Forrest, Nathan Bedford (1821–77)

Confederate General

Dubbed the “Wizard of the Saddle,” and “That Devil Forrest,” Nathan Bedford Forrest rose from private to lieutenant general in the Confederate cavalry during the American Civil War. His use of commonsense tactics and his ferocious combat leadership by example won him a reputation as one of the finest commanders of mounted troops on either side in the conflict. Forrest's most popular maxim was reputedly to reach the battlefield “first, with the most men,” although the key to his success lay more accurately in the standing order, “Forward men, and mix with ’em.” His propensity for fighting is reflected in his claim to have slain one more opponent in hand-to-hand combat than the 29 horses killed beneath him in the war. Yet he often applied a combination of bluff and intimidation against his opponents that allowed him to defeat opponents with minimal bloodshed.

Nathan Bedford Forrest was born in the mid-Tennessee backcountry community of Chapel Hill on July 13, 1821, the son of William and Mariam Beck Forrest. The family moved to Mississippi when he was in his teens. At the age of 16, Forrest had to assume the place of his father when William died suddenly. Consequently, he received little more than six months of formal education.

As a young man, Nathan Bedford Forrest held several minor public offices in Hernando, Mississippi. On September 25, 1845, Forrest married Mary Ann Montgomery, began to raise a family, and sought financial security through a variety of business enterprises. Establishing himself as a small-scale slave owner, Forrest moved his family to Memphis and became increasingly involved in the slave trade in that city. He rose to planter status primarily by slave trading. When the war began, Forrest waited until Tennessee had left the Union to join the Confederate cause. Enlisting as a private, Forrest soon obtained authority from Tennessee Gov. Isham G. Harris to raise a cavalry command. As a lieutenant colonel, he embraced the responsibility for accomplishing this task with enthusiasm and energy, outfitting a battalion of mounted troops later designated as the Third Tennessee Cavalry Regiment.

Forrest's first significant battle experience came at the Battle of Sacramento, in Kentucky on December 28, 1861. He demonstrated the combat tactics he would employ so successfully throughout the war by personally engaging the enemy and employing pressure from the front while seeking to envelop an opponent's position through flanking operations. His reputation as a bold man of action began to take shape only in February 1862, when he led his command on a daring escape past Union lines rather than surrender with the Confederate forces surrounded at Fort Donelson, Tennessee. Two months later, the newly appointed colonel participated in the fighting at Shiloh. Here again he demonstrated impetuousness and courage when he abandoned a [Page 288]screening assignment on the Confederate right flank to engage in the fiercest scene of action. During the retreat from Shiloh these same traits nearly cost him his life when he rode into a body of Union soldiers and was severely wounded before returning to the safety of his own lines. Forrest recovered to win new laurels in a raid against the Union outpost of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, on July 13, 1862, where he succeeded in capturing 1,200 men and ample military stores. With the victory, he established himself as a premier cavalry raider and was promoted to brigadier general.

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