Framed The Fort Pillow Massacre, 1864 by Kurz and Allison

The Fort Pillow Massacre, 1864 by Kurz and Allison is a highly dramatized chromolithograph depicting the bloody aftermath of the Confederate assault on Fort Pillow, Tennessee, on April 12, 1864. The print shows Confederate soldiers storming into the fort as Union defenders, many of them African American troops of the U.S. Colored Troops, are overwhelmed amid smoke, cannon fire, and chaotic hand-to-hand combat. Kurz and Allison emphasize the ferocity of the event with vivid detail—bayonets clashing, fallen bodies, and flags whipping in the turmoil—while presenting the scene as a shocking slaughter rather than a conventional battle. The historical event remains infamous as reports spread that large numbers of Union soldiers were killed after surrendering, making Fort Pillow a powerful symbol of Confederate brutality and a rallying cry for the Union cause.