Fort Pillow

A Novel of the Civil War

By: Harry Turtledove

Narrated by: John Allen Nelson

Length: 11 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

In April 1864, the Union garrison at Fort Pillow was composed of almost 600 troops, about half of them black. The Confederacy, incensed by what it saw as a crime against nature, sent its fiercest cavalry commander, Nathan Bedford Forrest, to attack the fort with about 1,500 men. The Confederates overran the fort and drove the Federals into a deadly crossfire. Only 62 of the colored Union troops survived the fight unwounded. Many accused the Confederates of massacring the black troops after the fort fell, when fighting should have ceased. The "Fort Pillow Massacre" became a Union rallying cry and cemented resolve to see the war through to its conclusion.

Harry Turtledove has written a dramatic re-creation of an astounding battle, telling a bloody story of courage and hope, freedom and hatred. With brilliant characterizations of all the main figures, this is a novel that reminds us that Fort Pillow was more than a battle---it was a clash of ideas between men fighting to define what being an American ought to mean.

©2006 Hatty Turtledove (P)2009 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Most impressive.... Turtledove...depicts the people of the time and place very vividly, making the novel a true window into history." ( Booklist Starred Review)

The accents!!

The overall story was a good imagination of the thoughts and actions of several historical figures during an historic battle of the Civil War. I enjoyed it even if some of the fictional supporting cast were a little stereotypical.

However ... the narrator would have served the story much better by not trying to do a Southern accent. All of the characters ended up sounding like players in an Amos and Andy show. I found it very distracting and it certainly didn't add to the story.

Standing ovation

This is one of the little parts of history that no one ever hears about a small fork in the middle of Tennessee. It gets overrun by general forest troops in the massacre that came by. It’s because Mary U2 about the battle, and I found many people try to give excuses for gen forest
But the bottom line is forest was a grandmaster in the KKK. He was a terrible person setting it aside. This book is great.

The accents are a bit much but, well done

Narrator is excellent, despite being someone I hadn't heard of. The accents are hard to tell apart, seeing as how many characters are from Tennessee. A fine bit of historical fiction.

volume

narration was done in a whisper & dialogue in a bellow. had to constantly adjust volume.