1st Regiment Alabama Siege Artillery ( African Descent ) The 1st Regiment Alabama Siege Artillery ( African Descent ) was an artillery regiment recruited from African - Americans that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War . The regiment was renamed the 6th US Colored Heavy Artillery . Under the leadership of Major Lionel Booth , the 6th US Colored Heavy Artillery fought at the Battle of Fort Pillow on April 12 , 1864 . The regiment had a strength of 8 Officers and 213 men . Service . The 1st Siege Artillery was raised at LaGrange , LaFayette and Memphis , Tennessee , as well as Corinth , Mississippi on June 20 , 1863 after Federal troops occupied the area . The regiment was re - designated the 6th U . S . Regiment Colored Heavy Artillery on March 11 , 1864 . On March 17 , Lieutenant - Colonel Thomas J . Jackson was placed in command of the regiment . The next day he turned the command over to newly promoted Major Lionel F . Booth . The regiment arrived at Fort Pillow on March 29 and , being the senior officer , Major Booth was placed in command of the fort . On April 12 , the fort was attacked by approximately 1 , 500 troops lead by General James R . Chalmers and Confederate Cavalry Corps commander , General Nathan B . Forrest . The battery took positions inside the inner fort walls . However , the Confederates had occupied the surrounding bluffs that allowed them to fire down into the fort . Early in the morning , Major Booth was shot through the heart by a Confederate sniper . The command of the fort fell to the in - experienced Major William F . Bradford , the commander of the 13th Tennessee Cavalry ( US ) . The command of the 6 Heavy Artillery probably fell to Captain Charles Epeneter , who also was wounded in the head . The Battery operated two 12 - pound howitzers at the northern embrasures or openings in the parapet . Several days before the battle , two 10 - pound Parrotts were brought to Fort Pillow . These pieces were placed outside the fort at the beginning of the battle , but were soon moved inside the fort . Wooden platforms were hastily erected adjacent to two open embrasures facing south . During the final assault on the fort , all Union artillery was largely ineffective because the guns could not be depressed enough to fire upon the Confederates on the steep terrain below . Two other cannon , 6 - pound James Rifles , were placed in the center two embrasures and manned by a section of men from Company D , 2nd US Colored Light Artillery . The regiment suffered many casualties at the battle , but unlike many newspaper reports , all of the black soldiers were not killed . Fifty - six were taken prisoner by the Confederates . Most of them were taken to Mississippi and Alabama and returned to hard labor . Whereas the white captors of the Bradford ' s 13th Tennessee Cavalry ( US ) were sent to Andersonville Prison ( Andersonville National Historic Site ) where a large percentage died . Several of the black prisoners escaped and many of those missing in action eventually returned to their unit . After the losses at the Battle of Fort Pillow , the survivors were reformed into the 11th US Colored Troops infantry regiment .