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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.