ho had been sent to raid the town for supplies, was doing his job with great haste, raiding storehouses and rounding up horses. They also burned sixty bales of cotton, a river pier, and the steamboat “Decotah”. Forrest’s men where accomplishing almost every objective given. However, bad news soon reached the proud General. A civilian lady from the town, presumably of Confederate Sentiment, brought news of an outburst of smallpox in Paducah. Forrest, knowing smallpox could be detrimental, ordered his men to leave Paducah and go back to Mayfield by the way they came. In his report on the battle, Forrest said: “I drove the enemy to their gunboats and fortification, held the town for ten hours, and could have held it longer, but found the smallpox was raging and evacuated the place.” The day after the battle, a Confederate soldier was found dead by some Unions soldiers looking over the town. He was leaning with his back against a tree grasping an “ambrotype likeness of two children.” The hardened Union soldiers were reduced to tears as they dug his grave and laid him to rest, still holding the pictures of his children. Over the grave they carved in a maple tree, “Somebody’s Father. March 25, 1864.” Not knowing if Forrest would return, Hicks, on the morning of the 26th, ordered the sixteenth Kentucky Cavalry to burn the houses where the Rebels had rained down their fire on the fort. However, because of the heavy wind that day, the fire was carried into other wooden structures and some sixty homes burned. Some of these home owners demanded reparations for the loss of their homes. Many were declined, but some stayed wrapped up in Congress until 1985, over 120 years later. While these houses were burning, General Forrest sent a letter of communication. The letter read: I understand you hold in your possession in the guard house at Paducah a number of Confederate sold...
