Nathan Bedford Forrest

[Jim Klag]

I wish Diane was here. She knows 1000 times more about NBF than I do. The General was born 198 years ago in Tennessee. Here are a few biographical links.

https://www.battlefields.org/learn/...ZkQnHfxsTIqcw81iyq7v5AKDqKTw3PHdXlOvUP26lagdQ

https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/nathan-bedford-forrest

https://youtu.be/4H6Dq_v8SW0

 

[Al Mackey]

RE: Nathan Bedfor Forrest

Forrest's legacy is complicated, to say the least. While he achieved a number of victories against outnumbered or incompetent opponents, he really didn't have a big effect on the war as a whole. He got some good press, but he really didn't do much to hurt the United States war effort in the West. After the war, he was much more effective in achieving his goals when he led a terrorist organization devoted to suppressing black efforts to achieve equality and intimidating and murdering both black and white Republicans. There seems to be a cult-like following of Forrest these days, where supposedly his work as a white supremacist terrorist is "balanced" by his alleged conversion late in life. When we interrogate the sources, though, and critically evaluate what they actually say and their reliability, we find the alleged conversion to be somewhat lacking.

For example, much is made of his speech to the Independent Pole Bearers Association, even extending to the bizarre claim it shows he was an early civil rights advocate.

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045160/1875-07-06/ed-1/seq-1.pdf

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045160/1875-07-06/ed-1/seq-4.pdf

Forrest claims that almost all confederate soldiers were friends of black folks. They had a funny way of showing it. They were such friends they perpetrated terrorism to intimidate and murder blacks. The perpetrated atrocities on black soldiers who surrendered during the Civil War. Gideon Pillow also spoke at the meeting, urging blacks to disband all their political organizations because southern whites were their true friends. Forrest and Pillow were among the prominent white men the Pole Bearers invited to the picnic for peace and reconciliation.

All historical events have a context, and this is no exception.

The following month, Forrest wrote to Edmund W. Rucker, "our Election paste [sic] off quiet and for the Democratic party. The Civil Rights Bil [sic] has Setled [sic] the Republican party." In that same letter, he wrote, "the white people" need "only do as we have dun [sic] all work to gether [sic]." [quoted in Brian Steel Wills, A Battle From the Start: The Life of Nathan Bedford Forrest, p. 369]

Forrest had good reason to want blacks to believe he wanted reconciliation. "Living in a city whose only barbers were blacks, he had made it a postbellum practice never to patronize the same one twice in succession, lest a plot be hatched to slit his throat." [Jack Hurst, Nathan Bedford Forrest: A Biography, p. 366]

The 15th Amendment had been ratified five years earlier, the Civil Rights Act was passed nine years earlier, and a presidential election was coming up in the following year. Forrest was a staunch Democrat and surely wanted as many votes for Democrats as possible. What he was doing was recognizing what had already happened and was trying to turn it to political advantage. In fact, there's no evidence the man ever changed his mind. He wanted to control blacks. He didn't want them off doing their own thing. He couldn't do anything about giving them their civil rights because they already had them by law. He was looking to control their votes, and using the result of that vote to control them. He knew electing Democrats meant curtailing rights for blacks, and he was out to elect Democrats.

So his exploits on the battlefields need to be balanced against his actions before [slave trader] and after [terrorist] the war, and even his exploits on battlefields need to be scrutinized in terms of what he actually accomplished. If I were a confederate on horseback, I'd probably love being in his command, but if I wanted to win the war, as much "fun" as it would be with him, I think I'd choose to be with Hampton.

 

[dedej]

Why isn't his Convict Leasing career never mentioned?

It's also crazy that some think because he allegedly kissed a Black person on the cheek he was a Civil Rights icon and no longer a white supremacist/racist.

 

[Kirk's Raider's]

I wish Diane was here. She knows 1000 times more about NBF than I do. The General was born 198 years ago in Tennessee. Here are a few biographical links.

https://www.battlefields.org/learn/...ZkQnHfxsTIqcw81iyq7v5AKDqKTw3PHdXlOvUP26lagdQ

https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/nathan-bedford-forrest

https://youtu.be/4H6Dq_v8SW0
We can invite anyone we want from CWT to join us.
Kirk's Raider's

[hr]

Why isn't his Convict Leasing career never mentioned?

It's also crazy that some think because he allegedly kissed a Black person on the cheek he was a Civil Rights icon and no longer a white supremacist/racist.

Jack Hurst's biography of NBF definitely mentioned it. Somehow NBF couldn't turn a profit on convict leasing but Former Confederate era Georgia Governor Joe Brown could.
Kirk's Raider's

 

[jgoodguy]

I wish Diane was here. She knows 1000 times more about NBF than I do. The General was born 198 years ago in Tennessee. Here are a few biographical links.

https://www.battlefields.org/learn/...ZkQnHfxsTIqcw81iyq7v5AKDqKTw3PHdXlOvUP26lagdQ

https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/nathan-bedford-forrest

https://youtu.be/4H6Dq_v8SW0
We can invite anyone we want from CWT to join us.
Kirk's Raider's

[hr]

Why isn't his Convict Leasing career never mentioned?

It's also crazy that some think because he allegedly kissed a Black person on the cheek he was a Civil Rights icon and no longer a white supremacist/racist.

Jack Hurst's biography of NBF definitely mentioned it. Somehow NBF couldn't turn a profit on convict leasing but Former Confederate era Georgia Governor Joe Brown could.
Kirk's Raider's

Always start a Forest Thread and pile on.

 

[5fish]

Here I found this story where a man save Forrest life before he became known.... @diane ... It a good little article about Forrest and details of Forrest first fight gone unexposed... I only put a few snips from the article ...

LINK: https://www.memphisflyer.com/Jackso...6/28/the-man-who-saved-nathan-bedford-forrest

Snip...

William H. Terry was a young man of privilege from middle Tennessee when he signed up to join the Confederate Cavalry on October 30th 1861. He soon found himself part of an elite military unit of 40 well-mounted, well-heeled, and well-armed men, handpicked from some of the finest families of the region. After the raw recruits were initially drilled and trained at Carnton Plantation south of Franklin, they were assigned the designation of Company F, relocated to Camp Cheatham in Robertson County, and on December 11th, joined the 8th Battalion Tennessee Cavalry with Lieutenant Colonel James W. Starnes at their head.

Snip...

During the initial engagement just south of Sacramento Kentucky, Starnes and McLemore - now in the thick of it - were ordered to flank left, while Kelly - whose men had come up after Forrest had briefly checked the general advance - ordered to flank right. Forrest himself shares what happened next (as recorded in his report of December 30th): "The men sprang to the charge with a shout, while the undergrowth so impeded the flankers that the enemy, broken by the charge and perceiving the movement on their flanks, broke in utter confusion, and, in spite of the efforts of a few officers, commenced a disorderly flight at full speed, in which the officers soon joined. We pressed closely on their rear, only getting an occasional shot, until we reached the village of Sacramento, when, the best mounted men of my companies coming up, there commenced a promiscuous saber slaughter of their rear, which was continued at almost full speed for 2 miles beyond the village, leaving their bleeding and wounded strewn along the whole route. At this point { Union} Captain Bacon, and but a little before Captain Burges, were run through with saber thrusts, and Captain Davis thrown from his horse and surrendered as my prisoner, his shoulder being dislocated by the fall. The enemy, without officers, threw down their arms and depended alone upon the speed of their horses."

Snip... other details of the fight...

The only mention that Forrest makes of Private Terry in his report is to count him by name among the day's losses. However, General Thomas Jordan, in his 1868 book The Campaigns of Lieut.-Gen. N.B. Forrest, which was compiled from Forrest’s personal journals and correspondence, writes: "Private W.H. Terry, of Lieutenant-Colonel Starnes's detachment, riding with his commanding officer { Forrest}, after conspicuous gallantry, while engaged single-handed with a Federal trooper whom he was hammering with his exhausted rifle, was run through the heart by Captain Davis; and thus fell one of the most daring members of the command." It was H. Gerald Starnes, in writing of his ancestor's contribution to the Confederate cause, who describes Private Terry as "spurring his horse to Forrest's side", as the Lieutenant Colonel was fighting off a coordinated attack. It was immediately after killing Terry that Captain Davis – who had in fact been thrusting for Forrest - was thrown from his horse and captured. One can only speculate how the sword that sent Terry to his Maker could have changed the course of history had Davis remained unencumbered, in what history as we know it marks as Forrest’s first cavalry engagement.

Snip...

Alexander Great Terry, the now fatherless infant son of Private Terry, would grow to become my mother's, biological father's, father. As a Southern White male, whose roots in this country run as deep as those of the country itself, I neither feel undeservedly proud nor unjustly ashamed of my heritage, I simply try to understand it. I am, however, compelled to offer a few words of reason as regards the recent affront to all things Confederate.

 

[diane]

Thanks for putting that up! The battle of Sacramento Ky may not have been a crucial win for the Confederates but it was a crucial win for Nathan Bedford Forrest. This is the battle that established his daring, cunning, ferocity and determination - he became a leader. At this time, most of the men in Forrest's command were almost all personally recruited volunteers. This is a photo of Pvt William H Terry:



The battle of Sacramento began about as romantically as a Sir Walter Scott novel and ended about as bloody as a Quentin Tarantino film! A brave redhead with streaming curls rode courageously beside the colonel, who was suitably impressed, and it ended with Forrest bringing one of the sabered officers - believe it was Capt Burges - to his home, where he died. Forrest spoke to the wife and left the house in tears - the family had been very good friends.

Captain Arthur N Davis was remarkable in many ways, and also another friend of Forrest's. This is his picture:



In this fight, which is correctly described in the previous post, the core of it was very tight - close combat. Forrest was in a pickle as he was targeted by nearly all the Union opponents. When first seen, they were watering horses and looked curiously at the Confederates as if wondering what they would do. Forrest took a Maynard rifle from someone and fired at them - which removed all doubt! He also led a charge down the road toward another section of them - during which a major turned his horse to face Forrest, signalling he wanted a one on one with him. Forrest simply lowered his saber and ran the man right through, never slowed down or looked back! This battle established Forrest as a formidable personal combatant, a daring commander and was the first time cavalry had been used as mounted infantry. It established the seed of his elite escort. Our private Terry would have been part of that escort had he lived.

Col Forrest was targeted by the Federals after he killed the major and the captain, which is how he came to be surrounded. Pvt Terry actually stepped into a sword blow meant for Forrest - Davis had not intended to kill the young man. (He, too, was a friend of Terry's family.) Forrest whirled his horse around at a gallop and smashed into Davis, trying to prevent him stabbing Terry and there was a heap of horses and men hit the dirt! Davis' shoulder was dislocated and Forrest was thrown ass over tea kettle over his horse's head, rolled a few feet and came up surrounded by half a dozen men bent on killing him. Although it isn't mentioned in the records, Forrest dislocated his shoulder as well - the right one - but still managed to kill four of the six men who pounced on him. (This number turned out to be about average for Forrest in hand to hand combat!)

Capt Davis survived the war - Forrest saw to it he was delivered home to his wife. Unfortunately, his shoulder never healed properly and after a short time he left the army as disabled. One day, not long after the war ended, Davis was driving along in his buggy when, out of absolutely nowhere, a tree limb cracked off and dropped right on him, killing him instantly!