Another account.....
On a high bluff, overlooking the east banks of the Mississippi River and thirty-eight miles north of Memphis, came a young Irish colonel to gaze out across the river at his beloved state and wonder if he should return home soon. The colonel had brought his regiment of men, with an attached company of field artillery, from Helena, Arkansas in search of a strategic location in which to fire upon enemy boats moving down the Mississippi River. Finding Chickasaw Bluff No. 1 to be the ideal spot for his mission, the colonel set his men to building fortifications. All through the month of June in 1861, his men labored at digging entrenchments and embrasures. The men honored their colonel by naming the completed works Fort Cleburne. Ironically, this Irish colonel and future Confederate maj. general, who became widely renowned for his controversial proposal to enlist slaves in the Confederate service, would be the builder of a fort whose name would be recorded in history as a place of "massacre of black soldiers." In July of 1861, the fort was renamed Fort Pillow, for the general who was commanding the troops of the state of Tennessee, General Gideon Pillow. The original works consisted of three miles of earthworks and a water battery, enclosing about 1,600 acres. But when General Pierre G. T. Beauregard visited the fort in 1862, he ordered the length of the works shortened to about one mile. The area he selected was at the higher-elevation northern sector of the original fort and enclosed about 250 acres. Found to be untenable, after the the fall of Forts Henry, Donelson and the works at Island No. 10, along with the Union Army occupation of the city of Memphis, the Confederates abandoned Fort Pillow on June 5, 1862.
Between September of 1862 and January 18, 1864, detachments of the 52nd Indiana Infantry, 178th New York Infantry and detachments of the 2nd Illinois Cavalry intermittently occupied the fort. Major General William Tecumseh Sherman ordered the fort evacuated in January of 1864, sending all available troops to the support of the Meridian, Mississippi, expedition.
In January 1864, Major General Stephen Augustus Hurlbut, commanding the XVI US Army Corps, was headquartered in the Union held city of Memphis. In response to Sherman's orders to evacuate Fort Pillow, Hurlbut issued Special Orders No. 11, dated January 11, 1864, "regiments at Fort Pillow will be sent forward to Memphis and that post abandoned . He [the officer commanding Fort Pillow] will also send forward to Memphis the two best of his three batteries of light artillery. All public property at Fort Pillow to be sent to Cairo or Memphis." Yet, in the year following the Fort Pillow affair, when Sherman three times officially requested a reason for Hurlbut sending troops to reoccupy the fort in February, Hurlbut denied any knowledge of Sherman's original orders. Why then, in great secrecy and in defiance of Sherman's orders, would General Hurlbut send 557 Union soldiers back to Fort Pillow in February 1864?
Testifying before the Wade-Gooch joint Congressional Committee, formed to investigate the Fort Pillow affair, Hurlbut offered another excuse for his actions; to counter the incursions of Confederate General Forrest, who was in the region at the time. However, all one has to do is study the chain of events, and the actions of the Union troops at Fort Pillow, to see that Hurlbut's latter reason holds little water.
In February, Hurlbut sent to Fort Pillow, Major Lionel F. Booth, along with his battalion of heavy artillery. Booth's move was completed by March. During this same time, Major William F. Bradford, who had been recruiting Tennessee Unionists and Confederate deserters from Paducah, Kentucky and Union City, Tennessee, moved his base of operation to Fort Pillow. Since Booth's command, including Bradford's men, now only numbered 500 to 600 men and 6 light field pieces, Booth chose to try to defend only a portion of the fort. He selected a thirty-acre promontory at the northernmost end of the second line of the old Confederate works, on a bluff that was surrounded on all sides by a deep ravine. Within this area, Booth constructed a earthen redan in the shape of an elongated letter W, which enclosed an area of one acre. The redan was pierced with the six cannon on hand. Outside the redan, rifle pits were dug along the edge of the ravine. Just outside of the line of ditch, Booth permitted the construction of buildings, such as the quartermasters offices and hospital.
All of the above factors play a significant role in the chain of events that took place before and during the battle, as well as raise more questions to the purpose of the Union troops reoccupying the works to begin with. The location of the redan chosen by Major Booth was a poor one, as the hill he selected was lower than a number of hills to the north and east, providing an attacking force a better field of fire. This could have been simply a case of bad judgment on Booth's part but it is the culmination of crucial judgments that make his actions suspect. In looking at the actual size of the fortified area of one acre, one can compare it to the size of a modern day football field. During the battle, with 500 Federal soldiers seeking shelter within its confines, they were packed in like sardines. The only place of safety was to press up against the inside face of the redan. The congestion hampered the loading and firing of weapons, as there was clearly not enough room for all of them. Many post-war accounts tell of survivors running down to the river's edge to escape the Confederate onslaught. But this was virtually impossible, as the open side of the redan overlooked the Mississippi from a bluff with a sheer drop of eighty feet. And though a two-foot wide narrow footpath ran along the face of the bluff to the water's edge, attempting to escape via this route would have been suicide. Therefore, those surviving Union soldiers who ended up at the river's edge must have quit the fight early. When the defenders found little room for shelter, those that did attempt to escape over the bluff were fired on by Forrest's men, who had been stationed at the river's edge on the north and south extremes of the fortified area. Still, some plunged to their deaths in the eighty foot drop.
Due to the contour of the land on the north, east and south sides of the fortification, the attacking force was able to get within thirty yards of the fort without being detected. Furthermore, the fort's artillery could not be depressed sufficiently to be effective against the attacker. Confederate sharpshooters were able to fire down on the fort's occupants from two higher ridges to the east and northeast. Additionally, the outbuildings that Booth permitted to be built blocked 30% of his men's field of fire and provided good hiding places for the attackers. Though Booth had worked an agreement with the Union Navy to patrol the river side of the fort, the gunboats high-angle of fire caused the shells to overshoot Confederates during the battle.
If Major Booth truly anticipated having to defend the fortifications at Fort Pillow, he seems to have given every advantage to his attackers.
Several other facts, which remain a curiosity, are the actual numbers of the Union troops under Booth's command in relation to casualty reports, the amount of field artillery pieces on hand, and the role of the Union Naval fleet involved in the battle for Fort Pillow.
According to Union field returns, Booth's command consisted of 557 officers and enlistees at Fort Pillow. Yet, Forrest states his force buried 228 Union Army dead. Acting Master Ferguson of the steamer Silver Cloud reports to have taken 89 wounded aboard on April 13, during a flag of truce, and burying 150 Union soldiers in the ditch outside of the redan. In addition to these above, there were 226 men taken as prisoners of war, including 54 Negro soldiers of the 6th US Colored Heavy Artillery. Who were the remaining 136 persons and what was their purpose for being at the fort. Some accounts stated that there were over one hundred civilians, women and children, at Fort Pillow during the battle, yet others say the civilians were sent to an island north of the fort before the fight. There were no civilians listed on any of the rolls of those captured. Some of Forrest's men, in post-war accounts, state that unnamed Confederate deserters and Tennessee Unionists, who had fled ahead of Forrest to avoid conscription, were recognized by local Confederates attacking the fort. Between April 1867 and February 1868, 243 bodies of Union soldiers from Fort Pillow were relocated to the National Cemetery in Memphis. Of these bodies, 192 are classified as unknown, while 51 are casualties of units previously garrisoned at Fort Pillow. But if we sum up the relocated, the wounded and the prisoners taken, the total is 558 men, the reported strength of the garrison during the battle. Did the Federal Government inflate the actual casualties or falsely report the killing of civilians?
In February of 1864, Major Booth commanded a four-company battalion of heavy artillery, companies A,B, C & D, 1st Battalion of the 6th US Heavy Artillery (Colored), and a section of one company of light artillery, company D, 2nd US Light Artillery (Colored). Considering that a heavy artillery unit of battalion strength generally has between sixteen to thirty guns, it becomes suspect that there were only six light artillery field pieces at Fort Pillow.
At the time of the Battle of Fort Pillow, the Union had complete control of the Mississippi River. A typical day's river commerce might see as many as five steamers laden with cargo pass by the fort bound for Cairo, Illinois. The US Navy was represented by the gunboat, USS New Era, as part of the fleet commanded by Admiral David Dixon Porter to patrol this part of the Mississippi with its port of call at Fort Pillow, and the steamer Silver Cloud, commanded by Master William Ferguson, USN, its port of call being Island No. 10. Yet in Porter's own Naval History of the Civil War, he intentionally omits any reference to the navy's role in Fort Pillow.
So why so many discrepancies in reports, differentiating eye-witness accounts and unanswered questions about Fort Pillow? Perhaps there is a handful of Union officers and Washington go-betweens that could answer these questions. One of those Union officers was undoubtedly General Hurlbut himself, who reoccupied the fort without Sherman's knowledge. Commissioned a brigadier general by Lincoln himself, due to brave conduct at the battle of Shiloh, Hurlbut's friendship with Lincoln spanned over twenty years prior to the Civil War. Lincoln selected Hurlbut as one of his personal emissaries to be involved in secret negotiations at Ft. Sumpter in 1861, but attempts were later made in the Senate to block his commission, citing continual drunkenness and inability to command. Insightful to Hurlbut's performance as a commander, prior to Fort Pillow, was the repeated cautioning of his superiors into his shady financial dealings in captured areas.
Fort Pillow, situated in rich Tennessee bottomland, was not only ideally located for river trade, but also for growing bumper crops of cotton and corn. It was not unheard of for Union commanders to be involved in illegal trade in occupied areas. But for Hurlbut, who had already been warned of such an occupation, Fort Pillow was also perfect for just such an operation since it was a short distance from Memphis but out of the limelight. Often times, a garrison might remain in an area for one to two years, making it profitable to engage in farming. Many of the Negro regiments raised in the South were recruited from runaway slaves and deliberately held behind the lines to provide a labor force. Realizing that the majority of Booth's light artillery battery was composed of runaway slaves, one would be justified in concluding that the Union troops at Fort Pillow were there for some nonmilitary purpose...for their commanders own personal profit. This might also explain accounts of many of the colored soldiers being armed with clubs and appearing to be untrained soldiers during the battle.
The United States Treasury Department records fourteen licensed, legitimate cotton traders operating at Fort Pillow in 1864, but also indicates they were considering closing down all operations at the fort. One of these licensed traders was Harris& Company. A chief clerk for this company was one Cordy B. Revelle, who was also serving as Lieutenant of Company E in Bradford's battalion. This was a clear violation of US Army regulations.
While reasons for the US being at Fort Pillow are not so obvious, Forrest's reasons are easily determined. Following the battle of Chickamauga in Sept. of 1863, Bragg stripped Forrest of most of his cavalry and placed him under command of Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler. After threatening resignation, Forrest received permission from Jefferson Davis to return to West Tennessee to raise new units and round up men absent without leave. Forrest was permitted to retain a small brigade consisting of his personal escort, McDonald's Tennessee Cavalry Battalion, and four understrength batteries of artillery (Morton's and Rice's Tennessee, Thrall's Arkansas and Hudson's Mississippi). During his recruiting in West Tennessee, the local citizens approached him with complaints of criminal activity perpetrated by members of the Union garrison at Fort Pillow. They told Forrest that many of the Colored troops at the fort were runaway slaves from the area, and were now engaged in a campaign of terror against their former owners; also that many of the white troops were local Tennesseans whom had deserted from the Confederate Army. Though attacking the fort would take him fifty miles out of his way, Forrest felt that if he ignored the citizen's complaints he would lose many new recruits to desertion before he could reach northern Mississippi. On April 10th, Forrest ordered General Chalmers to advance to Fort Pillow "to clean out the nest of outlaws."
As previously stated, the Union troops at Fort Pillow were estimated at 557, consisting of Bradford's 13th Tennessee or 14th Tennessee Cavalry, and Booth's battalion of heavy artillery. Chalmer's Division, consisted of two brigades, "Black Bob" McCullochs' and Tyree Bells', for a combined strength of 1,500 Confederates. Both of these brigades arrived in the vicinity of the fort early on the morning of April 12, 1864. By daybreak, McCulloch's men had captured the pickets and partially invested the south side of the fort. Union soldiers then abandoned the rifle pits and two light field pieces outside the redan, rushing into the fortified area. Major Booth was killed during this first early skirmish.
Forrest soon arrived on the scene, and after two hours of reconnoitering, placed his men in such a way that the fort was now completely surrounded by Confederates, leaving the Federals with their backs to the Mississippi. Confederate sharpshooters were positioned to give him complete control of any movements inside the fort. During this two hour time period, soldiers within the fort, who appeared to be drinking heavily, continued to shout tirades of verbiage. The gunboat USS New Era began shelling the Confederates at about one o'clock p.m., but withdrew after expanding its ammunition.
Under a white flag of truce, General Forrest sent Captain Walter A. Goodman to the fort with a note requesting surrender. "To Maj. Booth, as your gallant defense of the fort has entitled you to the treatment of brave men, I now demand an unconditional surrender of your force, assuring you at the same time that they will be treated as prisoners of war. I have received a fresh supply of ammunition, and can easily take your position. Should my demand be refused, I cannot be responsible for the fate of your command." At the time of this note, neither Forrest nor his men were aware of Major Booth's death. However, Forrest was undoubtedly aware of the hatred existing between his Tennessee troops and the Tennessee Unionists and Negro soldiers. By all accounts and the note, he was initially willing to treat them as prisoners of war
After a lapse of a few minutes, the fort sent back a reply: "Your demand does not produce the desired effect." The reply was signed with Major Booth's name.
Not caring for the answer, Forrest ordered a second note sent, stating that he must have a "yes" or "no" in plain English from Major Booth, and that "if I am compelled to butt my men against their works, it will be bad for them." In response to this, Major Bradford demanded proof that it was really Forrest personally who was present. Forrest rode forward, exposing himself to the fort and various insults and physical gestures from its occupants.
During this flag of truce, the Union Navy attempted to make a landing of several ships, while the New Era continued its shelling of Confederates. For a second time, the fort replied, Bradford still using the dead Booth's signature, requesting one hour to make his decision. Forrest, realizing the fort was purposely delaying, agreed to twenty minutes for a decision. To this, Bradford (under Booth's name) refused the fort's surrender.
With the fort's final rejection of the surrender, Forrest called to an orderly and said, "Tell Colonel Bell, commanding our right, that when he hears my orderly bugler sound the charge, to go over these works if he gets killed and every man in his command, and tell him that I don't want to hear of Missouri [being] left behind."
When the bugler rode to the top of the ridge he was met with a volley from the fort. But when he sounded the charge, the Confederates fired a volley and charged the works. Casualties among the cramped confines of the fort rose quickly. Many Union soldiers panicked and made a mad rush for the face of the bluff, hoping to reach the safety of the New Era. Instead, they found a withering fire from Barteau's regiment. Those who flung themselves into the river in an attempt to swim to safety, were either shot or drowned. Through-out this time, no defenders of the fort thought to cut down or lower the US flag. At about three o'clock, this was done by either Forrest or Chalmers. But though the fort was in obvious surrender, New Era, which had been resupplied with ammunition, continued to fire at the Confederates.
The battle for possession of the fort was short work for the attackers, yet personal vendettas between the attackers and defenders continued late into the afternoon. Major Bradford was taken prisoner Some post-war accounts state that the defenders of the fort who were recognized by Forrest's men to be Confederate deserters were sentenced on the spot and shot down. Others state that even after surrendering, Negro soldiers were told to kneel then shot in cold blood by Confederates. Both of these testimonials certainly have a ring of truth to them.
Among Bradford's command, 295 men, at least 64 of them are known to be former Confederate soldiers --an unusually high number by any standard. Of those 64, at least 17 of them were taken prisoner. A few survivors of the fort later testified that they had been conscripted by Forrest and had went to Fort Pillow to escape detection. Of Bradford's five companies, A, B, C & D were mustered into service at Columbus, Kentucky: Company E was enrolled in Haywood County, Tennessee, in early 1864 and had never officially been sworn into the United States Service. Company E suffered the greatest casualty rate at Fort Pillow.
Of the companies comprising Booth's battalion, Company A was recruited at Corinth, Mississippi; the other three--B,C, and D --were recruited in the state of Tennessee, in local counties surrounding the fort, and were almost all ex-slaves. Among the list of prisoners taken from the fort, all were from Company A; the company recruited outside of Tennessee. There was only one known survivor of Company D, 2nd US Light Artillery Regiment, which was recruited from the city of Memphis.
Several other factors, in reviewing the actions of the Confederates at Fort Pillow, can be taken into account. Forrest referred to the defenders of the fort as "outlaws" rather than the enemy. A reason for this may be the fact that Union soldiers of the fort were allowed to go in and out of the fort dressed in civilian clothing. This practice was a flagrant violation of US military policy but allowed the Union soldiers to engage in nefarious activities outside the fort. Also, at the time of the battle, the entire state of Tennessee still recognized the Fugitive Slave Law, it being outside the area of the Emancipation Proclamation imposed by Lincoln in 1863. The laws of the state of Tennessee had been and remained quite clear regarding slaves at the time of the battle; Those taken in arms could expect no mercy, as the laws call for shooting on sight.
The only existing official Confederate reports of the engagement are those prepared by Generals Forrest and Chalmers, neither mentioning any "massacre." Confederate casualties are listed as approximately ninety men killed and wounded. Both generals assert that much of the unnecessary killing was caused by individual Union troops, both Negro and white, who failed to stop firing and throw down their arms. In considering these statements, one must look at Forrest's previous conduct and character in military matters. Known to be a man of integrity, Forrest had three weeks prior to Fort Pillow, captured a similar Union garrison at Union City, Tennessee, but there was no similarities in the treatment of its garrison members.
A Union Army post surgeon, Dr. Charles Fitch of Iowa, exonerates both generals Forrest and Chalmers in his written account in 1879. Fitch points out that most of the killing was done under the bluff and unseen by Forrest and Chalmers, who were on top of the bluff. Fitch further defends Chalmers by saying that Chalmers tried to stop the killing.
At the end of May 1864, the Wade-Gooch report was published by the US House of Representatives. Shortly afterward, the entire Fort Pillow affair quickly faded from the public light. Was this a purpose effort to conceal facts and exposure of corruption in high places? Major Bradford was killed by Confederates, after being paroled in camp and attempting to escape in civilian clothing. His body was never found. Six days after Fort Pillow, General Hurlbut was relieved of command of the XVI U.S. Army Corps by Major General Cadwallader C. Washburn. Shortly afterwards, he was assigned to the command of the Department of the Gulf. Here Hurlbut again used his official position to continue furthering his own ends, much to the embarrassment of his friend, Lincoln. A special military commission recommended his arrest and requested a trial for corrupt practices, which was so ordered by Maj. Gen. Edward R. S. Canby. Nothing came of it and Hurlbut was honorably mustered out eventually. Was Fort Pillow a carefully contrived massacre? I'll let the reader draw their own conclusions to this age old question.
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