The War Between the States was full of atrocities that Americans had never experienced before. One incident that agitated the Union occurred at Fort Pillow, Tennessee. The number of those who perished at Fort Pillow was relatively small compared to battles like Fort Donelson where casualties numbered 17,398.1 The total number of deaths after Confederate forces captured Fort Pillow was more than half of the Union soldiers, the majority of them black. The high mortality rate led Union officials to call it a veritable massacre. Was it a massacre or the result of a war? The widely scrutinized battle took place about forty miles from Memphis, on the Tennessee side of the Mississippi River, at Fort Pillow. The Union continued to maintain garrisons throughout the South due to Confederate raids, although most of the fighting then focused in Georgia, with an eye on the capture of Atlanta. Those involved in the Battle of Fort Pillow and the outcome of the fight came under the scrutiny of the United States Congress with controversial results. The Union forces at Fort Pillow were under the command of Major Lionel F. Booth, who had been a member of the Regular Army before the Battle of Fort Pillow. outbreak of war. During the battle between Booth's troops inside the fort and those of the attacking Confederate troops, command of the fort fell to Major William Bradford. Major Bradford took command when Major Booth was killed by a sniper while conducting rounds and encouraging his troops. General Nathan Bedford Forrest, commander of the Tennessee State Cavalry, commanded the Confederate troops who attacked Fort Pillow. He had traveled to the area... middle of the newspaper ...... told the Union that the United States Congress was obligated to investigate the event. After an investigation that included both personal and written testimony, Congress' final decision on the incident did not change what happened in the minds of the victims' families and the Union forces who echoed the rallying cry “Remember Fort Pillow” as they charged into battle. .Works Cited1 http://www.nps.gov/hps/abpp/battles/tn002.htm2 General Thomas Jordan and JP Pryor, Campaigns of General Nathan Bedford Forrest and Forrest's Cavalry (New York: Da Capo Press, 1996), 422, 4233 http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/abpp/battles/tn030.htm4 Robert Selph Henry, Nathan Bedford Forrest First with the Most, (New York: Konecky and Konecky, 1992), 250.5 http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/abpp/battles/tn030.htm6 Jordan and Pryor, 424, 425