The fort mounted six guns, and contained ammunition and rations barely sufficient for one day. It was a good earthwork defence, with a ditch around it, standing about five hundred yards down the river from the centre of the town. The enemy’s advance came in sight at one o’clock, and shortly after the main body appeared, forming a line which was little less than two miles long. Forrest pushed his line rapidly and steadily forward. A detachment of several hundred rebels dashed into and through the deserted city till they came within rifle-range of the fort, where they took possession of the neighboring houses, from which they could look into it and pick off the garrison. The rebel and Union artillery had already exchanged shots, and the two gunboats in the river, the Paw-Paw and the Piosta, began to play upon the rebel sharpshooters ranging through the city. The enemy now prepared to make a charge upon the fort. The assaulting force was greeted on its first appearance with a heavy and well-directed fire, which caused a portion of it to veer to the right and seek the cover of the uneven ground and the suburban buildings, but still the advance was continued. When within a good rifle-range, it was received with a fire that caused the men to fall to the ground by scores. The gunboat Piosta at the same time poured a steady stream of shells upon the attacking party. A number of them gave way, and though some of them charged up to the ditch, disorder prevailed, and presently the whole force broke and fled in confusion, leaving two hundred killed and wounded upon the field.
The railroad depot, and the city, in several places, were on fire. The fight, between the rebel sharpshooters and the gunboats was still spiritedly sustained. So fatal was the Confederate fire, that the upper guns of the boats could not be worked, and even those behind the casemates were loaded in peril. The ill-starred city was exposed to destruction from friend and foe. The rebels allowed the buildings they occupied to begin to crumble and fall before they slackened their fire.
Forrest’s aid, under a flag of truce, now presented a note from the rebel leader to Colonel Hicks, demanding the immediate and unconditional surrender of the fort and garrison, and threatening, in case of refusal, to take it by storm, and grant no quarter. The war-worn Colonel Hicks promptly replied that he would not fail to do his duty in defending the post to the last. This refusal to surrender was quickly followed by another impetuous assault upon the fort. The daring Brigadier-General A. P. Thompson, formerly a citizen of Paducah, led the Kentucky rebels against the Union fort. A fire, more galling than ever, was opened by the rebel sharpshooters upon the garrison as the main column rushed upon the fort. Murderous discharges from the small arms and cannon of the fort, and the raining shell of the gunboats, made fearful havoc in the rebel ranks as they advanced. Still the rebel general persevered, setting his men an example which would have insured the capture of the position, had he not, when but forty feet from the fort, been instantly killed by the explosion of a shell from the Piosta. His fall struck dismay into the hearts of his followers, and they consequently suffered a disastrous repulse.
A shout of victory now rose from the fort, which was echoed back from the gunboats and the opposite shore. The city was thoroughly sacked by the rebels, who carried away more than half a million dollars worth of plunder. The gunboats and the fort continued to fire upon the town till nearly every building in it was riddled by schrapnel and solid shot. All the government buildings, the gas works, and the elegant residences about the fort were destroyed, and the sun rose the next morning upon the smouldering ruins of the once beautiful city of Paducah.
To the great relief of the garrison, who were out of ammunition, and who had been told that they must now rely on their bayonets, the rebels left the town about midnight, but hung about it for several days. The rebel killed numbered three hundred, and his wounded at least a thousand. The Unionists had fourteen killed and forty-four wounded.
THE CAPTURE OF FORT PILLOW, TENN.
April 12, 1864.
Fort Pillow was an earthwork, crescent-shaped, eight feet in height, surrounded by a ditch six feet deep and twelve feet in width. It was situated on a high bluff which descended precipitately to the river’s edge and on the other sides sloped to a deep ravine.
On the twelfth of April, just before sunrise, General Forrest’s command, consisting of McCulloch’s brigade of Chalmers’ division and Bell’s brigade of Buford’s division, under the command of Brigadier-General Chalmers, appeared in the neighborhood of Fort Pillow. The garrison of this fort comprised nineteen officers and five hundred and thirty-eight enlisted men, of whom two hundred and sixty-two were colored troops, including one battalion of the Sixth United States heavy artillery, commanded by Major L. F. Booth, and one section of the Second United States light artillery, together with one battalion of the Thirteenth Tennessee cavalry (white), under the command of Major W. F. Bradford. The pickets of the garrison were driven in and the fighting became general, about nine o’clock, A. M. Major Bradford, who commanded, withdrew all the forces, a portion of which had previously occupied exterior entrenchments, within the fort, and, as both the black and the white troops fought gallantly, he was sanguine of making a successful defence.
General Forrest having assumed the command, he ordered General Chalmers to advance his line so as to gain a position on the slope against which the cannon in the fort could not be directed, and where the garrison with small arms could not reach them without exposing themselves to the sharpshooters, who, under cover of stumps and logs, forced them to keep inside the works. This position, within one hundred yards of the fort, was, after much hard fighting and a severe loss to the rebels, gained by the assailants. The gunboat New Era shelled the latter continually but with little effect, although constantly instructed by signals from the fort of the whereabouts of the enemy. Her guns finally became overheated, her ammunition almost exhausted, and she was compelled to cease firing.
Forrest now demanded the unconditional surrender of the fort. Major Bradford asked to be allowed an hour to consult with his officers and those of the gunboat. Forrest, perceiving two Union gunboats approaching, the foremost apparently crowded with troops, refused to grant more than twenty minutes for the deliberation. There was some equivocal parleying in the interim, and the rebels are accused of unfairly gaining some approaches to the fort during the brief truce. The twenty minutes expired, and it was understood that Major Bradford refused to surrender.