The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-02-08
FORRESTS GRAMMAR.
1t Was as Original and ForcibIe aa
His Fighting.

General James r. Chalmers. who was rec.
ond In command Of Gen. Forrest, does NOT
peiieve that his chief wrote the order that
referred to In the following paragraph print.
ca IN the Sun. says Memphis correspond 3
ent OF the New York Sun.
the Lieut. oniv Gem Forrest G. Az was not
nao lovely time with the English language. 1
Forrest enjoyed himself thoroughly In his
report OF the capture Of Fort Pillow he
wrote: We busted the fort at ninerclock, !
and scattered the myers The men h
stu acillanem in the woods" The last non
"a-killing them"
He gives two reasons in support OF this
opinion. The first Is that he was with the
general when his telegraphic dispatch to the
confederate headquarters Of the incident was
written, and the second is that the facts
as set out in the statement above are not in
accordance with the facts as they occurred.
he referred especially to the statement, The
men is still acillanem in the woods.'' Gen.
Chalmers said:
II led the advance upon Fort PILLOW, ar
irving there before daylight in the morning
on which the matter was brought to cui-
minat1on, and before the arrival Of the gen.
eral made an attack upon the fort. When
ne came up later I said to him that l ala
not think the game worth the chase as we
might lose some good men in the attacks
upon the earthworks Of which the fort was
through which we had passed going to the
fort had been complaining greatly about the
corporations being committed by the ma
RAIDERS from the fort, and the general had
MS head set upon breaking up the nest
Hence the attack was made upon the lines
suggested by him.
The fort stood upon the top of a high pre-
1ipIce, slopsI4g of at the bottom to the water
of the Mississippi river. 1t was here that the
Federal gunboat was anchored, and it was in
search OF protection from this that the ne
groes, In their madness from frignI, ieaSed
down the precipice. None Of them got into
the woods, for we had the fort surrounded
on the three open sides. Hence the men
could not have been 'acillanem in the
woods"
Gen. Chalmers certainly should know about
the occurrences of Fort Pillow for he was
among the first to mount the walls of the
fort. His brother, Col. Chalmers, being O
man OF magnificent physique, was in the first
squad of men that entered, and close behind
them came the general. Being exceedingly
small in figure, he could not mount the walls
alone, but climbing upon the shoulders Of a
soldier and being boosted by two others, he
sprang into the midst of the fray, closely fol-
lowed by Gen. Forrest.
Reverting to his superior officers orthog-
raphy, Gen. Chalmers said:
I'm writing, as in fighting, Gen. Forrest
a law unto himself His fighting was
upon Napeleonic lines, although prompted
purely by the genius in him. and his word
paintings were equally expressive and vivid.
Having had no opportunities for study in his
early life, he did virtually all his correspond
ence during the war through Maj. Strong. his
adjutant general. and the major was very
accomplished man. But l once saw an in
unique the given above soldier
came to him third time asking for fur
Tough. Twice 1t had been refused. for we
needed all the men that could get at that
time, and when the application appeared the
third time Gen. Forrest in his own hand
writing Endorsed upon the back of it, I told
you -s'st twice. Goddammit know and the
man knew that he meant no."