Forrest did not normally lead attacks on fortified positions. Even if he had wanted to do so here, he would have had to move to the flank and infiltrate into the ditch (as the 1200 or so troops making the assault did to avoid the Yankee fire) before climbing out of the ditch and over the rampart. For a man who was pretty banged up and not moving well, that would be pretty difficult and hard to do.
A few points:
- According to Union accounts, the firing stopped about 20 minutes after the Union flag went down.
- The fort was not surrendered (the Confederates cut the flag down as they swarmed over the fort).
- Forrest and Chalmers were together when the assault started, about 400 yards from the fort (on a small rise, far enough back to see what was going on).
- When it became obvious the fort was falling, Forrest and Chalmers came forward to establish control.
- By several Confederate accounts, the reason the firing stopped was that Forrest came into the fort and ordered the firing to stop.
No one should doubt that there were definitely men killed and wounded who should have not become casualties. There were definite murders committed here, just fewer than are often claimed -- and some of those were white men killing white men (there were locals here on both sides and the Union cavalry had been riding about the county flying a literal black flag in the weeks before the battle, getting payback for even earlier abuses by Confederates in the county). There is testimony about Yankees being called out of the milling mob by name and then shot when they stepped forward.
Another thing to note is that the assault is at 4 PM and fight has been going on since early morning. The commander of the post, Major Booth, was killed about 9 AM; his adjutant was then shot while standing over him. The USCT sortied out against the Rebels at about 10 AM and (according to USCT testimony) the USCT took heavier casualties than the white cavalry before 4 PM. None of the men killed before the 4 PM close assault could possibly be "massacred".
You'll see stories of live men being nailed to the walls of burning buildings by Rebels. There actually is a verifiable report of a Yankee burial party finding
***one*** corpse with his clothes nailed to the floor of a burned-out building during a truce the next morning.
A lot of people died who, in controlled circumstances, would have lived. Even if the circumstances were perfectly controlled, many would have died in the assault. Some were dead before the assault started. No one can say how many were "massacred". No one can say how many died unnecessarily.