{{short description|Civil war battlefield in Tennessee, United States}} {{Use American English|date=September 2024}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2023}} {{Infobox park | name = Fort Pillow State Historic Park | image = Fort Pillow cannons 2006.jpg | image_size = 280 | image_caption = Cannons at Fort Pillow in 2006 | type = Tennessee State Park | created = {{start date|1971}} | location = Lauderdale County | nearest_town = Henning, Tennessee | coordinates = {{coord|35|38|10|N|89|50|32|W|region:US-TN_type:landmark|display=inline,title}} | map = Tennessee | map_size = 280 | map_caption = Location in Tennessee | relief = y | map_label = Fort Pillow | area = {{convert|1,642|acre|km2}} | open = Year round | website = {{url|https://tnstateparks.com/parks/fort-pillow}} {{Infobox NRHP | name = Fort Pillow | embed = yes | nrhp_type = nhl | built = {{start date|1861|06|06}} | designer = | designated_nrhp_type = May 30, 1974<ref name="nhlsum">{{cite web|url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=1389&ResourceType=Site|title=Fort Pillow|access-date=2008-06-27|work=National Historic Landmark summary listing|publisher=National Park Service|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090310082809/http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=1389&ResourceType=Site|archive-date=2009-03-10|url-status=dead}}</ref> | added = April 11, 1973<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2008a}}</ref> | refnum = 73001806 }} }} <!--[[Image:Fort Pillow Ed Bearss.jpg|thumb|Civil War historian Ed Bearss at the fortifications of Fort Pillow in 2006.]]--> '''Fort Pillow State Historic Park''' is a state park in western Tennessee that preserves the American Civil War site of the Battle of Fort Pillow. The 1,642 acre (6.6&nbsp;km²) Fort Pillow, located in Lauderdale County on the Chickasaw Bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River, is rich in both historic and archaeological significance. In 1861, the Confederate army built extensive fortifications and named the site for General Gideon Johnson Pillow of Maury County. It was attacked and held by the Union Army for most of the American Civil War period except immediately after the Battle of Fort Pillow, when it was retaken by the Confederate Army. The battle ended with a massacre of African-American Union troops and their white officers attempting to surrender, by soldiers under the command of Confederate Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest.

==Description and administrative history== Remains of historic Fort Pillow's earthworks are preserved. The park has a museum and interpretive sites. It offers recreational activities; including camping, picnicking, and fishing.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Thompson |first=Erin L. |title=At Fort Pillow, Confederates Massacred Black Soldiers After They Surrendered |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/at-fort-pillow-confederates-massacred-black-soldiers-after-they-surrendered-180981952/ |access-date=2023-04-10 |magazine=Smithsonian Magazine |language=en}}</ref> In 1973, the earthworks were added to the National Register of Historic Places.<ref name="nris"/><ref name=NRoHP>http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com National Register of Historic Places</ref> it was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1974.<ref name="NRHP">{{cite web|author1=Marcia M. Greenlee, The Afro-American Bicentennial Corporation|title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory – Nomination Form|url={{NHLS url|id=73001806}}|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=8 May 2018|location=Washington, DC|format=PDF|date=February 1973}}</ref><ref name="NRHP1973">{{cite web|author1=Peter LaPaglia|title=National Register of Historic Places Property Photograph Form: Site of Fort Pillow, Tenn., facing northwest;Section of inner fort wall, taken from center of fort location|url={{NHLS url|id=73001806}}|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=8 May 2018|format=PDF|date=February 1973}}</ref>

== American Civil War == [[Image:Battle of Fort Pillow.png|250px|left|thumb|Caption in ''Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper'', May 7, 1864, "The war in Tennessee: Confederate massacre of black Union troops after the surrender at Fort Pillow, April 12, 1864"]] {{main|Battle of Fort Pillow}} On June 4, 1862, Confederate troops evacuated Fort Pillow, enabling Union troops to take Memphis, Tennessee. Because of its strategic location controlling traffic on the Mississippi River, the fort was occupied by the Union Army, which controlled it during most of the war. An exception to Union control of the fort took place for less than one day immediately after the Confederate victory in the Battle of Fort Pillow on April 12, 1864. The battle resulted in the massacre of 229 of the 262 U.S. Colored Troops engaged in the battle.<ref>[http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=1389&ResourceType=Site] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090310082809/http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=1389&ResourceType=Site|date=2009-03-10}}, National Park Service</ref> The white Union soldiers numbered 285. An examination of regimental records showed that "less than 36 percent of the men from white units died in battle or of wounds, while the death toll for black units was 66 percent."<ref name="cimprich">John Cimprich and Robert C. Mainfort, Jr., "Fort Pillow Revisited", 1982, in ''Race and Recruitment'', ed. John David Smith, Kent State University Press, 2013, p. 214</ref>

A Confederate wrote in a letter home that "Forrest ordered them [negroes] shot down like dogs, and the carnage continued."<ref>Cimprich and Mainfort (1982), "Fort Pillow Revisited", p. 219</ref> In addition to regimental records, contemporary accounts by troops on both sides, as well as journalists, describe it as appalling slaughter.<ref>Cimprich and Mainfort (1982), "Fort Pillow Revisited", pp. 216–225</ref> Within about three weeks, as political controversy grew, Confederates began to dispute accounts of a massacre.<ref>Cimprich and Mainfort (1982), "Fort Pillow Revisited", p. 226</ref> Subsequent reports after the battle from Union officers to the Department of War countered much that was reported in the popular press and some of the testimony given before Congress.<ref>Wyeth (1899), “The Life of Nathan Bedford Forrest”, pp. 350–369</ref> This slaughter by the Confederate troops under Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest has been classified by historians as a massacre.

"Remember Fort Pillow!" became a battle cry among black Union soldiers for the remainder of the Civil War. While the Union casualty count for the battle does not indicate that the Confederate forces took many prisoners, Confederate records show about 200 prisoners were shipped south.

In 1866, the Union Army created a cemetery for both Confederate and Union soldiers south of the battle site. In 1867, they moved about 250 bodies of Confederate and Union soldiers from that cemetery to the Memphis National Cemetery.<ref>{{cite book|title= Fort Pillow, a Civil War Massacre, and Public Memory|last= Cimprich|first= John|year= 2005|publisher= LSU Press|location= Baton Rouge, LA|isbn= 978-0-8071-3110-7|page= 193}}</ref>

==See also== * Battle of Plum Point Bend * Golddust, Tennessee * List of National Historic Landmarks in Tennessee * National Register of Historic Places listings in Lauderdale County, Tennessee

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{Commons category}} * {{Official website}} * [https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=43263 Fort Pillow] at the Historical Marker Database * [https://www.battlefields.org/visit/heritage-sites/fort-pillow-state-historic-park Fort Pillow State Historic Park] at American Battlefield Trust * {{TripAdvisor}}

{{Protected areas of Tennessee}} {{NHLs in TN}} {{Registered Historic Places}} {{Portal bar|American Civil War|Museums|National Register of Historic Places|Tennessee}} {{authority control}}

Category:1861 establishments in Tennessee Category:African-American history of Tennessee Category:American Civil War forts Category:American Civil War museums in Tennessee Category:American Civil War on the National Register of Historic Places Category:Archaeological sites in Tennessee Category:Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Tennessee Category:Battlefields of the western theater of the American Civil War Category:Former installations of the United States Army Category:Protected areas on the Mississippi River Pillow Category:Military installations established in 1861 Category:Military installations of the Confederate States of America Category:Museums in Lauderdale County, Tennessee Category:National Historic Landmarks in Tennessee Category:National Register of Historic Places in Lauderdale County, Tennessee Category:Parks established in the 1970s Category:Protected areas established in 1971 Category:Protected areas of Lauderdale County, Tennessee Category:State parks of Tennessee