Marble Hill press. (Marbel [sic] Hill, Mo.) 1881-1923, 1896-03-12
The Wizard Of the Saddle.

B. Forrest, issued by Gen. Thomas
Jordan and J. ?. Pryor only thres
years after the closing scenes OF
tnis brilliant cavalry leader, was
unavoidabiy full Of errors and very
incomplete. 1t will, no doubt, hc
gratifying news to all who erode
with Forrest" to learn that Dr..
John \. Wyeth, the distinguished
surgeon, close student, scholarly
man and ardent admirer Of Forrest.
| is now writing history Of the
.swizard Of the saddle" Dr.. Wy
eth is an Alabamian by birth, an"
when in his teens served rs Il prl-
vata in the ith Alabama cavalry at
tached to FORESTS command. Du1.
iu- his recent visit to Tennesser
! the doctor WAS enthusiastic in bis
admiration Of Forrest. He has
prepared skeleton sheets OF his pro
posed work and sent them OUT to I:
humber Of officers and men who
were close to this born leader from
the beginning to the close Of his re.
markabIe career with requests to
append such observations and facts
Of their service as would be Of ma
terial use in the compilation Of such
Il work, says the Memphis Scimi-
tar.
The first skeleton sheet contains
the following description Of For
rest:
'In the light of history there
stands out in clear relief the figure
Of Lieut.. Gen. Nathan Bedford Fog-
rest, the most remarkable man our
civil war developed and the great
est fighter Of which the world has
an authentic record. Endowed
with a physical frame which resist
ed fatigue and exposure, q muscu-
lar organization developed into
athletic proportions by reason OF
hard manual labor necessity com
PEELED him to perform from the
earliest years Of boyhood until he
was q man, he possessed that quail
ity Of mind which never entertain-
ed the fear Of personal disaster, nor
in the furry Of hand-to-hand com
bat, nor IN the excitement or c0ntu-
sion of battIelo lost for an instant the
calm appreciation of what was
transpiring. Quick to perceive in
the rapidly shifting scenes Of battle
the opportunity for fatal blow, he
struck as the lightning flashes,
binding and withering. Before
his sudden onslaught, to waver was
rout; and in his tirelesS and .unre-
Ienting pursuit rout became panic.
Without education and absolutely
without any knowledge Of waI
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 history"
In his terse phraseology; "The
, way to whip 'em is to get there first
with the most men," C'Destruc
ton and Reconstruction" Gen
Richard Taylor, page 200), and al.
though his greatest victories were
, won with forces numerically infer:
ior, he so fought his men that where
he struck he was equal to or strong
than his adversary. lie realized
| the value of boldness, even when
akin to rashness, and when possibie e
: he attacked, notwithstanding the
; disparity Of numbers. Once when
} discussing with an officer, q gradu
ate Of West Point, the question Of
how to fight cavalry to greatest ad
vantage, he remarked. II would
give more for fifteen minutes Of
bulge than for three days of tactics.
C"Life Of Thomas Platt and Boyn.
TOM page $3.50 When the enemy
was about to charge or was charg
ing his rule was to go at them al
once. lie knew that the excitement
of a forward movement inspired
even the timid with courage; while
to stand in the open to receive The
laundering. onslaught of cavalry
charge was severe test Of the
courage of the bravest and demor
alizing to the timid. The offensive
was to him an intuition; he waited
not for opportunities, but created
them. Moreover, he fought his ar
J. tillery as If they were shotguns
a. a