The Military Employment of Negroes Distasteful to the Rebel Authorities.--The Confederates the First to employ Negroes as Soldiers.--Jefferson Davis refers to the Subject in his Message, and the Confederate Congress orders All Negroes captured to be turned over to the State Authorities, and raises the "Black Flag" upon White Officers commanding Negro Soldiers.--The New York Press calls upon the Government to protect its Negro Soldiers.--Secretary Stanton's Action.--The President's Order.--Correspondence between Gen. Peck and Gen. Pickett in Regard to the Killing of a Colored Man after he had surrendered at the Battle of Newbern.--Southern Press on the Capture and Treatment of Negro Soldiers.--The Rebels refuse to exchange Negro Soldiers captured on Morris and James Islands on Account of the Order of the Confederate Congress which required them to be turned over to the Authorities of the Several States.--Jefferson Davis issues a Proclamation outlawing Gen. B. F. Butler.--He is to be hung without Trial by any Confederate Officer who may capture him.--The Battle of Fort Pillow.--The Gallant Defence by the Little Band of Union Troops.--It refuses to capitulate and is assaulted and captured by an Overwhelming Force.--The Union Troops butchered in Cold Blood.--The Wounded are carried into Houses which are fired and burned with their Helpless Victims.--Men are nailed to the Outside of Buildings through their Hands and Feet and burned alive.--The Wounded and Dying are brained where they lay in their Ebbing Blood.--The Outrages are renewed in the Morning.--Dead and Living find a Common Sepulchre in the Trench.--General Chalmers orders the Killing of a Negro Child.--Testimony of the Few Union Soldiers who were enabled to crawl out of the Gilt-Edge, Fire-Proof Hell at Pillow.--They give a Sickening Account of the Massacre before the Senate Committee on the Conduct of the War.--Gen. Forrest's Futile Attempt to destroy the Record of his Foul Crime.--Fort Pillow Massacre without a Parallel in History 350 Part 8. _THE FIRST DECADE OF FREEDOM._ CHAPTER XXI. RECONSTRUCTION--MISCONSTRUCTION. 1865-1875. The War over, Peace restored, and the Nation cleansed of a Plague.--slavery gives Place to a Long Train of Events.--Unsettled Condition of Affairs at the South.--The Absence of Legal Civil Government necessitates the Establishment of Provisional Military Government.--An Act establishing a Bureau for Refugees and Abandoned Lands.--Congressional Methods for the Reconstruction of the South.--Gen. U. S. Grant carries these States in 1868 and 1872.--Both Branches of the Legislatures in all the Southern States contain Negro Members.--The Errors of Reconstruction chargeable to both Sections of the Country 377