Forrest must have had a presence about him that was terrifying. I’m paraphrasing something I read years ago.
It was after the war was over and Forrest was traveling by train in a northern border state. Some local yokels heard that he was on the train and, when the train stopped at their town, went aboard the train looking for him - to call him out for some fisticuffs. When Forrest got word of it he went looking for them. “You looking for me,” he said. Forrest didn’t even fight them, they took one look at him, sized him up, and fled.
IIRC, Forrest was heading for the Democrat convention.