A fine example of this extraordinary battle-scene. The fact is, that it was hardly a battle in the normal sense of the word. The Union Troops, mostly African Americans were hopelessly outgunned, and after brief skirmish, surrendered. However, the Confederate troops under Colonel Nathan Bedford Forrest, who was to later further disgrace himself by helping to found the Ku Klux Klan, slaughtered the men, most of whom had dropped their weapons and had the hands raised. Forrest's men massacred them in cold blood. Surviving members of the garrison said that most of their men surrendered and threw down their arms, only to be shot or bayoneted by the attackers, who repeatedly shouted, "No quarter! No quarter!" The Joint Committee On the Conduct of the War immediately investigated the incident and concluded that the Confederates shot most of the garrison after it had surrendered.
