The Fort Pillow Massacre: 150 years ago April 12 1864

[Will Carry]

The Battle at Fort Pillow was a black day for Nathan Bedford Forest and his cavalry. If you look this battle up on Wikipedia or other internet sites, you will not get the whole story. I have no doubt that Union soldiers were murdered that day, black and white alike, but the story goes deeper than that. There is an excellent article in Military Heritage magazine (January 2014) about this debacle at Fort Pillow. The Union commander of the fort was of dubious character. He made the town a Jackson pay him $5,000, not to burn the town. There is a suggestion that Fort Pillow was nothing more than a hideout for looters, thieves, carpetbaggers and scoundrels. Forest and his men were getting many reports from local civilians of terrible deeds perpetrated by the garrison at the fort. There were also around 100 confederate deserters at the fort. When Forest moved on this fort, his men were already mad, yet there is no evidence to suggest they attacked to fort with any intention committing a massacre. This battle was one giant clusterflop from the very beginning. This contributed more to what happened than racism and hatred.

The standard procedure for surrendering a fort was to lower the flag. It was never lowered. The commander of the fort was shot and killed at the beginning of the battle and the Union command structure broke down. Some men were surrendering while others were still fighting. Some groups of men who had surrendered changed their minds and started fighting again. It was chaos. This did more to spark the massacre than the hatred of black soldiers, deserters and East Tennessee Unionists. The sad part is that this could probably have been avoided if this chain of events had been broken some how. Edited April 8, 2014 by Will Carry

[Hershmeister]

You forgot to mention scallywags

[Will Carry]

You forgot to mention scallywags

The Union commander of the fort called himself Major Booth but his real name was George H. Lanning. He had to change his name and flee Iowa because his own family wanted him dead.

General Sherman had ordered that Fort Pillow be abandoned, but it such a nice hideout for Booth's smuggling operation that Booth occupied it anyway. Booth was able to move his loot up the Mississippi from Fort Pillow. SCALLYWAGS I SAY!

Forest told the fort's commander during a truce that he would give quarter to all who surrendered, black and white. They turned him down. During the truce, black artillery men on the fort's parapets began talking trash to the southern boys. Major Booth had promised them that the fort could not be taken. This further enraged the Confederates. By 1864, Forests men had seen more blood spilled than most, they had been in ferocious hand to hand fighting, usually outnumbered. Forest had never lost a battle when he was in charge of all the southern troops. His tactics were totally unorthodox. Erwin Rommel studied Forest.... Edited April 8, 2014 by Will Carry

[ncomarc]

I been lucky enough to move to TN where a lot of history is near and also travel to a lot of civil war sites during training so it was pretty much on Uncle Sams dime. Between the speakers that come to the colleges and historical sites around us I usually dedicate one week a year for such things.

Anytime war is declared atrocities will happen and each side will justify it to suit them. I wish the old men put more thought into the decision and what ever the decision let the military do its job.

[E4 No More]

I read the title and thought this was a tale of some co-eds gone wild. :)

Edited April 9, 2014 by SWJewellTN

[Chucktshoes]

I read the title and thought this was a tail of some co-eds gone wild. :)

I think I've seen that movie... :dirty:

Edited April 8, 2014 by Chucktshoes

[Wheelgunner]

Will Carry,

 

Thank you for your thoughtful and accurate discussion of the Battle of Ft. Pillow.  Too often the complexities of that battle are overlooked - as they were in Forrest's own lifetime.  Even at the time of the battle and during the legislative inquiry that followed upon its heels, this battle was highly controverted.  Survivors on both sides gave widely varying accounts.  There were those who believed that the confusion you mentioned regarding the Union forces' surrender was an intentional ruse, an underhanded tactic by which the Union forces could gain an advantage.  This theory is particularly interesting when one takes into consideration Forrest's well documented efforts in similar situations to give the enemy maximum opportunity for surrender and, in his own words, to "prevent further effusion of blood."

Edited April 11, 2014 by Wheelgunner

[leroy]

Nathan Bedford Forrest was a great man.... He was probably the most powerful post-civil war confederate figure in Tennessee after the civil war... He called out the infamous Governor Brownlow on a variety of punitive policies considered in the Tennessee state assembly after the war... He essentially made them fear for their lives... They were so mindful of his sentiments and positions that they pretty well walked a reasonable line with regard to issues concerning the "punishment" and "second class citizenship" of confederate veterans after the war... He was never a member of the Tennessee state assembly, but his views were well known and completely understood...

 

Forrest was a brave man  and a genius who knew what he believed in.... Brownlow was a ratty opportunist politician, windbag, and a demagogue who was made afraid by one man; Nathan Bedford Forrest.... Remember, there was no military governor in Tennessee after the civil war... Brownlow was the closest thing that Tennessee had and he was very mindful of what Forrest's positions on policy were... He was  afraid of Forrest, and for very good reason i believe... It is, indeed, fitting, that there is a bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest in the collection of the Tennessee State House...

 

He was a great man... A military genius, an extraordinarily brave man, a great business man, and a great Tennessean; despite the continuing campaign waged to smear and besmirch him... Remember, history is written by the winners... That means that the truth hardly ever is the "approved version".... 

 

leroy

[JAB]

 

He was a great man... A military genius, an extraordinarily brave man, a great business man, and a great Tennessean; despite the continuing campaign waged to smear and besmirch him... Remember, history is written by the winners... That means that the truth hardly ever is the "approved version".... 

 

leroy

 

I have read about the Fort Pillow 'massacre', before.  Based on what I read, there were accounts from both sides which intimated that the 'massacre' happened when the 'prisoners' in question began fighting, again, just as indicated in the OP.

 

One, big thing used to try and besmirch Forrest's name is the fact that he was a charter member of the Klu Klux Klan.  Some accounts have him as the founder but that is not likely the truth.  However, he did move into the main, leadership position within a few years.  The thing is, people don't understand that there was, basically, no real law enforcement in many parts of the South in the years following the Civil War and the KKK was formed not as a racist group but as a group of vigilantes intent on combating that lawlessness.  Unfortunately, it appears that the focus of the group rather quickly turned to racism.  Because of that shift Forrest, himself - by right of his leadership position - officially disbanded the KKK for that, very reason (in 1869, I believe.)  Apparently, he felt that by moving into a more racially motivated direction the group had lost its purpose and focus and he no longer wanted to be associated with them.

 

Forrest is the source of one of my favorite quotes of all time - quite possibly my absolute favorite quote.  Apparently, there was a Captain under his command with whom Forrest did not get along.  The Captain in question put in for transfer to a different command and Forrest blocked it.  The Captain confronted Forrest and the two got into a heated argument.  The Captain ended up shooting Forrest (the bullet lodged in his hip, iirc.)  It is said that Forrest then drew his sabre and used it to kill the Captain, saying (and this is the quote to which I referred), "No damn man kills me and lives!"

Edited April 9, 2014 by JAB

[Will Carry]

My favorite Forrest quote:
General Steven Lee attacked 11,000 well entrenched Union soldiers with a botched frontal attack, after Forrest pleaded with Lee to wait until the Yankees were on the move and stung out on the road, Forrest told Lee "Don't feel bad general, if I had me a West Point education, the Yankees would be whippin' me all the time."

Robert E Lee was asked by a reporter, after the war, "Mr. Lee, in your opinion, who was the best general of the war, North or South?" Lee replied "It is a man I have never met. His name is Forrest." Edited April 9, 2014 by Will Carry

[sigmtnman]

Y'all think it was by chance that they picked his name for that movie and misrepresented who he was as well as many other historical events?

[Hershmeister]

Wall street journal had an op/ed on it this weekend http://m.us.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303978304579473661931095906?mobile=y

[Will Carry]

Wall street journal had an op/ed on it this weekend http://m.us.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303978304579473661931095906?mobile=y

I read the article. What the writer said was mostly true. Some of it was conjecture. Like I say, it was a black day for Forrest and his men. The fact that the Yankees in Tennessee were behaving badly does not justify what happened.
What I am trying to do is to understand what really happened and put it into some sort of perspective. There was another massacre at Saltville Virginia when a group of poorly trained and poorly let black union cavalry tried to attack the salt works. The southerners left no living black soldier on the field.
You should not judge people who lived 150 years ago by today's standards. Black people were considered to be something less than humans. There was a tremendous amount of hatred and ignorance about people of different races back then. We now know better....I hope. Edited April 17, 2014 by Will Carry