This Week in American Military History:

Guns & Patriots

Mar. 20, 1863: Confederate cavalry under the command of the famous – some might argue, infamous – Kentucky raider, Brig. Gen. John Hunt Morgan, strikes a sizeable Union reconnaissance force under Col. Albert S. Hall at Vaught’s Hill, Tennessee. Though outnumbered and surrounded, Hall’s hilltop position enables the colonel to beat back a series of attacks until Morgan – learning that Hall is to be reinforced with additional U.S. troops from Murfreesboro – is forced to disengage.

Though Vaught’s Hill was a defeat for Morgan, he was far from whipped. His colorful exploits will inspire Constance Fenimore Woolson, a grandniece of James Fenimore Cooper, to pen the lines:

“Morgan, Morgan the raider, and Morgan's terrible men,
With bowie knives and pistols, are galloping up the glen."

Mar. 23, 1775: In a speech before the House of Burgesses, future Virginia governor (and colonel of the 1st Virginia Regiment) Patrick Henry exclaims, “Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”

Mar. 23, 1943: Elements of Germany's vaunted Afrika Korps clash with U.S. Army forces near the oasis of El Guettar in Tunisia.

In previous fighting at Kasserine Pass, inexperienced and marginally led American troops had been defeated. At El Guettar, however, the American soldier under the command of Lt. Gen. George S. Patton Jr., literally outfights his German and Italian counterpart. At one point during the battle, Patton – observing the destruction of German forces – remarks, “My God, it seems a crime to murder good infantry like that.”

Mar. 25, 1864: Confederate cavalry under the command of Maj. Gen. (future Lt. Gen.) Nathan Bedford Forrest, “the wizard of the saddle,” strike Union forces under Col. Stephen G. Hicks in the Battle of Paducah, Kentucky.

Forrest’s horsemen quickly seize the town. Hicks’ men retreat to prepared defenses at nearby Fort Anderson where Forrest issues an ultimatum: “If you surrender, you shall be treated as prisoners of war; but if I have to storm your works, you may expect no quarter.”

Hicks refuses. A detachment of Forrest’s cavalry attempts to take the fort, but the troopers are repulsed by both the defenders and two gunboats on the Ohio River. Forrest withdraws.

Nevertheless, Forrest’s previous and future exploits will earn him a reputation as one of the most feared and respected cavalry commanders of the Civil War.

Forrest will be wounded four times over the course of the war. Twenty-nine horses will be shot out from under him. But he will purportedly kill 30 men in single combat, spawning the boast that he has one up over the Federals (Some sources say 30 horses and 31 men, but you get the idea).

In the decades following the war, U.S. and foreign military officers alike will study Forrest’s campaigns. It has even been speculated that some aspects of the German Blitzkrieg were patterned after some of Forrest’s operations.

Union Gen. William T. Sherman will describe Forrest as “the most remarkable man our Civil War produced on either side.” And when Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee is asked to name the greatest soldier under his command, he will purportedly respond, “A man I have never seen, sir. His name is Forrest."