Posted on 07/20/2007 6:24:09 PM PDT by SuzyQ2
Forrest's soldiers loved him. His fellow generals admired him. His enemies were terrified at the mere mention of his name. Gen. Robert E. Lee said of his finest subordinate commanders, the most remarkable was one he "had never met" — Forrest. And U.S. and foreign military officers alike have studied Forrest’s campaigns over the decades since the end of the war. It has even been speculated that some aspects of the German Blitzkrieg were patterned after some of Forrest's operations.
(Excerpt) Read more at tank.nationalreview.com ...
Your point is well taken, the Spenser repeater was a significant factor in outcome. Gregg's cavalry, newly carrying Spenser's, stopped JEB Stuart from reinforcing Pickett's charge and changed the outcome of Gettysburg and the war.
1. Slave trader
2. Democrat. (Convention delegate in 1876)
3. Killer. Committed civil war atrocities.
4. KKK Member. Was responsible for spreading the orginization thoughout ths south.
Tactical genius, moral monster
Yes to all.
‘And the man who should have been second in command of Confederate forces after Lee.’
Hardly.
‘My thought on the matter is that those who wish to put down those like Forrest and Robert E. Lee these many years after the fact would have never dared to speak such things to those men’s faces...’
I would, and I admire both.
And they both admired people that spoke their mind...too a point, of course.
‘Whether you agree with that or not in the context of our Civil War, whose side do you believe Forrest would be on today?’
He’d be living in Idaho in an all white community, with a bomb shelter in the basement.....(chuckle)
‘The Crown was granting emancipation to slaves who would fight for the King. You neo-yankee moralizers grow very quiet when challenged to apply your “tests” to him. Better get out your Redcoat and pledge allegiance to King George III.’
Not me. It was wrong then, it was wrong in 1860, and it would be wrong today. As would those that thought slavery was just ‘peachy’.
Of course, none of them were slaves, eh?
Best cavalry comander: General Phillip Sheridan, Chief of Cavalry, Army of the Potomac, fought more classic mounted cavalry battles, won them all. He destroyed JEB Stuart’s command, killing Stuart. He also captured Missionary Ridge and large amounts of prisoners and supplies. He gutted the Shenandoah Valley, routed Early, forced Lee out of Petersburg, and cut off Lee’s escape from Appomattox, forcing Lee to surrender.
Forrest was very capable but the Army of Virginia and the Shenandoah valley were the heart of the Confederacy and that’s where the Civil War was fought and lost by them.
My other candidate would be Gregg who ran JEB Stuart out of Gettysburg.
Buford, had he lived, might have earned a spot right alongside of them.
As for Stuart and Gregg at Gettysburg (I was just there this past weekend, and a tour guide we used is writting a book about the Hanover cavalry battle just east of Gettysburg) given Stuart’s horses were completely blown from his ill advised ‘glory ride’ I don’t think thats a fair way to evaluate what took place there.
There is one redeeming factor to General Forrest. He knew when the war was over unlike a lot of Freepers.
Very good point....(chuckle)
‘Forrest was in constant conflict with superiors and subordinates and was a raider, mainly. He was demoted many times, ordered the massacre of all the Black prisoners at Fort Pillow.’
actually, all available documentation shows he tried to put a stop to the ‘massacre’ such as it was.
More blacks were killed at ‘The Crater’ than at Ft Pillow btw, in a rage that consumed the Confederates after the explosion.
‘The Confederate constitution, while closely resembling the U.S. version, contained certain changes .....’
...that guaranteed the South could never win a war.
Its telling on the day Lee surrendered Georgia had 50,000 complete sets of uniforms, with shoes....while Lee’s meager force was barefoot and wearing rags.
‘If a Fort Pillow massacre occurred, there is no objective evidence that General Forrest ordered it.’
Correct.
Good post.
‘Forrest was in constant conflict mainly with Braxton Bragg.’
The only person that liked Bragg was Jeff Davis, and he paid a steep price for backing that incompetent political appointee.
‘I’d take a Stonewall Jackson over a R.E. Lee as a general.’
Many would, because the war would have ended much sooner.
The outcome would have been the same.
Tell us again how the Spanish and the Indians were celebrating Thanksgiving together at El Paso while Cortez was still besieging Tenochtitlan.
Yep.
I’d take a Stonewall Jackson over a R.E. Lee as a general.
Great. You take Jackson, I’ll take Lee, and I’ll beat you every time.
Yep.
Many don’t know Jackson actually ordered ‘pikes’, about 20,000 of them for use in the war.
Thats how ate up with the goofies the man was.
‘You know, I think I will take your advice and “scroll on by” your comments from now on. ‘
Thats the best course. All you get from SW is what you see on this thread, rants unending with no real information...and that bullshit ‘free dixie’ nonsense at the end of each post.
I stopped reading him four years ago.
Thanks for the ping SB I believe it was Shelby Foote, who said the civil war produce two genius’s one was Abe Lincoln, and the other was General Nathan Bedford Forrest.
It was Shelby Foote.
He also said the Civil War could be defined by the two madmen that bracket it.
John Brown, and John Booth.
‘Your point is well taken, the Spenser repeater was a significant factor in outcome. Gregg’s cavalry, newly carrying Spenser’s, stopped JEB Stuart from reinforcing Pickett’s charge and changed the outcome of Gettysburg and the war.’
Nonsense. Stuart’s horses were completely blown by July 3rd, 1863.
And they would have been slaughtered had they ‘reinforced’ Picketts charge across that wide open field, up hill, against fortified positions, backed up with hundreds of artillery pieces.
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