Known as "the Wizard of the Saddle," Nathan Bedford Forrest was a prominent Confederate cavalry officer whose reputation was stained by accusations regarding his role in the "Fort Pillow Massacre" on April 12, 1864. [143] The title "Grand Wizard" was chosen because General Forrest had been known as "The Wizard of the Saddle" during the war. Forrest sent a full charge after the retreating army and captured 16 artillery pieces, 176 wagons, and 1,500 stands of small arms. In 1866, Forrest and C.C. White Americans who made up the KKK hoped to persuade black voters that returning to their pre-war state of bondage was in their best interest. On Tuesday, work began on exhuming the remains of General Nathan Bedford Forrest from Health Sciences Park. [198] The Nathan Bedford Forrest Statue in Nashville was particularly notable for its idiosyncratic depiction of Forrest on horseback. Bedford Forrest, the great Confederate cavalry officer, died at 7:30 o'clock this evening at the residence of his brother, Col. Jesse Forrest. The Blue Raiders' athletic mascot was changed to an ambiguous swash-buckler character called the "Blue Raider" to avoid association with Forrest or the Confederacy. The exhumation and reburial were the results of a campaign that began after the Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017. [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. [45] Forrest posted advertisements to join his regiment, with the slogan, "Let's have some fun and kill some Yankees!". [47], Forrest won praise for his performance under fire during an early victory in the Battle of Sacramento in Kentucky, the first in which he commanded troops in the field, where he routed a U.S. Army force by personally leading a cavalry charge that Brigadier General Charles Clark later commended. His uncle was killed there in 1845 during an argument with the Matlock brothers. Forrest's postwar business career was not as lucrative as his antebellum ventures. Plan in Mississippi raises hackles", "Proposed Mississippi License Plate Would Honor Early KKK Leader", "Group Wants KKK Founder Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest on License Plate", "Haley Barbour Won't Denounce Proposal Honoring Confederate General, Early KKK Leader", "Bust of Civil War General Stirs Anger in Alabama", "Petition Against Selma's Ku Klux Klan Monument", "Mayor Wharton: Remove Nathan Bedford Forrest statue and body from park", "Nathan Bedford Forrest statue won't be relocated", "Tennessee House Punishes Memphis For Confederate Statue Removal", "Nathan Bedford Forrest's descendant: Move the bust from Tennessee's Capitol Featured letter", "Gov. In Room 10 of the Maxwell, Forrest was sworn in as a member by John W. [30][44], Public debate surrounded Tennessee's decision to join the Confederacy, and both the Confederate and United States armies recruited soldiers from the state. His declaration had little effect, and few Klansmen destroyed their robes and hoods.[165]. [57] Again, Bragg ordered a series of raids to disrupt the communications of the U.S. Army forces under Grant, which were threatening the city of Vicksburg, Mississippi. 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. He is remembered both as a self-educated, innovative cavalry leader during the war and as a leading southern advocate in the postwar years. Klansmen took their orders from their former Confederate officers. A surgeon removed the musket ball a week later without anesthesia, which was unavailable. Nathan Bedford Forrest died in Memphis, Tennessee on October 29, 1877. [69] Forrest was thought to have been fatally wounded by Gould, but he recovered and was ready to fight in the Chickamauga Campaign. Cassidy. In June 2021, the remains of Forrest and his wife were exhumed from Health Sciences Park, where they had been buried for over 100 years, and a monument of him once stood. There, with the labor of over a hundred prison convicts, he grew corn, potatoes, vegetables, and cotton profitably, but his health steadily declined. Parents and Siblings. [39] A great-grandson, Nathan Bedford Forrest III (19051943), graduated from West Point and rose to the rank of brigadier general in the U.S. Army Air Corps; he was killed during a bombing raid over Nazi Germany in 1943, becoming the first American general to die in combat in the European theater during World War II. [184][185], Just a few months before his death, Forrest attended an African-American barbecue in Memphis. [13] Forrest's family lived in a log house (now preserved as the Nathan Bedford Forrest Boyhood Home) from 1830 to 1833. [21][22] By the time the American Civil War started in 1861, he had become one of the wealthiest men in the Southern United States, having amassed a "personal fortune that he claimed was worth $1.5 million". The Klan's violence was primarily designed to intimidate voters, targeting black and white supporters of the Republican Party. In June 1861, he enlisted in the Confederate Army and became one of the few soldiers during the war to enlist as a private and be promoted to general without any prior military training. [182][183] The Macon Weekly Telegraph newspaper also condemned Forrest for his speech, describing the event as "the recent disgusting exhibition of himself at the negro jamboree" and quoting part of a Charlotte Observer article, which read "We have infinitely more respect for Longstreet, who fraternizes with negro men on public occasions, with the pay for the treason to his race in his pocket, than with Forrest and [General] Pillow, who equalize with the negro women, with only 'futures' in payment". The illness also claimed Forrest's twin sister, Fanny. Nathan Bedford Forrest, Daniel Foxx. [19][13][20] In 1858, Forrest was elected a Memphis city alderman as a Democrat and served two consecutive terms. Browse 85 nathan bedford forrest stock photos and images available or search for nathan bedford forrest statue to find more great stock photos and pictures. At the onset of the war in 1861, Jeffery and Nathan each enlisted as a Private into Captain Josiah White's Tennessee Mounted Rifles, a command that would later be designated the 7th Tennessee Cavalry. Despite having no formal military training, Forrest rose from the rank of private to lieutenant. The effort was spearheaded by Take 'Em Down 901, an organization dedicated to removing Confederate iconography founded by activist Tami Sawyer. 7,500. The Model 1840 was known as the wristbreaker. When he expressed his opinion to one of General Forrest's granddaughters, she replied after a pause, "You know, we never thought much of Mr. Lincoln in my family". I do not hate it; I am opposing now only the radical revolutionists who are trying to destroy it. Nathan Bedford Forrest, fdd 13 juli 1821 i Chapel Hill, Tennessee, dd 29 oktober 1877 i Memphis, Tennessee, var en amerikansk plantagegare och generalljtnant i sydstatsarmn under amerikanska inbrdeskriget. [81] Forrest's men immediately took over the fort, while U.S. Army soldiers retreated to the lower bluffs of the river, but the USS New Era did not come to their rescue. He reported for training at Fort Wright near Randolph, Tennessee,[41] joining Captain Josiah White's cavalry company, the Tennessee Mounted Rifles (Seventh Tennessee Cavalry), as a private along with his youngest brother and 15-year-old son. Born into a poor settler family, Nathan had a twin sister, Fanny. [174] Grant lost Georgia and Louisiana, where the violence and intimidation against blacks were most prominent. [116] Facing a disastrous defeat, Forrest argued bitterly with Hood (his superior officer) demanding permission to cross the Harpeth River and cut off the escape route of U.S. Army Maj. Gen. John M. Schofield's army. [73][74][75], On December 4, 1863, Forrest was promoted to the rank of major general. The school in Jacksonville was named for Forrest in 1959 at the urging of the Daughters of the Confederacy because they were upset about the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision. After his bloody defeat at Franklin, Hood continued to Nashville. Middle Tennessee. Nathan Bedford Forrest Born: 13-Jul - 1821 Birthplace: Chapel Hill, TN Died: 29-Oct - 1877 Location of death: Memphis, TN Cause of death: Diabetes complications Remains: Buried, Forrest Park, Memphis, TN Gender: Male Race or Ethnicity: White Sexual orientation: Straight Occupation: Military Nationality: United States One month later, while serving under General Stephen D. Lee, Forrest experienced tactical defeat at the Battle of Tupelo in 1864. . Not realizing that the rest of his men had halted their charge when they reached the full U.S. brigade, Forrest charged the brigade alone and soon found himself surrounded. [102] The Confederate press steadfastly defended Forrest's reputation. [51][52] Forrest arranged for heavy ordnance machinery, including a new cannon rifling machine and fourteen cannons, as well as parts from the Nashville Armory, to be sent to Atlanta for use by the Confederate Army. [14] He and his twin sister, Fanny, were the two eldest of 12 children. Nathan Bedford Forrest had two brothers who also served as Confederate officers during the Civil War: Colonel Jeffrey Edward Forrest and Lieutenant Colonel Jesse Anderson Forrest. [81] Bradford refused to surrender, believing his troops could escape to the U.S. Navy gunboat, USS New Era, on the Mississippi River. However, traditional unreconstructed writers, like our award-winning Tennessee author, Forrest scholar Colonel Lochlainn Seabrook, know that Confederate General Forrest was none of these things. In 1845, Forrest married Mary Ann Montgomery (18261893), the niece of a Presbyterian minister who was her legal guardian. [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. Forrest had to recruit a new brigade of about 2,000 inexperienced recruits, most of whom lacked weapons. [208] At the time the school was all white, but now more than half the student body is black. 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