The Man who survived Racial Prejudice
- Joe Williams. I am proud to call him my friend. The year is 1991. We are at a restaurant drinking coffee. During the conversation Joe tells me about his greatest grandmother.
- He called her Ms. Chaney. She was born in 1841 and died in 1959. She lived on the Green's Plantation within a few miles of the bluffs of Fort Pillow, located on the Mississippi River. He said she was a household slave and proud of it.
- Joe's uncle was a valet for General Green. General Green rode with General Forrest. Knowing what was going to occur at Fort Pillow, General Green refused to let his valet join him. The valet was responsible for the horses and guns that General Green used in battle.
- General Forrest's father was a blacksmith, making chains and torture devices for slaves. His uncles were the slave drivers and hunters. Their dogs were as viscous and cruel as they were. Their brutal work kept them on the move. For work, they followed the slave trail into Tennessee and Mississippi. Forrest grew up along Duck River in Bedford County Tennessee as an uneducated boy who loved the excitement of the hunt. When his father died, he and his brothers traveled to be with his uncle in Mississippi. He became a man of two faces. One as a slick gambler and seller of slaves and the Other as a cruel Slave Dealer with Slave Pens in Missouri, Tennessee and Mississippi. His unjust wealth led to his owning plantations in Mississippi and Arkansas.
- I saw premeditated murder when Joe told me that General Green refused to let his valet join him in the fight at Fort Pillow. To have firsthand, uncorrupted testimony, from witnesses who had kept to themselves what they knew, stirred within me a desire to find out if I could find documents that proved the Massacre was Premeditated . The answer was YES! The date of April 12, 1864, was the clue that convinced me, for it is the anniversary date for the firing on Fort Sumter that started the Civil War. This now led to a search. Who planned the Massacre and Why?
- Joe Richard Williams brothers and sisters are Sonny Boy, Willy Lyte, Delphine, Annie, I'vie and Ellen. Joe's father is Richard Williams, his grandfather is John Williams, and then, Bennie Bomma and Ms. Chaney.
- Joe's mother is Hattie. Hattie's parents are Fred Whitelaw Sr. (called Big Daddy) and Annie Elisa (Green) Whitelaw.
- 1940 CENSUS - Head of the family: Age 47, FRED WHITELAW. Wife: Age 45, Annie Elisa (Green) Whitelaw. Daughter: Age 26, Hattie Lyte Whitelaw. Son: Age 18, Joe Whitelaw, he serves as a Sergeant. Grandson: Age 4, Willie C Lyte Whitelaw.
- The Green's have Creek & Cherokee blood. Joe is related to Charlie Green, Man Green, Botts Green and Eddy Morice Green. Then there is Judge Green, George Green, Will's & Mary Green and Preacher Abraham Green. When Joe gave me this information, I did not question him nor ask for more details, for Joe is an honest, intelligent man, who always tell you the truth. Also, at the time, I had no reason to ask for more information.
April 12, 1864.
- The missing 1864 military Investigation of the Cruelties at Fort Pillow and related firsthand primary sources proves that the Secret Society controlling the Confederacy had declared a policy of extermination. Their instructions were to attack and destroy the Educational Center at Fort Pillow and all who supported it. Men, women and children, young and old, it did not matter.
- In preparation for the attack General Sherman removed the Union forces. All that remained were a few blacks and their white sympathizers.
- What was not anticipated, was the arrival of West Tennessee's Volunteer Cavalry. These men were from prominent Southern Families, who had resisted the Confederacy from its beginning.
- General Forrest planned for an early morning raid. The first to arrive was General Chalmers. It was still dark when his men destroyed the Educational Center and the camps for refugees. After completing this task, he attacks the Fort.
- How can you deny what happened when dead bodies are found burned to death inside the buildings.
- The attack on the Fort was anticipated. What was not anticipated was the destruction of the refuge camps and Educational Center, and the policy of extermination. Those who produced the correct sign, showing that they were members of the Secret Society, were spared. But, this did not apply to Confederate sympathizers who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. They were killed.
- Women and children in the camps were assisting their father, husband, or brothers at the Fort. Some were on the gunboats, offering their assistance there, whereas, others were trapped and killed. The women and children, who at the last minute, did escape, became targets for sharpshooters.
- The mystery of what really happened during the battle, has been solved. Let me know what you think should come first, the MOVIE or BOOK.
- The material arranged for a MOVIE needs a script writer. I think that whoever buys MOVIE RIGHTS should use his own script writer. What do you think?
- Your help is rewarded by the FREE BOOK, and by access to RESEARCH and the story it tells. Included are two pages of the missing 1864 military investigation. These two pages prove that General Forrest ordered the massacre and that General Chalmers ordered the killing of a small boy.
Tri-State Defender, remembers Fort Pillow,TN.
- Peter Williams, the great, great, great grandfather of Joe Williams, survived the massacre at Fort Pillow, Tennessee.
- Dr. Callie Herd, of W.E.A.L.L.B.E. Group Inc. is responsible for the permanent markers in memory of Colored Troops at Fort Pillow.
- Ronald, Dr. Callie's son, gave background information.
Listed as prisoners, and then killed.
- Peter Williams is listed as a prisoner, but found in the death pile on the morning of April 13, 1864.
- Peter's grave marker gives May 13, 1915, as the date of his death.
- Peter's life is convincing proof that General Forrest claimed as prisoners, men he ordered killed.