The brothers Forrest

[diane]

Work continues on the restoration of the boyhood and (girlhood) home of the Forrest contingent to the War for Southern Independence. As the home and exterior buildings near completion, the next task is to tackle the barn, the central core of which is believed to have been William Forrest's blacksmith shop. The annual fundraiser and all-day 9-3 celebration is scheduled for Saturday June 21, 2008. My favorite, the annual preparation and work day, is coming May 24, 2008! Any spare gloves, arms and legs are more than welcome to attend. Weedeaters welcome! Located on Pyles Road just west of Chapel Hill, Tennessee. Nathan Bedford, William Hezekiah, Aaron and siblings all got their 'start' here. Eventually a rather extensive museum is planned for the residence. That will be a while developing. Funds, while frugally applied, don't go far at a time.

 

[diane]

William Forrest home in Bedford County, Tennessee

Another small piece of trivia, correcting some of my earlier publications...

While working at the site yesterday, I was presented with a transcript of the deed for the Forrest Boyhood Home, plainly dated 1 November 1830 when William Forrest bought the property from the Mayfield family for $588. Hence the Forrest family only lived there approximately three years. Three years in the boyhood of Nathan Bedford Forrest who was born in 1821 is still three years, hence one of several? boyhood homes. Girlhood home too, thanks to a couple of his sisters. The Forrests relocated to what is now Benton County, Mississippi in 1834.

 

[diane]

On that same visit to the Forrest home in Marshall County, TN, I was shown three photos of Confederate grave stones with the names of William Hezekiah Forrest, John Forrest and Aaron Forrest. The owner thought, for some unknown reason, that these were from Hernando, Mississippi. I rather suspect they are all three at Elmwood in Memphis. Can anyone confirm the location of these three graves? Obviously all were at the same location. I haven't been to Elmwood, yet.

 

[diane]

Great Event!

Next Saturday, June 21, 2008 is the annual fundraiser and celebration of the life of Nathan Bedford and the rest of the Forrest family at their nearly restored home 1830-1834 down in Marshall County, Tennessee. The signs will be out on highway 99 east from exit 46 on I-65 south at Columbia, Tennessee. This is a special event, this year with a cannonade and speakers and musical performers of the highest caliber. Bring a few bucks and contribute to a most worthy cause as the SCV continues to remember the efforts of the soldiers of the Confederacy and in particular, the brothers Forrest.

 

[diane]

Two 'new' Forrest facts

At a very pleasant celebration of the progress on the Forrest Boyhood home restoration in Marshall County, Tennessee this afternoon, I learned two more small pieces of the puzzle concerning the Forrest family. First, the boyhood home is located on property, over 300 acres, that had previously belonged to the general's grandfather, Shadrack Forrest prior to his selling of part of it to the Mayfield family, from whom the current 'residence' was purchased in 1830 by William Forrest, father of the general. The other new 'fact' is that Nathan Bedford Forrest apparently remained in the area, maybe living with the Raines family nearby, so he could finish some schooling that year, before moving on to join the family in Mississsippi. 'Not exactly earth shattering stuff, but facts is facts.

 

[diane]

CW, thanks very much for posting the link to the Elm Hill website. The Forrest Home is a labor of love for many men and women in middle Tennessee and northern Alabama. The exterior of the home and two newly constructed outbuildings are nearly complete. The next target is the original barn still standing a few yards from the house. Most of the huge interior logs appear to be original from the 1820s. We hope to affirm it's structural integrity before removing the steel roof and replacing it with cedar shakes to match the other structures and get us back into period. The museum will come in tme. Retaining walls, perimeter fencing and plantings as well as a most impressive entry wall and security gate are nearly complete as well. The goal of the SCV is to create a place where the facts of history can be displayed without politics. The good, bad and ugly history of the Confederacy needs no bias to downgrade or upgrade. It must stand on it's own merits. That's what we are about. Rural middle Tennessee where this home is located is a most pleasant place. All are invited to come see for yourself. The spirits of a most remarkable family await you.

 

[diane]

A brief article; a few facts A GIRLHOOD home in TN

The Forrest Boyhood Home should be renamed… Perhaps the Forrest Girlhood Home or simply the Forrest Home? Many of us jump to the conclusion that this place in Marshall County, Tennessee was just the home of Lt. General Nathan Bedford Forrest. That it was, but only for about three years, until he was a lad of about 13. This small farm was also the home of probably seven Forrest siblings, all the children of William Forrest and Miriam Beck Forrest.

William was a blacksmith, one of the first to enter middle Tennessee. Born in Orange County, North Carolina 6 Jul 1801, he moved with his parents to the Cumberland River valley near Gallatin, Tennessee in 1809 where they remained for about two years before moving to the Duck River area of what was then Bedford County. William married Miriam Beck about 1820, the daughter of Scottish parents who had moved to Caney Springs in 1796 from South Carolina. The young couple made their home briefly in the little community of Chapel Hill near Holts Crossing on the north side of present-day Chapel Hill. It was in this little town that their first children, twins Nathan Bedford and Frances were born 13 July 1821.

 

[diane]

Frances Forrest

The young Forrest family began to grow as William labored in his trade as a smithy.

He prospered to the point of being able to purchase the farm on Pyles Road on 1 November 1830 for a payment of $588 to William and Sally Mayfield. This property was once part of the large farm of Shadrack Forrest, father of William. [Deed information supplied by Mr. Boots Nix, current caretaker of the home.] There has been speculation that the small cabin in which the twins were born may have also made the trek west and become the one-story room that is the eastern portion of the present building. Further analysis of the logs in the old barn on the property may prove that this barn was built or at least used by William Forrest to operate his blacksmith business or at least shelter some horses. It’s obvious from the very firm soil around the Forrest Home that farming would have been a secondary occupation at best. Caney Creek, a large stream a couple of miles south was completely dry during the weekend of the June 2007 fundraiser. Crops or large herds of animals would have suffered in this climate.

Daughter Frances Forrest, twin of the Lt. General, died in 1841 in Mississippi. She claimed her girlhood home for about 3 years, same as the General’s claim for boyhood residence!

 

[diane]

John Forrest and William Hezekiah Forrest

Son John Forrest arrived in 1822. He was to later serve his nation in the Mexican war where he was wounded and paralyzed in his legs. He became a gambler in Memphis and worked as a jailer and clerked for his brother Bedford. His claim to the Pyles Road residence as his boyhood home was also three years. John Forrest died in 1876.

Son William Hezekiah Forrest arrived in this world in 1825, hence his claim to three years at the boyhood home as well. William as an adult ran slave businesses in St. Louis and Vicksburg, buying slaves from brother Aaron before resale. Their company was called Forrest and Maples. William had a home in Memphis and joined the Confederate Army 13 Jul 1861, rising to the rank of Captain. He was wounded 30 Apr 1863 in a charge against Col. Abel D. Streight at the battle of Sand Mountain in Days Gap, Alabama. William died in 1871.

 

[diane]

Mary Forrest and Aaron Forrest

Daughter Mary Forrest was born in 1826. She died at a relatively young age sometime after 1837. Her stay at the Pyles Road residence would have also covered about three years, making her claim to a Girlhood Home!

Son Aaron H. Forrest was born in 1828. He claimed the boyhood home for three years! He owned A.H. Forrest and Company in Vicksburg, Mississippi by 1858, having worked with his brothers in the slave trade. The business closed about 1860. He served the CSA as Captain of the 6th Mississippi Battalion of State Troops, but became ill with pneumonia while commanding an expedition near Paducah, Kentucky in the spring of 1864 and died near Dresden, Tennessee. Aaron and brothers John and Jeffrey are believed to rest in Elmwood Cemetery in Memphis.

 

[diane]

Jesse Anderson Forrest and Milly Forrest

Son Jesse Anderson Forrest came into the world 8 Apr 1829. His claim to the boyhood home also lasted for about three years! Before the war, he was in the slave trade with his brothers in Memphis. Jesse was Lt. Colonel of the 20th Tennessee Regiment. He served valiantly in Mississippi before joining the AOT in the Tennessee campaign and helping to fight the rear guard action on the retreat. Jesse ran a livery stable in Memphis for several years after the war. He died 14 Dec 1890, leaving a daughter Sally.

Daughter Milly Forrest was born about 1831 and died young after 1837. Another claim to a girlhood home, though she lived there only a couple of years

 

[diane]

Isaac Forrest and Bedford Forrest, twins

Twin Sons Isaac Forrest and Bedford Forrest were born about 1834. This is near the time of the family’s move to Mississippi. The twins died at a young age. It may be these two boys who are buried at the Pyles Road residence, but more likely they are in Benton County, Mississippi. More research is needed.

From their porch on Pyles Road, William and Miriam Forrest could have seen a future Mexican War soldier, two future Captains, a future Lt. Colonel, and a future Lt. General at play in the rocky yard. In 1834, the family pulled up stakes and moved westward to better land in west Tippah County, Mississippi in a little community, now extinct, that incorporated as the town of Salem on 11 May 1837.

 

[diane]

Jeffrey Forrest

A son Jeffrey E. Forrest was born in Salem in 1837, just four months after the untimely death of his father William. Jeffrey died in his brother Nathan’s arms after being wounded at the battle of Okalona, Mississippi 22 Feb 1864. He was a Captain of the 7th Tennessee at Ft. Donalson and was later Colonel of the 8th Tennessee Cavalry. He was shot through both thighs at Bears Creek, Mississippi in October 1863. Jeffrey managed a livery stable in Memphis prior to the war.

The Forrest family was a remarkable, tough part of the history of Tennessee and Mississippi who gave far more than their share of blood and effort in the American Civil War.


Please let me know where corrections are needed. Thanks!

 

[diane]

Southern Son said:

The Fighting McCooks

The Fighting McCooks were members of a family of Ohians who reached prominence as officers in the Union Army during the AWC. Two brothers, Daniel and John McCook, and thirteen of their sons were actively involved in the army, making the family one of the most prolific in American military history. Six of the McCooks reached the rank of Brigade General or higher.
Although scholars disagree on the exact number of McCooks who fought in the Civil War, it appears that Daniel McCook and eight of his nine sons took up arms for the North, as did his brother, John McCook, and his five sons.

“TRIBE OF DAN”
Maj. Daniel McCook: mortally wounded at Buffington Island.
Maj Latimer McCook: a surgeon.
Brig. Gen. George McCook: early regimental commander
Midshipman John McCook: died at sea.
Brig. Gen. Alexander McCook: commander of the 20th Corps.
Brig. Gen. Daniel Jr. McCook: mortally wounded at Kennesaw Mt.
Maj. Gen. Edwin McCook: served under Grant and Sherman.
Pvt. Charles McCook: killed at Bull Run.
Col. John McCook: seriously wounded in Virginia.

“TRIBE OF JOHN”
Maj. Gen. Edward McCook: captured Confederates behind the lines.
Brig. Gen. Anson McCook: served with distinction in 3 battles and 2 campaigns.
Rev. Henry McCook: a chaplain.
Marine Lt. Roderick McCook: accepted the surrender of a Confederate regiment.
Lt. John McCook: served when only 18 years old.

While the McCooks and Forrests must have had interestingly different accents, they obviously shared many of the horrows of war. Thanks very much for your most informative and interesting post. This is another example of the similarity of experiences had by soldiers in all levels of the war. I believe you have certainly met my challenge to match the brothers Forrest in contribution to the war.The Fighting McCooks

The Fighting McCooks were members of a family of Ohians who reached prominence as officers in the Union Army during the AWC. Two brothers, Daniel and John McCook, and thirteen of their sons were actively involved in the army, making the family one of the most prolific in American military history. Six of the McCooks reached the rank of Brigade General or higher.
Although scholars disagree on the exact number of McCooks who fought in the Civil War, it appears that Daniel McCook and eight of his nine sons took up arms for the North, as did his brother, John McCook, and his five sons.

“TRIBE OF DAN”
Maj. Daniel McCook: mortally wounded at Buffington Island.
Maj Latimer McCook: a surgeon.
Brig. Gen. George McCook: early regimental commander
Midshipman John McCook: died at sea.
Brig. Gen. Alexander McCook: commander of the 20th Corps.
Brig. Gen. Daniel Jr. McCook: mortally wounded at Kennesaw Mt.
Maj. Gen. Edwin McCook: served under Grant and Sherman.
Pvt. Charles McCook: killed at Bull Run.
Col. John McCook: seriously wounded in Virginia.

“TRIBE OF JOHN”
Maj. Gen. Edward McCook: captured Confederates behind the lines.
Brig. Gen. Anson McCook: served with distinction in 3 battles and 2 campaigns.
Rev. Henry McCook: a chaplain.
Marine Lt. Roderick McCook: accepted the surrender of a Confederate regiment.
Lt. John McCook: served when only 18 years old.

 

[diane]

Lt. Gen. N.B. Forrest

Confederate Compatriot Bill Barr gave me permission to post the following in this forum. It is an excerpt from a speech he wrote concerning the exploits of N.B. Forrest which was presented at the recently held national SCV Convention:

Brethren,

My speech below was delivered last Friday at the Forrest Cavalry, one of many groups which meets annually in conjunction with the SCV National Reunion. Unable to attend at the last minute, it was read for me by my brother Jim, who is the Commander of the Illinois Division.
I thought that it might be of some interest. --Bill Barr (#109)
_______________________________________________________________
Forrest: the Man, and the Myth of Fort Pillow

Throughout Henry V, Shakespeare explores the ethics of mercy to shed light upon the character of Henry, an English king at war with France.
In preparation to regain the Norman peninsula, Henry pardons a prisoner who has committed a minor offence. Immediately afterwards, he orders the summary execution at Southampton of three English nobles who are traitors to the Crown. By conspiring with the king of France against him, the condemned men must die for the "health of England." Once in France, Bardulf, a boyhood friend of Henry, is executed when the king discovers that the luckless man stole from a church. Henry shows no mercy to evil-doers. But by the end of the campaign, Henry has pardoned a man who had insulted him, demonstrating a sense of justice tempered by mercy.
Notably, Henry's mercy is shown to the inhabitants of the surrendered Harfleur, a Norman port which fell as a result of a costly siege over the course of three weeks.

Yet Shakespeare portrays Henry as bluffing the defenders of the fortified city into surrender. Expect the most dire consequences, Henry warns, unless the gates are immediately opened to him.

How yet resolves the governor of the town?
This is the latest parle we will admit;
Therefore to our best mercy give yourselves;
Or like to men proud of destruction
Defy us to our worst: for, as I am a soldier,
A name that in my thoughts becomes me best,
If I begin the battery once again,
I will not leave the half-achieved Harfleur
Till in her ashes she lie buried....

Therefore, you men of Harfleur,
Take pity of your town and of your people,
Whiles yet my soldiers are in my command;
Whiles yet the cool and temperate wind of grace
O'erblows the filthy and contagious clouds
Of heady murder, spoil and villany.
If not, why, in a moment look to see
The blind and bloody soldier with foul hand
Defile the locks of your shrill-shrieking daughters;
Your fathers taken by the silver beards,
And their most reverend heads dash'd to the walls,
Your naked infants spitted upon pikes,
Whiles the mad mothers with their howls confused
Do break the clouds...
What say you? will you yield, and this avoid,
Or, guilty in defence, be thus destroy'd?
Shakespeare acknowledges that sometimes soldiers cut down the defenseless, when
The gates of mercy shall be all shut up, And the flesh'd soldier, rough and hard of heart,
In liberty of bloody hand shall range/With conscience wide as hell, mowing (down) like grass...

 

[diane]

Bill Barr on N.B. Forrest, continued...

If any American general officer was a hero of Shakespearean intensity. it was Nathan Bedford Forrest.

Soon after Forrest's first incursion into Kentucky, one of his officers, Major David Kelley, observes that he scarcely recognized his commander once the regiment had been blooodied. At Sacremento, Forrest's face was so flushed "that it bore a striking resemblance to a painted Indian warrior's, and his eyes, usually mild in their expression, were blazing with the intense glare of a panther's springing on its prey." Another Confederate has described the general's complexion, when his blood was up as burnt orange.

Significantly, the combativeness which always lay beneath Forrest's exterior was revealed foremost, but not exclusively, in the face of the enemy. Nevertheless, time and again, accounts of Forrest reveal a man who put patriotism ahead of personal pique and stifled his temper.

We all know of the many horses shot out from under the general, and can imagine the attendant, continuous bruising and reopening of war wounds. We know that losing a mount never stopped the general. In the engagement against the enemy at Pontotoc, Mississippi, three horses were shot out from under Forrest, and he lost a like number of mounts in action at Fort Pillow, Tennessee.

But it takes it takes a very old-fashioned leader, a leader out in front of his men, to accomplish the feat pulled off by Forrest at Rossville, Georgia. When a minie ball severed the neck of the general's horse, he refused to give up chasing the Yankees and simply plugged the hole with his index finger. Once the enemy had fled the vicinity, Forrest removed his finger and the animal immediately collapsed and died.

 

[diane]

Ft. Pillow

In his 2003 biography of the late Shelby Foote, C. Stuart Chapman calls Forrest "a test case for Southern culture in the twentieth century", a contradictory figure who elicits "lionizing and demonizing,...evangelical worship and blinding hatred". Getting that right, Chapman goes on to excoriate Foote for writing a million words in his three-volume history of the War, and devoting none of them to denigrating Forrest.

For Stuart Chapman, and for all others possessing a Jacobin turn of mind since 1864, the South is synonymous with the general from Memphis, and Forrest, in turn, is synonymous with the Fort Pillow Campaign. Consider Chapman's erroneous, but succinct mythic recitation of death and dying at Fort Pillow on April 12, 1864:

"Forrest's troops pinned black Union soldiers on a Mississippi River bluff 50 miles noth of Memphis. The Union troops faced the daunting choice of jumping off the 300-foot bluff or placing themselves at the mercy of Forrest's bloodthirsty troops. Neither choice offered sanctuary. Those who jumped were riddled with gunfire from the cliff, and those who surrendered were shot."

Now a myth is simply the way history is remembered. From the end of the War until the end of Reconstruction, Forrest and Fort Pillow were inextricably linked in Republican Party propaganda as shorthand for the mythic virtue of the Union cause. As well, the way the Radical Republicans remembered Fort Pillow formed a shorthand for the valorization of such developing Unionist goals as the hotly contested issues of emancipation, the black soldier in Federal blue, and the civic future of a large class of non-citizens, the men of African descent.

 

[diane]

Barr continues on Ft. Pillow

And what's mythic virtue without a mythic evil, the serpent in the garden? Thus, Forrest and his troops at Fort Pillow have been invoked with a pious shudder as symbols of the Devil and all his works, a convenient shorthand for the base threat to American principles posed by the Rebels down in Dixie. Again, the ritual cursing of the Confederates at Fort Pillow formed for Radical Republicans a crucial referent in denying Southern veterans the vote and overturning conservative electoral results during Reconstruction while simultaneously placing the ballot in the hands of the illiterate freedman.
In the U.S. presidential elections of 1864 and 1868, Forrest and his Cavalry Corps formed useful targets to direct attention away from the Northern failure to subdue the Southerners through war and Reconstruction. The general and the troops who loved him became symbols to many Unionists of their losses in the crusade to impose a moral and cultural uniformity on the country, and thus redeem the promise of the Universal Yankee nation to guide all of mankind. The Rebels had to pay, and the story of Forrest's command, as retailed by interested parties, was useful in making that case.
As Sons of Confederate Veterans, we are too familiar with the avarice and ambition fueling a retelling of the Fort Pillow story in contemporary accounts offered by Dixie-hating liberals. Stuart Chapman, for example, is a spinmeister with a PhD employed by one of the leading congressional advocates of slavery reparations. Dare one point out the obvious? There would simply be no return on the relentless undermining of Forrest and the Confederate soldier as American role-models without power and prestige to be gained by lesser men in our time walking over the graves of our honored dead

 

[diane]

Fort Pillow, still more...

Before moving on, the Forrest and other Memphis-area camps deserve to be recognized for facing up to this new onslaught by our enemies, and for displaying the dexterity and determination shown by Old Bedford himself during Reconstruction. Throughout what Hodding Carter calls the "angry scar" of Reconstruction, Forrest once again proved to be a pioneer in learning how to succeed in a new kind of warfare. It's fitting that Shelby County men, citizens of the community which the general called home, have offered such spirited resistance to the cultural nihilists who hate Dixie, along with everything else native, noble and fine.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Now the victorious Confederates at Fort Pillow were not without their own mythic understanding of the events of the day. The Southerners immediately voiced their doubts as to the suitability of blacks as soldiers, given the collapse of the latter's organized resistance once they no longer held a fortified position.

Investigating the positons of the U.S. Colored Troops after the engagement, the Rebels found evidence that many of the 600 federal troops defending Fort Pillow had consumed copious amounts of alcohol during the fve hours of fighting before Forrest proposed a truce to negotiate the garrison's surrender. Inebriation, the Southerners claimed, had affected their foes by producing eratic behavior like issuing obscene gestures and displaying their private parts to the Confederates during the truce, and throwing down their weapons and then picking them up again after the Rebels had breached the parapets from three sides once the truce ended.

Confederates recalled that once the Federal parapets had been gained, manyof the U.S. troops remaining alive fled down the steep, eighty-foot bluff to the Mississippi, some firing as they retired. Some Federals even jumped high into the air and leapt over the bluff, only to be crushed in falling to their death.

Other Federal soldiers, from white and black units, had reached the riverbank under a hail of Confederate rifle fire, and made for a barge only to be cut down before it could withdraw upstream. The boats which could have towed the barge, however, had already steamed out of harm's way at this point and were travelling upriver, and Federal blood spilled over some 200 yards into the Great Father of the Waters.

Confederate accounts stress that no surrender was attempted of the garrison, that the enemy did not haul down his own banner, and that even as some Federals were being taken prisoner, others were remained in arms or in flight, with some of the latter soldiersas well retaining their carbines and muskets. Moreover, the Confederates remembered hearing that, at the breach of the parapit, the garrison's commander had essentially declared it was every man for himself.

He was Major Bradford, commander of the Tennessee Union cavalry of the Fort. Bradford, a "Tennessee Tory" to the Confederates, inherited command of the Fort that morning when a sniper had killed Major Booth, the overall Federal commander. Bradford was shot while trying to escape captivity the day following the battle, according to the Confederate account, which is not the way he met his end in the Union account. It stresses the threat of the Confederate Congress to execute white officers commanding runaway slaves in arms.

Of course, a number of Federal troops, black and white, who saw action at Fort Pillow had been forced into military service. Forrest himself was no shrinking violet when it came to military conscription, one remembers.

 

[diane]

Fort Pillow, conclusion from Bill Barr

Forrest incurred 100 casualties at Fort Pillow, most of whom were wounded in action. By nightfall, over 400 Federals were killed, and some 170 taken prisoners taken (most of whom were wounded). Some male civilians were made casualties who were either runaway slaves or slaves drafted for a labor corvee by the garrison. Most of the Federal casualties were suffered in the action before their general route following the success of the final Confederate charge.

A clear pattern emerges that U.S. black soldiers, as opposed to their white comrades, were more likely to be killed outright than accepted as prisoners on the afternoon Fort Pillow fell. One black prisoner from the Federal garrison expressed surprise to his captors for his good treatment, as his white officers told the blacks that Forrest would only spare white enemy soldiers. Even with the cooked testimony of the Republican-dominated congressional committee investigating Fort Pillow, an evident widespread fear in the black artillerymen of the garrison existed that their surrender would not be accepted.

Fair-minded contemporay historians accept that whether Forrest encouraged or discouraged the taking of black prisoners that day, a point which is disputed, the engagement could not have occurred without atrocities--regardless of which side took the victory. Consider who the First Division of the Cavalry Corps was up against. Given that the enemy were black soldiers who, to the man, had been slaves, and that the Southern Union troops were West Tennesseans adept only in stealing horses and illegally trading in cotton, trouble was inevitable in the wake of Forrest's frequent demand of surrender or refusing quarter to enemies in fortified positions.

Union forces at Fort Pillow, black and white, labored under the (well-founded) stigma attached to soldiers who rape and murder and bully and plunder. While Forrest's Texas troops were singled out in congressional reports for sparing surrendered Union prisoners, such was not the case of men hailing from units where their homes were under Federal occupation.
A pattern emerges suggesting that Confederate oficers tended to dissuade the enlisted ranks from shooting surrendered enemies, albeit perhaps out of a desire to see runaways returned to Confederate patriots or to impress black prisoners into the ranks of the camp servants. In one account, a Confederate officer at the bluff is quoted as stating that as there was a great deal of heavy lifting to be done in disposing of the garrison stores, Forrest specified that the black soldiers were not to be put to the sword.
Significantly, all the Federal wounded, black and white, were released to the U.S. Navy for transfer to Cairo soon after the battle.

Again, significantly, the area of the riverbank and the sloping bluff were too broad to corral enraged Confederate enlisted ranks until a great deal of lead had been expended to arrest the Federal flight, one way or another. Moreover, for some time following the breach, the attention of Forrest and his principal officers was engaged in directing fire on a Yankee gunboat, that great, unrealized hope for rescue of the garrison.

That Forrest was quite aware of sporadic massacre being meted out to some Federals is evident in the credible testimony of a Federal surgeon who approached the general for his protection. The exchange went like this before Forrest commanded the man be received as a prisoner detailed to assist the Confederate field hospital.
"You are a surgeon of a ****ed ****** regiment."
Doctor Fitch identified himself as assigned to the 13th Tennessee Cavalry, the white unit of the garrison.
"You are a ****ed Tennessee Yankee, then."
Fitch went on to state that while he was born in Massachusetts, he currently lived in Iowa.
"What in hell are you down here for? I have a good mind to have you killed for being down here."

That was Forrest all right. However much the Yankees charged him with being selective in the taking of prisoners, trying to drive a wedge between the increasingly black Union forces and the white boys in blue, the preponderence of the evidence indicates that Forrest believed that having a just cause to go to war does not permit one to wage total war.

And that's the truth about Forrest, the man, and the myth, forever joined to the story of a hard-won Confederate victory at Fort Pillow.