The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-06-11


stances he was a success.
HE won most astonishing victories
against the greatest odds. He beat
everybody and everything sent against
him Always with the inferior forces
usually he so disposed of them that he
managed at the critical moment to
have the most men at a given place
at given time, and If he could not
succeed in that, by his willy strategy
and brilliant manoeuvring. he made
the enemy think So which was just
as good He had mastered the secret
of flank attack, carrying 1T again anu
again with unvarying success.
1T is alleged that he put hors du
combat no less than thirty adverSarles
in hand-to-hand lighting during the
war, and he had twenty-nine horses
shot under him at different times!
This certainly is a. record. And 1t must
not be inferred from this that ne was
mere hand-to-hand fighter. Not at
all On great occasions he remained
al. some central point, whencE he eoald
properly control and direct his troops
be accessible to his men, and command
the field as a general should; but when
the. oe6asion was critical and his pres
enoetat the front needed, he was al
ways right there in the thick of it.
That is a very fair and precise state
y
Forrest knows. His exploits were of
the most dashing, brilliant character
and were often repeated with the most
astonishing results. Sherman con-
fessed that he was an immense, per-
petual puzzle to him, that he Often
tried to entrap him with great force,
but all in vain. It is no wonder that
a candid. appreciative reviewer like
Mr.. Brady should be moved to say
l.. .T-s# r1r
like romance. He would start out
on n raid with a few ill-mounted. ILL
equipper cavalrymen, with no guns,
provisions, or supply train, and come
back with a finely armed and mount
ell brigade, with Union cannon galore
and a wagon train large enough to
provision an army; not once. but sew
eral times he did this. No man ever
understood the art of living off the
enemy better than he"
Sherman feared him. If President
Davis had made Forrest a General, as
he did Bragg, and put him in COM
mand of the army in the South. he
would have driven Sherman pell-mell
out of the South or destroyed his
force. Read Wyeth, and you will APP
preciate this remark. Brady says that
his conduct of the rear guard in
Hoods retreat from Nashville showed
that he was as good defensive as an
offensive fighter. In short, the trite
phrase, which is applied so carelessiy
to so many men of less capacity is
properly his due; he was indeed a
born soIdier-and of the highest
class"
The work of DR.. Wyeth is the i'm
portant one and most valuable. 1t IS
very large and costly. 1t is a pity
that an edition is not issued to sell
for 81 SO as to give the tens of thou
sands who would otherwise read it an
opportunity of doing so. They would
see from it why that great soldier,
General Joseph E. Johnston, placed
him at the head of all of the soldiers
of the great war on both sides.
make one other quotation from Mr..
Brady, who is himself minister of
the Gospel:
1--WE read with pleasure and sur
prise that he was strictly temperate;
thing; that he was clean mouthed and
clean-hearted; that he never failed to
have grace said at his table when
practicable in the camp that he well
coined the clergy among his men,
furthered their ministrations to the
best of his ability; that he never fail
ed to attend the Sunday services, pro-
leSSeQ the DfOIOuHueSL respect IOI TIE
Christian religion, and died a devoted
and humble member of the Presbyte-
rian church.
General FORESTS parents were from
North Carolina [ am sure his father
was and l think his brave mother was
also, and from the Person county sec
ton | think it was. | have no bio
graphy at hand. l lived in Memphis,
Tenn, for seven months in 1868, and
1 had the pleasure of knowing him
personally. In citizens clothes he was
a fine looking man, and he did not
converse like an illiterate, but like a
man of sense. His office was on Madi-
son street, and my own office was only
some square and a half from his, but
on the opposite side. He was the only
great Confederate | ever knew and
General Grant was the one eminent
Federal l knew personally.
Wilmington, N. G.