Answer. The impression I have, from what I can learn, is, that all the negroes were massacred except about eighty, and all the white soldiers were killed except about one hundred or one hundred and ten.
Question. We have heard rumors that some of these persons were buried alive; did you hear anything about that?
Answer. I have two in the hospital here who were buried alive.
Question. Both colored men?
Answer. Yes, sir.
Question. How did they escape?
Answer. One of them I have not conversed with personally, the other I have. He was thrown into a pit, as he states, with a great many others, white and black, several of whom were alive; they were all buried up together. He lay on the outer edge, but his head was nearer the surface; he had one well hand, and with that hand he was able to work a place through which he could breathe, and in that way he got his head out; he lay there for some twenty-four hours, and was finally taken out by somebody. The others, next to him, were buried so deep that they could not get out, and died.
Question. Did you hear anything about any of them having been thrown into the flames and burned?
Answer. I do not know anything about that myself. These men did not say much, and in fact I did not myself have time to question them very closely.
Question. What is the general condition now of the wounded men from Fort Pillow under your charge?