Nathan bedford forrest life timeline
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Nathan Bedford Forrest
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. When his father, a blacksmith, died when he was 16, Forrest moved to the Memphis Delta and eventually became a successful businessman – indeed a millionaire – dealing in cotton, land and slaves.
At the outbreak of the Civil War, Forrest volunteered as a private before deciding to raise and equip an entire enhet at his own expense. He was commissioned lieutenant colonel, and issued this call to arms in June, 1861:
“I wish none but those who desire to be actively engaged. COME ON BOYS, IF YOU WANT A HEAP OF FUN AND TO KILL SOME YANKEES”
In February 1862, Forrest’s unit was stationed at Fort Donelson on the Cumberland when Gen. Ulysses S. Grant forced its surrender. Rather than accept Gen. Buckner’s decision to capitulate, Forrest and his men slipped away, through
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Nathan Bedford Forrest
1821-1877
Who Was Nathan Bedford Forrest?
Nathan Bedford Forrest was a self-taught man who made his fortune as a cotton planter and trader of enslaved people. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he raised a cavalry and fought with distinction through much of the war. Controversy surrounds his degree of responsibility at the Battle of Fort Pillow, where nearly 300 surrendering Black soldiers were slaughtered. After the war, he was a businessman and was associated with the Ku Klux Klan.
Early Life
Born dirt-poor in the small town of Chapel Hill, Tennessee, on July 13, 1821, Nathan Bedford Forrest grew up with no education except the backwoods skills of hunting, tracking and survival. His father, William, a blacksmith, died when Forrest was 16. He went to work for his uncle, Jonathan, at a tailor shop in Hernando, Mississippi. In 1845, Jonathan was killed in a street fight over a business dispute. Forrest went after the murderers, killing two and wounding
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Nathan Bedford Forrest
Confederate States Army general and Ku Klux Klan leader (1821–1877)
This article is about the Confederate general. For other uses, see Nathan Bedford Forrest (disambiguation).
Nathan Bedford Forrest (July 13, 1821 – October 29, 1877) was a 19th-century American slave trader active in the lower Mississippi River valley, a Confederate States Army general during the American Civil War. He was a founding member and the first Grand Wizard of the Reconstruction-era Ku Klux Klan, serving from 1867 to 1869.
Before the war, Forrest amassed substantial wealth as a horse and cattle trader, real estate broker, slave jail operator, interstate slave trader, and cotton plantation owner. 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 previous military training. An expert cavalry leader, Forrest was given command of a corps and established new