The conflict called the Fort Pillow Massacre during the Civil War is a battle that has a lot of controversy attached to it. It happened on April 12th, 1864, about one year before the ultimate defeat of the Confederate Forces, in Henning Tennessee.
Fort Pillow is a military fort located about 40 miles north of Memphis Tennessee that was built by General Pillow, and during the Civil War both sides used the Fort at different times.
After several military defeats in the region, the Confederate forces abandoned Fort Pillow June 4th, 1862. A couple of days later on June 6th the Union forces took advantage and occupied Fort Pillow to use it as a vantage point to protect the access to Memphis by the river.
In March and April of 1864 the town of Memphis came under sustained attack by groups of Confederate Soldiers, including surrounding Fort Pillow. After attacks on the town were moderately successful inflicting damage, the attention was turned to Fort Pillow.
There were about 600 men which were divided about equally, 300 white men and 300 black soldiers. The Black soldiers were members of the 2nd U.S. Colored Light Artillery and the 6th U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery, both which had as their commander Major Lionel F. Booth.
The White soldiers were members from the 14th Tennessee Cavalry commanded by Major William Bradford.
Confederate General Forrest arrived to attack April 12th, 1864 and surrounded the fort. A bullet struck and killed General Forrest’s horse, which made him quite angry. During the battle he actually lost three horses in a single day.
After demanding surrender and being refused, General Forrest assaulted the Fort. After fierce fighting from the afternoon till dark, at which point most of the Union Soldiers surrendered.
After the surrender many of the Union soldiers were shot and massacred in cold blood. Of the 600 that started the battle, about 297 were ultimately killed either by the battle or by massacre after the surrender.
What causes much of the controversy is the majority of those killed in cold blood afterward were black. Of the surviving 226 that were marched away as prisoners, 168 were white, and 56 were black. Most of the white casualties were from battle, while few black soldiers were killed in the battle.
For many Union Soldiers Remember Fort Pillow,î was a rally cry that would last for the rest of the Civil War.