Comte de Paris, History of the Civil War in America. Vol. 4.
Henry Coppee , LL.D., Ed.

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[481] that of murder. The prisoners are stripped of all they possess. Still, they must esteem themselves fortunate to have their lives saved. They are collected together and led, under an escort, toward Brownsville, numbering two hundred and fifty, among which are a few wounded. All their companions are lying on the ground, some dead, the others severely wounded. It may be reckoned that of five hundred and fifty-seven men there are four hundred hors de combat; the vanquishers have about one hundred.

In the mean time, Forrest, far from wishing to occupy the post he has just conquered, as Hurlbut feared, seems to have no other thought than to leave it at the earliest moment. He starts for Brownsville before sunset, leaving Chalmers in command, with orders to evacuate the fort the following day, after having cared for the sick, buried the dead, and taken with him the enemy's cannon and the prisoners. Knowing the temper of his soldiers, he should himself have watched the execution of this task—of which they acquitted themselves in an infamous manner—unless, however, he felt himself powerless to impose it upon them. However that may be, the dead and the dying were thrown pellmell into the ditches of the work and covered over with a little earth —so hastily that at least one of the victims of this premature burial succeeded in coming out of the common grave during the night, and managed to escape. The greater part of the wounded Federals remained, for want of surgeons perhaps, without any assistance during the entire night under the boards of the barracks, to which some charitable Southern soldiers have carried them after having tried in vain, by means of signals, to have the New Era return to take charge of them. At last the dawn breaks upon this mournful scene. One of the numerous Federal gunboats that plough the river, the Silver Cloud, is soon signalled. She nears the shore, and, seeing the enemy's flag, throws a few projectiles upon the fort. At once the Confederates set on fire the barracks, which have been turned into hospitals. It has been stated that a number of wounded were burned on this occasion, either by accident or even by a horrible excess of cruelty. This has not been proved, in our opinion; therefore we do not admit it. But it is positive that the fire was started when the wounded were still lying in the places of refuge, and that several were taken