With no formal military training, Nathan Bedford Forrest became
one of the leading cavalry figures of the Civil War. The native Tennesseean
had amassed a fortune, which he estimated at $1,500,000, as a slave trader and
plantation owner before enlisting in the Confederate army as a private in
Josiah H. White's cavalry company on June 14, 1861. Tapped by the governor, he
then raised a mounted battalion at his own expense.
His assignments included: lieutenant colonel, Forrest's Tennessee
Cavalry Battalion (October 1861); colonel, 3rd Tennessee Cavalry (March 1862);
brigadier general, CSA July 21, 1862); commanding cavalry brigade, Army of the
Mississippi (summer-November 20, 1862); commanding cavalry brigade, Army of
Tennessee (November 20, 1862 Summer 1863); commanding cavalry division, Army
of Tennessee (summer 1863); commanding cavalry corps, Army of Tennessee (ca.
August -September 29, 1863); commanding West Tennessee, (probably in)
Department of Mississippi and East Louisiana (November 14, 1863 - January 11,
1864); major general, CSA (December 4, 1863); commanding cavalry corps,
Department of Mississippi and East Louisiana January 11 - 28, 1864);
commanding District of Mississippi and East Louisiana, Department of Alabama,
Mississippi and East Louisiana January 27 - May 4, 1865); also commanding
cavalry corps, Department of Alabama, Mississippi and East Louisiana January
28 - May 4, 1865); and lieutenant general, CSA (February 28, 1865).
When the mass Confederate breakout attempt at Fort Donelson failed,
Forrest led most of his own men, and some other troops, through the besieging
lines and then directed the rear guard during the retreat from Nashville. At
Shiloh there was little opportunity for the effective use of the mounted
troops and his command again formed the rear guard on the retreat. The day
after the close of the battle Forrest was wounded. After serving during the
Corinth siege he was promoted to brigadier general, and he raised a brigade
with which he captured Murfreesboro, its garrison and supplies.
In December 1862 and January 1863 he led another raid, this time in
west Tennessee, which contributed to the abandonment of Grant's campaign in
central Mississippi; the other determining factor was Van Dorn's Holly Springs
raid. Joining up with Joseph Wheeler, Forrest took part in the unsuccessful
attack on Fort Donelson which resulted in Forrest swearing he would never
serve under Wheeler again.
His next success came with the capture of the Union raiding column
under Abel D. Streight in the spring of 1863. On June 14, 1863, he was shot by
a disgruntled subordinate, Andrew W. Gould, whom Forrest then mortally wounded
with his penknife. Recovering, he commanded a division that summer and then a
corps at Chickamauga. Having had a number of disputes with army commander
Braxton Bragg, Forrest was humiliated by being placed under Wheeler again. His
request for transfer to west Tennessee was granted and he was dispatched there
with a pitifully small force. Recruiting in that area, he soon had a force
large enough to give Union commanders headaches. Sherman kept ordering his
Memphis commanders to catch him.
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