The National tribune., 1911-02-23

| the rebels planted a battery of iron six
pound guns. Seeing this. Hicks told
l the bearer of the flag to retire at once
or he would order his men to fire OF
the escort. He left without any urg
| ing, and the fun commenced
| We had in the fort one regiment o.
| the Sth H. A. (Colored Troops), g
part of the second regiment of Ken.
! lucky and Tennessee that were encamp.
ed south of Paducah, and 1 think some
of the 40th Ill. (Hickss old regiment.
There was no I'D Ohio there at thai
time. Hicks telegraphed to Cairo fol
assistance before the wires were cut
and there is where the 72d Ohio comes
| in. They arrived after the fun was
over, in the afternoon. They were
sent out thru the city, but the Confed-
crates had fed.
The fort was an old structure on the
second bottom of the Ohio River, but
was surrounded by an abatis of honey
locust trees on the inside of the ditch
hauled when green. and the limbs inter-
twined and sharpened at the ends and
as high as mans breast, forming an
impenetrable barrier to anyone from
the outside. The breastworks or para
pet was not over three feet high
| Gen. Burt Thompson, former Prose
cutting Attorney of Paducah district,
was the commanding General Of the
Confederates, and he swore he would
capture the fort, as his father lived
only few miles from Paducah. and
several of the Generals slaves were in
| the Sth H. A. He charged with his
brigade. Col. Hicks saw the boys were
shooting too high, and rubbing his
crippled arm, he said: Shoot low, boys;
shoot at their legs. IL you cripple one
you will put three men out of the fight,
two sound men to carry the wounded
man off the field
The Brigade Charged.
The brigade charged on double
quick, and we were pouring hot lead
into them. The soldiers behind strung
the front files on the sharp points like
stringing fire. while we above them
were not idle. They made the second
and third charge, but were repulsed
with terrific loss. The abatis was their
Waterloo" while our war cry, Re
member Fort Pillow" rang out above
the noise of the conflict So far, Gen
Thompson had not received a scratch,
but his time was coming soon.
The Johnnies had placed sharpshoot-
ers in the buildings around the fort, and
| had nearly suenced our cannon. espe-
cially in the Marion Hospital Building
| Several negroes had been killed at the
| guns and the rest had quit. At last
a big yellow negro, Sergeant in the
heavy artillery, said he would load his
| pet, 32-pound Parrot. He was over
| six feet tall and well proportional
| Hicks told him to double-shot it with
grape and canister and aim at the hos
pital building. He got his ammunition
ready and swung himself under the gun
/ and his left hand over his pet
/ ;ssi,iraed home the charge, fixed the
cap, pulled the lanyard, and let her
go. 1t looked like he had knocked out
| haf the side of the building. That
I OF cIar
There was a 32-pound gun in the
| northwest embrasure of the fort. OPP
posite the street, where our three as
SaultS had come from. The Sergeant
/ fhis name was Thornton; slave of the
General) said he would load that gun
and gise them a parting salute. q
believe they were forming for fourth
charger The Sergeant loaded with a
shell, and ii exploded right in the midst
of lot of Johnnies and Gen. Thomp-
son was killed. When the magazine
was examined there were only 10
rounds each for the Springfield and En-
| field rifles. The rest of the fixed am
! munition was three buckshot and an
ounce ball, and We would have been I'm
the middle of a bad fix had the John
mics known it.
Had Been Mustered Out.
had a rowing commission that day
|
KY. My regiment, the 1915. ILL.,. was
ordered there after the fall of Vicks-
burg, as the United States Government
wanted to save some of the seed. as
there were only a few of us left after
| that little affair up the YaZoo River
with Sherman and Arkansas Post Jan
| IL, 1853, and back to Young's Point
and Sherman's Landing. After that the
regiment was consolidated into four
companies, and | was mustered out,
| Col. Hicks had information he
thought reliable that Paducah would
be raided by FORESTS men the day
they came. He told us SO at the Union
League Hall. 1 started down town al
noon. l got about half way down when
our yidets came down the street as
fast as their horses could take them
yelling, THE rebels are coming, The
rebels are comingi" l knew IL would
not do for them to see me in my good
clothes Officers suiD, or they would
shoot me just to see me kick / scooted
! for the fort. Someone asked me why
/ ] was running so fast. / told him be-
cause couldn't fly. / went along under
the Ohio River bank until opposite the
| fort, but the Johnnies had gotten there
first Three sides of the fort were sur
rounded The boys saw me coming
and opened the gate of the fort.
made my goal-the forthwith seven
ball holes thru my clothes hut NOT one