Fort Pillow

In April 1864, the Union garrison at Fort Pillow was comprised of almost six hundred troops, more than half of them black. The Confederacy, incensed by what they saw as a crime against nature, sent its fiercest cavalry commander, Nathan Bedford Forrest, to attack the fort with about 1,500 men. In a pitched battle, the Confederates overran the fort and drove the Federals into a deadly crossfire. Only sixty-two of the U.S. colored troops survived the fight unwounded. Many accused the Confederates of massacring the black troops, and that controversy continues today. The Fort Pillow Massacre became a Union rallying cry and cemented resolve to see the war through to its conclusion. Harry Turtledove has re-created the engagement in dramatic fashion, with brilliant characterization of all the main actors, while reminding us that Fort Pillow was more than a battleit was a clash of ideals in the fight for freedom.


Genre: Historical