nathan bedford forrest
Nathan Bedford Forrest, one of the military geniuses of American history, was born July 13, 1821 in Bedford County, Tennessee. Nathan Forrest was the son of William and Marian Beck Forrest. Nathan's father Willaim died when he was only 16. Forrest rose from poverty to become a wealthy cotton planter, horse and cattle trader, real estate broker, and slave dealer. Nathan Forrest was perhaps the most interesting and controversial general of the civil war. This almost illiterate backwoodsman was a self-made millionaire who enlisted as a private in the Confederate Army in June of 1861 and with no prior military training rose to the rank of lieutenant general in 1865 and has also been called the greatest cavalry commander of either army. Without military education or training, he became the annoyance of Grant, Sherman, and almost every other Union general who fought in Tennessee, Alabama, or Kentucky. His formula for success was "get there first with the most men." Forrest w!as fearless and brutal. "War means fightin' and fight
Having had a number of disputes with army commander Braxton Bragg, Forrest was humiliated by being placed under another Confederate named Wheeler. I am here as the representative of the Southern people - one that has been more maligned than any other. Recruiting in that area, he soon had a force large enough to give Union commanders headaches. On July 4, 1875 Forrest gave a speech to the black people of the south. The Union commanders had more men, guns and an entrenched position but surrendered anyway, unaware that Forrest was bluffing. Having occupied the position I have for thirteen years, and being misunderstood by the c!olored race, I take this occasion to say that I am your friend. At the Battle of Fort Donelson, where 13,000 Confederates surrendered to General U. We were born on same soil, breathe the same air, live in the same land, and why should we not be brothers and sisters?" Shortly after the speech he joined the Ku Klux Klan. Grant, Forrest declared that he had not come to surrender and led his men through swollen rivers and winter weather to the safety of Nashville.
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