Remembering Fort Pillow, April 13, 2019

Yulie

Corporal
Joined
Jul 31, 2008
Location
Directly North of the Canadian Border
FORT PILLOW COMMEMORATION
April 13, 2019 at Fort Pillow State Park
10 am to 4 pm


3122 Park Road, Henning, Tennessee 38041

Rain or Shine

The annual tribute to Union soldiers and civilians involved in the Fort Pillow Massacre will occurred on Saturday, April 13, 2019. This event is coordinated by the descendants of Union soldiers and civilians who were garrisoned at Fort Pillow. Thus far, descendants of three Union soldiers and civilians have been located. The public is invited. This will be the 155th Anniversary. It is a memorial and fellowship to honor those who were victimized on April 12, 1864.

This annual event will take place at Fort Pillow in Henning, Tenn., from 10 am to 4 pm. It is important that everyone meet at the Visitors Center at 10 am as transportation to the fortification needs to be coordinated. People will either take the one mile hike to the fort or take a tractor pulling a flatbed. There will be very limited availability to SUVs for those with mobility issues. There is also access to the fortification by driving to a location and walking 1/2 mile, but you must come to the Visitors Center to obtain the map. People are certainly welcomed to budget their own time on getting there. However, the ceremony within the fortification will begin at promptly 12 noon. The Park Rangers arrange a personal guided tour after the ceremony. People are welcomed to stay for refreshments after the ceremony. Everything, including clean-up will conclude at 4 pm.

What to bring:
  • Your own chair
  • Wear sturdy walking shoes
  • Rain gear as this is a rain or shine event
  • Sun gear if it's sunny and hot

How to Get to Fort Pillow:

It's about 40 miles from Memphis but will take you a good amount of time to get there. Seriously. Give yourself ample time to get there. Follow your GPS directions. You will not be going through the town of Henning. You'll take some narrow back roads which will place you back on a more open road to get there. When you see the prison, you'll know you're on the right route. Upon entry to the park, take the road all the way back until it ends at the Visitors Center.

ADDITIONALLY:

National Fort Pillow Wreath Laying Ceremony
Memphis National Cemetery
April 12, 2019
10 am
3568 Townes Ave.
Memphis, TN 38122

There will also be a ceremony in Memphis on April 12, 2019, to honor the Fort Pillow soldiers and civilians buried at the Memphis National Cemetery. The cemetery is located at 3568 Townes Ave., Memphis, TN 38122.

-Yulie
 

Attachments

  • Fort Pillow Invite 2019 (00343621xBF2F1).pdf
    400.1 KB · Views: 78
Last edited:
Yulie,

I've wanted to go to one of these events, maybe I will this year but most likely next. If so I will contact you.

- Alan

We would be happy if you came. Folks from FREED are strategizing to come. Also, USCTs were invited during the 20th Commemoration and sent a reminder. Touch base with them. Contact me through my email for more details on what others are planning.

Best Regards,
-Yulie
 
We would be happy if you came. Folks from FREED are strategizing to come. Also, USCTs were invited during the 20th Commemoration and sent a reminder. Touch base with them. Contact me through my email for more details on what others are planning.

Best Regards,
-Yulie
Is this just for descendants of USCT troops? Does it included descendants of the white defenders also? I am suprised they could only find three descendants? Sorry for all the questions as I never heard of this. I had East TN Unionist ancestotrs but don't know much about West TN. Except what I read about Fielding Hurst.
Regards. TnFed.
 
Is this just for descendants of USCT troops? Does it included descendants of the white defenders also? I am suprised they could only find three descendants? Sorry for all the questions as I never heard of this. I had East TN Unionist ancestotrs but don't know much about West TN. Except what I read about Fielding Hurst.
Regards. TnFed.

TnFed,

This is not solely for the USCTs. We honor all Union soldiers and Civilians. At this stage, the coordinators are descendants of the 6th USCHA. Descendants of a 13th Tennessee Cavalry (Bradford's Battalion) officer have materialized this year. They are invited to participate but have not chosen to do so as of this writing. I have not been given permission to share their information. I keep finding members of the 2nd USCLA but not with Company D that was garrisoned at Fort Pillow.

-Yulie
 
This is a very kind invitation to attend an important and moving commemoration. Even Forrest acknowledged (briefly) it was a massacre and the evidence indicates such occurred - it was a bad battle full of complexities that are difficult to understand. That same general was the only Confederate general to say in public that black Southerners were Southerners like himself by birthright. But this event is hardly about Forrest - it's about that birthright, and the submerged history that needs to be seen in the clearest light possible.
 
TnFed,

This is not solely for the USCTs. We honor all Union soldiers and Civilians. At this stage, the coordinators are descendants of the 6th USCHA. Descendants of a 13th Tennessee Cavalry (Bradford's Battalion) officer have materialized this year. They are invited to participate but have not chosen to do so as of this writing. I have not been given permission to share their information. I keep finding members of the 2nd USCLA but not with Company D that was garrisoned at Fort Pillow.

-Yulie
Thanks for the clarification. As you can see by the name I have an interest in TN Federals :smile: That said my knowledge doesn't go to far west of the Cumberlands. Hope you guys have s great day. Regards, TnFed
 
What puts a cloud on the massacre narrative was the Congressional report. The politicians were overzealous to portray it a certain way.
 
FORT PILLOW COMMEMORATION
April 13, 2019 at Fort Pillow State Park
10 am to 4 pm


3122 Park Road, Henning, Tennessee 38041

Rain or Shine

The annual tribute to Union soldiers and civilians involved in the Fort Pillow Massacre will occurred on Saturday, April 13, 2019. This event is coordinated by the descendants of Union soldiers and civilians who were garrisoned at Fort Pillow. Thus far, descendants of three Union soldiers and civilians have been located. The public is invited. This will be the 155th Anniversary. It is a memorial and fellowship to honor those who were victimized on April 12, 1864.

This annual event will take place at Fort Pillow in Henning, Tenn., from 10 am to 4 pm. It is important that everyone meet at the Visitors Center at 10 am as transportation to the fortification needs to be coordinated. People will either take the one mile hike to the fort or take a tractor pulling a flatbed. There will be very limited availability to SUVs for those with mobility issues. There is also access to the fortification by driving to a location and walking 1/2 mile, but you must come to the Visitors Center to obtain the map. People are certainly welcomed to budget their own time on getting there. However, the ceremony within the fortification will begin at promptly 12 noon. The Park Rangers arrange a personal guided tour after the ceremony. People are welcomed to stay for refreshments after the ceremony. Everything, including clean-up will conclude at 4 pm.

What to bring:
  • Your own chair
  • Wear sturdy walking shoes
  • Rain gear as this is a rain or shine event
  • Sun gear if it's sunny and hot

How to Get to Fort Pillow:

It's about 40 miles from Memphis but will take you a good amount of time to get there. Seriously. Give yourself ample time to get there. Follow your GPS directions. You will not be going through the town of Henning. You'll take some narrow back roads which will place you back on a more open road to get there. When you see the prison, you'll know you're on the right route. Upon entry to the park, take the road all the way back until it ends at the Visitors Center.

ADDITIONALLY:

National Fort Pillow Wreath Laying Ceremony
Memphis National Cemetery
April 12, 2019
10 am
3568 Townes Ave.
Memphis, TN 38122

There will also be a ceremony in Memphis on April 12, 2019, to honor the Fort Pillow soldiers and civilians buried at the Memphis National Cemetery. The cemetery is located at 3568 Townes Ave., Memphis, TN 38122.

-Yulie
Thanks for letting us know about this event.

I'll also post a link in the Fort Pillow sub forum.
 
Date:
Friday, April 12, 2019 - 10:00 am (processional will begin at 9:45 am)

fort pillow wreath laying ceremony 1.JPG

Fort Pillow Massacre African American Wreath Laying Ceremony:

On Friday, April 12, 2019, at 10 am, The W.E. A.L.L. B.E. Group Inc. will be organizing a national wreath-laying ceremony in honor of the United States Color Troops (African American Union soldiers) and Civilians along with the white Union soldiers that died at Fort Pillow Massacre on April 12, 1864, at the Memphis National Cemetery. The processional leading to the cemetery will start at 9:45 am. This will be a historic event and our way of saying thank you to those who died and fought to end slavery. This will also mark the 155th anniversary of the Massacre, 400 years of the first recorded history of slavery in the U.S. and the 200th anniversary of Memphis.

We will be placing carnations on approximate 350 graves (109 African Americans and 139 Union soldiers and a small portion of the over 4,000 unknown soldiers’ graves). The white carnations will be representing the African Americans/Color Troops, the red carnations for the Union soldiers and the blue carnations for the unknown soldiers.

The celebration will be one that is fitting for the soldiers and civilians who died and fought to help end slavery. Below is a brief overview:
We will have a motorcade processional going to the cemetery at 9:45 where the Ceremony will start at 10 am leading to the grave sites with a horse representing the "Riderless Horse". The "Riderless Horse" is an ancient symbol of a fallen warrior, in the funeral procession, it is a horse with an empty saddle, saber, and boots reversed in the stirrups. The riderless horse is one of the highest military honors bestowed upon the fallen. We will perform the African ritual libation ceremony with ministers performing the burial services and calling the names of the soldiers, Harriett Tubman will sing a song, color guards with instrumental performance of National Anthem, instrumental performance of "TAPS, descendants reading of the proclamation from the state representatives, the placing of 248 white and red carnations on the graves of the African American soldiers and White Union soldiers that fought and died at Fort Pillow (109 unknown African American soldiers graves representing the remains of the soldiers that died and 139 white soldiers along with remaining carnations on the graves of unknown soldiers that are located in Section B), and the 21-gun salute in honor of the soldiers.

This is a grassroots effort with the participation of the Memphis Area Branch (MAB) of the Association for the Study of African-American Life and History (ASALH), descendants of Fort Pillow soldiers, ministers, military representatives (American Legion, Disabled American Veteran (DAV), and retired military), Operation Step Down, Junior ROTC students, Brown Missionary Baptist Church's youths, "House of Mtenzi Museum", and several other organizations.

Descendants: Remembering Fort Pillow - Saturday, April 13, 2019

On Saturday, April 13, 2019, from 10 am -- 4 pm the Descendants of Union Soldiers Who Survived the Massacre at Fort Pillow on April 12, 1864, cordially invite you to "Remembering Fort Pillow." The event will be held at the Fort Pillow State Historic Park. Click link below for details:

https://civilwartalk.com/threads/remembering-fort-pillow-april-13-2019.155788/#post-2007854
 
I would very much love to attend that event one year soon while I am still mobile and pretty good on my feet. Just finished reading The River Was Dyed With Blood by Brian Steel Wills last night.
 
Thanks for posting this.

Pat,

Wish you could come. I'd love to meet you in person. There is always next year: April 11, 2020. If you come to the area, there is also Helena, Arkansas an 1 1/2 hour from Memphis; Corinth, Mississippi about an 1 1/2 hour drive from Memphis; and Vicksburg is worth the four hour drive. The Alex Haley Museum is in Henning, so after the Ft. Pillow ceremony you should stop there. I am going to reconnect with two universities to see if there we can do another lecture series on the days prior to that Saturday. So, mark your calendar. There's more to Memphis than Elvis!

-Yulie
 
I would very much love to attend that event one year soon while I am still mobile and pretty good on my feet. Just finished reading The River Was Dyed With Blood by Brian Steel Wills last night.

Ditto above. Houston is 9 hours and 45 minutes to Henning. The park is offering their flatbed pulled by a tracker to get folks to the fortification. There is limited seating. It is a definite hike to the fortification.

This event is not recognized by the State of Tennessee who does nothing to commemorate Fort Pillow. The Fort Pillow State Park considers it a "fee based program." The program is organized and coordinated by the descendants who extend an open invitation. It is not a reenactment or living history program. It is a commemoration/memorial.

-Yulie
 
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This event is not recognized by the State of Tennessee who does nothing to commemorate Fort Pillow. The Fort Pillow State Park considers it a "fee based program." The program is organized and coordinated by the descendants who extend an open invitation. It is not a reenactment or living history program. It is a commemoration/memorial.

The FP State Park will have its Annual Civil War Living History event on the 27 April. "There will be various living history programs and visitors will be able tour both the Union and Confederate encampments. Food vendors will be present on both(?) days."
They have a hard time juggling this event around Shiloh's anniversary and Easter.
 
The FP State Park will have its Annual Civil War Living History event on the 27 April. "There will be various living history programs and visitors will be able tour both the Union and Confederate encampments. Food vendors will be present on both(?) days."
They have a hard time juggling this event around Shiloh's anniversary and Easter.

@DixieRifles ,

I wish you good luck with you reenactment and hope that you have good support from the public.

It's an event well worth the while.

Sincerely,
Unionblue
 
Just finished reading The River Was Dyed With Blood by Brian Steel Wills last night.

I started reading Wills' book again and marking it up with notes and highlights. For example---

Page 94
". . . testament to the effectiveness of at least some of the effort by New Era's crew. Texas Lieutenant T. T. Hopkins observed in gruesome detail. 'At the battle of Fort Pillow, Tenn., the 1st Lieutenant of this company was killed. A shell from a gunboat exploded in our midst tearing his head to pieces'. "
That lieutenant was Lt. Albian T. Ryan, Company F, Willis' Texas Cavalry, KIA. Whereas Capt. W. R. Sullivan, also of Willis' Texas Cavalry, was mortally wounded.

Chapter 4, "Will He Fight or Surrender", is interesting because it is a detailed account of all the gunboats and commercial ships that passed by or came near to the Fort during the battle. It is a little confusing to follow but I plan to compare it to Chapter 8 of Myron J. Smith's "Tinclads in the Civil War".
 
I wish you well on the event but have any of you heard former Park Service Chief Historian Ed Bears lecture on Fort Pillow? Totally different from the spin that has been taught.
 
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