Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. In what company and regiment? Answer. Company A, Sixth United States heavy artillery.

Question. What did you see there that day, especially after the Fort was taken ?

Answer. I saw them shoot a great many men after the Fort was taken, officers and private soldiers, white and black.

Question. After they had given up? Answer. Yes, sir. I saw them shoot a captain in our battalion, about a quarter of an hour after he had surrendered. One of the secesh called him up to him, and asked him if he was an officer of a nigger regiment. He said, "Yes," and then they shot him with a revolver.

Question. Did they say any thing more at the time they shot him?

Answer. Yes, sir; one of them said: "God damn you, I will give you a nigger officer." They talked with him a little time before they shot him. They asked him how he came to be there, and several other questions, and then asked if he belonged to a nigger regiment, and then they shot him. It was a secesh officer who shot him. was standing a little behind. Question. What was the rank of the secesh officer?

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Answer. He was a first lieutenant. I do not know his name.

Question. Do you know the name of the officer shot?

Answer. Yes, sir; Captain Carson, company D. Question. Why did they not shoot you? Answer. I do not know why they didn't. Question. How long did you stay with them? Answer. I staid with them two nights and one day. They took me on Tuesday evening, and I got away from them Thursday morning, about two hours before daylight. They were going to make an early move that morning, and they sent me back for some water, and I left with another boy in the same company with myself.

Question. Where did you go then? Answer. Right straight through the woods for about three or four miles, and then we turned to the right and came to a road. We crossed the road, went down about three miles, and crossed it again, and I kept on, backward and forward, until I got to a creek about five or six miles from here.

Question. Do you know any thing of the rebels burning any of the tents that had wounded men in them?

Answer. I know they set some on fire that had wounded men in them, but I did not see them burn, because they would not let us go around

to see.

Question. About what time of the day was that?

Answer. It was when the sun was about an hour or three quarters on from the day of the battle.

Question. Did you hear the men in there after they set the building on fire?

Answer. Yes, sir; I heard them in there.

knew they were in there. I knew that they were there sick. I saw them shoot one or two men who came out of the hospital, and then they went into the tents, and then shot them right in the tents. I saw them shoot two of them right in the head. When they charged the Fort they did not look into the tents, but when they came back afterward they shot those sick men in the head. I knew the men, because they belonged to the company I did. One of them was named Dennis Gibbs, and the other was named Alfred Flag.

Question. How long had they been sick? Answer. They had been sick at the hospital in Memphis, and had got better a little, and been brought up here, but they never did any duty here, and went to the hospital. They came out of the hospital and went into these tents, and were killed there. They were in the hospital the morning of the fight. When the fight commenced, they left the hospital and came into the tents inside the Fort.

Question. Did you see them bury any of our

men?

Answer. I saw them put them in a ditch. I did not see them cover them up.

Question. Were they all really dead or not?

Answer. I saw them bury one man alive, and heard the secesh speak about it as much as twenty times. He was shot in the side, but he was not dead, and was breathing along right good. Question. Did you see the man? Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. How came they to bury him when he was alive?

Answer. They said he would die any how, and they would let him stay. Every once in a while, if they put dirt on him, he would move his hands. I was standing right there, and saw him when they put him in, and saw he was not dead.

Question. Have you seen the three bodies that are now lying over beyond the old hospital? Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. Did you know them?

Answer. I knew one of them. I helped to take him to the hospital on the Sunday before the fight. There was another man there. I knew the company he belonged to, (company B,) but I do not know his name. He was a colored man, but he had hair nearly straight, like a white man or an Indian. He had been sick a great while.

Captain James Marshall, recalled.
By the Chairman :

Question. Does this witness (Hogan) speak of the same men that you supposed were fleeing from the hospital when they were killed? Answer. Yes, sir, the same men.

Frank Hogan, resumed.

By the Chairman :

Question. Did you hear any thing said about Major Bradford ?

Answer. The first night after they had taken the Fort, Major Bradford was there without any guard. Colonel McCullough waked us up to make a fire, and Major Bradford walked up and asked the liberty to go out awhile. He came back, and I went to sleep, leaving Major Bradford sitting at the fire. When they waked up the next morning, they asked where Major Bradford was, and I told them he was lying there by the fire. They uncovered the head of the man who was lying there, but they said it was not Major Bradford. That was only a short distance from here. I did not see him afterward.

Alfred Coleman, (colored,) sworn and examined. By Mr. Gooch:

Question. To what company and regiment do you belong?

Answer. Company B, Sixth United States heavy artillery.

Question. Were you at Fort Pillow at the time of the fight?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. Were you captured here?
Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. About what time?

Answer. About six o'clock, I should think. Question. Where did they take you to? Answer. Out toward Brownsville, between twelve and eighteen miles.

Question. What did you do after you were captured?

Answer. I helped to bury some of the dead; then I came to the commissary store, and helped to carry out some forage.

Question. Did you hear the rebels say any thing about a fight?

Answer. Nothing more than it was the hardest fight they had been in, with the force we had here. I was then with the Second Missouri cav

alry. Question. What did they say about giving quarter?

Answer. They said they would show no quarter to colored troops, nor to any of the officers with them, but would kill them all.

Question. Who said that?

Answer. One of the captains of the Second Missouri. He shot six himself, but, toward evening, General Forrest issued an order not to kill any more negroes, because they wanted them to help to haul the artillery out.

Question. How do you know that? Answer. This captain said so. Question. Were colored men used for that purpose?

Answer. Yes, sir. I saw them pulling the artillery, and I saw the secesh whip them as they were going out, just like they were horses. Question. How many men did you see that way?

Answer. There were some ten or twelve men hold of a piece that I saw coming out. The secesh said they had been talking about fighting

under the black flag, but that they had come as nigh fulfilling that here as if they had a black flag.

Question. How long did you stay with them? Answer. I was taken on the Tuesday evening after the fight, and remained with them until about an hour before day of Thursday morning. I then took a sack of corn to feed the horses, and got the horses between me and them, and, as it was dark and drizzling rain, I left them and escaped.

Question. Did you see any of the shooting going on?

Answer. Yes, sir. I was lying right under the side of the hill where the most of the men were killed. I saw them take one of the Tennessee cavalry, who was wounded in one leg, so that he could not stand on it. Two men took him, and made him stand up on one leg, and then shot him down. That was about four o'clock in the afternoon.

Question. How many do you think you saw them shoot?

Answer. The captain that carried me off shot six colored men himself, with a revolver. I saw him shoot them. I cannot state about the rest. Question. Did you see more than one white man shot?

Answer. No, sir. The others that were killed were a little nearer the water than I was. I was lying down under a white-oak log near the Fort, and could not see a great way.

Question. Do you know how many of their men were lost?

Answer. I heard some of them say, when they went out toward Brownsville, that they had lost about three hundred killed, wounded, and missing.

Question. How many of our men were killed before the Fort was taken ?

Answer. I do not think there were more than ten or fifteen men killed before the Fort was taken.

MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE, April 26, 1864. Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas H. Harris, sworn and examined.

By the Chairman :

Question. What is your rank and position in the service?

Answer. I am a Lieutenant-Colonel and Assistant Adjutant-General of the Sixteenth army corps.

Question. How many troops do your records show to have gone from the Sixth United States heavy artillery (colored) to Fort Pillow?

Answer. There were two hundred and twentyone officers and men left Memphis to go to Fort Pillow.

Question. How many whites went there?

Answer. None were sent from here. I understand, unofficially, that the colored troops were recruited, to some extent, after they arrived at Fort Pillow; but I have no official knowledge of that fact. Of the two hundred and twenty-one officers and men who went from here, there are thirty here who escaped, and some twenty or more above at Mound City and Cairo.

Question. Do you know what was the character and military experience of Major Bradford ? Answer. To the best of my knowledge and belief, Major Bradford had no military experience. I had known him for about a year. He never claimed to have had any military experience.

Question. What was the character of Major Booth as a military man?

Answer. It was good. He was originally Sergeant-Major of the First Missouri light artillery, and was an officer of experience and tried courage, and of irreproachable character.

Question. Do you know whether or not any information was received here that Fort Pillow was threatened before it was actually attacked? Answer. I know that Major Booth assured General Hurlbut that he stood in no danger, and begged him not to feel any apprehension. General Hurlbut, I believe, answered that report by sending Major Booth two additional guns, with a fresh supply of ammunition.

Question. How long have you been here in this department?

Answer. Since the first of August, 1862. Question. Have you, during that time, been familiar with the condition of the garrison at Fort Pillow?

Answer. I have been familiar with it since the first of May, 1863.

Question. Has the garrison been entirely withdrawn from Fort Pillow at any time since then? Answer. Yes, sir. Question. Why?

Answer. In order to send troops for the Meridian expedition into Mississippi, under General Sherman.

Question. For how long a period was Fort Pillow without a garrison?

Answer. Fort Pillow was evacuated about the twenty-fifth of January, 1864, and remained unoccupied for a short time afterward.

Question. Why was a garrison again placed there?

Answer. Major Bradford was with his command at and near Columbus and Paducah, Kentucky, in the early part of this year. Finding recruiting very difficult there, he applied for permission to proceed to Fort Pillow and establish his headquarters there, as he believed that he could easily fill his regiment at that point.

Answer. I cannot answer that definitely without looking at the records.

Papers forwarded by Lieutenant-Colonel Harris to Washington.

HEADQUARTERS SIXTEENTH ARMY CORPS, MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE, April 26, 1864. I wish to state that one section of company D, Second United States light artillery, colored, (one commissioned officer and forty men,) were sent to Fort Pillow about February fifteenth, as part of the garrison.

The garrison of Fort Pillow, by last reports received, consisted of the First battalion Sixth United States heavy artillery, colored, eight commissioned officers and two hundred and thirteen enlisted men; one section company D, Second United States light artillery, colored, one commissioned officer and forty men; First battalion Thirteenth Tennessee cavalry, Major H. F. Bradford, ten commissioned officers and two hundred and eighty-five enlisted men.

Question. It was then occupied rather as a cruiting station than for any other purpose at that time?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. Do you know whether it has been considered a military necessity to keep a garrison at Fort Pillow since the gunboats have been in the river?

Answer. It is one of the most important points on the whole river. It commands a very long stretch of the river, and a single well-manned field-piece there would stop navigation entirely.

Question. When the garrison was removed from Fort Pillow, was it in pursuance of any order from either General Grant or General Sherman?

You will, however, immediately examine the ground and the works, and if, in your opinion, twenty-pound Parrotts can be advantageously used, I will order them to you. My own opinion is, that there is not range enough. Major Bradford is well acquainted with the country, and should keep scouts well out and forward; all information received direct to me.

I think Forrest's check at Paducah will not dispose him to try the river again, but that he will fall back to Jackson, and thence across the Tennessee; as soon as this is ascertained I shall withdraw your garrison.

Nevertheless, act promptly in putting the works into perfect order, and the post in its strongest

defence. Allow as little intercourse as possible with the country, and cause all supplies which go out to be examined with great strictness. No man whose loyalty is questionable should be allowed to come in or go out while the enemy is in West-Tennessee.

Your obedient servant,

S. A. HURLBUT,

Major L. F. Booth,
Commanding First Battalion First Alabama Siege Artillery.

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arrived off the Fort at six A.M. on the morning of the thirteenth instant. Parties of rebel cavalry were picketed on the hills around the Fort, and shelling those away, I made a landing and took on board some twenty of our troops, some of them badly wounded, who had concealed themselves along the bank, and came out when they saw my vessel. Whilst doing so I was fired upon by rebel sharp-shooters posted on the hills, and one wounded man limping down to the vessel was shot. About eight A.M. the enemy sent in a flag of truce, with a proposal from General Forrest that he would put me in possession of the Fort and the country around until five P.M., for the purpose of burying our dead and removing our wounded, whom he had no means of attending to. I agreed to the terms proposed, and hail

L. F. BOOTH, Major Sixth U. S. Heavy Artillery, Colored, Commanding Fort. Major-General HURLBUT.

HEADQUARTERS SIXTEENTH ARMY CORPS,
MEMPHIS, TENN., April 25, 1861.

A true extract from the last report received from Major L. F. Booth, Sixth United States heavy artillery, commanding Fort Pillow.

T. H. HARRIS, Lieutenant-Colonel and Assistant Adjutant-General. Without application or requisition being made for the guns, General Hurlbut concluded to add two to the four already at the Fort, and made the following order:

HEADQUARTERS SIXTEENTH ARMY CORPS,
MEMPHIS, TENN., April 7, 1864.

convoyed up from Memphis, I brought her alongside, and had the wounded brought down from the Fort and battle-field and placed on board of her. Details of rebel soldiers assisted us in this duty, and some soldiers and citizens on board the Platte Valley volunteered for the same purpose.

We found about seventy wounded men in the Fort and around it, and buried, I should think, one hundred and fifty bodies. All the buildings around the Fort, and the tents and huts in the Fort, had been burned by the rebels, and among the embers the charred remains of numbers of our soldiers, who had suffered a terrible death in the flames, could be seen.

All the wounded who had strength enough to speak, agreed that after the Fort was taken an indiscriminate slaughter of our troops was carried on by the enemy, with a furious and vindictive savageness which was never equalled by the most merciless of the Indian tribes. Around on every side horrible testimony to the truth of this statement could be seen.

Bodies with gaping wounds, some bayoneted through the eyes, some with skulls beaten through, others with hideous wounds, as if their bowels had been ripped open with Bowie knives, plainly told that but little quarter was shown to our troops, strewn from the Fort to the riverbank, in the ravines and hollows, behind logs and under the brush, where they had crept for protection from the assassins who pursued them. We found bodies bayoneted, beaten, and shot to death, showing how cold-blooded and persistent was the slaughter of our unfortunate troops. Of course, when a work is carried by assault there will always be more or less bloodshed, even when all resistance has ceased; but here there were unmistakable evidences of a massacre car