The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-08-09

ne ever came to be in the military ser
vice at all is a mystery. He was OPP
posed 10 hurting anybody. Every fiber
Of his being revolted at the thought of
bloodshed, and he was ready to suTren-
der after every meal if need be, but to
kill peOple-never.
~ Fort Pillow Forrest assaulted and
captured weak garrison, which is
proper and legitimate warfare, but
after a surrender to continue the kill
ing as long as there is anything left
that is hllable, is not war. There is
another and uglier name for that sort
OF business. Upon the surrender of Fort
Pillow, Forrest and his command
ceased to be honorable soldiers and be
come. for the time being, just plain,
common murderers.
The record OF Fort Pillow is the
/ blacklist ever written by any part of
the Confederate forces during the civil
war The next blacklist committed by
their officials or would-be fool friends.
was the assassination Of Lincoln and
the story Of Andersonville, Miller,
Salisbury and Bell Isle Thanks to the
fair name Of the American soldier, the
men who made up the great bulk Of the
| Confederate armies were not made of
that sort OF clay
Forrest won a most decided and
fruitful victory at Brice's Cross Roads,
and he did it fair and square Nobody
VIII dispute that. The forces were well
/ balanced, about 1000 on each side but
Forrest brought the most out on the
field 1t would have been a disgrace
to his whole command if they hadn't
Won that fight His opposing com
mander was Brigadier General Sam
Sturgis, probably the most incompetent
! officer on the whole army register. He
/ had been shunted all over from Wilson
/ Creek, where he succeeded Lyon on the
death of that hero. Sturgis ordered re-
treat at Anuetam. He was i'm COM
mand of the division of the Ninth corps
I that pottered away the most of a day
/ over Burnside's bridge, and finally got
! over when there was no one left to de
| fend it. and at nightfalI took his share
of the retreat when $500 of A. P. Hills
division drove the whole of Burnside's
/ corps, 1900 strong. pell nell from the
outskirts OF SharpsbUTg back to the
/ Antietam. After while he had turned
| up in east Tennessee, where he managed
to get whipped at everything he tried,
and then he was dumped over onto us.
/ At BTice's Cross Roads he managed to
! get the best part of his command
/ broken up and scattered before they
/ saw the enemy at all. The only marvel
is that they ever put up as good a fight
as they did.
Losses About Even.
The losses in the fight were about
even, 500 on each side, but after that
| Forrest got away with 1900 prisoners
and most of the material After this
/ fight StuTgis disappeared from among
US, and nobody seemed to know what
/ became of him. But years after the
/ war I met him one day on d railroad
/ train In Nebraska, and we talked over
| the events of BriCe's Cross Roads. He
/ seemed rather sore on the subject, and
said it was his big wagon train that
1 beat him there. He knew, he said, that
4 he was beat as soon as he saw that
wagon train that he had to take along.
I did not suggest to him that If he
found that wagon train such an element
| of weakness, he had plenty of men in
/ his command who knew how to burn it
W.
/ Most Of the men who fought with him
| have always believed that the way he
I first scattered his command about and
/ then dribbled them into action in a
I faulty position had something TO do
with his trouble. As to an expedition
being sent after Forrest under Wilson
after the Sturgis rumpus, that part of
the recent story is wrong.
Wilson at that time and for months
after was commanding a division of
cavalry in the army of the Potomac
under Sheridan. There was an expe-
/ dition sent out at once after Forrest,
and it found him, too. It was under
( A. J. Smith. and consisted of two brig
AIDES Of infantry. It found Forrest at
I Tupelo, Forests command then, as al
ways, was mounted and he could &C
/ cept or decline battle at will. At Tupelo
! he accepted and attacked, and got a
/ jolt for his trouble. Then he made a
/ better and fiercer attack, and got a still
/ harder jolt, He kept the thing up all
/ day until he had fought his command
/ TO tatters and only gave it UP when
/ his men had no fight left in them. At
Tupelo Forrest made the best fight of
1 his whole life and covered himself and
/ his command all over with glory, and
! sad to say, all the reward he got for it
was a drubbing from which he never
/ fully recovered. Somehow the recent
/ story did not mention this little episode,
/ and yet it is all a part of history. and
/ that most unique and daring feat of all,
| when Forrest with cavalry captured a
/ gunbOat on the Tennessee river.
/ As to that story about Sherman offer
! ing to make a major general of any
/ brigadier who would do Forrest up, that
:
/ grand old general offering a reward Of
/ any kind for anybody, or making any
/ promises that he could not perform ?
/ Your Uncle Billy never had authority
/ to make a major general Of anybody,
/ and he knew it. The president of the
/ United States, with the consent of the
/ senate, was and is the only authority
/ that can do that.
Assigned to Cavalry.
! BY the winter of 1856 Wilson had
! been assigned to command the cavalry
/ under Thomas. and late in March. 90,
after the Hood campaign, went out to
| break up the last of the communica-
/ tons Of the south. True, Forrest was
/ hanging about doing the best he could
with what little strength he could mus
/ ter, which was not much, after the Hood
! campaign, and Wilson never once did
/ him the honor to put his command in
I line of battle on his account.
! If Forrest got too bothersome a brig
| ade was detached to go out and spank
or chase him. but the command kept
on its way. Finally Forrest. with some
/ other fragments, tried their hand at de-
! Tending Selma behind intrenchments,
but they only got walked over and
| stamped on for getting in the way