Talk:Battle of Fort Pillow

There is no evidence that Forrest participated in, authorized or allowed a massacre of union soldiers at Fort Pillow. From union reports immediately following the battle and from interviews after the war, the following facts have come out. 1) The garrison was made up of relatively inexperienced militia, a few regulars and black troops. Neither the commanding officer nor his second in command were experienced officers. 2) The commanding officer was killed fairly early in the battle. 3) The commanding officer (before his death) and/or the second in command either allowed or provided the men with whiskey from the stores in the fort. Many of the survivors state that a general state of drunkeness prevailed among the white soldiers and some of the blacks. 4) A charge was leveled that Forrest used a temporary truce t manuver his men in to better positions (a violation of the laws of war). In fact, as the union officers themselves testified, Forrest's men had achieved the position in question BEFORE the truce was declared. 5) When Forrest's men finally stormed the fort, there was no general surrender. There was, without a doubt, great animosity felt by the confederate soldiers for the black troops and it is certainly true that some atrocities occurred; but there is no evidence that it was widespread or ordered by Forrest or any of his officers. 5) While some of the union soldiers (both black and white) did surrender, many others retreated from the fort and fell back the the small beach under the bluff. They expected to be taken off by the gunboats in the river, (as previously arranged between the gunboats captain and the officers in the fort) but these were driven off by the fort's own guns, now manned by the confederates. At any rate, they continued to fight and were shot down where they stood. 6) The allegation that the confederates buried alive many of the wounded union soldiers (both black and white) is easily refuted. The burial parties were made up of union prisoners. If union soldiers were buried alive, it was done by their own troops.

I intend at some point to visit this page and add additional information and do some work here. You are correct in many of your points. This is of course a very controversial subject and great care will have to be taken in keeping it NPOV. Part of the problem is that some of the investigation of this incident took place during the war while emotions were high and investigators had obvious reason to use the investigation to inflame public opinion. I believe the evidence points to a huge chaotic mess of a battle. Both commands lost complete control of the battlefield and it deteriorated into scattered bands of men running around in the woods killing each other with no control. Forrest ended up cutting down the US flag to signal and end to the battle since no Union commanders were actually able to call a halt to it. Forrest would be the first to tell you that losing control of the battlefield and his men was his responsibility, but that it is different from promoting a massacre. Hopefully in the future, if it hasn't been done already by someone else, I can make an attempt at this page while keeping it objective.Ark30inf 04:35, 16 Aug 2003 (UTC)