Civil War History - The South & Western TheatersCheck this forum for all South and Western Theater Questions. Included are the Western, Pacific, Trans-Mississippi, & Lower Seaboard and Gulf Approach Theaters.
It may also be that he was bragging on his troops performance in storming breastworks without the use of bayonets -- and that could mean that they weren't equipped with them or didn't feel the need to use them.
I still like TarHeel's CYA inkling.
Ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
Seems to me that bayonets were out of character or at least out of the ordinary for Forrest's command. He went to great lengths to supply and train his men in the use of revolvers. (simply more shots per soldier). I don't recall if they carried rifles or not (I wasn't around, believe it or not), but somehow I think not. Bayonets would have been an extreme last resort which I don't recall ever coming to pass. Forrest's soldiers, sometimes from regiments not under his long term command, as was the case in Tennessee in December, 1864 would have likely been equipped with both rifles (when possible) and very likely bayonets, but they weren't Forrest's 'regular' soldiers, cavalrymen.
I go with the idea that the use of a bayonet (or saber, for that matter) was not SOP for Forrest's mounted infantry, but not unheard of.
Forrest's spot recruitment, captured equipment, changed commands, varied missions, et al., would have made his troops far from standard over the war years, with the only constancy being his leadership and example.
Although his men might have been equipped and manned in a certain style on this day or that, it doesn't follow that they would have been similarly equipped and manned on any other day (unless, of course, it was between this and that one).
Likewise, that Forrest's men would have found little use for bayonets and sabers doesn't mean they never did. (And I'll wager a stab-wound from a saber would be indistinguisable from that of a sword-bayonet or an arkansas toothpick.
Ramblin Ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
Do we know if Brady or any of the other photographers made it out there before the scene was sanitized/ changed irrevocably?
Respectfully,
Matt
I don't recollect wartime pictures of any of the western battlefields. Perhaps others have seen some.
Ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
A photographer who followed Sherman's campaign was George N. Barnard. published last in 1977 by Dover Publications, New York. Paper bound but a good $5 investment. There were a few photos around Nashville, but not much if any battlefield coverage at Nashville or Franklin. I'm not so sure I'd want to see those anyway.
Larry,
I was given this book you mention by my only sister one year for Christmas. Like you said, it is a great book of photos. Barnard, IMHO was as good or better than Brady. Brady hired out much of his grunt work to others & still claimed the 'honour.' Brady was a great photographer, however. (Naturally, I think our own RebAl (Alex) is inherently better than either!)
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