In April 1864, the Union garrison at Fort Pillow was comprised of almost six hundred troops, more than half of them black. The Confederacy, incensed by what they saw as a crime against nature, sent its fiercest cavalry commander, Nathan Bedford Forrest, to attack the fort with about 1,500 men. In a pitched battle, the Confederates overran the fort and drove the Federals into a deadly crossfire. Only sixty-two of the U.S. colored troops survived the fight unwounded. Many accused the Confederates of massacring the black troops, and that controversy continues today. The Fort Pillow Massacre became a Union rallying cry and cemented resolve to see the war through to its conclusion. Harry Turtledove has re-created the engagement in dramatic fashion, with brilliant characterization of all the main actors, while reminding us that Fort Pillow was more than a battleit was a clash of ideals in the fight for freedom.