Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-04-03

were the wounds Forrest received, and
many were the hairbreadth escapes in the
personal encounters he had to engage in as q
young man. Lynch law" was often re-
sorted to by the community in which he
lived, and in the rude and reckless society
of his early surroundings, the first lesson
he learned was that Of self.preservation,
and personal defense of ones own property
with steel and bullet was the first great and
most important law Of nature. Z
His father died when the future general
was q boy of only 16 The eldest son of II
children, upon him. then devolved the care
and maintenance of his mother and his
many brothers and sisters They lived on
little, rented farm, lately cleared from the
wilderness, and it was only BY the hardest
manual labor he was at first able to provide
with food those who were dependent upon
him. The locality was unhealthy, and fever
carried off several of the family, and very
nearly killed him also. But his naturally
robust constitution enabled him to pull
through, though it was several months be-
fore he fully regainsd his wonted strength.
His education was most meager, and what
be learned as q boy was picked up at odd
times from casual schoolmasters. He could
Just read and write and do some very simple
sums in arithmetic. Indeed, it may be as
sumed that during all his career a. general
his orders and dispatches were written for
him by the educated men he collected round
him as staff officers.
Plenty Of Adventure In His Career.
His many adventures with pistol and
bowie knife on shore and OF boiler e1plo-
sions on the Mississippi river would alone
form an interesting article. But must
hurry on to his military career, which be-
gan at the opening Of the secession war in
the summer of 1851. He was in the prime
of life and vigor, erect In figure, and over
six feet in height, with broad chest and
shoulderA He required good horses to
carry him, for he already weighed over 13
stone. Like many Of the American officers
of that time, he allowed his dark, straight
hair to grow long and wore it combed back
from his forehead; but, while he shaved his
cheeks, no razor ever touched his lips or
chin. Several prominent Confederate
officers affected the style and bearing of
their cavalier forefathers, and seemed
of the regular army. Their broad-brimmed,
wide-awake hats, often adorned with long,
graceful ostrich feather, lent additional
coloring to the resemblance.
Successful as farmer, he afterward took
to horse dealing. An excellent judge of
that noble animal. he was very fortunate at
this business By thrifty management Of
his gains, he was soon able to embark in
the still more remunerative but most de-
testable occupation Of slave dealing. Even
among the planters who used the services
of those who bought and sold their fellow
man, those engaged in this nefarious traffic
were held In very general contempt. By
all who then knew Forrest, however, he
was regarded as q humane man.
EARLY in July the Governor of Tennessee
sent for Forrest and gave him commission
to raise regiment of volunteer cavalry.
Before many months had passed whole
battery Of eight companies of mounted
men had been enlisted, equipped, and duly
armed, and they elected Forrest to be their
Colonel. For the first 18
months of the war the officers in all the
Confederate regiments were elected by the
men, a system which led to such extremely
bad results that it had to be altered to one
of selection by the Secretary of War upon
the recommendation of the general officers
in the field.
The Learning of the UnIearned:
Forrest, the backwoodsman, the farmer,
and the slave dealer, knew nothing of
grand strategy" but he was at once .
shrewd, able man of business, and at the
same time thoroughly acquainted with the
tactics of the hunter and the
Western pioneer. But if his operations be
carefully examined by the most pedantic
military critic, they will seem as if designed
by q military professor, SO thoroughly are
the principles Of tactics when broadly inter.
preted by a liberal understanding, In
with common sense and business
principlea The art of war was an instinct