Replies

Correct me if I'm wrong, but that print looks like a depiction of the incident right after Shiloh, when Nathan Bedford Forrest, better known as the "Wizard of the Saddle," found himself surrounded by Yankee soldiers. The story goes that he picked one off the ground and used him as a shield to get back to the Confederate lines.

I believe you're spot-on, though some sources refer to that fight as *The battle of Pittsburg Landing*. The print, entitled *Forrest Takes A Hostage*, is indeed a depiction of the events of 08 April, when Grant sent Sherman south along the Corinth Road in pursuit of the retreating Confederates. Meeting resistance from the cavalry screen under Nathan Bedford Forrest, Sherman abandoned the pursuit. There is a line of thought that Forrest's intent that day was to find Sherman away from his headquarters guards, and to personally dispatch him.

Shelby Foote describes the events as follows, from his work "The Civil War, volume 1:":

At a place called Fallen Timbers, covering the Confederate retreat to Corinth after the battle of Shiloh, Forrest's cavalry met up with an advance unit of Grant's army.
"Forrest saw his chance. 'Charge!' he shouted, and led his horsemen pounding down the slope. Most of the skirmishers had begun to run before he struck them, but those who stood were knocked sprawling by a blast from shotguns and revolvers. Beyond them, the Federal cavalry had panicked, firing their carbines wildly in the air. When they broke too, Forrest kept on after them, still brandishing his saber and crying 'Charge! Charge!' as he plowed into the solid ranks of the [infantry] brigade drawn up beyond.
The trouble was, he was charging by himself; the others, seeing the steady brigade front, had turned back and were already busy gathering up their 43 prisoners. Forrest was one gray uniform, high above a sea of blue.
'Kill him! Kill the goddam rebel! Knock him of his horse!' It was no easy thing to do; the horse was slashing and kicking and plunging and Forrest was hacking and slashing; but one of the soldiers did his best. Reaching far out, he shoved the muzzle of his rifle in to the colonel's side and pulled the trigger.
The force of the explosion lifted Forrest clear out of the saddle, but he regained his seat and sawed the horse around. As he came out the mass of dark blue uniforms and furious white faces, clearing a path with his saber, he reached down and grabbed one of the soldiers by the collar, swung him onto the rear of the horse, and galloped back to safety, using the Federal as a shield against the bullets fired after him. Once he was out of range, he flung the hapless fellow off and rode on up to the ridge where his men were waiting in open-mouthed amazement."

The last shot fired that day, at that Battle of Shiloh, was fired at Forrest. Forrest's horse had been hit repeatedly and was severely wounded and, after getting Forrest back to safety, died. Forrest's charge stopped Sherman's advance and the Confederate army's retreat to Corinth was successful. Forrest was sent home to Memphis to recover from the rifle's minie ball lodged near his spine.

Forrest was no great proponent of the use of the saber, prefering revolvers for his own use and obtaining shotguns for his men where possible for use from the saddle, when not deploying his men as Dragoon infantry. But it should not be thought that he was unskilled or unwilling to kill with cold steel; over the course of his four years of service during the conflict, he had 29 horses shot out from under him and personally killed 30 Yankee soldiers. After it was over, he claimed to have finished the war "one horse ahead."