Home > American Civil War > Nathan Bedford Forrest Biography

Born July 13, 1821
Chapel Hill, Tennessee
Died October 29, 1877
Memphis, Tennessee

Highly feared Confederate cavalry commander

"Forrest simply used his horsemen as a modern general would use motorized infantry. He liked horses because he liked fast movement, and his mounted men could get from here to there much faster than any infantry could. . . ."

Historian Bruce Catton

Confederate cavalryman Nathan Bedford Forrest ranks as one of the most controversial figures in Civil War history. Forrest was a ferocious fighter who proved time and again that he was one of the war's most brilliant combat strategists. Mixing an aggressive style with superb battlefield instincts, his attacks on Northern military positions and supply centers became so disruptive that Union general William T. Sherman (1820–1891; see entry) warned that "there will never be peace in...