Who is nathan bedford forrest

The plan worked. The Yankee cavalrymen moved forward and were lining up for a charge when the rest of the Confederate horsemen rode up. Forrest immediately dismounted a number of men with Sharps carbines and Maynard rifles to act as sharpshooters.

Meanwhile, the dismounted troopers, concealed behind trees, logs and fences, continued sniping at the Union horsemen. The ground had begun to thaw by this time, and we were soon covered with mud from head to foot. Our company was in the rear, and our boys began cursing the two companies ahead of us, whom we thought were riding too slow, and threatened to ride over them.

The Confederates jumped into the fray with great enthusiasm. The action was fierce, and Forrest was in the thick of it. Hamner wrote. He killed 9 of the enemy. In fact, he looked as little like the Forrest of our mess-table as the storm of December resembles the quiet of June. Severely pressed in the center and on both flanks, the Federal party began a disorderly retreat.

Those of my men whose horses were able to keep up found no difficulty in piercing through every one they came up with. Standing in the stirrups, Forrest slashed to the left and right among the terror-stricken Federals. Forrest hewed the big man to the ground by a mighty stroke. In another instant, Forrest was fighting it out with three Yankees at once. The impetus of his horse carrying him a few paces forward, he checked and drew him a little to one side and shot one of his antagonists as his horse galloped up, and thrust his saber into the other.

He slashed Union Captain Albert G. Bacon, whom he had already shot, with his saber. He then charged Captain A. Davis, and their horses slammed together in a violent collision.

Davis was thrown to the ground with a dislocated shoulder, and he surrendered. A bruised Forrest scrambled to his feet, but his horse was crippled. The Confederates had indeed given up the chase. Their horses were exhausted. Forrest put Federal losses at about 65 killed and 35 wounded or taken prisoner. General Crittenden estimated the Yankee losses at an unlikely total of 8 killed and perhaps 13 captured. Among the Confederates, there were two dead: Captain C.

Merriwether had been shot twice in the head while riding beside Forrest, and Private William H. Terry had been pierced through the heart by a Union saber, even as Forrest tried to intervene. Three other privates had been wounded. The enemy had on the regular U. We were all mixed up together and one of our men took him for a Yankee. Forrest dealt kindly with one of the Federals he had unhorsed, a Greenville resident by the name of Williams.

The man was severely wounded, so Forrest had him carried carefully to his home, where he was placed on parole and entrusted to his wife. Passing through Greenville on a subsequent expedition, Forrest stopped in to inquire personally after the man. Later we became aware that excitement neither paralyzed nor mislead his magnificent military genius.

We were convinced that evening that Forrest and Kelley were wise selections for our leaders. And in all the battles that followed in which these two men were actors, they well sustained the reputation made on the field of Sacramento. Higher up the chain of command, Brigadier General Clark also took notice of Forrest. I am assured by officers and men that throughout the entire engagement he was conspicuous for the most daring courage; always in advance of his command.

He was at one time engaged in a hand-to-hand conflict with 4 of the enemy, 3 of whom he killed, dismounting and making a prisoner of the fourth. Despite his lack of professional military training, Forrest rode roughshod over his Union foes throughout the Civil War, and rose to the rank of lieutenant general.

This article was written by William J. For more great articles, be sure to subscribe to Civil War Times magazine today! Dan Bullock died at age 15 in and efforts to recognize the young African-American Marine continue and are highlighted in this Military Times documentary. An cavalry clash at Boonsboro, Md.

Get inside articles from the world's premier publisher of history magazines. Featured Article Nathan Bedford Forrest Along line of Confederate cavalrymen interrupted the quiet tranquility of a Kentucky winter as they slowly rode north.

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Introduction "Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Forrest eventually found success as a planter and owner of a stagecoach company. In he moved his young family to Memphis, Tennessee, where he amassed a small fortune working as a slave trader.

His business continued to grow throughout the s, and in he was elected a Memphis alderman. By Forrest owned two cotton plantations and had established himself among the wealthiest men in Tennessee.

Following the start of the Civil War , Forrest enlisted as a private in the Tennessee Mounted Rifles and helped equip the unit using his own money. He soon earned a promotion to lieutenant colonel and was placed in charge of raising and training his own battalion of mounted troopers.

Forrest would win his first engagement later that year, when he led a surprise attack on a complement of Union troops near Sacramento, Kentucky. Forrest was next involved in heavy fighting at Fort Donelson, Tennessee, in February Despite being cornered by Union forces under General Ulysses S.

Shortly before Grant claimed the fort, Forrest led roughly cavalry past the Union siege lines and escaped to Nashville, where he coordinated evacuation efforts. Forrest was heavily engaged at the Battle of Shiloh in April and commanded rearguard actions during the Confederate retreat into Mississippi. Already known for his daring, Forrest reportedly led a cavalry charge against Union skirmishers and singlehandedly engaged several troops despite sustaining a gunshot wound to the back.

A month later he led a raiding mission into Tennessee, where he captured a Union garrison at Murfreesboro. Promoted to brigadier general, Forrest next participated in cavalry operations near the vital Mississippi River hub at Vicksburg, Tennessee, which was under siege by Ulysses S. Careful to never engage the superior Union numbers in outright combat, Forrest instead relied on guerilla tactics designed to frustrate and exhaust his pursuers.

Recognizing that Streight held a substantially larger force, Forrest led his troopers around the same hilltop multiple times in order to give the appearance of larger numbers. He then bluffed Streight into surrendering his 1, Union cavalry before revealing he had less than a third as many men. Forrest was prominent during the Battle of Chickamauga in September , in which part of his cavalry dismounted and fought alongside infantrymen on the Confederate right flank. He was then instrumental in pursuing the retreating Union army.

After the battle Forrest openly criticized General Braxton Bragg , who he believed had failed to capitalize on the Confederate victory. Frustrated with his commanding officer, Forrest requested a new assignment, and in October he was placed in independent command in Mississippi.

Promoted to major general in December , Forrest fought a series of small engagements in Tennessee before defeating a much larger Union force at the Battle of Okolona in February