Susan Harber, Daily news Journal, May 3, 2015
Nathan Bedford Forrest, July 21, 1821 – October 29, 1877
When I penned a story on Nathan Bedford Forrest’ incredible Murfreesboro raid in the Civil War, I pondered upon a new quest to know the personal man.
His strong personality traits were the result of a hardscrabble childhood, followed by the enrichment of wealth and impending poverty in the end.
Nathan was born on July 13, 1821, into a poor family in Bedford County, Tennessee (Chapel Hill). This area now lies within the boundary of Marshall County.
He was the son of William Forrest and Miriam Beck, who were married (1820) in Gallatin, Tennessee. William was a blacksmith for the John Emasy plantation in Bedford County and the family began a life together in a two-bedroom cabin.
When his father William (37) died in 1837, Nathan, the eldest, emerged in charge of the welfare of his family at the tender age of 17 years old.
Nathan’s mother Miriam, who was 6 feet tall, suffered a life of hardship. She was born into a strict Presbyterian Scottish home, and much was expected for her future.
In 1841, she married Joseph Luxton; and three more sons and one daughter were born. At the start of the Civil War, Luxton died. All but one living son fought for the Confederacy with Nathan deemed the heralded general. In 1867, Miram’s son, James, lay seriously ill in Texas, and she rushed to his side in a carriage only to step on a nail and die of blood poisoning.
At 24 years old, Nathan wed Mary Ann Montgomery (1826-1893) after a six-week courtship, and a lifelong love affair was in motion.
In 1846, their handsome son, William, was born and later enlisted in the Confederate Army at age 15 serving with his father. Daughter Fanny, named for Nathan’s twin sister, tragically perished at 5 years old. In 1861, Mary shared Nathan’s winter quarters in Kentucky and was supportive of her husband and prayed for him every day.
Mary Ann Montgomery (1826-1893)
In July 1862, Nathan was promoted to brigadier general. He was promoted to major general in 1863. By February 1865, he was a lieutenant general with the war in its final chapter.
Nathan was self-educated and never gained a West Point military education, as several of his fellow generals received as a prestigious accolade. Yet, his sharp intellect and brilliant sense of strategy led him on a path of success as a businessman. His ultimate desire was to never return to the impoverished existence he had experienced as a child.
Nathan was a farmer, cattle dealer and a broker in real estate. He had enough capital to buy cotton plantations in Mississippi and Arkansas. He was also a slave trader and used this means of workforce to advance his holdings. He strongly believed in keeping slave families united as one. He fed and clothed slaves well and assured good medical treatment. Nathan was known to be fair and opposed cruelty in any form. Yet, he did not reason within the mindset to free his slaves.
In June 1861, Nathan engaged as a private in the Confederate Army under Josiah White’s Tennessee Mounted Rifles, and history was soon in progress. By October of the same year, he was an officer in command of a cavalry. He raised and equipped a mounted battalion at his own expense and proved a keen sense with strategy. This imposing 6-foot 2 inch man was a born leader and was transforming into the greatest cavalryman of the Civil War.
Forrest preferred the fast movement of horses and proclaimed the famed motto “Get there first with the most.” His cavalry of several thousand entering West Tennessee to disrupt Grant appeared as invincible.
His persona exuded the presence of a phantom with his trick warfare and ability to disappear as easily and mysteriously as he entered an encounter.
At Fort Donelson in February 1862, he escaped with his men, after strenuously opposing surrender. He led his soldiers through a gap in Union lines and moved on to Shiloh in April.
He received a painful wound at Shiloh but returned to the field. One week later, a surgeon removed a musket ball from his spine without anesthesia. In Murfreesboro (July, 1862), he trotted down East Main Street to attack the Michigan troops at Oakland with his Texas and Georgia Rangers, comprised of a large number of black soldiers.
Under dire circumstances, he freed eight prisoners, including a Baptist minister, from the Courthouse. At the end of the day, he had overtaken the 3rd Minnesota and forced 
surrender of Union troops. He gave a strong impression in Murfreesboro that his regiment numbered over 4,000, while he actually had 1,200 soldiers at hand. He was almost always out-manned and out-gunned. His psychological warfare was supreme and still studied today by military leaders worldwide. Rommel, Schwarzkopf, and Patton have carefully reviewed his maneuvers for their warfare in the 20th century.
Forrest’s raiding tactics turned his cavalry into a fearsome striking force. During Braxton Bragg’s Kentucky campaigns, he performed outstanding maneuvers on advance and retreat. He was highly distinguished at Battle of Chickamauga.
He destroyed Federal supplies and a gunboat fleet at Johnsonville. At Brice’s Crossroads, Mississippi in June 1864, he won an exciting battle that was a model for cavalry tactic. Forrest was the commander of the rear guard in retreat from the Battle of Nashville, and he literally saved the remaining Army of Tennessee from a certain death.
He was an expert on capturing garrisons and depots in Tennessee. He also knew how to create bedlam with Union transportation. His presence had gained great fame from both the North and South; and he was considered a reckoning force.
Not every movement was one of honor. The massacre of a black garrison at Fort Pillow marred his reputation in an enormous manner. The attack was ordered quickly. Forrest blazed between the fighting troops to stop the mayhem; yet the battle proved completely unjust for defenseless soldiers.
In 1865, Forrest guarded the Confederate frontier from Decatur, Alabama, to the Mississippi River. He attempted unsuccessfully to halt Union Gen. James H. Wilson’s invasion of the South and was beaten in Selma, Alabama. His surrender of command was in May 1865. As a farewell, he told his soldiers “obey the laws, preserve your honor, and the government to which you have surrendered will be magnanimous.”
When the war was complete, Forrest moved near Crowley’s Ridge in Memphis. In 1866, he was under contract to complete the Memphis and Little Rock Railroad. He was later president of the Marion and Memphis Railroad. The venture proved unsuccessful, and the company was soon bankrupt. He then managed a prison work farm at President’s Island on the Mississippi River. With his health in jeopardy, he and wife Mary Ann lived in a log cabin from their original plantation in spare economic conditions.
He exchanged a cordial letter with William Tecumseh Sherman, who indicated great admiration for Forrest. Both Robert E. Lee and Sherman concurred “Forrest was the finest soldier of the war among North or South.” Forrest also found redemption in his stance on slavery. Although Forrest served as the first “grand wizard” of the Ku Klux Klan formed in Pulaski in 1866, he dissolved the organization of that era in 1869. In July 1875, he gave a message to black Southerners promoting racial reconciliation. He stated he sought equality and harmony between black and white Americans. Forrest related he had followed his duty to fight for the Confederacy, yet he wanted peace and friendship among all races. He conveyed “we have but one flag and one country. Let us stand together.” He said he had been misquoted and misjudged time and time again.
Forrest died two years later on October 29, 1877 at age 56 of diabetes at the home of his brother Jesse. His service was at the Court Avenue Presbyterian Church in Memphis, and Jefferson Davis gave the eulogy. Forrest was a mastermind as a Confederate general and attempted reconciliation with racial unity at the end of his life. He has a blurred legacy that we still seek to resolve and understand today by knowing the inner workings of a simple man, who found fame as a stirring and remarkable soldier from Tennessee.