For what it’s worth, Nathan Bedford Forrest seems to have been defending himself against charges that he ordered/condoned a massacre of blacks at Fort Pillow.
From the Richmond Daily Dispatch August 20, 1864:
General Forrest and the Negroes.
–It is known that the negroes of the Methodist congregation at Uniontown, Alabama, recently contributed one thousand dollars to the Association for the Relief of Maimed Soldiers, and being informed that this contribution was sufficient to constitute a life director, they selected General Forrest for that honor. The Selma Reporter publishes the General’s letter to Dr. Neely acknowledging the compliment, in which he says:
Memphis City Directory for 1855-6.
“I am not indifferent to the compliment paid me by ‘the Methodist Congregation of Negroes at Uniontown.’ I prise this manifestation on the part of the negro more than I fear the thousand calumnies with which a defeated and vanquished foe are endeavoring to blacken my name. It has been my fortune to have much dealing with the negro since I arrived at manhood, and I have uniformly treated them with kindness and humanity. Those that have been forcibly taken from me I know are sighing for the happy home from which they have been seduced. These that heeded not the ridiculous promises of the Yankees, and who still remain with me, fly from his approaching footsteps with the same instincts of fear and danger that they would fly front a leprosy. I predict that, after peace shall have been restored, most of the negroes that have been decoyed from their homes will gladly and joyfully return, infinitely preferring slavery among the Southern people to freedom at the North. Instead of guilty of the stricture charged upon me, I have my sympathies for the negro. He had [been misled?] by false promises, and I had much rather make [war?] upon the white man, who has deceived him.”
The Association for the Relief of Maimed Soldiers is discussed in a book review at H-Net Online.
General Forrest led a surprise raid on Memphis on August 21, 1864.
