1864 Massacre of Black Soldiers by Confederate Forces

Congressional Committee report on the Fort Pillow Massacre, 38th Congress. First edition. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1864. Measuring 6" x 9", 128 pages plus 42 unpaginated pages. This book contains two reports concerning the Fort Pillow Massacre, an American Civil War incident. The Battle of Fort Pillow, also known as the Fort Pillow massacre, was fought on April 12, 1864, at Fort Pillow on the Mississippi River in Henning, Tennessee, during the American Civil War. The battle ended with soldiers commanded by Confederate Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest massacring U.S. Army soldiers (many of them African Americans) attempting to surrender. Military historian David J. Eicher concluded: "Fort Pillow marked one of the bleakest, saddest events of American military history." The first section is an investigation and includes haunting testimony from witnesses "Most of the men that were killed on our side were killed after the fight was over... they were wounded, and could not walk. They put them in the houses, and then burned the houses down." The second section concerns prisoners returned by the Confederates, including testimony taken. Most of the prisoners returned were white and often from the officer class, while those massacred were black former slaves who had joined the Union cause. This section includes illustrations of six such subjects. Covers worn, some foxing and toning, overall good condition.