I've sometimes wondered what made 5'7" 130lb 26 year old Gould decide to even a score with 6'2" 185lb 43 year old Forrest who already had most of 30 previous challengers under his belt. It was like Opie Taylor meets the Terminator! There was a bit of a comic touch when the hapless provost marshal tried to stop Forrest - kind of put me in mind of Andy Devine in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. Not to mention the soldiers standing in the room when he leaped to his feet with blood in his eye trying to block the door - "Get out of my way! No d--d man kills me and lives!" while seizing a pistol off one of them! Everybody cleared the path then.
I guess Gould figured honor demanded it - as I understand it, his fiancee was in Columbia and I bet that had a lot to do with his decision - he didn't want her to see him as a coward. Wills is the only Forrest biographer I've read who noticed Forrest's wife was also in Columbia, at a farmhouse outside of town. I would just bet she was waiting at the hotel when he came in, not exactly feeling the milk of human kindness towards the guy who he thought had fatally shot him. Once he knew it wasn't fatal he was gung-ho to save Gould - Mary was known to be able to gentle him down no matter how furious he was. (That would be some message to get, too. Here comes somebody thundering up to your house where all is calm and peace, announcing your husband just got shot and was currently stalking the streets with a pair of pistols, gunning for the sorry so-n-so who done it! She and Willie probably got into town just in time to hear the gun shots off downtown - well, son, I think we'll just go upstairs and wait to see if they carry him in or he walks in...)
Maybe Larry can tell us why there are about three versions of exactly where Forrest nailed Gould. I've read it was the right side between the ribs, in the stomach with a sideways rip, in the shoulder. If in the stomach that would seem he meant to kill Gould, and he'd told Morton he didn't. (Morton, by the way, had got wind of Gould's intention to confront Forrest and immediately leaped on a horse - he was pounding down the turnpike towards Columbia like Old Scratch was after him but he arrived too late to prevent the thing. He figured Gould would get the worst of it and he was right.) Hurst's description seems to be taken from the three little boys who were the only witnesses to what happened in the breezeway. (Along with every kid in town, they'd greeted Forrest when his troops came in with "It's General Forrest! Hey, General! Howdy, General!") According to Hurst, Forrest had turned to walk back to the quartermaster's office when Gould pulled his pistol, or tried to. It hung up on the lip of the pocket of his duster and went off when Forrest grabbed his wrist with his right hand. He then shoved his right shoulder into Gould's chest, his arm across his body to prevent him pulling some other weapon and pinned Gould's hand and gun against the wall upwards, pointing away. Forrest thus having him pinned against the wall with his weight, opened the pen knife he'd been carrying all along in his left hand with his teeth (and a good set of choppers he must have had!) and stabbed Gould in the shoulder. That's Hurst's version. I think if that one is correct, Forrest really didn't intend to kill Gould. It was the height difference of about 6 inches that made it fatal - a downward plunge instead of straight into the meat. That angle made it hit the lung and that was it for Gould. He did twist the blade which ripped sideways when Gould jerked away. The knife blade itself was about 4 inches long, not that small. Wyeth, on the other hand, says Forrest stabbed Gould in the stomach, twisted his blade and ripped sideways. OW! If that happened, then he certainly meant to kill the guy and fibbed to Morton.
I also think Forrest was sort of ok (I know!) with being shot until it appeared to be fatal. Having had more time to cool down and having retrieved his little brother, he was beginning to realize he might have been wrong but Gould acted before he could reconsider - which he might not have done anyway. He could be stubborn! Given their heated conversation and Gould's known hotheadedness, Forrest likely wasn't much surprised to be shot and returned the favor - I believe him when he said he hadn't intended to kill Gould at that time. When he was chasing him down the street that was another story! That's a strange visual in itself - Gould stumbled and staggered along holding whatever got stabbed, blood all over, and encountered his cousin the doctor. They ducked into a tailor's shop. Just then, Forrest strode out of the Masonic hall with his clothes all disheveled and blood drenching his pants leg, a gun in one hand and, grabbing another from a saddle holster, another in the other. Spying the crowd gathering at the tailor's shop, he headed that way. (Enter Andy Devine briefly.) The tailor heard the crowd murmuring and saw them looking up the street - he took a look, saw the wrath of the Almighty heading towards his little shop, and told Gould if he had somewhere to go he'd better go there, the general was outside. So, Gould rolled off the cutting table and was just blundering out the back door when Forrest came in the front, yelling, "Look out! Look out!" The spectators squawked like chickens and hit the deck while Forrest squeezed off a couple pretty close ones. The one that got the soldier in the yard was a ricochet off the brick wall outside the tailor's back door - just missed Gould's noggin. Seems to have been a deep graze rather than the bullet actually penetrating. It didn't really hurt the man too much, as I understand it, but it sure must have smarted right good! That's probably why Forrest never knew he hit anyone.
There's a lot of versions of the Forrest-Gould Affair, but it's one of the Civil War's best yarns! I heard the town of Columbia was thinking of setting up a plaque or memorial about it but don't know if they ever did it.