The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1896-04-29
HISTORY OF FORREST.
One who Rode with Him Is Writing of
his Life.

The campaign of Lieutenant Genera!
N. B. Forrest, issued by General Thorn,
as Jordan and J. P. Pryor only three
years after the closing scenes Of this
brilliant cavalry leader, was unavoid.
ably full of errors and very incomplete.
It will no doubt be gratifying news to
all who erode with Forrest to learn
that DR.. John A. Wyeth, the distin.
guished surgeon, close student, schol.
arly man and ardent admirer of Forrest,
is now writing a history of the "wizard
of the saddle" DR.. Wyeth is an AL
albanian by birth and when in his
teens served as a private in the Fourth
Alabama cavalry attached to Forrest 8
command. During his recent visit to
Tennessee the doctor was enthusiastic
in his admiration of Forrest. lie has
prepared skeleton sheets Of his pro-
posed work and sent them out to a
number of officers and men who were
close to this born leader from the be-
ginning to the close of his remarkable
career, with requests to append such
observations and facts of their service
as would be CT material use in the
compilation of such q work.
The first skeleton sheet contains the
following description of Forrest:
"In the light of history there stands
out in clear relief the figure of Lieu
tenant General Nathan Bedford For
rest, the most remarkable man our
civil war developed and the greatest
fighter of which the world has an
authentic record. Endowed with a
physical frame which resisted fatigue
and exposure, a muscular organization
developed into athletic proportions by
reason of the hard manual labor ne
cessity compelled him to perform from
the earliest years of boyhood until he
was a man, he possessed that quality
Of mind which never entertained the
fear of personal disaster, nor in the
furry of hand-to-hand combat, nor in
the excitement or confusion of battle
lost for an instant the calm apprecia-
tion of what was transporting. Quick
to perceive in the rapidly shifting
scenes Of battle the opportunity for a
fatal blow, he struck as the lightning
flashes, binding and whitening. Be-
fore his sudden onslaught, to waver
was rout and in his t~ireless and un-
relenting pursuit: rout became panic.
Without education and absolutely
without any knowledge Of war CLEANED
from the study of what others had
accomplished, he evolved and put into
execution the tactics and the strategy
of the most famous generals in his
tory"
In his terse phraseology {: "The way
to whip 'em is to get there first with
the most men," Destruction and Re-
construction, General Richard Taylor,
p. 2OC, and although his greatest
victories were won with forces
numerically inferior, he so fought his
men that where he struck he was equal
to or stronger than his adversary. He
realized the value of boldness, even
when akin to rashness, and when pos
sible he attacked, Notwithstanding the
disparity of numbers. Once when
discussing with an officer, a graduate
of West Point, the question Of how to
fight cavalry to greatest advantage, he
remarked sI would give more for
fifteen minutes of bulge than for
three days Of tactics" C'Life of
Thomas Piatt and Boynton," p. $500.
When the enemy was about to charge
or was charging his rule. was to 90 at
them at once. He knew that the ex-
element of a forward movement in
spired even the timid with courage,
while to stand in the open to receive
the laundering onslaught of a cavalry
charge was a severe test Of courage of
the bravest, and demoralizing to the
timid. The offensive was to him an
intuition; he waited not for opportu-
mites, but created them. Moreover,
he fought his artillery as if they we're
shotguns, charging right up to the
opposing lines. Their dou%ble-shotted
contents at short range dealing demon,
alization, death and destruction. AL.
though his soldiers were called
mounted infantry" and "Forrest's
cavalry" they were neither infantry
nor cavalry. There was not a bayonet
in his command, and early in the wal
the saber was discarded for the repeat,
ing pistol and carbine. They fought
on horse or foot, to suit the conditions,
1t is probable chat not a regiment
he commanded could have made a
correct tactical vancouver on foot in
action, and beyond the formation by
tours and the evolution into line fol-
the charge, the cavalry manual was
practically obsolete. With the mer
he led strict discipline was impossible.
and yet they fought with the %steadines:
of trained veterans, undert the woGder'
full influence of one who inspired the
timid with courage and the brave with
the spirit Of emulation.
He said: "War means fighting, and
fighting means killing" (Southerr
History Papers, vol. vii, p. 454), ane
when the enemy were not hunting hin
he was hunting them. Ever in the
thickest of the fray, it is a marve
that he lived to see the war ended
If ever man had a charmed life sucf
was his. The missile Of the assassin
the gun and saber of the open ant
honorable foe, turned from their NOR
tai purpose. He was under fire OF
more than a hundred different coca
sions, and these include the bloodJ
and hotly-contested battles of For
Donelson, Shiloh, Chickamauga, Brice'
Cross Roads, Franklin aud Nashville
"Twenty-seven horses were shot unde,
him." states General James R. Chal
mers, his able second in command
(Soutkern Historical Papers, vol. iii:
p. 454), and a famous writer, himsel
a soldier (Lieutenant General Richart
Taylor, says: II doubt if any com
mander since the days of Lion-Hearte
Richard has killed so many of hi:
enemy as Forrest Destruction ant
RecoDstruction.) His word Of com
mand, as he led the charge, was
"Forward, men, and mix with them !!
Destruction and Reconstruction.
Though torn with bullets and hacke'
in countless places with the saber, O