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To: rustbucket

I must give him his due: he was excellent at breaking things and killing people.


40 posted on 02/25/2011 8:34:22 AM PST by rockrr ("I said that I was scared of you!" - pokie the pretend cowboy)
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To: rockrr
I must give him his due: he was excellent at breaking things and killing people.

I'd have hated to get him mad at me. He had quite a temper. From Wythe in That Devil Forrest, page 488, paperback:

During the stampede or retreat, which almost amounted to a panic, Forrest rode in among the infantry, and ordering the men to rally, and doing all in his power to stop the retreat. He rode up and down the lines, shouting, 'Rally, men -- for God's sake, rally!' The panic stricken soldiers, however, paid no attention to the general. Rushing toward a color-bearer, he ordered him to halt. Failing to have his command obeyed, he drew his pistol and shot the retreating soldier down. Dismounting, Forrest took the colors, remounted his horse, and, riding in front of the soldiers, waved their colors at them and finally succeeded in rallying them to do their duty.

There was also another side of him. From the March 20, 1865, Houston Tri-Weekly Telegraph (paragraph breaks mine for readability):

Major General Forrest

Major General Forrest has characterized the commencement of his military administration, as commander of West Tennessee, Mississippi, and East Louisiana, by an act of noble humanity, which, if it does not eclipse, is at least not surpassed by any of his deeds of heroism in the field in which he has developed and illustrated the very highest qualities of a great commander.

We refer to the treaty, which, it is now generally understood, he has entered into with the Federal General Thomas, to supply the suffering and destitute families within and near the Yankee lines, with food from the rich prairies of Mississippi and Alabama. Trains loaded with corn are to be run to such point, on the Mississippi and Charleston railroad as are most convenient to the destitute districts, without molestation from either party. Large sections of fertile country south of the Tennessee river, are wholly desolated by the ravages of war, and the suffering and impoverishment of the people are heart-rending in the extreme, demanding prompt assistance to secure them from an absolute starvation.

The spirit with which Major General Forrest comes to the relief of those suffering people develops in his character a nobility of nature and an enlarged feeling view of humanity which constitute the crown of his heroic achievements.

Nor should we withhold from an enemy the meed of commendation due for a good act. The promptitude with which Major General Thomas has responded to the suggestion of the noble Forrest stands forth in pleasant relief of the vandalism of the Federal commanders, whose barbarism and cruelty have despoiled those very sections, and others, now appealing to humanity for relief. It is true his own soldiers have robbed the people whom he now consents for General Forrest to feed. It is, notwithstanding, credible to him that he consents to mitigate the horrors of invasion by an exceptional instance of humanity.

41 posted on 02/25/2011 8:45:38 AM PST by rustbucket
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To: rockrr
One would think you'd be pro State secession. Seriously, you and your band of self proclaimed conservatives would be free to attend your yearly cross dressing seminar before that unholy event. . . the Lincoln day dinner. As an added bonus, you'd be free from my contemptuous laughter.

Like I told you before, you are no conservative. For your sake I'm praying that k-stater is n-s. He was better disguising himself, and you should take notes on how this maneuver is done.

43 posted on 02/25/2011 9:34:54 AM PST by Idabilly ("I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted, and I won't be laid a hand on. ...)
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