Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1879-05-31

| ing force; for the guns of the fort could no
| be depressed so as to reach troops that wer
IN that ravlne This ravlne could be reached
by getting down under the banks OF Cole
! creek and troops could come up almost Tin
der the fort without being exposed to AM
/ fire except from the sharpShooters who werI
| thrown out. Upon the river side the ap
proach was more difficult, because troop
coming from that side were subjected to tht
fire from the gunboats Upon that side toe
| the ravine widened out into a plateau, upoI
which there We're three rows of houses
/ These houses were taken possession of by
| the Confederate forces before any demand
| for surrender was made, as is shown by the
! testimony of several witnesses before tho
! Congressional committee. In truth, the
place had been thoroughly invested in front
and troops had been sent down below; fol
1 should say this fortification was at that
time about forty or fifty feet above the level
of the water so as to cut of any retreat in
case the garrison should attempt it. The
fort was untenable; and this was so plain
that the commander of the fort in the morn
ing had made an agreement with the COM
mander of the gunboat that in case it could
not be held signal TO that effect was to be
given, and when the retreat began the gun
boat was to open with canister upon the
Confederate troops. The testimony taken
before the Congressional committee shows
that this signal was given before the fort
1 say here, too, that in my Judgment that
fort would have been surrendered had il. not
been that Major Bradford, who was then in
command, feared violence at the hands of
the Tennessee confederates, who were Bit
terly hostile to him and his command,
growing out of charges, whether true or
false i do not know, of bad conduct on the
part of Bradford and his command toward
the wives and families of the Confederate
Tea ncSSeans.
When the demand for surrender was made
and refused the bugle was sounded and the
works were taken by assault AS we went
in a large number CT the garrison ran out
and down this steep hill toward the waters
edge with their guns in their hands. That n
lodi Fs1r
true; but if any were killed in violation of
the usages of war the most searching exam
animation on the part of this committee has
failed to fix any responsibility for If, at least
upon the general officers in command.
The witness Ledbetter was asked the ques-
ton, "Did you see any Confederate officers
there when the shooting was going on ~
His answer was, ''No; did not see them
until they carried me up upon the HILL"
Three different witnesses undertook to
crfminate me In regard to this matter. The
first is the witness Ray, to whom | alluded
before. Ray described the killing of a child
on that occasion. / call the attention of
gentlemen to the testimony taken by the
Congressional COMMITTEES, and they will
there find the captain of the guuboat teSti-
fieS that he carried off all of the women and
children from that fort when the fight
opened and that he put them above Cold
creek on the bank of the river. / further
more say to gentlemen that there is now in
the city of Washington, a practicing lawyer,
J. B. Archer, who was at that time in charge
of the steamboat Liberty No. 2, and by him
it can be proved that he came with his boat
during the fight and carried off all of those
women and children TO the city of Memphis,
and they did not return until after the Con-
federates had left Fort Pillow. Therefore it
is manifest TO any man this story OF the KILL
ing of child was fabricated from beginning
to end,
1 have already called attention to the
statement of the witness Ray. He knew
that a star upon the coat was the insignia of
a Federal general, and, he said, he supposed
it was Gen. Chalmers because the man had
a star upon his coat. 1 have already said to
you that star on the coat was the insignia
of major and not of general officer in the
Confederate service.
The next witness, Mr.. Purdon, who con-
nected me with this matter, said that he
had q conversation with captain of the
Second Missouri Cavalry, who said he was q
staff officer of mine, and this staff officer
said to him we did not regard negroes as
soldiers: that we would show no quarter
either to the negro troops or their officers.
Now, if ! am permitted, VIII show that no
officer OF the Second Missouri Cavalry was
ever on nay staff at any time during the war.
Another witness, DIR. Underwood, testihes
to having seen me on the steamer Platte
Valley, and to haYe heard me say TO Fede-
raj captain that would treat him as pris-
Oner of war, but that / would not treat as
prisoners of war the "home-made Yankees" !
loyal Tennesseans. Now, Mr.. |
Speaker, inaSmuch as / was at that time de- |
iVering prisonerS-wounded loyal Tennes- |
seans--to the gunboat, it seems to me gem /
tlemen should know that this statement |
could not have been made by me. AS was |
hen delivering wounded negroes to the |
gunboat, it ought to satisfy any man that /
The pretended staff officer did not express |
my sentiments on that occasion.
Another statement lis made that several |
1fficers of the Federal Army, whose names |
could not be found out had treated me to |
drinks on that occasion, and they were Sc
VePely censuTed for it. Now, 1t is well /
known by every member of my command /
iuring the war, and ! believe IL is well /
known to all my associates in Congress, that |
never drink SpiTitu0us liquors of any kind. /
So on every single point which has been
made and every insinuatiQn made against |
ne | think / can show conclusiVely they /
ire utterly untrue. in the evening after the /
3attte Withdrew my command about two |
niles from the river, leaving an officer with |
detaehment to bury the dead and gather
I'D the arms, call the attention of gentle
men to the fact shown by that officer in his
eport that large number of the guns We're
picked up on the very waters edge, showing
hat the garrison did not surrender, but ran
,ut with their arms in their hands.
Upon the next morning, the gunboat No.
g came up the river and commenced to shell
he fort while this detachment was burying
he dead and the officers upon that gunbOat
estify that then, and not till then, bhs Con-
ederateS set fire to the town. | call atten-
ion to this for the purpose of showing that
here was no deliberate purpose on the part
If any man TO burn up men VINO were
wounded and not dead. / have always be-
ieved. since | have heard that anybody
vas burned, that when the houses and tents
we're set fire to, If any were burned they
we're lying in the tents and houses set fire to.
And upon that point call attention to the
violence of two witnesses already published
" the Congressional committee. MIR. Alex
nder is one. He testiftes he heard the reb-
Is say they would not fire the building un-
il the wounded were taken out Of it. Mr..
shelton testifies distinctly that the house he
vas in was not set fire to till he was taken
ut of it. When heard the firing on the
,e made to retake the place, | moved back
nth my command to the scene of action;
lut before any fighting commenced Major
nders0n, of Gen. FORESTS stat, arrived
With dag of truce, and proposed that all
he prisoners should be turned over to the
unboat under parole, If their parole would
'e respected. That proposition was accepted
nd it was carried out by Major Anderson
nd myself.
HUMAN testimony in regard TO a battle,
nd even in regard to a single conflict Is
eldoIn copsistentj and while / have been
xaminiEg the printed testimony on both
ides in regard to this matter / have been
realty astonished to find that there is but
ne single witness who seems 10 recnllect
he matter as reeolleet 1t. Most Of the wit
esses say that shortly after or when the
ran into the fort the whole OF
he Union troops ran out and Gen. Jordan,
Yho wrote the life of Forrest, has adopted
hat as a true statement in his book. Now,
call attention to this fact: that if that had
een true when about twenty-five hundred
nen were firing, some from above and some
ring from below, IL would have been al-
most impossible that 10 per cent Of that gar
isor could have been saved unhurt; and
4
ct 40 per cent. were saved wholly un-
Ouched.
There is one witness, however, whose
tatemenb agrees with my recollection, That
witness states that only q portion OF the
roops ran cut and thatneafly all who did 4
un out were either killed or wounded.
low, my recollection is very distinct that n
arge number of the garrison remained in |
he fort, mostly white men, and they gath
red around Gen. Forrest and myself for
and they were PROTECTED
As to the charge that Is made that we took
dvantage of the flag OF truce in order to OBJ
ain better position for making the final
ssault as / was not in command of the for !
es on that occasion this could not properly
e made as q charge against me. but know
ng as do that ii was not true, knowing
hat brave men never stoop to acts of
Owardice, and In defense of my dead COM
handler whose reckless courage shown upon
hundred battie-nelds Woaid have scorned
lieh mean advantage, have selected cer-
ain portions from his book which propose
0 publish in vindication Of himself and his
roOps.