My favorite story concerning Forrest in the North deals with what I'm pretty sure was a visit to New York City: According to the story, Forrest and I believe his son and possibly someone else (who may have been the one telling the story) were walking down the street when word began to spread about the big Rebel general... A crowd of gawkers began to gather and follow them, making Forrest and companions nervous even though so far nothing had happened. Suddenly Forrest turned and strode toward the crowd, calling out loudly "Out of my way, you dam n Yankees!" Surprised, the crowd quickly dispersed, giving the men the opportunity to duck into a convenient store and exit out the back!
Willie and Forrest went to the Democrat Convention in New York and were sharing a room while attending the meetings. It was quite an experience, and as far as I know Forrest never went back there! One disturbing experience after another. One involved Ft Pillow - quite a hot topic at any time but particularly so then. A lady appeared at the Forrests' hotel room very early in the morning. She was middle-aged, wearing all black, carried an umbrella in one hand and a Bible in the other. After banging loudly on the door with her umbrella she succeeded in rousting them out - Willie opened the door and was bowled aside as she charged through. She went straight into the bedroom, where Forrest was sitting in his nightshirt on the edge of his bed, major bedhead, no shave, hairy legs sticking out. "Are you the rebel General Forrest?" the lady demanded. He nodded in the affirmative. "Did you murder those poor colored people at Ft Pillow? Tell the truth! No prevarication!" Forrest drew himself up to his full height, which was impressive, looked her square in the eye and said quietly, "Yes, ma'am. I killed the men and women for my troops' supper and ate the babies myself for breakfast." She shrieked like a banshee and ran screaming out of the room, through the hall, across the lobby, down the street and around the corner. Never stopped screaming!
The train ride there was also adventuresome. In Ohio the conductor warned Forrest there was a pugilist at the next water stop who wished to punch him. He was a gentleman of considerable reputation in the area, big of muscle and short of brain but undefeated. Forrest nodded. Sure enough, there was a crowd waiting to see the rebel general get the stuffing beat out of him by the local tough guy. Forrest and Basil Duke remained in their seats, figuring that was the best option, but the loud mouth was not to be deprived of his battle. He came charging on board, yelling loudly, "Where is Forrest! Where is that butcher Forrest!" Basil Duke recorded that he had never seen a more dramatic change in a person than what then happened. Mild mannered Forrest promptly sprang up, his face turning brick red, his blue eyes blazing, seemed to Duke his body grew two sizes, and he went striding down the aisle toward the bully with a roar of his own, "I am Forrest! What do you want?" Out of there, was what he wanted... The guy took one look at what was coming for him and, as Duke put it, "left the car and ran down the street with race horse speed, losing his hat in the process." Forrest pursued. "You wanted to talk to me! I am ready to talk! Here's your hat - come back and get it!" He was already out of sight. The crowd started laughing and then the funny side of it struck Forrest and he started laughing, too. At least he made some friends in one northern town! On the way back to Memphis he told a companion he didn't think he'd go back to New York again.
Of course, it may have been he couldn't get a decent bowl of grits there.