The 1,642 acre (6.6 km²) Fort Pillow, located in Lauderdale County on the Chickasaw Bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River, is rich in both historic and archaeological significance.

In 1861, the Confederate army built extensive fortifications and named the site for General Gideon Johnson Pillow of Maury County.

The battle ended with a massacre of African-American Union troops and their white officers attempting to surrender, by soldiers under the command of Confederate Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest.

"[8] A Confederate wrote in a letter home that "Forrest ordered them [negroes] shot down like dogs, and the carnage continued.

"[9] In addition to regimental records, contemporary accounts by troops on both sides, as well as journalists, describe it as appalling slaughter.