By
Edwin L. Kennedy, Jr. Lieutenant Colonel, US Army (Ret.)
General
Nathan Forrest was declared by leaders on both sides to be one of the
best commanders the war produced. Success tends to beget emotional
and irrational jealousies, especially by those who suffer from
inferiority complexes. Forrest's overwhelming victory at Fort
Pillow provided a propaganda coup for the northern press as
survivors' accounts were coached and embellished to denigrate a
commander who could not be beaten on the battlefield. While there
may have been some truth in a few of the accusations, they were
wildly distorted, exaggerated and uncritically accepted ---- even
when logical explanations are considered and the results of official
northern inquiries could not "prove" malice by Forrest.
Forrest
had a reputation of using deception throughout his military career.
When he threatened the garrison at Pillow, it was no different than
the other ruses he had previously employed and would continue to
employ. This seems to be the crux of the criticisms of Forrest's
actions leading to the use of the word "massacre" by those
who conveniently over-look the fact Forrest (and his subordinates)
commonly used threats to scare enemies into submission. The fact
that it worked infuriated the northerners for being duped. When
Pillow's garrison refused to succumb to the threats and then fell to
assault, northerners illogically assumed that the threats were
executed. No subsequent Federal investigations ever found evidence
of such.
An
enemy who appeared to be reinforcing the garrison by river during a
truce meant that Forrest's forces' reaction was questioned as the
truce violation when it was a natural response. Experienced soldiers
know of the difficulty of controlling attacking units, even with
modern technology such as radios. 150 years ago, attacking at Ft
Pillow was fourfold more difficult due to distances, background
battle noise, rough terrain, and the inability of sound commands to
carry. Forces converging on an objective from multiple directions
are extremely difficult to control as Forrest knew but he had no
choices. Once the assault began, it traditionally ended with the
enemy surrendering, or running away. When the Federals refused to
surrender as a unit by striking the colors and then continued to
resist, they garnered a natural response that wasn't a planned
massacre but the result of passions in the heat of battle. The
result was an embarrassment to the Federals not only for their loss
of the battle, but the high casualties resulting from their soldiers
feigning surrender but recovering arms to continue fighting. They
suffered the results of their poor decisions and actions. Forrest
unfairly suffers the stigma for victory.
