"While waiting for Sherman's troops the "Black Hawk" laid alongside the fort, her high upper works on a level with the embrasures, while three boat-guns on wheels, on the upper deck, completely commanded the inside of the works, which presented a dreadful scene of killed and wounded. A large number of artillery horses had been kept in the fort for some reason, and the shells and shrapnel had made sad havoc with the dead and dying men, mixed up with the killed and wounded animals. It was a scene ever to be remembered."
"....not anticipating that the enemy would make any more resistance. Their colors had been shot away and had not been hoisted again."
"At one time the admiral determined to assault without waiting for the Army, but courtesy to the general [Sherman] required that the Navy should wait until the Army assaulting party should appear, which they did in a few minutes, then there was a simultaneous movement from all parts of the fort by the Confederates (who had been concealed behind or underneath the buildings that had been knocked down), and with muskets in their hands they rushed to the rear parapet and crouched down behind the works."
"It was not known what this movement signified, the boat-guns on the flag-ship's upper deck (the flag-ship was a large river steamer unaltered), could have cut them to pieces, but there had been so much slaughter, the admiral would not fire on them, thinking they would throw down their arms as soon as Sherman's men got within twenty yards of them; but not so, for when our troops got within thirty or forty yards the Confederates rose together and poured in a withering volley from about 450 muskets, and nearly every bullet told."
"...The Navy could not fire without hitting the Federal troops, and the whole thing was so sudden and unexpected that the guns were not fired from the "Black Hawk."
"It seems that the garrison of the fort belonged to the Confederate navy and determined to surrender only to the U. S. Navy; yet they wanted to have a last blow at the soldiers, ..."
"Besides the 6,000 men that surrendered to General Sherman, there were 500 left alive in the forts, and it was curious in looking over the list of prisoners to see added to the names, "Seaman." "Ordinary Seaman." "Coal-heaver," "Fireman," etc. These men were part of the crew and officers of the Confederate ram "Ponchartrain," ..."
Now we know that some of the Fort Hindman garrison such as its commander Col. Dunnington surrendered to the Union Navy, recieved parole, and avoided going to prison at Camp Douglas. From what I am reading here it sounds like the entire Garrison of 450 to 500 men, who survived, surrendered to the Navy on the "Blackhawk".
I am wondering?
If this was true, and those 450 men were paroled in like manner, could they have accounted for the seemingly large number of men who supposedly "excaped" from being captured and returned to Pine Bluff? We know that most of the men who were the Garrison of Fort Hindman were Dawson's 19th and Portlocks 24th Arkansas Infantry. It certainly sounds like the garrison was armed with infantry weapons. And it was mostly men of the 19th and 24th that were reorganized as later Hardy's Regiment at Pine Bluff in February 1862.
Yet we also know that a semular number of the 19th and 24th Arkansas also did go to Camp Douglas and were exchanged at City Point, Virginia.
So I am wondering if the division point may have been those who were in the Fort and surrendered to the "Blackhawk" recieved parole and those outside and surrendered to the Army went to prison?
Any thoughts?