Aaron H. Forrest (abt. 1828 - 1864)

Born about 1828 in Chapel Hill, Bedford County, Tennessee

Ancestors

Husband of Sallie L. Dyche — married 30 Jul 1862 in Sunflower Co. Miss.

Died 19 Apr 1864 at about age 36 in Aberdeen, Monroe, Mississippi

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Biography

Aaron was born in Bedford County, Tennessee. His parents were William Forrest and Miriam Beck. He moved with his family to Tippah County, Mississippi in 1834. His father died in 1837. He lost his three sisters and two of his brothers from Typhoid Fever in 1841. His mother remarried in December of that year to Joseph Luxon.

His older brother was Nathan Bedford Forrest. In Memphis, Aaron was a partner with his older brother at “Forrest & Maples” as a dealer in slaves. By 1858, Aaron had his own slave business in Vicksburg.

Aaron married Sallie L. Dyche in Sunflower County Mississippi on July 30, 1862. She was the daughter of John T Dyche/Dycke and Sarah L. Prewitt Dycke.

Military

By 1860, the A.H. Forrest and Company ceased operations and Aaron joined the war effort as a soldier in the Sixth Battalion, Mississippi State Troops. With the rank of captain, Forrest commanded a cavalry company. Operating mostly as scouts, Forrest’s company was in the Mississippi Delta in the spring of 1863. It was during the Yazoo Pass Expedition that Forrest had his brief brush with infamy. The Yazoo Pass Expedition was a joint operation between the Union army and navy to bypass Vicksburg’s defenses by utilizing the rivers of the Delta region to move down toward Vicksburg. On February 3, 1863, the Federals blew the levee along the Mississippi River at Moon Lake and flooded the area. Entering Moon Lake through the breached levee, the Union gunboats and transports began making their way toward their objective, which was to get into the Coldwater and Yazoo rivers. To do that, however, the fleet had to navigate a series of tortuous and twisting waterways. Their task was hampered by natural obstacles and trees felled by Confederate partisans across the channel. The result was an extremely slow and difficult advance. All along the way, men under the command of Capt. Aaron Forrest, one of the few Confederate units in the region, took shots at the soldiers on board the vessels, cut down trees ahead of the fleet, and watched and reported on the progress (or lack thereof) of the Federal expedition. Toward the beginning of the movement into the Yazoo Pass, Captain George W. Brown, acting master of the Forest Rose, and Lt. Col. James H. Wilson, Grant’s chief topographical engineer, decided to take a skiff (i.e., a small boat) into the Pass ahead of the fleet to reconnoiter what lay ahead (Wilson's map of the Yazoo Pass is above). Watching from the riverbank was Capt. Forrest’s company, ready to fire on the little party (which included an armed guard). Seeing Wilson’s uniform, however, and perhaps confusing Capt. Brown’s pilot’s insignia for a Union general, Forrest decided to let the small vessel pass by in hopes of bagging the whole party further upstream. The thought of capturing two or more brigadier generals was perhaps just too good to pass up. Just as they were about to spring the trap, however, Forrest’s men heard the unmistakable sound of movement in the woods toward the Confederate position. Thinking he had been outflanked by a Union landing party, Forrest’s men fell back. In the meantime, Wilson and Brown escaped the trap laid for them, rejoining the fleet in Moon Lake. Unaware of the danger facing them, Brown and Wilson would have no doubt been captured by the young Captain Forrest. They were not saved by Union troops, however. In fact, the noisy group turned out to be a pack of wild pigs running through the woods!!

Death and Burial

Memphis Daily Appeal April 26 1864 Colonel A. H. Forrest died at Aberdeen, Miss., on the 19th instant, and was buried from the residence of Kirk Brewitt, Esq., on the 21st, the funeral services being solemnized by bishop Paine.

The Daily Confederate, Raleigh NC May 3 1864 Col. A.H. Forrest died at Aberdeen on the 19th or 20th inst., and was buried from the residence of Kirk Brewitt, Esq., on the 21st, the funeral services being solemnized by Bishop Paine. This is probably the foundation of a rumor of Gen. Forrest's death, which appears to have prevailed in some quarters.

Although newspapers reported him dying in Aberdeen Mississippi, I've seen other references to him dying of pneumonia in Dresden Tennessee. Another source, Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 1861-1865, Series I page 374 has him dying in Jackson TN.

The Public Ledger (Memphis) reports on March 30 1868, the annual commemorative day held at Elmwood Cemetery would see "the remains of Gen. Preston Smith, Colonel Jeffrey Forrest and Colonel Aaron H. Forrest will be brought and interred on that day" at Elmwood. According to Elmwood records Jeffrey Forrest remains arrived at Elmwood on March 27, 1868. There is no mention of them receiving the remains of Aaron Forrest although there is a marker for him in the Forrest plot. On April 24 1868 the Public Ledger printed a detailed description of the funeral arrangements for General Preston Smith and Colonel Jeffrey Forrest.

Elmwood does not indicate where Jeffrey Forrest's remains were coming from but the 1939 Application for Headstone states that the stone was to be shipped to H.L. Baker, Aberdeen, Monroe, Mississippi and that interment was at the Odd Fellows Rest in Aberdeen. It is my theory that Aaron and Jeffrey were both interred at Odd Fellows Rest but when it was later decided to re-inter them in Memphis they could only find the remains of Jeffrey.

Sources

• "Mississippi Marriages, 1800-1911," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V28N-ZY7 : 10 February 2018), Aaron H. Forrest and Sallie L. Dyche, 30 Jul 1862; citing Sunflower,Mississippi; FHL microfilm 889,880.

• "Mississippi, Civil War Service Records of Confederate Soldiers, 1861-1865," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XFL8-QTH : 4 December 2014), A H Forrest, 1863; from "Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Mississippi," database, Fold3.com (http://www.fold3.com : n.d.); citing military unit Sixth Battalion, Cavalry AND Seventh Cavalry, A-F, NARA microfilm publication M269 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1960), roll 33.

• http://andspeakingofwhich.blogspot.com/2012/07/aaron-forrest-and-yazoo-pass.html

• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/170892227/aaron-h.-forrest