Rebellion Record: a Diary of American Events: Documents and Narratives, Volume 8.
Frank Moore, Ed.

[54] and a part of another, was raised in the country where I knew all of them. I was a notorious character with them, and always had to leave whenever they came around. The Lieutenant advised me to go on board the gunboat for safety, and I did so. The attack came on then, and we fired from the gunboat, I think, some two hundred and sixty or two hundred and seventy rounds, and the sharp-shooters on the boat were firing, T among the rest. We fought on, I think, until about one or half-past 1. The rebels had not made much progress by that time. They then came in with a flag of truce, and firing ceased from the Fort and gunboat, and all around. They had a conference, I think, of about three quarters of an hour. They returned with the flag of truce; but in a very short time came back again with it to the Fort, and had another interview. During the time the flag of truce was in there, there was no firing done from either side, but we could see from the gunboat up the creek that the rebels were moving up toward the Fort. The boat lay about two hundred yards from the shore, right opposite the Quartermaster's department. By the time the first flag of truce got to the Fort, they commenced stealing the Quartermaster's stores, and began packing them off up the hill. For an hour and a half, I reckon, there seemed to be above one or two hundred men engaged in it.

Question. This was before the capture of the Fort?

Answer. Yes, sir; while under the protection of the flag of truce. When the last flag of truce started back from the Fort, in three minutes, or less, the firing opened again, and then they just rushed in all around, from every direction, like a swarm of bees, and overwhelmed every thing. The men — white and black — all rushed out of the Fort together, threw down their arms, and ran down the hill; but they shot them down like beeves, in every direction. I think I saw about two hundred run down next to the water, and some of them into the water, and they shot them until I did not see a man standing.

Question. How many do you think were shot after the capture of the Fort, and after they threw down their arms?

Answer. Well, I think, from all the information I could gather, there were about four hundred men killed after the capture, or four hundred and fifty. I think there were about five hundred and odd men killed there. A very great majority of them were killed after the surrender. I do not suppose there were more than twenty men killed before the Fort was captured, and the men threw down their arms and begged for quarter.

Question. Was there any resistance on the part of our soldiers after the capture of the Fort?

Answer. None in the world. They had no chance to make any resistance.

Question. And they did not attempt to make any?

Answer None that I could discover. There were about five hundred black soldiers in all there, and about two hundred whites able for duty. There were a great many of them sick and in the hospital.

Question. What happened after that?

Answer. They then got our cannon in the Fort, and turned them on us, and we had to steam off up the river a little, knowing that they had got a couple of ten or twelve pounder Parrott guns. They threw three shells toward us. We steamed off up the river, anchored, and lay there all night. We returned the next morning. We got down near there, and discovered plenty of rebels on the hill, and a gunboat and another boat lying at the shore. We acted pretty cautiously, and held out a signal, and the gunboat answered it, and then we went in. When we got in there, the rebel General Chalmers was on board, and several other officers — majors, captains, orderlies, etc.--and bragged a great deal about their victory, and said it was a matter of no consequence. They hated to have such a fight as that, when they could take no more men than they had there. One of the gunboat officers got into a squabble with them, and said they did not treat the flag of truce right. An officer — a captain, I think — who was going home, came up, and said that, “Damn them, he had eighteen fights with them, but he would not treat them as prisoners of war after that,” and that he intended to go home, and would enlist again. Chalmers said that he would treat him as a prisoner of war, but that they would not treat as prisoners of war the “homemade Yankees,” meaning the loyal Tennesseeans. There were some sick men in the hospital, but I was afraid to go on shore after the rebels got there. I merely went on shore, but did not pretend to leave the boat.

Question. Did you see any person shot there the next morning after you returned?

Answer. I heard a gun or a pistol fired up the bank, and soon afterward a negro woman came in, who was shot through the knee, and said it was done about that time. I heard frequent shooting up where the Fort was, but I did not go up to see what was done.