Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1880-06-24

} horses disposed to stampede
ordered the men to go to firing
and fall back as they got steady
THE GENIUS OF BLUFF.
p The incident illustrates For
rests methods. Whenever III
found the enemy he went a
Hibem, as he jocularly remarkee
once, "Eend foremost" He
struck his hardest, and he otter
whipped by his tentative hardi.
hood. If he found it no 60, he
got away with a rush. No
were his retreats panics, bul
4 cool, methodical, but furious
.rushes for safety, every thing
Thoroughly in hand to him in .
moment, and, resolute and un-
i dismayed, go to fighting.
Forrest luxuriated in fighting,
/ He had in HIM the born essence
Iof battle. He fairly reveled in
confiict. He lacked education
to broaden and culture him. He
was wholly unframed in war,yet
he was a native leader of men
and possessed a genuine genius
Tor war. His military percep-
tions seemed unerring. He was
as wary as a fox, cautious to
the very limit of prudence; willy
and ylgilant, yet bold to the
widest stretch of audacity. His
untutored strategy, inspired by
his imperial common sense and
carried through with his own
slecpIess energy and ubiquitous
vigilance, was in conformity
with the incest art of cultured
warfare. Forrest fought to
whip, and he omitted nothing
to do it. No matter what the
tolls about him, he never gave
up. He retained under all cir
Ieumstances his presence of mind,
his fertile resources and his in
domitable resolution. No sit
uation was ever hopeless to him.
lie kept on fighting against des-
pair, until something turned,in
his favor when he made the
most of it.
His refusal to surrender at
Fort Donelson was character
istic of the man. He had no
surrender in him, and his habit
was to take all the chances. His
resources Of mind and invention
were absolutely inexhaustible,
and seemed equal to any test.
No odds dismayed and no dam
Ger daunted him. He wrung
victories from seeming impossi-
bilities. He never acknowledge
ed defeat, and he never staid
valquished. He permitted no
reverse to stand. He either
turned it to victory or swept 20
new trium2hs. He never stop
ped to count the foe. He struck
it wherever he could, and with
all his might, and he frequently
whipped by sheer audacity, and
because his boldness indicated
strength he did not possess.
General Forrest may be desig-
mated felicitously as the genius
of bluff. No other term so well
portrays him. Counting on the
universal tendency of men to
accept as true what is bodily
claimed, he made it all invaria-
bic rule to present and assume
a show of strength, and to strike
with the confidence born of con
scious power. He was the swift
est, deadliest fighter the Con-
federacy had save Stonewall
jackson. He attacked like a
tornado; he retreated like light
ming. a 9a |
-G GIVE EN- A OAR.
Just before the battle of |
Chickamauga, the writer was in
command of a brigade of cavalry
at Alpine, Ga. Forrest passed
by going to the front, and in-
quired Of the condition of mat
ters and the news oee the enemy.
He received all the information
obtainable, and as he started off
to the front he bowed adieu and
said:
"I believe I will go and give
them fellows a dar." And the
embodied his prac-
tice. He was the very spirit of
adventurous soldierhood. He
was always planning enterprise
es and excursions. lie stayed
in camp only long enough to
rest, and reorganize and remu-
nition, and was off OH some
scheme of desperate courage,
bnt always of unqnestionable
utility. His enterprise knew
no bounds. He gave the enemy
in front no quiet, and his plans
were always marked by the es-
scntial practicability of his most
practical genius. In details
they were thorough and perfect.
He carried in his mind thought
of every thing. From the shoe
ing ofhis horse up to the scheme
of a well-digested campaign,
Forrest kept it all in his head, +