Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-03-09
Forrest $ Dash Into Kentucky
 A FoRr1ErH ANNIVERSARY STORY
March 25. 1864

tions. He often captured them, how [ ever, by ruse, as his subordinate had
 done at, Union City. His favorite plan,
 which had become we'll known to the l enemy by frequent repetition, was to
 magnify his force to the opposing com
 mandant and demand surrender to "save useless effusion of blood" At 1 Paducah he sent 100 troopers on foot | to reconnoiter the fort and with his
 escort charged down the streets of the \ town to clear it of scattered pickets and guards. His orders at Paducah 1 were disobeyed, however, and Colonel l Thompson, with about 400 men, charged ] the fort, drawing the fire of six pieces 1 of artillery and several hundred rifles, | which the garrison used with stunning 1 effect. Colonel Thompson was at home 1 around Paducah and fell at the pail
 sades within sight of his fathers house. | The fire concentrated upon the Ken | tuckians speedily thinned their ranks. I and the survivors were drawn off and | distributed on the roofs and in the up l per stories of the buildings close to the | fort where they could fire over the par l apets.
 1 Forrest professed that he had no in l tentfon of assaulting the fort espc- i cially when the initial attack revealed 1 the presence in the river of two Fed eral gunboats, which added their fire ! to that of the garrison. It was sup ] posed that Colonel Thompson's death 1 shot came from gunboat although l the Federal,5 reported that the bullet of l Kentucky negro brought him down. But Forrest was not the man to back out lightly after his men had invested | the work. The sound of battle reach
 ed, him as lie rode down the street, and learning from his aids the unfortunate 1 result of the attack he sounded the bugle for harley. Then followed
 written demand for surrender, an ex-
 act copy of which is here given:
 Headquarters Forests Cavalry Corps. | PaGucah, Ky, March 25, 1864. Colonel Hicks. Comma nding Federal Forces at paducah: Colonel-Raving a force amply sufficient to carry your works and reduce the place and in order to avoid the unnecessary ef- fusion of blood, I demand the surrender of the fort and troops, with all public property If you surrender you shall be treated as prisoners of war, but if I have to storm your works you may expect no quarter. N. B. FORREST, Major General Commanding Confederate < Troops. l.s-- The demand was met with defiance, and Forrest personally reconnoitered the fortress to see if it was worth the blood it would cost to reduce it. He concluded that it was not inasmuch as his troopers had already gained pos session of the. town itself and the va rious stores, warehouses and stables, where his men could help themselves to all they could carry back to Mis- sissippi. The guns of the fort and
 the gunboats swept the streets with
 shot shell and grape, but in the face
 of that the Confederates cleaned out |. the, government buildings destroying
 all svaluables they did not want for
 themselves
 All the public stores, the quartermas-
 ter's depot and offices, the railway sta
 ton and q steamer on the docks for
 repairs were given up to the flames. While the main force was securing the
 town for plunder Forrest sent band
 of Tennessee sharpshooters with long
 range rifles to pepper the gunboats in
 the river, and these were speedily
 
 ter of the fort. Forests men remained in Paducah
 from o'clock until Il o'clock, the 25th,
 and early on the 26th marched south
 ward with 400 captured horses and
 mules, q very large supply of clothing,
 subsistence stores and military equip
 ments. Halting just beyond the town,
 Forrest sent back to the fort propo-
 sition to exchange the prisoners he
 had captured at Paducah and those
 brought in from Union City by Colonel
 Duckworth. This proposal was refus
 ed, and Forrest started southward in
 person. leaving General Buford at < Mayfield to give his Kentuckians their promised holiday in the blue grass \ country. The men were allowed to go
 to their homes in squads and after a
 weeks visit were to rejoin Buford at
 the rendezvous and ride away to Mis-
 sissippi - ...
 On reaching Trenton, Tenn, Forrest E furloughed the Tennessecans of his
 command to take their holiday at
 home, appointing q rendezvous and a
 day for assembling When the tele-
 graph carried the news of Forests
 presence in Kentucky to General
 Grant, at Washington, he wired Sher-
 man to set all the cavalry of his de- ,
 partruent upon Forests track and not
 let him escape the trap into which he
 had plunged. Sherman had already
 nudged his colonels and brigadiers to
 do that very thing. but 1t remains to
 be-Stold that in spite of hot, telegrams
 and fresh battalions galore all over Tennessee Forrest and his troopers
 took things leisurely in West Tennessee
 for week and, gathering audacity by
 their immunity from attack. turned
 from their homeward track to effect
 the famous capture of Fort Pillow, on
 the Mississippi within days ride
 from the Federal stronghold at Mem