Fort Pillow

“ Fort Pillow, and during most of the engagement I was acting as Post-Adjutant. After Major Booth was killed, Major Bradford was in command. The pickets were driven in just before sunrise, which was the first intimation we had that the enemy were approaching. I repaired to the Fort, and found that Major Booth was shelling the rebels as they came up toward the outer intrenchments. They kept up a steady fire by sharp-shooters behind trees and logs and high knolls. The Major thought at one time they were planting some artillery, or looking for places to plant it. ”

“ It may be that the strength of the enemy and the scattered condition of our small detachments was not fully understood. We ran too great a risk at Paducah. Nothing but great gallantry and fortitude saved it from the fate of Fort Pillow.
Question. What information had you of the attack of Fort Pillow?
Answer. Fort Pillow is 170 miles below here, not in my district, but Memphis. On April 13, at 6 p. m., I telegraphed General Sherman as follows:
"The surrender of Columbus was demanded and refused at six this morning. ”

“ A Pennsylvania Major wrote home: “I find that these colored men learn everything that pertains to the duties of a soldier much faster than any white soldiers [117] I have ever seen.... They are willing, obedient, and cheerful; move with agility, and are full of music.” [94]
Certain battles, carnivals of blood, stand out and despite their horror must not be forgotten. One of the earliest encounters was the terrible massacre at Fort Pillow, April 18, 1863. The fort was held with a garrison of 557 men, of whom 262 were colored soldiers of the 6th United States Heavy Artillery. ”

“ I was in the battle fought at Fort Pillow, Tennessee, on the 12th day of April, A. D. 1864. The engagement commenced early in the morning and lasted until three o'clock p. m. same day, at which time the enemy carried the fort. The United States troops took refuge under the bank of the river. The officers all being killed or wounded, the men raised the white flag and surrendered, but the rebels kept on firing until most all the men were shot down. I was wounded and knocked down with the but of a musket and left for dead, after being robbed, and they cut the buttons off my jacket. ”

“ It allowed the men to drill and take care of their health, as the planters sent overseers who superintended the negroes. It kept the men in better spirits, and made them more cheerful to endure whatever legitimately belongs to a soldier's [58] life, when they had slaves to do the toilsome work. These slaves were not armed, or relied upon to do any fighting. I have no means of judging how they would have fought, as I never saw them tried.
The natural situation of Fort Pillow is the best I saw on the Mississippi river. It is built on what is called the First Chickasaw Bluff. ”

“ It will be old news to you to speak in this letter about the late massacre of white and colored officers and soldiers at Fort Pillow, where General Forrest and his men murdered hundreds of our own brave fellows in cold blood. I understand that although that massacre occurred only a few days ago, so to speak, that the war-cry 'Remember Fort Pillow!' has already been made in quite a number of the most recent engagements between colored troops and rebels on the seat of war. ”

“ Women and children brought away. Heavy artillery firing this afternoon. I have sent re-enforcements. Paducah also threatened. No danger of either, but I think that Fort Pillow, in the Memphis district, is taken. ”

“ There were at Fort Pillow two 10-pound Parrotts, two 6-pounder field guns, and two 12-pounder howitzers, and about 600 men. I cannot tell precisely the number of the 13th Tennessee cavalry, for it was a recruiting regiment, and filling off and on. If the men had been left in the position in which they had been placed by Major Booth, and from which position he had already repelled an assault of the enemy, I think they would have been able to have held the fort until re-enforced. I believe that the ground there is so strong that 600 men with that artillery ought to have held it ”

“ Forrest, however, fell back rapidly, and attacked the troops at Fort Pillow, a station for the protection of the navigation of the Mississippi River. The garrison to force a passage southward, if they are successful in reaching the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad, to cut the main lines of the road connecting Richmond with all the South and South-west.
Gillmore will join Butler with about 10,000 men from South Carolina. Butler can reduce his garrison so as to take 23,000 men into the field directly to his front. ”

“ The gunboat Whitehead went on a reconnoissance, on Wednesday, a short distance above Plymouth, and the officers and crew observed about three hundred rebel troops engaged in burying the dead. From a steeple on the town church, overlooking a large tract of land, it was found that the field of Asa Johnson (about sixty acres) , was completely filled with dead and dying rebels. The entire rebel force could not have been short of from fifteen to twenty thousand men, of whom one-third are unfit for future service.
[72] The Fort Pillow Massacre Re-enacted. ”

“ Infantry intrenchments extended these forts, and a field-battery of six pieces was added to the armament of the upper fort. Commodore Hollins, of the Confederate navy, aided the land-forces with eight gunboats. General McCown, making an inspecting visit to the position on February 25th, found there Colonel Gantt, of Arkansas, with the Eleventh and Twelfth Arkansas, and two artillery companies, acting as garrison to Fort Thompson, and at once, before returning to Columbus, ordered Colonel L.M. Walker, with two regiments from Fort Pillow, to guard the defences just above New Madrid. ”

“ Henry Parker, company D, 1st Alabama, wounded at Fort Pillow after surrender, gunshot wound in hip; Ransom Anderson, company B, 1st Alabama artillery, wounded at Fort Pillow after surrender, sabre cuts on head and hand and gunshot wounds in shoulder and chest; Mary Jane Robinson, wife of a [Pg 59] soldier at Fort Pillow, wounded by a rebel after the surrender of the fort, at a distance of ten yards, gunshot wound through both knees.
M. BLACK,
Acting Assistant Surgeon, U. S. A.
Surgeon Horace Wardner, recalled and examined. ”

“ To what company and regiment do you belong?
Answer. Company A, 13th Tennessee cavalry. [Pg 37]
Question. Were you in the fight at Fort Pillow?
Answer. Yes, sir; from 6 o'clock in the morning until about 4 o'clock in the evening.
Question. State what took place after the fort was taken by the rebels.
Answer. There were a great many white men shot down, and a great many negroes. ”

“ It will be memorable in military history, and will be admired by future generations." On April 12th, General Pope and his entire command embarked on transports and steamed down the river, in company with the gunboat fleet. The force arrived in front of Fort Pillow on the 14th. In a few days, before reconnoitring was completed, Pope was ordered to report with his whole command, except two regiments to be left with the gunboats, to General Halleck at Pittsburg Landing. ”

“ It is positively affirmed that the rebels in taking possession of Plymouth, ordered out the North Carolina (Union) troops, who formed part of the garrison, and shot them; and that all negroes found in uniform were murdered. We presume the account is correct, and it only proves that what was supposed to be an exceptional barbarity at Fort Pillow, has been adopted as the deliberate policy of the rebels. As the issue is to be made it must be met."
From the Examiner, May 3d:
(Extract from a letter on the Victory of Plymouth, dated Plymouth, N.C., April 24, 1864.) ”

“ Pillow was garrisoned with negro soldiers commanded by white officers. This place being considered almost impregnable, it was used as a recruiting station and a supply base.
Up to that time the Union commanders had looked upon Forrest as being only a cavalry raider and running fighter; but, in truth, his command was mounted infantry, with two full batteries of artillery, and at this time it was composed of veteran troops.
The enemy had too much faith in the impregnability of the fort and too little regard for the genius of N. B. Forrest. ”

“ At six o'clock in the morning the fleet moved down, and the troops debarked at half-past eight on the Missouri shore, three miles above Columbus, and protected from view by an intervening wooded point. About the same time General Polk sent General Pillow across the river to Belmont with four regiments, making the force there five regiments and a battery. Pillow estimated the number of men at about twenty-five hundred.
General Grant marched his command through the timber and some cleared fields, and formed in two lines facing the river—McClernand in front, Dougherty in rear. ”

“ The first lieutenant of company D of my regiment says that he has an affidavit to that effect of a man who saw it.
Question. Have you any knowledge in relation to any of our men being buried alive?
Answer. I have not, other than I have stated.
By Mr. Gooch:
Question. How long had your regiment been in Fort Pillow?
Answer. We reached there the 8th of February. There were no other troops there then, and we held the place alone for some time. ”

“ The horses were unharnessed, at one halting-stage, in the thick, soft shadows of night, and ere their successors had limped under the bar, a raw and cruel light was upon all things, so that the Englishman could see every rent seam in the rocks around. A little further, and he came upon the black bulk of Chitor between him and the morning sun. It has already been said that the Fort resembles a man-of-war. Every distant view heightens this impression, for the swell of the sides follows the form of a ship, and the bastions on the south wall make the sponsons in which the machine-guns are mounted. ”

“ Immediately rebuilt by the English, a Virginia garrison occupied the post, and it was named Fort Pitt. Then a larger fort was built at a cost of $300,000 and garrisoned by artillery, which the enemy vainly besieged in 1763. The next year a town site was laid out near the fort, and in 1770 it had twenty log houses. After the long succession of wars and massacres on that frontier had ceased, the village grew, and business began developing—at first, boat- and vessel-building, and then smelting and coal mining and the manufacture of glass. ”

“ For this reason, the life of the inhabitants of the frontier was one of constant peril and alarm. Many a scene of dismal barbarity was enacted, as the history of the times testifies, and even those who felt themselves in some measure protected by their immediate neighbors, the Delawares, never lost sight of the caution required by their exposed situation.
The vicinity of the military garrison at Pittsburg—or Fort Pitt, as it was then called—gave additional security to those who had pushed farther west, among the fertile valleys of the Alleghany and Monongahela. ”

“ Like all American forts, it was formed with earthen ramparts, covered by rich green turf, and defended by tall stockades of dry white timber. Within were seen the shingle-covered roofs of the low barrack buildings, tarred and painted black, and all glistening in the sunshine. Two of the lower bastions were faced with stone and washed by the azure water of Lake George, while a deep fosse secured the fort on the landward, and dangerous morasses protected its flanks. Beyond lay a cleared space, where the timber of the old primeval forest had been cut down for garrison purposes. ”

“ Full of this urbane purpose, they wheel their bristling ranks on the town. Approaching double-quick, they casually lick up, as with a tongue of flame, a brace of abortive blockhouses which obstruct their path. At this, an interior fort opens fire with grapeshot and shrapnel, and the hunting-shirt men spring upon it with the ruthless ferocity of panthers. To quench it is no more than the fighting work of a moment. The General, with his flag already on the ramparts of Fort St. Michael, now feels his clutch at the very throat of Pensacola. ”

“ Instigated by the agents of Great Britain, it was not long before a deadly struggle began. Scalping parties of Indians ravaged the frontier, sparing neither age nor sex, and burning and destroying all that came in their path. Companies were formed to protect the settlements, whose headquarters were at [Pg 45] Fort Pitt, and expeditions were made into the enemy's country, but with no very great success. ”

“ In less than five minutes the boat, distinctly visible, with those salient points of color, the red coat and the white flag against the silver-gray water, had rounded the bend; every Indian runner was out of sight; and the line of warriors had relapsed into their silent staring at the fort, where the garrison dragged out three hours of such poignant suspense as seldom falls to the lot of even unhappy men. ”

“ At length they became very formidable.
"The inhabitants had erected several small forts, but the principal one was Forty Fort, in Kingston, on the west side of the river, a small distance above Wyoming Falls. To this the settlers had chiefly resorted. They had sent agents to the continental army to acquaint them with their distressed situation; in consequence of which, Captain Spaulding, with about sixty or seventy men, was dispatched to their assistance. This detachment was, at the time of the massacre, about forty miles distant. ”