N.B. Forrest, as he signed his field communications, was not only the reputed founder (there is evidence both supporting this and NOT) of the KKK . . . and, I would quickly add that the KKK then was very unlike the one that we detested in the 20th century . . . but a rather controversial character when it came to history’s accounts of his field command days.

Relative to Forrest’s personality, it was at once impulsive and fierce, and yet considered and compassionate.

He was that rare breed of military officer who was both good at fighting and good at administration.  For example, Halleck was a good administrator, but not so good with a fighting will.  Bragg, on the southern side, was bad at both.  Forrest secured the loyalty of his troops not only with his leadership skills in battle, but also with his commissary skills in camp.

But the public knows only the fiery tempered Forrest.  One story that reinforces that is his clash with Bragg.  Frustrated by Bragg’s repeated incompetence in executing a battle plan, Forrest finally supposedly said something like “If you ever cross my path again, I’ll kill you”.  If indeed he ever said something like that, it’s also telling that Bragg never court-martialed him for insubordination.

Another example of his fiery displays in battle, was the fact that he was often in the front of his troops (like all good leaders), and exhorted them with “C’mon boys, let’s put the skeer in ’em”, with that trademark rebel yell of the troops.  While Forrest didn’t mangle the language as much as to have said “Git there fust with the mostest”, he did speak and write in the vernacular of the southerner at that time . . . hence “skeer”.

(Speaking of the famous rebel yell, there is an account of a southerner after the war telling someone about it.  He said that the rebel yell can only be done correctly at a full out run and while facing superior numbers.)

Back to Forrest’s contradictions in severe temper outbursts and compassion (McCain??).  Another example . . . one of his subordinate lieutenants came after him with a knife (for a perceived slight by Forrest), and succeeded in thrusting the thing in Forrest’s gut.  Reeling, Forrest drew his pistol and shot the guy.  The guy eventually died of that gunshot wound, but before he did, Forrest came to his deathbed and apologized.  Apparently, it was quite a scene with the two antagonists reconciling.

Forrest not only had some deserters executed by firing squad, he also pardoned some.

And that alleged massacre at Fort Pillow had a lot of controversial evidence, not the least of which was that Forrest . . . wasn’t even there that day!!!!  Some of the Union testimony actually disputed that there even was a massacre.  It centered around whether there was a white flag of truce hoisted by Forrest’s troops.  There were some Union gunboats coming down the nearby river (can’t remember which river it was) that apparently fired on the Confederates.  Thinking that the white flag of truce wasn’t being honored, the Confederate troops opened up on the fort again.  Additionally, the fort construction was such that some of the Union troops down by the river bank (trying to meet the gunboats) didn’t think that the Union troops within the fort had surrendered because they could only see the Union flag waving over the fort.  Consequently, they kept firing.  So, the Confederates, believing that both their flag of truce and the fort surrender were being violated, resumed the battle . . . admittedly with prejudice and anger.  There probably was some sort of massacre, but Forrest himself stopped it when he got there (the testimony of both the Union and Confederate soldiers is unanimous on that point).

But the idea of such a massacre was so much of a Union propaganda boost, that it was perpetuated by the Union for the rest of the war.  And Forrest, to this day, still gets credited for it.

Speaking of white flags, the use of that (not for a massacre) was one of Forrest’s favorite tactics.  Frequently, when he was confronted by superior numbers (which was almost always the case), he’d send a message into the Union lines under flag of truce, saying that a surrender (of the Union, of course) would prevent “needless effusion of blood”.  Because of his ferocious reputation . . . no doubt enhanced by the Union’s own propaganda on Fort Pillow . . . very often the Union commander would surrender without a fight.

Another favorite tactic of his was to march the same troops in and out of sight of the Union, thus giving the appearance of superior numbers.  That, coupled with his fierce reputation and the “needless effusion of blood” message, was enough to get a lot of Union commanders to surrender.

Another Forrest trait was selfless dedication to the cause.  This was exemplified by the fact that he raised several regiments throughout the war, only to have them reassigned to another theater under another commander, and he was reduced to raising another new regiment for himself . . . several times.  He did this without complaint.  What makes it more dramatic is that they were equipped through the expenditure of his own money.  Most of us would certainly object strenuously if money (our own) we spent to equip troops was later squandered by the foolish deployment elsewhere of those troops . . . without us.  (Those foolish deployments made by no less a figure than President Jefferson Davis, a micromanager and a bad tactician).

Forrest was wounded several times, but never fatally.  On the other hand, he had more than a dozen horses shot out from under him.  His favorite horse, King Philip, who survived the war, even after the war was over would go into a dramatic charge, riderless and snorting, whenever he saw someone in blue.

When Forrest was trying to come to the rescue of Hood at Franklin, he encountered some gunboats commanded by Rear Admiral Samuel P. Lee, the Union commander of naval operations in the Mississippi valley.  I mention this because, in one of the many ironies of the Civil War, Admiral Lee was a cousin of Robert E. Lee.

In another one of those ironies, Hood went up against George H. Thomas at Nashville/Franklin.  Thomas had been Hood’s immediate superior as a Major in the 2nd Cavalry before the war.  Hood was a Captain.  And also in that 2nd Cavalry was Robert E. Lee, who was a Lieutenant Colonel, and Albert Sydney Johnston, who was a Colonel for the 2nd Cavalry (commanding, I think . . . and I think the 2nd Cav was headquartered in Texas).

I’ve never read anything, either anecdotal or factual, that indicated he was anything other than . . . humorless.  So, I wouldn’t want to have joked around with him.

A lot of his story is anecdotal and probably exaggerated, but if only a small percentage of it is true, the guy was certainly a character. Like him or not.