It’s nice to hear from you as we haven’t talked in a couple of years. You are absolutely right in pointing out that the evidence does not point to large number of Confederates being executed by black soldiers at the Crater. You have to dig pretty far to find the few accounts that exist. I’ve found that most Confederate wartime accounts don’t reference anything about “No Quarter” or “Remember Fort Pillow”; rather they include references to “nigger” and other racial invectives.

I want to second Bryce’s suggestion that you read his piece in _Black Flag_, which is by far the most complete statistical analysis of the massacre we have. I look forward to your forthcoming piece.

I don’t know whether the black troops called out “No Quarter” or “Remember Fort Pillow” but I have read enough accounts to convince me that they did not actuall murder large numbers of Confederate prisoners.

I am currently writing a section on the Crater for Volume I of Ed Bearss’ forthcoming book on the Siege of Petersburg, to be released this coming Spring by Ted Savas.

Can anyone help me contact John Schmutz?

Bryce A. Suderow

Good point.

Yes, but he wouldn’t be the first.

Sorry for the confusion. The unknown number of Confederates in question here had surrendered to the black soldiers in Sigfried’s brigade. Again, I don’t think that Slotkin is attempting to equate one instance with another, but is acknowledging that black soldiers entered battle having heard of the massacre at Fort Pillow and with a set of assumptions about how they would be treated if captured. That seems to have led to the situation described by Slotkin. Hope that helps.

You write the following:
blockquoteThe first massacre actually occurred by black soldiers in Sigfried’s brigade, who advanced into battle with the cry of No Quarter. According to Slotkin, the battle cry was intended to overcome that supposed docility and motivate them to fight with absolute determination. (p. 339) White officers quickly intervened once their men became engaged with the enemy./blockquote
I reread that when I saw Naims comment and your response. And now Im really confused. Do you mean that the first massacre was icommitted/i by black troops? And what, then, is the definition of massacre if it can be committed by armed, uniformed combatants on armed, uniformed combatants in the context of a battle (as opposed to after the battle, when one side has surrendered)? Is yelling No Quarter enough to make any killing after that a massacre? And, finally, what sort of massacre happens with white officers intervening once their men became engaged with the enemy? Is that exactly iwhen/i the massacre would happen, when theyre engaged with the enemy?

I dont mean to express undue skepticism about what happened. I just cant understand what did happen.

It’s important that we resist comparing the two. The scale and reasons for the two cases diverge in important ways and must be understood as such.

That’s a really good point. I agree that there is wiggle room here. In this case the government did not directly order soldiers to massacre black men; rather, its policies reflected the dangers that were already apparent to white Southerners who themselves did not need to be told of the threats by public officials. In fact, I would say that their response had already been ingrained by the start of the Civil War.