The allegations that Union soldiers were massacred as the fighting deteriorated has long clouded the memory of the Confederate victory at the Battle of Poison Spring.
The story of what happened as the Union lines broke, in fact, is remarkably similar to the situation at the so-called "Fort Pillow Massacre" in Tennessee when General Nathan Bedford Forrest's men overran a Federal position and pursued black Union troops down a bluff to the edge of the Mississippi River. In both cases, Southern troops were later accused of murdering African American soldiers.
Read Full Article »