Fort Pillow Massacre Essay

The Fort Pillow Massacre represented one of the most unfortunate events in Civil War history. It resulted in a Confederate victory at the cost of many African Americans and Union troops. Sectionalism influenced the interpretations and accounts of what occurred at Fort Pillow. Both the South and North had conflicting accounts of the battle at Fort Pillow. This would lead to an investigation by the Joint Committee On the Conduct of the War which concluded that a massacre did occur. Notably, the investigation and its conclusions were widely publicized and published in numerous Northern newspapers. Despite the findings of the federal investigation, the Confederates disputed these findings, and this was evident in Southern newspapers and writings.

The report was published on May 6, 1864 printing 40,000 copies for members of the house. They confirmed that “The rebels commenced an indiscriminate slaughter, sparing neither age nor sex, white nor black soldier nor civilian… Some of the children, not more than ten years old, were forced to stand up and face their murderers while being shot. The sick and wounded were butchered without mercy, the rebels even entering the hospital buildings and dragging them out to be shot, or killing them as they lay there unable to offer the least resistance.” John Cimprich concluded that racism was at the heart of the Fort Pillow massacre. This is evident as the report also included that Confederate soldiers shouted “No Quarter!” “No Quarter!” “Kill the damned niggers; shoot them down!” The Committee did not hold Forrest responsible but indicated that racism drove the atrocities. The South’s inability to recognize African Americans as soldiers influenced their behavior. The preconceived notions that the Confederates had towards Blacks led to the massacre. According to the committee, the massacre was not driven by “passions excited heat of conflict, but was a result of a policy deliberately decided upon and unhesitatingly

The outcome of Fort Pillow was Northern accounts relied heavily on the congressional investigation. Popular Northern newspapers like New York Times, New York Herald, the Liberator, and Boston Herald published excerpts from the report. One article in the Daily National Intelligencer echoed similar sentiments that racism drove the Confederate’s actions. The article states, “The presence of negro troops among the Federal garrison defending the fort appears to have been the motive or pretext of these barbarities.” Other newspapers called for retaliation. A woman from Connecticut wrote in the Liberator that “By retaliating in kind, we should declare the black patriot to be equal of the white traitor.” The authority of the committee’s report can be questioned. The report was exaggerated, and the interviews were not conducted accurately. In some instances, “Unsubstantiated stories were accepted if they served the Republicans’ purposes.” The committee was headed by Senator Benjamin F. Wade, “an ardent abolitionist and a leading Radical Republican.” The outcome of the battle caused Northern outrage while Southern accounts celebrated the victory initially but would later accuse the North of dishonesty. This stems from how the South initially interpreted the