Forrest Final disposition of Forrest's personal papers and correspondence?

winchester

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Jul 27, 2017
In the book "The Campaigns of Lieut.-Gen. N. B. Forrest, and of Forrest's Cavalry", the authors state they had possession of the General's papers to examine. If anyone in the world would know this, you folks would. What became of his papers and has anything in them been published. Sorry if this has been asked before, but I didn't see it in reviewing. Regards.
 
In the book "The Campaigns of Lieut.-Gen. N. B. Forrest, and of Forrest's Cavalry", the authors state they had possession of the General's papers to examine. If anyone in the world would know this, you folks would. What became of his papers and has anything in them been published. Sorry if this has been asked before, but I didn't see it in reviewing. Regards.
Great question ! I'll also wait for Diane.

BTW, welcome to the Forrest forum and to CivilWarTalk.
 
I've wondered if some of them are still around somewhere, locked in someone's attic, but that's not likely the case. All Forrest's important papers went up with everything else when his home on President's Island burned up just a month or so before his death. Nothing was saved out of there.

Jordan and Pryor are likely the best source today for anything that was in Forrest's papers, as he gave them to the writers for their book. That's why the Campaigns is the foremost go-to book on Forrest's military career.

Still - one can always hope!
 
I too will wait on Diane to clarify----I read about Forrest with 1200 troopers chasing a 2000 man raiding party mounted on mules---He pressed them so hard that 1600 surrendered in Rome Georgia to Forrest's 5-600 troopers still pressing them. It seems that they were so tired when they laid down in line of battle they all went to sleep.

Also the wounding of Forrest in a a revenge shooting by a young artillery officer Forrest had transferred because he lost 2 cannons in battle ----Forrest wounded, opened a pen knife with his teeth and stabbed the young officer who later died.

Any truth in the above?
 
I too will wait on Diane to clarify----I read about Forrest with 1200 troopers chasing a 2000 man raiding party mounted on mules---He pressed them so hard that 1600 surrendered in Rome Georgia to Forrest's 5-600 troopers still pressing them. It seems that they were so tired when they laid down in line of battle they all went to sleep.

Also the wounding of Forrest in a a revenge shooting by a young artillery officer Forrest had transferred because he lost 2 cannons in battle ----Forrest wounded, opened a pen knife with his teeth and stabbed the young officer who later died.

Any truth in the above?
Yes. The story of Forrest being shot by an artillery officer is true, as is his mortally wounding him.
 
I too will wait on Diane to clarify----I read about Forrest with 1200 troopers chasing a 2000 man raiding party mounted on mules---He pressed them so hard that 1600 surrendered in Rome Georgia to Forrest's 5-600 troopers still pressing them. It seems that they were so tired when they laid down in line of battle they all went to sleep.

Also the wounding of Forrest in a a revenge shooting by a young artillery officer Forrest had transferred because he lost 2 cannons in battle ----Forrest wounded, opened a pen knife with his teeth and stabbed the young officer who later died.

Any truth in the above?
Yep. Both well documented... the Streight raid and Lt. Gould. Good reading in any bio of Forrest. Like Diane, I'm partial to Jordan and Pryor or Hurst.
 
I too will wait on Diane to clarify----I read about Forrest with 1200 troopers chasing a 2000 man raiding party mounted on mules---He pressed them so hard that 1600 surrendered in Rome Georgia to Forrest's 5-600 troopers still pressing them. It seems that they were so tired when they laid down in line of battle they all went to sleep.

Also the wounding of Forrest in a a revenge shooting by a young artillery officer Forrest had transferred because he lost 2 cannons in battle ----Forrest wounded, opened a pen knife with his teeth and stabbed the young officer who later died.

Any truth in the above?

:D Oh, yeah, that's all true! That's Streight's Raid and the Gould Affair. Forrest told Morton, his close friend and artillery chief, that he had not intended to kill Gould and didn't think he had - but he was 6'2" and Gould was 5'7". The blade was not big but the height difference made the angle it went in at lethal. However...after the doctor told Forrest his hip wound was in the guts and the hot weather would make it poisonous - THEN he was going to kill Gould without any doubt. "No dam man kills me and lives!" The provost marshal stepped into his path and got, "Get out of my way! I am mortally wounded and will kill the man who killed me!" The provost marshal stepped out of his path.
 
According to the original post ".....the authors state they had possession of the General's papers to examine."......After writing their book, and consequently being done examining Forrest's papers, the papers were returned to the owner???.....Just speculation on my part....
 
I too will wait on Diane to clarify----I read about Forrest with 1200 troopers chasing a 2000 man raiding party mounted on mules---He pressed them so hard that 1600 surrendered in Rome Georgia to Forrest's 5-600 troopers still pressing them. It seems that they were so tired when they laid down in line of battle they all went to sleep.

Also the wounding of Forrest in a a revenge shooting by a young artillery officer Forrest had transferred because he lost 2 cannons in battle ----Forrest wounded, opened a pen knife with his teeth and stabbed the young officer who later died.

Any truth in the above?
We have quite a few discussions about these two incidents within the the Forrest forum.

Here are two you may enjoy:

The Gould Affair:
https://civilwartalk.com/threads/no-ed-man-kills-me-and-lives-the-forrest-gould-affair.98639/

The Streight raid:
https://civilwartalk.com/threads/a-bluff-beats-a-streight-the-surrender-at-cedar-bluff.109526/
 
The young officer on his death bed ask Forrest to forgive him and Forrest did and became emotional himself about the young man's demise---amazing.

Yes, he was sad about the outcome. Trouble was, just about the time Gould decided his honor was sullied enough he needed to do something about it, Forrest had decided he had been hasty and that the punishment he'd given Gould wasn't proper. He was just about ready to make things right when Gould made his fatal decision to confront him. And...well, that escalated quickly!
 
According to the original post ".....the authors state they had possession of the General's papers to examine."......After writing their book, and consequently being done examining Forrest's papers, the papers were returned to the owner???.....Just speculation on my part....

Jordan and Pryor had access to all the papers Forrest had - he was very generous about it, too - and when they returned them they remained in Forrest's possession. Which, unfortunately for us, was where they were when his house burned down.
 
Oh....I thought this was a new book!! :smile: My bad! HA!

The Jordan & Pryor work is the closest thing to a memoir of Forrest that we have. Jordan was a Confederate general who after the war returned to Memphis as a newspaper editor. This book was unusual as to timing in that it was published so quickly after the war. The published OR would not be available for many years. Forrest partnered with Jordan and felt it was important to tell his war experiences from his POV. Forrest advertised in newspapers throughout the South seeking documents, reports and first hand descriptions of the war from the men with whom he served. Jordan interviewed a number of Forrest staff as well. Forrest reviewed and edited the work and approved of the final product.

NBF's cabin on President's Island did indeed burn in 1877 and a great deal was lost. I know that the family (ggrand daughter - Mary Bradley) stated that they lost a trove of photographs as well as the family bible. Forrest files on his RR deals were lost as well. I don't know if all of his war papers were at the cabin. His sword and pistols survived as well as other household items.

Maybe the papers are waiting to be found :hungry:
 
:thumbsup: That's great! @roberts I know it wasn't the first time Forrest lost most everything in a fire. Was he already living with Jesse at the time it happened? Maybe if he was, he brought some papers with him, or maybe stashed something with Willie. Willie was living at the house on Adams Street when his father died, wasn't he, or had he already moved? I always kind of wondered why Forrest was at Jesse's house rather than Willie's. Not all that sure where Willie and his kids were at that time!
 
:thumbsup: That's great! @roberts I know it wasn't the first time Forrest lost most everything in a fire. Was he already living with Jesse at the time it happened? Maybe if he was, he brought some papers with him, or maybe stashed something with Willie. Willie was living at the house on Adams Street when his father died, wasn't he, or had he already moved? I always kind of wondered why Forrest was at Jesse's house rather than Willie's. Not all that sure where Willie and his kids were at that time!

There were two fires. I believe that Forrest was at Bailey Springs when the first occurred and the second happened shortly after his death. Willie was assisting on President's Island but he lived in town in a boarding house. Jesse was doing well and had a fine home on Union Avenue near where they built Forrest Park.

I don't think the family got the Adams property back until after NBF died; it was confiscated during the war.
 
There were two fires. I believe that Forrest was at Bailey Springs when the first occurred and the second happened shortly after his death. Willie was assisting on President's Island but he lived in town in a boarding house. Jesse was doing well and had a fine home on Union Avenue near where they built Forrest Park.

I don't think the family got the Adams property back until after NBF died; it was confiscated during the war.

Thanks a lot! I know a large portion of his property was confiscated, including the pieces he put in his mother's name, but I'd thought he retained the Adams street property. I think he did manage to keep the undeveloped property in Arkansas. Mary Ann was pretty much homeless during most of the war but the upside was it kept her near her husband and son. She got as close to them as he would let her. Sure can't say Forrest didn't put his blood and treasure into the fight!

Was the first fire the same place, President's Island? When he was a kid there was also a fire in the family home - can't recall this moment but think it was the home in Selmer.
 
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