Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 7.djvu/430

Rh of duty. "General Deshler fell," said General Cleburne, "a shell passing fairly through his chest. It was the first battle in which this gentleman had the honor of commanding as a general officer. He was a brave and efficient one. He brought always to the discharge of duty a warm zeal and a high conscientiousness." His successor in brigade command, Roger Q. Mills, of Texas, said in his report of the battle of Chickamauga: "I may pause here and pay a passing tribute to the memory of our fallen chief. He was brave, generous and kind, even to a fault. Ever watchful and careful for the safety of any member of his command, he was ever ready to peril his own. Refusing to permit a staff officer to endanger his life in going to examine the cartridge- boxes to see what amount of ammunition his men had, he cheerfully started himself to brave the tempest of death that raged on the crest of the hill. He had gone but little way when he fell—fell as he would wish to fall —in the very center of his brigade, in the midst of the line, between the ranks, and surrounded by the bodies of his fallen comrades. He poured out his own blood upon the spot watered by the best blood of the brigade. Among the host of brave hearts that were offered on the altar of sacrifice for their country on that beautiful Sabbath, there perished not one nobler, braver, or better than his. He lived beloved, and fell lamented and mourned by every officer and man of his command. He sleeps on the spot where he fell, on the field of his country’s victory and glory, surrounded by the bodies of those who stood around him in life and lie around him in death."

Major-General John Horace Forney was born at Lincolnton, Lincoln county, N. C., August 12, 1829, and in 1835 went with his parents to Calhoun county, Ala. His father was Jacob Forney, son of Gen. Peter Forney, and brother of Daniel M. Forney, who represented North Carolina in Congress. His mother was a daughter of