Show If ti V 0 i Saved the hOST Cause f Cf or I r 7 T vr v- v tr j r t b mt E 4 ft 6 R r t. t S P o 1 I r II r 4 p iLIJ If II J tF I 1 I I Jk Wi c Dismounted Confederate Caval P Cavalry l J lf l f ff i f. f f i Gen NB fi t T estA t lI n. n y q t i T 4 x- x p 1 r o c cK t f K r 1 I Forrest ant and Critter Comps Company KB ND Forrest S fore on the Wa War h Gen Bragg 99 r from Bedford Forrest and end His Hia Critter Company Courtesy 7 Minton Balch Batch Company By ELMO SCOTT WATSON 0 MOST Americans the name of l Gen Nathan Bedford Forrest 10 Confederate cavalry leader means the synonym for the author of ot a famous epigram on how to win winI battles His method was to git 1 fust fast with the men I I But what they do not realize Is IsI I that Forrest was more than just the maker of a historic phrase a aI I picturesque character personally 4 and an unusually successful cavalry leader If It the estimation of a aro ro recent ent biographer Is correct Forrest takes hJ WB place among the greatest of all Amer American mer lean ican military leaders a master strategist as well yvell as a master tactician and the man who who had it not been for the Jealousy of ot a superior officer might easily have saved the Lost Cause Th The biographer is Andrew Nelson Lytle and his viewpoint is presented in the book Bedford Forrest and His Critter Company published recently by Minton Balch and company Mr Lytle has ample mple Justification for his estimate estimate estimate esti esti- mate of Forrest Gen Robert E. E Lee had a great cavalry leader with his forces the forces the dashIng dashing dash dash- ing trig Jeb Stuart Stuart- But at Appomattox when somebody asked Lee who was the tho greatest soldier soldier soldier sol sol- sol sol- dier in his command he ho answered Instantly I A K Aman man man I have never ever seen sir Ills His name is Forrest A similar tribute was as paid to Forrest by Jefferson Davis twelve years later The former president of the Confederacy and Governor Governor Governor Gov Gov- Porter of ot Tennessee were riding in the tile tun funeral era I procession which was carrying Old Bedford to his grave Turning to Davis Porter Porter Por Por- ter said History has acc accorded to General Forrest Forrest For For- or T rest the first place pace as a cavalry leader In the war between the states and has named him as one of ot the half dozen gr great at soldiers of the theco co country To which Davis graduate of West WestPoint WestPoint WestPoint Point and a n. professional soldier before he was c called to head a new Dew American republic replied The trouble was that the generals commanding In fn the southwest never appreciated Forr Forrest st until It Jt was too late Their Judgment was that he was a a. bold and enterprising partisan raider and rider I was misled by them and I never knew how to measure him until I read his reports reports' reports re re- ports ports' of ot his campaign across the Tennessee Tennessee river in 1864 This induced a study of ot othis his earlier reports and after atter that I was prepared to adopt what you are pleased to name as as the Judgment of ot history But to realize reaUze to the full the greatness of Forrest one should turn to the words not of ot his friends but of ot his enemies Gen William Tecumseh Sherman who campaigned against him in the Western campaigns never made the mistake of underestimating his ability and Sherman Sherman Sher Sher- man once exclaimed I I a am going to get Forrest if It it costs lives and breaks the treasury I There will never be peace In Tennessee until Forrest is dead I But be he never did get him and the Wizard of ot the Saddle adoring Southerners called him went through four years of spectacular leader leadership In war without a ae a. a a- a r defeat e eat a record almost in history As for tor critter compan company it Is the Tennese Tennes- Tennes e ean name name for Forrest's cavalry Early In tl tho o war while Union troops were were occupying Tennessee Forrest became overnight their particular particular particular par par- Ideal of ot what a soldier could be They could not unde understand stand strategic gains but they could understand h his particular kind of ot fighting It was as plain and as heartening as aa sow-belly sow 9 gnu and a corn orn bread Th The women now felt that they Had hab d a defender They began to threaten tyrannical tyrannical tyrannical tyran tyran- Union officers with Forrest will get you for this' this and Ill t tell ll or Forrest on you you They soon I learned earn ell that he ho was a bogey man they alibel all ali bel believed eved In n lh The same sane adoration given him by the people was teas given glyen by the men who followed Vea him They referred to him as the old Ola man Just as Jackson's Jacksons Jacksons Jackson's Jack Jack- sons son's foot toot cavalry did to th that t leader They also called him Old Bedford In the same sense ense that Jacksons Jackson's men referred to Old Jack Jaek In return ho he looked after alter them as a father look after t loo after his children Nothing made Forrest more Dore furious than a t useless waste of t lives In a I I battle especially If it the lives were those of ot his boys He was the Ideal cavalryman in his Judgment of horseflesh and of ot how to take care of the mounts in his command Nathan Bedford Forrest was born In Bedford county Tennessee In 1821 Little is known of at his Ut life as a boy but what is known is mainly a record of conflict of ot fights with wild animals with bullies of the neighborhood and other evidences evidences evidences evi evi- evi- evi dences to prove that Nathan Bedford was a aborn aborn aborn born 1 fighter In his early manh manhood od he started to Texas to help fight for Texan Independence but arrived there only to find that there was no need for his services Penniless young Forrest split spilt enough rails at fifty cents a hundred to pay his way back to Tennessee Then he became became became be be- came a horse trader and later moving to Memphis Memphis Mem Mem- became a broker In real estate and finally a slave trader In all of which occupations he prospered He next became an alderman In Memphis after he had distinguished himself by daring as asa asa asa a private citizen to save th the lives of two m murderers murderers mur mur- r- r when a mob threatened to storm the Jail and when no one else dared to face the would would- be Forrest planted himself in front of the ilie jail holding a six-shooter six and calling out outto outto outto to the mob In a clear firm voice If It you come comeby comeby comeby by ones or by tens or by hundreds Ill I'll kill any man who tries to get In this Jail The result of ot this firm statement was that the mob of three thousand nd quickly melted away They knew that Forrest meant exactly what he said After serving one year as an alderman Forrest Forrest Forrest For For- rest resigned In 1859 and became a cotton planter plant plant- er er- er He was was thus thus' engaged when the Civil war broke out and in hi hiJune June 1861 1801 Instead of using his Influence to get a commission he enlisted as a apr pr private vate In Whites White's Tennessee Mounted Rifles But ut hi his friends did what he would not do for himself They decided that the ranks were no place for tor Forrest So they prevailed upon the Confederate authorities to give him a commission commission commis commis- sion as lieutenant colonel and the authority to raise raise a battalion of mounted rangers rangers Going up Into Kentucky both because he could secure excellent ent horses there and because every man which he brought out of ot that state which was neutral but was a recruiting ground for both governments governments' would weaken the enemy's armies armies' just that much he returned to Memphis some somo eight weeks later having raised eight companies companies com com- strong Then began his amazing career as a cavalryman par excellence as a natural military genius whose whoso exploits far out- out shown those of ot many trained soldiers and as a athorn athorn athorn thorn In the side of ot one Union general after another F Forrest knew nothing about military tactics tactic and cared ared less In that regard he was an Ideal lead leader r for the spirited Independent-spirited men under his command Drills and guard mounts were obnoxious to them but their officers managed to get results from them even eyen without the formality of giving commands In the prescribed manner manner Such expression as Men tangle angle Into fours 1 I IBy By turn around I Git GUI I would shock an am army- army trained drillmaster speechless but when such commands commands' were given to t Forrest's men they knew what was wanted and they obeyed Forrest had a fine contempt for West Point- Point trained officers who fought according to rule of the thumb On one occasion after atter a battle which bad had been disastrous to the Southern forces an and 1 which had be been n fought according to tOa aplan a aplan plan plan to which Forrest had been Gen Stephen D D. D Lee called a council of ot war Lee asked Forrest If It he bad had an any ideas Yes sir s said la the cavalry leader Ive always got Ideas Woos and Ill I'll tell you one thing General Lee If It I knew as much about West Point tactics as aB you ou the Yankees would whip hell hen out of ot me every everyday everyday day dayAs day As for tor the thesis that Forrest might have saved the Confederacy from defeat It is based upon the tho fact that as Lytle says the ih government govern government govern govern- ment went which first realized that the tho war would be decided ultimately on western battlefields would have a decided advantage and the premise that If it Forrest's genius had been recognized soon enough by the Confederate government If It he had bad been given a sufficient force f and had not been thwarted by a n Jealous superior ho might have haTe held the West indefinitely and turn turned the tho scale Beale In favor tavor of the Confederacy But Prest dent Davis and his cabinet their attention concentrated concentrated con upon the Eastern theater of ot war and upon uvon holding Richmond which was strategically relatively unimportant failed to see until It was waa too late that If it they lost the West they lost tho the war And Forrest even though he won victory after victory was forced to see his efforts repeatedly repeatedly repeatedly re re- nullified by the Inefficient Ge Gee Brax ton Bragg to whose Davis seems to have haye been strangely blind bUnd even eyen though they were soon soo enough recognized by other Confederate generals and by the people of the South The story of Forrest's campaigns would take tako a volume for the telling He served brilliantly at Fort Donelson and led his own forces safely through the encircling Union lines to Nashville He could have done as much for Buckners Buckner's entire army had that general listened to him But Buckner didn't listen and the result was what Lytle calls a tragedy of errors the errors the loss not only of the fort but of Buckners Buckner's entire army Forrest captured a large Union force at Murfreesboro Murfreesboro Murfreesboro Mur- Mur and made It possible for Bragg to take the Initiative away from Buell In the Kentucky campaign He served gallantly at Shiloh at Hog mountain mountain mountain moun moun- tain and at Chickamauga and In innumerable other actions where he was unhampered by the orders of his superiors he proved repeatedly that here was one Confederate leader who knew how to win battles But always there was the hand of ot Braxton Bragg to minimize or nullify his success Finally one day he stamped Into Braggs Bragg's tent and declared You may as well not issue any more orders to me for I will not obe obey them And I will hold you personally responsible sible for any further Indignities you try to Inflict upon me You have threatened t 16 5 arrest me for not obeying your jour orders promptly I dare you to do It and I say to you that If It you ever again try to Interfere with me or cro cross my path it will wm be at the peril of your life And Bragg did not take the dare The closing days of the war found Forrest a lieutenant general a recognition which had haa come too late and placed In charge of nil all tl the e cavalry In the West West the the last organized Confederate Confederate Confederate Con Con- federate forces In that section But by this time his efforts were futile so far as the outcome outcome outcome out out- come of the war was concerned Lee surrendered surrendered surrendered dered to Grant and Johnston to Sherman and there was no further need for Forrest to lead his critter company on those swift dashes which had made him the nightmare of more than one commander In blue His DIs men begged him to lead them to Mexico to avoid surrender surrender- ing But he knew the game was up and surrendered surrendered surrendered sur sur- rendered to General Canby After the war Forrest went to Mississippi to become a n planter again taking again taking as his partner a Federal officer I Later he sold his plantation and moved to Memphis He was a delegate to the first war post-war Democratic convention and when he went to New York he attracted so much attention that he could not move about aboul the streets without drawing a crowd crowd such such was the fame of the Wizard of ot the Saddle In Inthe Inthe Inthe the North When the dark days of the Reconstruction Reconstruction Reconstruction Recon Recon- period came upon the South and the Ku Klux Klan was organized organised to save It from the Scalawag-Carpetbagger Scalawag regime Forrest was offered the command of ot the new v movement am and accepted It It had previously been offered to Robert E. E Lee but although he refused he be approved ap ap- approved proved of ot the idea saying saIng that his approval must be invisible So the Ku Klux Klan became became became be be- came the Invisible Empire and when the name for a commander was brought br up some one suggested Gen Nathan Bedford Forrest the Wizard of at the Saddle So he became tha Grand Wizard of ot the Invisible Empire By 1870 the work of tho the Ku Klux Klan had saved the South and Forrest disbanded It There were only a few fow more years of ot life Ufa left for him Wm Ho no died In Memphis October 29 1877 and was burled In Elmwood cemetery Later his body was removed to a park sot set aside to his memory I IlL IL a. a Memphis and an equestrian statue raised over It So Bedford Forrest still slIU rides In the tha South South South-in in ln material form in this statue and IB III spiritual form In tho the hearts of ot the people of ot Tennessee who still tell their tales of ot Old Bedford DeMord the Wizard Wizard-of of the Saddle Q by western Newspaper Union |