History of the Negro Race in America from 1619 to 1880 Volume II Part 81

U. S. C. T. 3d Cav.; 47th Inf.

Waterproof, La.

Feb. 14, 1864. Yazoo City, Miss.

U. S. C. T. 49th Inf. May 13, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 3d Cav.

Waterproof, La.

April 20, 1864. Yazoo City, Miss.

U. S. C. T. 63d Inf. March 15, 1865.

U. S. C. T. 3d Cav.

White Oak Road, Va.

March 31, 1865. Yazoo Expedition, Miss.

U. S. C. T. 29th Inf. Feb. 28, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 3d Cav.

White River, Ark.

Oct. 22, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 53 Inf.

CHAPTER XX.

HOISTING THE BLACK FLAG.--OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE AND REPORTS.

GENERAL S. D. LEE TO GENERAL COOPER.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT ALABAMA, MISSISSIPPI, AND } EAST LOUISIANA, MERIDIAN, June 30, 1864. }

GENERAL: I have the honor to transmit copies of correspondence between General Washburn, U. S. A., General Forrest, and myself, which I consider very important, and should be laid before the Department. It will be my endeavor to avoid, as far as is consistent with my idea of the dignity of my position, resorting to such an extremity as the black flag; and the onus shall be with the Federal commander.

I would like that the onus be put where it properly belongs, before the public, should the extremity arise. The correspondence is not complete yet, and the Department will be informed of the result at the earliest practicable moment.

I am, General, yours respectfully, S. D. LEE, _Lieutenant-General_.

General S. COOPER, _A. and I. G., Richmond, Va._

GENERAL FORREST TO GENERAL WASHBURN.

HEADQUARTERS FORREST'S CAVALRY, } IN THE FIELD, June 14, 1864. }

Major-General Washburn, _Commanding United States Forces, Memphis_:

GENERAL: I have the honor herewith to enclose copy of letter received from Brigadier-General Buford, commanding United States forces at Helena, Arkansas, addressed to Colonel E. W. Rucker, commanding Sixth Regiment of this command; also a letter from myself to General Buford, which I respectfully request you will read and forward to him.

There is a matter also to which I desire to call your attention, which, until now, I have not thought proper to make the subject of a communication. Recent events render it necessary,--in fact, demand it.

It has been reported to me that all the negro troops stationed in Memphis took an oath on their knees, in the presence of Major-General Hurlbut and other officers of your army, to avenge Fort Pillow, and that they would show my troops no quarter.

Again, I have it from indisputable authority that the troops under Brigadier-General Sturgis, on their recent march from Memphis, publicly and in various places proclaimed that no quarter would be shown my men. As his troops were moved into action on the eleventh, the officers commanding exhorted their men to remember Fort Pillow, and a large majority of the prisoners we have captured from that command have voluntarily stated that they expected us to murder them, otherwise they would have surrendered in a body rather than taken to the bushes after being run down and exhausted. The recent battle of Tishemingo Creek was far more b.l.o.o.d.y than it otherwise would have been but for the fact that your men evidently expected to be slaughtered when captured, and both sides acted as though neither felt safe in surrendering even when further resistance was useless. The prisoners captured by us say they felt condemned by the announcements, etc., of their own commanders, and expected no quarter. In all my operations since the war began, I have conducted the war on civilized principles, and desire still to do so, but it is due to my command that they should know the position you occupy and the policy you intend to pursue. I therefore respectfully ask whether my men in your hands are treated as other Confederate prisoners, also the course intended to be pursued in regard to those who may hereafter fall into your hands.

I have in my possession quite a number of wounded officers and men of General Sturgis's command, all of whom have been treated as well as we have been able to treat them, and are mostly in charge of a surgeon left at Ripley by General Sturgis to look after the wounded. Some of them are too severely wounded to be removed at present. I am willing to exchange them for any men of my command you may have, and as soon as they are able to be removed will give them safe escort through my lines in charge of the surgeon left with them.

I made such an arrangement with Major-General Hurlbut when he was in command of Memphis, and am willing to renew it, provided it is desired, as it would be better than to subject them to the long and fatiguing delay necessary to a regular exchange at City Point, Virginia.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, N. B. FORREST, _Major-General_.

GENERAL WASHBURN TO GENERAL LEE.

HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF WEST TENNESSEE, } MEMPHIS, TENN., June 17, 1864. }

Major-General S. D. LEE, _Commanding Confederate Forces near Tupelo, Miss._:

GENERAL: When I heard that the forces of Brigadier-General Sturgis had been driven back, and a portion of them probably captured, I felt considerable solicitude for the fate of the two colored regiments that formed a part of the command, until I was informed that the Confederate forces were commanded by you. When I learned that, I became satisfied that no atrocities would be committed upon those troops, but that they would receive the treatment which humanity as well as their gallant conduct demanded.

I regret to say that the hope that I entertained has been dispelled by facts which have recently come to my knowledge.

From statements that have been made to me by colored soldiers who were eye-witnesses, it would seem that the ma.s.sacre at Fort Pillow had been reproduced at the late affair at Bryce's Cross-roads. The detail of the atrocities there committed I will not trouble you with. If true, and not disavowed, they must lead to consequences too fearful to contemplate. It is best that we should now have a fair understanding upon this question, of the treatment of this cla.s.s of soldiers. If it is contemplated by the Confederate government to murder all colored troops that may by chance of war fall into their hands, as was the case at Fort Pillow, it is but fair that it should be freely and frankly avowed. Within the last six weeks I have, on two occasions, sent colored troops into the field from this point. In the expectation that the Confederate government would disavow the action of their commanding general at the Fort Pillow ma.s.sacre, I have forborne to issue any instructions to the colored troops as to the course they should pursue toward Confederate soldiers. No disavowal on the part of the Confederate government having been made, but, on the contrary, laudations from the entire Southern press of the perpetrators of the ma.s.sacre, I may safely presume that indiscriminate slaughter is to be the fate of colored troops that fall into your hands. But I am not willing to leave a matter of such grave import, and involving consequences so fearful, to inference, and I have therefore thought it proper to address you this, believing that you would be able to indicate the policy that the Confederate government intend to pursue hereafter on this question.

If it is intended to raise the black flag against that unfortunate race, they will cheerfully accept the issue. Up to this time no troops have fought more gallantly, and none have conducted themselves with greater propriety. They have fully vindicated their right (so long denied) to be treated as men.

I hope that I have been misinformed in regard to the treatment they have received at the battle of Bryce's Cross-roads, and that the accounts received result rather from the excited imaginations of the fugitives than from actual fact.

For the government of the colored troops under my command, I would thank you to inform me, with as little delay as possible, if it is your intention, or the intention of the Confederate government, to murder colored soldiers that may fall into your hands, or treat them as prisoners of war, and subject to be exchanged as other prisoners.

I am, General, respectfully, your obedient servant, C. C. WASHBURN, _Major-General, Commanding_.

GENERAL WASHBURN TO GENERAL FORREST.

HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF WEST TENNESSEE, } MEMPHIS, TENN., June 19, 1864. }

Major-General N. B. FORREST, _Commanding Confederate Forces:_

GENERAL: Your communication of the fourteenth instant is received. The letter to Brigadier-General Buford will be forwarded to him.

In regard to that part of your letter which relates to colored troops, I beg to say that I have already sent a communication on the subject to the officer in command of the Confederate forces at Tupelo.

Having understood that Major-General S. D. Lee was in command there, I directed my letter to him--a copy of it I enclose. You say in your letter that it has been reported to you that all the negro troops stationed in Memphis took an oath on their knees, in the presence of Major-General Hurlbut, and other officers of our army, to avenge Fort Pillow, and that they would show your troops no quarter.

I believe it is true that the colored troops did take such an oath, but not in the presence of General Hurlbut. From what I can learn, this act of theirs was not influenced by any white officer, but was the result of their own sense of what was due to themselves and their fellows who had been mercilessly slaughtered.

I have no doubt that they went into the field, as you allege, in the full belief that they would be murdered in case they fell into your hands. The affair at Fort Pillow fully justified that belief. I am not aware as to what they proclaimed on their late march, and it may be, as you say, that they declared that no quarter would be given to any of your men that might fall into their hands.

Your declaration that you have conducted the war, on all occasions, on civilized principles, cannot be accepted; but I receive with satisfaction the intimation in your letter that the recent slaughter of colored troops at the battle of Tishemingo Creek resulted rather from the desperation with which they fought than a predetermined intention to give them no quarter.

You must have learned by this time that the attempt to intimidate the colored troops by indiscriminate slaughter has signally failed, and that, instead of a feeling of terror, you have aroused a spirit of courage and desperation that will not down at your bidding.

I am left in doubt, by your letter, as to the course you and the Confederate government intend to pursue hereafter in regard to colored troops, and I beg you to advise me, with as little delay as possible, as to your intentions.

If you intend to treat such of them as fall into your hands as prisoners of war, please so state; if you do not so intend, but contemplate either their slaughter or their return to slavery, please state _that_, so that we may have no misunderstanding hereafter. If the former is your intention, I shall receive the announcement with pleasure, and shall explain the fact to the colored troops at once, and desire that they recall the oath they have taken; if the _latter_ is the case, then let the oath stand, and upon those who have aroused this spirit by their atrocities, and upon the government and people who sanction it, be the consequences.