The fort opened on us with two big guns, making a mighty noise, but doing no damage.
Our batteries soon set fire to the warehouse and the wharf, and destroyed all supplies within reach of our guns.
General Sherman, commenting on this raid, said that it was a feat of arms that won his highest admiration. With a cavalry force and a few field pieces of artillery, General Forrest had captured and sunk several gunboats and transports on a navigable river and under the protection of a fort.
The grand result of this expedition, covering about two weeks, was the capture and destruction of more than $7,000,000 worth of property, with a loss of only six men killed and perhaps a dozen wounded.
After the lapse of nearly sixty years, in contemplating the career of this untaught Hannibal of the Southern Confederacy, we find that the three tallest peaks of his fame are the pursuit and capture of A. D. Streight and his raiders, the battle of Brice’s Cross-Roads, and the Johnsonville raid.
These three exploits will forever hold aloft the name of Nathan Bedford Forrest.
CHAPTER XXV
THE BEGINNING OF DARK DAYS
