e hardly to
guide the men. They fought bravely indeed until that time. I do
not think the men who broke had a commissioned officer over them.
They fought with the most determined bravery, until the enemy
gained possession of the Fort. They kept shooting all the time.
The negroes ran down the hill toward the river, but the rebels
kept shooting them as they were running; shot some again after
they had fallen; robbed and plundered them. After every thing was
all gone, after we had given up the Fort entirely, the guns
thrown away and the firing on our part stopped, they still kept
up their murderous fire, more especially on the colored troops, I
thought, although the white troops suffered a great deal. I know
the colored troops had a great deal the worst of it. I saw
several shot after they were wounded; as they were crawling
around, the secesh would step out and blow their brains out.

About this time they shot me. It must have been four or half-past
four o'clock. I saw there was no chance at all, and threw down my
sabre. A man took deliberate aim at me, but a short distance from
me, certainly not more than fifteen paces, and shot me.

Q. With a musket or pistol?

A. I think it was a carbine; it may have been a musket, but my
impression is, that it was a carbine. Soon after I was shot I was
robbed. A secesh soldier came along, and wanted to know if I had
any greenbacks. I gave him my pocket-book. I had about a hundred
dollars, I think, more or less, and a gold watch and gold chain.
They took every thing in the way of valuables that I had. I saw
them robbing others. That seemed to be the general way they
served the wounded, so far as regards those who fell in my
vicinity. Some of the colored troops jumped into the river, but
were shot as fast as they were seen. One poor fellow was shot as
he reached the bank of the river. They ran down and hauled him
out. He got on his hands and knees, and was crawling along, when
a secesh soldier put his revolver to his head, and blew his
brains out. It was about the same thing all along, until dark
that night.

I was very weak, but I finally found a rebel who belonged to a
society that I am a member of (the Masons), and he got two of our
colored soldiers to assist me up the hill, and he brought me some