dfostermem
Corporal
- Joined
- Dec 21, 2024
- Location
- Tennessee
Trying to understand Forrest's motivation and reasoning for change in the reorganization of his scouts between August 1864 and then end of the war.
In August 1864 he sent out the following: "Capt. Thomas Henderson is announced as chief of scouts for this department, and will be respected and obeyed as such. All scouts now out under orders from department, division, or other headquarters will be immediately ordered back to their commands. Special scouts will be sent as ordered or when necessary to the front on specific or special duty, but no commands will be sent out as general scouts except the companies of Captains Henderson and Kizer, and all other men on that service will be withdrawn."
Then in December 1864 he changes it to: "There are four regularly organized and reorganized companies of scouts for this command, viz: Capt. T Henderson's company, Capt. Harvey's company, Capt. Kizer's company, and Capt. Cobb's company. None others will be recognized."
At surrender, there are six under "Forest's Scouts": Joseph T. Cobb's Company, Thomas W Elliot's Company, Addison Harvey's Company, Thomas Henderson's Company, Thomas N, Kizer's Company, and Sander's Company.
Any thoughts on why he consolidated scouts into two companies in August, changes it to four in December 1864, and then ends up with six at the end of the war?
Any insights on his August 1864 separation of "special scouts" versus "general scouts"? My read on this is by special scouts he was referring to temporary assignments by individual soldiers sent out by their commands for specific scouting mission in support of that command and the general scouts were fulltime scouts who were assigned to a company of which its sole function was scouting. Has anyone ever seen anything that states exactly what is the difference between special and general scouts or was this just something Forrest came up with as a way to capture what he wanted?
Does anyone know how many scouts and or companies were absorbed back into their commands with his August 1864 directive? Did this have any significant impact on increasing his warfighters?
In August 1864 he sent out the following: "Capt. Thomas Henderson is announced as chief of scouts for this department, and will be respected and obeyed as such. All scouts now out under orders from department, division, or other headquarters will be immediately ordered back to their commands. Special scouts will be sent as ordered or when necessary to the front on specific or special duty, but no commands will be sent out as general scouts except the companies of Captains Henderson and Kizer, and all other men on that service will be withdrawn."
Then in December 1864 he changes it to: "There are four regularly organized and reorganized companies of scouts for this command, viz: Capt. T Henderson's company, Capt. Harvey's company, Capt. Kizer's company, and Capt. Cobb's company. None others will be recognized."
At surrender, there are six under "Forest's Scouts": Joseph T. Cobb's Company, Thomas W Elliot's Company, Addison Harvey's Company, Thomas Henderson's Company, Thomas N, Kizer's Company, and Sander's Company.
Any thoughts on why he consolidated scouts into two companies in August, changes it to four in December 1864, and then ends up with six at the end of the war?
Any insights on his August 1864 separation of "special scouts" versus "general scouts"? My read on this is by special scouts he was referring to temporary assignments by individual soldiers sent out by their commands for specific scouting mission in support of that command and the general scouts were fulltime scouts who were assigned to a company of which its sole function was scouting. Has anyone ever seen anything that states exactly what is the difference between special and general scouts or was this just something Forrest came up with as a way to capture what he wanted?
Does anyone know how many scouts and or companies were absorbed back into their commands with his August 1864 directive? Did this have any significant impact on increasing his warfighters?
Bringing the