Forrest Jesse A Forrest

[diane]

This is a little continuation of a thread in the Ancestry Research forum started by dnsmithOO, regarding her ggggrandfather Jesse Anderson Forrest. I thought it might be a good idea to have a place to sort of stash new information as it was found on Jesse, and maybe add some of his raids and operations around Forrest's campaigns, or any personal or anecdotal items. All things Jesse!

I was looking for a little more information on Jesse's death - says on the Find a Grave he died of malarial hematuria. Ouch! But in the 1870s there were a series of malaria epidemics in Memphis, the worst epidemic being a yellow fever outbreak in 1879 - took off 20,000 people around Memphis and down Mississippi. Larry said Bedford had problems from malaria as well as diabetes, and Bill Forrest died of 'stomach blockage' in 1871 - possibly malaria as well. He had a stomach injury, though, from being waylaid by the Matlocks and a vengeful former scout of his. At any rate, Jesse was engaged in farming, livestock sales and contracting - some of which was draining swamps around the area of the city. That was a law enacted about 1880 or thereabouts, when they realized what might be causing the outbreaks. Wonder if he got it doing that work? It was called typho-malarial fever back then. Jesse, along with Bedford survived the typhoid that killed half the Forrest kids but they all had it - a few years later it finally killed their father. Typhoid hangs around in the system for years, sometimes for life, and can cause a number of health problems even if there's no more typhoid. Bedford had a couple recurrences of typhoid during the war, don't know about after. But, since Jesse had the stuff as well, he probably had some bouts later in life. It seems, from a newspaper article in the archives of the Memphis Appeal that Jesse had been working hard - doesn't say at what - around the time he took sick and died. If he had typhoid bouts like most people of that time who survived the first round, I'd bet money he was accustomed to toughing it out - didn't expect it to get him this time around! He was only 55. Might have kept on working instead of taking it easy - that sounds like he didn't have much but it's amazing what people of that day walked around with. He had a number of dependents, couldn't take time to be sick!

I want to explore this some more - been interested in Jesse for a while - and see if there is more in the way of confirmation and solid sources. Nothing really firm, just little snips here and there!

 

[roberts]

Colonel Jesse Anderson Forrest attempted the capture the steamer "Belle of Saint Louis" on the Mississippi River just north of Memphis on October 27, 1864. The ship was making a landing at Randolph to take on cotton bound for Cairo when Colonel Forrest led fifty men at the charge. The crew and passengers panicked but the pilot quickly ordered reverse engines to back the boat into the river. Six Confederates managed to leap on board before the steamer escaped. They went to the engine room and ordered the boat back to shore. The pilot at the wheel managed to thwart this effort until two of the Confederates climbed to the pilot house to force the ship back to the bluff landing. Just as they made progress, they were confronted by several Union soldiers who were passengers on board. A pistol duel resulted in the deaths of three of the federals and both Confederates as well as the wounding of several more soldiers and civilians.

The ship now resumed backing away from shore. The remaining Confederates fled the ship and leapt into the river and swam to to safety. The ship was carrying a $40,000 payroll and a load of cotton. There was speculation that it was an "inside job" however an investigation concluded that no one on board had set the raiders up. There was suspicion of the cotton dealer who knew of the proposed arrival time of the ship but it is possible that the attack was just opportunistic.

No payday for Jesse.