Mass Massacres Union Army...

5fish

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As pointed out on our forum that all the mass massacres were done in the name of the Confederacy. Ferguson(Saltville). Quantrill(Lawrence), and Forrest(Ft. Pillow) are all infamous for the action of their troops at these now infamous location of mass murder.

I ask a simple question....

What if a Union regiment or militia had committed a massacre of confederate troops or civilians during the civil war?

Would the union authorities have brought the leaders of that regiment to justice?

Would they have hung the leaders of the regiment or just thrown hem in jail for awhile?

I would like to note the no union prison commanders or guards were every held accountable for the numerous confederate prisoners deaths in their prison camps, unlike Col. Wirz was.

Would the southern victims of such an event have ever found justice?
 

diane

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The three Confederate massacres you mention - except for Saltville and Ferguson hanging - not much happened in the way of justice. For one thing, anarchy reigned in the war zone. Court houses were shut or burned down, judges gone with the wind and constables nonfunctional. Forrest had three warrants out for his arrest during the war - three Union armies couldn't arrest him so a posse of Tennessee marshals sure wasn't going to either!

Looking at what was going on in Missouri, west Tennessee and northern Mississippi - all semblance of law and order was gone. Ft Pillow had become a smuggling center as well as a haven and launching site for Union renegades like Hurst. Warlords like Newt Knight set up in Mississippi. Repeatedly Forrest and other Confederate commanders demanded the Union protect the territory it held. It got complicated. Doing that might help the enemy - civilians would provide shelter and aid every chance they got. Forrest was related to everybody in Tennessee. It came down to neither side could maintain control over lawless elements and that led to many a tragedy. Would Bloody Bill have been so bloody if Quantrill had been able to control him? Saltville wouldn't have happened if Basil Duke had not lost control of Champ Ferguson. Forrest had two partisan companies go outlaw on him, including one of his half-brothers. When it was obvious no help from any authority Confederate, Union or otherwise was coming, he took it on himself to be the cops. Had to! He was the only commander on either side who could do it, or at least try to do it.

Some of the people involved in these massacres did, eventually, have to answer to somebody. Some of the partisan groups became outlaw gangs and rampaged after the war, some moved their outlawry to the West - Jesse James, for instance. The West was a great place for veterans who could not stop fighting.
 
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