Fort Pillow
TN 87, Fort Pillow, Tennessee
Map
Coordinates:
+35.63914, -89.8323235°38'21" N, 89°49'56" W
Quadrangle map:Golddust
Description
Constructed by Confederate engineers, the fort was occupied by Union troops in June 1862 and recaptured in April 1864 by Confederate forces under Maj. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest. Among the approximately 570 Union soldiers were 262 Black soldiers--ex-slaves recruited in Tennessee and Alabama; in the savage, no-quarter fighting, 229 Black soldiers were killed by the Confederates. News of the fight--labeled a massacre--had a profound effect: "Remember Fort Pillow" became a battle cry of Black soldiers. -- National Historic Landmark statement of significance, May 30, 1974
National Register information
Note: The following information comes from the NRHP database and has not been verified.
- Status
- Posted to the National Register of Historic Places on April 11, 1973
- Reference number
- 73001806
- Areas of significance
- Military; Ethnic Heritage - European; Politics/Government
- Level of significance
- National
- Evaluation criteria
- A - Event
- Property type
- Site
- Historic function
- Fortification
- Current function
- Park
- Period of significance
- 1850-1874
- Significant years
- 1861; 1864