Which groups of Union troops made up the garrison at Fort Pillow?

At the time of the attack by Confederate forces under Maj. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest on April 12, 1864, the garrison at Fort Pillow consisted of between 500 and 600 troops. These forces were primarily composed of three groups:

• Unionist Southerners
• Confederate deserters
• African American soldiers1

The presence of Black soldiers at the fort was a significant point of contention, as the massacre that followed was rooted in Southern outrage regarding the North’s use of African American troops during the American Civil War.21