Everything seems to be very quiet within a radius of from thirty to
forty miles around, and I do not think any apprehensions need be felt or
fears entertained in reference to this place being attacked, or even
threatened. I think it perfectly safe.
I have the honor to be, general, very respectfully, your obedient
servant,
T. F. BOOTH,
_Major 6th U.S. Heavy Artillery, colored, Com'dg Fort._
Major General HURLBUT.
HEADQUARTERS 16TH ARMY CORPS,
_Memphis, Tennessee, April 25, 1864_.
A true extract from the last report received from Major L. F. Booth, 6th
United States heavy artillery, commanding Fort Pillow.
T. H. HARRIS,
_Lieutenant Colonel and Assistant Adjutant General_.
* * * * *
Without application or requisition being made for the guns, General
Hurlbut concluded to add two to the four already at the fort, and made
the following order:
Special Orders,} HEADQUARTERS 16TH ARMY CORPS,
No. 88. } _Memphis, Tennessee, April 7, 1864_.
* * * * * * * * * *
III. Captain J. C. Heely, commanding ordnance depot, Memphis, Tennessee,
will turn over to Major L. F. Booth, 6th United States heavy artillery,
two 10-pounder Parrott guns, complete, except caissons, with 150 rounds
of ammunition per piece, and will ship same, to-day, to Major Booth, at
Fort Pillow, Tennessee. The quartermaster's department will furnish
necessary transportation.
* * * * * * * * * *
By order of Major General S. A. Hurlbut.
T. H. HARRIS,
_Assistant Adjutant General_.
A true copy.
T. H. HARRIS,
_Assistant Adjutant General_.
* * * * *
UNITED STATES STEAMER SILVER CLOUD,
_Off Memphis, Tennessee, April 14, 1864_.
SIR: In compliance with your request that I would forward to you a
written statement of what I witnessed and learned concerning the
treatment of our troops by the rebels at the capture of Fort Pillow by
their forces under General Forrest, I have the honor to submit the
following report:
Our garrison at Fort Pillow, consisting of some 350 colored troops and
200 of the 13th Tennessee cavalry, refusing to surrender, the place was
carried by assault about 3 p. m. of the 12th instant. I arrived off the
fort at 6 a. m. on the morning of the 13th instant. Parties of rebel
cavalry were picketed on the hills around the fort, and shelling those
away. I made a landing and took on board some twenty of our troops, some
of them badly wounded, who had concealed themselves along the bank, and
came out when they saw my vessel. Whilst doing so I was fired upon by
rebel sharpshooters posted on the hills, and one wounded man limping
down to the vessel was shot. About 8 a. m. the enemy sent in a flag of
truce, with a proposal from General Forrest that he would put me in
possession of the fort and the country around until 5 p. m., for the
purpose of burying our dead and removing our wounded, whom he had no
means of attending to. I agreed to the terms proposed, and hailing the
steamer Platte Valley, which vessel I had convoyed up from Memphis, I
brought her alongside, and had the wounded brought down from the fort
and battle-field and placed on board of her. Details of rebel soldiers
assisted us in this duty, and some soldiers and citizens on board the
Platte Valley volunteered for the same purpose.
We found about seventy wounded men in the fort and around it, and
buried, I should think, 150 bodies. All the buildings around the fort,
and the tents and huts in the fort, had been burned by the rebels, and
among the embers the charred remains of numbers of our soldiers, who had
suffered a terrible death in the flames, could be seen.
All the wounded, who had strength enough to speak, agreed that after the
fort was taken an indiscriminate slaughter of our troops was carried on
by the enemy, with a furious and vindictive savageness which was never
equalled by the most merciless of the Indian tribes. Around on every
side horrible testimony to the truth of this statement could be seen.
Bodies with gaping wounds, some bayoneted through the eyes, some with
skulls beaten through, others with hideous wounds, as if their bowels
had been ripped open with Bowie knives, plainly told that but little
quarter was shown to our troops, strewn from the fort to the river bank,
in the ravines and hollows, behind logs and under the brush, where they
had crept for protection from the assassins who pursued them. We found
bodies bayoneted, beaten, and shot to death, showing how cold-blooded
and persistent was the slaughter of our unfortunate troops. Of course,
when a work is carried by assault there will always be more or less
blood shed, even when all resistance has ceased; but here there were
unmistakable evidences of a massacre carried on long after any
resistance could have been offered, with a cold-blooded barbarity and
perseverance which nothing can palliate.
As near as I can learn, there were about 500 men in the fort when it was
stormed. I received about 100 men, (including the wounded and those I
took on board before the flag of truce was sent in.) The rebels I
learned had few prisoners, so that at least 300 of our troops must have
been killed in this affair. I have the honor to forward a list of the
wounded officers and men received from the enemy under flag of truce.