After Black soldiers were massacred at Fort Pillow by the eventual founder of the KKK, General Nathan Bedford Forest, there was a cry from black soldiers to “Remember Fort Pillow.” Unlike like the Battle of the Alamo, which is mostly fiction, the Fort Pillow Massacre which took place in Tennessee on April 12, 1864, was a deadly execution of unarmed men. More than 300 Black soldiers were murdered after they had surrendered. The southern slave owner army under Robert E. Lee refused to treat Black soldiers as prisoners of war. It was no different in Texas as to the treatment of captured Black soldiers.
The North actively recruited Blacks into the northern army after Frederick Douglas convinced Lincoln to let Blacks fight for their freedom. The South, near the end of the war, and when it was apparent that they would be crushed, thought about recruiting Blacks to fight for the.
Confederacy. However, Texas white supremacists would have none of that! In 1864 and 1865, Texas newspapers blasted the idea of Blacks serving in the army of the slave owners. The editor of the Galveston Weekly issuedthis quote, “We think it is a matter of regret that any suggestion should ever have been made in high official quarters, that any emergency can arise to compel the South to an abandonment of the foundation principle upon which the institution of slavery exists.”
Everything in Texas is bigger—including the racism! Blacks fought even harder after the murders at Fort Pillow as they realized that they would be executed if captured. In Texas, an infamous racist by the name of John “RIP” Ford made it clear at the beginning of 1865 that he intended to remove “Yankee” troops and called all other “ruthless enemies,” which included “abolitionists and negroes.” Ford was particularly upset when he found out that Black Union soldiers were stationed near Brownsville and were being made available to attack the pro-slavery Texas rebels. These Blacks were from the 62nd and 87thUnited States Colored Troops (USCT). These Black soldiers would prevent a rout of Union forces at the Battle of Palmito Ranch, mistakenly dubbed the last Battle of the Civil War. Seeing Blacks fully armed sent fear across Texas, while the cowardly Confederate slave owners would not do their own fighting but used poor whites to do their dirty work.
The Texas rebels often employed the “Rebel Yell” to intimate the Union forces. Some white supremacist loony even made a recording of it after the Civil War. It did no good against Black troops determined to win their freedom. At the Battle of Palmito Ranch it was the Black soldiers that held a line of retreat that prevented “RIP” Ford from completely wining. Despite all of the yelling Ford, he was unable to deliver a final blow to these Black soldiers providing fire as they retreated. The Texas rebels did not win a complete victory as they had to end the battle that was carried on for some nine miles as Union forces retreated. The rebels were too exhausted to continue—too much hollering I suppose!
In a show of spirited resistance, the Black soldiers fired thunderous rounds into the air as they left the field, indicating that they still had the spirit of the fight within them. This symbolic firing of weapons by the black troops, even though they were forced to retreat showed the rebel forces that Blacks would not give up the fight against injustice. It will not end today, until injustice is dealt with.
