Reports of the Committee on the Conduct of the War: Fort Pillow Massacre. [Washington, D.C.]: N.p., [1864]. Returned Prisoners. [Cover title]. 8vo. Illustrated with 8 portraits (on 4 pages) of woodcut engravings after photographic portraits of Belle Island POWs. Contemporary brown cloth gilt. FIRST EDITION.

Contains two Senate Reports related to Confederate atrocities: 

1. 38th Congress, 1st Session. House of Representatives, Report No. 65.  Nevins I: 204.

2. 38th Congress, 1st Session. House of Representatives, Report No. 67.  Not in Nevins. 

Nevins writes "Hurriedly written and hate-filled, yet contains a mass of evidence essential to any study of this alleged massacre." 

A fascinating publication that makes a direct connection between the massacre at Fort Pillow and the treatment of prisoners of war at Belle Isle. This booklet, binding the related reports together, brings attention to the two events to highlight what they clearly viewed as more than isolated incidents in the Confederate conduct of the war. 

On 12 April 1864, surrendering Union troops, many of them United States Colored Troops (USCT) regiments, were slaughtered by Confederates commanded by General Nathan Bedford Forrest. The incident became known as the Fort Pillow Massacre. 

Shortly afterward, in May 1864, emaciated prisoners from Belle Isle Prisoner of War camp arrived in Annapolis. The prison was grossly overcrowded after the Battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, its population swelling to more than double its capacity. The already harsh conditions worsened in 1864 when food supplies ran out.

Several photographs were taken at the U.S. General Hospital in Annapolis, where they received care. Woodcut engravings were made of the haunting portraits and were used in both Harper's Weekly, Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, and evidently in this Congressional report as well. 

Both events were used by Union leadership and the press to publicize Confederate atrocities and galvanize support for Abraham Lincoln (seeking reelection) and the continued war effort. 

Last year, Fleischer's Auctions sold a copy in a similar binding with an identical cover title but containing the corresponding Senate reports. 

An important late-war government publication.

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