one Enslaved by the Enemy or sold
into Slavery, a Rebel soldier shall be placed at hard work on the
public works, and continued at such labor until the other shall be
released and receive the treatment due to a prisoner of War.

"By order of the Secretary of War. ABRAHAM LINCOLN. E. D.
TOWNSEND, Assistant Adjutant-General."]

It was hoped that the mere announcement of the decision of our
Government to retaliate, would put an instant stop to the barbarous
conduct of the Rebels toward the captured Colored Union troops, but the
hope was vain. The atrocities continued, and their climax was capped by
the cold-blooded massacres perpetrated by Forrest's 5,000 Cavalry, after
capturing Fort Pillow, a short distance above Memphis, on the
Mississippi river.

The garrison of that Fort comprised less than 600 Union soldiers, about
one-half of whom were White, and the balance Black. These brave fellows
gallantly defended the Fort against eight times their number, from
before sunrise until the afternoon, when--having failed to win by fair
means, under the Laws of War,--the Enemy treacherously crept up the
ravines on either side of the Fort, under cover of flags of truce, and
then, with a sudden rush, carried it, butchering both Blacks and Whites
--who had thrown away their arms, and were striving to escape--until
night temporarily put an end to the sanguinary tragedy.

On the following morning the massacre was completed by the butchery and
torture of wounded remnants of these brave Union defenders--some being
buried alive, and others nailed to boards, and burned to death.

[For full account of these hideous atrocities, see testimony of
survivors before the Committee on Conduct and Expenditures of the
War. (H. R. Report, No. 65, 1st S. 38th Cong.)]

And all this murderous malignity, for what?--Simply, and only, because
one-half of the Patriot victims had Black skins, while the other half
had dared to fight by the side of the Blacks!

In the after-days of the War, the cry with which our Union Black
regiments went into battle:--"Remember Fort Pillow!"--inspired them to
deeds of valor, and struck with terror the hearts of the Enemy. On many
a bloody field, Fort Pillow was avenged.

It is a common error to suppose that the first arming of the Black man
was on the Union side. The first Black volunteer company was a Rebel
one, raised early in May, 1861, in the city of Memphis, Tenn.;