The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1878-01-03
GEN, FoREs1,s PGCULrARITIEs.
Some Readable Stories. Abeat the Sac
Eieht Points Of his Character.


Eieht Points of his Character.
Forests funeral wac an impressive
one, and, st ,lgely enough, there wa,
only one Confederate uniform in shs
procession. and that was worn by The
occupant of the hearse.
"While," says correspondent, "the
old soldiers and Confederate officers oi
Memphis fairly worshipped him, hs
was unpopular with q largo portion oi
the community, who feared and dis
liked him about evenly for his feroeity
a1l reckless temper"
The correspondent adds that hs
came Of terrible family, his siz
brothers ell being fighting men, and
one of them, Bill, s desperate, the
only man Of whom the General ever
was afraid. Forrest was one of the
greatest slave dealers Of the South
and it is said that ne was kind to hit
negroes. TINT he never separated mem.
bers Of family, and that he always
told his slaves to go out in the city and
choose their own masters. There is nc
instance of any slave taking advan.
tage of the permission to run away
There wero some planters in the vi
cinity of Memphis to whom he would
not sell slaves at all, because they had
the reputation Of being cruel masters
AS soldier his arbitrary ways and
impatiencs If control were always in.
volving him in trouble with his supe.
riors. He ruled his men so that they
feared him more than they did the
enemy, and yet contided in him as
though he were incapable of an error
or fault. The war ruined him, and
he set to work rebuilding his fortunes
He bought an island plantation on the
Mississippi, below Memphis, aud con.
tracted with the city for the labor OF
ell her petty criminals at ten cents PEI
day per prisoner. He put up build.
ings and made the island g reformato-
ry, and managing the plantation with
his demoniac energy, was on the way
to make another fortune when the
malaria Of the island atmosphere
struck him down.
Age did not make his te,nper euy
milder than it had been, for the cor.
respondent tells how he ordered suit
of clothes from Memphis tailor, and
after letting them lie in the shop till
they were moth.eaten, cursed the tailor
most vehemently for Is swindler, and
pulled out a pistol, roaring out his in.
tention Of shooting the dealer like q
rat. But he did not shoot, aud next
day, in cooler mood, went round to the
tailor and made him an apology SC
thorough end humble that it was al.
most painful 20 listen to.
Forrest was in many desperate en-
counters, oie of the most desperate
being his fight with Gould, q lieuten.
ant whom he had charged with cowar.
dice. AS the General vas sitting
unarmed and twirling small pen.
knife in his hand, Gould approached
him T'ith Loaded pistol in his pocket
and giving him the liz, pulled .he
trigger. The hammer caught In the
lining of Gould's pncket, when For
rest grabbed him with one hand and
opening the knife with his teeth, lite
rally disembowelled his antagonist ere
he could do more than slightly wound
the General with another discharge o.
the pistol.
Forsest never acknowledged himself
to have been placed "in bad fix
except once. General Chalmers and
o merchant in Memphis, named j. G
Davis. had some small disagreement
which inspired Chalmers with strong
desire to Ego and SEQ him." On the
way Calmers met Gen. Forrest anG
asked the General to go there alonl
with him. Forrest went, ignorant O.
the real state of affairs. Scarcely hat
the two Generals arrived at thu
head of the stairs leading to Davis
business Office, when the door was sud
denly flung open and Davis knocked
Chalmers from the top Of the stairs tt
the bottom. The next instant he pre-
sented heavy revolver at Forrest
head, explaining:
"And this is what I've got for you
lWo OonieueIute Geuerais coming Il
whip one man"
"Hold on hold on, Mr.. Davis =
! cried Forrest, "there's some mistak,
here! l didn't know there was an,
trouble between you."
He was glad to get away, and hegal
to inquire what sort of a man Saa
j. C. Davis was. Folks told him Da
Wis was one of the most quiet. peacea
BILE men in town.
well, he may be poaceable," re
turned Forrest, "but he put me in tn
tightest place was ever in in m,
life."
Yet iis never showed any ill-will +
Davis afterwards, evidently admirin,
his pluck.
REMARKABLE MINUTE WRITING
I--Disraeli. in his "S,uriositiea of ,ite