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| REBEL ATROCITIES |
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The picture on pages 328 and 329 illustrative of
the atrocities committed by the rebels upon Union troops, white and black, is of particular interest at
this time. The scenes presented represent only a few of the sad facts which rebel inhumanity has
forced into the history of the time, but they are significant types of the whole, while the design of the
central scene most happily presents the origin of the black flag policy and the persons responsible for
its adoption. All these butcheries are the result of the proclamation of Jefferson Davis, issued
December 23, 1862, in which he declared, "That all negro slaves captured in arms be at once delivered
over to the Executive authorities of the respective States to which they belong, to be dealt with
according to the laws of said States. That the like orders be executed in all cases with respect to all
commissioned officers of the United States when found serving in company with said slaves in
insurrection against the authorities of the different States of this Confederacy." Under this proclamation
the rebels proceeded to act at the first opportunity. At Galveston, January 1, 1863, part of a
Massachusetts regiment was captured, and the rebels took two negroes, free-born citizens of Massachusetts,
residents of Norfolk county in that State, and sold them into Slavery. Near the end of that month,
twenty teamsters driving a wagon train of General Rosecrans's were captured near Murfreesboro,
Tennessee, tied to the trees by the road-side, and shot. In May, two negroes in the service and
uniform of the United States were captured on picket at Port Hudson and forthwith hanged. On the 27th
of May, the first assault on Port Hudson was delivered, and many of the negro troops fighting with
great courage were wounded and fell into rebel hands. Of these, some were murdered on the spot
in the sight of their comrades. On the 6th of June there was an engagement at Milliken's Bend between
about 200 negro troops and an overpowering force of rebels. A large number of the negroes were
murdered on the field after they had surrendered. Some of them were shot. Some were put to death
by the bayonet. Some were crucified and burned. Of those whom this last fate befell, several were
white officers in command of the negro troops. And so at all points the work of butchery went on,
culminating finally in the wholesale massacre at Fort Pillow, which is still fresh in the public
recollection. The incident presented in one of our sketches -- General Forest murdering the servant of a
Union officer -- occurred about two years since, and is thus stated by Major-General Stanley:
About the middle of the summer of 1862, Forrest surprised the post of Murfreesboro, commanded by Brigadier-General T. T.
Crittenden, of Indiana. The garrison was
composed mostly of the Ninth Michigan and Second Minnesota Infantry and the Seventh Pennsylvania Cavalry.
After some little fighting the troops were surrendered. A mulatto man, who was a servant of one of the officers
of the Union forces, was brought to Forrest on horseback. The latter inquired of him, with many oaths, "what he
was doing there?" The mulatto answered that he was a free man, and came out as a servant to an officer -- naming
the officer. Forrest, who was on horseback, deliberately put his hand to his
holster, drew his pistol, and blew the man's brains out. The rebel officer stated that the
mulatto man came from Pennsylvania, and the same officer denounced the act as one of cold-blooded murder, and
declared he would never again serve under Forrest.
The treatment of our prisoners at Belle Isle and in Southern prisons is well known to the public, and
need not be referred to here. |
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| Note: |
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| There was a tendency for the Confederates to treat
black soldiers and their white officers more harshly
than other Union personnel. The Confederacy refused to
acknowledge captured black servicemen as legitimate
prisoners of war, an attitude that undermined
prisoner-of-war exchanges. |
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