Reports of the Committee on the Conduct of the War Part 26

Question. Were you wounded there?

Answer. Yes, sir; twice.

Question. When?

Answer. Once before I surrendered and once afterwards.

Question. Did you see anybody shot besides yourself after he surrendered?

Answer. Yes, sir; I saw lots of negroes shot, and some few white men, and I heard them shoot a great many. I was lying down under the bank.

Question. What were our men doing when they were shot?

Answer. They were begging for quarter when they shot them.

Question. Did you see any of them shot while begging for quarter?

Answer. Yes, sir; I heard an officer say, "Don't show the white men any more quarter than the negroes, because they are no better, and not so good, or they would not fight with the negroes." I saw them make one of our company sergeants kneel down and ask for quarter, and another secesh soldier came up and snapped his pistol at him twice; but they told him not to shoot him. I saw them shoot others when they were kneeling down.

W. J. Mays, sworn and examined.

By the chairman:

Question. To what company and regiment do you belong?

Answer. Company B, 13th Tennessee cavalry.

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

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. State what happened there.

Answer. They attacked us about six o'clock in the morning. Sharpshooting commenced early afterwards, and kept coming closer and closer until the skirmishers were drawn in about ten o'clock. After that they made several efforts to gain the fort, and could not get the position. Under this last flag of truce they gained the position they had been trying to get all day.

Question. Did you see them moving their troops when the flag of truce was in?

Answer. Yes, sir; I showed it to the boys.

Question. What was the movement?

Answer. The place was pretty well surrounded, but they were not on the ground they had been trying to get all day. Under that flag of truce they gained the place, some 75 yards from the fort, and placed themselves under logs, with a better position.

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

Answer. I know it.

Question. Did others see it?

Answer. Yes, sir; two boys near me, who were both taken prisoners.

Question. Was anything said about it at the time?

Answer. We spoke of it among ourselves at the time. We remarked that under the flag of truce they were only gaining the position they had been trying for all day. I was shot in the charge on the fort. The place was then taken. I would not have fallen then, but our men after surrendering found no quarter shown them, and they flew down the bluff and ran over me and kept me down for some time, until I bled so that I could not get up. I saw them shoot a great many after they surrendered.

I saw them shoot four white men and at least 25 blacks, some of them within 20 feet of me, while they were begging for quarter. They pulled one out of a hollow log by the foot and held him, when another shot him close by me. There were two negro women, and three little boys, some 8, 9 or 12 years old, about 25 steps from me. The secesh ran upon them and cursed them, and said, "d.a.m.n them;" they thought they were free to shoot them. All fell but one, a little fellow, and they took the breech of a gun and knocked him down. Then they followed up the men that were trying to get away down the bluff, and some hours afterwards they came back searching their pockets. They came on back then, looking over them, and I saw one man with a canteen and asked him for a drink of water. His reply was to turn on me with his pistol presented and shoot at me three times, saying, "G.o.d d.a.m.n you; I will give you water." But he didn't hit me, though he threw the dirt over my face. I concluded it was best to lie still, and didn't move any more until after dark, and then I crawled in with some of the dead and laid there until about 9 o'clock the next morning, when the gunboat came up, and I crawled down on the gunboat with a piece of white paper in my left hand, and made signs, and the boat came ash.o.r.e and I got on the boat. The general cry from the time they charged the fort until an hour afterwards was, "Kill 'em; kill 'em; G.o.d d.a.m.n 'em; that's Forrest's orders, not to leave one alive." They were burning the buildings. They came with a chunk of fire to burn the building where I was in with the dead. They looked in and said, "These d.a.m.ned sons of b.i.t.c.hes are all dead," and went off. I heard guns the next morning, but I was in there with the dead, and didn't see them shoot anybody.

Question. Did you see any of the men in the fort shot after they had surrendered?

Answer. Yes, sir; I saw four white men and 25 negroes that I spoke of that were shot in the fort. The white men didn't commence flying from the fort, though they threw their guns down, until they saw there was no quarter shown them.

James McCoy sworn and examined.

By the chairman:

Question. Where do you reside?

Answer. When I am suffered to live at home I live in Tennessee.

Question. You don't belong to the army?

Answer. No, sir; but I have been with the regiment six months. The head officers were old acquaintances of mine. I once lived with Major Bradford.

Question. Were you at Fort Pillow at the time the attack was made?

Answer. Yes, sir; I was in Fort Pillow at headquarters.

Question. Will you tell us what you observed there?

Answer. About daylight in the morning part of the pickets came in and said the rebels had captured some of the pickets and were coming. I had not got out of bed then. Major Bradford was up immediately the alarm was given. I had had my hands mashed a few days before. Major Bradford told me I had better go on the gunboat, as I would be in the way because I could not hold a gun. I went on board the gunboat, and about sunrise the firing commenced. The gunboat immediately played up and down the river, where I could see everything going on at the fort. I could not see over the bluff. Major Bradford had a flag and stood on the edge of the bluff and motioned to the gunboat where to throw their sh.e.l.ls. We had a great many guns on the boat, and about 20 used their guns all the time. The rebel sharpshooters would come over the hill and shoot at the boat and everybody that pa.s.sed.

Question. Where were you when the flag of truce came in?

Answer. I was on the boat.

Question. What did you see?

Answer. As soon as the flag of truce came in the gunboat stopped firing.

It was about 3 o'clock when it came in, and while it was in the enemy were creeping up constantly, sharpshooters and all, nearer and nearer. I saw a great many creeping on their hands and feet, getting up to the hill close to the fort. I don't know what was back of that. Some men in the fort told me that they had advanced and got close to the fort before the flag of truce was taken out. I saw them gathering around there all the time, and all that time they were stealing from the commissary's stores blankets and everything else they could get at. I reckon I saw 200 men climbing the hill with as much as they could carry on their backs, shoes, &c.

Question. Why did our officers permit that without firing on them?

Answer. The gunboat, I think, was almost out of ammunition and had nothing to shoot; and none of them supposed the gunboat would stop shooting, but she ran out of ammunition.