CHAPTER X.

SERVING REFRESHMENTS TO UNION TROOPS.SERVING REFRESHMENTS TO UNION TROOPS.

Having accomplished their mission, the Federals about faced for Marion, where they met with a large force of confederates under Breckenridge, including the garrison of Saltville. Now came the decisive struggle for the Salt Works between the two forces. The Federals had been enjoying their signal victory, which they now attempted to enhance by pressing the enemy, who had crossed a bridge and there taken up a position. During the night an advance regiment succeeded in crossing the bridge, after re-laying the planks which the confederates had torn up, but they were driven back, and there remained till the next morning. The 6th Phalanx was assigned its usual position, and was held in reserve. The battle opened in the morning, and continued with varying success during the day. Late in the afternoon General Stoneman found his troops badly beaten, and unable to extricate themselves from the confederate coil; they were not the "Old Guard," and the question with them was not "victory or death," but surrender or death. Nor was this long a question. General Stoneman ordered up the 6th Phalanx, dividing them into three columns, placing himself at the head of one, and giving one each to Colonel Wade, (their valiant colonel), and his chief of staff, General Brisbin. The regiment dashed into the fight for the rescue of the pro-slavery Kentuckians and haughty Tennesseeians, who were now nearly annihilated. The historian of this campaign, General Brisbin, who but a day or two previous to this battle had attempted to shoot one of the brave blackboys of the 6th for retaliating for the murder of one of his comrades by shooting a confederate prisoner, thus writes, twenty-two years afterwards, about the battle and the conduct of the 6th:

"Early in the day General Stoneman had sent General Gillem off to the right with orders to get in Breckenridge's rear and if possible cut him off from the salt works. It was believed the Kentucky troops could handle Breckenridge until Gillem could strike in the rear, but the action in front about noon became terrific and Gillem was recalled to aid Burbridge. Our right flank had been driven back and our extreme left was almost at right angles with the original position held early in the morning. To add to our misfortunes, a party of Confederate cavalry had got in our rear and captured some of our pack train. The packers had at one time become demoralized and fell back almost into the hands of the Confederates operating in our rear. General Burbridge saw the movement, and drawing his revolver placed himself in front of the leading packs and ordered them back, but the crazy men kept on until the General wounded the man who was leading them off, and with the aid of some officers who used their sabres freely, the packs were forced back into the timber close to our lines and compelled to stay there. Thus over five hundred packs and animals were saved to the army by the prompt action of the General and his aids."At 3:30 o'clock the situation was critical in the extreme. Colonel Boyle had been killed in leading a charge and his regiment repulsed. The Twelfth Ohio Cavalry had promptly come to Boyle's support and checked the confederates, who were coming into our centre. The hospital in our rear, where our sick were, had been charged, and for a short time was in the hands of the enemy. Burbridge and Stoneman had their headquarters on a little knoll near the centre of our line, where they could see the fighting. The Confederate right, in swinging around, had covered this hill and it was no longer tenable. A lieutenant, in reporting to General Burbridge on this knoll, had been shot by a Confederate rifleman through the head and fell dead at the General's feet. Orderlies, horses and men were being shot down, and I begged General Burbridge to retire. He asked me if there were no more troops we could bring up and put into action. I told him all we had left was the Sixth United States Colored Cavalry and the horse-holders. He said:"'Well, go and bring up the negroes and tell everybody to tie the horses as well as they can. We might as well lose them as to be whipped, when we will lose them anyway.'"I made haste to bring up the Sixth Colored and all the horse-holders I could get. The Sixth Colored was a fine regiment, but few had faith in the fighting qualities of the negroes. General Burbridge divided them into three columns, and taking one himself gave the other two to General Wade and myself. Wade had the right, Burbridge the left and I was in the centre. Wade got off first and sailed in in gallant style.Burbridge piled his overcoat on the ground, and drawing his sword led his column forward. The men were all on foot and most of the officers. But few were mounted. It was unpleasant riding under fire where so many were on foot. Wade's horse was soon shot, but he kept on with his men, leading on foot. Looking to the left I saw Burbridge surrounded by a black crowd of men, his form towering above them and his sword pointing to the enemy. Wade was first to strike the Confederate line. They fired and fired, but the darkies kept straight on, closing for a hand-to-hand fight. Then the cry was raised along the Confederate lines that the negroes were killing the wounded. Wade went through the Confederate line like an iron wedge, and it broke and fled. Burbridge hit hard, but the insistence was less stubborn than in Wade's front. Of my own part in the action I prefer not to write. Suffice it to say that never did soldiers do better on any battle-field than the black men I led that day."When their guns were empty they clubbed them, and I saw one negro fighting with a gun barrel, swinging it about his head like a club, and going straight for the enemy. He did not hit anybody for nobody waited to be hit, but some of the Confederates jumped fully fifteen feet down the opposite side of that hill to get out of the way of the negroes, and I would have jumped too, probably, if I had been on their side, for I never yet saw anything in battle so terrible as an infuriated negro."Gillem returned just as night was putting an end to the fighting and in the approaching darkness we mistook his column for a new column of the enemy coming in on our right and rear. Burbridge hurried back with his victorious negroes and was about to advance with the Twelfth Ohio Cavalry and Eleventh Michigan, when the glad news came that the supposed Confederates were Gillem's column returning to our support."During the night Breckenridge retreated in the direction of the salt works, but Colonel Buckley, returning from the direction of the lead mines with his brigade, and having got in Breckenridge's rear at Seven Mile Ford, charged his advance, capturing ten prisoners. Breckenridge, no doubt thinking he had been outflanked and was about to be enclosed between two columns, abandoned all idea of going to the salt works and put back in confusion to Marion, where he took the North Carolina road and fled over the mountains. Colonel Bentley, with his Twelfth Ohio, was sent up with Breckenridge's rear. The Confederates felled trees across the road to retard Bentley's advance, but he cleared them out and he and his gallant regiment hammered Breckenridge's rear all the way into North Carolina."

"At 3:30 o'clock the situation was critical in the extreme. Colonel Boyle had been killed in leading a charge and his regiment repulsed. The Twelfth Ohio Cavalry had promptly come to Boyle's support and checked the confederates, who were coming into our centre. The hospital in our rear, where our sick were, had been charged, and for a short time was in the hands of the enemy. Burbridge and Stoneman had their headquarters on a little knoll near the centre of our line, where they could see the fighting. The Confederate right, in swinging around, had covered this hill and it was no longer tenable. A lieutenant, in reporting to General Burbridge on this knoll, had been shot by a Confederate rifleman through the head and fell dead at the General's feet. Orderlies, horses and men were being shot down, and I begged General Burbridge to retire. He asked me if there were no more troops we could bring up and put into action. I told him all we had left was the Sixth United States Colored Cavalry and the horse-holders. He said:

"'Well, go and bring up the negroes and tell everybody to tie the horses as well as they can. We might as well lose them as to be whipped, when we will lose them anyway.'

"I made haste to bring up the Sixth Colored and all the horse-holders I could get. The Sixth Colored was a fine regiment, but few had faith in the fighting qualities of the negroes. General Burbridge divided them into three columns, and taking one himself gave the other two to General Wade and myself. Wade had the right, Burbridge the left and I was in the centre. Wade got off first and sailed in in gallant style.Burbridge piled his overcoat on the ground, and drawing his sword led his column forward. The men were all on foot and most of the officers. But few were mounted. It was unpleasant riding under fire where so many were on foot. Wade's horse was soon shot, but he kept on with his men, leading on foot. Looking to the left I saw Burbridge surrounded by a black crowd of men, his form towering above them and his sword pointing to the enemy. Wade was first to strike the Confederate line. They fired and fired, but the darkies kept straight on, closing for a hand-to-hand fight. Then the cry was raised along the Confederate lines that the negroes were killing the wounded. Wade went through the Confederate line like an iron wedge, and it broke and fled. Burbridge hit hard, but the insistence was less stubborn than in Wade's front. Of my own part in the action I prefer not to write. Suffice it to say that never did soldiers do better on any battle-field than the black men I led that day.

"When their guns were empty they clubbed them, and I saw one negro fighting with a gun barrel, swinging it about his head like a club, and going straight for the enemy. He did not hit anybody for nobody waited to be hit, but some of the Confederates jumped fully fifteen feet down the opposite side of that hill to get out of the way of the negroes, and I would have jumped too, probably, if I had been on their side, for I never yet saw anything in battle so terrible as an infuriated negro.

"Gillem returned just as night was putting an end to the fighting and in the approaching darkness we mistook his column for a new column of the enemy coming in on our right and rear. Burbridge hurried back with his victorious negroes and was about to advance with the Twelfth Ohio Cavalry and Eleventh Michigan, when the glad news came that the supposed Confederates were Gillem's column returning to our support.

"During the night Breckenridge retreated in the direction of the salt works, but Colonel Buckley, returning from the direction of the lead mines with his brigade, and having got in Breckenridge's rear at Seven Mile Ford, charged his advance, capturing ten prisoners. Breckenridge, no doubt thinking he had been outflanked and was about to be enclosed between two columns, abandoned all idea of going to the salt works and put back in confusion to Marion, where he took the North Carolina road and fled over the mountains. Colonel Bentley, with his Twelfth Ohio, was sent up with Breckenridge's rear. The Confederates felled trees across the road to retard Bentley's advance, but he cleared them out and he and his gallant regiment hammered Breckenridge's rear all the way into North Carolina."

The road to the Salt Works was thus opened and their destruction accomplished by the bravery and matchless valor of the gallant Sixth. Many of the regiment forfeited their lives in rescuing the force from defeat, andsecuring a victory; those who survived the terrible struggle no longer had opprobrious epithets hurled at them, but modestly received the just encomiums that were showered upon them by the white troops, who, amid the huzzas of victory, greeted them with loud shouts of "Comrades!"

General Brisbin, continuing, says:

"There were many instances of personal bravery, but I shall only mention one. A negro soldier had got a stump quite close to the Confederate line, and despite all efforts to dislodge him, there he stuck, picking off their men. The Confederates charged the stump, but the Federal line observing it concentrated their fire on the advancing men and drove them back. Then there were long and loud cheers for the brave darkey, who stuck to his stump and fired away with a regularity that was wonderful. His stump was riddled with bullets, but he stuck to it, although he was at times nearer the Confederate lines than our own."

SCOUTS

It was not long after each army received its quota of Phalanx soldiers, before the white troops began regarding them much as Napoleon's troops did the Imperial Guard, their main support. When a regiment of the Phalanx went into a fight, every white soldier knew what was meant, for the black troops took no ordinary part in a battle. Where the conflict was hottest; where danger was most imminent, there the Phalanx went; and when victory poised, as it often did, between the contending sides, the weight of the Phalanx was frequently thrown into the balancing scales; if some strong work or dangerous battery had to be taken, whether with the bayonet alone or hand grenade or sabre, the Phalanx was likely to be in the charging column, or formed a part of the storming brigade.

The confederates were no cowards; braver men never bit cartridge or fired a gun, and when they were to meet "their slaves," as they believed, in revolt, why, of course, honor forbade them to ask or give quarter. This fact was known to all, for, as yet, though hundreds had been captured, none had been found on parole, or among the exchanged prisoners. General Grant's attention was called to this immediately after the fight at Milliken's Bend, where the officers of the Phalanx, as well as soldiers, had been captured and hung. Grant wrote Gen. Taylor, commanding the confederate forces in Louisiana, as follows:

"I feel no inclination to retaliate for offences of irresponsible persons, but, if it is the policy of any general intrusted with the command of troops, to show no quarter, or to punish with death, prisoners taken in battle,I will accept the issue. It may be you propose a different line of policy to black troops, and officers commanding them, to that practiced toward white troops. If so, I can assure you that these colored troops are regularly mustered into the service of the United States. The government, and all officers under the government, are bound to give the same protection to these troops that they do to any other troops."

General Taylor replied that he would punish all such acts, "disgraceful alike to humanity and the reputation of soldiers," but declared that officers of the "Confederate Army" were required to turn over to the civil authorities, to be dealt with according to the laws of the State wherein such were captured, all negroes taken in arms.

As early as December, 1862, incensed by General Butler's administration at New Orleans in the arming of negroes, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate Government, issued the following proclamation:

"First.—That all commissioned officers in the command of said Benjamin F. Butler be declared not entitled to be considered as soldiers engaged in honorable warfare, but as robbers and criminals, deserving death; and that they, and each of them, be, whenever captured, reserved for execution."Second.—That the private soldiers and non-commissioned officers in the army of said Benj. F. Butler, be considered as only instruments used for the commission of crimes, perpetrated by his orders, and not as free agents; that they, therefore, be treated when captured as prisoners of war, with kindness and humanity, and be sent home on the usual parole; that they will in no manner aid or serve the United States in any capacity during the continuance of war, unless duly exchanged."Third.—That all negro slaves captured in arms be at once delivered over to the executive authorities, of the respective States to which they belong, and to be dealt with according to the laws of said States."Fourth.—That the like orders be executed in all cases with respect to all commissioned officers of the United States when found serving in company with said slaves in insurrection against the authorities of the different States of this Confederacy.

"Second.—That the private soldiers and non-commissioned officers in the army of said Benj. F. Butler, be considered as only instruments used for the commission of crimes, perpetrated by his orders, and not as free agents; that they, therefore, be treated when captured as prisoners of war, with kindness and humanity, and be sent home on the usual parole; that they will in no manner aid or serve the United States in any capacity during the continuance of war, unless duly exchanged.

"Third.—That all negro slaves captured in arms be at once delivered over to the executive authorities, of the respective States to which they belong, and to be dealt with according to the laws of said States.

"Fourth.—That the like orders be executed in all cases with respect to all commissioned officers of the United States when found serving in company with said slaves in insurrection against the authorities of the different States of this Confederacy.

"Signed and sealed at Richmond, Dec. 23, 1862."JEFFERSON DAVIS."

"Signed and sealed at Richmond, Dec. 23, 1862.

"JEFFERSON DAVIS."

This Proclamation was the hoisting of the black flag against the Phalanx, by which Mr. Davis expected to bring about a war of extermination against the negro soldiers.[28]

In his third annual message to the Confederate Congress, Mr. Davis said:

"We may well leave it to the instincts of that common humanity which a beneficient creator has implanted in the breasts of our fellowmen of all countries to pass judgment on a measure by which several millions of human beings of an inferior race—peaceful and contented laborers in their sphere—are doomed to extermination, while at the same time they are encouraged to a general assassination of their masters by the insiduous recommendation to abstain from violence unless in necessary defence. Our own detestation of those who have attempted the most execrable measures recorded in the history of guilty man is tempered by profound contempt for the impotent rage which it discloses. So far as regards the action of this government on such criminals as may attempt its execution, I confine myself to informing you that I shall—unless in your wisdom you deem some other course expedient—deliver to the several State authorities all commissioned officers of the United States that may hereafter be captured by our forces in any of the States embraced in the Proclamation, that they may be dealt with in accordance with the laws of those States providing for the punishment of criminals engaged in exciting servile insurrection. The enlisted soldiers I shall continue to treat as unwilling instruments in the commission of these crimes, and shall direct their discharge and return to their homes on the proper and usual parole."

The confederate Congress soon took up the subject, and after a protracted consideration passed the following:

"Resolved, By the Congress of the Confederate States of America, in response to the message of the President, transmitted to Congress at the commencement of the present session. That, in the opinion of Congress, the commissioned officers of the enemyoughtnot to be delivered to the authorities of the respective States, as suggested in the said message, but all captives taken by the confederate forces, ought to be dealt with and disposed of by the Confederate Government."Sec. 2.—That in the judgment of Congress, the Proclamations of the President of the United States, dated respectively September 22nd, 1862, and January 1st, 1863, and other measures of the Government of the United States, and of its authorities, commanders and forces, designed or intended to emancipate slaves in the Confederate States, or to abduct such slaves, or to incite them to insurrection, or to employ negroes in war against the Confederate States, or to overthrow the institution of African slavery and bring on a servile war in these States, would, if successful, produce atrocious consequences, and they are inconsistent with the spirit of those usages which, in modern warfare, prevail among the civilized nations; they may therefore be lawfully suppressed by retaliation."Sec. 3.—That in every case wherein, during the war, any violation of the laws and usages of war among civilized nations shall be, or has been done and perpetrated by those acting under the authority of the United States, on the persons or property of citizens of the Confederate States, or of those under the protection or in the land or naval service of the Confederate States, or of any State of the Confederacy, the Presidentof the Confederate States is hereby authorized to cause full and ample retaliation to be made for every such violation, in such manner and to such extent as he may think proper."Sec. 4.—That every white person, being a commissioned officer, or acting as such, who during the present war shall command negroes or mulattoes in arms against the Confederate States, or who shall arm, train, organize or prepare negroes or mulattoes for military service against the Confederate States, or who shall voluntarily use negroes or mulattoes in any military enterprise, attack or conflict, in such service, shall be deemed as inciting servile insurrection, and shall, if captured, be put to death, or to be otherwise punished at the discretion of the court."Sec. 5.—Every person, being a commissioned officer, or acting as such in the service of the enemy, who shall during the present war, excite, attempt to excite, or cause to be excited a servile insurrection, or who shall incite, or cause to be incited a slave to rebel, shall, if captured, be put to death, or otherwise punished at the discretion of the court."Sec. 6.—Every person charged with an offence punishable under the preceeding resolutions shall, during the present war, be tried before the military court, attached to the army or corps by the troops of which he shall have been captured, or by such other military court as the President may direct, and in such manner and under such regulations as the President shall prescribe; and after conviction, the President may commute the punishment in such manner and on such terms as he may deem proper."Sec. 7.—All negroes and mulattoes who shall be engaged in war, or be taken in arms against the Confederate States, or shall give aid or comfort to the enemies of the Confederate States, shall, where captured in the Confederate States, be delivered to authorities of the State or States in which they shall be captured, to be dealt with according to such present or future laws of such State or States."

"Sec. 2.—That in the judgment of Congress, the Proclamations of the President of the United States, dated respectively September 22nd, 1862, and January 1st, 1863, and other measures of the Government of the United States, and of its authorities, commanders and forces, designed or intended to emancipate slaves in the Confederate States, or to abduct such slaves, or to incite them to insurrection, or to employ negroes in war against the Confederate States, or to overthrow the institution of African slavery and bring on a servile war in these States, would, if successful, produce atrocious consequences, and they are inconsistent with the spirit of those usages which, in modern warfare, prevail among the civilized nations; they may therefore be lawfully suppressed by retaliation.

"Sec. 3.—That in every case wherein, during the war, any violation of the laws and usages of war among civilized nations shall be, or has been done and perpetrated by those acting under the authority of the United States, on the persons or property of citizens of the Confederate States, or of those under the protection or in the land or naval service of the Confederate States, or of any State of the Confederacy, the Presidentof the Confederate States is hereby authorized to cause full and ample retaliation to be made for every such violation, in such manner and to such extent as he may think proper.

"Sec. 4.—That every white person, being a commissioned officer, or acting as such, who during the present war shall command negroes or mulattoes in arms against the Confederate States, or who shall arm, train, organize or prepare negroes or mulattoes for military service against the Confederate States, or who shall voluntarily use negroes or mulattoes in any military enterprise, attack or conflict, in such service, shall be deemed as inciting servile insurrection, and shall, if captured, be put to death, or to be otherwise punished at the discretion of the court.

"Sec. 5.—Every person, being a commissioned officer, or acting as such in the service of the enemy, who shall during the present war, excite, attempt to excite, or cause to be excited a servile insurrection, or who shall incite, or cause to be incited a slave to rebel, shall, if captured, be put to death, or otherwise punished at the discretion of the court.

"Sec. 6.—Every person charged with an offence punishable under the preceeding resolutions shall, during the present war, be tried before the military court, attached to the army or corps by the troops of which he shall have been captured, or by such other military court as the President may direct, and in such manner and under such regulations as the President shall prescribe; and after conviction, the President may commute the punishment in such manner and on such terms as he may deem proper.

"Sec. 7.—All negroes and mulattoes who shall be engaged in war, or be taken in arms against the Confederate States, or shall give aid or comfort to the enemies of the Confederate States, shall, where captured in the Confederate States, be delivered to authorities of the State or States in which they shall be captured, to be dealt with according to such present or future laws of such State or States."

In March, 1863, this same Confederate Congress enacted the following order to regulate the impressment of negroes for army purposes:

"Sec. 9.—Where slaves are impressed by the Confederate Government, to labor on fortifications, or other public works, the impressment shall be made by said Government according to the rules and regulations provided in the laws of the States wherein they are impressed; and, in the absence of such law, in accordance with such rules and regulations not inconsistent with the provisions of this act, as the Secretary of War shall from time to time prescribe;Provided, That no impressment of slaves shall be made, when they can be hired or procured by the owner or agent."Sec. 10.—That, previous to the 1st day of December next, no slave laboring on a farm or plantation, exclusively devoted to the production of grain and provisions, shall be taken for the public use, without the consent of the owner, except in case of urgent necessity."

"Sec. 10.—That, previous to the 1st day of December next, no slave laboring on a farm or plantation, exclusively devoted to the production of grain and provisions, shall be taken for the public use, without the consent of the owner, except in case of urgent necessity."

Thus it is apparent that while the Confederate Government was holding aloft the black flag, even against the Northern Phalanx regiments composed of men who were never slaves, it was at the same time engaged in enrolling and conscripting slaves to work on fortifications and in trenches, in support of their rebellion against the United States, and at a period when negro troops were not accepted in the army of the United States.

Soon after the admission of negroes into the Union army, it was reported to Secretary Stanton that three negro soldiers, captured with the gunboat "Isaac Smith," on Stone river, were placed in close confinement, whereupon he ordered three confederate prisoners belonging to South Carolina to be placed in close confinement, and informed the Confederate Government of the action. The RichmondExaminerbecoming cognizant of this said:

"It is not merely the pretension of a regular Government affecting to deal with 'rebels,' but it is a deadly stab which they are aiming at our institutions themselves; because they know that, if we were insane enough to yield this point, to treat black men as the equals of white, and insurgent slaves as equivalent to our brave white soldiers, the very foundation of slavery would be fatally wounded."

Several black soldiers were captured in an engagement before Charleston, and when it came to an exchange of prisoners, though an immediate exchange of all captured in the engagement had been agreed upon, the confederates would not exchange the negro troops. To this the President's attention was called, whereupon he issued the following order:

"Executive Mansion, Washington, July 30th, 1863."It is the duty of every government to give protection to its citizens, of whatever color, class, or condition, and especially to those who are duly organized as soldiers in the public service. The law of nations and the usages and customs of war, as carried on by civilized powers, permit no distinction as to color in the treatment of prisoners of war, as public enemies. To sell or enslave any captured person, on account of his color, and for no offense against the laws of war, is a relapse into barbarism, and a crime against the civilization of the age. The government of the United States will give the same protection to all its soldiers; and if the enemy shall enslave or sell any one because of his color, the offense shall be punished by retaliation upon the enemy's prisoners inour possession. It is therefore ordered that for every soldier of the United States killed in violation of the laws of war, a rebel soldier shall be executed, and for every one enslaved by the enemy or sold into slavery, a rebel soldier shall be placed at hard labor on public works, and continued at such labor until the other shall be released and receive the treatment due to a prisoner of war.

"Executive Mansion, Washington, July 30th, 1863.

"It is the duty of every government to give protection to its citizens, of whatever color, class, or condition, and especially to those who are duly organized as soldiers in the public service. The law of nations and the usages and customs of war, as carried on by civilized powers, permit no distinction as to color in the treatment of prisoners of war, as public enemies. To sell or enslave any captured person, on account of his color, and for no offense against the laws of war, is a relapse into barbarism, and a crime against the civilization of the age. The government of the United States will give the same protection to all its soldiers; and if the enemy shall enslave or sell any one because of his color, the offense shall be punished by retaliation upon the enemy's prisoners inour possession. It is therefore ordered that for every soldier of the United States killed in violation of the laws of war, a rebel soldier shall be executed, and for every one enslaved by the enemy or sold into slavery, a rebel soldier shall be placed at hard labor on public works, and continued at such labor until the other shall be released and receive the treatment due to a prisoner of war.

"ABRAHAM LINCOLN,"By order of the Secretary of War."E. D. Townsend, Ass't. Adjt.-General."

"ABRAHAM LINCOLN,

"By order of the Secretary of War.

"E. D. Townsend, Ass't. Adjt.-General."

However, this order did not prevent the carrying out of the intentions of the confederate President and Congress.

The saddest and blackest chapter of the history of the war of the Rebellion, is that which relates to the treatment of Union prisoners in the rebel prison pens, at Macon, Ga., Belle Island, Castle Thunder, Pemberton, Libbey, at and near Richmond and Danville, Va., Cahawba, Ala., Salisbury, N. C., Tyler, Texas, Florida, Columbia, S. C., Millen and Andersonville, Ga. It is not the purpose to attempt a general description of these modern charnel houses, or to enter into a detailed statement of the treatment of the Union soldiers who were unfortunate enough to escape death upon the battle-field and then fall captive to the confederates. When we consider the fact that the white men who were engaged in the war upon both sides, belonged to one nation, and were Americans, many of whom had been educated at the same schools, and many—very many—of them members of the same religious denominations, and church; not a few springing from the same stock and loins, the atrocities committed by the confederates against the Union soldiers, while in their custody as prisoners of war, makes their deeds more shocking and inhuman than if the contestants had been of a different nationality.

TERRIBLE FIGHT WITH BLOODHOUNDS.TERRIBLE FIGHT WITH BLOODHOUNDS.The 1st South Carolina Regiment was attacked by the Confederates with bloodhounds, at Pocaralago Bridge, Oct. 23rd, 1862. The hounds rushed fiercely upon the troops, who quickly shot or bayoneted them and exultingly held aloft the beasts that had been so long a terror to the negro race.

The English soldiers who lashed the Sepoys to the mouths of their cannon, and then fired the pieces, thus cruelly murdering the captured rebels, offered the plea, in mitigation of their crime, and as an excuse for violating the rules of war, that their subjects were not of a civilized nation, and did not themselves adhere to the laws governing civilized nations at war with each other. But no such plea can be entered in the case of the confederates, who starved, shot and murdered 80,000 of their brethren in prison pens, white prisoners of war. If such treatment was meted to those of their own color and race, as is related by an investigating committee of Senators, what must have been the treatment of those of another race,—whom they had held in slavery, and whom they regarded the same as sheep and horses, to be bought and sold at will,—when captured in battle, fighting against them for the Union and their own freedom?

The report of the Congressional Committee furnishes ample proof of the barbarities:

38th Congress,}{Rep. Com.1st Session.}{No. 68.

"IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES."Report of the Joint Committee on the Conduct and Expenditures of the War."On the 4th inst., your committee received a communication of that date from the Secretary of War, enclosing the report of Colonel Hoffman, commissary general of prisoners, dated May 3, calling the attention of the committee to the condition of returned Union prisoners, with the request that the committee would immediately proceed to Annapolis and examine with their own eyes the condition of those who have been returned from rebel captivity. The committee resolved that they would comply with the request of the Secretary of War on the first opportunity. The 5th of May was devoted by the committee to concluding their labors upon the investigation of the Fort Pillow massacre. On the 6th of May, however, the committee proceeded to Annapolis and Baltimore, and examined the condition of our returned soldiers, and took the testimony of several of them, together with the testimony of surgeons and other persons in attendance upon the hospitals. That testimony, with the communication of the Secretary of War, and the report of Colonel Hoffman, is herewith transmitted."The evidence proves, beyond all manner of doubt, a determination on the part of the rebel authorities, deliberately and persistently practiced for a long time past, to subject those of our soldiers who have been so unfortunate as to fall in their hands to a system of treatment which has resulted in reducing many of those who have survived and been permitted to return to us in a condition, both physically and mentally, which no language we can use can adequately describe. Though nearly all the patients now in the Naval Academy hospital at Annapolis, and inthe West hospital, in Baltimore, have been under the kindest and most intelligent treatment for about three weeks past, and many of them for a greater length of time, still they present literally the appearance of living skeletons, many of them being nothing but skin and bone; some of them are maimed for life, having been frozen while exposed to the inclemency of the winter season on Belle Isle, being compelled to lie on the bare ground, without tents or blankets, some of them without overcoats or even coats, with but little fire to mitigate the severity of the winds and storms to which they were exposed."The testimony shows that the general practice of their captors was to rob them, as soon as they were taken prisoners, of all their money, valuables, blankets, and good clothing, for which they received nothing in exchange except, perhaps, some old worn-out rebel clothing hardly better than none at all. Upon their arrival at Richmond they have been confined, without blankets or other covering, in buildings without fire, or upon Belle Isle with, in many cases, no shelter, and in others with nothing but old discarded army tents, so injured by rents and holes as to present but little barrier to the wind and storms; on several occasions, the witnesses say, they have arisen in the morning from their resting-places upon the bare earth, and found several of their comrades frozen to death during the night, and that many others would have met the same fate had they not walked rapidly back and forth, during the hours which should have been devoted to sleep, for the purpose of retaining sufficient warmth to preserve life."In respect to the food furnished to our men by the rebel authorities, the testimony proves that the ration of each man was totally insufficient in quantity to preserve the health of a child, even had it been of proper quality, which it was not. It consisted usually, at the most, of two small pieces of corn-bread, made in many instances, as the witnesses state, of corn and cobs ground together, and badly prepared and cooked, of, at times, about two ounces of meat, usually of poor quality, and unfit to be eaten, and occasionally a few black worm-eaten beans, or something of that kind. Many of your men were compelled to sell to their guards, and others, for what price they could get, such clothing and blankets as they were permitted to receive of that forwarded for their use by our government, in order to obtain additional food sufficient to sustain life; thus, by endeavoring to avoid one privation reducing themselves to the same destitute condition in respect to clothing and covering that they were in before they received any from our government. When they became sick and diseased in consequence of this exposure and privation, and were admitted into the hospitals, their treatment was little if any, improved as to food, though they, doubtless, suffered less from exposure to cold than before. Their food still remained insufficient in quantity and altogether unfit in quality. Their diseases and wounds did not receive the treatment which the commonest dictates of humanity would have prompted. One witness, whom your committee examined, who had lost all the toes of one foot from being frozen while onBelle Isle, states that for days at a time his wounds were not dressed, and they had not been dressed for four days when he was taken from the hospital and carried on the flag-of-truce boat for Fortress Monroe."In reference to the condition to which our men were reduced by cold and hunger, your committee would call attention to the following extracts from the testimony. One witness testifies:"'I had no blankets until our Government sent us some."'Question.—How did you sleep before you received those blankets?"'Answer.—We used to get together just as close as we could, and sleep spoon-fashion, so that when one turned over we all had to turn over.'"Another witness testifies:"'Question.—Were you hungry all the time?"'Answer.—Hungry! I could eat anything that came before us; some of the boys would get boxes from the North with meat of different kinds in them; and, after they had picked the meat off, they would throw the bones away into the spit-boxes, and we would pick the bones out of the spit-boxes and gnaw them over again.'"In addition to this insufficient supply of food, clothing and shelter, our soldiers, while prisoners, have been subjected to the most cruel treatment from those placed over them. They have been abused and shamefully treated on almost every opportunity. Many have been mercilessly shot and killed when they failed to comply with all the demands of their jailors, sometimes for violating rules of which they had not been informed. Crowded in great numbers in buildings, they have been fired at and killed by the sentinels outside when they appeared at the windows for the purpose of obtaining a little fresh air. One man, whose comrade in the service, in battle and in captivity, had been so fortunate as to be among those released from further torments, was shot dead as he was waving with his hand a last adieu to his friend; and other instances of equally unprovoked murder are disclosed by the testimony."The condition of our returned soldiers as regards personal cleanliness, has been filthy almost beyond description. Their clothes have been so dirty and so covered with vermin, that those who received them have been compelled to destroy their clothing and re-clothe them with new and clean raiment. Their bodies and heads have been so infested with vermin that, in some instances, repeated washings have failed to remove them; and those who have received them in charge have been compelled to cut all the hair from their heads, and make applications to destroy the vermin. Some have been received with no clothing but shirts and drawers and a piece of blanket or other outside covering, entirely destitute of coats, hats, shoes or stockings; and the bodies of those better supplied with clothing have been equally dirty and filthy with the others, many who have been sick and in the hospital having had no opportunity to wash their bodies for weeks and months before they were released from captivity."Your committee are unable to convey any adequate idea of the sad and deplorable condition of the men they saw in the hospitals theyvisited; and the testimony they have taken cannot convey to the reader the impressions which your committee there received. The persons we saw, as we were assured by those in charge of them, have greatly improved since they have been received in the hospitals. Yet they are now dying daily, one of them being in the very throes of death as your committee stood by his bed-side and witnessed the sad spectacle there presented. All those whom your committee examined stated that they have been thus reduced and emaciated entirely in consequence of the merciless treatment they received while prisoners from their enemies; and the physicians in charge of them, the men best fitted by their profession and experience to express an opinion upon the subject, all say that they have no doubt that the statements of their patients are entirely correct."It will be observed from the testimony, that all the witnesses who testify upon that point state that the treatment they received while confined at Columbia, South Carolina, Dalton, Georgia, and other places, was far more humane than that they received at Richmond, where the authorities of the so-called confederacy were congregated, and where the power existed, had the inclination not been wanting, to reform those abuses and secure to the prisoners they held some treatment that would bear a public comparison to that accorded by our authorities to the prisoners in our custody. Your committee, therefore, are constrained to say that they can hardly avoid the conclusion, expressed by so many of our released soldiers, that the inhuman practices herein referred to are the result of a determination on the part of the rebel authorities to reduce our soldiers in their power, by privation of food and clothing, and by exposure, to such a condition that those who may survive shall never recover so as to be able to render any effective service in the field. And your committee accordingly ask that this report, with the accompanying testimony be printed with the report and testimony [which was accordingly done] in relation to the massacre of Fort Pillow, the one being, in their opinion, no less than the other, the result of a predetermined policy. As regards the assertions of some of the rebel newspapers, that our prisoners have received at their hands the same treatment that their own soldiers in the field have received, they are evidently but the most glaring and unblushing falsehoods. No one can for a moment be deceived by such statements, who will reflect that our soldiers, who, when taken prisoners, have been stout, healthy men, in the prime and vigor of life, yet have died by hundreds under the treatment they have received, although required to perform no duties of the camp or the march; while the rebel soldiers are able to make long and rapid marches, and to offer a stubborn resistance in the field."Your committee, finding it impossible to describe in words the deplorable condition of these returned prisoners, have caused photographs to be taken of a number of them, and a fair sample to be lithographed and appended to their report, that their exact condition may be known by all who examine it. Some of them have since died."There is one feature connected with this investigation, to whichyour committee can refer with pride and satisfaction; and that is the uncomplaining fortitude, the undiminished patriotism exhibited by our brave men under all their privations, even in the hour of death."Your committee will close their report by quoting the tribute paid these men by the chaplin of the hospital at Annapolis, who has ministered to so many of them in their last moments; who has smoothed their passage to the grave by his kindness and attention, and who has performed the last sad offices over their lifeless remains. He says:"'There is another thing I would wish to state. All the men, without any exception among the thousands that have come to this hospital, have never in a single instance expressed a regret (notwithstanding the privations and sufferings they have endured) that they entered their country's service. They have been the most loyal, devoted and earnest men. Even on the last days of their lives they have said that all they hoped for was just to live and enter the ranks again and meet their foes. It is a most glorious record in reference to the devotion of our men to their country. I do not think their patriotism has ever been equalled in the history of the world.'"All of which is respectfully submitted.

"Report of the Joint Committee on the Conduct and Expenditures of the War.

"On the 4th inst., your committee received a communication of that date from the Secretary of War, enclosing the report of Colonel Hoffman, commissary general of prisoners, dated May 3, calling the attention of the committee to the condition of returned Union prisoners, with the request that the committee would immediately proceed to Annapolis and examine with their own eyes the condition of those who have been returned from rebel captivity. The committee resolved that they would comply with the request of the Secretary of War on the first opportunity. The 5th of May was devoted by the committee to concluding their labors upon the investigation of the Fort Pillow massacre. On the 6th of May, however, the committee proceeded to Annapolis and Baltimore, and examined the condition of our returned soldiers, and took the testimony of several of them, together with the testimony of surgeons and other persons in attendance upon the hospitals. That testimony, with the communication of the Secretary of War, and the report of Colonel Hoffman, is herewith transmitted.

"The evidence proves, beyond all manner of doubt, a determination on the part of the rebel authorities, deliberately and persistently practiced for a long time past, to subject those of our soldiers who have been so unfortunate as to fall in their hands to a system of treatment which has resulted in reducing many of those who have survived and been permitted to return to us in a condition, both physically and mentally, which no language we can use can adequately describe. Though nearly all the patients now in the Naval Academy hospital at Annapolis, and inthe West hospital, in Baltimore, have been under the kindest and most intelligent treatment for about three weeks past, and many of them for a greater length of time, still they present literally the appearance of living skeletons, many of them being nothing but skin and bone; some of them are maimed for life, having been frozen while exposed to the inclemency of the winter season on Belle Isle, being compelled to lie on the bare ground, without tents or blankets, some of them without overcoats or even coats, with but little fire to mitigate the severity of the winds and storms to which they were exposed.

"The testimony shows that the general practice of their captors was to rob them, as soon as they were taken prisoners, of all their money, valuables, blankets, and good clothing, for which they received nothing in exchange except, perhaps, some old worn-out rebel clothing hardly better than none at all. Upon their arrival at Richmond they have been confined, without blankets or other covering, in buildings without fire, or upon Belle Isle with, in many cases, no shelter, and in others with nothing but old discarded army tents, so injured by rents and holes as to present but little barrier to the wind and storms; on several occasions, the witnesses say, they have arisen in the morning from their resting-places upon the bare earth, and found several of their comrades frozen to death during the night, and that many others would have met the same fate had they not walked rapidly back and forth, during the hours which should have been devoted to sleep, for the purpose of retaining sufficient warmth to preserve life.

"In respect to the food furnished to our men by the rebel authorities, the testimony proves that the ration of each man was totally insufficient in quantity to preserve the health of a child, even had it been of proper quality, which it was not. It consisted usually, at the most, of two small pieces of corn-bread, made in many instances, as the witnesses state, of corn and cobs ground together, and badly prepared and cooked, of, at times, about two ounces of meat, usually of poor quality, and unfit to be eaten, and occasionally a few black worm-eaten beans, or something of that kind. Many of your men were compelled to sell to their guards, and others, for what price they could get, such clothing and blankets as they were permitted to receive of that forwarded for their use by our government, in order to obtain additional food sufficient to sustain life; thus, by endeavoring to avoid one privation reducing themselves to the same destitute condition in respect to clothing and covering that they were in before they received any from our government. When they became sick and diseased in consequence of this exposure and privation, and were admitted into the hospitals, their treatment was little if any, improved as to food, though they, doubtless, suffered less from exposure to cold than before. Their food still remained insufficient in quantity and altogether unfit in quality. Their diseases and wounds did not receive the treatment which the commonest dictates of humanity would have prompted. One witness, whom your committee examined, who had lost all the toes of one foot from being frozen while onBelle Isle, states that for days at a time his wounds were not dressed, and they had not been dressed for four days when he was taken from the hospital and carried on the flag-of-truce boat for Fortress Monroe.

"In reference to the condition to which our men were reduced by cold and hunger, your committee would call attention to the following extracts from the testimony. One witness testifies:

"'I had no blankets until our Government sent us some.

"'Question.—How did you sleep before you received those blankets?

"'Answer.—We used to get together just as close as we could, and sleep spoon-fashion, so that when one turned over we all had to turn over.'

"Another witness testifies:

"'Question.—Were you hungry all the time?

"'Answer.—Hungry! I could eat anything that came before us; some of the boys would get boxes from the North with meat of different kinds in them; and, after they had picked the meat off, they would throw the bones away into the spit-boxes, and we would pick the bones out of the spit-boxes and gnaw them over again.'

"In addition to this insufficient supply of food, clothing and shelter, our soldiers, while prisoners, have been subjected to the most cruel treatment from those placed over them. They have been abused and shamefully treated on almost every opportunity. Many have been mercilessly shot and killed when they failed to comply with all the demands of their jailors, sometimes for violating rules of which they had not been informed. Crowded in great numbers in buildings, they have been fired at and killed by the sentinels outside when they appeared at the windows for the purpose of obtaining a little fresh air. One man, whose comrade in the service, in battle and in captivity, had been so fortunate as to be among those released from further torments, was shot dead as he was waving with his hand a last adieu to his friend; and other instances of equally unprovoked murder are disclosed by the testimony.

"The condition of our returned soldiers as regards personal cleanliness, has been filthy almost beyond description. Their clothes have been so dirty and so covered with vermin, that those who received them have been compelled to destroy their clothing and re-clothe them with new and clean raiment. Their bodies and heads have been so infested with vermin that, in some instances, repeated washings have failed to remove them; and those who have received them in charge have been compelled to cut all the hair from their heads, and make applications to destroy the vermin. Some have been received with no clothing but shirts and drawers and a piece of blanket or other outside covering, entirely destitute of coats, hats, shoes or stockings; and the bodies of those better supplied with clothing have been equally dirty and filthy with the others, many who have been sick and in the hospital having had no opportunity to wash their bodies for weeks and months before they were released from captivity.

"Your committee are unable to convey any adequate idea of the sad and deplorable condition of the men they saw in the hospitals theyvisited; and the testimony they have taken cannot convey to the reader the impressions which your committee there received. The persons we saw, as we were assured by those in charge of them, have greatly improved since they have been received in the hospitals. Yet they are now dying daily, one of them being in the very throes of death as your committee stood by his bed-side and witnessed the sad spectacle there presented. All those whom your committee examined stated that they have been thus reduced and emaciated entirely in consequence of the merciless treatment they received while prisoners from their enemies; and the physicians in charge of them, the men best fitted by their profession and experience to express an opinion upon the subject, all say that they have no doubt that the statements of their patients are entirely correct.

"It will be observed from the testimony, that all the witnesses who testify upon that point state that the treatment they received while confined at Columbia, South Carolina, Dalton, Georgia, and other places, was far more humane than that they received at Richmond, where the authorities of the so-called confederacy were congregated, and where the power existed, had the inclination not been wanting, to reform those abuses and secure to the prisoners they held some treatment that would bear a public comparison to that accorded by our authorities to the prisoners in our custody. Your committee, therefore, are constrained to say that they can hardly avoid the conclusion, expressed by so many of our released soldiers, that the inhuman practices herein referred to are the result of a determination on the part of the rebel authorities to reduce our soldiers in their power, by privation of food and clothing, and by exposure, to such a condition that those who may survive shall never recover so as to be able to render any effective service in the field. And your committee accordingly ask that this report, with the accompanying testimony be printed with the report and testimony [which was accordingly done] in relation to the massacre of Fort Pillow, the one being, in their opinion, no less than the other, the result of a predetermined policy. As regards the assertions of some of the rebel newspapers, that our prisoners have received at their hands the same treatment that their own soldiers in the field have received, they are evidently but the most glaring and unblushing falsehoods. No one can for a moment be deceived by such statements, who will reflect that our soldiers, who, when taken prisoners, have been stout, healthy men, in the prime and vigor of life, yet have died by hundreds under the treatment they have received, although required to perform no duties of the camp or the march; while the rebel soldiers are able to make long and rapid marches, and to offer a stubborn resistance in the field.

"Your committee, finding it impossible to describe in words the deplorable condition of these returned prisoners, have caused photographs to be taken of a number of them, and a fair sample to be lithographed and appended to their report, that their exact condition may be known by all who examine it. Some of them have since died.

"There is one feature connected with this investigation, to whichyour committee can refer with pride and satisfaction; and that is the uncomplaining fortitude, the undiminished patriotism exhibited by our brave men under all their privations, even in the hour of death.

"Your committee will close their report by quoting the tribute paid these men by the chaplin of the hospital at Annapolis, who has ministered to so many of them in their last moments; who has smoothed their passage to the grave by his kindness and attention, and who has performed the last sad offices over their lifeless remains. He says:

"'There is another thing I would wish to state. All the men, without any exception among the thousands that have come to this hospital, have never in a single instance expressed a regret (notwithstanding the privations and sufferings they have endured) that they entered their country's service. They have been the most loyal, devoted and earnest men. Even on the last days of their lives they have said that all they hoped for was just to live and enter the ranks again and meet their foes. It is a most glorious record in reference to the devotion of our men to their country. I do not think their patriotism has ever been equalled in the history of the world.'

"All of which is respectfully submitted.

"B. F. WADE,Chairman."

Also the following:

"Office of Commissary-General of Prisoners,Washington, D. C., May 3, 1864.

"Sir:—I have the honor to report that, pursuant to your instructions of the 2nd instant, I proceeded, yesterday morning, to Annapolis, with a view to see that the paroled prisoners about to arrive there from Richmond were properly received and cared for."The flag-of-truce boat 'New York,' under the charge of Major Mulford, with thirty-two officers, three hundred and sixty-three enlisted men, and one citizen on board, reached the wharf at the Naval School hospital about ten o'clock. On going on board, I found the officers generally in good health, and much cheered by their happy release from the rebel prisons, and by the prospect of again being with their friends."The enlisted men who had endured so many privations at Belle Isle and other places were, with few exceptions, in a very sad plight, mentally and physically, having for months been exposed to all the changes of the weather, with no other protection than a very insufficient supply of worthless tents, and with an allowance of food scarcely sufficient to prevent starvation, even if of wholesome quality; but as it was made of coarsely-ground corn, including the husks, and probably at times the cobs, if it did not kill by starvation, it was sure to do it by the disease it created. Some of these poor fellows were wasted to mere skeletons, and had scarcely life enough remaining to appreciate that they were now in the hands of their friends, and among them all there were few who had not become too much broken down and dispirited by their many privations to be able to realize the happy prospect of relief from their sufferings which was before them. With rare exception, every face was sadwith care and hunger; there was no brightening of the countenance or lighting up of the eye, to indicate a thought of anything beyond a painful sense of prostration of mind and body. Many faces showed that there was scarcely a ray of intelligence left."Every preparation had been made for their reception in anticipation of the arrival of the steamer, and immediately upon her being made fast to the wharf the paroled men were landed and taken immediately to the hospital, where, after receiving a warm bath, they were furnished with a suitable supply of new clothing, and received all those other attentions which their sad condition demanded. Of the whole number, there are perhaps fifty to one hundred who, in a week or ten days, will be in a convalescent state, but the others will very slowly regain their lost health."That our soldiers, when in the hands of the rebels, are starved to death, cannot be denied. Every return of the flag-of-truce boat from City Point brings us too many living and dying witnesses to admit of a doubt of this terrible fact. I am informed that the authorities at Richmond admit the fact, but excuse it on the plea that they give the prisoners the same rations they give their own men. But can this be so? Can an army keep the field, and be active and efficient, on the same fare that kills prisoners of war at a frightful percentage? I think not; no man can believe it; and while a practice so shocking to humanity is persisted in by the rebel authorities, I would very respectfully urge that retaliatory measures be at once instituted by subjecting the officers we now hold as prisoners of war to a similar treatment."I took advantage of the opportunity which this visit to Annapolis gave me to make a hasty inspection of Camp Parole, and I am happy to report that I found it in every branch in a most commendable condition. The men all seemed to be cheerful and in fine health, and the police inside and out was excellent. Colonel Root, the commanding officer, deserves much credit for the very satisfactory condition to which he has brought his command."I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

"The flag-of-truce boat 'New York,' under the charge of Major Mulford, with thirty-two officers, three hundred and sixty-three enlisted men, and one citizen on board, reached the wharf at the Naval School hospital about ten o'clock. On going on board, I found the officers generally in good health, and much cheered by their happy release from the rebel prisons, and by the prospect of again being with their friends.

"The enlisted men who had endured so many privations at Belle Isle and other places were, with few exceptions, in a very sad plight, mentally and physically, having for months been exposed to all the changes of the weather, with no other protection than a very insufficient supply of worthless tents, and with an allowance of food scarcely sufficient to prevent starvation, even if of wholesome quality; but as it was made of coarsely-ground corn, including the husks, and probably at times the cobs, if it did not kill by starvation, it was sure to do it by the disease it created. Some of these poor fellows were wasted to mere skeletons, and had scarcely life enough remaining to appreciate that they were now in the hands of their friends, and among them all there were few who had not become too much broken down and dispirited by their many privations to be able to realize the happy prospect of relief from their sufferings which was before them. With rare exception, every face was sadwith care and hunger; there was no brightening of the countenance or lighting up of the eye, to indicate a thought of anything beyond a painful sense of prostration of mind and body. Many faces showed that there was scarcely a ray of intelligence left.

"Every preparation had been made for their reception in anticipation of the arrival of the steamer, and immediately upon her being made fast to the wharf the paroled men were landed and taken immediately to the hospital, where, after receiving a warm bath, they were furnished with a suitable supply of new clothing, and received all those other attentions which their sad condition demanded. Of the whole number, there are perhaps fifty to one hundred who, in a week or ten days, will be in a convalescent state, but the others will very slowly regain their lost health.

"That our soldiers, when in the hands of the rebels, are starved to death, cannot be denied. Every return of the flag-of-truce boat from City Point brings us too many living and dying witnesses to admit of a doubt of this terrible fact. I am informed that the authorities at Richmond admit the fact, but excuse it on the plea that they give the prisoners the same rations they give their own men. But can this be so? Can an army keep the field, and be active and efficient, on the same fare that kills prisoners of war at a frightful percentage? I think not; no man can believe it; and while a practice so shocking to humanity is persisted in by the rebel authorities, I would very respectfully urge that retaliatory measures be at once instituted by subjecting the officers we now hold as prisoners of war to a similar treatment.

"I took advantage of the opportunity which this visit to Annapolis gave me to make a hasty inspection of Camp Parole, and I am happy to report that I found it in every branch in a most commendable condition. The men all seemed to be cheerful and in fine health, and the police inside and out was excellent. Colonel Root, the commanding officer, deserves much credit for the very satisfactory condition to which he has brought his command.

"I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

"W. HOFFMAN,"Colonel 3rd Infantry, Commissary General of Prisoners."Hon. E. M. Stanton,Secretary of War, Washington, D. C."

"W. HOFFMAN,

"Colonel 3rd Infantry, Commissary General of Prisoners.

"Hon. E. M. Stanton,Secretary of War, Washington, D. C."

This report does not refer to the treatment of the soldiers of thePhalanxwho were taken by the confederates in battle,[29]after the surrender of Fort Pillow, Lawrenceand Plymouth, and at several other places. It is inserted to enable the reader to form an opinion as to what the negro soldier's treatment must have been. The same committee also published as a part of their report, the testimony of a number,—mostly black, soldiers, who escaped death at Fort Pillow; a few of their statements are given:

38th Congress,}{Rep. Com.1st Session.}{No. 63 & 68.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES.Report of the Joint Committee on the Conduct and Expenditures of the War to whom was Referred the Resolution of Congress Instructing them to Investigate the late Massacre at Fort Pillow."Deposition of John Nelson in relation to the capture of Fort Pillow."John Nelson, being duly sworn, deposeth and saith:"'At the time of the attack on and capture of Fort Pillow, April 12, 1864, I kept a hotel within the lines at Fort Pillow, and a short distance from the works. Soon after the alarm was given that an attack on the fort was imminent, I entered the works and tendered my services to Major Booth, commanding. The attack began in the morning at about 5-1/2 o'clock, and about 1 o'clockP.M.a flag of truce approached. Duringthe parley which ensued, and while the firing ceased on both sides, the rebels kept crowding up to the works on the side near Cold Creek, and also approached nearer on the south side, thereby gaining advantages pending the conference under the flag of truce. As soon as the flag of truce was withdrawn the attack began, and about five minutes after it began the rebels entered the fort. Our troops were soon overpowered, and broke and fled. A large number of the soldiers, black and white, and also a few citizens, myself among the number, rushed down the bluff toward the river. I concealed myself as well as I could in a position where I could distinctly see all that passed below the bluff, for a considerable distance up and down the river."'A large number, at least one hundred, were hemmed in near the river bank by bodies of the rebels coming from both north and south. Most all of those thus hemmed in were without arms. I saw many soldiers, both white and black, throw up their arms in token of surrender, and call out that they had surrendered. The rebels would reply, 'G—d d—n you, why didn't you surrender before?' and shot them down like dogs."'The rebels commenced an indiscriminate slaughter. Many colored soldiers sprang into the river and tried to escape by swimming, but these were invariably shot dead."'A short distance from me, and within view, a number of our wounded had been placed, and near where Major Booth's body lay; and a small red flag indicated that at that place our wounded were placed. The rebels however, as they passed these wounded men, fired right into them and struck them with the butts of their muskets. The cries for mercy and groans which arose from the poor fellows were heart-rending."'Thinking that if I should be discovered, I would be killed, I emerged from my hiding place, and, approaching the nearest rebel, I told him I was a citizen. He said, 'You are in bad company, G—d d—n you; out with your greenbacks, or I'll shoot you.' I gave him all the money I had, and under his convoy I went up into the fort again."'When I re-entered the fort there was still some shooting going on. I heard a rebel officer tell a soldier not to kill any more of those negroes. He said that they would all be killed, any way, when they were tried."'After I entered the fort, and after the United States flag had been taken down, the rebels held it up in their hands in the presence of their officers, and thus gave the rebels outside a chance to still continue their slaughter, and I did not notice that any rebel officer forbade the holding of it up. I also further state, to the best of my knowledge and information, that there were not less than three hundred and sixty negroes killed and two hundred whites. This I give to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Report of the Joint Committee on the Conduct and Expenditures of the War to whom was Referred the Resolution of Congress Instructing them to Investigate the late Massacre at Fort Pillow.

"Deposition of John Nelson in relation to the capture of Fort Pillow.

"John Nelson, being duly sworn, deposeth and saith:

"'At the time of the attack on and capture of Fort Pillow, April 12, 1864, I kept a hotel within the lines at Fort Pillow, and a short distance from the works. Soon after the alarm was given that an attack on the fort was imminent, I entered the works and tendered my services to Major Booth, commanding. The attack began in the morning at about 5-1/2 o'clock, and about 1 o'clockP.M.a flag of truce approached. Duringthe parley which ensued, and while the firing ceased on both sides, the rebels kept crowding up to the works on the side near Cold Creek, and also approached nearer on the south side, thereby gaining advantages pending the conference under the flag of truce. As soon as the flag of truce was withdrawn the attack began, and about five minutes after it began the rebels entered the fort. Our troops were soon overpowered, and broke and fled. A large number of the soldiers, black and white, and also a few citizens, myself among the number, rushed down the bluff toward the river. I concealed myself as well as I could in a position where I could distinctly see all that passed below the bluff, for a considerable distance up and down the river.

"'A large number, at least one hundred, were hemmed in near the river bank by bodies of the rebels coming from both north and south. Most all of those thus hemmed in were without arms. I saw many soldiers, both white and black, throw up their arms in token of surrender, and call out that they had surrendered. The rebels would reply, 'G—d d—n you, why didn't you surrender before?' and shot them down like dogs.

"'The rebels commenced an indiscriminate slaughter. Many colored soldiers sprang into the river and tried to escape by swimming, but these were invariably shot dead.

"'A short distance from me, and within view, a number of our wounded had been placed, and near where Major Booth's body lay; and a small red flag indicated that at that place our wounded were placed. The rebels however, as they passed these wounded men, fired right into them and struck them with the butts of their muskets. The cries for mercy and groans which arose from the poor fellows were heart-rending.

"'Thinking that if I should be discovered, I would be killed, I emerged from my hiding place, and, approaching the nearest rebel, I told him I was a citizen. He said, 'You are in bad company, G—d d—n you; out with your greenbacks, or I'll shoot you.' I gave him all the money I had, and under his convoy I went up into the fort again.

"'When I re-entered the fort there was still some shooting going on. I heard a rebel officer tell a soldier not to kill any more of those negroes. He said that they would all be killed, any way, when they were tried.

"'After I entered the fort, and after the United States flag had been taken down, the rebels held it up in their hands in the presence of their officers, and thus gave the rebels outside a chance to still continue their slaughter, and I did not notice that any rebel officer forbade the holding of it up. I also further state, to the best of my knowledge and information, that there were not less than three hundred and sixty negroes killed and two hundred whites. This I give to the best of my knowledge and belief.

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