Q. Did they shoot you more than once? A. No, sir; they shot at me, but did not hit me more than once. Q. Did they say why they shot you after you had surrendered? A. They said afterward they intended to kill us all for being there. with their niggers. Were any rebel officers there at the time this shooting was going Q. on ? A. Q. Did they try to stop it? A. Yes, sir. ter. on. Q. A. One or two of them did. What did the rest of them do? They kept shouting and hallooing at the men to give no quarI heard that cry very frequent. Q. Was it the officers that said that? A. I think it was. I think it was them, the way they were going When our boys were taken prisoners, if anybody came up who knew them, they shot them down. As soon as ever they recognized them, wherever it was, they shot them. Q. After they had taken them prisoners? Q. Did you know any thing about their shooting men in the hospitals? A. I know of their shooting negroes in there. I don't know about white men. Q. Wounded negro men? A. Yes, sir. Q. Who did that? The next A. Some of their troops. I don't know which of them. morning I saw several black people shot that were wounded, and some that were not wounded. One was going down the hill before me, and the officer made him come back up the hill; and after I got in the boat I heard them shooting them. Q. You say you saw them shoot negroes in the hospital the next morning? A. Yes, sir; wounded negroes who could not get along; one with his leg broke. They came there the next day and shot him. John F. Ray, sworn and examined. By Mr. Gooch: Q. To what company and regiment do you belong? A. Company B, Thirteenth Tennessee Cavalry. Q. Were you at Fort Pillow when it was attacked? Q. At what time were you wounded? A. I was wounded about two o'clock, after the rebels got in the breastworks. Q. A. Q. A. Was it before or after you had surrendered? It was after I threw down my gun, as they all started to run. After I surrendered they shot down a great many white fellows right close to me-ten or twelve, I suppose-and a great many negroes, too. Q. dered? How long did they keep shooting our men after they surren A. I heard guns away after dark shooting all that evening, somewhere; they kept up a regular fire for a long time, and then I heard the guns once in a while. Q. Did you see any one shot the next day? A. I did not; I was in a house, and could not get up at all. Q. Do you know what became of the Quartermaster of your regiment, Lieutenant Akerstrom? A. I thought so at the time; he fell on his face. He was shot in the forehead, and I thought he was killed. I heard afterward he was not. Q. Did you notice any thing that took place while the flag of truce was in? A. I saw the rebels slipping up and getting in the ditch along our breastworks. Q. How near did they come up? A. They were right at us; right across from the breastworks. I asked them what they were slipping up there for. They made answer that they knew their business. Q. Are you sure this was done while the flag of truce was in? A. Yes, sir. There was no firing; we could see all around; we could see them moving up all around in large force. Q. Was any thing said about it except what you said to the rebels? A I heard all our boys talking about it. I heard some of our officers remark, as they saw it coming, that the white flag was a bad thing; that they were slipping on us. I believe it was Lieutenant Akerstrom that I heard say it was against the rules of war for them to come up in that way. Q. To whom did he say that? A. To those fellows coming up; they had officers with them. Q. Was Lieutenant Akerstrom shot before or after he had surrendered? A. About two minutes after the flag of truce went back, during the action. Q. Do you think of any thing else to state? If so, go on and state it. A. I saw a rebel lieutenant take a little negro' boy up on the horse behind him; and then I heard General Chalmers-I think it must have been-tell him to "Take that negro down and shoot him," or "Take him and shoot him," and he passed him down and shot him. Q. How large was the boy? A. He was not more than eight years old. I heard the lieutenant tell the other that the negro was not in the service; that he was nothing but a child; that he was pressed and brought in there. The other one said: "Damn the difference; take him down and shoot him, or I will shoot him." I think it must have been General Chalmers. He was a smallish man; he had on a long gray coat, with a star on his coat.' The country and the world stood aghast. The first account of this human butchery was too much for credence: after a while the truth began to dawn upon the country; and at last the people admitted that in a Christian land like America a deed so foul-blacker than hell itself!-had actually been perpetrated. The patience of the North and the Union army gave way to bitterest imprecations; the exultation and applause of the South and Confederate army were succeeded by serious thoughts and sad reflections. But it is the duty of impartial history to record that this bloody, sickening affair was not endorsed by all the rebels. In a letter dated Okalona, Mississippi, June 14, 1864, to the "Atlanta Appeal," a rebel gives this endorsement of Forrest's conduct at Fort Pillow: "You have heard that our soldiers buried negroes alive at Fort Pillow. This is true. At the first fire after Forrest's men scaled the walls, many of the negroes threw down their arms and fell as if they were dead. They perished in the pretence, and could only be restored at 1Gen. Chalmers has denied, with vehemence, that he ever did any cruel act at Fort Pillow, but the record is against him. Soldiers under brave, intelligent, and humane officers could never be guilty of such cruel and unchristian conduct as these rebels at Pillow. Gen. Chalmers is responsible. As an illustration of the gentle and forgiving spirit of the Negro, it should be recorded here that many supported the candidacy of Gen. Chalmers for Congress, and voted for him at the recent election in Mississippi. 2 See Report of Committee on Conduct of War. the point of the bayonet. To resuscitate some of them, more terrified than the rest, they were rolled into the trenches made as receptacles for the fallen. Vitality was not restored till breathing was obstructed, and then the resurrection began. On these facts is based the pretext for the crimes committed by Sturgis, Grierson, and their followers. You must remember, too, that in the extremity of their terror, or for other reasons, the Yankees and negroes in Fort Pillow neglected to haul down their flag. In truth, relying upon their gun-boats, the officers expected to annihilate our forces after we had entered the fortifications. They did not intend to surrender. "A terrible retribution, in any event, has befallen the ignorant, deluded Africans." Gen. Forrest was a cold-blooded murderer; a fiend in human form. But as the grave has opened long since to receive him; and as the cause he represented has perished from the earth, it is enough to let the record stand without comment, and God grant without malice! It is the duty of history to record that there is to be found no apologist for cruelties that rebels inflicted upon brave but helpless Black soldiers during the war for the extirpation of slavery. The Confederate conduct at Pillow must remain a foul stain upon the name of the men who fought to perpetuate human slavery in North America, but failed. Part 8. THE FIRST DECADE OF FREEDOM. CHAPTER XXI. RECONSTRUCTION-MISCONSTRUCTION. 1865-1875. THE WAR OVER, PEACE RESTORED, AND THE NATION CLEANSED OF A PLAGUE. SLAVERY GIVES PLACE TO A LONG TRAIN OF EVENTS. UNSETTLED CONDITION OF AFFAIRS AT THE SOUTH. — THE ABSENCE OF LEGAL CIVIL GOVERNMENT NECESSITATES THE ESTABLISHMENT OF PROVISIONAL MILITARY GOVERNMENT. AN ACT ESTABLISHING A BUREAU FOR REFUGEES AND ABANDONED, Lands. —- CongreSSIONAL METHODS FOR THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE SOUTH. —-GEN. U. S. GRANT CARRIES THESE STATES IN 1868 AND 1872. BOTH BRANCHES OF THE LEGISLATURES IN ALL THE SOUTHERN STATES CONTAIN NEGRO MEMBERS. THE ERRORS OF RECONSTRUCTION CHARGEABLE TO BOTH SECTIONS OF THE COUNTRY. A PPOMATTOX had taken her place in history; and the echo of the triumph of Federal arms was heard in the palaces of Europe. The United States Government had survived the shock of the embattled arms of a gigantic Rebellion; had melted the manacles of four million slaves in the fires of civil war; had made four million bondmen freemen; had wiped slavery from the map of North America; had demonstrated the truth that the Constitution is the supreme law of the land; and that the United States is a NATION, not a league. The brazen-mouthed, shotted cannon were voiceless; a million muskets and swords hung upon the dusty walls of silent arsenals; and war ceased from the proud altitudes of the mountains of Virginia to where the majestic Atlantic washes the shores of the Carolinas. A million soldiers in blue melted I am preparing a History of the Reconstruction of the Late Confederate States, 1865-1880. Hence I shall not enter into a thorough treatment of the subject in this work. It will follow this work, and comprise two volumes. |