Historical Marker Honoring Fort Pillow Massacre Vandalized

 

Vandals toppled this historical marker at Memphis
National Cemetery, which honors the U.S. Colored
Troops massacred at the Battle of Fort Pillow on
April 12, 1864. (Courtesy photo)

MEMPHIS, TN – A historical marker commemorating the “massacre” of hundreds of U.S. Colored Troops who fought in the American Civil War at the Battle of Fort Pillow in Henning, Tenn., was vandalized on Aug. 7, 2024, at Memphis National Cemetery, 3568 Townes Ave.

Dr. Callie Herd was livid when she was notified by the director of the cemetery that vandals had decapitated the marker. But then she couldn’t believe that someone would be so brazen that they would seek to destroy history.

The historical marker was erected to call attention to the colored troops who were “killed or mortally wounded” on April 12, 1864. Many of them, Herd said, were buried in more than 100 unnamed graves at the cemetery.

“I don’t know if it was unintentional or if somebody was actually trying to break it,” said Herd, an educator, senior programmer for FedEx, and vice-president of the W.E. A.L.L. B.E. Group Inc.

The historical marker was first unveiled in 2018 during a ceremony sponsored by the W.E. A.L.L. B.E. Group Inc., an umbrella organization advocating for responsible social entrepreneurism and activism via the arts, media, and education.

With support from the Memphis chapter of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), Joe Williams, whose great-great grandfather, Peter Williams, survived the massacre, the unveiling was one of the signature events for Juneteenth that year.

Herd and her son, Ronald C. Herd II, first began honoring the victims of the Fort Pillow massacre in 2016. He is the president of the W.E. A.L.L. B.E. Group Inc. The colored troops were lost to history until the Herds decided to tell their story.

But all is not lost. Herd solicited help to pay for a replacement marker. Shelby County Commissioner Henri E. Brooks, who represents District 7, and Commissioner Mickell M. Lowery, representing District 8, answered her call. 

“So those two raised the funds for us to redo the marker,” Herd said. “She (Brooks) didn’t think that it should be repaired, but redone.”

Herd said the people whom she had contacted were devastated at the thought of the marker getting destroyed. It was Brooks, she noted, who encouraged her to file a police report with the Memphis Police Department.

Since the damaged marker bears the seal of the Bureau of Colored Troops (1863-1867), U.S. Army Artillery, Herd filed another application, this time with the Shelby County Historical Commission at Brooks’ behest.

“By it being destroyed, it helped us to get the seal that we wanted from the start,” Herd said. “That way it’s validated as a historical landmark rather than just us doing it by ourselves.”

The language on the marker reads in part: “Eyewitnesses reported that black soldiers were killed despite putting down their weapons and surrendering in what the North deemed a massacre.”

The word “massacre” elicited a debate in some circles. Should it be used to describe many of the “179,000 African-American soldiers who fought to free the country from the scourge of slavery?” 

“It was a massacre,” Brooks contends. “If it (language) is not accurate, it’s not history.”

Herd said the replacement marker has been approved and the paperwork has been started. Someone told her, she said, that the marker will take about six or seven months to complete.

“We want to reinstall the marker on Juneteenth of 2025,” she said. 

Brooks said without reservation that if the replacement marker is damaged again or destroyed, she’d replace it again and again.

“Remember Fort Pillow” is inscribed on the historical marker in a bold font. Herd hopes the cemetery will continue to honor the U.S. Color Troops long after she’s gone.

Copyright 2024 TNTRIBUNE. All rights reserved.

Honoring Black Union Soldiers Massacred at Fort Pillow

 

Ronald C. Herd II observes a painting of his at an art 
exhibit in 2017 that represents the carnage at Fort 
Pillow in Henning, Tenn., during the Civil War. 
Photo by Wiley Henry

MEMPHIS, TN – When Dr. Callie Herd learned that a “massacre” had taken place on April 12, 1864, at Fort Pillow, a Union garrison in Henning, Tenn., she and her son, Ronald C. Herd II, sprang into action.

They have honored the Union’s Black soldiers since 2016 – those who fought and died at Fort Pillow, whom they discovered buried in 109 unnamed graves in Section B at the Memphis National Cemetery, 3568 Townes Ave.

This year marks the 160^th anniversary of what is known as the “Fort Pillow Massacre.” It begins with a commemorative art exhibit on April 6 at Withers Collection Museum & Gallery, 333 Beale St. 

Presented by The WEALLBE Group, Inc. – an umbrella organization advocating for responsible social entrepreneurism and activism via the arts, media, and education – the art exhibit is titled “We Remember Fort Pillow.” 

The opening reception is from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., with entertainment provided by DJ Kai’yrs Slayer, Jackie Murray, Bro. Bridge Muhammad, John Smith, and Herd, who plays a trumpet.

Herd also heads a list of featured artists, including Frank D. Robinson Jr., Mycal Smith, Darlene Newman, Myke Newman, Carl E. Moore, Phillip Dotson, Sir Walter Andrade, Madam Z (Zelitra Traylor), Marz Rockswell, Roy Hawkins Jr. and Fatia Webb.

“I believe that we as artists…we’re not only here to express, but also to capture the mood of the times and to preserve history,” said Herd, also an historian known as R2C2H2 Tha Artivist.

This is the third installment of the commemorative art exhibit in recent years, which ends April 20. “We’re using art to tell our story,” added Dr. Herd, an activist and author of a college preparation blog. 

On April 10, the commemoration continues at Abyssinian Missionary Baptist Church, 3890 Millbranch Rd., with a 6:30 p.m. service. The Reverend Dr. Earle J. Fisher is the host pastor.

During the service, The WEALLBE Group will present legacy awards to state Rep. Justin J. Pearson, James “Deke” Pope, Cedric Moore, Akbar Khalifahm, Dr. Louvisia Conley, Anthony Elmore, Mary Mitchell, and Fisher.

“A great deal of them [Black Union soldiers] were buried in mass graves and they never really had a church ceremony,” said Dr. Herd, calling attention to the massacre and added: “We’re going to tell the people all about Fort Pillow.”

“Every war that we participated in, we’ve shown our patriotism,” her son said. “If it wasn’t for Black men, there wouldn’t be a United States of America. I hope people recognize the importance of Black men sacrificing for the good of the country.”

On April 12 at 10 a.m., a national wreath laying ceremony will take place at the Memphis National Cemetery, where nearly 300 Union prisoners – most of them Black – were shot to death after Fort Pillow fell to Confederate troops.

During the ceremony, The WEALLBE Group will present more legacy awards to the late state Sen. Reginald Tate, state Rep. GA Hardaway, and Dr. Karanja A. Ajanaku, the former executive editor/associate publisher of The New Tri-Tate Defender.

Also, another wreath laying ceremony, a presentation, and other activities will take place on April 13 at Fort Pillow State Historic Park in Henning, Tenn., from 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. 

The Black Union soldiers, or the “U.S. Colored Troops,” as they were called, were killed at the behest of Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate general, slave trader and Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.

On that fateful day of April 12, 1864, blood flowed like the Mississippi River. Many of them who perished on the battlefield remain “unknown.” That’s why the Herds are paying homage to them. 

Fort Pillow is approximately 40 miles north of Memphis.

Copyright 2024 TNTRIBUNE. All rights reserved.