Nathan Hunter was a soldier with the Sixth U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery, stationed at Fort Pillow in April, 1864. Like many members of the Sixth, he'd been a slave prior to the American Civil War. When Confederate troops under the command of General Nathan Bedford Forrest poured into Fort Pillow, Hunter joined Sgt. Ben Robinson, Charlie Key, Sandy Cole, and Aaron Fentis, all Negro survivors of Company D, in a small cluster and fought the Confederates as they came. They were able to keep the attackers at bay for a time, but it was soon clear that as the Confederates kept pouring in, the fort was done for. The group fled to the banks of the Mississippi River, where the found stores of ammunition placed on the river by Major William Bradford before the battle began in earnest. As the group be