Behind The Battles | Fort Pillow Massacre

The Fort Pillow massacre stands as one of the darkest moments of the Civil War. After Union forces surrendered on April 12 1864, hundreds of Black Union soldiers and white Tennessean Unionists were shot down by Confederate troops in what eyewitnesses described as a slaughter. Survivors told of men killed while begging for mercy and others executed after laying down their weapons. This episode looks at what happened after the shooting stopped and why Fort Pillow remains one of the most controversial and brutal events of the entire war.