Part 42 (1/2)

Answer. I could not say. I have been told that there were not over 25 killed and wounded before the fort was captured.

Question. Do you know how many have been killed in all?

Answer. My own crew buried, of those who were left unburied, some 70 or 80. The Platte Valley buried a great many, and the gunboat 28 buried some.

Question. What number do you suppose escaped out of the garrison?

Answer. I have no means of knowing. I have understood that the rebels had 160 prisoners--white men--but I think it is doubtful if they had that many, judging from the number of men we have found.

By Mr. Gooch:

Question. Where did those men come from whose bodies we have just seen unburied?

Answer. I should judge they came from the hospital. One of them had a cane, showing that he was not a well man, and they had on white s.h.i.+rts--hospital clothing--and, as you saw, one looked thin, very thin, as if he had been sick.

Question. How far are these bodies lying from the hospital?

Answer. I should think about 150 yards.

Question. Would men, escaping from the fort, run in that direction?

Answer. They would be very apt to run in almost any direction; and they would be more likely to run away from the stores that these rebels were robbing.

By the chairman:

Question. From the hospital clothing they had on; from their appearance showing that they had been wounded or sick persons; and from the bruised appearance of their heads, as if they had been killed by having their brains knocked out, do you infer that they were hospital patients that had been murdered there?

Answer. I should. I should be just as positive of that as I should be of anything I had not actually seen.

Question. You take it that they were sick or wounded men endeavoring to escape from the hospital, who were knocked in the head?

Answer. I should say so.

Paymaster William B. Purdy, sworn and examined.

By the chairman:

Question. What is your rank, and where have you been stationed, and in what service?

Answer. Acting a.s.sistant paymaster of the navy. I have no regular station or quarters at present; but on the day of the attack on Fort Pillow I was acting as signal officer on the gunboat No. 7.

Question. Will you state what you observed that day, and afterwards, in relation to that affair?

Answer. After our flag was down, I saw the rebels firing on our own men from the fort, and I should say that while the flag of truce was in, before the fort was captured, I could see the rebels concentrating their forces so as to be better able to take the fort.

Question. Do you mean that they took advantage of the flag of truce to place their men in position so as to better attack the fort?

Answer. Yes, sir; I could see them moving down to their new positions, and, as soon as the flag of truce was out, firing commenced from these new positions.