Nathan Bedford Forrest: A Biography

by Jack Hurst

Book Overview

Amid the aristocratic ranks of the Confederate cavalry, Nathan Bedford Forrest was untutored, all but unlettered, and regarded as no more than a guerrilla. His tactic was the headlong charge, mounted with such swiftness and ferocity that General Sherman called him a devil who should be hunted down and killed if it costs 10,000 lives and bankrupts the treasury. And in a war in which officers prided themselves on their decorum, Forrest habitually issued...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 067974830X
• ISBN13: 9780679748304
• Release Date: March 1994
• Publisher: Vintage
• Length: 448 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.2" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

Well written and detailed book

This is my first book about Forrest. It's extremey detailed without weighing you down. From his early days through his every day life during the war, I was rarely ever felt wanting in the info department. This book does not gloss over Forrests "bad" points but neither does it attack his very being as a lot of Civil War books do. I have grown to seriously admire this man not only a battlefield genius but as a person as well. Seeing the in and outs of the Civil War from this perspective was exciting and raises questions about how it was fought, and even why it was fought.

Another worth look at Bedford Forrest

This book does not tell us anything we do not already know about one of the best leaders in the Confederacy, a noble man of extraordinary courage who could have rivaled Rober E. Lee as a tactician with no military training had the political leadership of that nation uderstood his brilliance.

An absorbing study of a man driven

The generals of the Civil War are remembered in contrasts. Sherman, Sheridan and Grant, were...well, common. They were hard drinking men, willing to sacrifice any number - thousands of men - believing the ends justified the means. They were not tall, handsome or dashing, so maybe that is why the Generals of the confederacy live so vividly in our imaginations. A lot of the Southerns were gentlemen, they were the epitome of the genteel South - or at least how we often see it in our imaginations, when we can divorce the spectre of Slavery from that vision. They were men in grey, who rode off to fight for what they believed, and no one more so than Nathan Bedford Forrest. Only Forrest does not fit that stereotypical Southern Gentleman. He was born in a log-cabin (as was Lincoln and Jefferson Davis); he was a failed businessman same as Grant. He was hard living, coarse like Sherman and Sheridan. And quite possibly one of the most complex figures to come out of the period. He did not fight in the Army of Northern Virginia under Lee, which keeps him out of the general attention of those learning about the Civil War. His first notable occurrence in the Civil War was the Fort Pillow Incident, where - still today we do not understand what happened - how black and white men supposedly surrendering were put to death by Forrest's command. Jefferson David never understood Forrest's guerrilla-like methods of fighting - but one could not dispute the results. He believed calvary men were not as JEB Stuart, dashing figures leading gallant charges, but were fighting men who used horses to get from point A to point B, "the firstest with the mostest" as he is often misquoted saying. As such, military tactics are still questioned and studied today. He did not enter the war as one of the 'nobility' but came in as a private to rise to the ranks of Lieutenant General. A superb tactician, a ferocious fighter unequalled - he killed 30 men and had his horse shot out from under him 29 times! After the war, he was one of the founders of the Ku Klux Klan, it's first Grand Wizard, only to turn around and repudiate it and tried disband it for his racial hatred.Forrest has been called 'that devil forrest', the 'wizard of the saddle', Historian Shelby Foote called him one of the two great geniuses of the period (Lincoln being the other) and by Lee `the most extraordinary man the Civil War produced'. He was a slaver trader and owner, yet upon his death in 1877, it is well noted that his funeral was attended by hundreds of ex-slaves.Jack Hurst gives a very balance view of this highly controversial figure and complex figure, showing his prowess, his faults and how he influences fighting of the period. Tries not to excuse or explain away Fort Pillow, but place it in proper perspective.His work is wonderful look at the man often ignored or overlooked by general history.

Finest I Have Read

Overall, a first-rate biography, both from a military and from psychological and spiritual sense. Though it indeed lacks maps, the knowledgeable student of the War for Southern Independence will find those included to be sufficient. The work is not, as some have intimated in these reviews, unfair or essentially negative in its presentation of the man, Forrest. On the contary, Forrest fans will find it delightfully free of the anti-Forrest rancor which politically correct historical revisionsists are so famous for. Hurst understands that the so-called "distasteful activities" were 100% legal at the time, and presents them without undue bias. Forrest is in no way presented as any more racist than his contemporaries, and shown as he was, significantly more compassionate toward African Ameicans than many in these reviews would suggest (Did they even read the book? -- one wonders). His celebrated ruthlessness in a fight is balanced by a historically well-established backwoods chivalry which markedly contrasts this uneducated but brilliant man (6 mo. total formal schooling), with some of his contemporaries such as the war-criminal-by-his-own-admission, Sherman. The admiration which he earned from his troops is also well-documented, though he accurately is depicted in this work as having shot both deserters and cowards in battle. Forrest's amazing ability to size up situations at a glance, to see the unseen part of the field, and to comprehend distances and the geometry of operational and tactical logistics is well- covered. Several longstanding misconceptions are properly laid to rest in this work, among them, that Forrest founded the Kuklos Klan - He did not. He was asked and accepted to be its first Grand Wizard (a title developed in his honor, since he was well-known as the "wizard of the saddle"). Forrest's subsequent Congressional testimony against the Klan is detailed, as is his (successful) effort to disband the Klan (the present-day Ku Klux Klan is dominated by midwesterners and northerners, is the third such organisation in history, and is descended from the first Klan in name only). Forrest's signal bravery and inimitable style comes through in this work better than in any other I have read. He stands up off the pages, whether in his manner of chasing away other beaus in competition for his bride (yes, there is even romance in this story), in his regrettable knife-killing of a subordinate who shot him in a violent dispute over lost cannon (No damn man kills me and lives!), or in his pragmatic treatment of the slaves he unflinchingly bought and sold. He was a poor scrabbler, an ambitious climber, but an exemplary fighter of unique integrity and fearless grit.The Fort Pillow battle is well-documented, presenting a dispassionate and careful discussion of the facts as ascertained from study of the collected records of all involved; as well as both the Yankee propaganda against him, and his own "Keep up the Skeer" propaganda. The dispass

Interesting book about interesting figure

Nathan Bedford Forrest is perhaps the most intersting figure of the Civil War. He was a failed business man, until he became a slave trader, who entered the war as a private and quickly rose to the rank of general. His military campaigns are legend as well as the ruthlessness of thier execution. He was the first Grand Wizard of the Klan as well as an individual who in his later life developed a more enlightened attitude toward blacks.Hurst presents all of the above in a very descriptive manner. What is truly complementary to Hurst is that he presents a fairly evenhanded story of Forrest. His discussion of the Fort Pillow Massacre, in which Forrest's command killed hundreds of surrendering black Union soldiers, is the best example of Hurst's approach. While not attempting to excuse Forrest's conduct in any way, Hurst does put the massacre into the proper historical prespective.The main fault of the book is its lack of maps. Many of Forrest's campaigns are complicated and difficult to understand because of the almost complete absence of maps. There are only 2 battle maps.All in all it is a fine book.

Superb insight... even if I do say so myself- J. Forrest

May last name is Forrest. As a child I heard stories about the determination and inner strength of my grandfather. I was told he got it from "The General." Later in life I researched the family tree and found that the "General" they were referring to was General Nathan Bedford Forrest. He was either my grandfather's great uncle or cousin. I was unable to narrow it down beyond that; however, my reading of the book was to gain insight about the man and the stories I was told as a child. There is an undeniable link in the genetics. Reading the book was like meeting my father and grandfather all over again; men of few words, proud, determined, mean as hell when crossed, and never understood the word, "No." The Forrest's have always been difficult men to get close to, and perhaps that is the reason. The book was well written and easy to follow. Perhaps I am somewhat partial because of my connection with the subject, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. END