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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.

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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 cavalry.

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?

I was

Answer. No, sir. The others that were killed were a little nearer the water than 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. claimed to have had any military experience. Question. What was the character of Major Booth as a military man?

He never

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.

Question. It was then occupied rather as a recruiting 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?

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

Papers forwarded by Lieutenant-Colonel Harris to Washington.

HEADQUARTERS SIXTEENTH ARMY CORPS, Į 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.

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HEADQUARTERS SIXTEENTH ARMY CORPS, MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE, March 28, 1864. SIR: You will proceed with your own battalion to Fort Pillow, and establish your force in garrison of the works there. As you will be, if I am correct in my memory, the senior officer at that post, you will take command, conferring, however, freely and fully with Major Bradford, Thirteenth Tennessee cavalry, whom you will find a good officer, though not of much experience.

There are two points of land fortified at Fort Pillow, one of which only is now held by our troops. You will occupy both, either with your own troops alone, or holding one with yours, and giving the other in charge to Major Bradford.

The positions are commanding, and can be held by a small force against almost any odds. I shall send you at this time two twelve-pound howitzers, as I hope it will not be necessary to mount heavy guns.

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,

I witnessed and learned concerning the treatment of our troops by the rebels at the capture of Fort Pillow by their forces under General Forrest, I have the honor to submit the following report:

Our garrison at Fort Pillow, consisting of some three hundred and fifty colored troops and two hundred of the Thirteenth Tennessee cavalry, refusing to surrender, the place was carried by asMajor-General.sault about three P.M. of the twelfth instant.

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

I have the honor to be, General, very respect-ing the steamer Platte Valley, which vessel I had fully, your obedient servant,

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.

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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

ried on long after any resistance could have been offered, with a cold-blooded barbarity and perseverance which nothing can palliate.

As near as I can learn, there were about five hundred men in the Fort when it was stormed. I received about one hunded men, (including the wounded and those I took on board before the flag of truce was sent in.) The rebels, I learned, had few prisoners, so that at least three hundred of our troops must have been killed in this affair. I have the honor to forward a list of the wounded officers and men received from the enemy under flag of truce.

I am, General, your obedient servant,
W. FERGUSON,

Acting Master U. S. N., Commanding U. S. Steamer Silver Cloud.
Major-General HURLBUT,

Commanding Sixteenth Army Corps.

A true copy.

HEADQUARTERS SIXTEENTH ARMY CORPS,
MEMPHIS, TENN., April 24, 1864.

T. H. HARRIS,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

W. R. McLagan, sworn and examined.
By Mr. Gooch:

Question. Where were you born?

Answer. In Tennessee.

Answer. St. Paul, Minnesota.

Question. Where do you now reside?

Question. What did he say? Answer. He simply said he had fought them honorably and as a brave man, and wished to be treated as a prisoner of war. He was taken prisoner at Fort Pillow, and was then sent to Covington, to the custody of a Colonel Duckworth, commanding the Seventh Tennessee rebel cavalry, and from that place he was sent under guard, with about thirty of us conscripts. We arrived at Brownsville on the thirteenth; we started cat on the evening of the fourteenth instant, about dusk. Previous to our leaving Brownsville, five of the guards were ordered back to Duckworth's headquarters. Those five guards seemed to have received special instructions about something, I don't know what. After marching about five miles from Brownsville, we halted, that is, the two companies of the rebels. These five guards then took Major Bradford out about fifty yards from the road. He seemed to understand what they were going to do with him. He asked for mercy, and said that he had fought them manfully, and wished to be treated as a prisoner of war. Three of the five guards shot him. One shot struck him about in the temple; a second in the left breast, and the third shot went through the thick part of the thigh. He was killed instantly. They left his body lying there. I escaped from the rebels at Jackson. I left on the

Question. Were you at Fort Pillow on the day Friday morning about two o'clock, and Saturday

of its capture?

Answer. No, sir.

Question. Where were you?

Answer. About sixteen miles off, at Coving

ton.

Question. Have you seen that statement ? (showing witness statement appended to this deposition.)

night about twelve o'clock I came back where the murder was committed, and saw his body there, yet unburied. The moon was shining brightly, and it seemed to me that the buzzards had eaten his face considerably.

Question. Did you hear them give any reason for shooting Major Bradford?

Answer. Simply that he was a Tennessee trai

Answer. Yes, sir; I made that statement my-tor, and to them they showed no quarter. They

self.

Question. It is correct, then?

Answer. Yes, sir.

said that he was a Tennesseean, and had joined the Yankee army, and they showed them no quarter. I think myself that the order for shoot

Question. Did you yourself see Major Bradford ing Major Bradford was given by Colonel Duckshot?

Answer. I did.

Question. How do you know it was Major Bradford?

Answer. He represented himself to me as a Major Bradford.

Question. Did you have any conversation with him?

Answer. Yes, sir; and while we were marching from Covington to Brownsville I heard them call him Major Bradford. He told me himself that he was Major Bradford, but he did not wish it to be known, as he had enemies there; and it never would have been known but for a detective in the confederate army from Obion County, Tennessee, named Willis Wright, who recognized him as Major Bradford, and told them of it. Wright is a notorious spy and smuggler in Forrest's command. There is no doubt the man was Major Bradford.

Question. Was there any thing said at the time he was shot?

Answer. Nothing more than what I said.

worth, for the reasons I have stated.

Question. What was the officer in command at the time he was shot?

Answer. A lieutenant went out with him. He was one of the five guards.

Question. Who commanded the two companies of rebels?

Answer. I do not know who ranked in these two companies. Russell and Lawler commanded the companies. Duckworth, who, I think, gave the order for killing Major Bradford, belongs to Chalmers's command. He is a notorious scoundrel. He never had any reputation, either before the war or afterward.

Question. Did Major Bradford have on his uniform?

Answer. No, sir. He had tried to conceal his identity as much as possible, by putting on citizen's clothes, as he said that he had enemies among them who would kill him if they knew him.

Question. Did you hear any of their officers say any thing as to the manner in which they

treated our soldiers whom they had captured, and jor Bradford and the conscripts, including the the way in which they intended to treat them?affiant, were placed in charge of two companies Answer. On the evening of the twelfth I was of the Seventh Tennessee cavalry, Captains Rusin Colonel Duckworth's headquarters. I had not been conscripted then. I saw a despatch there from Forrest to Duckworth, dated that afternoon. It read something like this:

"Colonel W. L. Duckworth, Covington, Tennessee. I have killed three hundred and captured three hundred."

Duckworth remarked to me previous to the attack that no quarter would be shown at Fort Pillow at all; that they were a set of damned Yankees and Tennessee traitors there, and they intended to show them no quarter. Question. When did he say this?

sell and Lawler commanding. They were taken to Brownsville, Tennessee, and started from there to Jackson, Tennessee. When they had proceeded about five miles from Brownsville a halt was made, and Major Bradford was taken about fifty yards from the command by a guard of five confederate soldiers in charge of a lieutenant, and was there deliberately shot, three of the confederate soldiers discharging their fire-arms, all of which took effect, killing him instantly. This was on the fourteenth day of April, 1864, near dusk; that the body of Major Bradford was left unburied in the woods about fifty yards from the

Answer. On the evening of the eleventh of road. The affiant, with the other conscripts, April, at Covington.

Question. How long had you known Duckworth?

Answer. I never saw him before I saw him there.

Question. Did he say this to you?

Answer. I was not in conversation with him, but I heard him say this to a Captain Hill, a retired confederate captain, who formerly belonged to his command. He was within five or six feet of me when he said it.

Question. Were they talking at that time about the intended attack on Fort Pillow?

Answer. Yes, sir; and five days' rations were ordered then, and Duckworth said they were going to take Fort Pillow, and no quarter would

be shown at all.

Question. Do you know how Major Bradford got to Covington, and when?

were taken on to Jackson, and on the twentysecond day of April the affiant and twenty-five others of the conscripts made their escape from the confederate forces at Jackson. On the way back he saw the body of Major Bradford lying in the same place where he was shot. This was on Saturday night, the twenty-third of April. Major Bradford, before he was shot, fell on his knees and said that he had fought them manfully, and wished to be treated as a prisoner of war.

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The following papers and affidavits were fur

Answer. I think he arrived there on the even-nished the Committee by General Mason Bray

ing of the twelfth, just about dusk.

Question. Did Major Bradford state to you that he desired to disguise himself?

Answer. Yes, sir. He said that he had personal enemies in that command, among whom was this Willis Wright, who recognized him and told them who he was. Major Bradford was a native Tennesseean.

Question. Did any of the conscripts who were with you see Major Bradford shot?

Answer. Yes, sir; and I understand that one or two others, who escaped when I did, are here in in the city; and I shall try to get their statements.

man, at Cairo, and are herewith submitted:

CAIRO, ILLINOIS, April 18, 1864. We have the honor of reporting to you, as the only known survivors of the commissioned officers of the Thirteenth Tennessee cavalry, that, on the morning of the twelfth day of the present month, at about the hour of daylight, the rebels, numbering from five thousand to seven thousand, attacked our garrison at Fort Pillow, Tennessee, numbering as it did only about five hundred ef fective men. They at first sent in a flag of truce demanding a surrender, which Major Booth, then commanding the post, (Major Booth, of the Sixth United States heavy artillery, colored,) refused. Shortly after this Major Booth was shot through the heart and fell dead. Major William F. Bradford, then commanding the Thirteenth Tennessee cavalry, assumed command of the Fort, and under his orders a continual fire was kept up until about one o clock P.M., when our cannon and the rifles of the sharp-shooters were mowing the rebels down in such numbers that they could not make an ad

W. R. McLagan, a citizen of the United States, being first duly sworn, states, upon oath, that for the last two years he has been trading_between St. Louis, Missouri, and Covington, Tennessee; that at the time of the attack upon Fort Pillow, April twelfth, 1864, he was at Covington, Tennessee, and was taken by General Forrest as a conscript on the thirteenth of April, with about thirty other citizens; that on the evening of the twelfth of April Major Bradford, Thirteenth Ten-vance. nessee cavalry, United States forces, arrived at Covington, under guard, as a prisoner of war, and was reported as such to Colonel Duckworth, commanding Seventh Tennessee cavalry, confederate forces; that on the thirteenth of April MaVOL. VIII.-Doc. 5

The rebels then hoisted a second flag of truce and sent it in, demanding an unconditional surrender. They also threatened that if the place was not surrendered no quarter would be shown. Major Bradford refused to accept any such terms, would not surrender, and sent back word that

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