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Fort Pillow: A Novel of the Civil War

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Fort Pillow (2006) is a novel of the Civil War. The fort was first constructed at the orders of Confederate General Gideon Pillow on the First Chickasaw Bluff of the Mississippi River. Not quite forty miles north of Memphis, the first line of fortifications ran a couple of miles from Coal Creek to the Mississippi. Later, a shorter second line was constructed inside the line laid out by Pillow. When Union troops took the fort, a third line about four hundred feet long was built across the tip of the triangle.

Fort Pillow was defended by the Thirteen Tennessee Cavalry (US) under Major William F. Bradford. Shortly before the assault, a battery from the Sixth U.S. Heavy Artillery and another from the Second U.S. Light Artillery was ordered to the post. Most of these artillerymen were black, with white officers and mostly white sergeants. The artillery commander, Major Lionel Booth, was senior officer at the fort.

In this novel, Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest orders the brigade at Sharon's Ferry and another at Eaton to attack Fort Pillow. While initially designating General Chalmers as the commander, Forrest quickly changes his mind and leads most of the Nineteenth Tennessee Cavalry (CS) to Fort Pillow. They engage the services of W.J. Shaw as a guide to the fort and follow him into the rainy night through bogs and woods.

Amazingly enough, they find Fort Pillow just before dawn and, on April 12, 1864, immediately attack the Federal skirmish line. The defenders are awakened by the gunfire and, despite initial confusion, deploy two more companies to the skirmish line.

The black artillerymen operate the guns like professionals. Those who are not required on the guns fight with muskets alongside the white cavalrymen. The blacks display as much or more combat spirit as the whites, but are more likely to taunt the confederates.

Forrest offers his standard surrender terms, except that the black soldiers will also be treated as prisoners of war. The surrender terms are refused and Forrest orders the final assault. The confederates sharpshooters fire on the garrison from the higher ground on three sides, targeting Union officers more than the common soldiers.

As the rebs scramble over the rampart, the black artillerymen fire the guns and then fight with whatever comes to hand. Some blacks try to surrender, but the rebs give no quarter. Their white officers are also killed out of hand for arming blacks. Of course, the homegrown yankees are also slaughtered, but not heavily as the black soldiers.

This novel takes four contemporary or early accounts of the Fort Pillow massacre and weighs known facts against the propaganda. All four sources are tainted with political disinformation, but many lies are readily discernible from the official records. However, most of the details have been lost in the fog of history. This fictional account may well come closer to the truth than any of the publications of that period, but who knows what actually happened.

This novel is Turtledove at his best, making history come to life. Of course, most of the conversations and thoughts are fabricated, but based as much as possible on actual quotes. In other words, history as the ancient Greeks wrote it. The author does such docudramas better than most anyone else.

Highly recommended for Turtledove fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales based on history, but with realistic (although fictional) dialog.

-Bill Jordin

Harry Turtledove is known mostly as a master of the alternate history genre, and rightly so. His books "Guns of the South", "Ruled Britiania", the Worldwar and Timeline 191 series are exceptional examples of what alternate history can be.

As those who have read the works of one H N Turteltaub already know, Turtledove can also write excellent historical fiction. "Justianian" is currently out of print, but well worth reading, if you can find it.

"Fort Pillow" is not an alternate history story. It's the first (to my knowledge, anyhow), straight historical novel that Turtledove has published under his own name. Does it stand up to his other works?

Emphatically yes. The Civil War is territory he's gone over before, but always in an alternate history. Seeing what he does with a regular historical fiction novel is impressive.

As is usual with a Turtledove book we get viewpoint characters on both sides and at all levels. From the black artillery sargent, to a couple of US officers, all the way up to Nathan Bedford Forrest himself, we really get to see what the war in general, and this battle in particular, was like.

That the massacre was a great infamy goes without saying. Regardless of which sources are right or wrong (USA vs CSA), a disproportionate number of black soldiers were killed during and after the fighting, as were the officers who commanded them.

That we as a nation no longer remember this (even I hadn't known about it until the book came out, and I likes my history!), is an infamy almost as great, one that hopefully this book will go a long way to correcting.

This is "historical fiction" rather than alternative history. It relates the slaughter of Union Negro troops at Fort Pillow after they had surrendered. This was done by Confederates under the command of Nathan Bedford Forrest who later founded the KKK. Turtledove makes the dry facts come alive and humanizes the people on both sides. Every American should read this book.

Having read 4 Forrest biographies (Wills, Wyeth, Lytle, and Hurst) plus several other related books, I gained an impression of what the man himself was like. All I can say is through most of this novel, Forrest and all the lesser known and made up characters don't seem right. They don't talk right, don't act right, and I have a hard time believing it's real. It's such a shame because recreating what happened at Fort Pillow through historical fiction could have been great.

Each time I've read a Forrest biography, the thing that stuck afterwards was Fort Pillow would make a great movie or novel if it's done right. When I found this book, I was happy that somebody finally figured it out. Then I bought it and was disappointed Turtledove drove it into the ditch. Why do writers feel they have to come up with an agenda or drive home a point to write a book? What happened to telling a story and letting that stand for itself? Does this guy think the readers are too stupid to draw their own conclusions so he does it for them? I'm talking about the repetition of the fact that blacks could fight as soldiers. Even the very last page, the very last sentence makes this point yet again, just in case you missed it. Way too preachy.

Prior to this, the only Turtledove novel I'd read was Guns of the South. That one wasn't bad. Fort Pillow didn't feel like the same guy wrote it. This book should have been great even if a less skilled writer took it on. Forrest is the most entertaining historical figure I've ever read about. What a life. Check out Wyeth's book if you want a good read. As for this Turtledove book, skip it.

Having been born and raised in Middle Tennessee and still here 35 years later, I have a love for this particular history. My hometown, Columbia, is the place where Forrest killed a subordinate who tried to kill him. I've walked on the ground where many great Forrest moments occurred (Franklin, Murfreesboro, Parker's Crossroads, Chickamauga, Shiloh, Brice's Crossroads, Shelbyville, Johnsonville, Fort Pillow, and others). I used to walk by the statue under which Forrest is buried in the park that bears his name almost every day for 4 years while going to school in Memphis. This history is every bit as interesting as events that took place in the East, and which have been repeated ad nauseam.

Authors like Turtledove who want us to wake up and smell something other than Gettysburg deserve credit, but at least put some effort into it. I'm going to keep hoping that after Jeff Shaara finishes his WWII stuff, he'll get time to write historical fiction about Civil War in the West.

Supposedly, one of my ancestors was a soldier in the 13th Tennessee Cavalry Regiment (US), so the story itself was a bit more personal for me than others I've read. One doesn't get a lot of information about this particular assault, and so from that standpoint, I enjoyed it. But I have to agree with another reviewer when he said it had repetitive, weak dialogue. It almost seemed as if the author used a series of stock cliched phrases from Ken Burns' Civil War series. A lot of really corney "gee-willikers" kind of speak. I actually felt embarrassed for the characters. I could actually see them standing there as if they were reading the lines from a script and saying, "Man... I have to say this?" It's really pretty bad.

That being said, however, I recommend it if for no other reason but that there aren't many books written about Fort Pillow.

A vivid and intense look into the horror and brutality of the civil war--written in the language that was used then to describe people.

Nathan Bedford Forrest, a ruthless commander for the Confederate army, and his troops, approached Fort Pillow as if on wings. His men were driven by hatred for the escaped slaves and the Union army that trained them. Spurred on through the swamps and bogs, rain and cold by the demanding Nathan Forrest they reached Fort Pillow exhausted. However, fatigue quickly gave away to their desire to punish those slaves and the other soldiers.

Major William Bradford and his Union troops at Fort Pillow were comfortable knowing the Confederate soldiers were far away. Though he was a major, his experience in actual combat was minimal. A lawyer by trade, he fought best with words. Major Booth had added his forces to the fort about two weeks earlier. Experienced in the heat of battle, he was the senior officer and Bradford resented him, but was grateful for his knowledge.

The soldiers Major Booth brought with him were another story. Many were those escaped slaves--and people thought that they couldn't fight--and just weren't worth considering because they would likely turn tale in the heat of battle. Major Bradford knew all the training in the world couldn't change the color of a man's skin. Yet Major Booth seemed to have confidence in them.

The truth would soon be uncovered. The first morning light brought the crack of Confederate rifles. The battle was one that went down in history for many reasons. The bravery and determination on both sides left many would-be heroes silenced for eternity. Their stories would be buried with their bodies, in mass graves, unremembered and forgotten over time.

We take for granted our freedoms of today, yet we understand very little of the sacrifices that won those rights. Fort Pillow is more than a novel. It will let you feel and experience history as if you were there. It is graphic and candid, leaving nothing to the imagination. Read it if you dare, you'll never be the same.

Armchair Interviews says: Powerful story well told.

In 1980 while attending Memphis State University (MSU) my Tennessee History professor took the class to Fort Pillow and we walked the grounds described in this book. Reading the book brought back both the lecture and grounds I walked. This is a "For Real" look at a bloody chapter in our history. This was Americans killing Americans regardless of race. I indeed felt like I was there when it took place as well as 100+ years later. As a nation we are not perfect but have come a long way since 1863.

That is Turtledove's best book since GUNS OF THE SOUTH. He takes the reader into the heart of this battle, fills the novel with fascinating detail and makes us care about the fate of these men. I loved this--a real winner.

While I am a dedicated Turtledove fan, I find that Harry should stick to what he does best...and this clearly wasn't.
If you didn't know better, one would think that Mr. Turtledove has leased his name to others so they can publish their own stories. The dialogue is simplistic and the repetitive use of phrases and descriptions is maddening, a symptom that Mr. Turtledove's books have displayed lately. The reader clearly gets the picture that the soldiers feel the need to duck when a bullet flys by and that the Confederates had a standing rule to dye captured Federal jackets gray before use. Why tell us three or four times?

As for the story, it is very dark and depressing. The Nathan Bedford Forrest we met here provides a great segue to the Forrest you met in Guns of the South. The Southern characters are rascist in the extreme or, at the very least, utterly indifferent to what is happening around them. I do think that the dialogue between the black characters was nothing more than a cut and paste from his Great War and American Empire series.

All in all, the book is an decent read but too repetitive. It shows none of the style and detail that he put into his best work, Guns of the South, or How Few Remain and The Great War series. I hope that Mr. Turtledove will take back his name, fire his writing team, and get back to being what the dust jacket calls him...The Master of Alternative History.

If you are expecting a pulse-quickening story that you can't put down, this isn't the book for you.

Parts of the book were excellent but other sections read like it was written by a no-talent hack. The storyline is very good but this is the worst written Turtledove book I have read. I still recommend this book because the story is one that needs to be told but if a Reader's Digest version ever came out it could be 1/3 the size and not lose any information. Anything Turtledove writes is worth reading but this is the weakest book I have read of his.