Part 58 (1/2)

Hon. D. W. GOOCH, _Of Committee on Conduct of the War_.

WAs.h.i.+NGTON, D. C., _May 9, 1864_.

Captain Charles C. G. Thornton, sworn and examined.

By the chairman:

Question. What is your rank and position in the army?

Answer. I am a captain, and aid on General George F. Shepley's staff.

Question. Were you with General Shepley when he pa.s.sed Fort Pillow, about the time of the capture of that place?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. Will you state what occurred there, and the reason, if any, why you did not stop there to aid the garrison?

Answer. We were pa.s.sengers on the boat Olive Branch, which left New Orleans on the 6th of April, without troops. On arriving at Vicksburg, parts of two batteries--a Missouri and an Ohio battery--were put on board. I do not know the exact number of men, but I should think that perhaps there were 120 men with the two batteries. The men had no small-arms whatever--no arms but the guns of their batteries. We stopped at a place to take in wood, where we were told the guerillas had just pa.s.sed, and we threw out pickets to keep from being surprised. We were unable to arm those men with anything whatever, and merely stationed them so that we should not be surprised, but have an opportunity of getting on board the boat and leave. Upon arriving within three miles--perhaps two and a half miles--of Fort Pillow, some women on sh.o.r.e hailed us and told us that Fort Pillow was captured with two transports or steamers, and motioned to us to return. The captain of the boat turned about for the purpose of returning to Memphis, but General Shepley stopped it. Colonel Sears, the owner of the boat, who was on board, came to me and asked me to go to General Shepley and tell him the importance of our going back to Memphis; that it was dangerous for us to proceed with so many pa.s.sengers. The boat was a very large one, loaded with pa.s.sengers, every state-room being occupied by men, women, and children.

Question. How many pa.s.sengers, non-combatants, do you suppose you had on board?

Answer. Perhaps one hundred and fifty, but that is a mere guess. When Colonel Sears urged me to ask General Shepley to go back to Memphis, I told him I should do nothing of the kind; that if he wished General Shepley to allow the boat to go back, he might see him about it himself.

He did so, but General Shepley positively refused to go. He ordered the captain of the Olive Branch to hail a boat which came in sight, and direct her to come alongside. General Shepley then said, ”I will have a section of the battery put on this boat, and will go up and reconnoitre.” The boat was called the ”Hope,” I think. There is a point just below where the rebels, if they had a battery, might bring it to bear on us. General Shepley consented to have the Hope go below that point with the boat we were on, in order to have this section of a battery put on board of her. On our way down we met another boat, the ”Cheek,” which would answer our purpose better, and she was stopped.

General Shepley ordered a section of a battery put on board of her, and directed Captain Williams, commanding the battery, and myself, to accompany him up to Fort Pillow to reconnoitre. I suggested to General Shepley, or was on the point of suggesting to him, that perhaps he had better not go himself, but send Captain Williams and myself. The instant I suggested that, he said ”No, I will go myself, and personally ascertain the condition of affairs.” He asked the captain how many minutes it would take him to get his guns on board. He said he could probably get a couple of guns on in a few minutes.

Just then a steamer, which afterwards proved to be the steamer ”Liberty,” hove in sight. We supposed at first that she was the Mollie Able, which the captain of our boat said was due at Fort Pillow just about that time, and that she was one of the boats the rebels had captured, if the story of the women was true. When we saw her coming we noticed that she was loaded with troops, whether Union or rebel troops we could not tell. The general said to our captain, ”Can you run that boat down?” He said, ”If it is the Mollie Able, I can run right over her.” When she hove in sight we saw at once that there was no time to put a battery on board the Cheek; General Shepley then ordered the Cheek to move out of the way, and the captain of our boat to swing out, with the intention of running this other boat down if she should prove to be loaded with rebel soldiers. When the boat got nearer, however, we found she had Union troops on board. As she pa.s.sed us our captain hailed her, and she replied ”All right up there; you can go by. There is a gunboat there.” We were then satisfied that everything was all right, as she had been allowed to come down by them with so large a body of troops on board.

We went up, and when within perhaps a mile of the place some rebel soldiers fired upon our boat, probably aiming at the pilot-house. I stood on the after part of the deck at the time. The general was in the pilot-house looking out. The shots did not take effect or amount to anything. We went on up, and found no firing at the fort. We stopped at the gunboat, as all boats are required to do which pa.s.s. An officer came on board from the gunboat and said to the captain of our boat, ”I want you to proceed immediately to Cairo, and send down 400 or 500 rounds of ammunition; and order all boats back that may be coming down; we want no boats here.” We talked the matter over, and came to the conclusion that the object of this Fort Pillow affair was not to capture the fort, but to capture more of our boats, if possible, in order to get across the river. That was merely our supposition, as we knew nothing about the battle. There was no firing at the fort at that time, and our boat went on up the river in obedience to the orders of the gunboat, as it had a right to give that order.

We had proceeded but a little way before we discovered a flag of truce at the fort, as it was reported to me; I did not see it myself, but it undoubtedly was there. We pa.s.sed on a short distance further, and then noticed that our flag at the fort was down; we had seen it flying as we pa.s.sed the fort. I went to the stern of our boat, and with a gla.s.s looked carefully at the fort. After a time I discovered that the gunboat had steamed up a little ways, as I supposed for the purpose of firing upon the right flank of the rebels. We could see a line of fire or smoke in the woods, which we supposed to be from the musketry of the rebels.

We then saw a flag raised up on a pole at the fort, I should think ten or twelve feet high. I supposed that our flag had been shot away, and they were raising it again. The guns from the fort at that time were pretty heavy, while the fire of the enemy, appeared to be from musketry.

I have no doubt now that that was the rebel flag that was raised after the fort was taken.

We proceeded on up to Columbus. Before we arrived there we noticed that there was heavy firing there. On our arrival there we saw a great many troops, and they remarked from the sh.o.r.e that there was hot work there.

General Shepley told me to accompany him, and went up to Colonel Lawrence's headquarters, but was told he was at the front. General Shepley ordered two horses to be prepared for us to go to the front, to see Colonel Lawrence. Just as the horses were ready, and we were about starting, Colonel Lawrence came over and rode down to his headquarters.

He told us that it was all right; that there had been some skirmis.h.i.+ng; that Buford had come there and demanded a surrender of the fort, but he had refused to surrender. General Shepley told him that he had portions of two batteries on hand, and asked him if he wanted them; told him how they came there, and that they were ordered to Cairo as a portion of the 17th corps. Colonel Lawrence said that he had taken 400 troops from the Luther M. Kennett, and, I think, one battery. The Luther M. Kennett had just preceded us as we pa.s.sed by Fort Pillow. Colonel Lawrence said that he did not need the batteries of General Shepley. General Shepley inquired particularly about the condition of affairs, and told Colonel Lawrence what had occurred at Fort Pillow. After ascertaining that there was nothing to be done by us down there we proceeded to Cairo. On our arrival there General Shepley called upon General Brayman and told him the substance of what occurred; the condition of things as we left, the flag coming down, and the fear that the fort had surrendered. We did not know then that the fort had surrendered, though we know now it had.

The caissons and artillery had been hoisted on our boat by means of what they call a derrick, I think, and were piled up, closely packed all round. It would, therefore, have been impossible for us to have removed those cannon for several hours. It took us several hours to land them at Cairo; and it would have been an utter impossibility for us to have taken those cannon up to Fort Pillow, as we had no infantry to cover our landing; and half a dozen sharpshooters could have undoubtedly captured our boat had we attempted it.

Question. If I understand you, General Shepley had no opportunity to relieve Fort Pillow any way?

Answer. He went on board the boat a mere pa.s.senger, with no arms. We did not know any troops were coming on board. Those two portions of batteries, with their guns, were ordered to report at Cairo. The gunboat was lying right by the side of us, and its fire was of no account, and, of course, ours would not have been.