Forrest-Streight Route

[Almtnman]

I have been traveling a road lately and there are several signs posted along this road designating it as the Forrest-Streight Route. General Nathan Bedford Forrest and General Streight(sorry, I don't know his entire name) had a battle during the Civil War near the town of Blountsville, AL and this route leads to that town. Anybody on here famaliar with that battle and the routes that these two Generals used during the war? I like to know certain parts of history especially when it happened near or on a place that I drive, just for my benefit.

[Jim N Mo.]

  In late April 1863 Colonel Abel Streight left Eastport Mississippi with just under 2,000 Union soldiers mounted on mules , to make a raid into Georgia . Word spread quickly and soon Nathan Bedford Forrest with just under 1600 Confederates was right on their trail . April 30th. started 4 days of running battles that ended with the capture of Streight and the Union forces just outside of Rome Georgia on May 3rd.  On May 1rst. part of those running battles saw the Confederates chasing the Federals through the town of Blountsville .

[Almtnman]

  In late April 1863 Colonel Abel Streight left Eastport Mississippi with just under 2,000 Union soldiers mounted on mules , to make a raid into Georgia . Word spread quickly and soon Nathan Bedford Forrest with just under 1600 Confederates was right on their trail . April 30th. started 4 days of running battles that ended with the capture of Streight and the Union forces just outside of Rome Georgia on May 3rd.  On May 1rst. part of those running battles saw the Confederates chasing the Federals through the town of Blountsville .

Thanks for that info Jim! You have got me interested in finding out more about these two now. I knew a little about that something happened around Blountsville, AL and noticed the Forrest-Streight Route signs on a local county road there. I had also heard that Streight was trying to take farmers horses and a lot of locals hid their horses on top of Chandler Mountain which Streight could not figure out how to get to the top of it due to the surrounding bluff at top. There is a place on top of that mountain called Horse Pens Forty where the horses were kept in a natural rock formation and everyone og the locals tell me that was why it was named that from hiding their horses there from Streight.The next mountain over from Chandler mountain is called Straight mountain, but I think it was actually named after Streight and the spelling has been changed or mis-spelled.

[Jim N Mo.]

   The hiding of horses , livestock and food was pretty common by this time of the war . If the Yankees had not taken the horses , the Rebs would of . My guess is that the horses could of been taken from their place upon the mountain if Streight had the time to do so . Forrest would not allow them the time as he pushed his men and told them to " KEEP THE SCARE ON THEM " . As I mentioned earlier it was mainly a series of running battles with little time to even rest the troops . Even though Forrest was out numbered he had the Federals convinced it was the other way around .

[Almtnman]

What was the outcome of the Forrest-Streight battles? Did Streight ever make it over to Rome, GA or did Forrest stop him from making his goal?

[Jim N Mo.]

  On May 3 Forrest pulled off another one of the ruse that he did so well throughout the war. Streight was camped just 5 miles short of the Georgia border and his men were exhausted . At this point he was down to about 1,500 soldiers . Forrest and about 600 hundred Confederates , along with 2 cannon got ahead of Streight . Forrest bluffed and sent a note to Streight expressing his desire to avoid the bloodshed that would happen unless the Federals immediately surrendered to his supier forces . Streight wanted to meet and see the proof that Forrest really outnumbered him before he would surrender . Forrest had given orders that the 2 guns were to be pulled over a hill that was in sight just over the shoulder of Forrest as they met . The guns were pulled over the hill and then out of sight were moved so they could be pulled back over the hill again and again . During the meeting Streight exclaimed " Name of God  , how many damn guns have you got ? There is 15 I have counted already . Forrest being the poker player he was stated that he guessed that was all that had kept up with him . So though outnumbered over 2 to 1 , Forrest convinced Streight the opposite was true and so Streight surrendered all his troops to the Confederates .

[Almtnman]

Jim, that was very interesting. I had heard this story before, but didn't remember that it was those two that was involved. Forrest seemed to have known how to make his opponent be convinced that he was out numbered and that was a good plan on doing that. This is really getting me interested in finding out about such events in history. Thanks for sharing this info! 

There's a plaque beside the road in Blountsville, Al describing what took place there and a re-enactment takes place at that site every year with re-enactors setting up tents and all the gear that they used during that time. I'll take my camera and get a picture of the plaque and maybe post it on here in a couple of days.

[wncchester]

Colonel Abel Streight left Eastport Mississippi with just under 2,000 Union soldiers mounted on mules , to make a raid into Georgia . Word spread quickly and soon Nathan Bedford Forrest with just under 1600 Confederates was right on their trail .


That wasn't a fair fight, them poor Yankees never had a fair chance! 

[Jim N Mo.]

   Hard to make it a fair fight when Forrest was involved . Look at Fallen Timbers following Shiloh . He was alone as he rode into Sherman's troops yet he was able to empty his revolver , saber several Yankees and grab one to use as a shield as he rode away . Had he not been shot in the side by a musket at point blank range he might of really showed them something !!

[Almtnman]

Nathan Bedford Forrest was very good at war strategy and knew how to out-wit his foes. I watched an article about the Civil War on PBS the other night and there were several other Confederate leaders that was very good at doing the same.

[Jim N Mo.]

  The more you study about the war , the more fascinating people ( both North and South ) and interesting events you will come across . Do not believe there has ever been as interesting a time in our history as the 1860's . The last Union soldier died the day before I was born and that seems like quite a coincidence to me . Last Confederate died 3 years later in 1959 . In 1993 I witnessed the burial of a Civil War Widow at Stone's River . Have been lucky enough to visit many battlefields and have collected era items for 30 years . Glad to see others want to learn more about the sacrifice of 620,000 Americans . Keep digging for knowledge !!!

[Almtnman]

I enjoy reading articles about the Civil War and finding out info that happened that I didn't know about. Sometimes, I will stop off at old cemeteries and walk through and see how many Civil War soldiers are buried there. I find it interesting that sometimes I find soldiers that fought on different sides buried alongside each other in those cemeteries. It's sometimes hard to tell which side they fought on until I do some researching and find out which side their unit served with. I live probably less than 150 miles from Chattanooga, but yet have never visited the Chickamauga battlefield. I'll have to plan a trip there sometimes and walk around. I'd also like to make a visit to Gettysburg as that place has always been on my list of places to visit. I have a friend that studies the Civil War and has been to most all of the battle sites.