CalendarZ

  1. Home
  2. On This Day
  3. April
  4. 12
  5. Battle of Fort Pillow

Events on April 12 in history

Battle of Fort Pillow
1864Apr, 12

American Civil War: The Battle of Fort Pillow: Confederate forces kill most of the African American soldiers that surrendered at Fort Pillow, Tennessee.

The Battle of Fort Pillow, also known as the Fort Pillow massacre, was fought on April 12, 1864, at Fort Pillow on the Mississippi River in Henning, Tennessee, during the American Civil War. The battle ended with a massacre of Union soldiers (many of them African Americans) attempting to surrender, by soldiers under the command of Confederate Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest. Military historian David J. Eicher concluded: "Fort Pillow marked one of the bleakest, saddest events of American military history."

References

Choose Another Date

Events on 1864

  • 29Apr

    Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

    Theta Xi fraternity is founded at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the only fraternity to be founded during the American Civil War.
  • 5May

    Battle of the Wilderness

    American Civil War: The Battle of the Wilderness begins in Spotsylvania County.
  • 7May

    Battle of the Wilderness

    American Civil War: The Army of the Potomac, under General Ulysses S. Grant, breaks off from the Battle of the Wilderness and moves southwards.
  • 7May

    City of Adelaide (1864)

    The world's oldest surviving clipper ship, the City of Adelaide is launched by William Pile, Hay and Co. in Sunderland, England, for transporting passengers and goods between Britain and Australia.
  • 7Sep

    William Tecumseh Sherman

    American Civil War: Atlanta is evacuated on orders of Union General William Tecumseh Sherman.