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Nathan Bedford Forrest Nathan Bedford Forrest This article is about the Confederate general. For other uses, see Nathan Bedford Forrest (disambiguation). Nathan Bedford Forrest (July 13, 1821 – October 29, 1877) was a lieutenant general in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. He is remembered as a self-educated, brutal, and innovative cavalry leader dur- ing the war and as a leading Southern advocate in the post- war years. He was a pledged delegate from Tennessee to the New York Democratic national convention of 4 July 1868. He served as the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, but later distanced himself from the organization.[3] A cavalry and military commander in the war, Forrest is one of the war’s most unusual figures. Although less edu- cated than many of his fellow officers, before the war For- rest had already amassed a fortune as a planter, real estate investor, and slave trader. He was one of the few officers in either army to enlist as a private and be promoted to general officer and corps commander during the war. Al- though Forrest lacked formal military education, he had a gift for leadership, strategy and tactics. He created and established new doctrines for mobile forces, earning the nickname The Wizard of the Saddle.[4] Forrest was accused of war crimes at the Battle of Fort Pillow for allowing forces under his command to mas- sacre hundreds of black Union Army and white Southern Unionist prisoners. Union Major General William T. Sherman investigated the allegations and did not charge Forrest with any improprieties. In their postwar writings, Confederate President Jefferson Davis and General Robert E. Lee both expressed their Memphis City Directory entry for Forrest’s slave-trading busi- belief that the Confederate high command had failed to ness, 1855–1856 fully use Forrest’s talents.[5] Jonathan Forrest in Hernando, Mississippi. His uncle was killed there in 1845 during an argument with the Mat- 1 Early life lock brothers. In retaliation, Forrest shot and killed two of them with his two-shot pistol and wounded two others Nathan Bedford Forrest was born to a poor Scotch-Irish with a knife which had been thrown to him. One of the American family in Bedford County, Tennessee. He and wounded Matlock men survived and served under Forrest his twin sister, Fanny, were the two eldest of blacksmith during the Civil War.[7] William Forrest’s 12 children with wife Miriam Beck. Forrest became a businessman, planter, and slaveholder. The Forrest family had migrated to Tennessee from He owned several cotton plantations in the Delta region Virginia, via North Carolina, during the second half of of West Tennessee. He was also a slave trader, at a time the 18th century, while the Beck family had moved from [6] when demand was booming in the Deep South; he had South Carolina to Tennessee around the same time. Af- his trading business based on Adams Street in Memphis. ter the deaths of his father and Fanny to scarlet fever, For- In 1858, Forrest (a Democrat), was elected a Memphis rest at age 17 became head of the family. city alderman.[8] Forrest supported his mother and put In 1841, Forrest went into business with his uncle his younger brothers through college. By the time the 1 2 3 MILITARY CAREER American Civil War started in 1861, he had become to recruit and train a battalion of Confederate mounted a millionaire and one of the richest men in the South, rangers. In October 1861, Forrest was given command having amassed a “personal fortune that he claimed was of a regiment, the 3rd Tennessee Cavalry. Though For- worth $1.5 million”.[9] rest had no prior formal military training or experience, Before the Civil War, he had exhibited leadership qualities and soon proved he had a gift for successful tactics. Forrest was well known as a Memphis Public debate surrounded Tennessee’s decision to join speculator and Mississippi gambler. He was the Confederacy. Both the CSA and the Union armies for some time captain of a boat which ran recruited soldiers from the state. More than 100,000 between Memphis, Tennessee and Vicksburg, men from Tennessee served with the Confederacy (more Mississippi. As his fortune increased he en- per capita than any other state), and 50,000 served with gaged in plantation speculation, and became the Union.[14] Forrest posted ads to join his regiment the nominal owner of two plantations not far for “men with good horse and good gun” adding “if you from Goodrich’s Landing, above Vicksburg, wanna have some fun and to kill some Yankees”.[15] where he worked some hundred or more slaves At six feet, two inches (1.88 m) tall and 210 pounds (95 ... He was known to his acquaintances as kg; 15 stone), Forrest was physically imposing and intim- a man of obscure origin and low associa- idating, especially compared to the average height of men tions, a shrewd speculator, negro trader, and at the time. He used his skills as a hard rider and fierce duelist, but a man of great energy and brute swordsman to great effect. (He was known to sharpen courage.[10] both the top and bottom edges of his heavy saber.) Historians have evaluated contemporary records to con- 2 Marriage and family clude that Forrest may have killed more than 30 enemy soldiers[16] with saber, pistol, and shotgun. Not all of For- rest’s feats of individual combat involved enemy troops. In 1845, Nathan married Mary Ann Montgomery (1826– Lt. A. Wills Gould, an artillery officer in Forrest’s com- 1893), the daughter of a Presbyterian minister. They mand, was being transferred, presumably because can- had two children together: William Montgomery Bed- nons under his command were spiked by the enemy dur- ford Forrest (1846–1908), who enlisted at the age of 15 ing the Battle of Day’s Gap.[17] On June 14, 1863, Gould and served alongside his father in the war, and a daugh- confronted Forrest about his transfer, which escalated ter Fanny (1849–1854), who died in childhood. His into a violent exchange. Gould shot Forrest in the hip; descendants continued the military tradition. A grand- Forrest mortally stabbed his assailant. son, Nathan Bedford Forrest II (1872–1931), became Commander-in-Chief of the Sons of Confederate Veter- Forrest’s command included his Escort Company (his ans and a Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan. A great- “Special Forces”), for which he selected the best soldiers grandson, Nathan Bedford Forrest III (1905–1943), grad- available. This unit, which varied in size from 40 to 90 uated from West Point and rose to the rank of brigadier men, was the elite of the cavalry. general in the U.S. Army Air Corps; he was killed during a bombing raid over Germany in 1943. 3.1 Cavalry command 3 Military career Forrest received praise for his skill and courage during an early victory in the Battle of Sacramento in Kentucky, where he routed a Union force by personally leading a After the Civil War broke out, Forrest returned to Ten- cavalry charge that was later commended by his com- nessee from his Mississippi ventures, enlisted in the [18] Confederate States Army (CSA), and trained at Fort mander, Brigadier General Charles Clark. Forrest dis- Wright in Randolph, Tennessee.[11] On July 14, 1861, he tinguished himself further at the Battle of Fort Donelson joined Captain Josiah White’s Company “E”, Tennessee in February 1862. After his cavalry captured a Union Mounted Rifles as a private, along with his youngest artillery battery, he broke out of a Union Army siege brother and 15-year-old son. Upon seeing how badly headed by Major General Ulysses S. Grant. Forrest ral- equipped the CSA was, Forrest offered to buy horses and lied nearly 4,000 troops and led them across the river. equipment with his own money for a regiment of Ten- A few days after Fort Donelson, with the fall of Nashville nessee volunteer soldiers.[12][13] to Union forces imminent, Forrest took command of the His superior officers and the state Governor Isham G. city. Local industries had several millions of dollars Harris were surprised that someone of Forrest’s wealth worth of heavy ordnance machinery. Forrest arranged for transport of the machinery and several important govern- and prominence had enlisted as a soldier, especially since [19] major planters were exempted from service. They com- ment officials to safe locations. missioned him as a lieutenant colonel and authorized him A month later, Forrest was back in action at the Battle 3.1 Cavalry command 3 of Shiloh (April 6 to 7, 1862). He commanded a Con- federate rear guard after the Union victory. In the battle of Fallen Timbers, he drove through the Union skirmish line. Not realizing that the rest of his men had halted their charge when reaching the full Union brigade, For- rest charged the brigade single-handedly, and soon found himself surrounded. He emptied his Colt Army revolvers into the swirling mass of Union soldiers and pulled out his saber, hacking and slashing. A Union infantryman fired a musket ball into Forrest’s spine with a point-blank mus- ket shot, nearly knocking him out of the saddle. Forrest grabbed an unsuspecting Union soldier, hauled him onto his horse to use as a shield, dumped the man once he had broken clear and was out of range, then galloped back to his incredulous troopers.[20] A surgeon removed the mus- ket ball a week later, without anesthesia, which was un- available.
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