Nathan Bedford Forrest & Family

diane

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Anyone besides me interested in discussing this gentleman? He is by far the most popular folk hero among southern civil war buffs west of the Appalachians except possibly for John Hunt Morgan and Robert E. Lee. It intrigues me that this man who was one of the larger slave dealers in the mid west could survive several brutal years of warfare and wind up helping the civil right's movement well before it's time. A legend in warfare tactics, his stories can still be heard in any town you spend a few hours in southern Tennessee and north Alabama. As this is written, his boyhood home just a couple of miles west of Chapel Hill, Tennessee off highway 99 is nearly restored and is a magnificent memorial to this man who "rode out of here into legend"...
 

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Mr. Forrest is/was quite deserving of a few tough questions, for alas, he was no saint. One hell of a fighter, that he was. That's the nature of his legend and the source of his fame. The rest of the story has it's rough edges to be sure. That facts hold for themselves. I've spent a few years checking to see just what made this man tick and can't exactly figure it out. I was curious to see if he was as bad as I'd read in the paper. I'm anticipating some assistance from you gentlemen. I welcome, and hopefully the General will, an airing of the facts. Many a southern school boy and girl grew up seeing his image on their high school football stadium and in their parks, all inspired by his gallantry in battle. Lately he's taken a few shots to the chin, partly from scarcely read 'historians' and partly from some folks looking for a good excuse to wage their current campaigns. He was and is a part of our heritage and a good read from any viewpoint.
 

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a little genealogy

Known family data on the line that produced three Nathan Bedford Forrests began with a gentleman named James Foraster who died 5 Sep 1755 in Orange County, North Carolina. He and Ann Ashley produced seven kids. The oldest William b. ca 1726 died 1777/78 also in Orange Co. He and Louvina Grisham married in 1749 and produced ten children. The oldest, Shadrack, was born in 1751 and married Jane Ledbetter. The first born of their six offspring was Nathan b. 1776 in North Carolina who married Nancy Shepherd Baugh 14 Jan 1799. They were an energetic young couple who produced twelve children. The oldest was William Forrest b. 1798/1801 and died 1837 in Mississippi. When he was eight years old, the family moved north of the Cumberland River not far from Gallatin and later settled in Duck River in what was then Bedford, now Marshall County, Tennessee. William was a blacksmith by trade and married pretty Miss Meriam Beck who is described as 6 feet tall, 180 pounds. (obviously a hunk of woman) Of the eleven children of William and Meriam, the first was named Nathan Bedford Forrest, the object of our chat. Young Nathan showed up in this world 13 Jul 1821 and departed 29 Oct 1877. He did a bunch of living in between. There's a small white obelisk in the village of Chapel Hill, Tennessee stating that the General was born nearby in a little cabin (what else?). At the age of three, Nathan was taken by his parents to their new home a few miles west of town where they farmed for their keep just as the rest of the nearby families were doing in rural Tennessee. White settlers had just begun to move into Middle Tennessee having wrestled the Cherokee, Chickasaw and Shawnee from their hunting grounds. Much of the fine farm land in Middle Tennessee had been gobbled up by army officers holding land grants derived from their Revolutionary War service. Such was not the case with the Forrest bunch. These were poor farmers just trying to survive and shoe a few horses for groceries.
 

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Before we launch into Nathan Bedford, it should be noted that five of his brothers were also warriors. John, second son of William and Meriam, served in the Mexican War and was shot and paralyzed. He was living in Memphis in 1862. Third son William Jr. was wounded leading a charge at Streights Column at the battle of Sand Mountain 30 Apr 1863. Aaron was a Lt. Colonel of a Mississippi regiment of cavalry and was serving in Paducah, Kentucky in 1864 when he was taken ill with pneumonia and died in Dresden, Tennessee. Jesse was a Lt. Colonel as well and was wounded in Alabama.
Jeffrey was a cavalry Colonel and a brigade commander in Nathan's division at the battle of Okalona and was shot through the neck (killed) leading the charge in 1863.
If a man had a reason to be a little resentful of the northern army by 1865, it would have been Nathan Bedford Forrest.
 

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William Forrest died in 1837 when Nathan was 16. His Mom was raising nine children at the time and another was born six months later. Nathan simply continued to work very hard and prospered. Apparently he joined a company of Volunteers in Texas for a period in 1841 but returned to Hernando, Mississippi where he started growing and dealing in cotton. It was there that he married Mary Montgomery and moved to Memphis in 1851, rising to some prominence in the city government and became the largest slave dealer in the area working in consort with two of his brothers in New Orleans, Little Rock and Louisville. Much has been written about the details of his slave market in Memphis which was accepted, at least by the white folks, as just another facit of the economy. I've found no mention of any abuse on Forrest's part and in fact a few comments to the contrary, that he was a good businessman and at least gave some care to his valuable investments.
 

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One more and I'll hush and go to bed. Forrest was quoted " When I entered the army, I took forty-seven negroes into the army with me, and forty-five of them were surrendered with me. These boys stayed with me, drove my teams and better Confederates did not live."...... That doesn't sound much like a man who had any animosity toward African Americans. His former business, however, speaks for itself.
 

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In an interview 28 Aug 1868 with the Cincinatti Comercial Newspaper, he was quoted: "And here I want you to understand distinctly, I am not an enemy to the Negro. We want him here among us. He is the only laboring class we have, and more than that, I would sooner trust him than the white scalawag or carpetbagger." One can easily see here his attitude that the Blacks were perhaps not completely equal, though he appears to be friends with the notion of their co-existence. The reference above to the white scalawags and carpetbaggers was the key to his brief involvement with the klan in Tennessee.
 

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Thanks Dawna for the poem which I had not previously seen. Steve and I visited the site at Thompson's Station, Tennessee last Saturday where Roderick is said to have met his demise. The poem failed to mention that Forrest under the direction of Gen. Van Dorn captured 1,200 US Army regulars that day. Col. Colburn's troops I believe.

The panther story has been a part of southern legend for many years and is likely true. King Phillip was the last of a long line of beasts who gave their all for a man who didn't wait to be invited; he joined the battle at every opportunity as did his brothers. Forrest until the war broke out was a more or less docile businessman in Memphis as best I can tell. He was a member of the city council and was well respected. He dissolved his slave business apparently in 1859 and was quite comfortable financially. He joined briefly as a private, but then committed his personal resources and was quickly voted as Lt. Colonel. (Those with the bucks run the election).
 

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Yes, indeed, the end of the male Forrest line. He apparently had a daughter. Did you also notice how many of the first general's brothers gave their lives or portions of their bodies in the civil war? This was a bunch of fighting folks! I would like to learn more about the father of the Air Corps general, Nathan Bedford II, who was the real turkey with the klan. This one was grand wizard of the nasty group in Georgia in the 1920s. He's the one who put the hurt on Nathan I's reputation. Yes, Nat I's little slave business didn't help, but his klan association was an entirely different kind of activity as far as I can tell from published believable documents such as Congressional records and the contemporary 'news'.
 

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Paul, Gen. Forrest I paid for the outfitting of his regiment. That's got a lot to do with his initial designation as a Lt. Colonel. His character and actions kicked in very shortly after that initial rank. I don't know too much myself about the early years of the war and I'm hoping You, Steve, Neil and the others can fill me in. I've read a bit about Perryville, but not his activities prior to that except in summary. I've spent the last two years or so working on the Army of Tennessee from early summer 1864 til war's end. I know a little about Forrest's activity at Johnsonville during which he received apparently much help from some bungling US Army brass and his rides in northern Alabama in 1864. I know he loved to tear up railroads, particularly the one from Nashville to Chattanooga. My own ancestor Parker with the 63rd Virginia was in battle with Forrest at Murfreesboro Dec 6 and 7 1864 and through the fascinating rear guard action here in Tennessee. Steve showed me the site at Murfreesboro, for which I am most grateful. Another ancestor was with Forrest at Chickamauga, another very interesting chapter in his legend. He was also in battle at Brentwood, TN I believe in 1862, but better check that date. Steve mentioned Thompson Station earlier and of course there is his victory at Brices Crossroads down in Mississippi. Forrest had two things going for him, his own brilliance and some dim lights among the opposition on occasions. After the surrender at Appamatox Robert E. Lee was asked who he thought his greatest general was and replied "Sir, a gentleman I have never had the pleasure to meet, General Nathan Bedford Forrest." That, in my opinion, was a compliment.
 

diane

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Here's a summary of the Ft. Pillow battle:

On April 12 CS General Forrest and about 1,500 men attacked Fort Pillow, a U.S. military outpost on the Mississippi River about fifty miles north of Memphis. It was one of the fortifications that supplied Federal gunboats patrolling the Mississippi River. The fort included sutler facilities, civilians, and soldiers. The garrison of 585-605 men included two groups of about 300 each who were anathema to Forrest: southern white men who remained loyal to the United States, whom Forrest called "traitors," and former slaves serving as U.S. Colored Troops, whom Forrest considered to be property belonging to those who had held them in slavery.

Before Forrest arrived, CS Brigadier General James R. Chalmers had positioned sharpshooters on the high ground so their fire could cover most of the fort. When they killed US Major Lionel F. Booth, commander of the 6th U.S. Heavy Artillery (Colored), US Major William F. Bradford, commander of the 13th Tennessee Cavalry (Bradford's Battalion), took charge. Forrest arrived, and during his reconnaissance of the area, he was injured when several of his horses were shot out from under him. Bradford refused Forrest's demand to surrender. Forrest ordered the attack but stayed four hundred yards back and did not lead it, as he often did.

The Confederates quickly scaled the thick walls and began firing point-blank into the Federals. In the melee, while soldiers of both sides were shooting, some Federals tried to surrender while others attempted to escape, but they did not attempt to lower the U.S. flag as a symbol of surrender. Union troops ran for the protection of the gunboat New Era in the river, but it could not help them. The gunners were vulnerable to the Confederate sharpshooters and had taken the gunboat out of range.

Federal casualties were high, with 277 confirmed as dead: 32 percent of the white soldiers, the Tennessee Cavalry; and 64 percent of the black soldiers, the 6th U.S. Heavy Artillery (Colored) and the 2nd U.S. Light Artillery (Colored). The battle became known as the Fort Pillow Massacre.

The Confederates evacuated Fort Pillow that night and turned over the badly wounded prisoners of both races to the Federals the next day. Chalmers told a U.S. officer that he and Forrest "stopped the massacre as soon as they were able to do so" and that the Confederate soldiers "had such a hatred toward the armed negro that they could not be restrained from killing the negroes after they had captured them."

Three days later Forrest described Fort Pillow: "The river was dyed with the blood of the slaughtered for 200 yards.... It is hoped that these facts will demonstrate to the Northern people that negro soldiers cannot cope with Southerners." He also stated that his policy was to capture African American soldiers, not kill them. US Brigadier General James H. Wilson, the cavalry commander who defeated Forrest at Selma the following April, later wrote of Forrest: "He appears to have had a ruthless temper which impelled him upon every occasion where he had a clear advantage to push his success to a bloody end, and yet he always seemed not only to resent but to have a plausible excuse for the cruel excesses which were charged against him." Forrest's record in American history as a brilliant cavalry officer and unsurpassed leader of mounted infantry also includes his responsibility as commander at Fort Pillow and, after the war, as a leader of the Ku Klux Klan.

Now I need to read Neil's post, which knowing him, is probably better!
 

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Having read through Neil's posts of the description of the battle and quickly through the congressional review, I suspect the truth lies scattered about through all that information. Forrest had just been 'rejected' from Chattanooga via his confrotation with Bragg and probably was not in the best of humor as a result of being sent away from the main thrust of the war. Could he have helped in the Atlanta campaign? Certainly. The Good Lord may have been saving him for what was to come in Tennessee the following winter. He certainly saved the lives of several thousand men in Middle Tennessee after Nashville. At Fort Pillow Forrest was only fifty miles from home. His former occupation must have given him some opinions about these African Americans and certainly of the fact they were in position to oppose his cause. His knowledge of local business may also have given him opinions about the business activities of the US Army officers working the river. Did he exceed the dictates of war in his brutal conduct of this battle? Perhaps. On the other hand the rules were set and the consequences of entering battle were known by all involved. A brutal time.
 

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Those are all valid questions. I'm not overly familiar with this battle except for what I've read recently, so I'm no expert. Seems to me there was plenty of guilt and unfortunate circumstance to cover both sides. Anyone excited about Brice's Crossroads down in Mississippi? Again, a battle I know little about except for the NPS summaries, but Forrest again seemed to exhibit his remarkeable sense of orientation during battle and completely out-manuevered the hapless US Army opponent. Moral of these stories: If you're going for a ride in the woods, check for Forrest's location before departing.
 

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One of the aspects of Forrest's service most interesting to me since I live here in middle Tennessee is the fact that he fought most of his part of the war on familiar terrain that he had known all his life. He also apparently had some of the better scouts in the Confederate army with the possible exception of those working for Stonewall Jackson up in Virginia. Forrest was also 40 years of age when the war broke out in 1861. His time on the earth made him at least more experienced than many of the young commanders he faced in the field. He was well over 6 ft in height, thanks to his Mom, and was by all accounts an impressive physical specimen.
 

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My own gg grandfather James Cockerham was a corporal in the 10th TN US Army and served in middle Tennessee as a blacksmith under General Hatch. James was working out of the headquarters in Tullahoma in early June 1864 when an unruly horse pinned him against a tool box. He was taken by wagon to the 'hospital' at recently commandeered Giles College in Pulaski, TN where he was left to recover from his broken ribs before re-joining the 10th at Nashville prior to the Dec 16-17 battle. During that summer after Ft. Pillow, Forrest continued to raid railroads and supply depots in south Tennessee and northern Alabama, often coordinating with Gen. Joseph Wheeler. The history of the 10th TN regiment (US) was published by University of TN Press in 1984 and contained the following relating to this period:

“On May 31, 1864, the regiment was still in Spalding's Brigade, with headquarters at Tullahoma. On August 31, some detachments were still on the Nashville and Northwestern Railroad, but the brigade, under Lieutenant Colonel Clift, was reported in Spalding's 4th Division, in the District of Northern Alabama, under Brigadier General R. S. Granger. On August 26, General Granger had ordered the 10th and 12th Tennessee Cavalry to Decherd, in the attempt to cut off Confederate Major General Joseph Wheeler, who was raiding Federal communication lines in Middle Tennessee. Major General Robert H. Milroy, Commanding Defenses Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad, with Headquarters at Tullahoma, on August 29, pressed into service the 10th Tennessee as part of an improvised force which he led from Tullahoma to Murfreesboro, Triune, and Pulaski in engagements which prevented Brigadier General John S. Williams from breaking through the line of communications and rejoining General Wheeler. At Pulaski, on September 7, he released the 10th and 12th Tennessee, under Colonel Spalding, to join Brigadier General Lovell H. Rousseau in the pursuit of General Wheeler.

At the time of Confederate Major General Nathan B. Forrest's raid beginning with the capture of Athens, Alabama, on September 24, Colonel Spalding reported that the 10th and 12th Tennessee, under his command, were in the saddle eight days and nights, and traveled 230 miles, with frequent skirmishes, the chief of which were at the Elk River Bridge on September 25, at Sulphur Branch and near Pulaski on the 26th. In this campaign he reported 47 casualties for the two regiments. On September 30 1864, the 10th, under Captain D. W. Baker, was reported at Pulaski, where Brigadier General J. C. Starkweather was in command of the post."

Eight days and 230 miles looking for Nathan Forrest. Did they find him? Not until he was ready.
 

diane

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It's me, Larry. Mr. was my father. As for John S. Williams, I don't know. If he survived after 1862 it is certainly likely. The middle initial is certainly a bit of a clue. A quick google search for that name will likely bring up a biography or discription of his service that would give you some clues. He just happens to be an individual I haven't gotten to as yet. Might be a good time to do so. I'm trying to write a book about this period since I had three ancestors in middle TN at the same period of the war. 13th TN US, 10th TN US and 63rd VA CS. All the rest of my guys were in the army of Northern Virginia as were my wife's guys from Alabama and Georgia. I have a little data on the 48th VA CS, 5th NC cav CS (in TN), 3rd NC US (same guy as the 48th VA, this time under Stoneman in TN), 51st GA and 15th AL. I'm still learning.
 

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John S. Williams

Paul, this certainly must be the same man. This is from a 5th KY regiment site:

Williams served with Marshall’s Army of Southwestern Virginia during the 1861-62 period and participated in Marshall’s Fall 1862 invasion of Eastern Kentucky. In the Spring of 1863 he was promoted to brigadier general and placed in command of the Department of Southwestern Virginia. Establishing his base at Saltville and organizing a brigade of cavalry, he contested the advance of Burnside’s Corps into Eastern Tennessee in the Fall of 1863, fighting against desperate odds at Blue Springs, Henderson’s Mill, and other points.

Resigning his command, Williams was transferred to Georgia, where he assumed command of the Kentucky regiments composing part of Wheeler’s Cavalry Corps. He participated in the actions leading up to Sherman’s occupation of Atlanta, and in the Fall of 1864, arriving in the nick of time, he and his men played a decisive role in the Confederate victory at Saltville, Virginia, an action for which he received a resolution of gratitude from the Confederate Congress.

Following Lee’s surrender Williams returned to his farm near Winchester, Kentucky and resumed his political career, serving two terms in the Kentucky legislature during the 1870s. During the 1880s Williams was an active promoter of Florida land development and with Louisville businessman Walter N. Haldeman, publisher of the Louisville Courier-Journal, established the resort town of Naples on Florida’s Gulf Coast. Williams died at his home in Mount Sterling in 1898 and is buried in Winchester, Kentucky.
 

diane

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Paul, threads are nothing more then fasteners to hold the garment together. One of the interesting things about the civil war is that it was a bit of a stage production in a sense or you might say a travelling circus of very brutle and deadly consequences. The same players, as with brother Williams, met many times over until they expired or retired. Gen. Sherman and Gen. Johnston knew each other very well after many battles from Shiloh to Bentonville. Generals Forrest and Wilson's cavalries saw each either other many times from northern Alabama until Forrest called it quits at Citronelle.
I've seen Phil Sheridan's name plasterd on many signs here in TN and down in Mississippi while he is more readily associated with Virginia. James Longstreet is a notable example as well of a man who saw action in both the eastern and western theatres. Some of these men became deadly 'friends'. I never ceased to be amazed by folks who can remember these names, dates and places. I took my 'book' to a meeting one night to a presentation by a researcher who has been working on the Atlanta campaign. He used no notes and I was following along in my written document as he spoke. He rattled off about a dozen battles from Dalton to Jonesboro in the proper sequence, though he did have one date off by about 3 days! Thomas Cartwright who works at the Carter House in Franklin must know the name of every soldier who drew a bead in the battle of Franklin and the name of his regiment and approximately where he was standing when he hit the good Tennessee soil. Not me.
 

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I witnessed an excellent presentation last night by Mr. Tim Moore of Giles County, TN concerning the battle at Anthony's Hill Dec 25, 1864. Generals Forrest and Walthall were both integral players as was Gen. James Wilson of the 4th US Cavalry. Mr. Moore has spent some time organizing and restoring the graveyard at the Anthony Hill church were 43 Confederate soldiers killed or wounded in that confllict are at rest. This little event was a classic case of Forrest setting the 'trap' and the US cavalry wandering in the front door. Forrest and Walthall literally saved what was left of the army of Tennessee during that brief period from Dec 18 until the crossing at Bainbridge, AL on Dec 28. Seventeen of the 43 are identified if my memory is correct. All the graves are marked and identified at least to the soldiers' service in the battle.
A single cannon was captured by Forrest's men, the last one believed to have been won in battle by the Army of Tennessee. Wilson had considerable difficulty explaining to George Thomas how that could have happened.
 
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