Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 1.djvu/751

Rh he did good service in retarding Sherman s advance and selected the battle-ground of Bentonville, which was the scene of his last engagement. After hostilities closed he retired to his plantation, and politically advocated a conciliatory policy, which at first found little favor. Yet, in 1876, he was nominated for governor against D. H. Chamberlain and elected. In 1878 he met with an accident which caused the loss of a leg, and while his life still hung in the balance he was elected to the United States Senate. After long and distinguished service in this exalted position he retired in 1891 and was appointed by President Cleveland in 1893 to the position of Commissioner of Railroads for the United States, which he resigned in 1897.

Lieutenant-General Nathan Bedford Forrest in 1865, private of Cavalry in 1861. As Senator Daniel has said, "what genius was in that wonderful man! He felt the field as Blind Tom touches the keys of the piano. ’War means killing, he said, ’and the way to kill is to get there first with the most men.’ He was not taught at West Point, but he gave lessons to West Point.&quot; His career was quite as brilliant and devoted in its allegiance to duty in peace as it was in the conflict of arms. His father’s family had moved from Virginia, before the Revolution, to North Carolina, where every member able to bear arms at that time fought in the cause of independence. His parents moved thence to Bedford county, Tennessee, where he was born July 13, 1821. In 1834 he moved with his father to Marshall county, Mississippi, where the latter soon died, leaving young Forrest to support the widow and family with no resources other than a small hill farm. He undertook this work with such devotion and energy, that while neglecting his own education he provided liberally for that of his brothers and sisters, and going into business at Memphis became able to purchase a large plantation, and at the outbreak of the