Question. Please describe that affair. Answer. At six o'clock, on the morning of the twelfth of April, Major Booth sent me word that the rebels were advancing on us. I immediately got the ship cleared for action. I gave the men their breakfasts. I had no idea that there would be a fight. I thought it would merely be a little skirmish. I went out into the stream. Major Booth and myself had previously established signals, by which he could indicate certain points where he would want me to use my guns. He first signalled me to commence firing up what we call Number One ravine, just below the Quartermaster's department, and I commenced firing there. Then he signalled me to fire up Coal Creek ravine Number Three, and I then moved up there. Before I left down here at ravine Number One the rebel sharp-shooters were firing at me rapidly. I came along up, and the women and children, some sick negroes, and boys, were standing around a great barge. I told them to get into the barge if they wanted to save themselves, and when I came down again I would take them out of danger. They went in, and I towed them up and landed them above Coal Creek, where the rebel sharp-shooters commenced firing at them. The next time I moved up Coal Creek ravine I told them to go on up to a house, as the rebels were firing upon them. The trees and bushes around them there probably prevented them from being hit. On knowing that they were fired at much, I kept a steady fire up to about one o'clock. At that time the fire had ceased or slackened, and every thing seemed to be quieting down, and I thought, perhaps, they were waiting to get a little rest. My men were very tired, not having had any thing to eat since morning, and the officers nothing at all. I ran over on the bar to clean out my guns and refresh my men. We had fired two hundred and eighty-two rounds of shell, shrapnel, and canister, and my guns were getting foul. While we were lying on the bar, a flag of truce came in-the first one. It was, I should judge, about half-past six o'clock. While the flag of truce was in, some of the officers came to me and told me the rebels were robbing the Quartermaster's department. I went out on the deck, and saw them doing so. Some of the officers said that we should go in and fire upon them; that we could slay them very nicely. I remarked to them that that was not civilized warfare; that two wrongs did not make a right; and that if the rebels should take the Fort afterward, they would say that they would be justified in doing any thing they pleased, because I had fired on them while the flag of truce was in, although they were thus violating that flag of truce themselves. They were also moving their forces down this hill, and were going up the ravine. When I saw that, I got under way, and stood off for the Fort again, intending to stop it. I had only seventy-five rounds of ammunition left, but I told the boys that we would use that at any rate. The flag of truce started and went out, and I do not think it had been out more than five minutes when the assault was made. Major Bradford signalled to me that we were whipped. We had agreed on a signal that, if they had to leave the Fort, they would drop down under the bank, and I was to give the rebels canister. I was lying up above here, but the rebels turned the guns in the Fort on us-I think all of them-and a Parrott shot was fired, but went over us. I had to leave, because, if I came down here, the channel would force me to go around the point, and then, with the guns in the Fort, they would sink me. Had I been below here at the time, I think I could have routed them out; but part of our own men were in the Fort at the same time, and I should have killed them as well as the rebels. The rebels kept firing on our men for at least twenty minutes after our flag was down. We said to one another that they could be giving no quarter. We could see the men fall, as they were shot, under the bank. I could not see whether they had arms or not. I was fearful that they might hail in a steamboat from below, capture her, put on four or five hundred men, and come after me. I wanted to get down so as to give warning, and I did send word to Memphis to have all steamboats stopped for the present. The next morning the gunboat Twenty-eight and the transport Platte Valley came up. Question. When did you go ashore after the Fort had been captured? Answer. I went ashore the next morning, about ten o'clock, under a flag of truce, with a party of men and an officer, to gather up the wounded and bury the dead. I found men lying in the tents and in the Fort, whose bodies were burning. There were two there that I saw that day that had been burned. Question. What was the appearance of the remains? What do you infer from what you saw? Answer. I supposed that they had been just set on fire there. There was no necessity for burning the bodies there with the buildings, because, if they had chosen, they could have dragged the bodies out. There was so little wood about any of those tents that I can hardly understand how the bodies could have been burned as they were. Question. Were the tents burned around the bodies? Answer. Yes, sir. On the fourteenth of April (the second day after the capture) I came up again. I had a lot of refugees on board, and as I came around I hoisted a white flag, intending to come in and see if there were any wounded or unburied bodies here. When I landed here, I saw, I should judge, at least fifty cavalry over on Flower Island, and while I was lying here with a white flag, they set fire to an empty coal barge I had towed over there. I put the refugees on the shore, took down the white flag, and started after them, and commenced shelling them, and the gunboats Thirty-four and Fifteen and the despatch-boat Volunteer came down and opened on them. We did not see the rebels then, but saw where they were setting wood-piles on fire, and we followed them clear round, and drove them off. At this time I received information that the body of Lieutenant Akerstrom had been burned; that it was he who was burned in the house. Some of the refugees told me this, and also that they had taken him out and buried him. There was also one negro who had been thrown in a hole, and buried alive. We took him out, but he lived only a few minutes afterward. After we had followed these rebels around to the head of Island Thirty, I came back to the Fort, landed, and took on board the refugees I had put on shore. The next morning the three gunboats landed here, and we sent out pickets, and then sent men around to look up the dead. We found a number there not buried, beside one man whose body was so burnt that we had to take a shovel to take up his remains. Question. Was he burned where there was a tent or a building? Answer. Where there was a building. Question. Do you know whether there were any wounded men burned in those buildings? Answer. I do not. All I know about that is what I was told by Lieutenant Leming, who said that while he was lying here wounded, he heard some of the soldiers say that there were some wounded negroes in those buildings, who said, "You are trying to get this gunboat back to shell us, are you, God damn you," and then shot them down. I went to Memphis, and then had to go to Cairo. I was then ordered to patrol the river from here (Fort Pillow) to Memphis. I started down on my first trip on Friday morning last. I arrived at Memphis on Friday afternoon. I mentioned there the manner in which our men had been buried here by the rebels, and said that I thought humanity dictated that they should be taken up, and buried as they ought to be. The General ordered some men to be detailed, with rations, to come up here and rebury them properly. They have come here, and have been engaged in that work since they came up. Question. How many have you already found? Answer. We have found already fifty-two white men and four officers, besides a great many colored men. Question. Had the blacks and whites been buried together indiscriminately? Answer. We have not found it so exactly; we have found them in the same trench, but the white men mostly at one end, and the black men at the other; but they were all pitched in in any way-some on their faces, some on their sides, some on their backs. Question. Did you hear any thing said about giving quarter or not giving quarter on that occasion? Answer. No, sir; but our Paymaster here could tell you what he heard some of their offi cers say. Question. Do you know any thing about the transport Platte Valley being here? Answer. She was lying alongside the gunboat Twenty-eight here when I came down the day after the fight, and came alongside of her. Question. Do you know any thing about any of our officers showing civilities to the rebel officers after all these atrocities? Answer. I saw nothing of that kind but one lieutenant, who went up around with them on the hill. Who he was I do not know, but I recollect noticing his stripe. Question. Did he belong to the navy or army? Answer. He belonged to the army. I saw the rebel General Chalmers but once. When I came down here that morning I was the ranking officer; but the Captain of gunboat Twenty-eight had commenced negotiations with the flag of truce, and I told him to go on with it. I met those men in the cabin of the Twenty-eight on business. I was not on board the Platte Valley but once, except that I crossed over her bow once or twice. I was not on her where I could see any thing of this kind going on. Question. How many of our men do you suppose were killed after they had surrendered? Answer. I could not say. I have been told that there were not over twenty-five killed and wounded before the Fort was captured? Question. Do you know how many have been killed in all ? Answer. My own crew buried, of those who were left unburied, some seventy or eighty. The Platte Valley buried a great many, and the gunboat Twenty-eight buried some. Question. What number do you suppose escaped out of the garrison? I Answer. I have no means of knowing. have understood that the rebels had one hundred and sixty prisoners-white men; but I think it is doubtful if they had that many, judging from the number of men we have found. By Mr. Gooch: Question. Where did those men come from whose bodies we have just seen unburied? Answer. I should judge they came from the hospital. One of them had a cane, showing that he was not a well man, and they had on white shirts-hospital clothing; and, as you saw, one looked thin, very thin, as if he had been sick. Question. How far are these bodies lying from the hospital? Answer. I should think about one hundred and fifty yards. Question. Would men, escaping from the Fort, run in that direction? Answer. They would be very apt to run in almost any direction; and they would be more likely to run away from the stores that these rebels were robbing. By the Chairman: Question. From the hospital clothing they had on; from their appearance, showing that they had been wounded or sick persons; and from the bruised appearance of their heads, as if they had been killed by having their brains knocked out, do you infer that they were hospital patients that had been murdered there? Answer. I should. I should be just as positive of that as I should be of any thing I had not actually seen. Question. You take it that they were sick or wounded men, endeavoring to escape from the hospital, who were knocked in the head? Answer. I should say so. more than twenty-five or thirty killed before the place was captured; that all the rest were killed after the capture, and after the flag was down. Question. Were you on the ground the day after the fight? Answer. Yes, sir. Question. Did you discover upon the field, or learn from any information derived there, of any Paymaster William B. Purdy, sworn and ex- act of peculiar barbarity? amined. By the Chairman : Question. What is your rank, and where have you been stationed, and in what service? Answer. Acting Assistant Paymaster of the navy. I have no regular station or quarters at present; but on the day of the attack on Fort Pillow I was acting as Signal Officer on the gunboat Number Seven. Question. Will you state what you observed that day, and afterward, in relation to that affair? Answer. After our flag was down, I saw the rebels firing on our own men from the Fort, and I should say that while the flag of truce was in, before the Fort was captured, I could see the rebels concentrating their forces so as to be better able to take the Fort. Question. Do you mean that they took advantage of the flag of truce to place their men in position so as to better attack the Fort? Answer. Yes, sir; I could see them moving down to their new positions, and, as soon as the flag of truce was out, firing commenced from these new positions. Question. Do you understand such movements to be in accordance with the rules of warfare? Answer. No, sir; I do not. Question. Had you any conversation with one of General Chalmers's aids about their conduct here? Answer. Yes, sir; with one who said he was an aid-de-camp to General Chalmers, and a captain in the Second Missouri cavalry. He told me that they did not recognize negroes as United States soldiers, but would shoot them, and show them no quarter-neither the negroes nor their officers. Question. When was this? Answer. That was the day after the capture of the Fort, while the flag of truce was in. He then spoke in relation to the Tennessee loyal troops. He said they did not think much of them; that they were refugees and deserters; and they would not show them much mercy Answer. I saw men who had been shot in the face, and I have since seen a body that was burned outside of the Fort. The day after the fight I did not go inside the Fort at all. Question. Did you see the remnants of one who had been nailed to a board or plank? Answer. I did not see that. Question. Then it was another body that had been burned which you saw ? Answer. Yes, sir. Question. It has been said that men were buried alive. Did any such information come to your notice. Answer. I heard of it, but did not see it. Answer. A young man said he saw one in the morning up there who was alive, and he went back a short time afterward to attend to him, but he was then dead; and I have heard of others who crawled out of their graves, and were taken up on the Platte Valley, but I do not know about them. Question. Where was this man you found burned? Answer. He was inside of a tent. Question. Do you suppose him to have been burned with the tent? Answer. Yes, sir. I took him to be a white man, because he was in the quarters where the white men were. Question. So far as you could observe, was any discrimination made between white and black men, as to giving no quarter? Answer. I should think not, from all I could see, because they were firing from the top of a hill down the bluff on all who had gone down there to escape. Question. Did you notice how these men had been buried by the rebels? Answer. I saw officers and white men and black men thrown into the trenches-pitched in in any way, some across, some lengthways, some on their faces, etc. When I first saw them, I noticed a great many with their hands or feet sticking out. Question. Have you lately discovered any that are still unburied? Answer. Yes, sir. Question. Did you see the three there to-day that were lying unburied? Answer. No, sir; I heard about them, but did not go to see them. Eli A. Bangs, sworn and examined. By the Chairman: Question. Do you belong to the navy or the army? Answer. To the navy. Question. Were you here on the day of the fight at Fort Pillow? Answer. I was. great pain. Several others noticed the nails through his clothes which fastened him down. Question. Do you think there can be any doubt about his having been nailed to the boards? Answer. I think not, from the fact that the boards came up with the remains as we raised Question. Tell us what you observed in re- them up; and we then saw the nails sticking gard to the battle, and what followed? through his clothes, and into the boards. Answer. I did not observe much of the first part of the engagement, because I was stationed below, in a division, with the guns; but after we hauled out into the stream I saw the flag of truce come in, and then I saw our colors come down at the Fort, and saw our men running down the bank, the rebels following them, and shooting them after they had surrendered. Question. What number do you suppose the rebels killed after they had surrendered? Answer. I could not say, only from what I saw the next day when I went ashore. Question. You were there the next day? Question. Did you notice any other bodies that had been burned? Answer. Yes, sir; I buried four that had been burned. Question. What was the appearance of them? Answer. I did not notice any particular appearance about them, except that they had been burned. Question. How came they to be burned? Answer. They were in the tents, inside of the Fort, which had been burned. I am certain that there were four that lay where the tent had been burned, for there were the remains of the boards Answer. Yes, sir; we came in under a flag of under them, which had not been fully burned. truce. Question. What did you see? Answer. Captain Marshall sent me out with a detail of men to collect the wounded and bury the dead. We buried some seventy or eighty bodies, eleven white men and one white woman. Question. Did you bury any officers? Answer. No, sir; I buried none of them. They were buried by the rebels. Question. Did you observe how the dead had been buried by the rebels? Answer. Yes, sir; I saw those in the trench. Some had just been thrown in the trench at the end of the Fort-white and black together--and a little dirt thrown over them; some had their hands or feet or face out. I should judge there were probably one hundred bodies there. They had apparently thrown them in miscellaneously, and thrown a little dirt over them, not covering them up completely. Question. Did you see or hear any thing there that led you to believe that any had been buried before they were dead? Answer. I did not see any myself, but I understand from a number of others that they had seen it, and had dug one out of the trench who was still alive. Question. Did you see any peculiar marks of barbarity, as inflicted upon the dead? Answer. I saw none that I noticed, except in the case of one black man that I took up off tent floor. He lay on his back, with his arms a stretched out. Part of his arms were burned off, and his legs were burned nearly to a crisp. His stomach was bare. The clothes had either been torn off or burned off. In order to take away the remains, I slipped some pieces of board under him, and when we took him up the boards of the tent came up with him; and we then observed that nails had been driven through his clothes and his cartridge box, so as to fasten him down to the floor. His face was not burned, but was very much distorted, as if he had died in Those that were burned in the Fort were black men. Charles Hicks, sworn and examined. Question. Were you on the ground after the battle of Fort Pillow? Answer. Yes, sir; the day after the battle. Question. In what position did he lie? were nails through his clothes and through the cartridge box. Question. So that it fastened him to the boards in such a way that he could not get up, even if he had been alive? Answer. Yes, sir, in just that way. Question. When you tried to take him up, you raised the boards with him? Answer. Yes, sir. A. H. Hook, sworn and examined. Question. Did you see the man that Charles Answer. Yes, sir; I saw him. His body was partly burned, and I saw the nails through his clothes, and into the floor of the tent. Question. The tent had been burned? George Mantell, sworn and examined. Question. Were you on the ground at Fort Pillow at the time that these men, who have just testified, spoke of? Answer. Yes, sir. Question. You have heard their testimony? Question. Do you agree with them? Answer. Yes, sir; and some of them went down on their knees begging for their lives. I saw one shot three times before he was killed. By the Chairman : Question. What number of our troops do you Sergeant Henry F. Weaver, sworn and exam- suppose were killed before the Fort was capined. tured? Question. State briefly what you saw, particularly after the capture? Answer. The rebels charged after the flag of truce, the Tennessee cavalry broke, and was followed down the hill by the colored soldiers. They all appeared to go about the same time, as near as I could tell in the excitement of the battle. I came down the hill to the river and jumped into the water, and hid myself between the bank and the coal-barge. They were shooting the negroes over my head all the time, and they were falling off into the water. The firing ceased a little, and I began to get out. I saw one of the rebels, and told him I would surrender. He said: "We do not shoot white men." I went up to him, and he ordered me away; he kept on shooting the negroes. There were six or eight around there, and he and another one shot them all down. I went up about a rod further, and met another rebel, who robbed me of watch, money, and every thing else, and then he left me. I went on to the Quartermaster's building below here, and was taken by another rebel, and taken up into the town. He went into a store, and I went in with him. He went to pillaging. I slipped on some citizen's clothing, and it was not long before I saw that they did not know who I was. I staid with them until the sun was about an hour high, and then I went away. walked off just as if I had a right to go. I Question. Where did you go? Answer. I went down the river, just back of the old river batteries. I then got on board a tug-boat and came down here, and the Sunday afterward went to Memphis. Question. Did you have any conversation with these rebels? Answer. Not any thing of any consequence about the fight. Question. What were they doing when you were with them? Answer. Just pillaging the store. They commenced going down to the river, and I came down with them. They went into the Quartermaster's department and went a carrying off things. Question. Did they give any quarter to the negroes? Answer. No, sir. Question. Did the negroes throw away their arms? Answer. I could not tell exactly, but I do not think over a dozen of the cavalry were killed, and probably not more than fifteen or twenty of the negroes. There were a great many of the negroes wounded, because they would keep getting up to shoot, and were where they could be hit. Question. The rebels must have killed a great many of the white men after they had surrendered? Answer. Yes, sir. I saw yesterday afternoon a great number of cavalry taken up, und almost every one was shot in the head. A great many of them looked as if their heads had been beaten in. Question. That must have been done after the Fort had been captured? Answer. Yes, sir; two thirds of them must have been killed after the Fort was taken. Question. Do you know why the gunboat did not fire upon the rebels after the Fort was captured, while they were shooting down our men? Answer. They could not do that without killing our own men, too, as they were all mixed up together. Charles A. Schetky, sworn and examined. Question. What is your position? Answer. I am Acting Ensign of the gunboat New Era. attack on Fort Pillow? Question. Were you here at the time of the Answer. Yes, sir. Question. State what you saw after the Fort was captured. rebels pouring down their bullets on our troops under the hill, although they were unarmed, and held up their hands in token of surrender. Answer. After the flag was down I saw the Question. Were they shooting the black men only, or the black and white together? Answer. The black and white were both together under the hill, and the sick and wounded were there, too. Question. How many do you think you saw shot in that way? Answer. I should think I saw not less than fifty shot. Question. How many white men among those? Answer. I could not tell. I judge that the number of whites and blacks were nearly equal. Question. You were here the day after the fight? Answer. Yes, sir; but I was not ashore at all that day. My duty kept me on board the boat all the time. Frank Hogan, (colored,) sworn and examined. By the Chairman : Question. Were you at Fort Pillow on the day of the fight f |