In the Senate of the United States : May 5, 1864 ; ordered to be printed, ... joint resolution directing the Committee on the Conduct of the War to examine into the recent attack on Fort Pillow.

  • United States. Congress. Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War
Date:
[1864]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: In the Senate of the United States : May 5, 1864 ; ordered to be printed, ... joint resolution directing the Committee on the Conduct of the War to examine into the recent attack on Fort Pillow. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Answer. Y<'S, sir; I went and looked in there. Question. Do you know they were in there when the house was burned ? Answer. Yes, sir; I heard them hallooing there when the houses were burning. Question. Are you sure they were wounded men, and not dead, when they were put in there ? Answer. Yes, sir; they told them they were going to have the doctor see them, and then put them in there and shut them up, and burned them. Question. Who set the house on fire ? Answer. I saw a rebel soldier take some grass and lay it by the door, and set it on fire. The door was pine plank, and it caught easy. Question. Was the door fastened up ? Answer. Yes, sir; it was barred with one of those wide bolts. Sergeant W. P. Walker, (white,) sworn and examined : By Mr. Gooch: Question. In what capacity did you serve in the army ? Answer. I was a sergeant in the 13th Tennessee cavalry, company D. Question. Were you at Fort Pillow at the time of the fight there? Answer. Yes, sir. Question. Will you state what took place there? Answer. In the morning the pickets ran in. We were sent out a piece as skirmishers. They kept us out about a couple of hours, and then we retreated into the fort. The firing kept up pretty regular until about two o’clock, when a flag of truce came in. While the flag of trace was in, the enemy was moving up and taking their positions; they were also pilfering and searching our quarters. Question. They finally took the fort ? Answer. Yes, sir. Question. What happened then ? Answer. They just shot us down without showing us any quarter at all They shot me, for one, after I surrendered; they shot me in the aim, and the shoulder, and the neck, and in the eye. Question. How many times did they shoot you ? Answer. They shot me in the arm and eye after I surrendered; I do not know when they shot me in the other places. Question. Who shot you ? Answer. A private shot me with a pistol; there were a great many of us shot. Question. What reason did he give for shooting you after you had surrendered ? Answer. A man came down the hill and said that General—some one; I could not understand the name—said that they should shoot every one of us, and take no prisoners, and then they shot us down. Question. How did you escape ? Answer. They thought they had killed me. They searched my pockets half a dozen times, or more, and took my pocket-book from me. Question. Did you see anybody else shot after they had surrendered ? Answer. Yes, sir; I saw several shot right around me. Question. Did they shoot all, colored and white ? Answer. They shot all where I was. When they turned in and went to shooting the white men, they scattered and ran, and then they shot them down. Question. Did you see them do anything besides shooting them ? Answer. I saw some knock them over the heads with muskets, and some stick sabres into them. Question. Did you see anything of any burning or burying alive ? Answer. No, sir; I did not see that. Question. Were any of the rebel officers about while this was going on ?
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