Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 34.
Reverend J. William Jones, Ed.

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A complete vindication.

A complete vindication of the conduct of the Confederate officers (who had repeatedly called upon the routed Federals to surrender, in order to prevent unnecessary bloodshed) at the landing and in the river is to be found in this extract from the report of Colonel Devens, of the Fifteenth Massachusetts: ‘It was impossible,’ said he, ‘longer to continue to resist, and I should have had no doubt, if we had been contending with the troops of a foreign nation, in justice to the lives of men, it would have been our duty to surrender; but it was impossible to do this to rebels and traitors, and I had no hesitation in advising men to escape as they could, ordering them in all cases to throw their arms into the river rather than give them up to the enemy.’