FORREST, NATHAN BEDFORD. 1821-1877. Confederate officer. Considered the "Wizard of the Saddle." Many military critics consider him the foremost cavalry officer ever produced in America. He won his fame mostly in the West, operating in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama - seizing outposts, cutting lines of communication, and attacking gunboats on the rivers. Was a successful slave trader, amassing a fortune of over a million dollars before he joined the Confederate Army at the outbreak of the Civil War (June, 1861). Forrest raised and mounted a battalion at his own expense, and was commissioned Lieutenant Colonel (October, 1861) to command them. He conducted a rear-guard action to cover the Confederate retreat at the Battle of Shiloh (April 7, 1862) and was seriously wounded. Appointed Brigadier General (July 21, 1862) and began conducting the cavalry raids for which he became famous. During his first raid (Tennessee, July, 1862), he captured the entire Union garrison with its stores at Murfreesboro (southeast of Federal-held Nashville). As a result of Forrest's raid, the offensive by General Don Carlos Buell was delayed in its march from Corinth, Mississippi to Chattanooga, Tennessee. During his second raid (W. Tennessee, December 11, 1862 - January 3, 1863), Forrest thoroughly wrecked the Mobile & Ohio Railroad, and was successful in severing General Ulysses S. Grant's communications in West Tennessee. Promoted to Major General (December 4, 1863) and Lieutenant General (February 28, 1865). Took part in the controversial Fort Pillow, Tennessee "Massacre" (April 12, 1864), after which The Committee on the Conduct of the War concluded that the Confederate forces which overran the fort committed numerous atrocities (including the murdering of most of the garrison after it surrendered, burying Negro soldiers alive, and setting fire to tents containing Federal wounded). A born military genius, Forrest's military wisdom could be summed up in the advisory: "Get there first with the most men." Fearless to the point of having been wounded four times and having 29 horses shot from under him, he was reputed to have personally killed or wounded 30 Union troopers in hand-to-hand combat. After the war, he had some connection with the Ku Klux Klan soon after its organization, and may have been its Grand Wizard.

Nathan Bedford Forrest defends his actions in the Fort Pillow massacre, and sees the divisions between North and South as still unreconciled just one year after the war.
"I am making out a full statement of the so called Fort Pillow massacre and so soon as completed I will send it forward to the President as Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States which I state that if my explanation is not satisfactory I demand an investigation by a Board of Officers."

"I look for another war unless the people can be brought to a better understanding."

FORREST, NATHAN BEDFORD. Fantastic Autograph Letter signed "N.B. Forrest," three pages, Quarto, dated September 13, 1866 from Memphis, Tennessee. Written to fellow confederate officer Major William Brent, Joseph Wheeler's staff officer. In full:

"Dear Sir and old friend:

Yours of date reached me about 25 of August, but owning to indisposition and the press of business has prevented an early reply. Your notice of myself and of my military character I consider quite flattering. It affords me great pleasure to find that my old associates in arms have not forgotten me while far away and scattered throughout the land. When I surrendered I stated to my troops my own feelings, gave them such advice as I would have given my own son; and I am proud to find that they have come fully up to my expectations. I was fully satisfied they would as they all wish to do what was right. I am now at work trying to collect up some facts so as to condense them into history. I am making out a full statement of the so called Fort Pillow massacre and so soon as completed I will send it forward to the President as Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States in which I state that if my explanation is not satisfactory I demand an investigation by a Board of Officers. I am as well as yourself ruined by the war. I am opening a commission house in this city having sold my lands in Mississippi. We had a large and enthusiastic meeting here a short time since opposing the Philadelphia Convention and Mr. [Andrew] Johnson's Reconstruction Policy. I was Chairman on that occasion and made a short speech which was received with great satisfaction by the people of the Southern States and generally copied in the Northern papers. I propose visiting St. Louis on 26th instant to be at the tournament and fair. Can't you meet me then? Willy and [?] end their kindest regards to you. Willy is going to school at Oxford, Mississippi to the University. Learning very fast and growing too. He is nearly as tall as myself. I do not expect to do much business this year, only making a living. My command as far as I know is doing well and most of them making money. I look for another war unless the people can be brought to a better understanding. I am in communication with the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Soldiers and Sailors Convention to be held at Columbus, Ohio, 17th instant. I think there will be a convention held by the soldiers of the North and South. If so, you must go to it an prepare yourself to make a speech in defense of myself and command. Hoping this will find you in good health, I am as ever your friend. N.B. Forrest"

The Federal government took a special interest in the Fort Pillow massacre of negro troops, appointing a joint Congressional investigating committee under Senator Ben Wade and Representative David Gooch. They called on battlefield survivors to give testimony and concluded that Forrest's cavalrymen assaulted the fort during a 'Flag of Truce' and later massacred the Federal troops. Forrest, on the other hand, denied that it was a massacre as his men claimed that the Negro troops picked up their guns again after having surrendered and suffered the consequences.