Nathan Bedford Forrest, called Bedford Forrest in his lifetime, was a lieutenant general in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War.
Background
Nathan Bedford Forrest eldest son of William and Mariam (Beck) Forrest, was born in Bedford County, Tenn. (The boundary drawn at a later date places his birthplace in Marshall County. )
His great-grandfather, Shadrach Forrest, who was possibly of English birth, is known to have removed about 1730-40 from Virginia to North Carolina, and there his son and grandson were born. They moved to Tennessee in 1806.
William Forrest worked at his trade as a blacksmith there until 1834, when he moved into Mississippi. His death in 1837 threw upon the eldest son, then a boy of sixteen, the responsibility for the support of a large family.
Education
Though wholly without formal education, he was able to speak and write clear and grammatical English.
Career
At first as a farm laborer, later as a horse and cattle dealer in a small way, and then as a trader in slaves and real estate, Forrest provided for their necessities, and gradually accumulated capital enough to purchase cotton plantations in Mississippi and Arkansas, which made him a rich man.
After 1849 he lived in Memphis, and was for some time an alderman. He enlisted in the Confederate army as a private in June 1861, but having raised a battalion for mounted service and equipped it at his own expense, he was appointed lieutenant-colonel in October.
He took part in the defense of Fort Donelson, where he vigorously opposed the decision to surrender, declaring that it would be possible for a great part of the force to cut its way out. With the permission of the commanding general, he led his own command through a gap in the encircling line of Union troops, and brought it off in safety.
Promoted colonel, he fought at Shiloh and was severely wounded during the retreat.
A Union raid, made quite in Forrest’s own style by Colonel A. D. Streight in the spring of 1863, was broken up by Forrest’s vigorous pursuit, ending in the capture of the whole force near Cedar Bluffs, Alabama.
Shortly after, Forrest received what was thought to be a fatal wound at the hand of a junior officer, aggrieved at an order of assignment, but Forrest killed his assailant, and recovered from his wound in time to take part in the Chickamauga campaign.
Soon after the battle, he had a fierce altercation with General Bragg, whom he accused of jealousy and unfair discrimination. Forrest was violent and insubordinate, while Bragg seems to have shown great forbearance; but Jefferson Davis, apparently feeling that Forrest was not being used to the best advantage, transferred him out of Bragg’s command, and appointed him major-general. In the spring of 1864 Forrest raided as far north as Paducah, Kentucky. The one serious blot on his reputation is the slaughter of the negro soldiers which followed his capture of Fort Pillow, April 12, 1864.
No one now supposes him to have ordered a massacre, but his responsibility cannot so easily be put aside. It is inconceivable that he should have been ignorant of the temper of his men; yet he took no precautionary measures, but on the contrary sought to terrify the garrison by a threat of no quarter, as was his custom. If his men this time took him at his word— it is well attested that they entered the fort shouting “Forrest’s orders”—it seems clear where the blame should lie.
In February 1865 he was made lieutenant-general, and with the remnants of his cavalry corps opposed Wilson during the spring until his final defeat at Selma early in April.
After his surrender, in May, he returned to his cotton plantations.
For some years he was president of the Selma, Marion & Memphis Railroad, a new road the construction of which resulted in financial disaster. Fie died at Memphis. Forrest was of great height and commanding presence.
Achievements
Views
The wisdom of expending the army’s cavalry upon such operations has been questioned, but there is no question of the brilliancy of Forrest’s execution of the policy. Fighting generally on foot, and using his horses only as a means of rapid transportation, he covered ground with great speed and delivered surprise attacks against fortified posts, against superior forces in the open field, and even, on occasion, against river gunboats.
Personality
Habitually he was mild in manner, quiet in speech, exemplary in language, in all respects appearing as the kind-hearted, considerate man that he actually was.
He drank little, and used tobacco not at all. In anger or excitement he was transformed into a seeming maniac, terrifying to look upon, savage and profane. The excitement of battle, however, never impaired his observation or his judgment, but rather made them more keen, though his aggressive spirit led him sometimes to ride into the thick of the fight and join in personal combat, like a trooper rather than a general. He was several times wounded, and it has been reckoned up that twenty-nine horses were shot under him. His courage in cold blood was as great as in the heat of battle.
Alone, and with no other weapon than a knife, he once overawed and dispersed a mob bent on lynching; and he dared to apologize, knowing himself to be in the wrong, when once challenged to a duel.
The tradition that his language was uncouth and that he was practically illiterate is founded on his utter inability to learn to spell and his habitual use of a few quaint dialectal expressions, such as mout for might and fit for fought.
He had a talent for mathematics which had no opportunity to develop far. The military instinct in the man came near to genius. As he never commanded a considerable force of all arms, it remains a matter of speculation what he might have done in charge of an army, but as a leader of mounted troops he has had few equals.
Interests
He was involved in the early activities of the Ku Klux Klan, but his connection with the order does not seem to have lasted long.