Forrest If you had to boil it down to it's essence, what made Forrest so effective.....

jdawg

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Aug 2, 2019
For example, for Stonewall Jackson I would say:

  1. Lack of fear of failure due to his strong religious beliefs (i.e. moral courage).
  2. Underdog mentality due to his poorer upbringing compared to most west pointers.
  3. Ability to concentrate and focus for long periods on strategy and tactics.
  4. Belief that a gallon of sweat saved a pint of blood for his soldiers. He did not mind brutal marches.
 
He was not controlled mentally by conventional military norms, rather he could visualize want he wanted and convey to his subordinates how he wanted it done. Plus, I think that probably as time went on his opponents were intimidated by what he had accomplished and his "bigger than life" persona. :devil:
 
Boiled nutshell: Audacity, great organization and logistics skills, detail oriented, excellent intelligence gathering/spy network, teamwork - his brothers usually operated in co-ordination with his main objectives, well trained and well disciplined troops, a clear understanding of psychological warfare. He understood complex military principles without knowing about them and could distill their essence so clearly anyone could understand his orders.

Well-known maxims:

You got 'em skeered, John, keep the skeer on 'em!
Oh, I just took the shortcut and got there first with the most men.
War means fighting. Fighting means killing.
Never stand and receive a charge. Charge, too!
No matter how many of them there are, and how few of you there are - show fight!
Knowing where they are is not as important as knowing where they ain't.

And, a less well known one:

If you can't whip 'em, outrun 'em! (Forrest knew when to git!)
 
I will use Sherman`s own instructions and advice to Sooy Smith in how to best deal with Forrest before the Meridian Campaign and Battle of Okolona:

"I explained to him personally the nature of Forrest as a man and of his peculiar force; told him that in his route he was sure to encounter Forrest, who always attacked with a vehemence for which he must be prepared, and that after he had repelled the first attack, he must in turn assume the most determined offensive, overwhelm and utterly destroy his whole force."

Forrest was determined and would not give up easily, once it became obvious that he may be defeated he came at you again, more determined than the first attack. He was relentless and always found a way to defeat his enemy. Sooy Smith, fully understood this... after he was routed by Forrest on 22 Feb 1864 at Prairie Mount during the Battle of Okolona and was being chased back into Tennessee. The fact that Forrest was not a typical West Pointer, but enlisted as a private and worked his way up to the rank of Lt. General as a soldiers soldier, a citizen-general made the most difference in his approach and the tactics that he used. He was unconventional and unpredictable and this was his strength, as the West Pointers could not figure his strategy or cunning as they were relying on their military manuals and subordinates to advise them of what Forrest may or may not do... which was always quite different than what he actually ended up doing.

If I had to pick only one trait to best describe Forrest it would be, perseverance...
 
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I will use Sherman`s own instructions and advice to Sooy Smith in how to best deal with Forrest before the Battle of Okolona:

"I explained to him personally the nature of Forrest as a man and of his peculiar force; told him that in his route he was sure to encounter Forrest, who always attacked with a vehemence for which he must be prepared, and that after he had repelled the first attack, he must in turn assume the most determined offensive, overwhelm and utterly destroy his whole force."

Forrest was determined and would not give up easily, once it became obvious that he may be defeated he came at you again, more determined than the first attack. He was relentless and always found a way to defeat his enemy. Sooy Smith, fully understood this... after he was routed by Forrest on 22 Feb 1864 at Prairie Mount during the Battle of Okolona and was being chased back into Tennessee. The fact that Forrest was not a typical West Pointer, but enlisted as a private and worked his way up to the rank of Lt. General as a soldiers soldier, a citizen-general made the most difference in his approach and the tactics that he used. He was unconventional and unpredictable and this was his strength, as the West Pointers could not figure his strategy or cunning as they were relying on their military manuals and subordinates to advise them of what Forrest may or may not do... which was always quite different than what he actually ended up doing.

If I had to pick only one trait to best describe Forrest it would be, perseverance...

This is why Forrest won way more than he lost, and then he didn't have more than a few real defeats - he kept going when anybody else would have quit, and he did the unexpected. At one river crossing, the water was high and fast but the battle was on the other side - a trooper commented out loud, "The only man fool enough to cross over here and fight a battle is Old Forrest." "Old Forrest is what the boys call me," said somebody from behind him. Had some 'splainin' to do! Sometimes the men thought he was nuts, but he led them to victory so often they learned to trust him. "Ol' Bedford will figure us a way out of this." Few commanders, even well known ones, had that level of confidence from their men.
 
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