THE BLACK FLAG

"THE BLACK FLAG..."is an article published in the New York Times April 16th, 1864, it was written April 14th, 1864. The actual battle occurred April 12, 1864, so the article can be used as a primary source of how Northern media portrayed the massacre. It is easy to pick up the bias of the story as the author refers to the Northern Army as "our troops". The author also does not shy away from incendiary language as he calls the Rebel troops "bloodthirsty as devils incarnate". Also, the article describes the slaughter as not being limited to soldiers. The author claims that negro women and children were murdered in the massacre. There are also claims that men who were wounded were shot and then rolled onto a heap of bodies, which were then burned. Most concerning of all allegations in the article was the allegation that two black soldiers were buried alive and then unburied themselves and made their way to the hospital. 

The second part of the article is a report given by a man aboard the Platte Valley, a steamer that was allowed during seize fire to come and recover wounded men from the fort as well as burry dead. This report was done 3 days after the battle and was wired from St. Louis. According to the soldier on the boat, the hospital at the battle site was invaded and wounded who lay in the hospital were shot, or forced to exit the hospital before the hospital was burned. Also mentioned in the article was that General Chambers, one of the leaders of the Rebel forces, stated that they have tried to prevent the carnage that happened at Fort Pillow despite the Confederacy having the policy of not sparing negro soldiers. 

Obviously the accounts told in this story are gruesome and implicate war crimes enacted by Confederate forces. However, due to the information being one sided I know I would get an entirely different report if I were to look at a Southern newspaper. I think that it would be fun to take my project in the direction of looking at the reactions in the media towards the Battle since it was a very contentious topic at the time in the media. 

http://www.nytimes.com/1864/04/16/news/black-flag-horrible-massacre-rebels-fort-pillow-captured-after-desperate-fight.html