Battles Fought Under Gen. Forrest

Confederate Veteran
Volume 5, Number 5, Page 200
May, 1897

The following address of Gen. Forrest to his troops is copied from the Metropolitan Record and News York Vindicator of Saturday, April 1, 1865:

Soldiers, the old campaign is ended, and your commanding general deems this an appropriate occasion to speak of the steadiness and patriotism with which you have borne the hardships of the past year. The marches and labors you have performed during that period will find no parallel in the history of this war.

On the 24th of December, 1863, there were three thousand of you, unorganized and undisciplined, at Jackson, Tenn., only four hundred of whom were armed. You were surrounded by fifteen thousand of the enemy, who were congratulating themselves on your certain capture. You started out with your artillery, wagon trains, and a large number of cattle, which you succeeded in bringing through, since which time you have fought and won the following battles-battles which will enshrine your names in the hearts of your countrymen and live in history an imperishable monument to your prowess: Jacks Creek, Estinala, Somerville Oakalone, Union City, Paducah, Fort Pillow. Bolivar, Tishomingo Creek, Harrisburg, Hurricane Creek, Memphis, Athens, Sulphur Springs, Pulaski, Carter's Creek Columbia, and Jacksonville are the fields upon Which you have won fadeless immortality In the recent campaign in Middle Tennessee you sustained the reputation so nobly won. For twenty-six days from the time you left Florence, on the 21st of November to the 26th of December, you were constantly engaged with the enemy, and without a murmur endured the hunger, cold, and labor of the campaign. To sum up in brief your triumphs during the past year you have fought fifty battles, killed and captured sixteen thousand of the enemy, captured two thousand horses and mules, sixty-seven pieces of artillery, four gun-boats, fourteen transports, twenty barges, three hundred wagons, fifty ambulances, ten thousand stand of small arms, and forty block-houses; and have destroyed thirty-six railroad bridges, two hundred miles of railroad, six engines, one hundred cars, and fifteen million dollars' worth of property. In the accomplishment of this great work you were occasionally sustained by other troops who joined you in the fight, but your regular number never exceeded five thousand, two thousand of whom have been killed or wounded, while in prisoners you have lost about two hundred.

If your course has been marked by the graves of patriotic heroes who behave fallen by your side, it has at the same time been more plainly marked by the blood of the invader. While you sympathize with the friends of the fallen, your sorrows should be appeased by the knowledge that they fell as brave men, battling for all that makes life worth living.

Soldiers, you now rest for a short time from your labors. During the respite prepare for action. Your commanding general is ready to lead you again to the defense of the common cause, and appeals to you by a remembrance of the past career, your desolated homes, your insulted women, and suffering children, and, above all, by the memory of your dead comrades, to yield obedience to discipline, and to buckle on your armor anew for the fight.

Bring with you the soldier's safest armor: a determination to fight while the enemy pollutes your soil, to fight as long as he denies your rights, to fight until independence shall have been achieved, to fight for home, children, liberty, and all you hold dear. Show to the world the superhuman and sublime spirit with which a people may be inspired when fighting for the inestimable boon of liberty. Be not allured by the siren song of peace, for there can be no peace save upon your separate, independent nationality. You can never again unite with those who have murdered your sons, outraged your helpless families, and with demoniac malice wantonly destroyed your property and now seek to make slaves of you. A proposition of reunion with a people who have avowed their purpose to appropriate the property and to subjugate and annihilate the freemen of the South would stamp with infamy the names of your gallant dead and the living heroes of this war. Be patient, obedient, and earnest, and the day is not far distant when you can return to your homes and live in the full fruition of freedom around the old family altar.