The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1879-01-14
FORT PILLOW, AGAIN.
Review of an Ancient SANDER
New Phase of the SubjecJ--Truth-
full and Interesting Statement of
General Chalmers eft M
5iWashington Gazette,

UChNA 90 OAAesAAAASAot
- $50 Wellington Gazette)
General said representative
lot the Gazette TO the distinguished mem
ber. from the Mississippi "Shoe string
District, 81 suppose you are not exces-
sively annoyed at the recent mud.sling
ling Of the National ri Republican, are
lyou? Z" 81 saaasslo s7sss tasssiq IA
L sOh, no. not in the least" replied the
gallant ex Confederate. The Fort Pill.
low slsp iaE = been SO completely and
80 often refnted, even by RepdbIican tes-
timony, that II feel no concern on account
of any thing the Republican may say
am willing that the truth, as firmly es,
tablished, shall pass into the history OF
the country, and can cheerfully bear nv
part Of responsibility for whatever hap
pened during the four years of the re-
bellion.'" ~, ~, ,o....,-t...... ..,......4 49,
"But, General" interrupted the Ga
zette, ''to say nothing Of who may or
may not have been the chief hero of the
Fort Pillow fight, was there any 'massa-
ere of the Federal soldiers after the sur.
render ?" sfj 81 f.2ff ae1a 4
"None whatever returned the ex. 4
Confed., with emphasis. I'm the first
place, there was no massacre, either after
the surrender, or before the surrender,
or during the surrender; and, in the sec
ond place there was no surrender at Fort
Pillow at ALL" sos ss9aigag ob
why" said the reporter, 'that is
new phase of the question. How do
you make that out And, by the way,
would you object to giving to the world,-
in this interview, sboied-down history
Of the matter from your stand -pointP"
"Not at ALL" replied the honorable
gentleman :i"but imust be brief. Itwasi
in April. 1S64-the 18th of the month, !
think-that Fort Pillow, occupied by q
large garrison Of negroes and deserters
from our es,together with a number
of regular respectable Federal soldiers,
was surrounded by Gen. Forrest. / being
/. second In command. The fort being
closely invested, and petfec,ly untenable,
Gen. Forrest made formal demand for
the surrender, adding tina: he wished to
avoid the unnecessary Shedding Of blood.
and that in the event of q surrender, all
its garrison should be protected and
treated as prisoners of war; See Rel
bellion Records, Document s. page "a
After an unusual delay an answer was
received, bearing the signature of Major
Booth, commanding, asking for an hour
more for consultation with the gunboats
To this Gen Forrest replied that he had
not demanded surrender of any gun
boat, but only of the fort and garrison,
and repeating his original demand, Civ
/ ing twenty mlnutes for reply. Bear in
mind, as was afterward plainly shown,alI
this time was being consumed by the
Fedefals in getting the gunboats into
position, thus perpetrating gross mill
tary fraud. Besides, it is matter of
history that, pending the negotiations,
for surrender, steamers were seen as
cending the river, one of them crowded
with troops, and bearing directly for the
beleaguered fortress Up to this point
on which side does the bad faith ap.
pear2 After several hours of vexatious
quibbling, we received a positive refusal
TO capituate. Then followed The assault,
and the carrying of the works-all of
which, from the bugle signal tothe firing
of the last gun, did not occupy oUer
t'oshty minutes, according to my i'm
preston, while Gen. Forrest held that il
scas not euer fifteen minutes" aar
Reporter-You mean from the first
shot till the surrender2 as
General Gas l said before, there
s0as no surreadsr-hence the low mean
ness of the persistent charge of '.murder
after the surrender" The proof is
clear that Major Bradford. in anticipation
of bis works. being carried, had arran-
ged with Captain Marshall, of the gun.
boat, that the garrison should drop down
under the bank where the gunboat could
shelter them. or, in the language of Cap
tain Marshall himself, ''give the rebels
canister" To show you that this is no
"rebel lie" Captain Marshalrs testimo-
Inv taken before the Federal Congression
al Committee, Rebel Records, Dec. s.
page 5S. SIZE aa
Reporter--It does look that way, sure
enough, to an impartial spectator. In-
deed. the charge of massacre of "surren-
: Idered soldiers" begins to melt into very
thin air. ~
General Csc far from there being
lany surrender, the garrison evidently
thought they we're leading us to that
holocaust of canister which Major Brad
ford and Captain Marshall had prepared
/ for them. When we charged over their
works they (the Federal soldiers J receivI
ed their pre-arranged signal, and en-
masse, white and black, with guns in
hand broke for the place of refuge, leav-
ing their. flag still flying. Itnever came
down atall until General Forrest, with
bis own hand cut the halyards:! During
this time s0ith their flag stir flying. the
garrison seeking shelter of the guntost,to
whose feast of canister they were leading
the rebels, and repeatedly returning the
fire (this is Federal testimonyl) quite a
number were killed and wounded. What
else could have been expected? ? But
bear in mind that, with all the advantage
of position and numbers on the Confed-
crate side, with the marked weakness OF
the Federal works, with all the murder
LOT prisoners after their surrender, what
will an unbiased public think when in-
1 formed that the losses of the tsOo sides
,cere about equals ! place our killed
and wounded at 225; the Federal loss,
all told. 335-and this includes those
,sho pere drouned in their effort to escape
La number which must have exceeded
one hundred men. That the prisoners
captured at Fort Pillow we're put in my
charge, and that they received kind atten-
tion prompts and efficient medical aid, see
!, Reb. Rec. s, Doc. /, pages to
80. carried off 29l prisoners. For .
fortress carried by storm, all genuine
soldiers will testify that the Federal loss
at Fort Pillow soas unusually light. II
YOU will refer to the Rebel Records,
above quoted, you will 6nd that Lieuten-
ant Leming, one of the garrison. testified
that I've kept them 1.-THE Confederates)
; back for several minutes, and that at the
| time the colored troops gave way they
, did not have an officer leit"-thus show