APRIL 18, 1864:
The Battle of Poison
Spring. Union troops near Camden,
Arkansas are running short of supplies and 1000 men are dispatched to forage
for 5,000 bushels’ worth of corn and other items. As the 200 wagon forage train
is returning to Camden it is attacked by 3,600 Confederate troops near Poison
Spring.
The Union troops fight valiantly, but are overwhelmed after the third assault wave. The First Kansas Infantry U.S.C.T. , a unit comprised entirely of emancipated slaves, is singled out by the Confederates for especial attention. Almost all of the 300 Union casualties come from this one unit. None of the former slaves are taken prisoner. Instead, they are targeted, and any who surrender are killed, sexually mutilated and scalped by the Confederates.
The Washington Telegraph, the newspaper of the Confederate capital of the State, justified the mutilations by declaring, "We cannot treat Negroes taken in arms as prisoners of war without a destruction of social system for which we contend."
The Union troops fight valiantly, but are overwhelmed after the third assault wave. The First Kansas Infantry U.S.C.T. , a unit comprised entirely of emancipated slaves, is singled out by the Confederates for especial attention. Almost all of the 300 Union casualties come from this one unit. None of the former slaves are taken prisoner. Instead, they are targeted, and any who surrender are killed, sexually mutilated and scalped by the Confederates.
The Washington Telegraph, the newspaper of the Confederate capital of the State, justified the mutilations by declaring, "We cannot treat Negroes taken in arms as prisoners of war without a destruction of social system for which we contend."
Despite the contemporaneous
documentation of the killings, in certain quarters, modern Southern apologists
deny that the killings took place, or, alternatively, that they were not as brutal
and extensive as recorded.
