pulsed with a loss of seven wounded, five of the
Eighth Virginia and two of the Sixtieth Ohio,
,vhose names are given below, with other casual
ties since occurred. The cannonade ceased about
eleven o clock, and was- not renewed. It was
soon known that only the rear-guard or flanking
column of Jackson had been engaged, while hi*
main force passed hurriedly on over the Winches
ter and Strasburgh road.

But the wil} ~ebel meant to run not fight
and had succeeded in reaching Strasburgh just
n season to pass between McDowell on the one
side and Fremont on the other. I know nothing
of the movements of the former, except that his
advance-guard reached Strasburgh next morning,
twelve hours after it had been entered by Col.
Cluseret, but it is certain no efforts could have
iccelerated the march of the column under Gen.
Fremont.

Cluseret was ordered on, entered Strasburgh

n the evening, marching in a storm of rain, and

hunder and lightning, such as .only the moun-

ains know. A reconnoissance was immediately

sent out. The force advanced three or four miles



J62



REBELLION RECORD, 1862.



beyond Strasburgh, and was stopped at midnight,
in perfect darkness, b} an ambush and a bar
ricade. Col. Figyelmesi, of Fremont s staff, who
was in advance with the cavalry, went through
the one and over the other, not without severe
injury to himself by the fall of his horse- As
he felt his way along through the blinding storm,
and over roads which were rivers of mire, a
quick challenge came out of the darkness,
and was answered with a demand for the coun
tersign. " If you are Ashby s cavalry," replied
the rebel leader, u it is all right, come on."

Recognizing Ashby s voice, Colonel Figyelmesi
did " come on," and answered with instant order
to charge. One officer and fifteen men followed
him, and with this handful he rode straight into
the famous rebel cavalry, and scattered it with
the shock. Ashby gave the order to retreat at
the first moment, yet in the brief contest three
or four rebels were killed.

It was impossible in the darkness and tremen
dous storm of that night to send forward the
main column. General Fremont, therefore, en
camped his troops where his lines had been
formed, and at six next morning advanced again
upon Strasburgh. A mile from camp a courier-
met him with the news that the head of McDow
ell s column was approaching the train from the
^ther side. The General instant!} put spurs to
his horse, and dashing over four miles of fright
ful roads, passed infantry, artillery, and cavalry,
and. with only his staff for body-guard, entered
,he main street of Strasburgh just as Gen Bay-
$.$, commanding the advance brigade of McDow-
1,, rode in.

The First New-Jersey cavalry, Col. Halstead,
came <up shortly" afterward, and with his regi
ment and the rest of his force, Gen. Bayard was
ordered -to .press forward as rapidly as possible
on the rear of the fiying enemy. Stewart s Indi
ana and Sixth Ohio cavalry, under Col Zagonj-i,
who arrived veiy soon after, were also sent on,
and in a few minutes Buell s and Schirmer s bat
teries, and the rest of the light artillery under
Col. Pilsen, as fast as : it could be brought to the
front, were hurried ahead at full gallop. After a
brief conference with Gen. Bayard, Gen. Fremont
rode on with his staff.

The morning for once was dear and beautiful,
.and the pursuit had every element of interest
and excitement. The troops ordered forward
came up in quick succession, and as wxj rode on,
cavalry and flying artillery constantly overtook
and passed us, tearing furiously along the road
in their eagerness to reach the front in time for
the expected fight Very soon came the sound
of guns rapidly served, and we knew that the:
enemy had halted with his rear-guard, in hope 1
of making a stand long enough to delay the pur
suit. From a hill at the side of the road we
saw the smoke of the guns and exploding shells,
isind then the cavalry, forming just below the
erest of a hill a mile beyond us, in the endeavor
to -charge the battery in flank, rode over the sum
mit, but were stopped by the timber and could
fiiat jteach the guns. As Col. P ; lsen brought up



more guns, it soon became too hot for the rebels,
and they hastily abandoned their position and
retreated. A second stand w r as attempted some
miles further on, but with no better success. Col.
Pilsen s excellent judgment in placing his batter
ies, and the rapidity and accuracy with which
they were served, again compelled the enemy to
fly, closely pursued each time by the New-Jersey
cavalry, which, during the whole day, were in
the advance. A third time Gen. Ewell, who was
in command of the rebel rear-guard, halted and
turned his guns on his pursuers. It was his
strongest position, and he doubtless hoped that
here, at least, a few hours might be gained for
the main body. So close was our pursuit, and
so near the hostile forces, that Col. Pilsen, while
reconnoitring the ground, in order to get his
artillery most effectively planted, suddenly found
himself within thirt} " paces of a bod}" of rebel
cavalry. They fired ; his horse was shot under
him, and horse and rider went down together.
The Colonel s arm was badly crushed, but he was
otherwise unhurt, though two bullets passed
through his boots. A squadron of cavalry oppor
tunely appearing, the rebels retreated, and Col.
Pilsen was rescued and carried to an ambulance.
His wound, though painful, was not serious ; and
in spite of it, he was next morning on horseback,
and again in charge of the artillery.

All along the road, and in the woods on cither
side, were strewn the relics which a fugitive
army had left in its trail. Arms, clothing, stores
of all kinds, were profusely scattered. A caisson
of ours which had broken down and been left by
Cluseret on his reconnoissance the night before,
was passed within three or four miles of Stras
burgh. Dead, wounded, and exhausted soldiers
lay by the side of the road. Numerous prisoners
were taken, and they gave themselves up often
with evident willingness. In one group were
men from the Forty-second Virginia, Sixth Ala
bama, and a Louisiana regiment. One captain
was taken in Strasburgh. He had ridden back
for his sabre, which he carried in the Mexican
war, and valued accordingly. It cost him his
liberty. All sorts of reports of Jackson s strength
and the condition of his army comes from the
prisoners, but it may be gathered from them that
he has about twenty-five thousand men, and is
greatly in want of subsistence and supplies. In
the rear is the famous Ashby s cavalry, fifteen
hundred strong. People in the villages through
which we passed told us that the army was hur
rying on in panic, plundering all houses of pro
visions, and many of every thing else, and that
the men were so exhausted that the officers were
driving them on with their swords.

Woodstock was reached on Monday night.
Lieut. -Col, Downey, who again was sent forward
to reconnoitre the town, found the rebel pickets
on the opposite side, and was twice fired on, but
escaped without injury. A negro woman told
him that the rebels began to pass through the
town at sunrise, and that their rear-guard had
just gone on. In other words, Jackson has less
than a day s start; and if his bridge-burning



DOCUMENTS.



1C3



does not save him, must be forced to stand and
fight.

In the saddle again at seven o clock on Tuesday
morning. The troops have been on the march
for hours. From Woodstock, which is rather a
pleasant village, and, like all the hamlets of this
valley, picturesquely planted among the hills,
to Edinburgh the advance was without incident.
A military bridge, constructed by Banks, cross
ing Stony Creek a swift, wide stream is half
burned by the flying rebels ; but they are now
so closely pressed that they have no time to do
thoroughly even the work essential to their safe
ty. In half an hour it is so far repaired that the
infantry cross. The cavalry have already passed
through a ford above, which is so deep as to be j
sufficiently unpleasant for artillery. All the am
munition is taken out and carried over the bridge
by hand ; then the caissons and guns go through
without disaster, aided in their passage by that
extraordinary profusion of oaths which is deemed
essential to such efforts. Four miles beyond,
the rebels have again halted with artillery, and
as our guns have been delayed in crossing, the
cavalry can only w r ait for their arrival.

At Mount Jackson there is known to be a long
bridge over the Shenandoah, a river too swift and
deep to be forded. If they mean to fight on this
side they must either lose their guns, or leave
the bridge unharmed, and if they do the latter,
their further retreat is impossible, for their rear
guard will be cut to pieces unless supported.
Jackson is too good a general to accept either al
ternative. His artillery remained in position just
long enough to delay the advance of Gen. Bay
ard s cavalry, then crossed the bridge before our
guns could be brought up, and burned it in the
face of the cavalry, which Gen. Bayard permitted
to remain spectators on the hill. When the
smoke was seen, they were ordered forward, but
arrived too late to save it. Under fire from the
opposite side, the First Pennsylvania cavalry lost
one man killed.

As soon as Col. Pilsen could bring up his guns,
they were unlimbered on either side of the road,
and opened on the rebel batteries. Beyond the
river stretches a broad plain, the further end of
which slopes gradually up into an irregular emi
nence, along which the enemy had placed his
artillery. On its further side, and in the neigh
boring woods, his troops were quietly encamped
out of range, and, the Shenandoah River in their
rear, were safe for the night, as they supposed,
and at any rate too tired to go much further. It
was soon found that the distance was too great
for our guns. Col. Albert, chief of staff, was in
advance, and reconnoitring the position with a j
soldier s eye, saw that the river bends suddenly
half a mile beyond .the bridge, and sent Schir-
mer s battery to a hill on this side, which flanked
the rebel camp, and at once forced them to with- 1
draw to a more secure position. Nothing more i
could be done till the bridge was rebuilt, and the
army was, therefore, halted for the night.

Twenty prisoners taken by Jackson at Front :
Royal escaped to-day, and met our troops as they



advanced on the road. They are all of the First
Maryland regiment, said to have been cut to
pieces in the unequal fight at Front Royal, and
report that not more than forty of their regiment
were killed, and that all the rest were captured.
Jackson had with him two thousand prisoners,
taken at different times from Gen. Banks s com
mand. They have been treated with great seve
rity, half-starved, and forced to follow the retreat
of his army, \vhether sick or well. Officers fell
by the roadside from exhaustion and illness, and
were forced on at the point of the bayonet. They
were not allowed to stop on the road even for a
swallow of the water which it crosses in frequent
streams. I annex a complete list of casualties :

WOUNDED IN COL. CLUSEREl s BRIGADE, IN SKIR
MISH, SUNDAY, JUNE 1.

Eighth Virginia regiment Rufus Boyer, com
pany A, slightly ; Peter Wards, company B, do. ;
Geoi-ge W. Douglas, company B, do. ; Thomas
Skelton, company B ; Clark W. Card, company
E, severely.

Sixtieth Ohio C. Bennington, company A,
slightly ; Stephen Parris, company B, slightly.

JUNE 2, IN PURSUIT.

First New- Jersey cavalry Corporal Charles
G. Morsayles, slightly; George Jones, company
D, severely ; Sergeant George II. Fowler, com
pany E, killed.

First Pennsylvania cavalry George Tegarleir,
company F, killed.



Doc. 54.
EVACUATION OF FORT PILLOW.

COLONEL ELLETT*S REPORT.

OPPOSITE RANDOLPH, BELOW FORT PILLOW, June 5.
Hon. E. M. Stanton :

To my mortification the enemy evacuated Fort
Pillow last night. They carried away or de
stroyed every thing valuable. Early this morning
Lieut.-Col. Ellett and a few men in a yawl went
ashore, followed immediately by Col. Fitch and a.
party of his command. The gunboats then came
down and anchored across the channel.

I proceeded with three rams twelve miles be
low the fort to a point opposite Randolph, and
sent Lieut.-Col. Ellett ashore with a flag of truce
to demand the surrender of the place. Their
forces had all left in two of their gunboats only
an hour or two before we approached. The peo
ple seemed to respect the flag which Lieut.-Col.
Ellett planted. The guns had been dismantled
and some piles of cotton were burning.

I shall leave Lieut.-Col. Ellett here in the ad
vance, and return immediately to Fort Pillow to
bring on my entire force. The people attribute
the suddenness of the evacuation to the attempt
made night before last to sink one of their gun
boats at Fort Pillow. Randolph, like Pillow, 13
weak, and could not have held out long against
a vigorous attack. The people express a desirs



164



REBELLION RECORD, 1862.



for the restoration of the old order of things,
though still professing to be secessionists.

CHARLES ELLETT, Jr.,

Colonel Commanding Rani Flotilla.

A NATIONAL ACCOUNT.
FORT PILLOW, Wednesday Night, June 4.

Fort Pillow is fallen. The last rebel strong
hold on the Mississippi is ours, and the way lies
open to Memphis. The fortifications before which
we have lain so long and into which we have
poured so many thousands of ponderous shells,
is at our mercy. Eight weeks have we besieged
it with gunboats and mortars, and it now falls
without the loss of a life.

The enemy is gone, quit, scampered, run away,
unable to withstand the closing jaws of our fleets
and armies ; he is panic-stricken and demoralized.
While I write, the flaming bonfires of his stores,
his quarters, are lighting the heavens, and the
flashes of his guns bespeak his haste. Victory !

The immediate occasion of this desperate and
ruinous step on the part of the subjects of King
Cotton is no doubt the fate of Corinth, but the
real victory was gained on that dread day at Shi-
loh, when the few stout and loyal hearts and the
active brains of our freemen held back the tide of
rebellion by their determined and self-sacrificing
spirit. Neither Corinth, nor Pillow, nor Memphis
was safe after that crowning Sunday night. It
became a question who should bring up the most
men and resources for the next battle. We did
it and the victory becomes bloodless in conse
quence. The exultation, the jubilee which this
auspicious day will send to the hearts of thou
sands of our fellow-countrymen is the first fruit
of the great restoration of peace and prosper
ity which is to flow in upon us from this hour.
We have not only applied the tourniquet to this
rebellion, but changed the current of the artery
which is henceforth to throb with loyal and na
tionallife-sustaining national blood.

Flag-Officer Davis must have had some intima
tion of the rebel purpose in abandoning and de
stroying the place some day or two since. There
have been an unusual number and variety of re-
connoissances during this week, in tugs, in rams,
in yawls, in gunboats, and by overland scouting.
Reports certainly reached us two days ago of the
evacuation, but when our mortars were fired they
met with very ready responses. This morning
the mortars opened at an unusually early hour.
The firing was continued with great spirit during
the morning, the rebels firing a shot in return at
long intervals. Probably twenty shots were re
ceived from them during the morning, all of which,
however, fell short. Our tremendous shells could
be seen very distinctly exploding over the bluff
on which their works were situated, the white,
expanding, fleecy cloud drifting slowly across the
horizon long after the ponderous missiles had
reached the earth. The day was cool, with a re
freshing north wind blowing, and the spectacle of
the mortar bombardment was witnessed with
great interest until about three o clock, when the



firing ceased, the rebels having ceased an hour
before.

IlECOXNOISSANCE ACCOUNTS OF A DESERTER.

The cessation of the mortar-firing was proba
bly to allow a reconnoissance to be made across
Craighead Point. Col. Fitch sent a lieutenant
and eight men over, who reported, on their re
turn, that there were still men to be seen about
the guns, but that the general appearance of the
place was deserted.

A more satisfactory exploration was made, how
ever, by Pilot Bixby, of the Benton, who took a
cutter, with boat s crew, and went down to the
point, where he landed. A deserter made his
way to the cutter across the point, and informed
us that the rebels had gone from Fort Pillow,
that the fort was abandoned, except by a garrison
of twenty men, who had been left behind with
ten rounds of ammunition for each of the few
guns still left in position. So earnest and posi
tive in his asseverations, that he offered to lead
the party to the works, and if they did not find
things as he described them, he offered his life as
the forfeit. The deserter was brought to the
flag-ship, where he repeated his story with great
er detail. A pause of some three hours occurred,
in which there was comparative silence on both
sides.

It was about six o clock as we had just risen
from supper, when a cloud of white smoke was
announced as appearing over the tops of the trees.
An instant more, and a jet of water splashed up
fifty feet high from the surface of the river right
abreast of the point. A minute had elapsed
when another, and after a while a third and fourth
struck nearly in the same place. These seemed
to confront the report of the deserter which had
just been brought in, and while we were discuss
ing the truth of the report, a number of guns
were fired from the fort, the shots from which
could nowhere be discovered.

Not a gunboat was within range, the mortar-
boats had been already towed up from their
position, not a skiff nor a human being could be
seen, and it was finally concluded the enemy was
probably firing at some of our scouting-party in
the woods. Not until later did we discover that
these were the parting salutes of the fugacious
rebels a vindictive leave-taking after so long
and harmless a siege. So free were they with
their ammunition, that they plied their guns with
double and triple charges, and then left them to
explode.

By half-past six or near seven we could per
ceive also an unusual quantity of light smoke
coming as it were from the river opposite, tho
fort, which we took at first for the flotilla. The
sun was setting gloriously at our backs as we
gazed at the dark bluffs. Soon the smoke grew
more dense and expanded. In half an hour it
burst out further to the right, and in half an
hour the tops of the woods were crowned with
the light reflection of fires. The principal seat
of the burning material seemed to be on the
river s bank, nearly at the lower turn of th&



DOCUMENTS.



165



river. By half-past seven the clouds had ob
scured the dipping sun; the illumination from
the burning fort was grand. A grand and
spreading column of smoke towered above the
bluffs, while the leaping flames could be seen
above the woods in two and sometimes three
places. Several slight explosions took place
during the fire. The conflagration lasted an hour
and a half, when all relapsed into the original
i loom. It was clear enough to see that the
enemy were evacuating the fort. Capt. Phelps
meanwhile went down to the foot of Flour
Island in a tug and watched the operation at the
distance of a mile and a half. He was, of course,
satisfied of the evacuation, and determined upon
landing early in the morning.

THURSDAY, June 5.

Early this morning the fleet got under way,
and by sunrise our flag was waving from the
heights of Fort Pillow. The rams under Col.
Ellet, anxious, probably, to secure an equivocal
notoriety in being the first to land in an aban
doned fortress, proceeded with all speed down
the bend, followed by the Benton and her gallant
followers Mound City, Cairo, Carondelet, Cin
cinnati, St. Louis and the transports and mortar-
fleet until we had rounded the Craighead
Point, so long the slice which separated us from
the rebels.

The approach is by a long and complete curve,
in which the river runs, as at Columbus, right
into the Chickasaw bluff, where the stream sud
denly narrows until it becomes from two miles
wide to nearly half a mile at the Fulton landing,
just below the forts. The yellow sand bluff
rises to the height of a hundred and fifty feet,
and in general appearance is remarkably like the
situation of Columbus, with the exception that
the fortifications are placed lower down in the
bend.

It is impossible for any one who is at all ac
quainted with military engineering to pass over
the works without arriving at the impression
that, both by natural configuration and scientific
aid, they are the most formidable works of their
kind in the country. Never before, probably,
was any place containing so many natural ad
vantages for purposes of defence. The difficul
ties of storming the place are absolutely incred
ible. Nothing but the most reckless and
thoughtless bravery could ever have made entry
into these lines if defended by five thousand de
termined men.

The capabilities of the works facing the river
are enormous not only mounting the most for
midable guns, but also subjecting the enemy to
the most conical fire in approaching the place.
Stronger than Columbus by nature, it was equal
ly well fortified by art. Twice stronger than
Island No. Ten, for the reason that the approach
was barred, we could not even see the enemy,
while he could look down upon our decks from
his high bluff. The evacuation of so strong a
place is evidence that the attempt to hold the
river is relinquished.



The fact that the rebels had held us here so
long, and that we had taken no extraordinary
measures to reduce the fort, seemed rather like
reasons for holding it at all hazards rather than
abandon it.

The two regiments of Cols. Fitch and McLean
Forty-third and Forty-sixth Indiana tired
of the weary guard-duty on the Arkansas shore,
among the mosquitoes and rattlesnakes, conceiv
ed the clangers of the rebel guns would hardly
be more formidable than the common enemy of
mankind.

A large picket force was landed on the Tennes
see shore, under Capt. Schermerhorn, who made
a detour round, so as to come in the rear of the
fort. A bridge was constructed across Cole
Creek. The rebels, discovering this, fancied that
our force was much larger than it was, and in
conjunction with the movements of Gen. Halleck,
left them no alternative but to abandon the posi
tion.

The mortars, as we discovered, had thrown
shells into the works, and far beyond them into
the woods, but could not learn whether they
killed any one. The presumption is against it,
as the garrison was quite small, and the places
of shelter abundant.

The works at Pillow may be described most
easily, as first an irregular line of earthworks
running along the base of the bluffs for the dis
tance of half a mile continuous, with but one
slight intermission, at a height of twenty -five feet
from the river at this stage. The embankment,
part of which appears to be old, is calculated for
forty-one guns, though it is doubtful if more
than eighteen have been mounted there at any
time.

Above this, and on plateaux not quite even
with the top of the range of bluffs, are two long
batteries calculated for about twenty guns of
various calibres. These works are of more recent
construction. Besides this, there are on tho
heights, and in isolated positions near the top,
excavations, behind which a single gun was
mounted, or, more correctly speaking, dismount
ed. The plan of the rebels has evidently been tc
remove most of their best guns, and to shatter
the rest by over-charges. A few of them have
stood the test, and may be considered amply safe
hereafter.

Fort Pillow, named after the celebrated Gid
eon J. Pillow, of Mexican ditch and Fort Donelson,
notoriety, is an immense system of earthworks,
situated on the first Chickasaw bluffs, sixty-five
miles above Memphis, and one hundred and
seventy-five below Cairo. The first fortifications
were, as I learned from a native, commenced
about a year ago, early in June, 1861, at the time
when Memphis was in a ferment, and the seces
sion of Tennessee was eagerly canvassed. The
original design has been greatly enlarged, so that
little or no trace of the original can be found in
the numerous additions which have been made