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some twelve prisoners have been captured, and the pursuit still kept up after more.

Of the gang were two men from Edgar County, on one of whom was an oath of allegiance, taken by him at Paris, recently. He boasted that he was the man who shot Dr. York; that he came for that purpose.

We herewith present the following list of killed and wounded:

Killed.-Major York, Surgeon Fifty-fourth Illinois; Alfred Swim, company C, Fifty-fourth; Nelson Wells, copperhead; John Cooper, copperhead.

Wounded.-Colonel Mitchell, Fifty-fourth Illinois, slightly; James Goodrich, company C, Fifty-fourth, severely; Oliver Sallee, Fifty-fourth, severely; John Neer, company G, Fifty-fourth, slightly; William Decker, company G. Fiftyfourth, slightly; George Ross, company C, Fiftyfourth, slightly; Thomas Jeffries, Brooks's regi-roneous construction of the late act of Congress, ment, severely; William G. Hart, soldier, severely; John Jenkins, citizen, severely; William Gilman, citizen, severely; John Trimble, slightly; Sanford Royes, slightly.

Several of the copperheads were severely wounded, but were taken off in wagons.

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MEMORIAL OF FOUR GOVERNORS.

To the Senate and House of Representatives, in Congress assembled:

THE undersigned, Governors of their respective States, beg leave, respectfully, to invite the attention of Congress to the fact that the States of the Confederacy have great need of many articles for State use which can only be obtained by importation. And the Legislatures of several of the States have made appropriations for the purpose of exporting cotton and other productions, and importing necessary articles for the use of the States, including clothing, shoes, blankets, and other articles indispensably necessary to the comfort of their troops in confederate service, who frequently suffer from want of necessary articles, which it is not, at the time, in the power of the confederate government to furnish. These exportations and importations are to be made by the Governors of the States, under the authority of the Legislatures, at the risk and expense of the States, upon vessels purchased or chartered for that purpose.

The Governors of several of the States, in the execution of the acts of their State Legislatures,

have purchased or chartered steamers preparatory to the exportation of cotton which they now have on hand as the property of the States, to place funds abroad with which to purchase supplies, to be returned upon the vessels to confederate ports for State use. At this point they regret to say that they are met by an order from the Secretary of the Treasury, under the authority of the President, which prohibits the CustomHouse officer from granting clearance to vessels owned or chartered by the States with State cargoes, some of which are now aboard, unless they will consent to allow the confederate government to use one half the storage-room of their vessels upon terms which would cause actual loss to the States. Surrounded by all the embarrassments with which they have to contend, they cannot consent to this; and believing, as they do, that the order has grown out of an erwhich, as they understood it, exempts the States from all the restrictions thrown around exportations and importations made by private individuals or companies; and feeling assured that those who represent the sovereign States and people would fail to carry out the views or wishes of the people, or governments of their respective States, if they should attempt by any law or regtion of their own productions upon their own ulation to prohibit the States from the exportavessels, or such as they may charter for that purpose, and the importation of such supplies as they need, the undersigned appeal with conand enact such laws as shall secure to all vessels fidence to Congress to remove said restrictions, in the service of the States speedy clearances upon application to the Custom-House officers at the ports from which the vessels are expected to go to sea.

While the undersigned are aware of the importance of exportations and importations by the confederate government, and would gladly facilitate its operations in every proper way, they are of the opinion it is better that each government should conduct its own business and affairs for itself.

But independently of this view of the case, they can not yield their assent to the doctrine that the confederate government has any right to impose any such restrictions upon the States, or compel them to submit to any such terms. When in their power to assist the confederate government with State vessels, they will do so with great pleasure, but they will not consent to do this under compulsion.

They deny that the provision in the Constitution which authorizes Congress to regulate commerce "among the several States" confers the power to destroy the commerce of States, or to detain State vessels till they consent to relinquish half their storage-room to the confederate government. If Congress has the power to place this restriction upon the commerce and vessels of the States, it may claim for the Confederacy three fourths or nine tenths of the room, or may deny the right of the State to clear a vessel upon

any terms. The power to regulate commerce does not include the power to destroy it, or to put any such restrictions upon it.

The undersigned beg leave, further, to submit to the consideration of Congress the question of the propriety of allowing the State to export produce and import supplies necessary for State use, free of export and import duties, as the importations are made for the public use and in furtherance of our cause.

that she could not go out until she had complied
with the regulation.
C. G. MEMMINGER,

Secretary of Treasury.

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, MILLEDGEVILLE, May 21, 1864. Your telegram of the tenth did not reach me till yesterday. The act of Congress to which you refer, which prohibits the exportation of cotton and other productions except under such In considering this question, it is hoped Con- uniform regulations as shall be made by the gress will not fail to take into account the fact President, has in it this express proviso, "that that the Legislatures of part, if not all, the nothing in this act shall be construed to prohibit States, have passed laws exempting cotton and the confederate States or any of them from exother property belonging to the confederate gov- porting any of the articles herein enumerated ernment, within the limits of the State, from all on their own account." The three hundred State tax; and they submit, whether, upon prin- bales of cotton upon the Little Ada belong to ciples of reciprocity and comity, apart from the the State of Georgia, and I propose to export it want of constitutional power in Congress to tax on State account to pay for blankets for Georgia State property, it is not the duty of Congress to soldiers, and if any surplus, to apply it to the exempt State property, including exportations purchase of cotton-cards for the people of the and importations by the States, from all confed-State, under an act of the Legislature. erate taxation. The undersigned beg leave to add that it is not their intention to import articles of luxury, or indeed, any articles not necessary for the public use, and for the comfort of the troops from their respective States, in military service.

April, 1864.

J. E. BROWN, Governor of Georgia.
CHARLES CLARK, Governor of Mississippi.
T. H. WATTS, Governor of Alabama.
T. B. VANCE, Governor of North-Carolina.

CORRESPONDENCE.

EXECUTIVE DEPArtment, MilledGEVILLE, May 9, 1864. I have purchased thirty thousand soldiers' blankets for the State of Georgia, now in the Islands, and have to send out cotton to pay for them. The steamer Little Ada, chartered by the State, has been loaded for three weeks with about three hundred bales of cotton ready for sea. She lies thirty miles from Charleston. ask clearance for her to go out now, while we bave dark nights. She is detained at heavy expense to the State. I solicit an early reply. JOSEPH E. BROWN.

His Excellency JEFFERSON DAVIS,

Richmond.

RICHMOND, May 10, 1864.

I

His Excellency Governor Brown:
Your telegram of the ninth to the President
in relation to steamer Ada, has been referred to
this department. On the twelfth of April a tel-
egram was sent you, stating that the act of Con-
gress, imposing restrictions on export of cotton,
required that the regulations of trade should be
uniform.

Therefore the requirement that one half of the cargo of every outward-bound vessel should be for account of the confederate States, cannot be relinquished as an exception in your favor.

April twenty-seventh, Mr. Lamar applied for a clearance for the steamer, and was informed

I deny your right to repeal the act of Congress by your order, or to refuse clearance to the State under any just rule of construction which you can apply to the plain proviso in the act of Congress. I therefore, again demand clearance as a right, not as a favor, and waiving for the present the question of your right to ask it of the State, offer to pay export duties.

Hon. C. MEMMINGER,

JOSEPH E. BROWN.

Secretary of the Treasury, Richmond, Va.
RICHMOND, May 23, 1864.

Governor Joseph E. Brown:

Your telegram of the twenty-first instant is received. Clearance cannot be given except in conformity with the regulations of the President. C. G. MEMMINGER,

Secretary of the Treasury.

Doc. 138.

SECRET REBEL CIRCULAR.
PROOFS OF PLOTTING IN 1860.

HUNTSVILLE, ALA., Tuesday, April 19, 1864.
I HAVE to-day come in possession of a secret
circular, issued in Charleston five months before
the firing on Sumter. The document is genuine.
It is signed by one of the wealthiest and ablest
lawyers of South-Carolina, and the copy which
I inclose to the Tribune was addressed to one
of the most prominent and influential citizens
of Alabama-a Huntsville rebel whom General
Logan ordered south of our lines.

It should be borne in mind that this circular was issued before the meeting of the Congress of 1861-62-before the introduction of the Crittenden resolutions-before the Peace Congress. Yet now, after nearly three years of unparalleled war, you find incompetent officers and unworthy citizens proposing these same "disclaimers and overtures.

EXECUTIVE CHAMBER, "THE 1560 ASSOCIATION,"
CHARLESTON, Nov. 10, 1860.

In September last, several gentlemen of Charleston met to confer in reference to the position of the South in the event of the accession of Mr. Lincoln and the Republican party to power. This informal meeting was the origin of the organization known in this community as "The 1860 Association."

The objects of the Association are:

1. To conduct a correspondence with leading men in the South, and, by an interchange of information and views, prepare the slave States to meet the impending crisis.

2. To prepare, print, and distribute in the slave States tracts, pamphlets, etc., designed to awaken them to a conviction of their danger, and to urge the necessity of resisting Northern and Federal aggression.

3. To inquire into the defences of the State, and to collect and arrange information which may aid the Legislature to establish promptly an effective military organization.

To effect these objects, a brief and simple constitution was adopted, creating a President, a Secretary and Treasurer, and an Executive Committee, specially charged with conducting the business of the Association. One hundred and sixty-six thousand pamphlets have been published, and demands for further supplies are received from every quarter. The Association is now passing several of them through a second

and third edition.

outer works, and by the time I reached the field, at ten o'clock, A.M., had forced the enemy to their main fortifications, situated on the bluff or bank of the Mississippi River, at the mouth of Coal Creek.

The fort is an earthwork, crescent-shaped; is eight feet in height and four feet across the top, surrounded by a ditch six feet deep and twelve feet in width; walls sloping to the ditch, but four hundred troops, with six pieces of field-arperpendicular inside; it was garrisoned by tillery. A deep ravine surrounds the Fort, and from the Fort to the ravine the ground descends rapidly.

Assuming command, I ordered General Chalmers to advance his line, and gain position on the slope, when our men would be perfectly protected from the heavy fire of artillery and musketry, as the enemy could not depress their pieces so as to rake the slope, nor could they fire on them with small arms, except by mounting the breastworks and exposing themselves to the fire of our sharp-shooters, who, under cover of stumps and logs, forced them to keep down inside the works.

After several hours' hard fighting, the desired position was gained, not, however, without considerable loss. Our main line was now within an average distance of one hundred yards from the Fort, and extended from Coal Creek, on the right, to the bluff or bank of the Mississippi River, on the left.

During the entire morning the gunboat kept The Conventions in several of the Southern up a continuous fire in all directions, but withStates will soon be elected. The North is pre-out effect, and, being confident of my ability to paring to soothe and conciliate the South by dis- take the Fort by assault, and desiring to prevent claimers and overtures. The success of this further loss of life, I sent, under flag of truce, a policy would be disastrous to the cause of South- demand for the unconditional surrender of the ern union and independence, and it is necessary garrison, a copy of which is hereto appended, to resist and defeat it. The Association is pre-marked No. 1, to which I received a reply, paring pamphlets with this special object. Funds marked No. 2. are necessary to enable it to act promptly. "The 1860 Association" is laboring for the South, and asks your aid.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, ROBERT N. GOURDIN,

Chairman of the Executive Committee.

Doc. 139.

THE FORT PILLOW MASSACRE.

REPORT OF GENERAL FORREST.*

HEADQUARTERS FORREST'S CAVALRY DEPARTMENT, Į JACKSON, TENN., April 26, 1864. COLONEL: I have the honor respectfully to forward you the following report of my engagement with the enemy on the twelfth instant, at Fort Pillow:

My command consisted of McCullock's brigade of Chalmers's division, and Bell's brigade of Buford's division, both placed, for the expedition, under command of Brigadier-General James A. Chalmers, who, by a forced march, drove in the enemy's pickets, gained possession of the

See Document 1, page 1, ante.

The gunboat had ceased firing, but the smoke of three other boats ascending the river was in view, the foremost boat apparently crowded with troops, and believing the request for an hour was to gain time for reënforcements to arrive, and that the desire to consult the officers of the gunboat was a pretext by which they desired improperly to communicate with her, I at once sent the reply, copy of which is numbered 3, directing Captain Goodwin, Assistant AdjutantGeneral of Brigadier-General Chalmers, to remain until he received a reply, or until the expiration of the time proposed.

My dispositions had all been made, and my troops were in a position that would enable me to take the Fort with less loss than to have withdrawn under fire, and it seemed to me so perfectly apparent to the garrison that such was the case, that I deemed their surrender without further bloodshed a certainty.

After some little delay, seeing a message delivered to Captain Goodwin, I rode up myself to where the notes were received and delivered. The answer was handed me, written in pencil, on a slip of paper without envelope, and was, as

well as I remember, in these words: "Negotia- almost decimated garrison. Fortunately for those tions will not attain the desired object." As the who survived this short but desperate struggle, officers who were in charge of the Federal flag some of our men cut off the halyards, and the of truce had expressed a doubt as to my pre- United States flag floating from a tall mast in the sence, and had pronounced the demand a trick, centre of the Fort, came down; the forces stationed I handed them back a note, saying: "I am Gen- in the rear of the fort could see the flag, but eral Forrest. Go back and say to Major Booth were too far under the bluff to see the Fort, and that I demand an answer in plain, unmistakable when the flag descended they ceased firing; but English: Will he fight or surrender?" Return- for this, so near were they to the enemy, that ing to my original position, before the expiration few, if any, would have survived unhurt another of twenty minutes I received a reply, copy of which is marked No. 4.

While these negotiations were pending, the steamers from below were rapidly approaching the Fort; the foremost was the Olive Branch, whose position and movements indicated her intention to land. A few shots fired into her caused her to leave the shore and make for the opposite one. Other boats passed up on the bar side of the river; the third one turned back.

The time having expired, I directed BrigadierGeneral Chalmers to prepare for the assault. Bell's brigade occupied the right, with his extreme right resting on Coal Creek. McCullock's brigade occupied the left, extending from the centre to the river. Three companies of his left regiment were placed in an old rifle-pit on the left and almost in the rear of the Fort, which had evidently been thrown up for the protection of sharp-shooters or riflemen in supporting the water-batteries below. On the right, a portion of Barton's regiment of Bell's brigade, was also under the bluff and in the rear of the Fort.

I despatched staff-officers to Colonels Ball and McCullock, commanding brigades, to say to them that I should watch with interest the conduct of the troops; that Missourians, Mississippians, and Tennesseans surrounded the works, and I desired to see who would first scathe the Fort. Fearing the gunboat and transport might attempt a landing, I directed my aid-de-camp, Captain Charles W. Anderson, to assume command of the three companies on the left and rear of the Fort, and hold the position against any thing that might come by land or water, but to take no part in the assault on the Fort.

Every thing being ready, the bugle sounded the charge, which was made with a yell, and the works carried, without a perceptible halt in any part of the line. As our troops mounted and poured into the fortifications, the enemy retreated toward the river, arms in hand, and firing back, and their colors flying-no doubt expect ing the gunboats to shell us away from the bluff and protect them, until they could be taken off or reënforced.

As they descended the bank an enfilading and deadly fire was poured into them, by the troops under Captain Anderson on the left, and Barton's detachment on the right. Until this fire was opened upon them, at a distance varying from thirty to one hundred yards, they were evidently ignorant of any force having gained their rear. The regiments which had stormed and carried the Fort, also poured a destructive fire into the rear of the retreating and now panic-stricken and

volley. As it was, many rushed into the river and were drowned, and the actual loss of life will, perhaps, never be known, as there were quite a number of refugee citizens in the Fort, many of whom were drowned and several killed in the retreat from the Fort.

In less than twenty minutes from the time the bugles sounded the charge, firing had ceased, and the work was done.

One of the Parrott guns was turned on the gunboat. She steamed off without replying. She had, as I afterward understood, expended all her ammunition, and was, therefore, powerless in affording the Federal garrison the aid and protection they doubtless expected of her, when they retreated toward the river.

Details were made, consisting of the captured Federals and negroes in charge of their own of ficers, to collect together and bury their dead, which work continued until dark.

I also directed Captain Anderson to procure a skiff and take with him Captain Young, a captured Federal officer, and deliver to Captain Marshall, of the gunboat, the message-copy of which is appended, and numbered 5.

All the boats and skiff's having been taken off by citizens escaping from the Fort during the engagement, the message could not be delivered, although every effort was made to induce Captain Marshall to send his boat ashore by raising a white flag, with which Captain Young walked up and down the river, in vain, signalling her to come in, or send out a boat. She finally moved off, and disappeared around the bend above the Fort.

General Gilmore withdrew his forces from the Fort before dark, and camped a few miles east of it. On the morning of the thirteenth, I again despatched Captain Anderson to Fort Pillow, for the purpose of placing, if possible, the Federal wounded on board their transports, and report to me, on his return, the condition of affairs at the river. I respectfully refer you to his report, numbered 6.

My loss in the engagement was twenty killed and sixty wounded. That of the enemy unknown; two hundred and twenty-eight were buried on the evening of the battle, and quite a number were buried the next day by detail from the gunboat fleet. We captured six pieces of artillery, namely, two ten-pounder Parrott guns, two twelve-pounder howitzers, and two brass six-pounder guns, and about three hundred and fifty stand of small-arms. The balance of the small-arms had been thrown into the river. All the small-arms were picked up where the enemy

threw them down-a few in the Fort, the balance scattered from the top of the hill to the water's edge.

We captured one hundred and sixty-four Federals, seventy-three negro troops and about forty negro women and children, and after removing every thing of value, as far as able to do so, the warehouses, tents, etc., were destroyed by fire.

of the twenty-second of February, 1864, with the Eighty-fourth Illinois, Colonel Waters, Seventyfifth Illinois, Colonel Bennett, Thirty-sixth Indiana, Lieutenant-Colonel Carey, Thirtieth Indiana, Lieutenant-Colonel Hind, Eightieth Illinois, Lieutenant-Colonel Kilgour, and TwentyFourth Ohio, Lieutenant-Colonel Cockerill, with battery H, Fourth U. S. artillery, Lieutenant Heilman; effective force, officers and men, including battery, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-six.

Among our severely wounded is LieutenantColonel Wiley M. Reid, assigned temporarily to the command of the Fifth Mississippi regiment, who fell, severely wounded, while leading his regiment. When carried from the field he was supposed to be mortally wounded, but hopes are entertained of his ultimate recovery. He is a brave and gallant officer, a courteous gentleman,rived there at half-past twelve P.M. I was there and a consistent Christian minister.

I cannot compliment too highly the conduct of Colonels Bell and McCullock and the officers and men of their brigades, which composed the forces of Brigadier-General Chalmers. They fought with courage and intrepidity, and, without bayonets, assaulted and carried one of the strongest fortifications in the country.

On the fifteenth, at Brownsville, I received orders which rendered it necessary to send General Chalmers, in command of his own division and Bell's brigade, southward. Hence, I have no official report from him, but will, as soon as it can be obtained, forward a complete list of our killed and wounded, which has been ordered to be made out and forwarded at the earliest possible moment.

In closing my report I desire to acknowledge the prompt and energetic action of BrigadierGeneral Chalmers, commanding the forces around Fort Pillow. His faithful execution of all movements necessary to the successful accomplishment of the objects of the expedition, entitles him to special mention. He has reason to be proud of the conduct of the officers and men of his command, for their gallantry and courage in assaulting and carrying the enemy's works, without the assistance of artillery or bayonets.

To my staff, as heretofore, my acknowledgments are due, for their prompt and faithful delivery of all orders.

I am, Colonel, very respectfully, your obedient
servant,
N. B. FORREST,
Major-General Commanding.

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My brigade having the advance, and the Thirty-sixth Indiana marching in front, we marched toward Red Clay, or "Council-Ground," on the Georgia State-line, a distance of eight miles; arordered by the General commanding the division, to move on the road toward Dalton, and, if possible, find the enemy. I advanced three miles to Wade's farm, and found the enemy's pickets, drove them, and directed Captain Van Antwerp, with his company of Fourth Michigan cavalry, to pursue them, which he did promptly, one and a half miles. Upon the cavalry rejoining the brigade, we returned to Red Clay and rested for the night.

February 23d. Marched with the division via Dr. Lee's house twelve miles, to near Catoosa Springs, Georgia, to make a junction with Fourteenth corps; arrived there about nine o'clock P.M.

February 24th. Marched back east to Dr. Lee's house, with division. I was here directed to move south-east toward Dalton, crossing the ridge three miles north of the place known as Tunnel Hill, with my infantry and one section of artillery, the latter under command of Lieutenant Stansbury. I passed the first and second ridges to a road running south on the eastern base of the latter, along the road to Neil's farm, six miles from Dalton. At this point I made a junction with Colonel Long, in command of six hundred cavalry. He was in position, and skirmishing with the enemy. He had left Charleston, Tennessee, passed around on Spring-Place road, thence west by Varnell's Station to the position at which I found him. Neil's farm is six miles north-west of Dalton, and three miles north of the Chattanooga and Dalton Railroad. We both advanced on the wagon-road south, toward Glaze's house, at the railroad. The ridge to our right at this place, (Neil's house,) soon changes to south-east, and continues that direction until it passes beyond Davis's house, at the western base of the ridge, at which point the road crosses to the west side of the ridge. Five hundred yards beyond, and south-east from the passage of the road over a ridge, a gorge separates the ridge, through which a creek flows to the west, south of which the ridge bears to the west of south one and a fourth miles to the railroad, at a point three miles north of west from Dalton, and at a point one and a half miles east of the gorge through Rocky-Face Ridge, or Buzzard's Roost, forming a valley east of Rocky Face Ridge about one and a half miles wide, running from Davis's house south to the railroad a like distance. We stead.

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