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Why had Union forces reoccupied Fort Pillow before Nathan Bedford Forrest's attack?
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Nathan Bedford Forrest
Nathan Bedford Forrest.
Union forces reoccupied Fort Pillow in February 1864 because Union Maj. Gen. Stephen A. Hurlbut, who commanded forces in West Tennessee, disregarded a directive from his superior, Gen. William T. Sherman, to keep the fort abandoned.1
Although Sherman had ordered the fort to be vacated in January 1864, Hurlbut initially complied but subsequently ordered the site to be reoccupied the following month. Following its initial seizure from Confederate forces in 1862, the Union had utilized the installation as a recruitment center and a supply depot.1