Subscribed and sworn to before me this 2d day of May, A. D. 1864.
J. D. LLOYD,
_Captain 11th Infantry, Mo. Vols., and
Ass'nt Provost Marshal, Dist. of Memphis_.
* * * * *
_Statement of Frank Hogan, corporal in company A, 6th United States
heavy artillery, (colored.)_
I, Frank Hogan, a corporal in company A, of the 6th United States heavy
artillery, (colored,) would, on oath, state the following: That I was in
the battle fought at Fort Pillow, Tennessee, on the (12th) twelfth day
of April, A. D. (1864,) one thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, and
that I was taken prisoner by the enemy, and I saw Captain Carson, and
heard some of the enemy ask him if he belonged to a nigger regiment. He
told them he did. They asked him how he came here. He told them he was
detailed there. Then they told him they would give him a detail, and
immediately shot him dead, after being a prisoner without arms. I also
saw two lieutenants, whose names I did not know, but who belonged to the
(13th) Thirteenth Tennessee cavalry, shot down after having been taken
prisoners. I also saw them kill three sick men that were lying helpless
in their tents.
I saw them make our men (colored) pull the artillery, whipping them at
the same time in the most shameful manner.
I also saw them bury one of our men alive, being only wounded. I heard
Colonel McCullough, Confederate States army, ask his adjutant how many
men were killed and wounded. The adjutant told him he had a list of
three hundred, and that all the reports were not in yet. Colonel
McCullough was commanding a brigade. I also heard a captain, Confederate
States army, tell Colonel McCullough, Confederate States army, that ten
men were killed out of his own company.
his
FRANK x HOGAN.
mark.
Sworn to and subscribed before me this 30th day of April, 1864, at Fort
Pickering, Memphis, Tennessee.
MALCOM F. SMITH,
_First Lieutenant and Adjutant 6th U. S. Heavy Artillery, (colored.)_
A true copy.
J. H. ODLIN,
_Captain and Assistant Adjutant General_.
* * * * *
_Statement of Wilbur H. Gaylord, first sergeant, company B, 6th United
States heavy artillery, (colored.)_
FORT PICKERING, TENNESSEE, _April 28, 1864_.
I was in the battle fought at Fort Pillow on the 12th day of April, A. D.
1864. The engagement commenced about six and a half o'clock a. m. I
was stationed about twenty rods outside the fort with twenty men in a
southeast direction, (this was about six and a half o'clock a. m.,) with
orders from Major S. F. Booth to hold the position as long as possible
without being captured. I staid there with the men about one hour. While
there the rebels came within thirty rods and tried to steal horses. They
got two horses, and at the same time stuck a rebel flag on the
fortifications. While I held this position the white men on my right
(13th Tennessee cavalry) retreated to the fort. About ten minutes after
this I went with my men to the fort. While going into the fort I saw
Lieutenant Barr, 13th Tennessee cavalry, shot down by my side. He was
shot through the head. He fell outside the fortifications, about six
feet. Ten minutes after getting into the fort Major S. F. Booth was shot
at porthole No. 2, while standing directly in the rear of the gun; was
shot directly through the heart; expired instantly. I carried him to the
bank of the river. As soon as I returned Captain Epeneter, company A,
was wounded in the head while standing at porthole No. 4. He immediately
went to the hospital, which was below the river bank--about half way
down, I should think. Ten men were killed before a flag of truce came
in, which was about twelve o'clock m. Five men, who were all dressed
alike, came with the flag from the rebels, and Major Bradford, of 13th
Tennessee cavalry, who had now assumed command, asked one hour to
consider; on the conclusion of which, he returned a decided refusal. The
fire on both sides now commenced, and was kept up about half an hour
with great fury, when the rebels charged over the works. (I should have
said that General Forrest came with the flag.) The enemy was checked and
held for a few minutes. As soon as they were fairly on the works, I was
wounded with a musket ball through the right ankle. I should think that
two hundred rebels passed over the works, and passed by me while I lay
there, when one rebel noticed that I was alive, shot at me again and
missed me. I told him I was wounded, and that I would surrender, when a
Texan ranger stepped up and took me prisoner. Just at this time I saw
them shoot down three black men, who were begging for their life, and
who had surrendered. The rebels now helped me through porthole No. 4.
The ranger who took me captured a colored soldier, whom he sent with me.
He also sent a guard. They took me to picket post No. 2. There I was put
into an ambulance and taken to a farm-house with one of their dead, who
was a chaplain. There I was made to lie out doors all night on account
of the houses being filled with their wounded. I bandaged my own wound
with my drawers, and a colored man brought water and sat by me so that I
could keep my foot wet. Next morning Colonel McCullough came there and
sent a squad of men, having pressed all the conveyances he could find to
take away his own wounded. Not finding sufficient, nor having negroes
enough, they made stretchers from blankets. They could not carry me, and
so left me at the farm-house; the man's name was Stone. He got me into
the house and into bed. He and his wife were very kind to me. While
Colonel McCullough was there he told me Memphis, Tennessee, was probably
in the hands of the rebels. The rear guard of the rebels left there
Wednesday about 5 o'clock p. m. The rebels took a young man whose father
lived near here, and who had been wounded in the fight, to the woods,
and shot three more shots into his back and into his head, and left him
until Friday morning, when the citizens took him in. They brought him to
the house where I was, and then carried us both to Fort Pillow in an old
cart that they fixed up for the occasion, in hopes of getting us on
board of a gunboat.
Upon our arrival there a gunboat lay on the opposite bank, but we could
not hail her. We laid on the bank. They took the young man back to a
house, three-fourths of a mile, but I would not go back. I laid there
until a gunboat, the Silver Cloud, took me off, about 2 o'clock a. m.,
Saturday. They treated me with the utmost kindness on board the boat.
WILBUR H. GAYLORD,
_1st Sergeant, Co. B, 6th U.S. Heavy Artillery, 1st Battalion, (colored.)_
Sworn to and subscribed before me this 30th day of April, 1864, at Fort
Pickering, Memphis, Tennessee.
MALCOM F. SMITH,
_1st Lieutenant and Adjutant 6th U.S. Heavy Artillery, (colored.)_
A true copy.
J. H. ODLIN,
_Captain and A. A. G._
* * * * *
_Statement of James Lewis, private, company C, 6th United States heavy
artillery, (colored.)_
I, James Lewis, private, company C, 6th United States heavy artillery,
(colored,) would, on oath, state the following: 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. I saw two women shot by the river bank and their bodies thrown
into the river after the place was taken. I saw Frank Meek, company B,
6th United States heavy artillery, (colored,) shot after he had
surrendered.
his
JAMES + LEWIS.
mark.
Sworn to and subscribed before me this 30th day of April, 1864, at Fort
Pickering, Memphis, Tennessee.
MALCOM F. SMITH,
_1st Lieutenant and Adjutant 6th U. S. Heavy Artillery, (colored.)_
A true copy.
J. H. ODLIN,
_Captain and A. A. G._
[This evidence was received after the regular edition was printed.]
* * * * *
P. S. Since the report of the committee was prepared for the press, the
following letter from the surgeon in charge of the returned prisoners
was received by the chairman of the committee:
WEST'S BUILDINGS HOSPITAL,
_Baltimore, Md., May 24, 1864_.
DEAR SIR: I have the honor to enclose the photograph of John Breinig,
with the desired information written upon it. I am very sorry your
committee could not have seen these cases when first received. No one,
from these pictures, can form a true estimate of their condition then.
Not one in ten was able to stand alone; some of them so covered and
eaten by vermin that they nearly resembled cases of small-pox, and so
emaciated that they were _really_ living skeletons, and hardly _that_,
as the result shows, forty out of one hundred and four having died up to
this date.
If there has been anything so horrible, so fiendish, as this wholesale
starvation, in the history of this satanic rebellion, I have failed to
note it. Better the massacres at Lawrence, Fort Pillow, and Plymouth
than to be thus starved to death by inches, through long and weary
months. I wish I had possessed the power to compel all the northern
sympathizers with this rebellion to come in and look upon the work of
the _chivalrous_ sons of the _hospitable_ and sunny south when these
skeletons were first received here. A rebel colonel, a prisoner here,
who stood with sad face looking on as they were received, finally shook
his head and walked away, apparently ashamed that he held any relations
to men who could be guilty of such deeds.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,