"The first word of trouble at Fort Pillow reached Memphis, some fifty miles to the south-southwest, around midday on Tuesday, April 12. The steamer 'Platte Valley,' already scheduled to make a run up the Mississippi River that would take it past the Union outpost, was allowed to proceed, but only with the gunboat, 'Silver Cloud,' as an escort. A pair of enterprising reporters for competing St. Louis dailies wrangled their way aboard the transport, which set out at 5:00 p.m., towing the smaller 'Silver Cloud' while boiler repairs were being completed on that vessel...
"The 'Silver Cloud' boldly steamed toward Fort Pillow, which was on a bluff near a bend in the river; the boat's gunners, certain that Rebels now controlled the fort, opened fire as soon as they came within range, and for the next two hours tried to provoke a response from the garrison.... Finally a white flag appeared, and a launch set out from the 'Platte Valley' with the two reporters aboard.
"The first thing they noticed was bodies scattered 'along the river and on the sides of the bluff.' The correspondent for the 'St. Louis Daily Union' counted fifty or sixty corpses and wondered how many more had floated off in the current. The party was met on shore by some Confederate officers, who readily agreed to let the men climb the bluff to the fort. Tramping up the steep slope, the writer for the 'St. Louis Missouri Democrat' observed that some guns had recently been hauled away from the small redoubt located at the top. He also noticed that the 'huts scattered around had been mostly burned up. In one of these were bodies of colored soldiers, partly burned, but whether or not by design, I cannot say.' The 'Daily Union' reporter asked his guides about the large number of dead black soldiers; he was told that though the officers regretted it, it was impossible for them to 'control the "rage" and "indignation" of their soldiers when they find their own slaves fighting against them.'
"Pillow itself 'was a miserably constructed affair' declared the 'Daily Union' reporter... His companion quickly spotted a glaring weakness in Pillow's location :'About thirty yards from the fort is a deep ravine, running all along the front, and so steep at the bottom as to be hidden from the fort and not commanded by its guns.'
"The reporters returned to the 'Platte Valley' badly shaken by all they had seen. To the utter disgust of the 'Missouri Democrat' writer, several Union officers traveling on the transport invited their Rebel counterparts to dinner. His colleague, meanwhile, could only think about the bodies and the destruction. 'I have witnessed many revolting results of war,' he wrote, ' but I can assure your readers that that the conduct of the rebels towards our little garrison, at Fort Pillow, beggars all description for fiendish brutality and savage treachery.'"
P. 156-157, "You Are Fighting Against Your Master," LIKE MEN OF WAR: BLACK TROOPS INVTHE CIVIL WAR, 1862-1865 by Noah Andre Trudeau (1998)
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
FT. PILLOW, TENNESSEE
"The first word of trouble at Fort Pillow reached Memphis, some fifty miles to the south-southwest, around midday on Tuesday, April 12. The steamer 'Platte Valley,' already scheduled to make a run up the Mississippi River that would take it past the Union outpost, was allowed to proceed, but only with the gunboat, 'Silver Cloud,' as an escort. A pair of enterprising reporters for competing St. Louis dailies wrangled their way aboard the transport, which set out at 5:00 p.m., towing the smaller 'Silver Cloud' while boiler repairs were being completed on that vessel...
"The 'Silver Cloud' boldly steamed toward Fort Pillow, which was on a bluff near a bend in the river; the boat's gunners, certain that Rebels now controlled the fort, opened fire as soon as they came within range, and for the next two hours tried to provoke a response from the garrison.... Finally a white flag appeared, and a launch set out from the 'Platte Valley' with the two reporters aboard.
"The first thing they noticed was bodies scattered 'along the river and on the sides of the bluff.' The correspondent for the 'St. Louis Daily Union' counted fifty or sixty corpses and wondered how many more had floated off in the current. The party was met on shore by some Confederate officers, who readily agreed to let the men climb the bluff to the fort. Tramping up the steep slope, the writer for the 'St. Louis Missouri Democrat' observed that some guns had recently been hauled away from the small redoubt located at the top. He also noticed that the 'huts scattered around had been mostly burned up. In one of these were bodies of colored soldiers, partly burned, but whether or not by design, I cannot say.' The 'Daily Union' reporter asked his guides about the large number of dead black soldiers; he was told that though the officers regretted it, it was impossible for them to 'control the "rage" and "indignation" of their soldiers when they find their own slaves fighting against them.'
"Pillow itself 'was a miserably constructed affair' declared the 'Daily Union' reporter... His companion quickly spotted a glaring weakness in Pillow's location :'About thirty yards from the fort is a deep ravine, running all along the front, and so steep at the bottom as to be hidden from the fort and not commanded by its guns.'
"The reporters returned to the 'Platte Valley' badly shaken by all they had seen. To the utter disgust of the 'Missouri Democrat' writer, several Union officers traveling on the transport invited their Rebel counterparts to dinner. His colleague, meanwhile, could only think about the bodies and the destruction. 'I have witnessed many revolting results of war,' he wrote, ' but I can assure your readers that that the conduct of the rebels towards our little garrison, at Fort Pillow, beggars all description for fiendish brutality and savage treachery.'"
P. 156-157, "You Are Fighting Against Your Master," LIKE MEN OF WAR: BLACK TROOPS INVTHE CIVIL WAR, 1862-1865 by Noah Andre Trudeau (1998)
