Fort Pillow

On April 12, the cavalry force of Maj. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest’s force surrounded Fort Pillow on the Mississippi River. After the fort’s commander, Union Maj. Lionel Booth, was killed by a Confederate sniper’s bullet, the second in command, Major William Bradford took control. Forrest demanded surrender from the Union troops. Bradford, hoping for reinforcements from Union boats arriving by the Mississippi River, called for a one-hour cease fire. Forrest, however, spotted Union boats approaching and sent men to block the reinforcements. After a brief warning, the Confederates attacked the fort and met little resistance. While Major Bradford fled toward the Mississippi, most of the Union garrison surrendered, expecting to be taken as prisoners of war. But Confederate and Union witness accounts attest that some 300 soldiers, many of them black, were gunned down by the Confederate forces. A federal investigation later concluded that African American troops were massacred by Forrest’s men after surrendering.