter OF Gen. Forrest.
To he Editor Of the Nes York Times:
notice an article from n. b. Forrest.
published in many of the leading papers of
the country, wherein ne censures a cores
pondent Of your paper for making certain
statements relative 10 "the Fort Pillow
affair" Now, it so happens, that L partlcl-
pated in the defense Of Fort Pillow, and a
decent respect TO the memory of the brave
men who fell around me upon that occasion
impels me TO beg of you sufficient space in
your columns to bear witness TO the truth
of many Of the statements made by your
correspondent, as well, also, as to take n
brief review of the "Card from Gen, For
rest"
This type of Southern "chivalry" has
indeed the assurance TO refer to the report
of the Congressional Investigating Commit
tee, of which Vice President Wade was the
chairman, to substantiate one Of his state
ments Has he forgotten that the report
of that committee substantiated in every
respect the fact Of the horrid barbarry
practiced by his troops against the federal
soldiers after capture? In the words Of the
report itself, abiding to the action Of For
rest and bis demons Immediately after the
capture of the fort "Then followed a
scene of cruelty and murder without
parallel in civilized warfare, which needed
but the tomahawk and scalping- knife to
exceed the worst atrocities ever committed
by savages.
Another portion of said reports read as
follows:
"The testimony also establishes the fact
that the rebels buried some Of the living
with the dead. And even when your COM
mittee visited the spot, tlCo lCeekS dtterUdrd,
although parties Of men had been sent on
shore from time TO time 10 bury the bodies
Hnburied, and rebury the others, and were
even then engaged in the same work, we
found the evidences of this murder and
cruelty still most painfully apparent; we
saw bodies still unburied Cat some distance
from the fort) of some sick men who had
been met fleeing from the hospital and bea-
ten down and brutally murdered, and their
bodies left where they had fallen. We
could still see the faces, hands, and feet of
men, white and black, protruding out of
the ground, whose graves had not been
reached by those engaged in -reinterring
the victims Of the massacre; and although
a great deal Of rain had fallen within the
preceding two weeks, the ground. more
especially on the side and at the foot of the
bluff where the most of the murders had
been committed, was still discolored by the
blood of our brave but unfortunate men.
and the logs and trees showed but too
plainly the evidences of the atrocities per
petrated there.
Many other instances OF equally afro
cous cruelty might be enumerated, but
your committee feel compelled to refrain
from giving here more Of the heart-sicken-
ing details, and refer TO statements contain
ed in the vOluminous testimony herewith
submitted. Those statements were obtain
cd by them from eyewitness and suffer
erE; many of them, as they were examined
by your committee were lying upon beds
of pain and suffering, some SO feeble that
their lips could with difficulty frame the
words by which they endeavored TO convey
some idea of the cruelties which had been
inflicted on them, and which they had seen
inflicted on others"
If the honorable, high-minded. chival-
rous Forrest finds any consolation in per
SUNG the report he refers to, and of which
the foregoing are extracts, l am certainly
at loss TO discern from whence he derives
It,
But the honorable" gentleman asserts
that he captured and can account for more
than 5OO OF the garrison. Verify, he did
capture more than 450 and doubtless can
account for all Of them, and if said account
be truthtully rendered il will. show more
than three-fourths Of this number killed az
ter the surrender.
In view of these facts. it seems decidedlv
cool, TO say the least TO one who. like the
writer, received a portion Of the boastod
hospitality" and "chivalry" of the South |
ern people, and who is vet obliged TO carry
an ounce OF rebel lead which he received |
alter the surrender, to hear this chivalrous
sOl OF tue South, with an air of injured /
innocence, prRting about his sense of honor
NAeracter as a man and as a soldier
eyofi i ~. eeslrlng in the least degree to be |
I deem of 70 subject myself to that charge /
ture of Fa'.1 I held at the time Of the cap
enable ~ allow, in order the better to
ties wli.b G1IoilS TO judge Of the opportuni-
,,e-sr3ss - : tHSa OF knowing the facts ss
ISgaIos the Fort Pillow afFsiS tcT AIS az
alioWeo 70 use 50 mil6 ~, a-.-,...l may pS
iOF ~ e1heI cause. w. F;.s. -
Anu Aojutsnt OF the .ir.S,,,. W. %
nesses cavalry, eomman-l, Ia rs. ~ - en- TIl
+. Bradford. Major b. 9y AaIor w:
The garrison most Of tic 40 commanded
Booth, who was the ranlips saalor l. +.
been killed about A. NJ sSmeer, having
As post adjutant had char,s A.,
dependence which took place - sue cor
"a nSg q truce sent in by Forrest alaa. -. {, inc
S SroeA P NJ relative to the surrende snree
al ia. That correspondence AZ br ~ inc
vestig ,aS report of the CongressieoaJi ''sn-
rect With bS, committee is substantialT cor !"
state the three s'S exception, viz: itomiited to
words t ooS9 ms communications IN tbn.
complied with Won # This demand i Is ''' p@
quences. Having cop Sst take the conso.
TO hold the fort until roinf, ,see IN our ability Il
We refused TO surrender. n evas J, arrived 4
mat t pending the negotiations &c. t6e @
Civilized warfare, had treacherously gnjD ~
position from which he could sQccossfollv
assault our works. This, howcYer, proved /