As another Lame Cherry exclusive in matter anti matter.
I'm always interested in the tactics and strategies of successful people. General Nathan Bedford Forrest was a unique warrior in he applied military sciences so well that it seemed that he violated military sciences. In the below quote which someone in the book I was reading though so vital they underlined the passages, we come to the success of Nathan Forrest at war.
In thee above, Forrest did not waste his troopers energies on practice, but instead expected from them absolute obedience to commands. He would not tolerate insubordination, but engaged in it in some fiery exchanges with commanders who gave what he deemed stupid orders.
One time General Hood in retreat demanded Forrest's mules to pull wagons. Forrest did not obey the order. When the officer appeared and asked why, Forrest stormed at the officer, telling him that he would tie his superior into a knot with his own legs and choke them with those legs. He told the officer to lighten his own wagons so their mules could pull the baggage as Forrest stole all of his mules form the Union army, never took a mule from the Confederates, so he was not shorting himself on mules.
Forrest proved right in the retreat of Hood in baggage and wagons were abandoned while Forrest saved the day in having his mules at a river crossing.
That is what if you read the science of Nathan Bedford Forrest, you see what he was about. He had no time for sabers or lances. No, the best weapon was a short rifle and 12 shots in two pistols, which proved the destruction of foes, in his troopers on horse or charging on foot.
The tactics of Forrest were sound in "hit em on the end" and "get there with the most first". That is how you win.
Grant and Sherman literally sent two cavalry divisions to assassinate that "devil Forrest". Forrest whipped both of them, because he explained without ever intending it an explanation, "While those West Pointers were setting up, I was hitting them".
You are going to win every battle you engage in, if you are like Forrest in knowing the best position, arming your men with the most firepower and while your enemy is trying to assemble to charge, you strike them with superior forces on their flanks.
For inbred ability, Forrest sensed the weak points on a battlefield, in columns and he exploited this perfectly.
Nathan Bedford Forrest defeated his West Point schooled opponents, simply because he could assess a situation immediately and order an attack immediately.
He was probably the best cavalry officer the world ever produced.
Nuff Said
agtG
