Nathan Bedford Forrest, a burr under General Sherman’s saddle, "the most remarkableman our Civil War produced on either side." General Sherman

After Forrest defeated the Union at Brice's Crossroads in June of 1864, General Sherman put his designs on Mobile on hold.  Sherman telegraphed Lincoln's Secretary of War, Edwin Santon, "I  have made necessary orders, through General McPherson, to inquire well into the Sturgis matter; also to send as large a force again as he can get on Forrest's trail, and harass him and the country through which he  passes.  We must destroy him if possible." 1.

In a dispatch to McPherson he says, "We will not attempt the Mobile trip now, but I wish to organize as large a force as possible at Memphis......to pursue Forrest on foot, devastating the land over which he has passed, or may pass, and to make the people of Tennessee and Mississippi feel that although a bold, daring and successful leader, he will bring ruin and misery on any country where he may pass or tarry.  If we do not punish Forrest and THE PEOPLE NOW, THE WHOLE EFFECT OF OUR VAST CONQUEST WILL BE LOST."1.

And so the people of Mississippi and Tennessee were punished and not Forrest by the Union under Sherman.  The heinous plan Sherman used to defeat the Native Americans a decade later was first honed on the civilian populations of the South.

In my area of West Tennessee there is a cemetery with Twin boys, aged 21, who fought for the Union and upon their return home were murdered for the crimes General Sherman's charges committed against the civilian population.

The war of Northern Aggression left plenty of scars on the land and in the hearts of its people.  Only 4% of the Southern population owned slaves, yet the war was against the 100%.

I agree that slaves deserve reparations, but so do the southerners who were burned out of house and home and were noncombatants during the war.

To Sherman, this little war was a Vast Conquest.  To the South the war was for its survival and the right to self rule.  The North had the population advantage 2 to 1 over the South.  They had the financial advantage as well.  They were better equipped and supplied and they were ruthless as Sherman's march to the sea proved out.

How different might the world's history have been if States Rights would have won in 1865.  The US would not have been the behemoth it is today, Germany would probably have won the first World War and Hitler would have only been a failed artist.

1. page 375 "That Devil Forrest, Life of General Nathan Bedford Forrest, by John A. Wyeth

Joseph Biden Chancre, Sr  Historian Urban Poverty Law center

PS  This is a great book about Forrest, who has been maligned by the Yankee agressor writers of history.  The Truth about this great general is out there.