thoughts and sad reflections. But it is the duty of impartial history
to record that this bloody, sickening affair was not endorsed by all
the rebels.

In a letter dated Okalona, Mississippi, June. 14, 1864, to the
"Atlanta Appeal," a rebel gives this endorsement of Forrest's conduct
at Fort Pillow:

"You have heard that our soldiers buried negroes alive at Fort
Pillow. This is true. At the first fire after Forrest's men
scaled the walls, many of the negroes threw down their arms and
fell as if they were dead. They perished in the pretence, and
could only be restored at the point of the bayonet. To
resuscitate some of them, more terrified than the rest, they were
rolled into the trenches made as receptacles for the fallen.
Vitality was not restored till breathing was obstructed, and then
the resurrection began. On these facts is based the pretext for
the crimes committed by Sturgis, Grierson, and their followers.
You must remember, too, that in the extremity of their terror, or
for other reasons, the Yankees and negroes in Fort Pillow
neglected to haul down their flag. In truth, relying upon their
gun-boats, the officers expected to annihilate our forces after
we had entered the fortifications. They did not intend to
surrender.

"A terrible retribution, in any event, has befallen the ignorant,
deluded Africans."

Gen. Forrest was a cold-blooded murderer; a fiend in human form. But
as the grave has opened long since to receive him; and as the cause he
represented has perished from the earth, it is enough to let the
record stand without comment, and God grant without malice! It is the
duty of history to record that there is to be found no apologist for
cruelties that rebels inflicted upon brave but helpless Black soldiers
during the war for the extirpation of slavery. The Confederate conduct
at Pillow must remain a foul stain upon the name of the men who fought
to perpetuate human slavery in North America, but failed.

FOOTNOTES:

[112] New York Tribune, April 14, 1863.

[113] Rebellion Recs., vol. viii. Doc. pp. 418, 419.

[114] Gen. Chalmers has denied, with vehemence, that he ever did any
cruel act at Fort Pillow, but the record is against him. Soldiers
under brave, intelligent, and humane officers could never be guilty of
such cruel and unchristian conduct as these rebels at Pillow. Gen.
Chalmers is responsible. As a