d by any white officer,
but was the result of their own sense of what was due to
themselves and their fellows who had been mercilessly
slaughtered."

The chief of Forrest's artillery writes in the Philadelphia _Times_, in
September, 1883:

"Col. Arthur T. Reeve, who commanded the Fifty-fifth Colored
Infantry in this fight, tells me that no oath was taken by
his troops that ever he heard of, but the impression
prevailed that the black flag was raised, and on his side
was raised to all intents and purposes. He himself fully
expected to be killed if captured. Impressed with this
notion a double effect was produced. It made the Federals
afraid to surrender and greatly exasperated our men, and in
the break-up the affair became more like a hunt for wild
game than a battle between civilized men."

In his description of the battle at Brice's Cross Roads, he says:

"The entire Confederate force was brought into action at
once. We kept no reserves; every movement was quickly
planned and executed with the greatest celerity. A potent
factor which made the battle far bloodier than it would have
been, was it being reported, and with some degree of truth,
that the negroes had been sworn on their knees in line
before leaving Memphis to show 'no quarter to Forrest's
men,' and badges were worn upon which were inscribed,
'Remember Fort Pillow.' General Washburn, commanding the
district of West Tennessee, distinctly admits that the negro
troops with Sturgis had gone into this fight with the
declared intention to give no quarter to Forrest's men."

The fate of the black soldiers taken in these fights is unknown, which
is even worse than of those who are known to have been massacred.

The details of the massacre at Fort Pillow have been reserved for this
portion of the present chapter in order to state them more at length,
and in connection with important movements which soon after took place
against the same confederate force.

The most atrocious of all inhuman acts perpetrated upon a brave
soldiery, took place at Fort Pillow, Kentucky, on the 13th of April,
1864. No cause can be assigned for the shocking crime of wanton,
indiscriminate murder of some three hundred soldiers, other than that
they were "niggers," and "fighting with niggers."

On the 12th, General Forrest suddenly appeared before Fort Pillow w