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SOME PAGES FROM 7YY SCRAP BOOK
INCIDENTS IN THE EARLY LIFE
OF GEN. FORREST.
The following is given as oc
curring in the early career of Gen.
Forrest:
During the Texan war of independ
ence in February, 1841, Bedford For
rest joined a company of volunteers,
which, however, was dissolved before
leaving New Orleans, still he, with
a few other members, proceeded to
Houston, where they arrived desti
tute of means to proceed to the seat
*of war. His companions returned
by procuring aid from friends, but
Bedford would not receive such aid,
preferring to remain until he could
earn enough to carry him home. This
he did by making fence rails.
In 1842 Forrest became a partner
with his uncle Jonathan in Hernan
do, Mississippi. March 10, 1845, oc
■curred the fight in Hernando, be
tween Bedford on one side and four
men, William, James and Jefferson
Matlock, planters, and Bean, an over
seer. The four in concert made a
sudden attack on Forrest in the pub
lic square. Thirteen shots were fired
and bowie knives werp freely used
The three Matlocks were wounded
and Bean driven from the field. For
rest was slightly wounded, but a
shot intended for him by Bean was
received by his uncle Jonathan, who
had taken no part in the affray. In
this momentary battle Forrest showed
the “distinctive audacity, coolness
and determination which were
brought to bear so brilliantly twenty
years later on his shining military
career.’ * A few months later oc
curred another incident illustrating
his dauntless prowess and coolness.
Riding one day along the highway
from Hernando to Holly Springs, in
company with Mr. Morse, a well
known lawyer, they were suddenly
met in the road by a planter of the
neighborhood in which they were,
James Dyson by name, notorious for
his lawless, bloodthirsty courses, and
who cherished, it happened, a deadly
grudge against the lawyer. Dyson
carried a double barreled gun, and
without uttering a word or making
a gesture of warning, shot Morse, who
fell without a groan from his saddle
to the ground, with a rifle ball in
his heart. Instantly turning the oth
er barrel —loaded, it seems, with
buckshot—upon Forrest, the murder
ous Dyson threatened to shoot him
also, though with no other cause of
animosity than that he had witnessed
the affair. But Forrest was not to
be thus 4 * taken lightly by the beard, ’ ’
sudden and unexpected as had
been the deed; for he had drawn and
held his revolver cocked, with a
steady aim at the ruffian who men
aced him, and whom he coolly warned
that he had 4 4 better make sure work,
for it was now a game at which tw
could play.” Dyson lowered his
weapon and forbore his purpo' e
Forrest sternly prosecuted the mur
derer to conviction, although he final
ly escaped punishment
- SAM HOUSTON.
Events in the Life of a Remarkable
Man—His Separation From His
Wife—Settling Up His Affairs in
Tennessee and Joining the Red Men
—Marriage With an Indian Maiden
—His Return to Civilization.
(J. M. Williams, in November Mag
azine of American History.)
In April, 1829, Samuel Houston,
then 36 years of age, in the full flush
of personal popularity and political
success, surprised the people of the
United States by resigning the office
of governor of Tennessee, which he
had held for two years, by a letter of
dignified stateliness, assigning as a
reason an exigency in his personal
affairs which he did not describe.
What was the cause of this abandon
ment of a successful and promisi'
career has never been definitely dis
covered. Houston never revealed it
so far as is known, even to his most
intimate friends, and conjecture was
left to invent various sensational and
romantic stories. He had been mar
ried three months previously, and the
most current romance was that his
wife confessed in a moment of de •
spair or irritation that she had never
loved him and that her affections
were still engrossed by another. Such
a blow might have been sufficient to
have unhinged an ardent and passion
ate nature like that of Houston, nev
er remarkable for self-control, and
it is also possible, although it
might be considered more extraordi
nary, that a longing for the savage
life such as he had experienced dur
ing his youth had become irresisti
ble, and that no price was too heavy
to pay for its indulgence.
There is no instance of quite so
conspicuous an
Abandonment of Fortune
and honor from this motive, but there
have been times, even to this day, in
which persons of intelligence and sta
tion have abandoned all the hopes of
a successful career and the charms of
civilized society from an irresistible
impulse to live with the children of
nature and indulge their primitive
instincts. Houston had shown a
strong bent in this direction through
out his whole life. When a mere lad
he had left his mother’s cabin in
the mountains of Tennessee and lived
for five years with his friends and
neighbors, the Cherokees, learned
their language, which is so difficult
that no adult person is said to have
ever acquired it, and thoroughly
adopted their ways and customs. Tra
dition says that he had been adopted
into the family of a chief, and at any
rate his courage, activity, and com
panionable qualities made him a fa
vorite as well as a tolerated resident
of the tribe. After he had left them
and returned to civilization, in his
early manhood, he shared a campaign
with them, a considerable force of
Cherokees acting as allies to Jack
son’s army in the Creek war, and
they had seen his acts of desperate
valor in the charge upon the last fast
ness of the defense at the battle of
WATSON’S WRBKLY JfiFPBfcSONIAN.
the Horse Shoe. At any rate, what
ever the cause of the abandonment
of his career, it was with his old
friends and companions that he
sought refuge and seclusion.
Having settled up his affairs in
Tennessee, he descended the river to
Cairo, then a small trading post,
where he fitted up a small flatboat
with whiskey and Indian goods, and
floated down the Mississippi to the
mouth of the Arkansas. After a
long and laborious voyage up the
river he finally reached the mouth of
the Bayou Illinois, a small stream
flowing into it about thirty miles be
low Fort Gibson. Here was situat
ed the original town and council
house of the tribe, and here was the
home of his friend, the principal
chief, known by the English name of
John Jolly.
He took up his abode with the
chief, putting on the Indian dress
and adopting all their habits and
manners. Living witnesses among
the Cherokees have seen the old chief
and Houston seated on the earthen
floor of the cabin by the wooden
trough of ka-nau han a, hominy
cooked to the consistency of paste,
which always stood in the center, and
feeding each other in the aboriginal
fashion of friendliness with the com
mon spoon, and although assuming
too much dignity for the ball plays
and sports, he took part in all the
occupations of hunting and fishing,
and was to
All Intents and Purposes
a Cherokee brave. Houston had more
than one natural characteristic ol
the Indian besides his fondness for
wild life, and particularly shared
their fondness for barbaric display
and theatrical effect. He may have
been as careless and slatternly as they
when lounging about the cabin or on
ordinary occasions, but at the council
or any gathering of the tribe he ar
rayed himself in all the picturesque
habit of the Indian brave. The Cher
okees did not paint themselves like
their neighbors, the Usages, and the
other plain Indians, but maintained
at this period their barbaric dress of
buckskin hunting-shirt, leggings and
moccasins, and adorned their lucks
with the feathers of the eagle and
the wild turkey. On occasions of
state Houston arrayed himself with
the best. He has been described as
wearing in full dress, a white hunt
ing-shirt brilliantly embroidered, yel
low leggings and moccasins elaborate
ly worked with beads, and a circlet
of turkey feathers for his head. He
let his hair grow and braided it in
a long queue, and wore his beard up
on his chin in a 4 ‘goatee,” shaving
the rest of his face. The Indians
are very quick to ridicule any tricks
of ways and manners, and Houston’s
theatrical dignity and splendor did
not escape their satire. On one oc
casion, at a council meeting, they ar
rayed a negro in a caricature of his
attire and stationed him behind his
seat, where he imitated his pose and
manner, to the great glee of the as
sembly. Houston bore the presence
of his imitator with a shrewd indif-
ference, and the joke was not re
peated.
Houston remained an inmate of
the cabin of his friend, John Jolly,
for more than a year, and was re
garded as his adopted son. It was
here that he fell in love with a Cher
okee woman named Tyenia Rogers.
She was a half-breed of great person
al beauty, and as tall and stately for
her sex as Houston himself. With
her he took up as his wife, and re
moved to the west of the Grand river,
opposite Fort Gibson, where he made
a clearing, which still remains, and
erected a log cabin which was burnt
during the war. He maintained him
self by keeping a small trading store,
and, as usual, after the Indian fash
ion, by a little slatternly farming and
careless stock raising. He was not
more ambitious or industrious than
his Indian associates, and at this
period his habits reached their low
est point of sulf-indulgence. It was
not to he supposed that his better
instincts and capabilities could al
ways remain content with the narrow
interests and
Degrading Habits of Savages,
however strong the barbaric elements
in his nature, or however severe the
blow that had rendered civilized life
for a time intolerable to him. The
thoughts of the possibilities of his
abandoned career must have obtrud
ed themselves upon him with more
and more persistent regret, and the
degradation and failure of his life
been felt with keener piognancy as
the years went by.
To the unhappiness and degrada
tion of this life there came a hope
of relief and redemption in the news
of the stirring of national life in Tex
as, and the combined eagerness for
the foundation of a new empire and
of resistance to a degrading domina
tion among its American settlers. All
the adventurous spirits of the bor
der were attracted by the scent of
warfare and the hope of fortune, and
a small party was formed of the dar
ing rovers in the Indian Territory.
Houston joined this, and naturally be
came the leader, although he was so
poor at the time that he had to take
his departure on a small pony unfit
to carry his weight, which was fihal
lv exchanged by the gcod will of one
by his associates for a more presenta
ble horse. He did nit at once conquer
his feeling of degradation and hope
lessness, but remained for some time
with a small settlement of Cherokees
upon the Red river before going for
ward to Texas. Perhaps deprived of
the opportunity for indulgence, his
manly qualities strengthened them
selves, or the news of the immience
of the struggle with Mexico still fur
ther fired his spirit and he finished
his journey with such results as are
familiar to history.
That he sincerely loved his Indian
wife is made evident by the fact that
when he had established himself and
won fame and honor in Texas, he
sent for her to join him, but she re
fused to leave her people and famil
(Continued on Page Seven.)
PAGE THREE