[121], In the spring of 1865, Forrest led an unsuccessful defense of the state of Alabama against Wilson's Raid. [144] Another member wrote, "N. B. Sister: Mildred Forrest (1831-1841) Brother: Bedford Forest (b. [204][205] A monument to Forrest at a corner of Veterans Plaza in Rome, Georgia was erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1909 to honor his bravery for defending Rome from U.S. Army Colonel Abel Streight and his cavalry.[206]. Forrest became well known for his early use of maneuver tactics as applied to a mobile horse cavalry deployment. [228] According to this analysis, Forrest's troops were carrying out Confederate policy. Congressman, RI: Biographies of the Civil War: 1: Apr 19, 2021: Committee Recommends Statue of Nathan Forrest Be Placed in Museum, Not in Public: Concerns About Civil War Monuments and Sites . Nathan Bedford Forrest Birth 21 Feb 1938. No direct evidence suggests that he ordered the shooting of surrendering or unarmed men, but to fully exonerate him from responsibility is also impossible". He attended Georgia Institute of Technology from 1924 to 1934, and was commissioned in the Cavalry from West Point in 1928. . [246] In a nearly unanimous vote on July 7, the Memphis City Council passed a resolution in favor of removing the statue and securing the couple's remains for transfer. [171], Forrest testified before the Congressional investigation of Klan activities on June 27, 1871. Eva, TN 38333. After success in achieving the objectives specified by Hood, Forrest engaged U.S. forces near Murfreesboro on December 5, 1864. [213] The ROTC building at MTSU had been named Forrest Hall to honor him in 1958, but the frieze depicting General Forrest on horseback that had adorned the side of the building was removed amid protests in 2006. He was not as successful in railroad promotion as in war, and, under his direction, the company went bankrupt. Army. Forrest, who was a Freemason,[7] joined the Ku Klux Klan in 1867 (two years after its founding) and was elected its first Grand Wizard. Nathaniel Bedford Forrest (July 13, 1821-October 29, 1877) was a Confederate Army general during the American Civil War. [231], Whether the massacre was premeditated or spontaneous does not address the more fundamental question of whether a massacre took place it certainly did, in every dictionary sense of the word. Nathan Bedford Forrest was born on July 13, 1821 in rural Chapel Hill, Tennessee. Nathan Bedford Forrest, Daniel Foxx. [48][49] Forrest distinguished himself further at the Battle of Fort Donelson in February 1862. Debate over the memory of this incident formed a part of sectional and racial conflicts for many years after the war, but the reinterpretation of the event during the last thirty years offers some hope that society can move beyond past intolerance. [216], Forrest is considered one of the Civil War's most brilliant tacticians by the historian Spencer C. Forrest sent a full charge after the retreating army and captured 16 artillery pieces, 176 wagons, and 1,500 stands of small arms. A crowd gathers around the Nathan Bedford Forrest monument in Memphis' Forrest Park, 1906 Photo via Wikimedia Commons So, they're digging up old Nathan Bedford Forrest over in Memphis . We chose General Forrest". 29.--Gen. [99] President Abraham Lincoln asked his cabinet for opinions as to how the United States should respond to the massacre. The Civil War Trust (a division of the American Battlefield Trust) and its partners have acquired and preserved 77 acres (0.31 km 2) of the Okolona battlefield. [118] When Hood's battle-hardened Army of Tennessee, consisting of 40,000 men deployed in three infantry corps plus 10,000 to 15,000 cavalry, was all but destroyed on December 1516, at the Battle of Nashville,[119] Forrest distinguished himself by commanding the Confederate rear guard in a series of actions that allowed what was left of the army to escape. Was Nathan a Confederate or Union member . Forrest carried a model 1840 officer's cavalry sword from Horstmann and Sons of Philadelphia. The poor deluded negroes would run up to our men fall upon their knees and with uplifted hands scream for mercy but they were ordered to their feet and then shot down. [12][13] Forrest was the first son of Mariam (Beck) and William Forrest. All of the sidewalks in the park were named after officers who served under himexcept for one, which was named for his war horse King Philip. [40], After the Civil War broke out, Forrest returned to Tennessee from his Mississippi ventures and enlisted in the Confederate States Army (CSA) on June 14, 1861. [242], In 2000, a monument to Forrest was unveiled in Selma, Alabama. He was particularly famous for his determination to be "first with the most men." He was born in Chapel Hill, Tennessee, on July 13, 1821. [81] Bradford refused to surrender, believing his troops could escape to the U.S. Navy gunboat, USS New Era, on the Mississippi River. [108] Forrest set up a position for an attack to repulse a pursuing force commanded by Sturgis, who had been sent to impede Forrest from destroying U.S. Army supply lines and fortifications. [160][161] He said he sympathized with them, but denied any formal connection, although he claimed he could muster thousands of men himself. [235], In the 1990 PBS documentary The Civil War by Ken Burns, historian Shelby Foote states in Episode 7 that the Civil War produced two "authentic geniuses": Abraham Lincoln and Nathan Bedford Forrest. 200. Joint Resolution on the Subject of Retaliation", "KKK leader on specialty license plates? Forrest was elevated in Memphiswhere he lived and diedto the status of folk hero. His books include Nathan Bedford Forrest: A Biography , Men of Fire: Grant, Forrest, and the Campaign That Decided the Civil War, and Born to Battle: Grant and ForrestShiloh, Vicksburg, and. [170] The party advocated the termination of the Freedman's Bureau and any government policy designed to aid blacks in the Southern United States. [248] Brett Joseph Forrest, a direct descendant of Nathan, spoke in support of the bust's removal. [247] The City Council then voted on December 20, 2017, to sell Health Sciences Park to Memphis Greenspace, a new non-profit corporation not subject to the Heritage Protection Act, which removed the statue and another of Jefferson Davis that same evening. Words cannot describe the scene. Nathan Bedford Forrest. Nathan Bedford Forrest. Nathan Bedford Forrest was the only soldier to rise from the rank of private to general during the U.S. Civil War. [122] A week later, General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Grant in Virginia. [186] His eulogy was delivered by his recent spiritual mentor, former Confederate chaplain George Tucker Stainback, who declared in his eulogy: "Lieutenant-General Nathan Bedford Forrest, though dead, yet speaketh. All available carts and wagons were pressed into service to haul six hundred boxes of army clothing, 250,000 pounds of bacon, and forty wagon-loads of ammunition to the railroad depots, to be sent off to Chattanooga and Decatur. He emptied his Colt Army revolvers into the swirling mass of U.S. Army soldiers and pulled out his saber, hacking, and slashing. [129], On July 5, 1875, Forrest gave a speech before the Independent Order of Pole-Bearers Association, a post-war organization of black Southerners advocating to improve black people's economic condition and gain equal rights for all citizens. In honor of Gen. Forrest's unwavering defense of Selma, the great state of Alabama, and the Confederacy, this memorial is dedicated. An expert cavalry leader, Forrest was given command of a corps and established new doctrines for mobile forces, earning the nickname "The Wizard of the Saddle". [174] The popular vote was much closer: Grant received 3,013,365 (52.7%) votes, while Seymour received 2,708,744 (47.3%) votes. [218] U.S. Army General William Tecumseh Sherman called him "that devil Forrest" in wartime communications with Ulysses S. Grant and considered him "the most remarkable man our civil war produced on either side".[219][220][4]. Nathan Bedford Forrest statue.jpg 2,048 1,536; 1.03 MB. Instead, he noted that the state legislature would not likely approve the plate anyway. Forrest had fewer men than the U.S. side but feigned having a larger force by repeatedly parading some around a hilltop until Streight was convinced to surrender his 1,500 or so exhausted troops (historians Kevin Dougherty and Keith S. Hebert say he had about 1,700 men). [76] On March 25, 1864, Forrest's cavalry raided the town of Paducah, Kentucky in the Battle of Paducah, during which Forrest demanded the surrender of U.S. [173] The Klan's violent tactics backfired, as Grant, whose slogan was "Let us have peace", won the election and Republicans gained a majority in Congress. Forrest's responsibility for the massacre continues to be actively debated by historians.[6]. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Forrest was blamed for the slaughter in the U.S. press, and this news may have strengthened the United States's resolve to win the war. . In Room 10 of the Maxwell, Forrest was sworn in as a member by John W. Tom Hanks' title character in the film Forrest Gump remarks in one scene that his mother named him after Nathan Bedford Forrest and "we was related to him in some way". You have been good soldiers. [190] In light of the 2015 church shooting in Charleston, South Carolina, some Tennessee lawmakers advocated removing a bust of Forrest located in the state's Capitol building. MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest's polarizing presence has hung over Memphis since he moved here in 1852 his legacy cemented by a giant statue that loomed over. memorial page for Nathan Bedford Forrest (13 Jul 1821-29 Oct 1877), Find a Grave Memorial ID 355, citing National Confederate Museum at Elm . [93] The rebels said the U.S. flag was still flying over the fort, which indicated that the force had not formally surrendered. [208] In 2013, the board voted 70 to begin the process to rename the school. [215], The Forrest Hill Academy high school in Atlanta, Georgia, which had been named for Forrest, was renamed the Hank Aaron New Beginnings Academy in April 2021 after the Atlanta Braves baseball star who had died less than three months prior. [23], Forrest was well-known as a Memphis speculator and Mississippi gambler. Grant wrote in his memoirs that Forrest, in his report of the battle, had "left out the part which shocks humanity to read". [203] The bust of Forrest was stolen from the cemetery monument in March 2012 and replaced in May 2015. [158] Author Andrew Ward, however, writes, "In the spring of 1867, Forrest and his dragoons launched a campaign of midnight parades; 'ghost' masquerades; and 'whipping' and even 'killing Negro voters and white Republicans, to scare blacks off voting and running for office'". Nathan Bedford Forrest Title Lieutenant General War & Affiliation Civil War / Confederate Date of Birth - Death July 13, 1821 - October 29, 1877 Nathan Bedford Forrest, one of the most polarizing figures of the Civil War era, was born July 13, 1821 in Chapel Hill, Tennessee - a small town on the Duck River. Under these laws enforced by Grant and the newly formed Department of Justice, there were over 5,000 indictments and 1,000 convictions of Klan members across the Southern United States. 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