Part 8 (1/2)

Question. Have you been a slave?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. How long have you been in the army?

Answer. About two months.

Thomas Adison, (colored,) private, company C, 6th United States heavy artillery, sworn and examined.

By the chairman:

Question. Where were you raised?

Answer. In South Carolina. I was nineteen years old when I came to Mississippi. I was forty years old last March.

Question. Were you at Fort Pillow when it was captured?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. When were you wounded--before or after you surrendered?

Answer. Before.

Question. What happened to you after you were wounded?

Answer. I went down the hill after we surrendered; then they came down and shot me again in my face, breaking my jaw-bone.

Question. How near was the man to you?

Answer. He shot me with a revolver, about ten or fifteen feet off.

Question. What happened to you then?

Answer. I laid down, and a fellow came along and turned me over and searched my pockets and took my money. He said: ”G.o.d d.a.m.n his old soul; he is sure dead now; he is a big, old, fat fellow.”

Question. How long did you lay there?

Answer. About two hours.

Question. Then what was done with you?

Answer. They made some of our men carry me up the hill to a house that was full of white men. They made us lie out doors all night, and said that the next morning they would have the doctor fix us up. I went down to a branch for some water, and a man said to me: ”Old man, if you stay here they will kill you, but if you get into the water till the boat comes along they may save you;” and I went off. They shot a great many that evening.

Question. The day of the fight?

Answer. Yes, sir. I heard them shoot little children not more than that high, [holding his hand off about four feet from the floor,] that the officers had to wait upon them.