Statement of Col. N. B. Forrest.
MARCH 15, 1862.
Between 1 and 2 o'clock on Sunday morning, February 16,
being sent for, I arrived at General Pillow's headquarters, and found him,
General Floyd, and General Buckner in conversation. General Pillow told me that
they had received information that the enemy were again occupying the same
ground they had occupied the morning before. I told him I did not believe it,
as I had left that part of the field, on our left, late the evening before. He
told me he had sent out scouts, who reported a large force of the enemy moving
around to our left. He instructed me to go immediately and send two reliable
men to ascertain the condition of a road running near the river bank and
between the enemy's right and the river, and also to ascertain the position of
the enemy. I obeyed his instructions and awaited the return of the scouts. They
stated that they saw no enemy, but could see their fires in the same place
where they were Friday night; that from their examination and information
obtained from a citizen living on the river road the water was about to the
saddle skirts, and the mud about half-leg deep in the bottom where it had been
overflowed. The bottom was about a quarter of a mile wide and the water then
about 100 yards wide.
During the conversation that then ensued among the general
officers General Pillow was in favor of trying to cut our way out. General
Buckner said that he could not hold his position over half an hour in the
morning, and that if he attempted to take his force out it would be seen by the
enemy (who held part of his intrenchments), and be followed and cut to pieces.
I told him that I would take my cavalry around there and he could draw out
under cover of them. He said that an attempt to cut our way out would involve
the loss of three-fourths of the men. General Floyd said our force was so
demoralized as to cause him to agree with General Buckner as to our probable
loss in attempting to cut our way out. I said that I would agree to cut my way
through the enemy's lines at any point the general might designate, and stated
that I could keep back their cavalry, which General Buckner thought would
greatly harass our infantry, in retreat. General Buckner or General Floyd said
that they (the enemy) would bring their artillery to bear on us. I went out of
the room, and when I returned General Floyd said he could not and would not
surrender himself. I then asked if they were going to surrender the command.
General Buckner remarked that they were. I then slated that I had not come out
for the purpose of surrendering my command, and would not do it if they would follow
me out; that I intended to go out if I saved but one man; and then turning to
General Pillow I asked him what I should do. He replied, “Cut your way out.” I
immediately left the house and sent for all the officers under my command, and
stated to them the facts that had occurred and stated my determination to
leave, and remarked that all who wanted to go could follow me, and those who
wished to stay and take the consequences might remain in camp. All of my own
regiment and Captain Williams, of Helm's Kentucky regiment, said they would go
with me if the last man fell. Colonel Gantt was sent for and urged to get out
his battalion as often as three times, but he and two Kentucky companies
(Captains Wilcox and Huey) refused to come. I marched out the remainder of my
command, with Captain Porter's artillery horses, and about 200 men of different
commands up the river road and across the overflow, which I found to be about
saddle-skirt deep. The weather was intensely cold; a great many of the men were
already frost-bitten, and it was the opinion of the generals that the infantry
could not have passed through the water and have survived it.
N. B. FORREST,
Colonel, Commanding
Forrest's Regiment of Cavalry.
Sworn to and subscribed before me on the 15th day of March,
1862.
LEVI SUGARS,
Intendant of the
Town of Decatur, Ala.,
and ex-officio
Justice of the Peace.
SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of
the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume
7 (Serial No. 7), p. 295-6
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