terward that they did it to make us stop firing Question. What did they do when the flag of truce was in? Answer. They kept coming up nearer and nearer, so that they could charge quick. A heap of them came up after we stopped firing. Question. When did you surrender? Question. How was he nailed ?, Answer. Through his hands and feet right against the house. Question. Was his body burned? Answer. Yes, sir; burned all over-I looked at him good. Question. When did you see that? Answer. On the Thursday after the battle. Answer. Right in front of the Fort. Question. Did any one else that you know see the body nailed up there? Answer. There was a black man there who Answer. I did not surrender until they all came upon the same boat I was on. run. Question. Were you wounded then? Answer. Yes, sir; after the surrender. Question. At what time of day was that? Answer. They told me it was about half after one o'clock. I was wounded. Immediately we retreated. Question. Did you have any arms in your hands when they shot you? Answer. No, sir; I was an artillery man, and had no arms. Question. Did you see the man who shot you? Question. Did you hear him say any thing? Answer. No, sir; I heard nothing. He shot me, and it was bleeding pretty free, and I thought to myself: "I will make out it was a dead shot, and may be I will not get another." Question. Did you see any others shot? Question was there any thing said about giving quarter? 66 Answer. Major Bradford brought in a black flag, which meant no quarter. I heard some of the rebel officers say: "You damned rascals, if you had not fought us so hard, but had stopped when we sent in a flag of truce, we would not have done any thing to you." I heard one of the officers say, "Kill all the niggers ;" another one said: No; Forrest says take them and carry them with him to wait upon him and cook for him, and put them in jail and send them to their masters." Still they kept on shooting. They shot at me after that, but did not hit me; a rebel officer shot at me. He took aim at my side; at the crack of his pistol I fell. He went on and said: "There's another dead nigger." Question. Was there any one shot in the hospital that day? Answer. Not that I know of. I think they all came away and made a raft and floated across the mouth of the creek, and got into a flat bottom. Question. Did you see any buildings burned? A. I staid in the woods all day Wednesday. I was there Thursday and looked at the buildings. I saw a great deal left that they did not have a chance to burn up. I saw a white man burned up who was nailed up against the house. Question. A private or an officer ? Answer. An officer; I think it was a lieutenant in the Tennessee cavalry. VOL. VIII.-Doc. 2 Question. Was he with you then? Answer. Yes, sir; and there were some five or six white people there, too, from out in the country, who were walking over the place. Question. When were you wounded? Question. About what time? Answer. About three o'clock, I reckon. Question. Where were you when you were wounded? Answer. Down at the river, lying down by the side of a log. They came there and told me to get up, and as I got up, they shot me. Question. Who shot you, an officer or private? Question. How many times were you shot? Answer. But once; they shot me in my head, and thought they had killed me. Question. Did you see any others shot there? Answer. Yes, sir; several other black men with me. Question. Did you see any small boys shot? Question. Did you go back from the river after you were shot? Answer. No, sir. Question. You remained there until you were brought away by the gunboat? Answer. Yes, sir. I saw several of our boys shot while they were fighting. They said, when they shot me, that they were allowed to kill every damned nigger in the Fort-not spare one. Question. You saw nobody buried or burned? Answer. No, sir; I saw them throw several in the water. Question. Were they all dead that were thrown in? Answer. Yes, sir; about dead. Answer. Major Fleming. I was sold once; I morning and kill me. He went out and I slipped have had two masters. out into the bushes, and laid there until the gunboat came. I saw them take the quartermaster; they said: "Here is one of our men; let us take him up and fix him." A white man told me the next day that they burned him. Question. Was he wounded? He had No, sir; he walked right straight. three stripes on his arm. I knew him well; I worked with him. He was a small fellow, weak and puny. Sandy Cole, (colored,) private, company D, Sixth United States heavy artillery, sworn and Answer. The rebels; some white men were examined. killed. Question. How many white men were killed? Question. Killed by the privates? Answer. Yes, sir; I did not see any officers kill any. Question. Were the white men officers or privates? Answer. Privates. Question. Were the men who shot you near to you? Answer. Yes, sir; ten or fifteen steps off. Question. Were you shot with a musket or a pistol? Answer. With a musket. I was shot once on the battle-field before we surrendered. They took me down to a little hospital under the hill. I was in the hospital when they shot me a second time. Some of our privates commenced talking. They said: "Do you fight with these God damned niggers?" they said: "Yes." Then they said, "God damn you, then, we will shoot you," and they shot one of them right down. They said, "I would not kill you, but, God damn you, you fight with these damned niggers, and we will kill you;" and they blew his brains out of his head. They then went around and counted them up; I laid there and made eighteen who were there, and there were six more below me. I saw them stick a bayonet in the small part of the belly of one of our boys, and brake it right off- he had one shot then. Question. Did you see any of our men shot the next day? Answer. No, sir; but I heard them shooting. I hid myself in the bushes before the next morning. I left a fellow lying there, and they came down and killed him during the night. I went down there the next morning and he was dead. Question. Did you see any of our folks buried by the rebels? By Mr. Gooch: Question. Where were you born? Question. Have you been a slave? Question. Were you at Fort Pillow at the late fight there? Answer. Yes, sir. Question. When were you wounded? Answer. After I started down the hill, after the surrender. They shot me through the thigh and through the arm. Question. Who shot you? Question. How near was he to you? Question. Did he say any thing to you? Answer. No, sir. I went to the river and kept my body in the water, and my head under some brush. Question. Did you see any body else shot? Answer. Yes, sir; I saw some of them shot right through the head. Question. How many did you see shot? Jacob Thompson, (colored,) sworn and examined. By Mr. Gooch: Question. Were you a soldier at Fort Pillow? Answer. No, sir; I was not a soldier; but I went up in the Fort and fought with the rest. I was shot in the hand and the head. Question. When were you shot? Question. How many times were you shot? Answer. I was shot but once; but I threw my hand up, and the shot went through my hand and my head. Question. Who shot you? Question. What did he say? Answer. He said: "God damn you, I will shoot you, old friend." Question. Did you see any body else shot? Answer. Yes, sir; they just called them out like dogs, and shot them down. I reckon they shot about fifty, white and black, right there. They nailed some black sergeants to the logs, and set the logs on fire. Question. When did you see that? Answer. When I went there in the morning I saw them; they were burning all together. Question. Did they kill them before they burned them? Answer. No, sir; they nailed them to the logs; drove the nails right through their hands. Question. How many did you see in that condition? Answer. Some four or five; I saw two white men burned. Question. Was there any one else there who saw that? Answer. I reckon there was; I could not tell who. Question. When was it that you saw them? Answer. I saw them in the morning after the fight; some of them were burned almost in two. I could tell they were white men, because they were whiter than the colored men. Question. Did you notice how they were nail ed? Answer. I saw one nailed to the side of a house; he looked like he was nailed right through his wrist. I was trying then to get to the boat when I saw it. Question. Did you see them kill any white men? Answer. They killed some eight or nine there. I reckon they killed more than twenty after it was all over; called them out from under the hill, and shot them down. They would call out a white man and shoot him down, and call out a colored man and shoot him down; do it just as fast as they could make their guns go off. Question. Did you see any rebel officers about there when this was going on? Answer. Yes, sir; old Forrest was one. Answer. Yes, sir; he was a little bit of a man. I had seen him before at Jackson. Question. Are you sure he was there when this was going on? Answer. Yes, sir. Question. Did you see any other officers that you knew? Answer. I did not know any other but him. There were some two or three more officers came up there. Question. Did you see any buried there? Answer. Yes, sir; they buried right smart of them. They buried a great many secesh, and a great many of our folks. I think they buried more secesh than our folks. Question. How did they bury them? Answer. They buried the secesh over back of the Fort, all except those on Fort Hill; them they buried up on top of the hill where the gunboats shelled them. Question. Did they bury any alive? Answer. I heard the gunboat men say they dug out two who were alive. Question. You did not see them? Answer. No, sir. Question. What company did you fight with? Answer. I went right into the Fort and fought there. Question. Were you a slave or a free man? Question. Where were you raised? Answer. I lived three miles the other side of Brown's Mills. Question. How long since you lived with him? Answer. I went home once and staid with him awhile, but he got to cutting up and I came away again. Question. What did you do before you went into the fight? Answer. I was cooking for company K, of Illinois cavalry; I cooked for that company nearly two years. Question. What white officers did you know in our army? Answer. I knew Captain Meltop and Colonel Ransom; and I cooked at the hotel at Fort Pillow, and Mr. Nelson kept it. I and Johnny were cooking together. After they shot me through the hand and head, they beat up all this part of my head (the side of his head) with the breech of their guns. Ransom Anderson, (colored,) company B, Sixth United States heavy artillery, sworn and examined. By Mr. Gooch: Question. Where were you raised? Question. Were you a slave? Answer. Yes, sir. Question. Where did you enlist? Question. Were you in the fight at Fort Pillow? Answer. Yes, sir. Question. Describe what you saw done there? Answer. Most all the men that were killed on our side were killed after the fight was over. They called them out and shot them down. Then they put some in the houses and shut them up, and then burned the houses. Question. Did you see them burn? Question. Were any of them alive? Answer. Yes, sir; they were wounded, and could not walk. They put them in the houses, and then burned the houses down. Question. Do you know they were in there? Answer. Yes, sir; I went and looked in there. Question. Do you know they were in there when the house was burned? Answer. Yes, sir; I heard them hallooing there when the houses were burning. Question. Are you sure they were wounded men, and not dead, when they were put in there? Answer. Yes, sir; they told them they were going to have the doctor see them, and then put them in there and shut them up, and burned them. The Question. Did you see any body else shot after they had surrendered? Answer. Yes, sir; I saw several shot right around me. Question. Did they shoot all, colored and white? Answer. They shot all where I was. When they turned in and went to shooting white men, they scattered and ran, and then they shot them down. Question. Did you see them do any thing besides shooting them? Answer. I saw some knock them over the heads with muskets, and some stick sabres into them. Question. Who set the house on fire? Answer. I saw a rebel soldier take some grass and lay it by the door, and set it on fire. door was pine plank, and it caught easy. Question. Was the door fastened up? Answer. Yes, sir; it was barred with one of ing or burying alive? those wide bolts. Question. Did you see any thing of any burn Answer. No, sir; I did not see that. Sergeant W. P. Walker, (white,) sworn and while this was going on? Question. Will you state what took place there? Answer. In the morning the pickets ran in. We were sent out a piece as skirmishers. They kept us out about a couple of hours, and then we retreated into the Fort. The firing kept up pretty regular until about two o'clock, when a flag of truce came in. While the flag of truce was in, the enemy was moving up and taking their positions; they were also pilfering and searching our quarters. Question. They finally took the Fort? Question. What happened then? Answer. They just shot us down without showing us any quarter at all. They shot me, for one, after I surrendered; they shot me in the arm, and the shoulder, and the neck, and in the eye. Question. How many times did they shoot you? Answer. They shot me in the arm and eye after I surrendered; I do not know when they shot me in the other places. Question. Who shot you? Answer. A private shot me with a pistol; there were a great many of us shot. Question. What reason did he give for shooting you after you had surrendered? Answer. A man came down the hill and said that General-some one; I could not understand the name said that they should shoot every one of us, and take no prisoners, and then they shot us down. Question. How did you escape? Answer. They thought they had killed me. They searched my pockets half a dozen times, or more, and took my pocket-book from me. Answer. Not where I was; I was down under the hill then. The niggers first ran out of the Fort, and then, when they commenced shooting us, we ran down under the hill, and they followed us up and shot us. They came back the next day and shot several wounded negroes. Question. Did you see that? Answer. I was lying in a house, but I heard the negroes begging, and heard the guns fired; but I did not see it. Jason Loudon sworn and examined. Question. To what company and regiment did you belong? Answer. To company B, Thirteenth Tennessee cavalry. Question. Were you in the fight at Fort Pillow? Question. State what happened when you were wounded. Answer. Nothing; only they were going around shooting the men down. They shot a sergeant by the side of me twice after he had surrendered. Question. Who shot him? Question. How near was that to you? Question. Did he say any thing to him? Answer. He commenced cursing, and said they were going to kill every one of us. Question. How many did you see shot after they had surrendered? Answer. I saw five or six shot. James Walls, sworn and examined. Question. To what company did you belong? Answer. To company E, Thirteenth Tennessee cavalry. Question. Under what officers did you serve? Answer. I was under Major Bradford and Captain Potter. Question. Were you in the fight at Fort Pillow? Answer. Yes, sir. Question. State what you saw there of the fight, and what was done after the place was captured? Answer. We fought them for some six or eight hours in the Fort, and when they charged our men scattered and ran under the hill; some turned back and surrendered, and were shot. After the flag of truce came in I went down to get some water. As I was coming back I turned sick, and laid down behind a log. The secesh charged, and after they came over I saw one go a good ways ahead of the others. One of our men made to him and threw down his arms. The bullets were flying so thick there I thought I could not live there, so I threw down my arms and surrendered. He did not shoot me then, but as I turned around he or some other one shot me in the back. Question. Did they say any thing while they were shooting? Answer. All I heard was, "Shoot him, shoot him!" "Yonder goes one!" "Kill him, kill him!” That is about all I heard. Question. How many do you suppose you saw shot after they surrendered? Answer. I did not see but two or three shot around me. One of the boys of our company, named Taylor, ran up there, and I saw him shot and fall. Then another was shot just before me, like-shot down after he threw down his arms. Question. Those were white men? Answer. Yes, sir. I saw them make lots of niggers stand up, and then they shot them down like hogs. The next morning I was lying around there waiting for the boat to come up. The secesh would be prying around there, and would come to a nigger and say: "You an't dead, are you?" They would not say any thing; and then the secesh would get down off their horses, prick them in their sides, and say: "Damn you, you an't dead; get up." Then they would make them get up on their knees, when they would shoot them down like hogs. Question. Do you know of their burning any buildings? Answer. I could hear them tell them to stick torches all around, and they fired all the buildings. Question. Do you know whether any of our men were in the buildings when they were burned? Answer. There were hardly any killed before the surrender. I reckon as many as two hundred were killed after the surrender, out of about three hundred that were there. Question. Did you see any rebel officers about while this shooting was going on? Answer. I do not know as I saw any officers about when they were shooting the negroes. A captain came to me a few minutes after I was shot; he was close by me when I was shot. Question. Did he try to stop the shooting? Answer. I did not hear a word of their trying to stop it. After they were shot down, he told them not to shoot them any more. I begged him not to let them shoot me again, and he said they would not. One man, after he was shot down, was shot again. After I was shot down, the man I surrendered to went around the tree I was against and shot a man, and then came around to me again and wanted my pocket-book. I handed it up to him, and he saw my watch-chain and made a grasp at it, and got the watch and about half the chain. He took an old Barlow knife I had in my pocket. It was not worth five cents; was of no account at all, only to cut tobacco with. William L. McMichael, sworn and examined. By the Chairman: Question. To what company and regiment did you belong? Answer. To company D, Thirteenth Tennessee cavalry. Question. Were you in the fight at Fort Pil low? Answer. Yes, sir. Question. Were you shot after you had surrendered? Answer. Yes, sir. They shot the most after they had surrendered. They sent in a flag of truce for a surrender, and the Major would not surrender. They made a charge and took the Fort, and then we threw down our arms; but they just shot us down. Question. Were you shot after you surrendered, or before? Answer. Afterward. Question. How many times were you shot? Isaac J. Leadbetter sworn and examined. Question. To what company and regiment do you belong? Answer. To company E, Thirteenth Tennesnessee cavalry. Question. How long have you been in the Answer. Some of our men said some were burned; I did not see it, or know it to be so my-army? self. Question. How did they bury them-white and black together? Answer. I don't know about the burying; I did not see any buried. Question. How many negroes do you suppose were killed after the surrender? Answer. Only about two months. Question. Were you at Fort Pillow at the time of the fight there? Answer. Yes, sir. Question. Will you state what took place after the Fort was taken? Answer. They shot me after I surrendered. |