Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1888-06-01
General Forests command. Open

the door!"
II am only citizen, and sick in
bed" said the Federal General.
"Open the door, 80 that we can see
for. ourselves" said our men, "or we
will force the door,"
1t was finally opened, but it took the
cold muzzle of revolver, close to his
head, to get him to dress himself up IN
his regimentals, which were found I'M
der the mattress, and come out. He
even demurred strongly at being asked
to surrender his sword to one not his
equal in rank, but the close proximity
of that cold-muzzled revolver made
him finally dispense with the Unequal
ity in rank, and he was taken to head
quarters.
We captured between twelve and
eighteen hundred prisoners. After all
was over our telegraph operator, who
always accompanied us, opened the
line to Nashville, sending telegram
purporting to be from General Critten-
den, the Federal commander, asking
for re-enforcements and supplies right
away, as he was on the point of being
attacked by superior force. The bait
was swallowed, and portion of our
troops sent back up the railroad mile
or two to cut off the return of the train
after passing by. We had not many
hours to wait. The train rolled by un-
suspectingly, and we captured the
whole thing without resistance. We
gained large supply of commissary
stores and more prisonerers.
Our force was now divided, small
portion taking the prisoners down to
Georgia while the rest of the force
made dash on Nashville. For one
time we had been forestalled. From
some source the news that we were
coming had got in ahead of us and the
streets were barricaded in various ways,
some of them by having cable chains
stretched across the street so closely
as to make them impossible. The
result this time was a failure, for with
the exception of a little private plum
der, we accomplished nothing.
To show you something of the true
character of General Forrest I will tell
you of circumstance that happened
in Rome, Georgia, after one of the bat
ties around that place before it was
taken by Sherman. General Forrest
had come into town with some of his
officers, and some Federal officers
whom he had taken prisoners to get
dinner at the hotel. The party entered
the hotel and repaired to the bar for a
drink before going to the table. In
the bar-room they found one OF the
stay-at- homes-a man of wealth, but q
good deal under the influence OF liquor
Az the party walked up to the bar the
stay at home citizen wished to talk o.
the war with one of the prisoners. On
account of the drunken condition Of
the citizen the Federal prisoner, who
was Major, refused to talk with him,
but General Forrest told him to graft.
fy the citizen and talk away.
The conversation soon waxed hot anc
the Major apparently getting the bes
of it. the stay-at-home citizen spat II
his face. OF course, the Major being
q prisoner was unarmed, but Genera
Forrest, without a word, drew bacl
and knocked the citizen head ovel
heels. In fact he rolled over more
times on account of being pretty drunk
! AS he partly succeeded in getting OF
his feet, Forrest commenced kicking
him and continued to kick him corn
pletely into the street. He then CAM
back as coolly as though nothing hat
happened, and the party proceeded tt
take their drinks and then the;u dim
nsr.
General Forrest was always thu
courteous and generous to his prisoner
never allowing them to be inssllted