Fort Pillow massacre

During the American Civil War, on April 12, 1864, men under the command of General Nathan Forrest, the first leader of the Ku Klux Klan, captured Fort Pillow in Jackson, Tennessee. The fort was occupied by 262 African American and 295 white soldiers. Despite the fact that these men surrendered, Bedford's men massacred the Union soldiers in cold blood burning and burying some alive. President Abraham Lincoln condemned the incident, but in 1864 Confederate Colonel W.P. Shingler adopted the policy of killing all black prisoners.