5. That Forrest’s men demonstrated the fact that Southern cavalrymen, fighting on foot, can meet, with good chances of victory, a superior number of veteran infantry in the open field.
6. That in cavalry operations, the most essential thing is a bold and clashing leader, who will strike furiously before the enemy has time to consider what is coming, and with every available man in action.
7. That Nathan Bedford Forrest, by his deeds in war, became an exemplar of horseback fighting, whose shining qualities might well become the measure of other deeds on other fields when war is flagrant.
8. That there is not an instance recorded where so large a body of defeated soldiers returned so contentedly to their former pursuits, “beating their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks;” yes, thousands of them going into the fields to plough and plant with the same horses they rode in battle.
9. That the unpreparedness of both sides at the beginning of the war emphasizes the necessity for a thorough preparedness of our united country for any emergency, that is to say, that while Uncle Sam needs not to be strutting around “with a chip on his shoulder,” and his hat cocked up on the side of his head, he should be able to say to “the other fellow” that he is rich in men and munitions, and, moreover, has the finest navy that floats.
10. That having taken an humble part in a great war in which I ofttimes looked upon the pale faces of the dead and heard the groans of the wounded, having now had fifty years, from its beginning, to reflect upon its calamities, I am firmly of the opinion that all enlightened nations will finally come to arbitration in the settlement of international questions.
11. That no true picture of war can be drawn, either in words or on canvas, because of the elements so numerous and so complex to be considered. And even if this were possible, it would be a representation of a horrifying spectacle.
12. That the victorious shouts of men in battle bring small remuneration and poor consolation to the bereaved widows and orphans of their dead comrades at home.
13. That Gen. Grant, after a wonderful experience in the bloody work of war, knew himself thoroughly well when he uttered the memorable words:
“LET US HAVE PEACE.”