Nathan Bedford Forrest Prewar Life

The early life of Nathan Bedford Forrest was similar to that of many other poor white southern families. Forrest was born on July 13, 1821, in Chapel Hill, Tennessee. The family moved to Marshall County, Mississippi, in 1834, where his father would die shortly after moving. Forrest was left in abject poverty on a small leased farm with his widowed mother and two younger brothers. Abandoning any education ambitions of his own, Forrest became the head of the family at seventeen years-of-age, determined to support his mother and help his siblings attend college. Forrest's lack of education did not prevent him from realizing these goals, as his hard work and natural abilities soon enabled him to achieve these goals while amassing a fortune before the Civil War estimated at $1.5 million: "While neglecting his own education he provided liberally for that of his brothers and sisters, and going into business in Memphis became able to purchase a large plantation and at the outbreak of the war was one of the wealthiest planters in Tennessee" (Nathan, 2004, p. 1). A good deal of Forrest's wealth stemmed from his role as a slave trader as well as plantation owner, like many other wealthy southerners of the era. Owing his wealth to the slave trade, it is natural that Forrest would favor the Confederacy at the outbreak of the Civil War.

Forrest's Civil War accomplishments are significant. He had no formal military trai

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han, 2004, p. 2). Forrest experienced many other triumphs during the Civil War. He forced Colonel Abel Streight's men into retreat, relentlessly pursuing them for over two weeks. Forrest succeeded in pursuing the Union army into retreat at the Battle of Chickamauga, but conflicted with Bragg over strategy and was reassigned to independent command in Mississippi. Forrest raised an army of more than 6000 men and headed back to Tennessee. He made the area useless to the Union army, despite being ill-equipped to force it to surrender. He led more successful raids, ending on in the Battle of Fort Pillow, where he allegedly swore to "put every man to the sword" who refused to surrender (Nathan, 2004, p. 4). He stormed the fort and killed many of the men inside, primarily African Americans. His greatest victory came in 1864, at the Battle of Brice's Crossroads, where his superior tactics inflicted thousands of casualties and forced the Union to move from Tennessee to Mississippi. In 1865, trying to defend Alabama from Union forces and greatly outnumbered, Forrest refused to flee and surrendered with his men. He was permitted to return to public life. Calvary Tactician Despite his lack of military training, Forrest was considered

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