Oh, yes, there's quite a bit of documentation, especially in Union reports, of blacks among Forrest's men. Officially they were teamsters and other laborers but when there was a pinch, they went forward with everybody else. There were, depending, between 4 and 8 black men in the escort all the time. Jakob Gauss, a German Jew, was Forrest's intrepid bugler - his bugle was so full of holes he almost couldn't use it! There were at least four Choctaw/Cherokees - that I can document as they were my great-uncles and granddad. Loyalty, ability, courage - all hand picked. Officially, Forrest's escort was lily white, but he really didn't care what you were...and if anybody else did, they'd better not say anything about it!