Forrest Captain Aaron Forrest and The Pig Flank Attack

[diane]

Stumbled onto this blog while searching for some information on the Forrest brothers - well, it's just too good to keep! As the blog mentions, this story is footnoted in Bearss' book on the Vicksburg campaign but is about third hand. It was told to Brown, an unwitting subject of the incident, by Cadwallader Washburn who may have gotten it from a captured soldier. (Washburn foiled another Forrest brother tasked with kidnapping him during the Memphis raid by hopping out a window and scurrying off in his 'cutty sark' so this adds a little extra to that tale!) James H Wilson, as noted in the blog, was Grant's engineer and went on to become his chief of cavalry. He led a raid through Alabama that culminated in his whopping the whey out of Bedford Forrest - which wasn't easy! And which might not have happened if Aaron's flank hadn't been attacked...

Here is the story. Enjoy!

http://andspeakingofwhich.blogspot.com/2012/07/aaron-forrest-and-yazoo-pass.html

 

[Lazy Bayou]

Excellent story and a good read. Thanks diane.

 

[DixieRifles]

Interesting article. Wonder where that took place? The expedition would pass down the Tallahatchie River right past my boyhood home before it was stopped at Fort Pemberton(Greenwood).

 

[donna]

diane great post.

 

[diane]

Interesting article. Wonder where that took place? The expedition would pass down the Tallahatchie River right past my boyhood home before it was stopped at Fort Pemberton(Greenwood).

I was a little foggy on that, too and plan to do a little more research. Aaron's plantation was somewhere in that neck of the woods I think - real foggy on that! Know his slave business was in Vicksburg. Someday I'd like to go back east and look up some first hand information.

 

[truthckr]

good info, thanks for posting Diane!

 

[DixieRifles]

I was a little foggy on that, too and plan to do a little more research. Aaron's plantation was somewhere in that neck of the woods I think - real foggy on that! Know his slave business was in Vicksburg. Someday I'd like to go back east and look up some first hand information.

This Yazoo Pass Expedition began much further north. The map for Moon Lake also shows its location with respect to Helena, Arkansas. I thought they blew the levee and entered Moon Lake, but Wilson's map shows the lake connecte to the Mississippi River.
They continued down the Coldwater River and entered the Tallahatchie River. They goal was to join the Yazoo River at Greenwood. So the wording of the article that says "which was to get into the Coldwater and Yazoo rivers" leaves out the intermediate river.

Road Map of Mississippi
http://www.southernlandcompanyinc.com/1030/index_files/image432.gif

The Coldwater joins the Tallahatchie near the town marked CROWDER. The Tallahatchie drains from the modern Sardis Lake.

Greenwood is just off the bottom edge of this map. I lived in the town Minter City where the Tallahatchie River took a curve to the West before reaching Greenwood and the Yazoo River.

 

[diane]

That map is very neat, Dixie! The place of this action is just right above Forrest's own plantation of Greengrove near Clarksdale in Coahoma county. Think he owned around 7,000 acres there. Talk about fighting on your own front porch!

 

[7th Mississippi Infantry]

Thanks for the article. It's been awhile since I've read the Bearss Vicksburg trilogy. I must have forgotten that tidbit.

BTW, that is one of my favorite blogs. The author has a neat way of telling stories. Sometime he is very similar to Paul Harvey's Rest of the Story shows.

 

[DixieRifles]

That map is very neat, Dixie! The place of this action is just right above Forrest's own plantation of Greengrove near Clarksdale in Coahoma county. Think he owned around 7,000 acres there. Talk about fighting on your own front porch!

So, do you think this is the general area that Capt Forrest planned his ambush? I tried to think of a place on the Tallahatchie that would make a good ambush location. The Tallahatchie flows thru the flat Mississippi Delta and you won't a bluff or a hill that would give an attacker an advantage.

BTW there Confederate training camp was near Grenada---in the area of Grenada Lake. Just northeast is Coffeeville which is in the ORs and another place visited by Pres Davis.

Hiway #7 goes North out of Oxford and passes Abbeville before crossing the Tallahatchie River, near the back waters of Sardis Lake. This was the location of the original town of WYATT, on a buff over looking the river bed. The Rebs had built a gravel road thru a mile of cedar swamp & a bridge over the river. During Gen. Chalmers' cavalry raids they used this route and posted a rear guard on it so the could re-cross quickly. There was at least one battle there on 13 Oct 1863. Union tried to stop this by burning the town.

 

[Stony]

Very nice. Thanks for sharing.

 

[7th Mississippi Infantry]

Hiway #7 goes North out of Oxford and passes Abbeville before crossing the Tallahatchie River, near the back waters of Sardis Lake. This was the location of the original town of WYATT, on a buff over looking the river bed. The Rebs had built a gravel road thru a mile of cedar swamp & a bridge over the river. During Gen. Chalmers' cavalry raids they used this route and posted a rear guard on it so the could re-cross quickly. There was at least one battle there on 13 Oct 1863. Union tried to stop this by burning the town.

I have many fond memories of exploring the back roads of that area on "old" Hwy 7 around the Lafayette / Marshall County line. I was not aware of the town of Wyatt.

Now I have an excuse other than Sunday beer sales to venture back into those swampy Tallahatchie back roads next time I'm in Oxford

 

[Nathanb1]

I love it. "Porcine pretenders." You know I love alliteration! Heck of a good story. My Sanders relatives were waiting at Ft. Pemberton, so I love having this part of the story to add.

 

[diane]

So, do you think this is the general area that Capt Forrest planned his ambush? I tried to think of a place on the Tallahatchie that would make a good ambush location. The Tallahatchie flows thru the flat Mississippi Delta and you won't a bluff or a hill that would give an attacker an advantage.

BTW there Confederate training camp was near Grenada---in the area of Grenada Lake. Just northeast is Coffeeville which is in the ORs and another place visited by Pres Davis.

Hiway #7 goes North out of Oxford and passes Abbeville before crossing the Tallahatchie River, near the back waters of Sardis Lake. This was the location of the original town of WYATT, on a buff over looking the river bed. The Rebs had built a gravel road thru a mile of cedar swamp & a bridge over the river. During Gen. Chalmers' cavalry raids they used this route and posted a rear guard on it so the could re-cross quickly. There was at least one battle there on 13 Oct 1863. Union tried to stop this by burning the town.

What great information! Thanks.

Gosh, it's hard to tell. I sure wish I could go there and see what the land is like! I'm thinking, though, for the type of operation Aaron was involved in, he wasn't planning so much to attack as to make a fast ambush - grab his important personages and fade.

 

[7th Mississippi Infantry]

Well, I can't blame Captain Forrest for not filing an official report.
As many of us in the South say. . ."I don't think I'd be tell'n that".

I've hunted deer in similar Delta river bottoms. The sound of wild hogs rooting toward your stand at dusk will get your attention very quick.

It's not a pretty sound coming through swamp . . .

 

[BrassVols]

Great post Diane!

 

[diane]

This picture might be Aaron Forrest. It is from the absolutely classic Brothers Forrest thread by our dear late friend Larry Cockerham. Somewhere on that thread he mentions Aaron's mission on the Yazoo Pass was about destroying a gunboat. If anyone with better eyes than mine can find it, it has some really good info!

Expired Image Removed

 

[7th Mississippi Infantry]

Thanks for the photo, the two stars on the collar reflect a Lt. Colonel's rank.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe Aaron advanced beyond Captain.

Jeffrey E. Forrest & Jesse Anderson Forrest achieved the rank of Lt. Col.
Could this be a photo of one those two Forrests ?

Just speculating.
Again, thanks for the photo !

I love the classic thread on the Forrest brothers,
http://civilwartalk.com/threads/the-brothers-forrest.7475/
. . .but I really didn't have the time tonight to go back through 35 pages.

 

[diane]

Thanks for the photo, the two stars on the collar reflect a Lt. Colonel's rank.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe Aaron advanced beyond Captain.

Jeffrey E. Forrest & Jesse Anderson Forrest achieved the rank of Lt. Col.
Could this be a photo of one those two Forrests ?

Just speculating.
Again, thanks for the photo !

I love the classic thread on the Forrest brothers,
http://civilwartalk.com/threads/the-brothers-forrest.7475/
. . .but I really didn't have the time tonight to go back through 35 pages.

Larry wrote a veritable book on that thread - it's loaded. You can take just about everything he says to the bank, too!

The insignia does show a higher rank than Aaron attained but some, like Jack Hurst, refer to him as a Lt Col. William Forrest was also only a captain, but did advance to major. Aaron was around 36 when he died - the man in the photo seems much younger. Jesse was only a year or so younger than Aaron. The birth years of the brothers float around, too! Bedford had charge of the family Bible, wherein was recorded all the births and deaths, but lost everything in the fire on President's Island. I've wondered if the Luxton family had anything. Miriam, Forrest's mom, had four children by her second husband - the 3 boys served with Forrest's cavalry. They were pretty young but they squeaked in! The little sister was 12 when the war ended. It's possible this picture is of Bill, but the uniform still doesn't fit. Just judging by family resemblance, this guy looks like a Forrest!

p s
Bill had curly hair, by the way.

 

[Rio Bravo]

Larry wrote a veritable book on that thread - it's loaded. You can take just about everything he says to the bank, too!

The insignia does show a higher rank than Aaron attained but some, like Jack Hurst, refer to him as a Lt Col. William Forrest was also only a captain, but did advance to major. Aaron was around 36 when he died - the man in the photo seems much younger. Jesse was only a year or so younger than Aaron. The birth years of the brothers float around, too! Bedford had charge of the family Bible, wherein was recorded all the births and deaths, but lost everything in the fire on President's Island. I've wondered if the Luxton family had anything. Miriam, Forrest's mom, had four children by her second husband - the 3 boys served with Forrest's cavalry. They were pretty young but they squeaked in! The little sister was 12 when the war ended. It's possible this picture is of Bill, but the uniform still doesn't fit. Just judging by family resemblance, this guy looks like a Forrest!

p s
Bill had curly hair, by the way.

Diane - Jeffery was Lt.Col. of the 4th Alabama Cavalry, can you tell me which Regts Aaron,Jesse, and William were in??? Thanks, Rio