Reports of the Committee on the Conduct of the War / Fort Pillow Massacre. Returned Prisoners.

by United States. Congress. Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War; Daniel W. Gooch; B. F. Wade

Question. They finally took the fort?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. What happened then?

Answer. They just shot us down without showing us any quarter at all. They shot me, for one, after I surrendered; they shot me in the arm, and the shoulder, and the neck, and in the eye.

Question. How many times did they shoot you?

Answer. They shot me in the arm and eye after I surrendered; I do not know when they shot me in the other places.

Question. Who shot you?

Answer. A private shot me with a pistol; there were a great many of us shot.

Question. What reason did he give for shooting you after you had surrendered?

Answer. A man came down the hill and said that General—some one; I could not understand the name—said that they should shoot every one of us, and take no prisoners, and then they shot us down.