History of the Negro Race in America
Chapter 118 : Ransom Anderson (Colored), Company B, Sixth United States Heavy Artillery, sworn and e

Ransom Anderson (Colored), Company B, Sixth United States Heavy Artillery, sworn and examined.

By Mr. Gooch:

Q. Where were you raised?

A. In Mississippi.

Q. Were you a slave?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. Where did you enlist?

A. At Corinth.

Q. Were you in the fight at Fort Pillow?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. Describe what you saw done there.

A. Most all the men that were killed on our side were killed after the fight was over. They called them out and shot them down. Then they put some in the houses and shut them up, and then burned the houses.

Q. Did you see them burn?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. Were any of them alive?

A. Yes, sir; they were wounded, and could not walk. They put them in the houses, and then burned the houses down.

Q. Do you know they were in there?

A. Yes, sir; I went and looked in there.

Q. Do you know they were in there when the house was burned?

A. Yes, sir; I heard them hallooing there when the houses were burning.

Q. Are you sure they were wounded men, and not dead men, when they were put in there?

A. Yes, sir; they told them they were going to have the doctor see them, and then put them in there and shut them up, and burned them.

Q. Who set the house on fire?

A. I saw a rebel soldier take some gra.s.s and lay it by the door, and set it on fire. The door was pine plank, and it caught easy.

Q. Was the door fastened up?

A. Yes, sir; it was barred with one of those wide bolts.

James Walls, sworn and examined.

By Mr. Gooch:

Q. To what company did you belong?

A. To Company E, Thirteenth Tennessee Cavalry.

Q. Under what officers did you serve?

A. I was under Major Bradford and Captain Potter.

Q. Were you in the fight at Fort Pillow?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. State what you saw there of the fight, and what was done after the place was captured.

A. We fought them for some six or eight hours in the Fort, and when they charged our men scattered and ran under the hill; some turned back and surrendered, and were shot. After the flag of truce came in I went down to get some water. As I was coming back I turned sick, and laid down behind a log. The secesh charged, and after they came over I saw one go a good ways ahead of the others. One of our men made to him and threw down his arms. The bullets were flying so thick there I thought I could not live there, so I threw down my arms and surrendered. He did not shoot me then, but as I turned around he or some other one shot me in the back.

Q. Did they say any thing while they were shooting?

A. All I heard was: "Shoot him, shoot him!" "Yonder he goes!"

"Kill him, kill him!" That is about all I heard.

Q. How many do you suppose you saw shot after they surrendered?

A. I did not see but two or three shot around me. One of the boys of our company, named Taylor, ran up there, and I saw him shot and fall. Then another was shot just before me, like--shot down after he threw down his arms.

Q. Those were white men?

A. Yes, sir. I saw them make lots of n.i.g.g.e.rs stand up, and then they shot them down like hogs. The next morning I was lying around there waiting for the boat to come up. The secesh would be prying around there, and would come to a n.i.g.g.e.r, and say: "You ain't dead, are you?" They would not say any thing; and then the secesh would get down off their horses, p.r.i.c.k them in their sides, and say: "d.a.m.n you, you ain't dead; get up." Then they would make them get up on their knees, when they would shoot them down like hogs.

Q. Did you see any rebel officers about while this shooting was going on?

A. I do not know as I saw any officers about when they were shooting the negroes. A captain came to me a few minutes after I was shot; he was close by me when I was shot.

Q. Did he try to stop the shooting?

A. I did not hear a word of their trying to stop it. After they were shot down, he told them not to shoot them any more. I begged him not to let them shoot me again, and he said they would not.

One man, after he was shot down, was shot again. After I was shot down, the man I surrendered to went around the tree I was against and shot a man, and then came around to me again and wanted my pocket-book. I handed it up to him, and he saw my watch-chain and made a grasp at it, and got the watch and about half the chain.

He took an old Barlow knife I had in my pocket. It was not worth five cents; was of no account at all, only to cut tobacco with.

Lieutenant McJ. Leming, sworn and examined.