Submitted by: Submitted by briane21
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Date Submitted: 07/18/2010 09:31 AM
Although Northern newspapers of the time no doubt
exaggerated some of the Confederate atrocities at Fort
Pillow, most modern sources agree that a massacre of
Union troops took place there on 12 April 1864. It
seems clear that Union soldiers, particularly black
soldiers, were killed after they had stopped fighting
or had surrendered or were being held prisoner. Less
clear is the role played by Major General Nathan
Bedford Forrest in leading his troops. Although we
will never know whether Forrest directly ordered the
massacre, evidence suggests that he was responsible
for it.
What happened at Fort Pillow?
Fort Pillow, Tennessee, which sat on a bluff
overlooking the Mississippi River, had been held by
the Union for two years. It was garrisoned by 580 men,
292 of them from the Sixth United States Colored Heavy
and Light Cavalry, 285 from the white Thirteenth
Tennessee Cavalry. Nathan Bedford Forrest’s troops
numbered about 1,500 men.1
The Confederates attacked Fort Pillow on 12 April
1864 and had virtually surrounded the fort by the time
Forrest arrived on the battlefield. At 3:30 P.M.,
Forrest displayed a flag of truce and sent in a demand
for unconditional surrender of the sort he had used
before: “The conduct of the officers and men garrisoning
Fort Pillow has been such as to entitle them to
being treated as prisoners of war. . . . Should my
demand be refused, I cannot be responsible for the
fate of your command.”2 Union Major William Bradford,
who had replaced Major Booth, killed earlier by
sharpshooters, asked for an hour to consult. Forrest,
worried that vessels in the river were bringing in
more troops, shortened the time to twenty minutes.