How was the battle of fort pillow important?
The Battle of Fort Pillow was a controversal battle. The Union
decided it was a massacre and used this to generate support to
continue the war. There were many accounts and newspapers that
stated all the black soldiers were killed. This is not true; there
were nearly 60 taken prisoner.
It was one of the first battles where the Confederates had
captured black soldiers. How would they treat them? Were they
runaway slaves or prisoners of war? The Union soldiers defending
Fort Pillow were of two groups. The black soldiers had been slaves
in that area of Northern Mississippi or Western Tennessee. The
white soldiers were also from Western Tennessee and some had
deserted from the Confederate Army. The white troops were part of a
cavalry unit that had been terrorizing the local farmers. About
half of the Confederate army attacking the fort were from Tennessee
and saw the white soldiers as robbers and thieves and saw the
blacks as slaves. There was a lot of animosity among them. However,
the Confederates did capture 268 men and released another 70 for
medical treatment aboard the Union gunboats.