The Duty of the Hour
The first thing I learned about Lieutenant-General Nathan
Bedford Forrest was that he had twenty-nine horses shot out from under him in
battle; in my fifth-grade social studies class, I remember thinking to myself
that the most dangerous thing one could be was one of Forrest’s horses. The
unconquerable Tennessean was bold, severe, and uncompromising in the discharge
of his duties for our Cause. He was born in direst poverty on the Duck River settlement,
the son of a blacksmith, heir to, in John Wyeth’s words, “that restless race of
pioneers who in search of home and fortune had followed close upon the heels of
the savages, as these were driven farther and farther towards the setting sun.”
From this obscurity on the frontier, Forrest attained a position of prominence
in Memphis through his own determined struggle. He was animated by a rigid code
of honor and was known for his fierce, yet judicious, temperament. He was seen
to drink only after sustaining serious wounds; when invited to take a drink, he
often declined, saying, “My staff does all my drinking.” His friends said that
without any affectations of piety, “Forrest was by nature deeply reverent and
religious.”
They don't make them like Forrest anymore. We now have a bunch
ReplyDeleteof incompetent, traitorous, greedy, self-serving buffoons.
Forrest, one of my favorites. What a man.
Amen, Amen.
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