Forrest Death threats

[MikeyB]

Quick question that I'm sure one of the experts will know offhand very quickly. How many Confederate generals did NBF threaten to kill?
1) Bragg?
2) Hood?
3) Wasn't there someone at Fort Donelson? Floyd maybe?

Is there anyone else?
mike

 

[Coonewah Creek]

He refused to serve under Wheeler ever again after the Dover (2nd Fort Donelson) fiasco in Feb. 1863, although I don't think he threatened to kill him.

 

[7th Mississippi Infantry]

I've never heard of Forrest making death threats toward any Confederate General.

The fact that he was given to insubordination is well known.
Sure . . . his threat to basically 'slap around' Bragg is well documented,
but I've never heard that he threatened Bragg with death.

I've always found it interesting that Forrest got away with his threat to Bragg without any repercussions from the Confederate Government or the Confederate Army 'High Command'.

Paging our expert . . . @diane.

 

[diane]

Quick question that I'm sure one of the experts will know offhand very quickly. How many Confederate generals did NBF threaten to kill?
1) Bragg?
2) Hood?
3) Wasn't there someone at Fort Donelson? Floyd maybe?

Is there anyone else?
mike

Short answer: Nobody.

With Bragg, it was a warning not to cross him. Had Bragg thought Forrest was going to kill him, the matter might well have been settled in Bragg's tent then and there. Bragg was not a coward and feared no man.

Hood - Legend has it Forrest told him if he was a whole man he would whip him within an inch of his life. Maybe he said that, maybe not but it was not a threat but an angry response to Hood's plans for the battle at Franklin.

Forrest didn't threaten to kill people. If anybody got killed by him, it was because they gave him no other choice. Even Gould, who shot him and was then stabbed by him and died, was not an intended casualty. He seldom started a fight but sure had no difficulty ending one.

 

[MikeyB]

Short answer: Nobody.

With Bragg, it was a warning not to cross him. Had Bragg thought Forrest was going to kill him, the matter might well have been settled in Bragg's tent then and there. Bragg was not a coward and feared no man.

Hood - Legend has it Forrest told him if he was a whole man he would whip him within an inch of his life. Maybe he said that, maybe not but it was not a threat but an angry response to Hood's plans for the battle at Franklin.

Forrest didn't threaten to kill people. If anybody got killed by him, it was because they gave him no other choice. Even Gould, who shot him and was then stabbed by him and died, was not an intended casualty. He seldom started a fight but sure had no difficulty ending one.

Thanks for the post!

 

[UCVRelics]

it was a warning not to cross him

I may be wrong but wasn't the quote to Bragg, "if you cross me again, it will be at the peril of your own life"

 

[diane]

I may be wrong but wasn't the quote to Bragg, "if you cross me again, it will be at the peril of your own life"

Yes, that's the quote! This was after Bragg had taken away the third brigade Forrest had trained and equipped at his expense and given them to Wheeler, and this last one was swiped when Bragg kindly gave Forrest a pass to go visit his wife in Georgia. Forrest felt more than a little back-stabbed, there...

 

[7th Mississippi Infantry]

He seldom started a fight but sure had no difficulty ending one.

Great observation.

Love it !

 

[Ole Miss]

I find it difficult to believe anyone would deliberately cross swords or any other weapon with Ole Bedford! He plainly stated his belief about the War and fighting:
"... war means fighting and fighting means killing"
He did play!
Regards
David

 

[diane]

I find it difficult to believe anyone would deliberately cross swords or any other weapon with Ole Bedford! He plainly stated his belief about the War and fighting:
"... war means fighting and fighting means killing"
He did play!
Regards
David

After the war, the one person Forrest did threaten to kill by duel took him VERY seriously - so did his wife, children, friends and family of both parties, the town and all the general's former troopers...! It was Minor Meriwether, who was on his staff during the war, and who had said he would recommend to the city council of Memphis that they dissolve themselves as a city in order to get out of paying off the railroad bonds they'd bought, mainly from Forrest. When Meriwether told Forrest this - which meant complete financial ruin for Forrest - that gentleman erupted and declared if Meriwether did that, "one of us will not leave the room alive". Party after party of different people went in and out of Forrest's house like he had a revolving door in there, all of them pleading with him to call off the duel. Meriwether did appear at the council meeting...armed to the teeth. His wife had sewn a special sheath into the neck of his shirt for stashing a bowie knife, he had a pistol in his belt as well as one in his hand to lay on the table when he spoke, his lady was packing a derringer in her purse, and even their kid was on the floor with a knife! Forrest came to the meeting, too, but he sat quietly and did not carry out his challenge. There was a sort of universal sigh of relief in the room!

To say Forrest was reckoned to be formidable is something of an understatement.

 

[Ole Miss]

I meant to say "He did NOT play"! I did not know about the Meriwether story but do remember that a baliff had threatened Forrest but did not follow through!
Rergards
David

 

[diane]

I meant to say "He did NOT play"! I did not know about the Meriwether story but do remember that a baliff had threatened Forrest but did not follow through!
Rergards
David

Yes, indeedy, everybody was out to stop that fracas - can't have two fine upstanding members of the community killing each other and possibly some bystanders in city hall!