Old thread. But after seeing this speech quoted so many times over the past few years and wondering about its authenticity, I decided check into sources from the period.
On another discussion board, someone mentioned that perhaps it was quoted in the Memphis Daily Appeal.
I checked the Library of Congress website and found that Forrest’s speech was quoted in the Memphis Daily Appeal on July 6, 1875. I have pasted a link below.
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045160/1875-07-06/ed-1/seq-1/
For the record, I am not taking part in any debate about the proper legacy of Forrest — I just found the debates about the authenticity of this speech interesting. I thought the link was worth posting here because I have not seen a link to a digitized document from the period in question in other discussion threads covering this speech.