“an indiscriminate slaughter”

“The fort ran with blood.”

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch April 18, 1864:

The capture of Fort Pillow

Mobile, April 16.

–A special dispatch to the Advertiser and Register from Fort Pillow, 12th [13th?], says: Forrest attacked this place with Chalmers’s division yesterday. The garrison consisted of three hundred white and four hundred negro troops. The fort refusing to surrender was carried by storm. Forrest led Bells brigade and Chalmers led McCullough’s. They both entered the fort simultaneously, and an indiscriminate slaughter followed. One hundred prisoners were taken, the balance of the garrison were slain. The fort ran with blood. Many jumped into the river and were drowned or shot in the water. Over one hundred thousand dollars worth of stores were taken. Six guns were captured. The Confederate loss was 75. Lieut Col. Read, of the 5th Mississippi, was mortally wounded.

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch April 20, 1864:

The capture of Fort Pillow.

The following official dispatch with reference to the capture of Fort Pillow, sixty miles above Memphis, was received at the General’s office last night:

Demopolis Ala., April19.

To Gen. S. Cooper:

The following dispatch has just been received from Gen. Forrest, dated Jackson, Tenn., April 15th.

L. Polk,

Lieutenant General.

500 killed, 100 prisoners, and 100 drowned conscription avoiders

“I attacked Fort Pillow on the morning of the 12th inst., with a part of Bell’s and McCulloch’s brigades, numbering–, under Brig. Gen. J. R. Chalmers. After a short fight we drove the enemy, seven hundred strong, into the for[t], under cover of their gunboats, and demanded a surrender, which was declined by Major L. W. Booth, commanding U. S. Forces. I stormed the fort, and after a contest of thirty minutes captured the entire garrison, killing five hundred and taking one hundred prisoners, and a large and just of quartermaster stores. –The officers in the fort were killed, including Major Booth. I sustained a loss of twenty killed and sixty wounded. Amongst the wounded is the gallant Lieut. Col. Wm. M. Reid, whilst leading the 5th Mississippi.–Over one hundred citizens, who had fled to the fort from conscription, ran into the river and were drowned. The Confederate flag now floats ever the fort.

(Signed) “N. B. Forrest,

“Major General.”

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch April 26, 1864:

The Fort Pillow affair.

A. B. Witmore of the United States navy, writes to the Memphis Argus, the following account of the Fort Pillow fight:

The combined forces of Major Gen. Forrest, Chalmers, McCulloch and Porter, numbering seven or eight thousand, made an assault on our fortifications at about six P. M. [?], on the 12th. Our forces consisted of 250 whites and 350 blacks. The United States steamer New. Era, lying off the fort, shelled the rebels and drove them from the position which they had gained on the south side of the fort. They again assaulted our works from the north side, and owing to the timber it was impossible for the guns of the New Era to dislodge them, though a continual shower of shell and shrapnel was rained down on them.

The garrison was so small, and the rebel force so overwhelming, the enemy gained our works about 3,30 P. M, and the gallant few who were left alive were taken prisoners. The guns of the fort consisted of two twelve pounder howitzers, two ten pound, rifled, and two ten pounder Parro[t], six pieces in all. Major Booth and two Captains of the 6th United States artillery, colored, were killed early in the fight, also two Lieutenants of the 6th were severely wounded.

Capts Bradford and Porter, Adjutant Lemmon, and Lieut Barr, of the 13th Tennessee cavalry, were killed and some others, who could not be identified. Maj Bradierd [Bradford] , commanding the post, was taken prisoner, and is reported by rebels as having been paroled, with the liberty of their camps, and violating it by escaping last night; but I was told that he was taken out and shot late in the evening.

Capt Young, Provost Marshal, was taken prisoner slightly wounded and paroled, with the liberty of their camps, and allowed to see his wife. He says that our forces behaved gallantly throughout the whole action. Our loss in killed exceeds two hundred.

He also stated that Gen. Forrest shot one of his own men for refusing quarters to our men.

NY Times April 16 1864

Lieut Commander Thos Patterson, commanding naval station at Memphis, sent the shipsteamer Platte Valley, with U. S. shipsteamer Sliver Cloud in tow, with ammunition to Fort Pillow. When we [?] arrived in sight of the fort the commissary and other public buildings, with some twelve stores and private property, were in flames, and the rebels were seen moving about applying torches to the barracks, stables and huts.

We threw shells for thirty minutes at detached squads, when a flag of truce appearing we ceased firing and sent a boat ashore. It presently returned with a communication from Gen. Forrest, saying that a large number of our wounded were suffering for want of proper care, and that he would allow us to bury our dead and remove our wounded under a flag of truce, on our agreement that we would not remove anything from the battle field. Capt Ferguson, knowing that our shells would explode among our wounded, causing greater loss of life, agreed to the proposal. Major Anderson, aid to Gen. [F]orrest, drew up the agreement giving us possession of the fortifications and landing till 5 P. M, the truce to end at that hour. The rebels were efficient, and aided us as much as possible in our work. The wounded who were able to walk generally came down the bluff road, supported on either side by a rebel soldier.

He then appends a list of the wounded sent to Cairo by the [P]latte Valley, and remarks:

I know that in storming a fort, where such desperate resistance is offered as was here offered, many must full, but in this instance it looks to me more like indiscriminate butchery than honorable warfare, Now that the excitement is over, the thought of those charred bodies, together with the nause[a] by the stench of roasting human flesh, and two hundred or more bodies, mangled and dying, pleading for quarters, with distorted faces, bayonetted eyes, broken skulls,&c, I am sick and can write no more.