Gen. Cheatham, one of the rebel commanders at Corinth, is a native of Robinson county, Tennessee, and is looked upon as a good type of Southern officer. He loves fighting, it is said, as well as whiskey – a sort of rough and tough customer, who travels on his muscle, and delights in shocking all the proprieties of civilized life. He has whipped one man every week since he entered the service, and frequently half a dozen. He is the person who said to his men at Belmont: “Follow me, brave Tennesseeans [sic], and I will lead you to victory or to h—l!” More recently at Columbus, he is reported to have offered his discharge, a horse, and equipments, to any man who would whip him in a fist fight. He is a well known horse racer, sporting man, and desperado, but has gained a wonderful reputation for pluck, which he wields to the most intense satisfaction of his followers.
– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Friday Morning, April 11, 1862, p. 2
1 comment:
He was also intoxicated at the Battle of Murfreesboro and couldn't even mount his horse. Not known to be a thinking general, just point him in the general direction and turn him loose. Much of the confusion around the disaster at Spring Hill rests with Cheatham.
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