Massacre at Fort Pillow

    Although this battle was just a minor skirmish it is quite significant due to the pitiless actions of the Confederates. Every single black soldier stationed at the garrison was murdered in cold blood. It was a stark reminder to the blacks of the repercussions for defying their white masters.
    Fort Pillow was located in Tennessee, which at the time was a state comprised of both pro and anti slavery sentiments. The garrison stationed at the Fort comprised of around five hundred sixty seven Union soldiers. Half of them were black troops. However, little did they know that a Confederate force of around one thousand five hundred men commanded by General Nathan Bedford Forest was approaching them. On April 12, 1864 the siege of Fort Pillow began. Despite the fact that the Union forces fought valiantly they were completely outmatched and in a few hours had lost nearly three hundred soldiers. On the other hand, the Confederates suffered minor casualties because they lost only fourteen soldiers. This forced the Union soldiers within the fort to surrender.
    However, General Forest had other plans rather than accept the surrender. Forest strongly supported slavery and this most likely contributed to his plan to exterminate the prisoners. The general was mad at both the slaves and the white men because they sided with the blacks. As a result, he executed a majority of the black prisoners rather than treat them like true war prisoners. Forest even had the wounded killed. It was a bloody and merciless slaughter of the black soldiers. But even though the Union was crushed in this skirmish the victory held little significance for the Confederates. In fact the fort was abandoned within the week. When Forest murdered the blacks he intended for it to be a message that would keep the blacks from fighting back. Yet that was not the outcome of this slaughter.
    When news of the Massacre at Fort Pillow reached the North blacks were enraged. It served as a symbol of hate to them and joined the army in large numbers. Eventually, as the war neared its end the blacks would get the last laugh as they obliterated the Confederates at Richmond.
    The main takeaway from this blog should be that it was clear that the whites didn't view the blacks as equals. Racism was prevalent in both the North and South(but especially the South obviously because they functioned through slavery). The South just killed the black troops whereas if it were a white soldier they would have taken them prisoner. However, despite all the brutality in the end the massacre served as a rallying point for the blacks.

https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-now/spotlight-primary-source/fort-pillow-massacre-1864

https://www.britannica.com/event/Fort-Pillow-Massacre