In April 1864, the Union garrison at Fort Pillow was composed of almost 600 troops, about half of them black. The Confederacy, incensed by what it saw as a crime against nature, sent its fiercest cavalry commander, Nathan Bedford Forrest, to attack the fort with about 1,500 men. The Confederates overran the fort and drove the Federals into a deadly crossfire. Only sixty-two of the colored Union troops survived the fight unwounded. Many accused the Confederates of massacring the black troops after the fort fell, when fighting should have ceased. The "Fort Pillow Massacre" became a Union rallying cry and cemented resolve to see the war through to its conclusion.
Harry Turtledove has written a dramatic re-creation of an astounding battle, telling a bloody story of courage and hope, freedom and hatred. With brilliant characterizations of all the main figures, this is a novel that reminds us that Fort Pillow was more than a battle—it was a clash of ideas between men fighting to define what being an American ought to mean.
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"Harry Turtledove, a master of alternative timeline fiction, proves himself to be as good a storyteller as exists today with his superb historical fiction account of the fall of Fort Pillow. Most people who have studied the Civil War know the general outline of what happened at Fort Pillow, and its alleged shameful outcome, but few will have anywhere near the level of detail depicted by this novel.
Turtledove has done his research. The story line is based on historical fact. The battle, one of the most controversial of the entire war, is set forth is as complete an account as humanly possible with existing information. The author does a wonderful job of developing characters through whose eyes the action is seen. A cast of defenders and assailants, Union and Confederate, black and white, captivates attention.
The narrator is marvelous in giving each of these individuals their own voice, down to and including subtly diverse southern accents which the listener comes to instantly identify with their characters. The braying of the slave-trader-turned-general Nathan Bedford Forrest, one of the most able commanders on either side of the Civil War, contrasts with the softer speech of several other Tennesseans of lower rank, each with their own voice, like Confederate Corporal Jack Jenkins and Union Major Bill Bradford, as well as the Missouri native Matt Ward, and the drawl of the Carolina-born former slave Ben Anderson.
Fort Pillow is a tale that captivates the reader from the first chapter on and builds tension throughout the entire book.
It is a story that listeners will be glad they heard.
"
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Dolph Flint (5 out of 5 stars)