Forrest Captain Aaron Forrest and The Pig Flank Attack

[diane]

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

Aaron commanded the 6th Mississippi State Troopers; Jesse 4th Alabama Cavalry; Jeffrey the 7th and 8th Tennessee Cavalry and William the 3rd Tennessee Cavalry.

 

[diane]

Ha! Found it! This is in Larry's thread and I'm pulling it out - it sheds more light on what Aaron was doing on this mission.

quote

"HARTFORD CITY was a small river steamer built at McKeesport, Pa., in 1856 and first homeported at Cincinnati, Ohio. In May 1862 she was impressed into Confederate service out of Vicksburg, Miss., to tow rafts and other craft for obstruction of Union gunboat navigation in the Yazoo River. She later transported supplies out of that same Confederate base, but sought refuge in the Yalobusha in July 1863 as the Federal fleet took over control of the Yazoo. On 18 July 1863 Capt. A. H. Forrest, CSA, at Carrollton, Miss., was ordered to send a detachment to burn the steamboats including HARTFORD CITY, said to be located in the Tallahatchie and Yazoo Rivers."

unquote

The OP operation seems to be part of the original on-going mission.

 

[7th Mississippi Infantry]

Thanks for finding the info in Larry's thread.

 

[7th Mississippi Infantry]

Jim Woodrick, has recently posted a couple of new articles about this 1864 Yazoo Expedition on his Blog, "And Speaking of Which. . ."

No Quarter Asked or Given: The Yazoo Expedition of 1864

Part 1
http://andspeakingofwhich.blogspot.com/2014/03/no-quarter-asked-or-given-yazoo.html

Part 2
http://andspeakingofwhich.blogspot.com/2014/03/no-quarter-asked-or-given-yazoo_6.html

 

[DixieRifles]

I hope nobody is getting confused by the references to different expeditions and raids.

(A) Original post with link about Capt(Lt-Col?) Aaron Forrest which took place during the Yazoo Pass Expedition. His action was dated Feb 1863. This was before the start of the siege of Vicksburg.

(B) Diane's post. Quoting:
" On 18 July 1863 Capt. A. H. Forrest, CSA, at Carrollton, Miss., was ordered to send a detachment to burn the steamboats including HARTFORD CITY, said to be located in the Tallahatchie and Yazoo Rivers."

This date is post-Vicksburg surrender.

(C) Links provided by 7th Mississippi for a 2-part article entitled: "No Quarter Asked or Given: The Yazoo Expedition of 1864" --
This expedition is actually called the Meridian Expedition where Gen. Sherman marched from Vicksburg to Meridian, while Gen. Sooy Smith lead cavalry from Collierville and was stopped at Okolona.

Same river was involved in all three but they did not occur at the same time---unless someone has the wrong date for (A) or (B).

 

[diane]

I hope nobody is getting confused by the references to different expeditions and raids.

(A) Original post with link about Capt(Lt-Col?) Aaron Forrest which took place during the Yazoo Pass Expedition. His action was dated Feb 1863. This was before the start of the siege of Vicksburg.

(B) Diane's post. Quoting:
" On 18 July 1863 Capt. A. H. Forrest, CSA, at Carrollton, Miss., was ordered to send a detachment to burn the steamboats including HARTFORD CITY, said to be located in the Tallahatchie and Yazoo Rivers."

This date is post-Vicksburg surrender.

(C) Links provided by 7th Mississippi for a 2-part article entitled: "No Quarter Asked or Given: The Yazoo Expedition of 1864" --
This expedition is actually called the Meridian Expedition where Gen. Sherman marched from Vicksburg to Meridian, while Gen. Sooy Smith lead cavalry from Collierville and was stopped at Okolona.

Same river was involved in all three but they did not occur at the same time---unless someone has the wrong date for (A) or (B).

Thanks! I noted the different dates but was thinking the July mission, though separate, was connected to his core mission of protecting that area. It is very easy to mix dates and I've sure done it before!

 

[7th Mississippi Infantry]

My apologies to everyone.

I almost posted a new thread, but I was trying to keep with the preferred practice
of adding to an existing thread.

Rather than only posting "1864", I should have specified this Yazoo River expedition was post Vicksburg.

I dropped the ball, and I appreciate DixieRifles' clarification for anyone reading this thread.

 

[diane]

I'm wondering something. Does anybody know of a sort of time line for the operations around N B Forrest's? Most of the sources, which for me are never better than second hand, focus on Forrest's larger activities but only casually mention the brothers. They were listed in Sherman's catalog of rebel devils, too!

 

[DixieRifles]

I'm wondering something. Does anybody know of a sort of time line for the operations around N B Forrest's? Most of the sources, which for me are never better than second hand, focus on Forrest's larger activities but only casually mention the brothers. They were listed in Sherman's catalog of rebel devils, too!

I'm not sure what you are looking for here. I have my own list of cavalry battles and skirmishes for N. Miss and West Tenn from Summer 1863 to Summer 1864.
But General Forrest did not always stay in the company of his command. Kinda like herding cats.
I know some who want to know where every camp site was between Lexington and Clifton during Forrest's West Tennessee Raid of 1862.
Speaking of which, here is a summary of his skirmishes for that raid.
http://www.parkerscrossroads.com/Battle_Information/official_records/summary.htm

Please explain what type of info you are looking for.

 

[diane]

I'm not sure what you are looking for here. I have my own list of cavalry battles and skirmishes for N. Miss and West Tenn from Summer 1863 to Summer 1864.
But General Forrest did not always stay in the company of his command. Kinda like herding cats.
I know some who want to know where every camp site was between Lexington and Clifton during Forrest's West Tennessee Raid of 1862.
Speaking of which, here is a summary of his skirmishes for that raid.
http://www.parkerscrossroads.com/Battle_Information/official_records/summary.htm

Please explain what type of info you are looking for.

That is very helpful. What I was asking about was if anybody had organized, chronologically, what his brothers were doing as well as what NBF was doing. I've never been able to sort out exactly what it was they were doing and when.

 

[DixieRifles]

This is my Time-Line of cavalry operations that involved Chalmers and Forrest.

Chronology of Major Battles of the Cavalry Operations


1863

{March 12-19 Battle of Fort Pemberton (Greenwood), aka Yazoo Pass Expedition}
This was added for reference to Yazoo Pass; not a cavalry operation.

April 17 – May 2 Grierson's Raid from LaGrange, TN to Baton Rouge, LA.

Summer - After fall of Vicksburg, new cavalry units are formed in Grenada, MS.

Aug 3 - General S. D. Lee promoted to Major-General and given command of Department that includes all cavalry in Mississippi, including Forrest's division in Alabama.

Oct 18-14 Chalmers Tenn raid. Battles of Salem, Collierville & Wyatt

Nov 3 2nd raid by General Chalmers division. Collierville - Col. J. Z. George captured

Dec 31 – Jan 1 -- Forrest West Tennessee "cattle raid". Forrest brought back 3000 recruits gathered by Col. T. Bell, along with 200 wagons of supplies and 100 head of beef. They crossed the M&CRR at Lafayette Station & Moscow, TN. Raid began with a diversionary battle by General Chalmers on December 4 at Lafayette Staion.


1864

Feb Forrest is promoted and General Chalmers' division is placed within his new cavalry corps. After a squabble, Gen. Chalmers accepted his position as a brigade commander within Forrest's cavalry corps.

Feb 22 -- Sherman's Meridian Campaign. Forrest stops 12,000 Union cavalry at Okolona with the loss of his brother Jeffrey.

Mar & April- Forrest's Corps begins his West Tennessee Raid and moves to Jackson, TN. He sends out portion of his corps with attacks Union City, Paducah(Fort Anderson) and Fort Pillow.

June 10 -- Brice's Crossroad - Forrest routes a Union force of 8,500.

July 14 -- Lee and Forrest attack Union forces entrenched at Harrisburg with heavy losses. General Lee was in command of the forces.
July 15 -- battle of Tupelo, MS, lead by Buford with Bell and Crossland commanding brigades.

Aug 21 2nd Battle of Memphis - Union advances South out of Memphis with 20,000. Chalmers defends Oxford while Forrest leads only 400 men on a bold attack into the heart of the Union command and draws the Union attackers away back to Memphis.

Nov 4-5 Forrest moves into East Tennessee where he captures a gunboat and destroys Sherman's supply dock on the Tennessee River at Johnsonville.

I don't have details on his brothers.

 

[diane]

Thank you! That is very, very helpful! I'll keep that handy to check.

 

[7th Mississippi Infantry]

This is my Time-Line of cavalry operations that involved Chalmers and Forrest.

Chronology of Major Battles of the Cavalry Operations 1863
Nov 3 2nd raid by General Chalmers division. Collierville - Col. J. Z. George captured

Col. George was an interesting guy.

A member of the Mississippi Secession Convention, a Confederate Colonel captured twice during the War. P.O.W Law Professor & future Chief Justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court.
I hate using wiki, but the quickest link,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Z._George

 

[DixieRifles]

Col. George was an interesting guy.

A member of the Mississippi Secession Convention, a Confederate Colonel captured twice during the War. P.O.W Law Professor & future Chief Justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court.
I hate using wiki, but the quickest link, . .

His law office still exists.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevystew/5892474524/

But we digress from the Subject(s). Back to diane's question.
I found myself on wikipedia looking at Forrest's Cavalry Corps. This article was supposed to describe its organization and the battles and campaigns. But it was obviously missing battles, even some of the major ones, and had incorrect dates. It had General Chalmers resigning in March 1864. If that was true then how did end up at Battle of Fort Pillow? There was about only one source for most of the article.
I tried to correct two paragraphs. I added the comments about Sherman's Meridian Expedition and the Battle of Okolona and several other details. It needs more work than I can provide. There are other wiki- articles such as one on General Forrest and those for individual battles.

 

[Pat Answer]

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

Wow! Definitely more proof that history trumps fiction any day. Thanks for posting.
PS: I knew about Jeffrey but did not know (or wasn't paying close enough attention...) there were other brothers. I wonder if that helped create the impression that the 'Wizard of the Saddle' was everywhere.

 

[diane]

Wow! Definitely more proof that history trumps fiction any day. Thanks for posting.
PS: I knew about Jeffrey but did not know (or wasn't paying close enough attention...) there were other brothers. I wonder if that helped create the impression that the 'Wizard of the Saddle' was everywhere.

Forrest was a master of psychological warfare, and if the enemy thought his brothers were him, or were just as spooked by them as by him, that was all the better! I've been interested in the teamwork the brothers had and that's why I've been poking around to find what they were doing. Sometimes they'd be doing diversionary raids, sometimes supportive raids, sometimes independent operations. They were more often together than it seems, too, although the only time they were all together - the survivors, that is - was the last Memphis raid. Forrest wanted to kidnap some Union generals and could only trust his brothers to do that particular job right!

 

[DixieRifles]

I'm wondering something. Does anybody know of a sort of time line for the operations around N B Forrest's? Most of the sources, which for me are never better than second hand, focus on Forrest's larger activities but only casually mention the brothers. They were listed in Sherman's catalog of rebel devils, too!

The OR's is a good place to search. I've downloaded some of these off Google Books and just enjoy reading them. At the front, they may contain a summary of the contents and a list of battles/skirmishes as well as Organizational Tables.

Here are a few that I found in Series I- Volume XXXII, Part 1, for the period of January - April 1864.
Link:
http://books.google.com/books?id=xc...war of the rebellion 1864 Fort Pillow&f=false

This is a list of skirmishes just for General Sooy Smith's expedition to meet up with General Sherman in February.

This is a summary of General Forrest's West Tennessee Raid in March-April 1864.

 

[diane]

Thanks so much! I'm delighted to see this. It really gives better perspective on this war to know these skirmishes and small set-to's are setting up and aiding the big events we fill the history books with. What was going on in Tennessee and Mississippi was very complex - I think moreso than the Virginia theater. In many ways, west Tennessee and north Mississippi were more important.

 

[DixieRifles]

I have to correct what I said: the first list does include the movement of General Sherman. You will notice that Gen. Sooy Smith didn't leave Collierville until Feb 11.

I was reading last night about Forrest's West Tennessee Raid. On April 2 (maybe it is the one recorded being on the 3rd), Gen Grierson sent out his cavalry(he had a total of 2200 but not sure if all went on this) to probe for General Forrest's forces. He made contact near Raliegh and reported the enemy had 1500 or so.
But Ward's book says the only Confederate forces he engaged was a small party of 60 men lead by Lt-Col Crews. Grierson suffered something like 20 casualties and the Confederates reported only 1 wounded.
I guess the Confederate cavalry's success can be attributed to is what they call a target rich environment.

I would like to read more about this but I don't know where to find info. The OR's have their claims as to enemy size and enemy casualties that aren't always accurate. I may find something about it in a Confederate's journal but it may not be accurate.