Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1879-08-30

(Concluded)
THE FIRST INVASION OF A. j. SMITH
INTO MISSISSIPPI.
That you may appreciate the inn
menSe work Forrest was now doing,
besides keeping about thirty thous-
and men constantly engaged to
watch him, / call attention to the
following telegrams from General
Sherman. His telegram from Nash
vile, dated April 4, 1864, to Gen.
Rawlings, shows that Gen. Corse
was sent up Red river to bring A.
j. Smith "with all dispatch to
Vicksburg and up the Yazoo river
and rapidly occupy Grenada. His
appearance there, with ten thousand
men, will be a big bombshell in
Forests camp, should he, as / fear
he will, elude Gen. Hurlbut. At
Grenada, Smith will do all the mis-
chief he can, and then strike boldly
across the country by Aberdeen to
RussellVille and Decatur" This
movement was defeated by the victo-
ry over Sooy Smith and theadvance
into Middle Tennessee and Ken
! tucky. A little later A. j. Smith
! was ordered to assist in taking Mo-
/ bile; and this was broken up by the
/; defeat of Sturgis, as shown by the
! following telegram from Gen. Sher-
man to Hon, E M. Stanton, Secre-
tary of War, dated Big Shanty,
June IA, 1864: II have just received
news of the defeat of our party sent
out from Memphis, whose chief OBJ
! ject was to hold Forrest there and
keep him off our road. / have Or
dered Il. j. Smith not to 90 to Mobile,
! but to go out from Memphis and
| defeat Forrest at all costs"
Again, as early as June 6, Gen.
Sherman telegraphed Gen. Thomas
to prepare a cavalry raid for Opelika,
Alabama; but when it was ready to
move he was afraid to let it start,
and telegraphed to Gen. Rousseau,
at Nashville, June Goth,
swat and see what Forrest will do"
And on the 10Th of June to the
same officer: "Do not start until we
know something definite of Gen. |
A. J. Smith," To the same officer
on the 30th of June: "The move
ment 1 want you to study and be !
prepared for is contingent on the |
fact that Gen. A. j. Smith defeats |
Forrest or holds him well in check"
And July 9th to the same officer:
''That cavalry expedition must be |
off now, / have official |
information that Gen. A. j. Smith
is out from Memphis, with force |
enough to give Forrest full occnpa-
tiOn."
On the 9th of June Gen. Sherman
telegraphs, through his aid, l.. M.
Dayton, to Gen. Thomas: "Gen. A.
J. Smith moves from Memphis via
Corinth to engage Forrest.
Smith has nine thousand infantry
and three thousand cavalry" Gen.
Smith moved slowly and cautiously;
Gen'ls S. d. Lee and Forrest were
concentrating forces and fOrtifying
at OkalOna to meet him. The first
division was thrown forward above
POntOtoc, to watch Smith, with or
ders to skirmish with him slightly,
but let him come on. Smith reached
POntOtOc on the 18th of June and
halted until the 18th, as if hesitating
what to do. On the 18th Smith
turned east and moved rapidly
towards Tupelo, as if alarmed, but
repuIsed, with prOmptness and Sc
we're loss to us, two flank attacks
made on him during the day. Dur
ing the night Smith entrenched
himself at Harrisburg, the site of an
old town on the hill above TupelO,
with nine thousand infantry, three
thousand cavalry and twenty pieces
Of artillery. Maj.-Gen. S. ID. Lee,
now in command of the Confederate
forces, had seven thousand cavalry,
twenty-one hundred dismounted
caValrymen acting as infantry and
twenty pieces of artillery.
The enemy had greatly the adj
vantage in force and position. Gen.
Smith, with a splendid corps of in
fantry, hardened by long and active
service, was in an entrenched posi-
tion on a hill covered with timber.
Gen. Lee, with dismOunted cavalry,
was in an open field where every
man he had and every movement
he made could be plainly seen.
The enemy would not come out
of his entertainments. Gen. MauTy
from Mobile was telegraphing for
help against a threatened assault,
and Gen. Lee determined to attack I
the enemy In position, Brave men
never marched more fearlessly to
death than did Forests cavalry on !
that occasion, as the terribles slaugh-
ter testified, including among the ;
killed and wounded three brigade
commanders and almost every reg
imentaI commander engaged. We
were badly defeated, ana in q very (;
short time, but the enemy never !
moved from his entertainments to
improve his victory, and on the next
day moved off rapidly again as if in {
retreat, Gen. Forrest dashed after ]
the rear guard in his usual style of
pursuit, when just under the hill {
beyoad the little prairie, above '
Town creek (Where it Is said De {
Soto fought the indians, and where i
old bayOnets and musket balls We're !
found in the earth, mingled with 5
Indian arrow heads), Forrest sud- {
denly came upon the enemy's in =
fantry drawn up in line to receive
him. He attacked at ONCE, and
was driven back with heavy loss, {
and severely wounded himself, !
Thus ended two sharp defeats in {
two successive days, for which Gen. {
Lee has been somewhat cenSured,
as he was in immediate command. (
Gen. Jordan, the biographer of For
rest, who wrote under his super {
vision (and to whose valuable book |
am greatly indebted for many
details used in preparing this ad-
dress), leaves the impression that {
Gen. Lee made the fight from sup !
posed necessity and without the
of Forrest,
/ know that this is not the true
Of the case.
Lee, Forrest, BufOrd and / were {
riding to the front when the battle /
was about to begin. Buford said to
Lee and Forrest, who bad spent the '
night an. morning together in con-
sultation! "Gentlemen, you have {
not asked my opinion about this !
fight; but | tell you, we are going {
to be badly whipped" Forrest re- '
piled, sharply: "You don't know /
what you are talking about; We'll
whip 'em in five minutes" BufOrd s
replied; II hope you may be right,
but | don't believe it,
Forrest was a great general but
he never rose to that dignity of soul {
which enabled Robert E, Lee at {
Gettysburg to assume the response
bilitV of a failure,