Sherman - Forrest afterwar

[larry_cockerham]

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

In 1871 Congress convened a committee to investigate the "Ft. Pillow Massacre." Chairman William Tecumseh Sherman (Forrest's greatest enemy) was quoted before the hearing began as saying "We are here to investigate Forrest, charge Forrest, try Forrest, convict Forrest, and hang Forrest."

When the committee considered written evidence and first-hand testimony it concluded there was no "Ft. Pillow Massacre." There were "incidents on the riverbank" which the committee acknowledged Forrest stopped as soon as he arrived on-scene. Union officers admitted there was never a surrender of the Union forces. Barracks burned and blamed on Forrest were fired by a Union Lieutenant. Forrest did take 39 Black soldiers prisoner and turned them over to his superiors while he transferred the 14 most seriously wounded Black Union soldiers to the U.S. Steamer Silver Cloud, hardly acts which would qualify as "war crimes."

[ole]

Was this a second "investigation" coming to the same conclusion as the first?
Ole

[ewc]

General Sherman's ability to catch Forrest never did take a turn for the better.

[trice]

Originally Posted by ole

Was this a second "investigation" coming to the same conclusion as the first?
Ole

The first investigation was conducted by the Joint Committee on the Conduct and Expenditures of the War. That body sent two members : Senator Wade and Congressman Gooch, both noted Radical Republicans. They steamed downriver, took some pretty sensational testimony, and returned. The Committee then generated a report. Ft. Pillow happened on April 12 on the banks of the Mississippi in Tennessee; the report was issued April 21 in Washington. Obviously this was a rush job.

A lot of the testimony given is easy to prove to be wild exaggeration, wrong, or something else. Some is undeniably true. Unsubstantiated rumors were included as if they were gospel; it has often been alleged that these Radical Republicans encouraged the witnesses to paint Forrest as blackly as possible; and there are a few attrocities that seem absolutely true after more than a century of argument and research.

One key to understanding the first investigation is the background of the Committee and the times. This was the 1864 election year. Everyone believed the coming campaign would have massive significance in determining the war. Grant and Sherman had not yet moved, starting the Overland and Atlanta Campaigns in May. The Republicans, particularly the Radicals, had much at stake and condemning Forrest and the Confederacy was shrewd propaganda for the homefront as well as the 179,000 USCT soldiers entering uniform in 1863-1865.

That said, there definitely were "attrocities" at Ft. Pillow in the terms of someone reading about all this. Just not as many, nor going on as long as is frequently claimed. Bad enough that any soldier ought to be shamed by them, as Lee's men might be shamed by USCT shot out of hand at the Crater. But such events were frequent through wars where men assaulted in close combat like this, and by the generally accepted rules of warfare at the time, much of the blame would have to be laid at the door of Union commanders for attrocious decisions and bad judgement -- and prior bad behavior by the Union 13th (really 14th) TN Cavalry, a local white unit forming up in the area which had spent the previous month or two getting some of their own back from local Confederate families (including the families of some of the men assaulting them).

Regards,
Tim

PS: IIRR, the Union 13th TN Cavalry mentioned above is not the one Larry Cockerham's relatives were in. There were sometimes more than one unit claiming the same # in those days, and there were definitely 2 Union 13th TN Cavalry regiments. The one at Ft. Pillow supposedly would have ended up being the 14th if it had ever completed organization. On April 12, it was only battalion strength, seemingly without any experienced officers.