Question. Did you notice any thing that took place while the flag of truce was in ?

Answer. I saw the rebels slipping up and get ting in the ditch along our breastworks.

Question. How near did they come up? Answer. 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.

Question. Are you sure this was done while the flag of truce was in?

Answer. Yes, sir. There was no firing; we could see all around; we could see them moving up all around in large force.

Question. Was any thing said about it except what you said to the rebels?

Answer. 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.

Question. To whom did he say that? Answer. To those fellows coming up; they had officers with them.

Question. Was Lieutenant Akerstrom shot before or after he had surrendered?

Answer. About two minutes after the flag of truce went back, during the action.

Question. Do you think of any thing else to state? If so, go on and state it.

Answer. 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.

Question. How large was the boy? Answer. 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 he would 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.

Daniel H. Rankin, sworn and examined.
By Mr. Gooch:

Question. To what company and regiment do you belong?

Answer. Company C, Thirteenth Tennessee cavalry.

Question. Were you at Fort Pillow at the late attack there?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. Will you state what happened there? Answer. The worst thing I saw was the rebels moving upon us while the flag of truce was up at the Fort. One part of their army moved right up on the brink of the ditch, and when the firing began, they rushed right into the Fort. Before that the rebels were off two or three hundred yards. They tried twice to make a charge, but

they did not succeed; they did not get within twenty or thirty steps of the Fort then. I saw a great many men shot after they surrendered, white and black both.

Question. Are you sure you saw the rebels moving up toward the Fort while the flag of truce was in ?

Answer. Yes, sir; I saw them.
Question. When were you shot?
Answer. After I surrendered.

Question. Where were you when you were

shot?

Answer. About half-way down the bluff. Question. Had you your gun when you were shot?

Answer. No, sir; if I had had my gun I would have shot the fellow who shot me. He was not more than ten steps from me. He was loading his gun, and I saw him shoot a man near me. As he fired at him I threw myself over the bluff, catching hold of a little locust. He aimed at my body and hit me in the leg. I then dropped down and got into the river, and afterward got out and crawled behind a stump with two of my company. Some darkeys came there, and we told them to go away; we saw the rebels were shooting them, and we allowed if they were not with us we might get clear. I went back to where I was shot, and some fellow fired at us, but did not hit us. We begged him not to shoot; that the place was surrendered to them. One of our fellows threw up his hands, but they fired at him and hit his arm. We were carried out about two miles from the Fort and then paroled.

Question. How long did you stay where you had been carried out from the Fort?

I got

Answer. I staid there some eighteen or twenty hours; from about eight o'clock at night to about four o'clock the next evening. In that time my wound was dressed, and I was paroled somewhere between three and five o'clock. three of the rebels to help me up about a half a mile to a citizen's house, for I was not able to walk. I found out that the gunboat had a flag of truce, and I got an old man then in the house to saddle up a horse and carry me to the Fort. Two rebel doctors went along with me. When we got there a rebel lieutenant-colonel took my parole from me, said it was forged, and that he was going take me back. The doctors told him my parole was right, and that I was not able to travel. They took me down to the gunboat Number Twenty-eight, and then I went from that boat to gunboat Number Seven, and then I went on the flag-ship.

Lieutenant William Clary, sworn and exam

ined.

By Mr. Gooch:

Question. What is your rank and position in the service?

Answer. I am Second Lieutenant of company B, Thirteenth Tennessee cavalry.

Question. Were you at Fort Pillow when it was attacked?

Answer. No, sir; I was sent to Memphis the

day before, and returned to Fort Pillow the morning after the fight. I came up on gunboat Number Twenty-eight. The rebels were at Fulton, about two miles and a half below Fort Pillow. We fired at them, and the rebels at Fort Pillow heard it, and thought we were bringing up reënforcements, and then they set the town on fire.

Question. When did you get up there? · Answer. Early in the morning, or little after daylight.

Question. When did you land at Fort Pillow? Answer. We got there about eight o'clock in the morning, and shelled there an hour or so. The rebels were occupying the Fort in large numbers. By and by the rebels came down with a flag of truce, and I went on shore to see what was wanting. One of the officers of the Sixth United States heavy artillery said he did not like to go on shore for fear the rebels would kill him. I went on shore with one of the naval officers and saw General Forrest's Adjutant-General, Major Anderson. He said if we would recognize the parole of Forrest we might take our wounded on the gunboat; and that was agreed upon. I rode all around the battle-ground, and saw some of our dead half-buried, and I saw five negroes burning. I asked Colonel Chalmers, the General's brother, if that was the way he allowed his men to do. He concluded that he could not control his men very well, and thought it was justifiable in regard to negroes; that they did not recognize negroes as soldiers, and he could not control his men. I did not see any white men burning there; if there were any, I did not recognize them as such. Their faces were burned, and some of them were sticking out of the tents and houses with their clothes partly burned. The negroes were lying upon the boards and straw in the tents which had been set on fire. It seemed to me as if the fire could not have been set more than half an hour before. Their flesh was frying off them, and their clothes were burning.

Question. How many did you see in that condition?

Answer. I saw five.

Question. Did they burn the hospital? Answer. I saw the hospital burning, but I do not know whether they moved the sick out or not before they burned it. I understood the rebels went in where there were some twenty or thirty negroes sick, and hacked them over their heads with sabres and shot them. The negroes had been moved from the heights up on the hill into two large tents by us; but I do not think our men had been moved up there. I went through the hospital-tents up there the morning before I started down to Memphis, and saw them full of colored troops. Dr. Fitch told me that he had his hospital-flag on every bush around the bottom of the hill. At the commencement of the fight the Major had told him to take his instruments and his medicines down under the bluff and stick up flags there, and have the wounded taken down to him. But the Doctor VOL VIII.-Doc. 3

said they did not notice his flags at all; that some of his patients were wounded there. He was wounded himself and taken prisoner and paroled.

Question. Did you see them shoot any colored men that morning?

Answer. I saw them shoot one man just before we landed with a flag of truce. An escort of about twenty men rode up to a livery-stable and set it on fire. The gunboat fired at them but did not hit them, and they got on their horses and rode off at a trot. There were some paths down the hill, and a man came along down one of them; I saw them halt; the foremost one, an officer I think, pulled out a revolver and shot very deliberately at this man, and then they galloped off in quick time. He did not kill the man, however, for I saw him walking along afterward. I do not know whether the man was white or black.

Question. Did you hear any thing of their nailing men to a building and then burning it? Answer. Yes, sir; I heard of it. And I heard a lady say that a man was nailed to a building that was burned. She said she was well acquainted with Lieutenant Akerstrom before the fight took place. Some one asked why he was not buried. Some of the rebels said he was a damned conscript that had run away from Forrest. But I never heard Lieutenant Akerstrom say any such thing.

Question. Who was that lady?

Answer. Mrs. Ruffin, the wife of Thomas Ruffin.

Question. Where is she now?

I

Answer. I think she is at Cairo now. Her husband did not get wounded, but he was sick. heard an ensign on gunboat Twenty-eight invite General Chalmers and some of his aids-de-camp to come on board the gunboat, and I saw Major Anderson and several other confederate officers on the Platte Valley drinking at the bar, and I saw a couple of army officers drinking there with them, and there might have been some naval officers with them too, but I am not certain of that. The clerk of the Platte Valley, General Forrest's Adjutant-General, Major Anderson, and an ensign of gunboat Twenty-eight, took the names of the paroles. I did not take the names myself, because I was busily engaged going over the battle-field to find out if any of our men were left alive. I heard a great many rebel soldiers say they did not intend to recognize those black devils as soldiers. They said this to me as I was speaking about the slaughter there. They also expressed the opinion that if we had not been fighting with black troops they would not have hurt us at all; but they did not intend to give any quarter to negroes.

Dr. Stewart Gordon, sworn and examined.
By the Chairman :

Question. What is your position?
Answer. Acting Assistant Surgeon, United
States army.

Question. Where are you now stationed?

Question. How many of those men have died since they have been received here?

Answer. Only one in my ward.

Question. How many are there now who you think will not recover?

Answer. I think there are three who will not recover; perhaps more.

Ward N.-Private Elias Falls, company A, First Alabama artillery, shot in arm while fighting, shot in thigh after being prisoner, flesh wound, condition favorable; private Duncan Harden, company A, First Alabama artillery, shot in arm while fighting, arm broke, shot in thigh after being prisoner, flesh wound, favorable; private Nathan Hunter, company D, First Alabama artillery, shot in side and hip after surrender, flesh wound, condition favorable; Sergeant Benjamin Robinson, company D, First Alabama artillery, shot in thigh and right leg after surrender, flesh wound, favorable; private Daniel Tylor, company B, First Tennessee artillery, shot in right shoulder, shot in right eye after surrender, destroying sight, unfavorable; private John Haskins, company B, First Tennessee artillery, shot in left arm after surrender, flesh wound, slight, favorable; private Thomas Adison, company C, First Alabama artillery, shot in nose and right eye after surrender, destroying sight, unfavorable; private Alfred Flake, company A, First Alabama artillery, shot in left hand while lying sick in hospital, flesh wound, unfavorable; private Manuel Nichols, company B, First Alabama artillery, shot in left side before, and right arm after surrender, flesh wound,

serious, unfavorable; private Arthur Edmonds, company C, First Alabama artillery, shot in head and right arm after surrender, causing fracture of arm, condition favorable; private Henry Hanks, company A, First Alabama artillery, shot in left side after surrender, wound serious, condition unfavorable; private Charles Key, company D, First Alabama artillery, shot in right arm after surrender, fracture of arm, condition favorable; private Henry Christon, company B, First Alabama artillery, shot in back before surrender, wound serious, rather favorable; private Aaron Fintis, company D, First Alabama artillery, shot in both legs after surrender, flesh wound, slight, condition favorable; private George Shaw, company B, First Tennessee artillery, shot in left side of head, shot in right wrist after surrender, not serious, favorable; private Major William, company B, First Tennessee artillery, shot through nose after surrender, not serious, condition favorable; officer's servant William Jerdon, Thirteenth Tennessee cavalry, shot in left ankle, amputation, shot in left arm, fracture of arm after surrender, very unfavorable; Corporal Alexander Naison, company C, First Alabama artillery, shot in right side of head after surrender, not serious, favorable; private Thomas Gadis, company C, First Alabama artillery, shot in right hip after surrender, serious, condition unfavorable; Corporal Eli Cothel, company B, First Alabama artillery, shot in right leg while fighting, shot in left arm after surrender, flesh wound, favorable; private Sandy Cole, company D, First Alabama artillery, shot in right thigh and arm after surrender, flesh wound, condition favorable; private Nathan Modley, company D, First Alabama artillery, shot in right knee after surrender, injury of joint, condition unfavorable; private John Holland, company B, First Tennessee artillery, shot in right thigh after surrender, flesh wound, condition favorable; private Robert Hall, company C, First Alabama artillery, sabre cut of head and left hand while lying sick in hospital, died.

STEWART GORDON,

Charge of Ward N.

Dr. William N. McCoy, sworn and examined. By Mr. Gooch:

Question. What is your position in the service? Answer. I am an Acting Assistant Surgeon, now stationed at Mound City General Hospital, in charge of wards L, K, I, and H. Wards L, K, and I have wounded in from Fort Pillow.

Question. Have you prepared a statement of the cases of those of your patients whom we examined here?

Answer. Yes, sir; here is a statement.—(See appendix to this deposition.)

Question. Did you have any conversation with those wounded men in relation to their injuries when they first came to the hospital ? Answer. I did to some extent. Question. Have any of the wounded from Fort Pillow died in your wards?

Answer. One in ward IL

Question. Are there others who you think will not recover?

Answer. There are two whose recovery I think is doubtful.

Wounded in wards L, K. and H. United States General Hospital, Mound City, Illinois.-W. P. Walker, Sergeant company D, Thirteenth Tennessee cavalry, received four wounds at Fort Pillow April twelfth, 1864. One ball passed through left arm near middle third, fracturing humerus. Second ball struck right side of neck, one and a half inch below mastoid process, and remaining in. Third ball made flesh wound in right shoulder. Fourth ball struck left eye, supposed by himself to be a glancing shot; eye totally destroyed. Done after the surrender.

Milas M. M. Woodside, a discharged soldier from the Seventh Tennessee cavalry, also from the Thirteenth Tennessee cavalry, wounded by two balls, first (pistol) ball striking just below insertion of deltoid muscle of right arm, and remaining in; second (musket) ball striking centre of right breast over third rib, and passing to the right and downward, emerged at inner border of the scapula, about six inches from point of enrance. Done after the surrender.

Jason London, private, company B, Thirteenth Tennessee cavalry, received a ball, which struck .he dorsal side of right hand about the junction of carpal and metacarpal bones of index finger; emerged at carpal bone of thumb; then struck thigh in front, about six inches above knee-joint; passing over the bone, emerged on inner side. After being wounded, he was knocked down by one of the fiends with a musket. Done after the surrender.

David H. Taylor, private, company E, Thirteenth Tennessee cavalry, received five wounds. First (musket) ball passed in under the angle of right jaw, fracturing the symphysis, where it emerged. Second ball struck front of right shoulder-joint; emerged immediately behind caracoid process. Third ball entered three inches below, and a little to the right of entiform cartilage; passing downward, is lost. Fourth ball in left knee, fracturing inner condyle of femur, and passed into popliteal space. Fifth ball, upper part of middle third thigh; lost. Done after the surrender.

point a little below and at the opposite side, (flesh wound.) Done after the surrender.

William A. Dickey, company B, Thirteenth Tennessee cavalry, wounded after the surrender. Ball entered abdomen four inches to the right of umbilicus; ball lost.

Thomas J. Cartwright, company A, Thirteenth Tennessee cavalry, received a wound in left shoulder, striking pectoral muscle near axilla, fracturing clavicle; was extracted near the vertebral column at upper and outer border of scapu la. Done before the surrender.

William L. McMichael, private, company C, Thirteenth Tennessee cavalry, received five wounds. First ball glanced along the upper portion of right parietal bone, making wound (flesh) two and a half inches long. Second ball glanced ulnar side of left fore-arm at wrist-joint. Third ball struck left side of abdomen on a line from anterior superior process of ilium to symphysis pubis; ball not found. Fourth ball struck near the insertion of tensu of right side; passed downwards four inches; was extracted. Wounds received after the surrender of the Fort.

Isaac J. Leadbetter, private, company E, Thirteenth Tennessee cavalry, received wound in left side. Musket-ball struck over eighth rib and plunged downward; is lost. Done after the surrender.

James Walls, private, company E, Thirteenth Tennessee cavalry, was wounded by musket-ball striking over origin of gluteus minemus of left sile, and passed upward and across, emerging eleven inches from point of entrance almost over the last rib of right side, and about two and a half inches from vertebral column. Done after the surrender. In charge of

WILLIAM N. McCoy,

Acting Assistant Surgeon United States Army.

Dr. A. H. Kellogg, sworn and examined.
By the Chairman:

Question. What is your rank and position in the service?

Answer. I am an Acting Assistant Surgeon, in charge of wards E and F, Mound City General Hospital.

Question. Were you present yesterday when the testimony of the wounded men in your wards was taken?

Answer. I have but one under my charge who was wounded at Fort Pillow. I heard his testimony.

James Calvin Goeforth, private, company E, Thirteenth Tennessee cavalry, received wound. Ball passed from right to left across the back, entering at upper part of scapula; emerged at a

Question. Did his statements to us yesterday correspond with the statements he made to you?

Answer. Yes, sir; except he gave a few more details yesterday as to what was said to him. He told me that he was wounded after he had surrendered.

Question. Have you prepared a statement of his case?

his case?

Answer. Yes, sir; and also of Captain Porter, who is in the same ward, and who was too weak to be examined this morning:

First Lieutenant Mack J. Seaming, Adjutant Thirteenth Tennessee cavalry, gunshot wound of right side, received at Fort Pillow, April twelfth, 1864. Ball entered right side below inferior angle of scapula, between sixth and seventh rib, ranged down, and was lost in muscles near hip

Wounded after he had surrendered; shot by a man standing thirty feet above him on the bank. Present condition of patient good, with fair prospect of recovery.

Captain John H. Potter, company B, Thirteenth Tennessee cavalry, wounded at Fort Pillow April twelfth, 1864. Ball fractured skull, carrying away a portion of left parietal and frontal bones, leaving brain exposed for a distance of an inch and a half; was wounded early in the fight by a sharp-shooter before the surrender. Present condition almost hopeless; has remained insensible ever since he was wounded.

CHARLES H. VAIL, M.D.,
Acting Assistant Surgeon U.S.A., in charge of Officers' Ward.

Dr. J. A. C. McCoy, sworn and examined.
By Mr. Gooch:

Question. What is your rank and position? Answer. Acting Assistant Surgeon in charge of wards O, P, Q, and R, in Mound City General Hospital.

Question. Have you any of the wounded soldiers from Fort Pillow in your wards? Answer. I have.

Question. Have you prepared a statement of their cases?

Answer. Yes, sir; I have two statements here prepared at different times; I will hand you both of them, as each one contains some partic

ulars not in the other.

Ward Q.-John F. Ray, private, company B, Thirteenth Tennessee, shot in popliteal space, ball lodged, done after surrender; John W. Shelton, private, company E, Thirteenth Tennessee, shot through left leg, middle third, flesh wound, done after surrender; Joseph M. Green, private, company A, Thirteenth Tennessee, shot in right shoulder, behind, ball escaping at mid-1

after surrender.

J. A. C. McCoy,

Acting Assistant Surgeon U.S.A.

Francis A. Alexander, company C, Thirteenth Tennessee, shot once after surrender, dangerous; Nathan G. Fowlkes, company D, Thirteenth Tennessee, shot once after surrender, dangerous; Wiley Robinson, company A, Thirteenth Tennessee, shot seven times, six times after surrender, dangerous; Daniel Stamps, company E, Thirteenth Tennessee, shot once after surrender, severe; James P. Meador, company A, Thirteenth Tennessee, shot twice, once after surrender, dangerous; James N. Taylor, company E, Thirteenth Tennessee, shot once after surrender,

dangerous; William J. Mays, company B, Thirteenth Tennessee, shot once just before surrender, dangerous; John F. Ray, company B, Thirteenth Tennessee, shot once after surrender, dangerous; John W. Shelton, company E, Thirteenth Tennessee, shot once after surrender, dangerous; Thomas J. Thompson, company D, Thirteenth Tennessee, shot once after surrender, dangerous; Joseph M. Green, company A, Thirteenth Tennessee, shot once after surrender, dangerous; James H. Stout, company B, Thirteenth Tennessee, shot once after surrender, Thirteenth Tennessee, shot once after surrender, dangerous; Daniel H. Rankin, company C, J. A. C. McCoy, M.D., dangerous. Acting Assistant Surgeon U.S.A. The following is a statement prepared by Dr. M. Black, of the cases under his charge: Horton Casen, private, company A, First Ala