At the turning point of the Battle of Parker's Cross Roads, Confederate cavalry commander Nathan Bedford Forrest discovered that his forces had been caught in a pincer movement between two Federal armies, each of them much larger than his own. Having narrowly escaped personal capture by means of an audacious bluff, Forrest was approached by his aides, who asked in despair, "General, what shall we do?" "Charge!" he ordered. "Which way, sir?" they asked. "Both ways!" he replied. Powered no doubt by a combination of desperation, adrenaline and chicory-laced coffee, that's what they did -- and smashed their way through a stunned enemy to escape.
