Today in History:

620 Series I Volume XXXII-I Serial 57 - Forrest's Expedition Part I

Page 620 KY., SW. VA., TENN., MISS., ALA., AND N. GA. Chapter XLIV.

[Inclosure.]

List* of prisoners captured by Major-General Forrest at Fort Pillow, Tenn., April 12, 1864, and other points, flags, &c.

List+ of prisoners captured at different times in West Tennessee by Major-General Forrest, and also embracing deserters, dangerous characters, &c.

List of flags, and by whom captured: One large flag captured 12th April, 1864, by Colonel T. H. Bell's brigade; 3 flags captured at Fort Pillow; 1 guidon captured by Colonel Neely's brigade near Bolivar, Tenn.


Numbers 28. Report of Brigadier General James R. Chalmers, C. S. Army, commanding First Division Cavalry, of the capture of Fort Pillow.


HDQRS. FIRST DIVISION, FORREST'S CAV. DEPARTMENT,
Verona, May 7, 1864.

MAJOR: I have the honor to submit the following report of the actions of the troops under my command in the recent capture of Fort Pillow, Tenn.:

I obedience to orders from Major-General Forrest, I directed Colonel J. J. Neely, commanding First Brigade of this division, to move his command, on the morning of the 10th April, from Whiteville southward in the direction of Memphis, instructing him to produce the impression that he was the advance of General Forrest's command, and that our whole force was in his rear, and to make preparations for constructing pontoon bridges across Wolf River at Raleigh and one or two other points, and to make such demonstrations as would induce the enemy to believe that our whole force was about to attack Memphis. At the same time I ordered Colonel John McGuirk, Third Regiment Mississippi Partisans, under Major Parks, northward from the Tallahatchie River toward Memphis, and to report that Major-General Lee was advancing from the south of that place. It gives me pleasure to report that both of these officers executed these orders with promptness and success.

I then assumed command of a division composed of McCulloch's brigade of my division and Colonel T. H. Bell's brigade of Buford's division.

On the morning of the 11th instant, I moved this division from Sharon's Ferry, on Forked Deer, in the direction of Brownsville, and on the same morning moved Lieutenant-Colonel Chalmers' battalion through Brownsville on the Memphis road, and thence by a circuitous route back again to the Fort Pillow road. I moved from Brownsville in person, at 3.30 p. m., on the 11th and reached Fort Pillow, a distance of 40 miles, at daylight next morning. Colonel McCulloch, commanding advance, surprised the enemy's pickets and captured 4 of them. My orders from General Forrest were to invest the place, and I proceeded to do so as follows: McCulloch's brigade moved

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*Nominal list (omitted) shows 6 officers and 154 enlisted men.

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+Nominal list (omitted) shows 39 persons.


Page 620 KY., SW. VA., TENN., MISS., ALA., AND N. GA. Chapter XLIV.