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122-524: Dyersburg is a city in and the county seat of Dyer County, Tennessee , United States. It is located in northwest Tennessee, 79 miles (127 km) northeast of Memphis on the Forked Deer River . The population was 16,164 at the 2020 census, down 5.72% from the 2010 census. The lands encompassing Dyersburg were originally inhabited by the Chickasaw people. As westward expansion continued,

244-658: A Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan in Georgia and secretary of the national organization. A great-grandson, Nathan Bedford Forrest III (1905–1943), graduated from West Point and rose to the rank of brigadier general in the U.S. Army Air Corps ; he was killed during a bombing raid over Nazi Germany in 1943, becoming the first American general to die in combat in the European theater during World War II. Nathan Bedford Forrest—disparaged by Parson Brownlow in 1864 as

366-531: A Superior Court and Sheriff (as an officer of the court ), both located in a designated "shire town". Bennington County, Vermont has two shire towns; the court for "North Shire" is in the shire town Manchester , and the Sheriff for the county and court for "South Shire" are in the shire town Bennington. In 2024, Connecticut , which had not defined their counties for anything but statistical, historical and weather warning purposes since 1960, along with ending

488-591: A cottonseed factory. This company remained locally important through the 20th century. The 20th century saw Dyersburg emerge as a crucial railroad hub. By 1914, it became the junction point for three different lines, led by the Illinois Central Railroad . In 1916, Julius Morgan was convicted of raping Laura Sullivan of Dyersburg and became the first person to be executed by the electric chair in Tennessee. A black man named William Thomas

610-514: A private and be promoted to general without previous military training. An expert cavalry leader, Forrest was given command of a corps and established new doctrines for mobile forces, earning the nickname "The Wizard of the Saddle". He used his cavalry troops as mounted infantry and often deployed artillery as the lead in battle, thus helping to "revolutionize cavalry tactics". While scholars generally acknowledge Forrest's skills and acumen as

732-431: A regiment of Tennessee volunteer soldiers. His superior officers and Governor of Tennessee Isham G. Harris were surprised that someone of Forrest's wealth and prominence had enlisted as a soldier, especially since significant planters were exempted from service. They commissioned him as a lieutenant colonel and authorized him to recruit and train a battalion of Confederate mounted rangers. In October 1861, Forrest

854-574: A "sin-hardened negro trader, and livery stable man of Memphis"—was a notable slave trader of the United States from 1851 to 1860. Forrest was considered one of the "big four" "phenomenally large" traders of Memphis, which was the "first-class market" for slave trading in Tennessee. He is believed to have sold thousands of slaves during his career and had profits of hundreds of thousands of dollars in 1850s currency. Primarily based in Memphis, he

976-572: A U.S. barracks with wounded U.S. Army soldiers inside. In defense of their actions, Forrest's men insisted that the U.S. soldiers, although fleeing, kept their weapons and frequently turned to shoot, forcing the Confederates to keep firing in self-defense . The rebels said the U.S. flag was still flying over the fort, which indicated that the force had not formally surrendered. A contemporary newspaper account from Jackson, Tennessee stated that "General Forrest begged them to surrender", but "not

1098-403: A battery of guns while a flag of truce was still up. As soon as they received the U.S. reply, they moved forward at the command of a junior officer, and the U.S. forces opened fire. The Confederates tried to storm the fort but were repulsed; they rallied and made two more attempts, both of which failed. Fort Pillow, located 40 miles (64 km) upriver from Memphis (near Henning, Tennessee ),

1220-648: A cavalry leader and tactician, he is a controversial figure in U.S. history for prewar slave trading, his role in the massacre of several hundred U.S. Army soldiers at Fort Pillow , a majority of them black, and his postwar leadership of the Klan. In April 1864, in what has been called "one of the bleakest, saddest events of American military history", troops under Forrest's command at the Battle of Fort Pillow massacred hundreds of surrendered troops, composed of black soldiers and white Tennessean Southern Unionists fighting for

1342-410: A county seat may be an independent city surrounded by, but not part of, the county of which it is the administrative center; for example, Fairfax City is both the county seat of Fairfax County, Virginia and completely surrounded by Fairfax County, but the city is politically independent of the county. When the county seat is in the independent city, government offices such as the courthouse may be in

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1464-586: A historian studying in the Cumberland River valley during the Civil War, "Fully aware of the significance of the large-scale recruitment of black troops, the Confederates did what they could to disrupt it...Forrest himself, operating in west Tennessee, chose to interpret his stunning victory over a racially mixed garrison at Fort Pillow in April as, in part, a warning about using black troops. He described

1586-438: A household in the city was $ 28,232, and the median income for a family was $ 34,754. Males had a median income of $ 30,898 versus $ 21,337 for females. The per capita income for the city was $ 16,388. About 17.4% of families and 20.5% of the population were below the poverty line , including 29.5% of those under age 18 and 19.0% of those age 65 or over. From 1923 to 1925, Dyersburg was home to a Minor League Baseball team known as

1708-536: A large number of guns & arms." Dodge also recommended burning the county as "They pay no attention to the oath, feed and guide the rebels." He reported they were assisted in routing the Confederates by "two Negros" and that "No white man had the pluck to do it." On August 18, 1862, the 6th Illinois Cavalry Regiment attacked a small band of Confederates on the Obion River six miles from Dyersburg taking all their horses, arms, and ammunition. On January 30, 1863,

1830-503: A log house (now preserved as the Nathan Bedford Forrest Boyhood Home ) from 1830 to 1833. John Allan Wyeth , who served in an Alabama regiment under Forrest, described it as a one-room building with a loft and no windows. William Forrest worked as a blacksmith in Tennessee until 1834, when he moved with his family to Salem, Mississippi . William died in 1837 and Forrest became the primary caretaker of

1952-476: A major earthquake within 31 miles (50 km) of Dyersburg within the next 50 years. The largest earthquake within 30 miles (48 km) of Dyersburg was a 4.0-magnitude event in 2005. As of the 2020 United States census , there were 16,164 people, 6,865 households, and 4,500 families residing in the city. Dyersburg's population was estimated at 17,002 in 2013. As of the census of 2000, there were 17,452 people, 7,036 households, and 4,517 families residing in

2074-464: A maximum of 300 slaves to a maximum of 500. Forrest subsequently sold his interest in the business after the building catastrophe and reinvested the profit into plantations . A marker was erected at the former site of Forrest's slave mart in downtown Memphis, on land currently owned by Calvary Episcopal Church , and was dedicated on April 4, 2018. After the Civil War broke out, Forrest returned to Tennessee from his Mississippi ventures and enlisted in

2196-514: A month or so later. This supposedly led to a meeting where Forrest confronted and threatened Bragg's life, calling him a coward and saying "you might as well not give me any orders, for I will not obey them", one of several instances in his career where Forrest was openly insubordinate to his superior officers. It is now considered to be apocryphal , although it was repeated in biographies published with Forrest's approval, suggesting it reflected his assessment of Bragg. On December 4, 1863, Forrest

2318-673: A monument of him once stood. They were later reburied in Columbia, Tennessee . In July 2021, Tennessee officials voted to move Forrest's bust from the State Capitol to the Tennessee State Museum . Nathan Bedford Forrest was born on July 13, 1821, to a poor settler family in a secluded frontier cabin near Chapel Hill hamlet, then part of Bedford County , Tennessee , but now in Marshall County . Forrest

2440-534: A new brigade of inexperienced cavalry regiments. He led them into Middle Tennessee in July under orders to launch a cavalry raid. On July 13, 1862, he led them into the First Battle of Murfreesboro , as a result of which all of the U.S. units surrendered to Forrest. The Confederates destroyed much of the U.S. Army's supplies and railroad tracks in the area. Promoted on July 21, 1862, to brigadier general , Forrest

2562-605: A rail connection to the town. Another railroad, the Dyersburg Northern (later the Chicago, Memphis, and Gulf Railroad ), was chartered in 1904 and began operation in 1907 to run trains from Dyersburg to neighboring Lake County and its seat Tiptonville. The new railroad links encouraged the creation of new industries and businesses. In 1884, for example, investors established the Dyersburg Oil Company,

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2684-591: A red-hot poker was rammed down his esophagus. He was then castrated , and more hot irons placed on his feet, back, and body until "a hideous stench of burning flesh filled the Sabbath air". After being tortured, Scott was slowly burned at the stake . Scott's torture and murder occurred over a three and a half hour period. No one was prosecuted for the lynching. Author Margaret Vandiver wrote in Lethal Punishment: Lynchings and Legal Executions in

2806-506: A small force into the backcountry of northern Alabama and western Georgia to defend against an attack of 3,000 U.S. Army cavalrymen commanded by Colonel Abel Streight . Streight had orders to cut the Confederate railroad south of Chattanooga, Tennessee to seal off Bragg's supply line and force him to retreat into Georgia. Forrest chased Streight's men for 16 days, harassing them all the way. Streight's goal changed from dismantling

2928-522: A third of the whites were killed. The atrocities at Fort Pillow continued throughout the night. Conflicting accounts of what occurred were given later. Forrest's Confederate forces were accused of subjecting captured U.S. Army soldiers to extreme brutality, with allegations of back-shooting soldiers who fled into the river, shooting wounded soldiers, burning men alive, nailing men to barrels and igniting them, crucifixion , and hacking men to death with sabers. Forrest's men were alleged to have set fire to

3050-443: Is a Joint Commission accredited hospital. The medical center has 225 beds. Originally built as Parkview Hospital in 1956, the hospital has changed stewardship multiple times since its inception. County seat In Canada , the provinces of Ontario , Quebec , New Brunswick , Prince Edward Island , and Nova Scotia have counties as an administrative division of government below the provincial level, and thus county seats. In

3172-452: Is also impossible". Forrest's most decisive victory came on June 10, 1864, when his 3,500-man force clashed with 8,500 men commanded by U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Samuel D. Sturgis at the Battle of Brices Crossroads in northeastern Mississippi . Here, the mobility of the troops under his command and his superior tactics led to victory, allowing him to continue harassing U.S. forces in southwestern Tennessee and northern Mississippi throughout

3294-685: Is in the Dyersburg City School District though some outerlying portions are in the Dyer County School District . The zoned high school of the county school district is Dyer County High School in Newbern . The Dyersburg State Gazette is a semi-weekly broadsheet newspaper published in Dyersburg. The newspaper has had a circulation reaching 7,900. West Tennessee Healthcare Dyersburg Hospital

3416-409: Is known as the seat of its county. Generally, the county legislature, county courthouse, sheriff's department headquarters, hall of records, jail and correctional facility are located in the county seat, though some functions (such as highway maintenance, which usually requires a large garage for vehicles, along with asphalt and salt storage facilities) may also be located or conducted in other parts of

3538-720: Is located in central Dyer County. According to the United States Census Bureau , the city has a total area of 17.5 square miles (45.2 km), of which 17.3 square miles (44.9 km) is land and 0.1 square miles (0.3 km), or 0.66%, is water. Dyersburg is located on the Forked Deer River and is 13 mi (21 km) from the Mississippi River . The city's proximity to the New Madrid Seismic Zone places it at risk for future earthquakes. USGS data shows an 18.28% chance of

3660-525: The Battle of Fort Donelson in February 1862. After his cavalry captured a U.S. artillery battery , he broke out of a siege headed by Major General Ulysses S. Grant , rallying nearly 4,000 troops and leading them to escape across the Cumberland River . A few days after the Confederate surrender of Fort Donelson, with the fall of Nashville to U.S. forces imminent, Forrest took command of

3782-597: The Battle of Johnsonville , the Confederates shelled the city, sinking three gunboats and nearly thirty other ships and destroying many tons of supplies. During Hood's Tennessee Campaign , he fought alongside General John Bell Hood , the newest commander of the Confederate Army of Tennessee , in the Second Battle of Franklin on November 30. Facing a disastrous defeat, Forrest argued bitterly with Hood (his superior officer ) demanding permission to cross

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3904-557: The Civil War , Dyersburg witnessed several skirmishes, ultimately resulting in Union victories. On August 7, 1862, about 50 men of the 6th Illinois Cavalry Regiment attacked a group of Confederates about 5 miles east of Dyersburg. In a report by Brigadier General Grenville M. Dodge , he wrote the Confederates who escaped left without their clothes, arms, or horses and said that "they killed some 25 to 30 [Confederates], took 53 horses, and

4026-672: The Confederate States Army (CSA) on June 14, 1861. He reported for training at Fort Wright near Randolph, Tennessee , joining Captain Josiah White's cavalry company, the Tennessee Mounted Rifles (Seventh Tennessee Cavalry), as a private along with his youngest brother and 15-year-old son. Upon seeing how badly equipped the CSA was, Forrest offered to buy horses and equipment with his own money for

4148-895: The Dyersburg Forked Deers (1923–1924) and Dyersburg Deers (1925). They won the Kentucky–Illinois–Tennessee League championship in 1923 and 1924. On March 9, 2024, the Dyersburg High School Girls Basketball Team (The Lady Trojans) won their first State Championship in Class 3A by beating Upperman High School 41-39. The tournament was played at Middle Tennessee State’s Murphy Center in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Dyersburg has several public parks, recreational centers, and swimming pools. The majority of Dyersburg

4270-581: The Harpeth River and cut off the escape route of U.S. Army Maj. Gen. John M. Schofield 's army. He eventually attempted, but it was too late. After his bloody defeat at Franklin, Hood continued to Nashville. Hood ordered Forrest to conduct an independent raid against the Murfreesboro garrison . After success in achieving the objectives specified by Hood, Forrest engaged U.S. forces near Murfreesboro on December 5, 1864. In what would be known as

4392-501: The Old North State . The Memphis Avalanche suggests that as Fred is ample able to make the outlay he should either purchase his own flesh and blood from servitude, or cease his shrieks over an institution which possesses such untold horrors. In 1859, a federal investigation found that Forrest also sold 37 individuals illegally imported to the United States from Africa on the slave ship Wanderer . Forrest, who advocated for

4514-553: The Tennessee River , Dyer County being one of them. John McIver and Joel H. Dyer donated 60 acres (240,000 m) for the new county seat, aptly named Dyersburg, at a central location within the county known as "McIver's Bluff". Dyer surveyed the town in 1825, laying out 86 lots. The county (and county seat) were named for Joel Dyer's father, Colonel Robert Henry Dyer. Col. Dyer served as the first postmaster of Dyersburg, and sat on its first chancery court. The first courthouse

4636-462: The Third Battle of Murfreesboro , a portion of Forrest's command broke and ran. When Hood's battle-hardened Army of Tennessee, consisting of 40,000 men deployed in three infantry corps plus 10,000 to 15,000 cavalry, was all but destroyed on December 15–16, at the Battle of Nashville , Forrest distinguished himself by commanding the Confederate rear guard in a series of actions that allowed what

4758-741: The reopening of the transatlantic slave trade , later told an interviewer that he had been an initial investor in the Wanderer shipment. In January 1860, the New York Times reported that the Forrest, Jones & Co. negro mart building in Memphis had both collapsed and then caught fire; two people died. The firm's bills of sale for people, "amounting in the aggregate to US$ 400,000 (equivalent to about $ 13,564,440 in 2023)" were salvaged. Forrest had recently moved from 87 Adams to 89 Adams, which allowed him to increase his holding capacity from

4880-501: The 14 most seriously wounded United States Colored Troops (USCT) to the U.S. steamer Silver Cloud . The 226 U.S. Army troops taken prisoner at Fort Pillow were marched under guard to Holly Springs, Mississippi and then convoyed to Demopolis, Alabama . On April 21, Capt. John Goodwin, of Forrest's cavalry command, forwarded a dispatch listing the prisoners captured. The list included the names of 7 officers and 219 white enlisted soldiers. According to Richard L. Fuchs, "records concerning

5002-802: The Chickasaw Nation relinquished their claims to West Tennessee through a series of treaties, culminating in the final agreement, the Treaty of Tuscaloosa , signed in 1818. The lands composing the future Dyer County were then transferred, via the Jackson Purchase , to the US Government, and American settlers from the eastern states began moving into West Tennessee around 1819. In 1823, the Tennessee General Assembly established two new counties immediately west of

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5124-733: The Civil War. Forrest's early business ventures included a livery stable , a stagecoach line, and a brickyard . Forrest was well known as a Memphis speculator and Mississippi gambler. In 1858, Forrest was elected a Memphis city alderman as a Southern Democrat and served two consecutive terms. In 1859, he bought two large cotton plantations in Coahoma County, Mississippi and a half-interest in another plantation in Arkansas; by October 1860, he owned at least 3,345 acres in Mississippi. He acquired several cotton plantations in

5246-476: The Confederacy, and both the Confederate and United States armies recruited soldiers from the state. Over 100,000 men from Tennessee served with the Confederacy, and over 31,000 served with the U.S. Army. Forrest posted advertisements to join his regiment, with the slogan, "Let's have some fun and kill some Yankees!". Forrest's command included his Escort Company (his "Special Forces"), for which he selected

5368-546: The Confederate Army. A month later, Forrest was back in action at the Battle of Shiloh , fought April 6–7, 1862. After the U.S. victory, Forrest commanded a Confederate rear guard . In the battle of Fallen Timbers , he drove through the U.S. skirmish line . Not realizing that the rest of his men had halted their charge when they reached the full U.S. brigade, Forrest charged the brigade alone and soon found himself surrounded. He emptied his Colt Army revolvers into

5490-559: The Confederates from the field, and Forrest was wounded in the foot, but his forces were not wholly destroyed. He continued to oppose U.S. Army efforts in the West for the remainder of the war. Forrest led other raids that summer and fall, including a famous one into U.S. Army-held downtown Memphis in August 1864 (the Second Battle of Memphis ) and another on a major U.S. Army supply depot at Johnsonville, Tennessee . On November 4, 1864, during

5612-597: The Delta region of West Tennessee . By the time the American Civil War started in 1861, he had become one of the wealthiest men in the Southern United States, having amassed a "personal fortune that he claimed was worth $ 1.5 million". Forrest stood 6 feet 2 inches (1.88 m) in height, weighed about 180 pounds (82 kg), rarely drank and abstained from tobacco use. He

5734-732: The Skirmish at Dyersburg was fought. Confederate soldiers from Dawson's Guerrilla Band spent the day skirmishing near the Forked Deer River bridge in Downtown Dyersburg with men from the Third Michigan Cavalry. Near midnight, Union forces under the command of Colonel Oliver Wood of the 22nd Ohio Infantry Regiment located the rebel stronghold in a house near the bridge and "completely routed them [Confederates], killing 2, wounding 4, and capturing 17, when

5856-569: The South , “The lynching of Lation Scott was the most ghastly of all those I researched.” H. L. Mitchell , future president of the Southern Tenant Farmers Union , wrote of the lynching, "The flames rose high, and the odor of burning flesh permeated the air. The black man's body sagged against the iron post and chains. Nauseated, I broke through the crowd and rushed back to the railway station where I stretched out trembling, on

5978-542: The South, and issued a letter ordering the dissolution of the Ku Klux Klan as well as the destruction of its costumes; he then withdrew from the organization. In the last years of his life, Forrest denied being a Klan member and, disturbed by anti-black violence, made statements in support of racial harmony and black dignity. In June 2021, the remains of Forrest and his wife were exhumed from Health Sciences Park, where they had been buried for over 100 years, and where

6100-884: The United States, followed by Towson , the county seat of Baltimore County, Maryland . Likewise, some county seats may not be incorporated in their own right, but are located within incorporated municipalities. For example, Cape May Court House, New Jersey , though unincorporated, is a section of Middle Township , an incorporated municipality. In some states, often those that were among the original Thirteen Colonies , county seats include or formerly included "Court House" as part of their name, such as Spotsylvania Courthouse, Virginia . Most counties have only one county seat. However, some counties in Alabama , Arkansas , Georgia , Iowa , Kentucky , Massachusetts , Mississippi , Missouri , New Hampshire , New York , and Vermont have two or more county seats, usually located on opposite sides of

6222-415: The United States. Forrest was blamed for the slaughter in the U.S. press, and this news may have strengthened the United States's resolve to win the war. Forrest's level of responsibility for the massacre is still debated by historians. Forrest joined the Ku Klux Klan in 1867 (two years after its founding) and was elected its first Grand Wizard. The group was a loose collection of local factions throughout

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6344-455: The area an efficient business cluster . Forrest was traditionally said to have been trained by the principals of Bolton, Dickens & Co. , a multimillion-dollar operation that traded in a dozen Southern cities, but recent research suggests this may be apocryphal. In 1859, media coverage of Forrest's business spotlighted a particular product, an enslaved girl said to be the daughter of Frederick Douglass . Historian Tim Huebner asserts this

6466-494: The area. That night, Forrest again declined to screen the army's right flank; if he had he would have found a wide gap in the Union lines, a misstep that has been called "the most significant intelligence oversight of the entire battle" as it left Bragg utterly uninformed about Union dispositions even as he planned a counterattack. The next morning a poorly-planned attack Forrest initiated in that area led to heavy casualties and delayed

6588-451: The average family size was 2.99. In the city, the population was spread out, with 26.3% under the age of 18, 9.6% from 18 to 24, 27.6% from 25 to 44, 21.4% from 45 to 64, and 15.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 86.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 82.3 males. In 2013 there were 7,989 males and 9,013 Females. The median age: 37.6. The median income for

6710-505: The banks of the Ohio River in southwest Kentucky and into north Mississippi. Forrest returned to his base in Mississippi with more men than he had started with. By then, all were fully armed with captured U.S. Army weapons. As a result, Grant was forced to revise and delay his Vicksburg campaign strategy. Newspaper correspondent Sylvanus Cadwallader, who traveled with Grant for three years during his campaigns, wrote that Forrest "was

6832-582: The battle graphically, recounted exaggerated Union casualty figures, and noted, 'It is hoped that these facts will demonstrate to the Northern people that negro soldiers cannot cope with the Southerners.'" S.C. Gwynne writes, "Forrest's responsibility for the massacre has been actively debated for a century and a half. ... No direct evidence suggests that he ordered the shooting of surrendering or unarmed men, but to fully exonerate him from responsibility

6954-405: The battle, leaving Fort Pillow under the command of Major William Bradford. Forrest had reached the fort at 10 a.m. after a hard ride from Mississippi, during which two horses were shot out from under him. By 3:30 p.m., Forrest had concluded that the U.S. troops could not hold the fort; thus, he ordered a flag of truce raised and demanded that the fort be surrendered. As he often did to avoid

7076-518: The best soldiers available. This unit, which varied in size from 40 to 90 men, constituted the elite of his cavalry. Forrest won praise for his performance under fire during an early victory in the Battle of Sacramento in Kentucky , the first in which he commanded troops in the field, where he routed a U.S. Army force by personally leading a cavalry charge that Brigadier General Charles Clark later commended. Forrest distinguished himself further at

7198-450: The city of Vicksburg, Mississippi . Forrest protested that sending such untrained men behind enemy lines was suicidal, but Bragg insisted, and Forrest obeyed his orders. In the ensuing raids, he was pursued by thousands of U.S. soldiers trying to locate his fast-moving forces. Avoiding attack by never staying in one place long, Forrest eventually led his troops during the spring and summer of 1864 on raids into west Tennessee, as far north as

7320-477: The city. All available carts and wagons were pressed into service to haul 600 boxes of army clothing, 250,000 pounds of bacon, and 40 wagon-loads of ammunition to the railroad depots, to be sent off to Chattanooga and Decatur. Forrest arranged for heavy ordnance machinery, including a new cannon rifling machine and 14 cannons, as well as parts from the Nashville Armory, to be sent to Atlanta for use by

7442-426: The city. The population density was 1,158.7 inhabitants per square mile (447.4/km). There were 7,885 housing units at an average density of 523.5 per square mile (202.1/km). The racial makeup of the city was 75.68% White , 22.02% African American , 0.21% Native American , 0.54% Asian , 0.02% Pacific Islander , 0.53% from other races , and 0.99% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.36% of

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7564-566: The cold ground." The lynching was widely reported on at the time, with Baltimore newspaper The Afro-American running the headline "TENNESSEE LYNCHING OUTRIVALS WORST GERMAN ATROCITIES" and coverage in The New York Times . There were no more documented lynchings in Dyersburg after Scott's. In 1942, Dyersburg Army Air Base was established by the War Department to facilitate and support military bomber training. Following

7686-462: The counterattack. In an attempt to build a foothold to retake Chattanooga, Bragg ordered Forrest and Wheeler north after the battle in order that they might disrupt Rosecrans's fragile supply line from Nashville. But Forrest diverted to Knoxville , allowing Rosecrans to consolidate his hold on the city, leading Bragg to describe Forrest as "nothing more than a good raider" as he signed orders to transfer Forrest out of his command, to western Tennessee,

7808-526: The counties after his unification, there were about 1,000. Under the Eastern Han dynasty , the number of counties increased to above 1,000. About 1400 existed when the Sui dynasty abolished the commandery level (郡 jùn), which was the level just above counties, and demoted some commanderies to counties. In Imperial China, the county was a significant administrative unit because it marked the lowest level of

7930-418: The county, especially if it is geographically large. A county seat is usually an incorporated municipality . The exceptions include the county seats of counties that have no incorporated municipalities within their borders, such as Arlington County, Virginia , where the county seat is the entire county. Ellicott City , the county seat of Howard County, Maryland , is the largest unincorporated county seat in

8052-420: The county. Examples include Harrison County, Mississippi , which has both Biloxi and Gulfport as county seats, and Hinds County, Mississippi , which has both Raymond and the state capital of Jackson . The practice of multiple county seat towns dates from the days when travel was difficult. There have been few efforts to eliminate the two-seat arrangement, since a county seat is a source of civic pride for

8174-438: The disease five years later when Bedford was 16. His mother, Miriam, then married James Horatio Luxton, of Marshall, Texas , in 1843 and gave birth to four more children. In 1845, Forrest married Mary Ann Montgomery (1826–1893), the niece of a Presbyterian minister who was her legal guardian. They had two children, William Montgomery Bedford Forrest llll (1846–1908), who enlisted at the age of 15 and served alongside his father in

8296-445: The end of World War II , the base was decommissioned in 1946. A museum is currently located at the site of the former air base. On March 5, 1963 , a Piper Comanche plane carrying country singers Patsy Cline , Hawkshaw Hawkins , Cowboy Copas , and Cline's manager & pilot Randy Hughes stopped to refuel in Dyersburg. The plane crashed around 20 minutes later in inclement weather near Camden, Tennessee . In 1990, Boss Hoss Cycles

8418-512: The family at age 16. In 1841 Forrest went into business with his uncle Jonathan Forrest in Hernando , Mississippi . His uncle was killed there in 1845 during an argument with the Matlock brothers. In retaliation, Forrest shot and killed two of them with his two-shot pistol and wounded two others with a knife thrown to him. One of the wounded Matlock men survived and served under Forrest during

8540-409: The fate of the black prisoners are either nonexistent or unreliable". President Abraham Lincoln asked his cabinet for opinions as to how the United States should respond to the massacre. At the time of the massacre, General Grant was no longer in Tennessee but had transferred to the east to command all U.S. troops. Grant wrote in his memoirs that Forrest, in his report of the battle, had "left out

8662-413: The first sign of surrender was ever given". Similar accounts were reported in many Confederate newspapers at the time. These statements were contradicted by U.S. Army survivors and by the letter of Achilles Clark, a Confederate soldier with the 20th Tennessee Cavalry who graphically recounted a massacre. Clark wrote to his sisters immediately after the battle: The slaughter was awful. Words cannot describe

8784-513: The former Confederacy that used violence or threats of violence to maintain white control over the newly enfranchised, formerly enslaved people. The Klan, with Forrest at the lead, suppressed the voting rights of blacks in the Southern United States through violence and intimidation during the elections of 1868 . In 1869, Forrest expressed disillusionment with the lack of discipline in the white supremacist terrorist group across

8906-452: The hasty retreat, they stripped off commemorative badges that read "Remember Fort Pillow" to avoid goading the Confederate force pursuing them. One month later, while serving under General Stephen D. Lee , Forrest experienced tactical defeat at the Battle of Tupelo in 1864. Concerned about U.S. Army supply lines, Maj. Gen. Sherman sent a force under the command of Maj. Gen. Andrew J. Smith to deal with Forrest. U.S. Army forces drove

9028-423: The heat, were quickly broken and sent into mass retreat. Forrest sent a full charge after the retreating army and captured 16 artillery pieces, 176 wagons, and 1,500 stands of small arms. In all, the maneuver cost Forrest 96 men killed and 396 wounded. The day was worse for U.S. troops, who suffered 223 killed, 394 wounded, and 1,623 missing. The losses were a deep blow to the black regiment under Sturgis's command. In

9150-472: The high casualties that came with having to storm fortifications, Forrest warned Bradford that he could not be held responsible for what his men might do in the heat of such a battle. Bradford refused to surrender, believing his troops could escape to the U.S. Navy gunboat, USS New Era , on the Mississippi River. Forrest's men immediately took over the fort, while U.S. Army soldiers retreated to

9272-424: The imperial bureaucratic structure; in other words, it was the lowest level that the government reached. Government below the county level was often undertaken through informal non-bureaucratic means, varying between dynasties. The head of a county was the magistrate , who oversaw both the day-to-day operations of the county as well as civil and criminal cases. The current number of counties mostly resembled that of

9394-585: The increase of Han Chinese population in Taiwan, the number of counties also grew by time. By the end of Qing era, there were 11 counties in Taiwan. Protestant missionaries in China first romanized the term as hien . When Taiwan became a Japanese colony in 1895, the hierarchy of divisions also incorporated into the Japanese system in the period when Taiwan was under Japanese rule. By September 1945, Taiwan

9516-625: The independent city under an agreement, such as in Albemarle , or may in be enclaves of the county surrounded by the independent city, such as in Fairfax . Others, such as Prince William , have the courthouse in an enclave surrounded by the independent city and have the county government, the Board of Supervisors, in a different part of the county, far from the county seat. The following counties have their county seat in an independent city: Bedford

9638-507: The late 1820's to a plantation west of Dyersburg from northern Alabama . He operated a general store in town for a number of years prior to his death in 1854. Dyersburg's early development hinged on its strategic location as a hub for steamboat navigation on the Forked Deer River. The success of the Grey Eagle' s maiden voyage in 1836 solidified Dyersburg's status as a river town. The county's first industrial boom commenced in 1879 with

9760-758: The later years of the Qing dynasty . Changes of location and names of counties in Chinese history have been a major field of research in Chinese historical geography, especially from the 1960s to the 1980s. There are 1,355 counties in Mainland China out of a total of 2,851 county-level divisions. In Taiwan , the first counties were first established in 1661 by the Kingdom of Tungning . The later ruler Qing empire inherited this type of administrative divisions. With

9882-492: The lower bluffs of the river, but the gunboat did not come to their rescue. What happened next became known as the Fort Pillow Massacre. As the U.S. Army troops surrendered, Forrest's men opened fire, slaughtering black and white U.S. Army soldiers. According to historians John Cimprich and Bruce Tap, although their numbers were roughly equal, two-thirds of the black U.S. Army soldiers were killed, while only

10004-542: The man's head against a tree. After a lieutenant refused to join his troops in a river where they were building a bridge, Forrest pushed him into the water. A soldier who refused to paddle across the Tennessee River was hit with an oar by his general. Two others who fled from a rout were beaten with a branch, and Forrest shot the one who had borne the colors. Along with brutal treatment of his prisoners, this led many soldiers and junior officers to refuse to serve under him. Public debate surrounded Tennessee 's decision to join

10126-413: The only Confederate cavalryman of whom Grant stood in much dread". The U.S. Army gained military control of Tennessee in 1862 and occupied it for the duration of the war, having taken control of strategic cities and railroads. Forrest continued to lead his men in small-scale operations, including the Battle of Dover and the Battle of Brentwood until April 1863. The Confederate army dispatched him with

10248-504: The part which shocks humanity to read". Because of the events at Fort Pillow, the U.S. public and press viewed Forrest as a war criminal. A Knoxville correspondent for the New York Tribune wrote that Forrest and his brothers were "slave drivers and woman whippers", while Forrest himself was described as "mean, vindictive, cruel, and unscrupulous". The Confederate press steadfastly defended Forrest's reputation. According to

10370-409: The population. There were 7,036 households, out of which 31.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.4% were married couples living together, 17.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.8% were non-families. 30.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.39 and

10492-427: The powers to be, and to aid in restoring peace and establishing law and order throughout the land." As a former slave owner and slave trader, Forrest experienced the abolition of slavery at the war's end as a major financial setback. During the war, he became interested in the area around Crowley's Ridge and took up civilian life in 1865 in Memphis, Tennessee. In 1866, Forrest and C.C. McCreanor contracted to finish

10614-417: The protests a speech was given about Lation Scott, a man who was brutally lynched in front of a crowd of thousands in the same court square over a hundred years prior. These events are notable as they are the first known protests to have occurred in the town. During one protest, participants were met by a group of counter-protesters concerned about the removal of Dyersburg's Confederate Statue, with some claiming

10736-727: The provinces of Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia the term "shire town" is used in place of county seat. County seats in China are the administrative centers of the counties in the People's Republic of China . Xian have existed since the Warring States period and were set up nationwide by the Qin dynasty . The number of counties in China proper gradually increased from dynasty to dynasty. As Qin Shi Huang reorganized

10858-600: The railroad to escaping the pursuit. On May 3, Forrest caught up with Streight's unit east of Cedar Bluff, Alabama . Forrest had fewer men than the U.S. side but feigned having a larger force by repeatedly parading some around a hilltop until Streight was convinced to surrender his 1,500 or so exhausted troops (historians Kevin Dougherty and Keith S. Hebert say he had about 1,700 men). Not all of Forrest's exploits of individual combat involved enemy troops. Lieutenant Andrew Wills Gould, an artillery officer in Forrest's command,

10980-482: The rebels broke and fled in every direction." Nathan Bedford Forrest and Robert V. Richardson occupied Dyersburg in August 1863, before retreating upon the arrival of Colonel Edward Hatch in the area. In June 1883, the Chesapeake, Ohio, & Southwestern Railroad (the successor to the failed Memphis, Paducah, & Northern Railroad) completed the 54 mile gap between Trimble Station and Covington, TN, bringing

11102-428: The scene. The poor deluded negroes would run up to our men fall upon their knees and with uplifted hands scream for mercy but they were ordered to their feet and then shot down. The white men fared but little better. Their fort turned out to be a great slaughter pen. Blood, human blood stood about in pools and brains could have been gathered up in any quantity. Following the cessation of hostilities, Forrest transferred

11224-481: The shipment of timber from A. M. Stevens Lumber Company to St. Louis markets via steamboat. This paved the way for further investments in timber processing, with the establishment of a large sawmill in 1880 and a planing mill in 1885. The financial sector also saw growth with the opening of the Bank of Dyersburg in 1880, while another timber industry, Nichols & Co. Wooden Bowl Factory, began operations in 1881. During

11346-483: The state of Alabama against Wilson's Raid . His opponent, U.S. Army Brig. Gen. James H. Wilson , defeated Forrest at the Battle of Selma on April 2, 1865. A week later, General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Grant in Virginia. When he received news of Lee's surrender, Forrest surrendered as well. On May 9, 1865, at Gainesville , Forrest read his farewell address to the men under his command, urging them to "submit to

11468-777: The state's area, has no borough government or borough seat. One borough, the Lake and Peninsula Borough , has its borough seat located in another borough, namely King Salmon in Bristol Bay Borough . In Louisiana , which is divided into parishes rather than counties, county seats are referred to as "parish seats". In New England , counties have served mainly as dividing lines for the states' judicial systems. Rhode Island has no county level of government and thus no county seats, and Massachusetts has dissolved many but not all of its county governments. In Vermont , Massachusetts , and Maine county government consists only of

11590-516: The statue commemorates all Confederate soldiers in Tennessee including black ones, and claiming "Black men joined because of deprivations, like burning, raping and looting, committed by the Union". Another said Black Lives Matter was becoming "like a terrorist group." Rebuking the counter-protestors, A Dyersburg resident said, “We’re not here about the statue. We’re here to get justice for our brothers and sisters. That statue didn’t kill George Floyd . That statue didn’t kill Breonna Taylor .” Dyersburg

11712-424: The swirling mass of U.S. Army soldiers and pulled out his saber, hacking, and slashing. A U.S. infantryman on the ground beside Forrest fired a musket ball at him with a point-blank shot, nearly knocking him out of the saddle. The ball went through Forrest's pelvis and lodged near his spine. A surgeon removed the musket ball a week later without anesthesia, which was unavailable. By early summer, Forrest commanded

11834-440: The thick of battles where he could not gather this information. Forrest also failed tactically on the first day of battle, moving his troops north up the creek in response to a perceived threat instead of screening the Confederate advance as he had been ordered to. As a result, the time it took the infantry to fight for the crossings at Alexander's and Reed's bridges allowed Union general William Rosecrans to shore up his defenses in

11956-416: The towns involved, along with providing employment opportunities. There are 33 counties with multiple county seats in 11 states: Alaska is divided into boroughs rather than counties; the county seat in these case is referred to as the "borough seat"; this includes six consolidated city-borough governments (one of which is styled as a "municipality"). The Unorganized Borough, Alaska , which covers 49% of

12078-544: The use of county seats in particular, will fully transition with the permission of the United States Census Bureau to a system of councils of government for the purposes of boundary definition and as county equivalents. Two counties in South Dakota , Oglala Lakota and Todd , have their county seat and government services centered in a neighboring county. Their county-level services are provided by Fall River County and Tripp County , respectively. In Virginia ,

12200-406: The war, and a daughter, Fanny (1849–1854), who died in childhood. There are also reports dating to 1864 that Forrest had two children with a young enslaved woman named Catharine . All of Forrest's younger brothers—in order, John N. Forrest , William H. Forrest , Aaron H. Forrest , Jesse A. Forrest , and Jeffrey E. Forrest —worked as slave traders with Bedford before the war. All but John, who

12322-421: The war. Forrest set up a position for an attack to repulse a pursuing force commanded by Sturgis, who had been sent to impede Forrest from destroying U.S. Army supply lines and fortifications. When Sturgis's Federal army came upon the crossroads, they collided with Forrest's cavalry. Sturgis ordered his infantry to advance to the front line to counteract the cavalry. The infantry, tired, weary, and suffering under

12444-450: Was lynched on March 19, 1917, for allegedly shooting an officer . On December 2, 1917, a 24-year-old black farmhand named Lation (or Ligon) Scott was brutally lynched by a white mob before a crowd of eight thousand people. Over the course of several hours, Scott was publicly tortured. He was chained to a post in an empty lot adjacent to the town's court square. Torturers burned out his eyes with red-hot irons. When he cried out in pain,

12566-478: Was a Confederate States Army general during the American Civil War and later the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan from 1867 to 1869. Before the war, Forrest amassed substantial wealth as a cotton plantation owner, horse and cattle trader, real estate broker , and slave trader . In June 1861, he enlisted in the Confederate Army and became one of the few soldiers during the war to enlist as

12688-609: Was a disabled veteran of the Mexican–American War , served as Confederate military officers in Tennessee and Mississippi during the American Civil War. Forrest's son William M. Forrest served as his aide-de-camp , and his half-brother Mat Luxton was a sergeant and scout in his cavalry. Forrest's grandson, Nathan Bedford Forrest II (1872–1931), became commander-in-chief of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and

12810-584: Was able to open a second storefront in Vicksburg in 1858. During the American Civil War, Forrest cited his business experience in a written request for an independent command: "I have resided on the Mississippi for over twenty years, was for many years engaged in buying and selling negroes, and know the country perfectly well between Memphis and Vicksburg, and also am well acquainted with all the prominent planters in that region, as well as above Memphis." After initially working as an independent slave trader, he

12932-524: Was able to read and write clear and grammatical English, although he was a poor speller. He was initiated into Freemasonry, but did not progress beyond the Entered Apprentice degree. Forrest had twelve brothers and sisters; two of his eight brothers and three of his four sisters died of typhoid fever at an early age, all at about the same time. He also contracted the disease, but survived; his father recovered but died from residual effects of

13054-428: Was an independent city from 1968 to 2013, while also being the county seat of Bedford County . Bedford reverted to an incorporated town, and remains the county seat, though is now part of the county. The state with the most counties is Texas, with 254, and the state with the fewest counties is Delaware, with 3. Nathan Bedford Forrest Nathan Bedford Forrest (July 13, 1821 – October 29, 1877)

13176-399: Was being transferred, presumably because cannons under his command were spiked (disabled) by the enemy during the Battle of Day's Gap . On June 13, 1863, Gould confronted Forrest about his transfer, which escalated into a violent exchange. Gould shot Forrest in the left side, and Forrest mortally stabbed Gould. Forrest was thought to have been fatally wounded by Gould, but he recovered and

13298-506: Was constructed on the square in 1827, while the current Classical Revival -style courthouse, designed by Asa Biggs in 1911, remains a centerpiece of the downtown historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places . One of the earlier settlers was McCullouch family. Alexander McCullouch, a War of 1812 veteran who served as aid-de-camp under John Coffee at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend , moved his family in

13420-635: Was divided into 8 prefectures ( 州 and 廳 ), which remained after the Republic of China took over. There are 13 county seats in Taiwan, which function as county-administered cities , urban townships , or rural townships . In most of the United States , a county is an administrative or political subdivision of a state that consists of a geographic area with specific boundaries and usually some level of governmental authority. The city, town, or populated place that houses county government

13542-440: Was first in partnership with Seaborne S. Jones , second in partnership with Byrd Hill (a more experienced manager of negro marts ), third in partnership with Josiah Maples , then again a sole proprietor, and finally reunited with Jones. Beginning in the Forrest & Maples era, his business was headquartered at 87 Adams Street in Memphis, where several other slave traders had their slave pens and auction yards, thus making

13664-440: Was founded by Dyersburg resident Monte Warren. On September 17, 2003, Harold Kilpatrick Jr. took 15 hostages in a classroom at Dyersburg State Community College . Kilpatrick was killed following a nine-hour standoff with police. In June and July 2020 , multiple peaceful demonstrations were held in downtown Dyersburg around the city's Confederate Statue. These protests focused on systemic racism and police brutality . At one of

13786-410: Was given command of a Confederate cavalry brigade. In December 1862, Forrest's veteran troopers were reassigned by General Braxton Bragg to another officer despite his protest. Forrest had to recruit a new brigade of about 2,000 inexperienced men, most of whom lacked weapons. Again, Bragg ordered a series of raids to disrupt the communications of the U.S. Army forces under Grant, which were threatening

13908-414: Was given command of a regiment, the 3rd Tennessee Cavalry. Though Forrest had no prior formal military training or experience, he had exhibited leadership and soon proved he could successfully employ military tactics . Forrest gained a reputation for his willingness to maintain discipline through the use of physical force. When the information a scout returned with proved to be erroneous, Forrest struck

14030-449: Was initially constructed by Confederate general Gideon Johnson Pillow on the bluffs of the Mississippi River, and taken over by U.S. forces in 1862 after the Confederates had abandoned the fort. The fort was defended by 557 U.S. Army troops, 295 white and 262 black, under U.S. Army Maj. L.F. Booth. On April 12, 1864, Forrest's men, under Brig. Gen. James Chalmers, attacked and recaptured Fort Pillow. Booth and his adjutant were killed in

14152-509: Was known as a tireless rider in the saddle and a skilled swordsman . Forrest was noted as having a "striking and commanding presence" by U.S. Army Captain Lewis Hosea, an aide to Gen. James H. Wilson . He was often described as generally mild-mannered, but according to Hosea and other contemporaries who knew him, his demeanor changed drastically when provoked or angered. Although he was not formally educated, according to Spaulding, Forrest

14274-541: Was left of the army to escape. For this, he would later be promoted to the rank of lieutenant general on March 2, 1865. A portion of his command, now dismounted, was surprised and captured in their camp at Verona, Mississippi on December 25, 1864, during a raid of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad by a brigade of Brig. Gen. Benjamin Grierson 's cavalry division. In the spring of 1865, Forrest led an unsuccessful defense of

14396-457: Was likely Anna Marie Bailey, a niece of Douglass. FRED DOUGLASS' DAUGHTER FOR SALE Among the servants offered for sale by a Mr. Forrest of Memphis, Tenn., is a girl who is known to be the daughter of the notorious Fred Douglass, the "free-nigger" Abolitionist.—She is said to be of the class known among the dealers as a "likely girl," and is a native of North Carolina.—She remembers her "parient" very vividly, having seen him during his last visit to

14518-417: Was promoted to the rank of major general . On March 25, 1864, Forrest's cavalry raided the town of Paducah, Kentucky in the Battle of Paducah , during which Forrest demanded the surrender of U.S. Colonel Stephen G. Hicks : "if I have to storm your works, you may expect no quarter." Hicks refused to comply with the ultimatum, and according to his subsequent report, Forrest's troops took a position and set up

14640-479: Was quoted as saying, "What does he fight battles for?" Forrest (along with other subordinates of Bragg) was not blameless for the disorganization that had led Bragg to decide against pursuit after the Chickamauga victory. He and Wheeler had regularly failed throughout the entire Chattanooga campaign to gather intelligence on the disposition of Union forces, in Forrest's case because he often involved himself in

14762-478: Was ready to fight in the Chickamauga Campaign. Forrest served with the main army at the Battle of Chickamauga on September 18–20, 1863, in which he pursued the retreating U.S. Army and took hundreds of prisoners. Like several others under Bragg's command, he urged an immediate follow-up attack to recapture Chattanooga, which had fallen a few weeks before. Bragg failed to do so, upon which Forrest

14884-615: Was the first son of Mariam (Beck) and William Forrest. His blacksmith father was of English descent, and most of his biographers state that his mother was of Scotch-Irish descent, but the Memphis Genealogical Society says that she was of English descent. He and his twin sister, Fanny, were the two eldest of 12 children. Their great-grandfather, Shadrach Forrest, moved between 1730 and 1740 from Virginia to North Carolina , where his son and grandson were born; they moved to Tennessee in 1806. Forrest's family lived in

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