G. F. SHEPLEY,
_Brigadier General, Commanding_.
Hon. D. W. GOOCH,
_Of Committee on Conduct of the War_.
HEADQUARTERS NORFOLK AND PORTSMOUTH,
_Norfolk, Virginia, May 7, 1864_.
SIR: At my own request having been relieved from duty as military
governor of Louisiana, and ordered to report for duty to the commanding
general of the army, I left New Orleans, on the evening of the 6th of
April, as a passenger in the Olive Branch, a New Orleans and St. Louis
passenger steamer _not in the service of the government_, but loaded
with male and female passengers and cargo of private parties. The
steamer was unarmed, and had no troops and no muskets for protection
against guerillas when landing at wood yards and other places.
The boat stopped at Vicksburg, and I went ashore. When I returned to the
boat as she was about leaving, I found that a detachment of a portion of
the men of two batteries--one Ohio and one Missouri--belonging to the
17th army corps, with the horses, guns, caissons, wagons, tents, and
baggage of the two batteries, had been put on board, with orders, as I
afterwards learned on inquiring, to report to General Brayman, at Cairo.
The horses occupied all the available space, fore and aft, on the sides
of the boilers and machinery, which were on deck. The guns, caissons,
baggage wagons, tents, garrison and camp equipage, were piled up
together on the bows, leaving only space for the gang plank.
The men had no small arms, so that when the boat landed, as happened in
one instance at a wood yard where guerillas had just passed, the pickets
thrown out to prevent surprise were necessarily unarmed.
As the boat was approaching, and before it was in sight of Fort Pillow,
some females hailed it from the shore, and said the rebels had attacked
Fort Pillow, and captured two boats on the river, and would take us if
we went on.
The captain of the Olive Branch said they had probably taken the Mollie
Able, which was due there about that time from St. Louis.
He turned his boat, saying he would go back to Memphis.
I objected to going back; stopped the boat below the next point; hailed
another smaller steamer without passengers which I saw approaching, and
ordered it alongside. I ordered the captain of this boat to cast off the
coal barges he had in tow, and take me on board with a section of a
battery to go to Fort Pillow.
While he was trying to disencumber his boat of the coal barges, another
boat, better for the purpose, (the Cheek,) hove in sight. Finding I
could get her ready quicker than the other, I had her brought alongside,
and went aboard myself with Captain Thornton, of my staff, and Captain
Williams, the ranking officer of the batteries.
Before we could get the guns on board, _a steamer with troops_ hove in
sight _coming down the river_ from Fort Pillow.
We could not distinguish at first whether they were Union or rebel
soldiers.
I asked Captain Pegram, of the Olive Branch, if the story of the women
turned out to be true, and the rebels had the steamer, could his boat
sink her. Captain Pegram replied, "Yes, my boat can run right over her."
I ordered him to swing out into the stream to be ready for her. When she
approached we saw _United States infantry soldiers on board that had
just passed the fort_. She kept on going rapidly down with the current,
only hailing the Olive Branch: "_All right up there; you can go by_.
_The gunboat is lying off the fort_."
This steamer was the Liberty. We then proceeded up the river in the
Olive Branch. Near Fort Pillow some stragglers or guerillas fired from
the shore with musketry, aiming at the pilot-house.
I was then in the pilot-house, and, as we kept on, I observed that one
of the two other boats I have mentioned, which followed us at some
distance, was compelled to put back. The Olive Branch kept on to report
to the gunboat on the station.
An officer came off from the gunboat, in a small boat, and said he did
not want any boat to stop; ordered us to go on to Cairo, and tell
captain (name not recollected) to send him immediately four hundred
(400) rounds of ammunition. There was no firing at the fort at this
time.
The Union flag was flying, and after we had passed the fort we could see
a "flag of truce" outside the fortifications.
_No signal of any kind was made to the boat from the fort, or from the
shore._
No intimation was given us from the gunboat, which had the right to
order a steamer of this description, other than the order to proceed to
Cairo, to send down the ammunition.
From the fact that the Liberty had just passed down the river from the
fort, with troops on board; from her hailing us _to go by_, and
continuing her course down the river without stopping; that no signal
was made the Olive Branch from the fort on the shore, and no attack was
being made on the fort at the time; that the officer of the gunboat said
he did not want any boats to stop, and ordered the captain of the Olive
Branch to go on, and have ammunition sent down to him by first boat, I
considered, and now consider, that the captain of the Olive Branch was
not only justified in going on, but bound to proceed.
The Olive Branch was incapable of rendering any assistance, being
entirely defenceless. If any guns could have been placed in position on
the boat, they could not have been elevated to reach sharpshooters on
the high steep bluff outside the fort.
A very few sharpshooters from the shore near the fort could have
prevented any landing, and have taken the boat. We supposed the object
of the rebels was rather to seize a boat, to effect a crossing into
Arkansas, than to capture the fort. We had no means of knowing or
suspecting that so strong a position as Fort Pillow had not been
properly garrisoned for defence, when it was in constant communication
with General Hurlbut at Memphis.
The Olive Branch had just left Memphis, General Hurlbut's headquarters,
where it had been during the previous night. If it had not been for the
appearance of the Liberty, I should have attempted a landing at Fort
Pillow in the small steamer. If any intimation had been given from the
gunboat, or the shore, I should have landed personally from the Olive
Branch. The order given to the contrary prevented it.
Coming from New Orleans, and having no knowledge of affairs in that
military district, I could not presume that a fort, with uninterrupted
water communication above and below, could possibly be without a
garrison strong enough to hold it for a few hours.
I write hastily, and omit, from want of time, to state subsequent
occurrences at Fort Columbus and Cairo, except to say that, at Fort
Columbus, in front of which Buford then was demanding a surrender, I
stopped, started to ride out to the lines, met Colonel Lawrence, the
commanding officer, coming in from the front to his headquarters.
Offered to remain, with the men on board.
Colonel Lawrence said he was in good condition to stand any attack;
could communicate with General Brayman; had already taken four hundred
(400) infantry and one battery from the L. M. Kennett, which had just
preceded us, and left six hundred (600) men, and another, or other
batteries, on board, which he did not need. He declined the proffered
assistance, as not needed, and immediately on arrival at Cairo I
reported all the information in my possession to General Brayman, in
command, who was about leaving for Columbus.
Captain Thornton, 12th Maine volunteers, a gallant officer,
distinguished for his bravery at Ponchitoula, where he was wounded and
left in the hands of the enemy, was on board the Olive Branch, and will
take this communication to the committee.
I respectfully ask that he may be thoroughly examined as to all the
circumstances.
I am conscious that a full examination will show that I rather exceeded
than neglected my duty.