Absolutely nothing about his background suggested Nathan Forrest would be a good soldier, let alone a great one. Uneducated, he still became a rich man (one of the richest in the country, $1,500,000 in pre-war dollars) from his plantations and slave trading. While he joined the cavalry as a private, the Governor of Tennessee had the bright idea of using Forrest’s wealth by having him raise a full battalion at his own expense.
So in October 1861 he was a lieutenant colonel, and in March 1862 Colonel of the 3rd Tennessee Cavalry. His promotion was earned: he had broken out of U. S. Grant’s cordon at Fort Donelson, the only redeeming feature of that catastrophe for the Confederacy. Forrest disdained the weak-kneed surrender conference of the Confederate generals, stormed out of the room, then led his cavalry (and a body of infantry) past the Union lines without a shot being fired. With the Union forces pressing into central Tennessee, he covered the retreat to Nashville, but that city had to be abandoned.
The Confederates regrouped in northern Mississippi and headed for the Union army at Pittsburg Landing. There was little mounted troops could do in the woods at Shiloh, but Forrest again commanded the rear-guard, and was wounded. He took part in the evacuation of Corinth, then was promoted to Brigadier General (July 1862) and raised the troops needed to have a full brigade. He took them on his first raid, hitting Murfreesboro, capturing the garrison, destroying track and supplies. The real effect was to throw off the Union advance on Chattanooga – and that opened the door for Bragg’s movement into Kentucky. He fought in that, but his next independent operation was in west Tennessee.
He raided Union supply lines around the turn of 1862-63, choking Grant’s overland movement on Vicksburg. To be fair, it was Earl Van Dorn, who grabbed the main depot at Holly Springs. The Confederate command sensed that Forrest was best employed raiding; his command was joined with “Fighting Joe” Wheeler’s for a raid that failed to achieve most of its targets. It also brought bad blood between Wheeler and Forrest, who said he would never serve under Wheeler again.
If Forrest could raid Union-held territory, the Union commanders decided to return the compliment. Colonel Abel Streight headed southeast into Alabama in late April 1863. Forrest caught up with them, then dogged their movements, although his first attack was checked. Eventually Streight had to surrender his whole brigade on May 3.
Cavalrymen live hard, and the Confederates had little rest, but Forrest had an unusual scrape in June. He’d mistreated a subordinate, who resented the slur on his honor, so he shot Forrest, hitting his hip. Forrest pulled his pocket-knife, opened it with his teeth, and skewered his subordinate in the guts. Forrest recovered; Lieutenant Gould died of his injuries.
Over the summer Forrest was given command of more and more men, first a cavalry division, then a Corps in time for the Chickamauga campaign. But there was a price to pay: he had to serve under Wheeler again. He fought well at Chickamauga, dismounting his men and driving the Union troops back. Bragg’s staff approved, but Forrest annoyed Bragg by calling for a quick pursuit. Forrest threatened to fight his army commander, who realized Forrest’s usefulness to the Confederacy and didn’t report the conversation, which would have ended Forrest’s career. However, Bragg and Wheeler combined to drive Forrest away. He pled for an independent command, and he got it – with strings attached. Yes, he could operate on his own, but he’d have to recruit most of the men. He went back to his old stomping ground, west Tennessee, and did just that.
Then he went raiding again, tying the Union forces in knots. Sherman never managed to co-ordinate his subordinates, and Forrest was here, there, and everywhere. He captured Fort Pillow and allowed Black prisoners to be shot. But raids were not enough to check the Union; their armies ground forward and the raids took place deeper and deeper into the South. And Union forces got better. In 1864 Forrest couldn’t get to Sherman’s supply-lines because Andrew Smith fought Forrest to a standstill at Tupelo. He won a brilliant tactical victory at Brice’s Crossroads, defeating and capturing a force twice his size, but the effects were temporary.
After Atlanta fell the South had no coherent strategy in the western theater. Johnston had been sacked for being defensive, Hood had been beaten trying to be aggressive. Sherman had no supply lines for his March to the Sea, and Hood decided to attack into Tennessee. Forrest’s cavalry were called over. Probably a lower percentage of Forrest’s men died than in Hood’s army overall, but the toll was still high. Forrest, backed with paltry infantry managed to cover the retreat of crippled Army of Tennessee, but the signals for 1865 were bad.
Forrest’s Cavalry Corps was the main strength of the Department of Alabama, Mississippi, and East Louisiana, but James Wilson had more and better-armed Union cavalry. Forrest dogged Wilson’s steps, but couldn’t beat the Union forces or deflect them. He was promoted to Lieutenant General on the last day of February 1865, but surrendered with the rest of Richard Taylor’s forces in the Deep South.
His plantations had been wrecked during the war, and slave-trading was over, but Forrest resumed farming and dabbled in railroads. (Perhaps he knew enough about how to wreck them he could run them effectively.) After the war, Forrest helped found the Ku Klux Klan, but tried to disband it in 1869 after realizing the its violent nature. He died in Memphis in October 1877 reportedly of diabetes complications.
Content provided by:
eHistory Staff
Selected sources:
Eicher, John H. & David J. Civil War High Commands. Stanford:
Stanford
University Press, 2001.
Warner, Ezra J. Generals in Gray - Lives of the Confederate Commanders.
Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2000.
