The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1905-03-30

twain, which was not discovered until he
was taken in a bad faint from bis horse
and his boot found half filled with his life
blood, expiring ere he reached the field
hospital, the command of the army then
devolving on Gen. Beauregard, the next
in rank. Had it not been for the rupture
between the President and himself it is
probable that he would have conceded
with Gen. Forrest to continue the fight;
to follow up the retreating foe, allow no
time to plunder, the esprit de corps
would have kept up and the battle of
Shiloh would have been one of the grand
est victories in the annals of the war.
Some chroniclers of the time reported Shi-
lob great victory to the Southern arms
but Gen. Forrest never considered it so,
and it is historical fact on the afternoon
of the second day that splendid Western
army was slowly retreating towards
Corinth, Miss.
The other incident where Gen. Forests
counsels were not needed, was: After the
engagement at Franklin, Tenn, he beg
ged to be allowed to push on with all the
available cavalry to prevent Gen. Thomas
from being too strongly fortified at Nash
vile. Gen. Hood denied his request, and
the army camped that afternoon and night
near the battle field and the next day
made a long detour to obstruct Gen.
Thomas's steamboat communication, and
when he arrived before Nashville the
enemy was awaiting him in strong en-.
trenchments, which Gen. Hood assaulted
at once, losing several of his best and
veteran generals and the flower OF his
fine army shattered and somewhat demor.
allied, with which he retreated to North
east Alabama. Again was the great
chieftain, Forrest, chagrined and crest.
fallen, as he rode in the wake of those
decimated .legions.
At last the end of the great struggle
came and all remember the results. The
great chieftain, like the cavalier, Hamp-
ton, advised his followers to abide by the
terms of the surrender, return to their
several States and seek as far as possible
to restore their devasted homes. he who
had heard minies "hum, whizz and whis-
tie" and who, Wallace Putnam Reed
heard some one say, had slain in personal
encounters thirty Federal officers, was
soon seen on the streets of Memphis, urg-
ing all creeds and colors to accept the
situation like men, as there was no dis
honor in honorable defeat. But, alas
another cloud loomed up when the recon-
struction acts were passed by congress
and overbearing white and surly colored
troops were garrisoned throughout the
South. Gen. Forrest believed with many
others that next to the assassination Of
President Lincoln "the dark chapter of
reconstruction would be the blacklist in
American history" "When his country
lay in her ashes and her mighty men were
trodden into dust; when the pail of death
overspread the land and her widows and
orphans mourned for their dead" to think
that the representatives of civilized
country should pass and essay to enforce
such damnable measures, caused this hero
of hundred battles to shed tears, bitter
tears. Doubtless this gloomy period
hastencd his demise, which occurred in
his beloved city in October, 1877, when
his spirit crossed over the river to rejoin
its generation and regiments.
But over the sick chamber, "the pulse
less hush of DEATH" the tolling bell, the
funeral cortege, "the city of the dead" let
the curtain fall, for writer or reader was
not a witness or participant. Though
Gen. Forrest was not religionist, he was
neither skeptic or agnostic, for his
creed was the Brotherhood of God and
the brotherhood of man."
During the reunion in Memphis in 1900
numbers of the time-worn warriors, some
on crutches, some with empty sleeves, re-
paired to and walked around the great
chieftain's tomb, recalling many tragic
scenes of his military proves.
The name alone of the great ex-cavalry
leader who lay sepulchred there had not
ceased from the day of his interment Ito
attract shrine-like the pilgrim feet of
many to the spot because they loved and
respected him and bewailed the fate" OF
the Confederacy. Mayhap some of them
felt like Charles the Twelfth of Sweden
when he visited the grave of Sobieski,
King of Poland, at Cracow, and was
heard to exclaim: "What pity that so
great man should ever die!'
At this reunion several old Confeder-
ates were standing on one of the quays
observing the steamboats, and smaller
craft gliding over the bosom of Desoto's
broad river when one was heard to say,
it was we'll to erect tombs and mausoleums
:al RI tho hon.