Year: 1867




A correspondent of the Times, whose let
! ter was published on the 25th inst, says


"At the time of the capture of Fort Pill
low by the Rebel General Forrest, and the
massacre Of its entire garrison, Gen. (then
ColOnel) Lawrence was in command OF
Fort Columbus, point on the Mississippi
river above Fort Pillow General Forrest,
flushed with his victory and his murders,
marched from Fort Pillow directly on Fort
Columbus, notified Col. Lawrence that the
commander and garrison of Fort Pillow
had been massacred, informed him that he
commanded 10000 troops, and that he
(Lawrence) had only 1000 and ordered him
to surrender in one hours time or he and
his command should share the fate which
had been visited on the garrison at Fort
Pillow"


/ have hitherto borne in silence these
outrageous assaults upon my character as a
man and soldier; but decent regard for
my own reputation, and a sense of duty to
the brave gentlemen who fought under me
during the late war, will not permit me to
remain silent any longer. must therefore
ask you to be pleased to allow me to say
through the columns of the Times, that the
charges made against me by your cores
pondent are utterly false, and that their
falsity can be easily demonstrated by proof
which is within easy reach.


The official report of the United States
officer commanding at Fort Pillow, and the
testimony reported by the Congressional
INVESTIGATING Committee, of which Vice
President Wade was chairman, show that
the garrison consisted of only about five
hundred and eighty officers and men.
Other profs, which | can produce at any
time, show that | captured, and can ac-
count for, more than three hundred of these
-sixty~fve of them, who were badly
wounded, having been delivered by me TO
the officer commanding a United States
gunboat in the vicinity of the fort, and
about two hundred and fifty, IAN official
descriptive list of whom is now in this
city in the possession of Gen. Thomas
Jordan having been turned over by me to
Gen. Polk, at Demopolis, Ala. Ofhese
captured men ninety lgere negro soldiers. Nor
were the rest of the garrison all killed;
for many of them effected their escape,
while others were drowned in the attempt.
1t will thus be seen that the proportion of
killed was not greater than is usual in the
case OF so severe fight, accom- panied by
desperate assault and defense


These facts are known to the government
OF the United States and acquit me, not
only in the opinion Of the President Mr..
Stanton and Judge Holt, but in that of
Congress, of any violation of the rules of
civilized warfare. Otherwise / would have
been long ago arrested and tried upon that
charge. For my own part, conscious of my
innocence and knowing perfectly well that
l have always waged war with the strict
est regard 10 the usages Of civilized nations,
have never Stunned any investigation to
which the Executive or Congress might
subject my military conduct


As to the absurd charge that marched
against Columbus with 10000 men and
demanded Its surrender, with the threat
that / would, in the event Of refusal, "mas-
sacre" its garrison, have only to say that
l never was, during the war, within forty
miles of Columbus, after its evacuotion by
the Confederates in 1882; and that the only
troops which approached it at the time re-
ferred to, was a scouting party of less than
100 men; and that the official report of
Gen. Lawrence himself utterly disproves
your correspondents statements.


n B. FORREST.