Behind The Battles | Nathan Bedford Forrest - Battles Of The American Civil War

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
The bloodiest war on American soil. States versus States, Brothers
versus brothers. Join hosts Bang and Dang as they take
you battle by battle through the most divisive time in
American history. Welcome to Battles of the American Civil War.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
Working back to the Battle of American Civil War behind
the Battles, continuing on with a Confederate. This time it
could be the most racist Confederate that we've covered. That
happened as we're covering out Nathan Bedford Forest. Yeah, he
was a Civil War general, but he was also a
founding member in the first Ran Wizard of the kkk OH,

(01:02):
so he didn't really he didn't like the black people
as for sure. He was a slave trader as well
on the Mississippi River Valley. He is a Confederate state
general obviously, and had many other interests business interests before
he went into the war, which we'll get into. July thirteenth,
eighteen twenty one. He was born in a secluded cabin
near Chapel Hill, Tennessee, and everything secluded the outside of

(01:24):
big cities around. He enters the world alongside his twin
sister Fanny. They're also the eldest Forest, Annie Forest. They're
the eldest of twelve children. Yeah, to Merriam Beck and
William Forest. They're poor, scraping by and what is now
Marshall County, Tennessee. Oh. Willie his daddy he was English,
and Mariam she's also English. She claims she was some

(01:48):
scott and Irish as well. But they traced their lineage
to sad shad Roch shad Rich shad Rich shad Rich Forest.
He moved from Virginia to North Carolina in seventeen thirties.
By eighteen oh sixth family they settled in Tennessee, where
Nathan's daddy took up blacksmith and even though one of
the most important things, and you still were frowned upon

(02:10):
as a poor for being a blacksmith. From eighteen thirty
to thirty three they lived in a simple log house,
which was described by Civil War soldier John Annland Wythe
as a one room structure with a loft and no windows.

Speaker 3 (02:21):
Us it is you gonna have windows?

Speaker 2 (02:23):
They didn't have.

Speaker 3 (02:24):
Class thirties, probably not.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
Maybe it's now preserved as a Nathan Bedford for his
boyhood home.

Speaker 3 (02:33):
What else would it be. Eighteen thirty four, the family
relocates the Salem, Mississippi. They wanted to seek better prospects.
William dies, though in eighteen thirty seven, sixteen year old
Nathan becomes the family's primary caretaker. He shoulders all the responsibility.
By eighteen forty one, he partners with his uncle Johnny

(02:54):
in a business venture in Hernando, Mississippi. Tragedy strekeso again
in eighteen forty five, when Uncle john is killed by
the Matlock brothers during a dispute. Nathan retaliates quickly, shooting
two brothers dead with a two shot pistol damn and
wounding two others with a borrowed knife. Ooh, you never
kill anybody or a good thing. You didn't. You don't

(03:16):
kill anybody with a borrowed knife. Remarkably, one surviving Mattlocke
later serves under Forest in the Civil War.

Speaker 2 (03:23):
Oh wow does he know wow.

Speaker 3 (03:25):
Nathan's early ventures include a livery stable, livery library, stagecoach line,
and a brickyard. This earns him the reputation as a
sharp Memphis speculator in a Mississippi Gambler.

Speaker 2 (03:40):
Good for Him Memphis. About eighteen fifty eight, his ambition
pays off is he's elected a Memphis City alderman, and
as he's a Southern Democrat, he serves two terms. He
invests heavily into cotton plantations, acquiring two in Coahoma County, Mississippi.
He's got a half interest in an Arkansas plantation in
eighteen fifty nine BLUs he owns several West Tennessees, pleas

(04:01):
he owned several in West Tennessee's Delta region Okay eighteen
sixty owns at least three three and forty five acres
in Mississippi.

Speaker 3 (04:08):
Damn.

Speaker 2 (04:09):
And when the war breaks out in eighteen sixty one,
his fortune claims at one point five million. And that's
that money in eighteen sixty one, so it makes him
one of the South's wealthiest men as well, he shouldn't
even have.

Speaker 3 (04:20):
To go to war, right. Standing six feet two inches
weigh one hundred and eighty pounds, well l like for
his Wi heights, Ginna Gay Forrest cuts an imposing figure,
A tireless rider, skilled swordsman. He's described by the United
States Army Captain Lewis Jose as having a striking in

(04:40):
commanding presence.

Speaker 2 (04:42):
Is he our first guy that didn't go to West Point?

Speaker 3 (04:47):
All right?

Speaker 2 (04:48):
Fremont didn't either.

Speaker 3 (04:50):
Yeah. He also said he is a very mild mannered
most of the time. Forrest's temper flare is one provoked
as anybody else would. He rarely dreams, He avoids tobaccy,
and despite no formal education, he writes clear. He's grammatical English,
though his spellings a little bit shake.

Speaker 2 (05:10):
Have you read any letters from this time, beer? They're
all fucking shaky.

Speaker 3 (05:13):
He's also a Freemason, and he joins but never advances
beyond the entered Apprentice degree No.

Speaker 2 (05:19):
Thirty third degree for you we know more about his family.
Tragedy struck earlier in their family when typhoid fever claimed
two of his eight brothers three of his four sisters
all about the same time.

Speaker 3 (05:31):
Damn.

Speaker 2 (05:32):
He contracts disease but survives his father. That's How's Dan Dyne.
His dad William recovers from that disease, but he dies
to linger in effects in eighteen thirty seven What Do
You Do, which leads Nathan as a family's caretaker as
though Mama. She remarries James Horatio Luxton in eighteen forty
three and added four more children to the family.

Speaker 3 (05:53):
Damn.

Speaker 2 (05:53):
Nathan younger brother John, William, Aaron, Jesse, and Jeffrey. They
all join him in the slave trade before the Civil War.
Business baby, they amassed all the wealth in Mississippi, Tennessee.

Speaker 3 (06:03):
All of it.

Speaker 2 (06:04):
Yeah, all but John a disabled Mexican American War veteran
service Confederate officers during the war. Nathan's son, William Forest
access his aide de camp, while his half brother Matt
with one t serves as a sergeant and scout in
his calviny.

Speaker 3 (06:17):
Oh fuck yeah that shit. Eighteen forty five, age of
twenty four, Forrest marries Mary Anne Montgomery. She's a nineteen
year old looker by uh, raised by her Presbyterian minister uncle.
They too have children, two of them. Two of them
William Montgomery Bedford Forrest born in eighteen forty six, too long,

(06:37):
who joins his father in the Civil War at just
fifteen years old, and got a name A little baby up.
My twin sister, Fanny, She's born in eighteen forty nine,
who tragically dies just five short years later in eighteen
fifty four. Reports from eighteen sixty four are also mentioned
two children, Thomas and Narcissa, allegedly born to Forrest and

(07:00):
an enslaved woman named Catherine, adding a layer of complexity
to his personal life.

Speaker 2 (07:06):
Oh, he's got a grandson, Nathan Bediford Force the second,
born in eighteen seventy two, he ends up rising the
commander in chief of the Sons of the Confederate Veterans
and becomes a grand Dragon of the Gay eight gab
Oh wow, which he served as Secretary of the National
Origans Nation as well.

Speaker 3 (07:20):
He's just a racist family.

Speaker 2 (07:22):
His great grandson, Nathan Bedtiforce the third, born in nineteen
oh five, graduates from West Point Nighty and becomes a
brigadier general in the Army Air Corps. Nineteen forty three,
he's killed during a bomb and raid over Nazi Germany.

Speaker 3 (07:33):
Oh.

Speaker 2 (07:34):
First American general to die in combat in Europe during
the war.

Speaker 3 (07:37):
Oh shit, oh wow, really that was.

Speaker 2 (07:41):
His that was his paying for his granddaddy sins right.

Speaker 3 (07:46):
Eighteen sixty four, Parson Brownlow he scorned Nathan as a
sin hardened negro trader, a livery stableman of Memphis, dis
captured his notoriety as one of the South's lead enslave
traders from eighteen fifty one to eighteen sixty Oh Forrest,
he was among memphisis Big four slave traders operating in

(08:09):
Tennessee's premier slave market. Known for phenomenally large dealings, he
likely sold thousands of enslaved people, amassing profits and one
hundreds of thousands and eighteen fifty dollars so for millions.
Based primarily in Memphis, Forrest, he expanded his operations by
opening his second storefront in Vicksburg eighteen fifty eight.

Speaker 2 (08:30):
Cut storefront inset of Mannigan's in the windows they got
real people.

Speaker 3 (08:36):
His experience as a trader later bolstered his Civil War ambitions,
as he wrote in a request for command, I have
resided on the Mississippi for over twenty years, was for
many years engaged in buying and selling negroes, and know
the country perfectly well. Between Memphis and Vicksburg. Well it's
not very big.

Speaker 2 (08:57):
Well. Forrest's Square evolved through partnerships in as an independent trader,
then partnered with Seaborn S. Jones, followed by bird Hill,
a seasoned manager of slave marts. Next season save Welcome
to Slave Martins. Next she joined Josiah Maples, returned to
solo operations, and later reunited with Jones from Forrest and

(09:18):
Maples era This business operated out of eighty seven Adams
Street in Memphis, a hub where multiple traders maintained slave
pens and auction yards, creating an efficient grim business cluster.

Speaker 3 (09:28):
Oh Wow.

Speaker 2 (09:29):
The Human Costs is starkily illustrated by Nelly Harbold, who
after the war placed a family reunification and seeking her
father Lydia Miley and Samuel Turley, who were sold at
different buyers from the yard of Forrest the Trader in
eighteen fifty four.

Speaker 3 (09:44):
Throw traditionally linked to training by Bolton, Dickens and Company,
a massive a massive slave trading firm. Recent research suggests
this connection may be apocryphal. With the eighteen fifty seven
completion of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, Forrest began transporting
slaved people from South Carolina to Tennessee, including Nick carpenter

(10:06):
named Richard and a man named Bent. Both of them
escaped their new owners.

Speaker 2 (10:10):
Shop for them.

Speaker 3 (10:12):
He was like Kit Bent right. Eighteen fifty nine, media
attention spotlighted Forrest's sale of an enslaved girl rumored to
be Frederick Douglas's daughter, which is likely to be Anna
Marie Bailey, Douglas's niece, highlighting the eras brutal, common modification,
common modification of human lives. Yeah, there's crazy.

Speaker 2 (10:33):
Why didn't Fregis Douglas buy her? It's like popular right
around now?

Speaker 3 (10:37):
Yeah, you didn't care. Yes.

Speaker 2 (10:40):
Among the servants offered for sale by mister Forrest of Memphis,
Tennessee is a girl who is known to be the
daughter of the notorious Fred Douglas, the Free and Word abolitionists.
She is said to be of the class known among
the dealers as a likely girl, and as a native
of North Carolina. She remembers her parient very vividly, having
seen him during the last visit to the old North State.

(11:02):
The Memphis Avalanche suggests that his Fred is ample able
to make the outlay, he should either purchase his own
flesh and blood from servitude or seize as shrieks over
an institution which possesses such untowed horrors. And this is
said from the Winchester, Tennessee Home Journal in eighteen fifty nine.
Ooh yeah, so they're like, why don't you buy your back?

Speaker 3 (11:20):
Wow? Also in eighteen fifty nine there was a federal investigation.
It exposes Nathan Bedford Forrest's involvement and selling thirty seven
individuals illegally which were imported from Africa aboard the slave
ship Wanderer.

Speaker 2 (11:32):
Because even those slave traded and was legal, you couldn't
buy him from Africa.

Speaker 3 (11:35):
I know you're gonna do that on wire, and I
was like eighteen thirty something. The transatlantic slave trade have
been banned United since since eighteen oh eight, my bad,
making this a braz And violation. Forrest, he's a vocal
advocate for reopening the trade.

Speaker 2 (11:50):
I bet he is.

Speaker 3 (11:51):
He later meants to an interviewer that he was an
initial investor in the Wanderer shipment, revealing the depth of
his commitment to the slave economy. By this time, Forrest
is a leading figure in memphisis slave market operating Forrest
Jones and Company. This happened to be operating at eighty
seven Adams Street.

Speaker 2 (12:09):
On January eighteen sixty disaster strikes. The New York Times
reports that the firm's Negro mart building collapses and catches fire,
killing two people. Damn remarkably builds up sale for enslaved
individuals totaling four hundred thousand dollars, which is about thirteen
about fourteen million dollars today they're salvage from the records
right id badges m Forrest had recently relocated to the

(12:34):
business two eighty nine Interustry, expanding his capacity from three
hundred to five hundred enslaved people. Wow, move that amplified
his operations.

Speaker 3 (12:41):
Seems a little fishy, right.

Speaker 2 (12:43):
The collapse Prompts forced to sell his stake in the
slave trading business, redirecting his profits into cotton plantations, further
solidifying his wealth as the Civil War looms.

Speaker 3 (12:51):
I mean he's still basically involved in a slave market.

Speaker 2 (12:55):
There on the site of a slave mart, which is
now owned by Calvary Episcopal Church in downtown Memphis, is
marked by a historical plaque dedicated April four, twenty and
eighteenic stands. It stands as a somber reminder of the
human suffering tied to Forrest's enterprise.

Speaker 3 (13:10):
Hey, what do you can do? June eighteen sixty one,
Civil War knights splits the nation and half. Forrest leaves
his lucrative Mississippi plantations enlist in the Confederate States Army
as a private at Fort Wright, which is near Randop
in Tennessee. He joins Captain Josiah White's Tennessee Mountain Rifles,

(13:31):
which is part of the seventeen Tennessee Cavalry seventh Right,
alongside his youngest brother and his fifteen year old son, William.

Speaker 2 (13:38):
Chiefs, I'm stunned by the Compederacy's lack of resources forests.
The millionaire, what do you think they're going to have? Right?
He offers a personally fund horses and equipment for the
regiment of Tennessee volunteers. His wealth and status Shaka superiors
and Tennessee Governor isha Isham Isham g Harrish Harris, who
expected prominent planters like forest acclaim exemptions from service right impress.

(14:01):
They commissioned him as a lieutenant colonel in July eighteen
sixty one, just because he has money, tasking him with
raising and training a battalion of mounted rangers. By October,
he commands the third Tennessee Cavalry, all on his own.

Speaker 3 (14:13):
For him crazy despite no former military training force, he
quickly proves his tactical prowess and leadership. He forms an
elite escort company he calls his special Forces. He had
about forty to ninety hand picked soldiers the cream of
his cavalry, but his leadership style is very brutal to

(14:33):
enforce discipline. He strikes a scout's head against a tree
for faulty intelligence. Ooh. He shoves a hesitant lieutenant into
a river during a bridge building. He hits a soldier
with an oar for refusing to paddle across the Tennessee River.
He beats two fleeing soldiers with a branch. He shoots
one who carried the colors.

Speaker 2 (14:52):
Oh yeah, he can't flee while carrying the colors.

Speaker 3 (14:57):
But his harsh treatment of prisoners subordinates alienates many, with
soldiers and junior officers often refusing to even serve under
this mad man. Now.

Speaker 2 (15:08):
Tennessee's decision to join the Confederacy sparks heated debate, with
over one hundred thousand men fighting for the South and
thirty one thousand for the US Army. Dan Force leans
into the conflict with zeal, posting recruitment ads for his
regiment with a blunt slogan, let's have some fun and
kill some me in.

Speaker 3 (15:23):
Oh, all right.

Speaker 2 (15:24):
His chrismon drive rally troops, but his methods foreshadow the
fierce reputation he'll build on the battle. M Wow, He's
like thinking these treating him like all of his slaves
and shit.

Speaker 4 (15:36):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (15:37):
December eighteen sixty one, winter's raging on Nathan Bedford Forrest.
He's now a forty year old lieutenant colonel. You don't
even have no military training. He proves his medal at
the Battle of Sacramento in Kentucky. He led his third
Tennessee Cavalry. In his first field command, he personally spearheads
a bull charge that routes a United States Army for

(15:58):
US Brigadier General Charles Clark. He later hails his performance,
marking Forrest as a rising star in the Confederate ranks.
I want to write songs about this motherfucker.

Speaker 2 (16:09):
By February sixty two, Forrest face a tougher test at
the Battle of Fort Donaldson, Tennessee. We know how that
ends up. His cavalry captures a US artillery battery, a
key moment in the fight. But when you Old Ulysses
Grant siege threatens the traffic Confederate garrison Forrest. He refuses
to surrender, rallying nearly four thousand troops, who leads a
Darren breakout across the icy Cumberland River, escaping Grant's grasp.

(16:31):
And preserving his coming. Ooh, well, you lost Fort Donaldson, guy, Yeah.

Speaker 3 (16:35):
That's rough. Days after Fort Donaldson's fall, Nashville on the
brank of captured by the United States forces as well.
Forest takes charge of the city's evacuation. You organize a
frantic effort, commandeering every cart and wagon to halt six
hundred boxes of army clothing, two hundred and fifty thousand
pounds bacon. Yeah, righty, and get that bacon out of there.
Forty wagon loads of ammunition.

Speaker 2 (16:56):
Undred fifty thousand pounds of bacon.

Speaker 3 (16:58):
Yeah, forty wagon load. It's amo to railroad depots for
shipment to Chattanooga and Decatur. He demonstrated strategic foresight. He
also ensures heavy ordnance machinery, including a cutting edge cannon rifle,
fourteen cannons cannon rifling machine. Oh, okay, fourteen cannons Nashville

(17:20):
armory parts that is all sent to Atlanta, bolstering the
Confederate war effort for a minute. April eighteen sixty two
is now a lieutenant colonel. He faces one of the
Civil War's fiercest fights at the Battle of Shiloh.

Speaker 2 (17:32):
Ooh, it was a US victory. April sixth, seventh, he
commands a Confederate rearguard to cover the retreat. That's basically
all he's doing during the skirmish at Fallen Timbers, he
spots a gap in the US skirmish line and charges through,
urging his third Tennessee cavalry forward. Unbeknownst to him is
men halt when they encounter at.

Speaker 3 (17:49):
Full US brigade. You're gonna go, you gotta turn back? Wow,
Well for us, He's said, uh uh. He's undeterred, and
he plunges a loan into the enemy ranks. Surrounded by
blue coats, he unloads his coat army revolvers into the
swarm of the United States soldiers. Then he draws his saber,
slashing hacking. In a desperate melee, a US infantryman fires

(18:12):
a musketball at point blank range, striking force his pelvis
and lodging near a spine, nearly toppling him from his horse.
A week later, as surgeon removes the bullet without anesthesia
unavailable in the field, I assume this cemented Forrest's reputation
for grit, damn, honey, hell, how the hell you get
out of there? All right?

Speaker 2 (18:34):
By early summer. Recovered and promoted, Forest takes a man
of the new Brigade of Green Calvalry Regiments in July
under orders for a raid into Middle Tennessee. He leads
him to the First Battle of Murphreysboro July thirteenth, Striking
swiftly as force overwhelms the US garrison. Every US unit surrenders,
and the Confederates wreck vital supply in railroad tracks, disrupting

(18:54):
the operations in the region for the US. This victory
showcases Force's knack for bold, decisive action and even with
untested troops.

Speaker 3 (19:01):
He said, I don't care fandastic huh. July twenty first,
eighteen sixty two. He's now forty one, He's promoted the
brigadier general, and he's given command of the Confederate Cavalry Brigade.
But in December, General Braxton Bragg he reassigns Forrest's seasoned
troopers to another officer, ignoring his protest. He said, well,

(19:22):
I'm sorry, Bud. So now Forrest He's forced to recruit
a new brigade, about two thousand Green soldiers, most without weapons.
He faces a daunting task. Brag He orders him to
launch raids. It is ripped the United States Army communications
under Grant, who threatens Vicksburg, Mississippi forrest. He's like uh.

(19:43):
He argues that sending untrained men behind enemy lines is suicidal,
but Brag's like eh, and Forest complies.

Speaker 2 (19:49):
Oh, but riding by yourself into an old US Army
garrison isn't.

Speaker 3 (19:54):
Right, so Forest complies with the Ortis. From late eighteen
sixty two into eighteen sixty four, leeds his makeshift brigade
on a series of bold raids. He strikes into the
West Tennessee as far north as the Ohio River in
southwest Kentucky, and he also goes into northern Mississippi.

Speaker 2 (20:13):
Were pursued by thousands of United States soldiers forces. Fast
moving pace avoids capture by never lingering in one place.
His hit and run tactics frustrate the enemy, and he
returns to his Mississippi base with more men than he
started with it, who are now all armed with captured
US weapons.

Speaker 3 (20:27):
Damn these force.

Speaker 2 (20:30):
These raids forced Grant to delay and revises Vicksburg campaign strategy,
a testament to force this disruptive impact. Sylvanus Cadwalader, a
newspaper correspondent who traveled with Grant for three years. He
writes that force was the only Confederate Calvary man of
whom Grant stood in much.

Speaker 3 (20:45):
Treading oh Wow, Wow Wow. By eighteen sixty two to
the United States Army, they seize control of Tennessee. They
occupied key cities and railroads for the rest of the
Civil War. Undeterred, though Forrests keeps his Confederate Cavalry active
in small scale operations. Early eighteen sixty three, he leads

(21:07):
his men into clashes like the Battle of Dover in
the Battle of Brentwood. Here harasses the United States forces
and maintaining pressure in the region. April of eighteen sixty three,
the Old Rebels they send Forrest on a critical mission
with a small force into the back country of northern
Alabama and western Georgia.

Speaker 2 (21:27):
Their target there was a three thousand strong US Calvary
unit led by Colonel Abels Strait, and task was severing
the Confederate railroad straight was task was severing the Confederate
railroad south of Chattanooga. If successful, we could cut General
Braxon bragg supply lines, forcing a retreat into Georgia. Forrest,
who was outnumbered, he pursued Straight's men for sixteen ruling days.

(21:50):
Harry and themselves relentless skirmishes. Straight's mission shifts from sabotage
to survival now as Forest dodged, as Forrest's dogged pursuit
wears down his t May third, eighteen sixty three, Forrest
he catches up with them at Cedar bluffal Alabama.

Speaker 3 (22:05):
Wowo we. Despite having way less men, Force employs a
brilliant ruse. He repeatedly parading a portion of his force
around a hilltop to create the illusion of a Laja army.
Exhausted and deceived, Straight surrenders. He's roughly fifteen hundred troops.
Force's tactical deception secures a stunning victory, preserving Bragg supply

(22:28):
line and bolstering his reputation as a master of cavalry warfare.
Look at JEP story, He's jealous and with a fuck.
He's racist, piece of shit.

Speaker 2 (22:37):
On June of eighteen sixty three, he faces a violent
comfrontation off the battlefield. Lieutenant Andrew Willis Gold. He's an
artillery officer under Force's command. He's being transferred, likely due
to enemy forces spiking his cannons during the Battle of
Day's Gap June thirteenth, Gold confronts Forrest about the transfer,
and the argument he erupts into violence. Oh shit, Gold

(22:59):
shoots for us on the left side, a own thought
to be fatal at the time. Forrest, in turn mortally
stabs Gold, defying expectations. He recovers in time to fight
in the Chickamauga campaign, once again showing his resilience.

Speaker 3 (23:11):
Yes, dude, right well. At the Battle of Chickamauga, which
happened on September eighteenth through the twentieth eighteen sixty three,
Forrest serves with the main Confederate Army under General Braxton Bragg.
He's pursuing the retreat in the United States Army. He
also captures hundreds of prisoners, adding to his fearsome reputation.
Like other subordinates, Force urges an immedia attack to retake Chattanooga,

(23:34):
that's which was lost weeks earlier. But Bragg He's like,
let me think about that.

Speaker 2 (23:38):
I don't think we can do that.

Speaker 3 (23:39):
But frustrated, Forrest reportedly snaps, what does he fight battles for? However,
Forrest isn't blameless for the missed opportunity, and we all
know nobody like Bragg right so well.

Speaker 2 (23:52):
Throughout the Chattanooga campaign, he and General Wheeler, Joseph Wheeler,
they failed to gather critical intelligence on US positions. You
got to do that partly because Forrest wasn't beating his
scouts heads into trees anymore at the time, and also
because he often dives into thick of combat. Yeah, neglecting reconnaissance.
He just goes straight forward, damn Right. On the battle's
first day, he moves his troop north up the creek

(24:13):
with a hip creek with a paddle or without miss
reading a threat instead of screening the Confederate advance has ordered.
This delays the infantry's push, allowing US General William Rosecrans
to boaster defenses.

Speaker 3 (24:25):
Oh.

Speaker 2 (24:26):
That night, for skip screen in the army's right flank
missed a wide gap in the US lions, which is
a blunder called the most significant intelligence oversight of the
entire battle.

Speaker 3 (24:35):
Oh.

Speaker 2 (24:36):
The next morning, his poorly plan attack causes heavy casualties
and stalls a Confederate counter.

Speaker 3 (24:41):
Yeah, okay, bud. After that battle, Bragg sends Forrest and
Wheeler north to disrupt Rosecran's supply line from Nashville. This
was aimed to weaken Chattanooga's the United States grip. Forrests
he diverts Knoxville, however, allowing Rosecrans to solify his hold
was an idiot. Furious Bragg labels Force nothing more than

(25:03):
a good raider, and he orders has transferred to Western
Tennessee to get this fucker out of here. A legendary
tale which is now considered apocryphal, which claims Forrest confronted Bragg,
threatening in his life and calling him in a coward,
vowing you might as well not give me any orders,
for I will not obey them. Wow. Though likely exaggerated,
the story repeated and forced approved biographies, of course because

(25:26):
it makes them look good, right, reflects his contempt for
Bragg's leadership. Then he's been like each other.

Speaker 2 (25:31):
It happens, happens on December fourth, eighteen sixty three, He's
promoted to major general. By twenty fifth of March eighteen
sixty four, he leads a raid on Paducah, Kentucky, and
the Battle of Paduca Demand in US Colonel Stephen Hicks surrender.
Forrest warns if I have to storm your work, so
you may expect no quarter.

Speaker 3 (25:48):
Oh Hicks refuses.

Speaker 2 (25:50):
And per his report, Force's men set up guns under
a flag of truce, advancing prematurely. Oh that's not c forest, Yes,
dirty US forces then open fire, repulsing three Confederate assaults.
The failed attack underscores force aggressive but sometimes stupid and
reckless approach.

Speaker 3 (26:06):
Right. Oh wow tweldt Vapor eighteen sixty four, fort Pillow.

Speaker 2 (26:11):
Yeah, this is he's really taking the races stuff to
the whole new level. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (26:15):
Which is a former Confederate stronghold which is forty miles
up river from Memphis, Tennessee. It's defended by five hundred
and fifty seven United States Army troops two d ninety
five of them are white, two hundred and sixty two
of them are black. This is commanded by a major general,
by Major LF Booth. It was seized by the United
States Forces in eighteen sixty two, so they've been holding
it for two years. The fort sits on the Mississippi

(26:37):
River bluffs, a strategic prize forrest. Arrives at ten am
after a grueling ride from Mississippi, during which two horses
per shyoh from under them damp his twenty five Nope,
his fifteen hundred man Forest, led by Brigadier General James R. Chalmers,
launches an attack. Booth and it's a Jutant are killed early,

(26:58):
leaving Major William Bradford in command.

Speaker 2 (27:01):
And by three thirty pm, Force deems the fort untenable
for the US defenders. He then raises a flag of truce.
The men surrender, and warning Bradford that he cannot control
his men's actions if forces storm the fortification, a tactic
force often used to avoid heavy casuty right Bradford banking
on escape via the US Navy gunboat USS New Era,
he refuses. When Force's men overrun the fort, the US

(27:24):
troops retreat to the river's lower bluffs, but the gunboats.

Speaker 3 (27:27):
Never like GUMBOE ain't coming Wow. What follows is the
Fort Pillow Massacre. United States soldiers attempt to surrender forces
men they said, and you had your chance, We're shooting you,
and they do. They slaughter both black and white troops.
Historians John Chipric, historians John Simpric and Bruce Tapp they

(27:50):
report a stark disparity, but they do. Two thirds of
black soldiers were killed compared to one third of white soldiers,
despite roughly equal numbers the violence spills and to the
night with allegations of horrific brutality, shooting, fleeing soldiers in
the back, killing the wounded, burning men alive, nailing soldiers
to barrels and setting them ablaze, crucifying others, and hacking

(28:15):
men to death with sabers. Ooh yeah.

Speaker 2 (28:19):
Reports claim forces men set fire to a barracks containing
wounded soldiers. M Confederate accounts echoed in newspapers like one
from Jackson, Tennessee. They claim Forrest begged them to surrender,
but saw no sign of formal capitulation, noting the US
flags still flew. They argue US soldiers kept weapons firing
wellflee in forcing Confederates are shooting self defense. These claims

(28:40):
are contradicted by US survivors and a damning letter from
Achilles Clark which he was a Confederate soldier in the
twenty Tennessee Cavalry, so I think.

Speaker 3 (28:48):
He would know. Yeah, he wrote to his sisters right
after the battle. Clark vividly describes a deliberate massacre, undermining
Confederate justifications. He writes, the slaughter was awful. Words cannot
describe the scene. The poor, deluded Negroes would run up
to our men, fall upon their knees, and with uplifted hands,

(29:10):
screamed for mercy. But they were ordered to their feet
and then shot down. The white men fared but a
little better. Their fort turned out to be a great slaughter.
Pen blood, human blood stood about in pools. Brains could
have been gathered up in any quantity.

Speaker 4 (29:29):
Oh shites damn after the massacre, for as he takes
steps to manage to fall out, he transfers to the
fourteen most seriously wounded the United States Colored troops to
the US the use the US.

Speaker 2 (29:43):
Steamer silver Cloud for medical care.

Speaker 3 (29:45):
Ooh right.

Speaker 2 (29:46):
The two hundred and twenty six survive in US prisoners,
including seven officers and two hundred and nineteen white enlisted men.
Their march underguard to Holly Springs, Mississippi, then convoyed to Demopolis, Alabama,
but twenty first John Goodwin, a force's command. He lists
these prisoners in a dispatch. However, so he's got to
be historian doing something Richard Fuchs or footus. He notes

(30:09):
that the records about the fate of the black prisoners
are either non existent or unreliable. Now okay, leaving their
outcomes shrouded in mystery. President Lincoln, horrified, consults his cabinet
and how to respond to the masker in its national significance.

Speaker 3 (30:23):
Right like the massacre, sparks outrage in the North, Union
and Republican aligned cartoonist Thomas Nast he repeatedly skewers Forrest,
ironically awarding him a fort Pillow Medal in a dozen cartoons,
cementing his image as a symbol of white supremacy and
the lost cause. General Grant, now commanding the United States
Forces in the East, he writes in his memoirs that

(30:45):
force's battle report left out the park, which shocks humanity
to read condemned omissions. New York Tribream correspondent in Knoxville,
he brands Forrest and his brothers slave drivers and women whippers.
A woman wow, women woman whippers.

Speaker 2 (31:03):
This is what the the wife beaters, woman whips.

Speaker 3 (31:07):
They call them mean vindictive, cruel and unscrumptuous, unscruptuleoss hasn't
viendicted up and cruel. Now, I guess mean vindictive and cruel,
and you can be one of those, but all three
of those things and then unscruptuous, unscruptuless, In contrast to the

(31:29):
old rebel newspapers, they staunchily defend Forest, framing the masker
as a justified response to an armed resistant that you.

Speaker 2 (31:36):
Would force himself. Leverages the massacre to intimidate. Yeah, look
I happened a four pillow me now. A historian of
the Cumberland River Valley notes that Forest, aware of the
growing recruitment of black troops, saw Fort Pillow as a warning.
In his report, he exaggerates us casualties, and he declares
it has hoped that these facts will demonstrate to the
northern people that Negro soldiers cannot cope with Southerners. Aiming

(32:00):
to deter the use of black soldiers R. S see Gwinn,
He writes that Force's responsibility remains debated. He says no
direct evidence suggested that he ordered the shooting of the
surrendering or unarmed men, but to fully exonerate him from
responsibility is also impossible.

Speaker 3 (32:15):
Right.

Speaker 2 (32:15):
The massacre, whether by his command or his men's actions,
stains his legacy.

Speaker 3 (32:19):
Course it does.

Speaker 2 (32:22):
Leading a kkka, and I think without this he would
have been a pretty terrible human being.

Speaker 3 (32:28):
Tenth of June eighteen sixty four, he delivers his most
decisive victory at the Battle of Bryce's Crossroads. This happens
in northeastern Mississippi. He commands thirty five hundred rebel soldiers,
which are on horseback. He faces eighty five hundred US
troops under Brigadier General Samuel Sturgis. This was sent to

(32:49):
stop Forrest from wrecking United States spplylines and fortifications. Forces
superior tactics and mobility shine through as he positions his
men to ambush. Sturges his force. When the Old Blue
Coat's armies reached across Roads, they advance, collide. Their advance
collides with Force's cavalry, and awe Shit's about to break loose.

Speaker 2 (33:11):
Staurgis and his wary infantry Wilton under the heat. He
orders them to counterattack, but Force's relentless pressure breaks their lines,
triggering a chaotic retreat. Force then unleashes a full cavalry charge,
capturing sixteen artillery pieces, one hundred and seventy six wagons,
and fifteen hundred small arms. Okay, his losses are light,
with only ninety six killed three hundred ninety six wounded.

(33:33):
The United States they suffer two hundred and twenty three
killed and three to ninety four wounded, plus another sixteen
twenty three are missing.

Speaker 3 (33:38):
Damn.

Speaker 2 (33:39):
The Black Regiment under sturgis still reeling from Fort Pillows
shadow discards. Remember Fort Pillow badges during the retreat, fairing
Confederate retaliation. Yeah, they're taking ed shut off. This victory
cements force's reputation as a mass of mobile warfare, allowing
him to keep harassing US forces in southwestern Tennessee and
northern mississipp.

Speaker 3 (34:00):
You're this guy. One month later, in July of eighteen
sixty four, he's serving under General Stephen D. Lee. He
meets a rare defeat at the Battle of Tupelo, which
is in Mississippi. Major General William Sherman. Wary of Forrest's
threat to the United States supply lions, he dispatches a
force under Major General Andrew Smith. He said, go neutralize him.

(34:22):
I don't even want to hear about this motherfucker in
that very class. United States troops drive for us his
Confederates from the field Old Forest. He's wounded in the foot.
He escapes with his command intact, though bloodied. Despite the loss,
he remains a thorn in the United States Army side,
continuing to disrupt their operations in the West until the
war's end.

Speaker 2 (34:43):
In the summer and fall of eighteen sixty four, he
keeps the US Army on edge with a series of
bold raids. In August, he leads a Darren incursion into
the US held Memphis during the Second Battle of Memphis,
striking the heart of enemy territory. November fourth, his cavalary
target's a major US Army so applied depot in Johnsonville, Tennessee.
That's some battle, Johnsonville. They're fighting over Bronz. Yeah, force's shell.

(35:06):
The city's sinking three gunboats, nearly thirty other ships and
destroying tons of supplies, dealing a severe blow of the
United States logistics in the Western theater oo thirty other
ships Jews damn. Later that month, Forrest joins General John
Bellhood's a Tennessee campaign, serving under the new commander of
the Confederate Army of Tennessee. Thirtieth of November, at the

(35:27):
Battle of Franklin, the Second Battle of Franklin, the Old
Rebels face a catastrophic defeat against the United States Major
General John M.

Speaker 3 (35:34):
Scholfield's army. Forrest, sensing opportunity, he argues fiercely with Hood
demanding permission to cross the Harpeth River and cut off
Scholfield's retreat. Says no, and by the time Forest attempts
to maneuver, it's too late.

Speaker 2 (35:49):
So forrestda, I mean Hood the night at and Forrest
is like I'm going anyway, Yes.

Speaker 3 (35:55):
And Scholfield's forces they escape. The bitter dispute underscores Force's
frustration with Hoods leadership. I think see a problem now
before Yeah, and also highlights the old rebels dwindling chances. Yeah,
they're about ready to eighteen sixty four. Yeah, shit's going downhill.

Speaker 2 (36:10):
Yeah. After that devastating loss at Franklin Hood, he pressures On,
presses on to Nashville. He then orders Forrest to launch
an independent rate against the US garrison at murphres Borough.
There's like five of those battles. Forest a chieves Hoods objectives,
but December fifth, during the third Battle of murphreyes Borough,
part of his commander, part of his command falters and

(36:31):
flees under pressure from US forces.

Speaker 3 (36:33):
The setback is a rare blamash on Forrest's record. Days later,
the Battle of Nashville, which happened on fifteenth and sixteenth December,
Hood's Army of Tennessee, had forty thousand infantry and ten
to fifteen thousand cavalry, is all but annihilated by the
United States. Yeah For shines in the defeat, though commanding
in the old rebel Reregard, in a series of skillful

(36:54):
actions to allow the remnants of the army to get
the fuck out of Dodge. His leadership earns a promotion
to lieutenant general on the March second, eighteen sixty five,
just as the wars about them. However, on the twenty
fifth of December, a dismounted portion of command is caught
off guard and captured at Verona, Mississippi, during the United
States cavalry raid led by Brigader General Benjamin Grierson Okay

(37:16):
Cool the spring of eighteen sixty five, he leads a
faltering defense of Alabama against Wilson's raid. Yeah April tecond
Brigader General James Wilson defeats force at the Mettle of Selmak,
which is a crushing blow.

Speaker 2 (37:29):
They got nothing left. A week later, robberty Lee surrenders,
signaling the Confederacy's collapse. Learning of his surrender, Force follows.

Speaker 3 (37:37):
Suit Oh well.

Speaker 2 (37:39):
May ninth, eighteen sixty five, in Gainesville, Alabama, he delivers
a farewell dress to his men, urging them to submit
to the powers to be and to aid in restoring
peace and establish a law and order throughout the land.
A month later, marking the end of his military career.

Speaker 3 (37:53):
Look at that Wow. After the Civil War ends in
eighteen sixty five, he faces a devastating financial blow with
the abolition of slavery.

Speaker 2 (38:01):
You know what are you gonna do now?

Speaker 3 (38:02):
Gay, As a former slave owner and trader, his wealth
built on human bondage crumbles. Returning to the returning civilian
life in Memphis, Forrest turns to new ventures. During the war,
he took an interest in Crowley's Ridge, which is in Arkansas,
and in eighteen sixty six he partners with C. C.
Mccreener to complete the Memphis and Little Rock Railroad. Dim

(38:23):
he secured her right of way over the ridge. Forst
builds a ridgetop commissary to supply one thousand Irish laborers
laying the tracks, which becomes the heart of settlement dubbed
Force's Town, which was incorporated in eighteen seventy as Forest City, Arkansas.
It stands as a testament to his influence. Does it? Though?

Speaker 2 (38:45):
However, Force struggles to win favor in Memphis white business community.
Historian Court Carney notes that his questionable business practices and
defaults on debts alienate many local entrepreneurs, tarnishing his reputation. Undeterred,
he makes a leadership He takes a leadership role at
the Selma Base, Marion and Memphis Railroad. Don't they always
some railroad, eventually becoming the president. His wartime brilliance doesn't

(39:08):
translate to railroad in and under his stewardship, the company
goes bankrupt, nearly ruining his reputation altogether.

Speaker 3 (39:14):
Oh Forrest, what are you doing? Bud? By the eighteen seventies,
they financially strained Force. He leases an eight hundred acre
farm President's Island, which is on the Mississippi River.

Speaker 2 (39:23):
Yeah, financially strained acres.

Speaker 3 (39:25):
He's living with his wife, Mary Ann. It's a modest
log cabin. He employs about one hundred prison convicts to
grow corn, potato, vegetables, kying, and he turned some profit.
Oh look at that, But his health took a sharp
decline maybe eighteen seventy seven. Critics condemn his use of
convict labor as aching to slavery, pointing to bloodhounds, shotgun

(39:48):
wielding guards, and corporal punishment. I mean they can leave whatever.
I guess they can. They got shotgun willing living prisoners, right,
They argue. The system is explos with convict farmers like
Forest benefiting from a corrupt legal system that convicts black
men to meet their labor demands, leaving them to steal
or starve.

Speaker 2 (40:08):
Eighteen seventy three, the Virginius Affair threatens to ignite war
between the United States and Spain. The Virginius, a U
S flagship is captured by Spanish authorities off Cuba for
running guns. Cuban rebels can use that Forrest's former Confederate
comrades among its filibuster.

Speaker 3 (40:24):
Crewe has never got along with Cuba ever well.

Speaker 2 (40:28):
Nathan, he's now fifty two living in Memphis, sees an
opportunity to return to the battlefield. Depends a letter to
William Sherman, who's the General in chief of the army
right now, and offering he's offering his services should warr erupt.

Speaker 3 (40:41):
Sherman, who clashed with Forrest during the war and respected
his formidable skills, who responds. After the crisis, deescalates peacefully.
He graciously thanks Forrest for the offer, noting that had
war broken out, it would have been an honor to
serve alongside him. This exchange, a rare moment of reckonis
v between two wartime foes, under scores Force his endearing

(41:04):
reputation as a warrior, a racist warrior, even as he
navigates a post war South grappling with reconstruction. Right still
got totally different views.

Speaker 2 (41:16):
It's like modern day politics now. Just because they were
on opposite sides of the war. These guys, they all
grew up together and knew each other any damn ways,
they love each other. In the spring of eighteen sixty six,
going back now, the KKK forms in Pulaski, Tennessee, which
was founded by six Confederate veterans as a secret social club.

Speaker 3 (41:34):
All right.

Speaker 2 (41:35):
By late sixty six or early sixty seven, it morphs
into a violent organization, spreading across the South and ode
Nathan He's and He becomes involved, likely encouraged by former
Confederate general and Tennessee Clan leader George Gordon, Force attends
a KKKA meeting at Nashville's Maxwell house. Oh is that
copy in April eighteen sixty seven. With the klans ranks swelling,

(41:58):
it needs an experienced commander and old Forests who's renowned
as the Wizard of the Saddle during the war.

Speaker 3 (42:04):
He's a natural fit man. Right.

Speaker 2 (42:06):
He is.

Speaker 3 (42:08):
In room ten at the hotel. He is sworn in
by John Morton, taking the title of Grand Wizard. This
is the Klan's first and only national leader. Oh wow.
KKK member James Crowe he later recalls, we chose General
Forrest to lead the growing order, while another member confirms

(42:29):
Forrest was known as the Grand Wizard. Historian Jack Hurst
writes that Forrest as the Klan's leader, it transformed it
into reactionary instrument of terror, embodying the loss causes vengeful spirit.
Yeah yeah, the lost causers, dude, there's some evil mother buggers.

Speaker 2 (42:47):
And as Reconstruction unfolds, Congress passes the Reconstruction Acts, studying
conditions for ex compeditate state's readmission, including ratifying the Fourteenth
Amendment in eighteen sixty eight that was for citizenship and
equal protection, plus the Fifteenth Amendment in eighteen seventy for
black mail voting.

Speaker 3 (43:02):
Right.

Speaker 2 (43:03):
Yes, the Klan composed of white Southern urgents. They initially
tried to initially tries persuasion in the August eighteen sixty
seven Tennessee elections with Forest help and maintain order. According
to historian Brian Steele Wills, when those efforts failed, the
clan violence surges. They said, all right, we can't get in.

Speaker 3 (43:22):
We'll take what we want. Damn Andrew Warden. He describes
for US and as dragoons launching a campaign of midnight parades, ghosts, masquerades,
and whipping and even killing Negro voters and even white Republicans.
They did that to suppress black voting and political production participation.
They didn't want the Blacks to do anything but picked
their cotton and muster kids. By eighteen sixty eight, Forrest's

(43:45):
travels for an insurance venture with business partners aid and
spreading clan rituals and influence. He's like, let's go and
spread this shit across the whole country. And in nineteen
eighteen sixty eight Cincinnati newspaper Interview, Forest claims the KKK
bost forty thousand members in Tennessee and five hundred and

(44:05):
fifty thousand across the South. Ooh do you think that
was that much, Probably that's a lot. He expresses sympathy
for the group, describing it as a protective political military
organization sworn to uphold the United States government but formed
to counter loyal leagues and the Grand Army of the Republic.

Speaker 2 (44:25):
Sounds like interestionists to me. He denies formal tized, yet
boasts he could rally thousands himself. January eighteen sixty nine,
After a year as a Grand Wizard, Forest grows frustrated
with the clans increasingly violent and ungovernable members. Right, he
orders the organization dissolved and its costumes destroyed. With drawn
from participation, his decree has little impact. Few clansmen comply,

(44:49):
and the KKK persists. In eighteen seventy one US Congressional
Committee report notes that Forest and other influential men use
their moral power to urge disbandment. Sit in the clans
natural tend to see towards violence, right.

Speaker 3 (45:01):
I didn't start off like this, but you guys are
going let insane here.

Speaker 2 (45:05):
I'm out well, And if it wasn't for him, they
would have never got that way.

Speaker 3 (45:10):
Eighteen sixty eight, the KKK under Forest extends its reach
into the Democratic Party's campaign for the United States presidential election.
Forest alongside of the prominent ex Confederates like South Carolina's
Wade Hampton. They attend the DNC as a delegate, held
at Tammany Hall's headquarters in one four to one East
fourteenth Street in New York City, New York City.

Speaker 2 (45:30):
If you guys heard our, If you guys listened to
a lot of Gunslingers episode, do you even know the
Kammany Hall? It was a major They basically ran the
show in New York for sure.

Speaker 3 (45:43):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (45:43):
And I was in with the mob because they were
with the was it the Five Points Gang or something
like that?

Speaker 3 (45:50):
I think so.

Speaker 2 (45:51):
Back in the day, en route.

Speaker 3 (45:55):
En route to New York City, Forces train stops near
a small town. This is where a local fighter rounts him.
He's shouting damn Butcher and threatening to thrash him, likely reverence,
and Forrest is fort pillow in for me. We all
know that. As Forrest rises and approaches the challengers, Bravado
fades and he backs down, underscoring Force is intimidating. President's like,

(46:17):
don't that stalking.

Speaker 2 (46:19):
The la at the convention. Former New York Governor Horatio
Seymour is nominated as the Democratic presidential candidate, and Forrest's
friend France and Preston Blair Junior. He's his vice president.

Speaker 3 (46:33):
Joe running men, they have no chance.

Speaker 2 (46:36):
The Seymour Blair ticket adopts a brazenly racist campaign slogan,
which is our ticket our motto, This is a white
man's country. Let white men rule. Whoa this is the
white man's world. The Democratic platform denounces Reconstruction acts designed
to secure rights for the formerly enslaved people. They say
it's unconstitutional, void, and revolutionary. Calls for dismantling the Freedmen's

(46:57):
Bureau and in policies aid in Black Southern aligning with
the KKKS, aim to restore white dominance. The clans influenced bolsters.
The Democrats appeal to white voters resent ful of the
Reconstruction ultimately backfires, but it does. Republicans seize on the
Democratics platform, painting them is disloyal for their wartime in
post war stands, and that strengthens the GOP's campaign. Like

(47:19):
you a bunch of ungrateful sons of bitches, boy.

Speaker 3 (47:21):
How things haven't changed? Eighteen sixty eight, Forests escalates its
campaign of brutality during the United States President's election. During
the US presidential election, alongside other terrorist groups, the clan
uses violins and intimidation to target black voters and also
white Republicans, aiming to undermine reconstruction and restore white supremacy

(47:43):
across the Great Land of America. Forrest, he plays a
key role in expanding the clan's reach. Between February and March,
he meets with racist whites in Atlanta, likely organizing a
state wide clan network. In Georgia, Georgia, thirty first of
match eighteen sixty eight, Klan strikes again. They assassinate prominent
Republican organizer George Ashburn. That did that in Columbus, Georgia.

(48:07):
This is a chilling example of their tactics.

Speaker 2 (48:10):
Oh, this is when the Republicans nominated oh us Grant
will just force his wartime adversary is They did that
at their October convention, running on the slogan let us
have peace.

Speaker 3 (48:22):
Like who could run this country? Who? Who?

Speaker 2 (48:26):
Who? Who? The Klan they seek the sabotage Grant's campaign Louisiana.
Around one thousand black people are killed to suppress Republican
voting in Georgia, Black and white Republicans face wide ride
widespread violence. Clan's goal is clear, intimidate voters crippled the
Republican Party, Yes, which supports black suffrage in reconstruction. Yes,
but their terror campaign backfire?

Speaker 3 (48:48):
Oh does it? Because Grant he wins the presidential election
by a whopping two hundred and fourteen electoral votes. He
has two hundred and fourteen and Democrat runner is Horatio
Seymour's eighty. So that's yea feat down Republicans secure congressional majority.
Popular vote is tighter, though. Grant earns three million, thirteen thousand,
three hundred and sixty five, but to fifty two point

(49:09):
seven of the vote Seymour he gets two million, seven
hundred and eight thousand, seven forty four, which is forty
seven point three. It is still not that much, but
guess what Grant loses Georgia and Louisiana, where the clan
violence was most intense, showing the impact of their intimidation.

Speaker 2 (49:24):
On the wake of the election, own US Grant and
congressmen and Congress they championed the Fifteenth Amendment, which guarantees
voting rights for the American men regardless of race. Color
or previous condition of servitude. OH to protect African American's
rights to register, vote, hold office, and serve on jurys.
Grant and Congress passed the Enforcement Acts between eighteen seventy
and seventy one, enforced by Grant and the newly established

(49:47):
Apartment of Justice. These laws led to over five thousand
indictments and a thousand conviction of KKK members across the South.

Speaker 3 (49:53):
Damn twenty seventh of June eighteen seventy one, almost the
end of Pride Month, Baby White, Yeah, Tony exid for
the June eighteen seventy one Forrest, he's forty nine now.
He testifies before a Congressional committee which was investigating clan
activities as the former Grand Wizard from eighty seven I

(50:14):
mean from sixty seven to sixty nine Force. He faces scrutiny,
but he denies membership. Nope, the committee's scope doesn't directly
tell me, right, the committee scope doesn't directly tie him
to the Klan, stating our design is not to connect
general force with this order. The reader may form his
own conclusion upon this question. Basically, they also note that

(50:38):
Forrest and other influential figures use their moral power to
urge the clan's disbandment, citing his natural tendency towards violence
cran which we said earlier. They're like, however, you did
speak out against it.

Speaker 2 (50:51):
And left, so I guess we'll give you that. Biographer
George Cantor. He describes Force's testimony as evasive. He says
he ducked and weaved and not all knowledge, but admitted
he knew some of the people involved. He sidestep some
questions and pleaded failure of memory on others. Later, Forrest
admits to gentlemanly lies, claiming he wanted no further ties

(51:11):
to the clan, but felt honor bound to shield former associations.

Speaker 3 (51:14):
Right, come on, when you knew. August eighteen seventy four,
after a lynch mob in Tennessee, they killed four black
individuals arrested for defending themselves. Nearing a brawl at a barbecue.
Fucking barbecue?

Speaker 2 (51:26):
A brawl out of barbecue?

Speaker 3 (51:27):
You don't say, Forrest, he writes to Governor John Brown.
He volunteers too. He volunteers a lead a pozzi to
punish the white martyrs, which is a striking offer from
the former Confederate in general. Brown he politely declines he's
a force. You've done enough for calls. But forrest proposal
hands at a shift in his stance on racial violence.

(51:49):
Maybe he might be a racist. Maybe he was a
long like being violent about it.

Speaker 2 (51:53):
You know, just a massacre to whole fort when.

Speaker 3 (51:56):
I was younger, That's what he would say, Jennery.

Speaker 2 (52:00):
Everybody makes a mistakes, a fool, young and dumb. Young
and dude. You were forty something then January. Yeah, we'd
have been like thirty almost forty. January eighteen seventy five,
he travels to Nashville to oppose Andrew Johnson's Senate reelection,
facing a field of candidates including four ex Confederate officers.
Way Andrew Johnson went to Senate after being president, good

(52:23):
for him. This includes four ex Confederate officers in the field,
which is General John Brown, William Bate, W. A. Quarrels,
and Colonel John Savage. Historian Faye Brabson recounts al Johnson,
who was a cunning politician. He flatters Forrest, saying when
the gods arrive, the half gods depart, suggesting that legislature

(52:43):
should back Force for Senate over one horse generals Charmed
Forest leaves from Memphis that night, abandoning the political fray
and allowing Johnson to outmaneuver the competition said.

Speaker 3 (52:54):
Okay, it's the fifth of July eighteen seventy five. Forest,
he makes his fine, no public appearance. He speaks before
the Independent Order of the Pole Bears Association, a black
Southern organization advocating for economic improvement and egal rights. These
guys good for him what the New York Times calls
a friendly speech for us. He encouraged black advancement and

(53:17):
promotes harmony between black and white Americans. I have a
dream when a young black woman, which was the daughter
of a Pole Bears officer, offers him a bouquet. Force accepts,
and he thinks her and he kisses her on his
cheek and immediately puts alcohol on his a gesture unthinkable
for many ex Confederates. His words and actions signal a

(53:40):
public pivot toward reconciliation.

Speaker 2 (53:44):
Well, the backlash, as you would guess, is swift. July thirtieth,
the Cavalry Survivors Association of Augusta, which is the first
Confederate organization formed after the war, they condemned Forest's speech.
Right Captain Francis Edgeworth Eve, who was a former Georgia
who's sodier. He ridicules force judgment and insults the woman
who gave him flowers as a mulatto wench Oh, and yeah,

(54:06):
that's why he did it, because she was half white
and right looked more white than any And they pushed
the group to amendous constitution. Man in any public association
of white women with black women as equals.

Speaker 3 (54:15):
Oh oh.

Speaker 2 (54:16):
The Making Weekly Telegraph also slams Forrest. This is a
public newspaper men way, calling his appearance a discussing ex
susbission and quoting a Charlotte Observer piece that scorns him
in general Gideon Pillow for equalizing with Negro women oh wow,
contrasting them unfavorably with General James Longstreet, who openly aligns
with black men for political gain. The vitriol reveals the

(54:39):
deep resistance among some ex Confederates to Force's call for unity.

Speaker 3 (54:43):
You know better than long Street himself.

Speaker 2 (54:45):
Get over your guys, Holy shit.

Speaker 3 (54:48):
Twenty ninth fact over eighteen seven to seven Forrest, who
is now fifty six. He dies at his brother's Jesse's
home in Memphis, reportedly from acute complications of diabetes. As
eulogy delivered by former Confederate chaplain George Tucker Steinbach, which
is now Forrest's spiritual mentor, he proclaims, Lieutenant General Nathan

(55:09):
Bedward Forrest, though dead, yet speaketh his acts have photographed
themselves upon the hearts of thousands, and will seek there
forever or speak.

Speaker 2 (55:19):
There but uh yeah.

Speaker 3 (55:21):
The funeral possession on the thirty of October stretched over
two miles, drawn an estimate of twenty thousand people by
for Jack Hurs. He notes many black Saystens joined that crowd,
which is a striking detail giving Forrest's past as a
slave trader, Confederate General KKK Clan leader KKK Leader, klu

(55:44):
Klan Claian, we allow black people in this one. This
has reflected his late life gestures towards ratio, reconciliated the.

Speaker 2 (55:55):
Last two months right al, He's laid to rest at
Elmwood Elmwood Cemetery in Memphis with military honors and wrights.
As a member of the Odd Fellows.

Speaker 3 (56:04):
Oh really, he.

Speaker 2 (56:05):
Had helped raise funds for Confederate monument there he was
tying his legacy to the Lost Cause. In nineteen oh four,
and his and his wife Mary's remains were moved to
a Memphis City park named Forest Park in his honor,
later renamed Health Sciences Park. Of course, Satua forsts erected,
becoming a flashpoint for controversy. We'll get to that. July seven,

(56:25):
twenty fifteen, the Memphis City Council unanimously votes to remove
the dam. They did, and they returned forces remains the
Elmwood Cemetery, spurred by growing calls addressed symbols of white supremacy.

Speaker 3 (56:35):
That's bullshit. You shouldn't remove people's fucking remains.

Speaker 2 (56:39):
Well what about this guy?

Speaker 3 (56:41):
Well they shouldn't have moved in the first place, all right. However, though,
thirteenth of Octover, twenty seventeen, the Tennessee Historical Commission cite
in the Tennessee Heritage Protection Act of twenty thirteen in
the United States Public Law eighty five Dash four twenty five,
it blocks his very is that, ah, you hold on

(57:01):
one mother fucking minute. Memphis responds creatively selling a park
to Memphis Green Space, which is a nonprofit non bound
by the act. Oh the group swiftly removes the monument.
Marketing pivotal movement and reckoning the Force's legacy. Damn, I
want to shit all over.

Speaker 2 (57:20):
Man Well, Nathan, He's enshrined as a folk are on Memphis, Tennessee,
where he lived and died. Historian Court Carney argues that
white Memphians, humiliated by their city's early surrendered during the war,
they crafted a distorted depiction of Force's wartime road a
salvage civic pride. This hero worship fuels a strong Force
cult among Lost Cause devotees romanticize the Confederacy's defeat. Force's

(57:45):
legacy is one of the most controversial and popular icons
of the war remains a lightning rod for public debate.

Speaker 3 (57:50):
Two out and seven Tennessee boasted thirty two hysterical markers.
Hysterical two out the seven Tennessee did thirty two historical
markers dedicated to Forest, outnumbering those for Presidents Andrew Jackson,
James K. Pope, Andrew Johnson all.

Speaker 2 (58:08):
Combined, and they're all Tennessee guys.

Speaker 3 (58:10):
A testament to his endearing regional reverence. The Sons of
the Confederate Veterans Tennessee Bays Group further cemented his status
by rewarding him their Confederate Medal. Of Honor in nineteen
seventy seven, cool as you would guess, just like a
lot of other changed them our own slave trader first
general switch it in as you would guess, Old Forest.

(58:33):
Like many other Confederate guys, he had a lot of
schools named after him. High schools in Chapel Hill, Tennessee,
and Jacksonville, Florida, bore his name, reflecting his status.

Speaker 2 (58:42):
As a regional icon. The Jacksonville school Nathan Bedford Forest
High School, that was named in nineteen fifty nine, almost
one hundred years after after the Urgent of Daughters of
the Confederacy, which is a deliberate active defiance against the
nineteen fifty four Brown v. Board of Education decision mandated
school desegregation. Oh so they got pissed at schools are
segregated now are desegregated, And they're like, we're gonna name

(59:04):
this after this. All you guys gotta go to the
school named after this guy.

Speaker 3 (59:07):
Right? What was the white guy in the movie Roots?
What was the owner's name? I don't know.

Speaker 2 (59:14):
Uver seen it?

Speaker 3 (59:15):
You never seen you got to scene Roots? Never? Back
in school they made you watch it never. Wow. The
school remained all white until the year nineteen seventy one.

Speaker 2 (59:23):
Oh.

Speaker 3 (59:24):
When Daval County schools were ordered to integrate in nineteen
seventy one, right dam by the two thousands, over half
its student's body was black, highlighting the irony of a
school name for a white supremacist serving a diverse community.
Two thousand and eight, Davaal County School Board voted five
to two to keep the name. Those two people were
fire no longer on the board after that. Oh, they

(59:44):
kept the name. Right, they vote five to two to
keep the name. Resistant calls for a change like now
fuck that. But just five short years later, I made
growing awareness of force ties to slavery and the Klan.
The board you name awareness, it's seven and nothing to
begin renaming process. After public forums and discussions, the school
was renamed west Side High School.

Speaker 2 (01:00:06):
There.

Speaker 3 (01:00:08):
This happened in January twenty fourteen. Unanimous decision reflected in
a shift toward inclusivity. Inclusivity. Similarly, Forest Hill Academy in Atlanta, Georgia,
named for Forrest, was renamed Hank Aaron New Beginnings Academy
in April twenty twenty one. I can go with that,
honoring the Lanta Braves legend who died in January of
twenty twenty one, which is a move celebrating a unifying

(01:00:30):
figure over a divisive one.

Speaker 2 (01:00:31):
He was also once celebrated at Middle Tennessee State UNIVERSITYCU
Midsouit nineteen fifty one has Likeness debuted as the official
mascot in the school's yearbook, the Midlander, tying the university
to his Confederate legacy. What are they mid the mid
Middle Tennessee State University Bedford's Forests. They had no official

(01:00:53):
nickname prior to nineteen thirty four, when teams were called normalites,
teachers and pedagogues. Their mas okay, their mascot like their
guy dressed up well, it was forest. It was Nathan
Bedford for somebody who was dressed up.

Speaker 3 (01:01:06):
As Forest Lightning. It wasn't his name of his horse.

Speaker 2 (01:01:09):
Maybe it was their mascot from nineteen eleven to thirty
four by nineteen seventy. By nineteen seventy eight, amid growing
unease with the Association Middle Tennessee State, they removed Force's
image from the university's official seal.

Speaker 3 (01:01:22):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (01:01:23):
The Blue Raiders athletic mascot, once explicitally linked to Forrest,
was reimagined as a vague swashbuckler called the Blue Raider
to distance it from the compederacy.

Speaker 3 (01:01:32):
Okay, what are they called it?

Speaker 2 (01:01:33):
The Red Raider or the Gray Raider. On January seventeenth,
nineteen ninety eight, during halftime of a basketball game against
rival Tennessee State University, they unveiled a new mascot, which
is a wing horse named Lightning, inspired by the mythological Pegasus,
fully severing ties to Force's imagery.

Speaker 3 (01:01:54):
Nineteen fifty eight, university named its ROTC building Rotzie Force Hall,
complete with a decorative trim on the outside of the
building depicting forest on horseback. That's cool. Two thousand and
six protests led to the portraits removal, reflecting shifting attitude
towards forest like say, of slavery and racial violence. It's

(01:02:15):
significant effort to rename Forest Hall and gain traction, but
its significant effort to rename Forrest Hall gain traction once again.
But on February sixteen, twenty eighteen, the governor controlled Tennessee
Historical Commission denied mtsu's petition to change the name, citing
the Tennessee Heritage Protection Act once again, which restricts alterations

(01:02:36):
to war memorials. The decision underscored the ongoing tension between
preserving and historical symbols and addressing their painful associations. Fuck off,
he fucking bunch of pussies.

Speaker 2 (01:02:45):
Twenty eleven, The sons of Confederate veterans my Fields Right,
they proposed a Mississippi license plate honor Nathan Bedrid Forest It,
sparking to media backlash. Dereck Johnson, president of the Mississippi NAACP,
he contempts the idea ms IT, comparing Forest to Osama
bin Laden and Saddam Hussein due to his rose as
a slave trader, Confederate commander and Grand Wizard of the

(01:03:07):
k k K NAACP petitions Governor Harley Barbour to denounce
the plates and block their distribution, arguing to glorify a
figure tied to racial violence. The governor, however, side steps
a direct rebuke state in that the state legislator is
unlikely to approve it anyways, which he avoids a firm
stance on the controversy. Right. That was his way of

(01:03:28):
telling them to not approve it.

Speaker 3 (01:03:32):
Right in the year in two thousand, year two tho
in two thousand, a monument of Forrests is unveiled in
the Confederate Circle section of Old Live Oak Cemetery in Selma, Alabam.
All right, leave that alone, right, it's the Confederate Circle section.
The inscription hails him as a defender of Selma, wizard
of the Saddle, untutored genius, the first with the most

(01:03:54):
declaring the monument a testament of our perpetual devotion and
respect for Forrest and one of the South's finest heroes.
It honors his unwavering defensive Selma, the great State of Alabama,
and the Confederacy. This has ended with the Latin phrase
dale ven dye, which is God would vindicate. Oh wow.

Speaker 2 (01:04:16):
The monument celebrating forces civil war exploits. It reignites debate
in Selma, which is a city synonymous with the sixty
five voting rights.

Speaker 3 (01:04:23):
But why do people even give a shit? It's at
a part where a bunch of Confederates are buried. No
one's it's very in the back of the cemetery.

Speaker 2 (01:04:30):
If you don't want to see it, don't go it
towards the holy shit. March twenty twelve, the bus the
Force is stolen from the monument. Who's a bold Ack
re fucking opposition to his veneration. Ys. By May twenty fifteenth,
the bus is replaced, reaffirming the commitment of Forces supporters
to his memory, even as his legacy of a symbol
of white supremacy fuels ongoing protests. You guys said, he

(01:04:51):
ain't seen nothing yet.

Speaker 3 (01:04:53):
Nineteen oh five, mefanci rex it's first Civil War memorial.
It's a statue of Nathan Bedford Forest. This is in
a Nathan Bedford Forest park, cementing it stame he gets
a park and a memorial. Fantastic. This cemented his status
as a local icon. A century later, now it's two
thousand and five, Shelby County Commissioner Walter Bailey launches a

(01:05:16):
campaign to relocate statue, which stands over Forrest's grave and
renamed the park, citing Forcet's ties to white supremacy.

Speaker 2 (01:05:23):
This is the moment where they sold it.

Speaker 3 (01:05:25):
Former Mayor Willie Hartington, who was black. He blocks the effort,
highlighting the complex local politics. Oh look at you, Willie.

Speaker 2 (01:05:33):
Yeah, we already said that. They sold it to the
Health Sciences Park, which is a nonprofit and they immediately
take that shit out of there, which circumvents the Act
twenty fifteen Charleston church shooting reignites calls and remove competitive symbols.
This when it all began. Tennessee lawmakers pushed to remove
a forest bus from the state Capitol and then Mayor A. C.

(01:05:55):
Wharton or just relocated in the Health Sciences Park statue
and Reburion Force and his wife Mary at their original
site in Elmwood. July seven, twenty fifteen, the Memphis City
Council votes nearly unanimously to remove the statue and transfer
the remains. However, like we just said, it's blocked, and
then they sold it to a nonprofit okay, which is yeah,
they removed it immediately, right, and they got rid of

(01:06:18):
not only a forest statue, but Jefferson Davis one.

Speaker 3 (01:06:20):
Of course, you know, Jefferson Davis had Togo.

Speaker 2 (01:06:24):
The Confederate Veterans, sons of the Convetterate Vendans. They threatened
a lawsuit the retaliation. April eighteen, twenty eighteen, the Tennessee House,
they cut two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for memphisis
bi centennial funding damn. The campaign to remove forces legacy
galvanized by the Unite the Knight and Unite the Right.
Rally in Charlottesville is led by Shelby County Commissioner Tammy Sawyer,

(01:06:46):
who founded Take Him Down nine oh one to dismantled
Confederate icon Iconography I Iconography Iconography Sure. June third, twenty
twenty one, In the room, yanes Fores and his wife
were it zoomed from the wardness where they ha drested
for over a century.

Speaker 3 (01:07:04):
This is sad.

Speaker 2 (01:07:05):
They were initially moved to Munford, Tennessee, and then reburied
in Columbia, Tennessee by the sons of the Confederate Veterans.

Speaker 3 (01:07:11):
Ridiculous. Wow, gives a fuck where people buried, So I'm
a bitch. Tennessee legeslature designated July thirteenth Nathan Bedter for
his birthday. Didn't know you can just pick a day. Oh.
The Tennessee's legislature designated thirteenth of July with his force's birthday.

(01:07:32):
That's Nathan Bedford Forest Day, celebrating the Confederate General, Slave
Trader and KKK drand Wizard. As of twenty nineteen, the
holiday remained in place, so we don't know what happened
in the last six years. We're crying the governor to
sign an annual proclamation, despite efforts by some Democratic lawmakers
to repeal it, citing Forrest's ties to white supremacy. Obviously,

(01:07:53):
the observance became a lightning ride, symbolizing the state struggle
to reconcile its Confederate pass with demands of the New World. Basically.

Speaker 2 (01:08:03):
June twenty twenty, Governor Bill Leees He's William Lee, Billy
Bill Lee. His administration introduced a bill passed by the
Tennessee legislature June tenth that eliminated the mandate for governors
to proclaim.

Speaker 3 (01:08:16):
Nathan Bedford Forest Day.

Speaker 2 (01:08:17):
A spokesperson for Lee confirmed he would not issue a
proclamation in July twenty twenty, effectively halting official state recognition
of the holiday. The same month, black members of the
Tennessee House representatives they pushed to abolish the celebration entirely,
but they were unsuccessful. Representative of Cameron Sexton, he defended
the legislative resistancies, stated, I don't think anybody here is
truly racist. I think people may make in sensitive comments.

(01:08:40):
I Mark you guessed that. That sparked criticism for down
playing the holidays, racial implication, blah blah.

Speaker 3 (01:08:46):
Here I can go a busted forests sculpted by Jane Baxendale.
It stood in the Tennessee State Capital in Nashville for
long at a time, honoring the Confederate General Slave Trader KKK.
Garan Rizzard twenty twenty one, call to remove it intensifies.

Speaker 2 (01:09:01):
You've got to be the title of this episode. Nathan
Bedford Ford Confederate General slave Trader KKK Grand.

Speaker 3 (01:09:08):
Wizard in twenty twenty one. Calls to remove it intensifies,
reflecting broader scrutiny of Confederate symbols. Brett Joseph Forrest, a
direct descendant of Nathan, publicly supported the bus removal. What
a fuck breaking with those who venerate his ancestors legacy.
Uh oh wow. The Tennessee Legslayer voted on relocating the

(01:09:28):
bus to Tennessee State Museum. This is a move to
contextualize rather than celebrate Force's history. Put it in contacts baby.

Speaker 2 (01:09:37):
I guess that would be ye. Put it in the
museum and exhibit it and explain what he did.

Speaker 3 (01:09:42):
Representative Cameron Sexton opposed the removal, arguing it aligns with
the teaching of communism, a provocative claim that drew criticism.
Only one other legislator sided with him, and the bus
was removed. They should have made those two remove. It
market as a significant shift in Tennessee's public man.

Speaker 2 (01:10:00):
Yeah, that's what they do when he's racing. Yeah, well,
nin's it better. For Forrest, a Confederate general with no
formal military training, He's hailed by historian Spencer Tucker as
one of the Civil War's most brilliant tacticians. Forest's philosophy
was stark. He says war means fighting, and fighting means killing,
and victory came from getting there first with the most men.

(01:10:21):
It's not necessarily true. This mantra defined his approach earned
him the nickname that Devil Forest and that game from
Old William to Cumcy sermon, Yeah that guy.

Speaker 3 (01:10:32):
That guy has a harptation of his own.

Speaker 2 (01:10:34):
We're good to him, and wartime exchanges with the old
Grant Sherman called Forrest the most remarkable man or Civil
War produced on either side.

Speaker 3 (01:10:42):
Forrest he pioneered maneuver tactics. He leveraged the mobility of
his horse cavalry to outpace and out smart opponents. He
embraced mobile warfare principles later central to twentieth century conflicts,
emphasizing rapid movement, even at the cost of exhausting his horses.
His rays disrupted the United States supply trains communications by

(01:11:02):
destroying railroad tracks and cutting those telegraph lines, often circling
around enemy flanks to even often circling around enemy flanks
to strike where at least expected. Civil war scholar Bruce
Katon he notes Force's ability to keep opponents off balance,
cementing his reputation as a master of cavalry warfare. He

(01:11:23):
says Forrest, he's a Civil War general. Forrest used this
horseman as a modern general would use motorized infantry. He
liked horses because he liked fast movement, and his mountain
men could get from here to there much faster than
any infantry could, obviously, but when they reached the field,
they usually tied their horses to trees and fought on foot,

(01:11:44):
and they were as good as the very best infantry,
the fantastic.

Speaker 2 (01:11:50):
He's often credited with the colorful phrase to get our
fustest with the mostests as a summary of his battlefield strategy,
frequently recast as getting there first with the mostus. This
catchy aphorism for surface in a New York Tribune article
crafted ad flair to European fascination with civil war generals. However,

(01:12:12):
a nineteen eighteen New York Times story corrected the record,
quoting Forrest as saying, ma'am, I got there first with
the most men. While the misquote is a snappy distortion,
he captures the essence of Force's military principles, which is
mass and maneuver.

Speaker 3 (01:12:27):
Oh fantastic by prioritizing rapid movement, concentrating force, force outpaced
and overwhelming his opponents, as seen in raids in the
battles like Bryce's Crossroads. Civil war scholar Bruce Canton, he says,
despite inspurious origins, the quote reflects Forest's knack for striking
swiftly and decisively spent in his legend as a master

(01:12:50):
of mobile warfares. And he went on to say, do
not under any circumstances whatever quote Forrest as saying fustus
and mostis He did not say that way, and nobody
even knows anything about him. Imagine that he did. He
take it easy bullshit these Bruce.

Speaker 2 (01:13:08):
He come down, buddy well. Military historian Christopher Rain. He
says he did say that, and I'm just kidding they
would do. He offers a sober and assessment of us,
while acknowledging his skill as perhaps the Confederacy's finest galverymen,
and his shrewdness and smaller engagements. Yeah, like the First
Battle of murphreys Borough, Bright His Crossroads and Parker's Crossroads.
Rain argues that these victories were strategically marginal, often achieved

(01:13:31):
through bluff or against weaker foes. That's massive force's personal
bravery and penchant for leading from the front, charging into
the fray, and one admiration from both sides during the war.

Speaker 3 (01:13:43):
Wow well. He also contends that such traits are better
suited to junior officers or enlisted men.

Speaker 2 (01:13:50):
Yeah, you probably don't want your high your head guy
doing this.

Speaker 3 (01:13:53):
Right, not giant ros tasked with broader strategic vision. Take
it an example of this and sell them of eighteen
sixty five. I've Forrest's focus on leading troops to ebeneze
a church rather than fortifying defenses led to a crushing
defeat that destroyed the Confederacy's last manufacturing hub, effectively ending
the war.

Speaker 2 (01:14:10):
They're dead.

Speaker 3 (01:14:12):
Rain further critiques Forrest's performance within larger Confederate operations, his
tendency to act independently bypassing superiors, It's often backfired on him.
Take a look at Chickamauga in eighteen sixty three, with
his failure to coordinate weak in General Braxon Bragg's victory.

Speaker 2 (01:14:28):
Yeah so two eighteen sixty four, His escape came at
the cost of his ability to de risk to disrupt
William Sherman's supply line. The success at Johnsonville later that year,
though tactically brilliant, and delayed General John bell Hoods Tennessee advance,
which allowed General George Thomas to fortify Nashville from the US.

Speaker 3 (01:14:47):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (01:14:48):
The result in Union victory there in December of eighteen
sixty four, obliterated the Army of the Tennessee and collapsed
the Confederacy's Western theater campaign.

Speaker 3 (01:14:56):
And did yeah, and the worst military leaders in history,
Oh this kuy don't like them. Rain argues that Force's glorification,
particularly among minimally educated Southern United States military cadets who
see him as embodying lost call of virtues, has harmed
US military performance long term. He says, oh wow, this

(01:15:16):
mythologizing tied to the romanticized Confederate narrative, or shadows force's
strategic shortcomings and perpetuates a flawed model of leadership. He says,
great leadership is only one aspect of command. Forest was
certainly a skilled tactician, but great commanders must have strategic
vision or some semblance of how their victories translate into

(01:15:38):
successful operations and ultimately into strategic victory. Otherwise the commander
runs the risk of falling into the same traps set
for American commanders in Vietnam or Iraq, winning an unbroken
string of tactical victories but never translating those successes into
the strategic conditions necessary for a decisive.

Speaker 2 (01:15:56):
Oh so you ran these guys out of this neighborhood,
But what are you gonna do now?

Speaker 3 (01:16:02):
Right? Damn? He just put that in with the Vietnam
and Iraqactpri.

Speaker 2 (01:16:06):
Twelfth, eighteen sixty four, his Confederate forces attacked Fort Pillow.
We know this is one of his criticisms. They which
was defended by two hundred ninety five white soldiers and
two hundred and sixties two black soldiers of the US.
Modern historians, analyzing the high casualty rates and the targeted
killing of black soldiers and white soldiers conclude the assault

(01:16:28):
was a massacre. It was two thirds of black troops
were killed compared to one third of the whites. Force
claimed the massacre was a fabrication by US reporters, but
letters from competitive soldiers to the families detailing extreme brutality contradictim.

Speaker 3 (01:16:41):
Oh you already know that. Yeah. These accounts describe indiscriminate slaughter,
including shooting, surrendering, and wounded black soldiers, aligning with the
Confederacy stated policy former slaves fighting whites and Southern whites.
Lawyer to the Union deemed traders were to be killed
on site. That's what the old Confederacy historians. They argue

(01:17:02):
that Forrest's troops acted on this policy, targeting black soldiers
with lethal intent. This Dorgo record underminds. Forest has repeated
denials of knowledge about the massacre, either daring or after
the event.

Speaker 2 (01:17:13):
He even left it out of his war report.

Speaker 3 (01:17:15):
He did. Evidence suggests he was aware of it and
likely complicit of it, given his command and the systematic
nature of the killings. Right, he used the command, and
I mean, come on, how do you not know this
is happening now?

Speaker 2 (01:17:27):
The massaker. It casts a long shadow over his life.
The stigma of the Masker, marked by its racial brutality,
dogged for us, both professionally and personally, contributing to his
post war business struggles as his reputation as a war
criminal and alienated potential partners and creditors. Historian Richard Futures
Futures and an Unnearing Fire condemns the event as an

(01:17:50):
orgy of death, a mass lyncheon driven by intentional murder,
rooted in racism and personal enmity and enmity.

Speaker 3 (01:18:00):
Andrew Ward he addresses the right. Andrew Ward addresses the
debate over whether the massacre was playing or spontaneous. He
says it certainly did happen in every Dictionary sense of
the word, emphasizing its undeniable horror. John simpric He notes
a shift in historical perspective stay in the new paradem

(01:18:21):
and right and the social attitudes and the fuller use
of available evidence was favored as a massacre. He highlights
how the event fuels sectional and racial conflicts for decades,
but recent interpretations offer hope for moving beyond pass intolerance.
The site of Fort Pillow was now observed as a
Tennessee State Historical Park, which is a place of reflection

(01:18:44):
on this dark chapter. Even USSSS Grant e scrit Even
General Grant, while praising for US as a brave and
interpret uh Calvarry General, criticized his Fort Bill dispatch for
a meeting the part which shocked humanity to read, underscoring

(01:19:05):
the massacres moral weight.

Speaker 2 (01:19:07):
Okay, that's where we were in the old Nathan Bedford for us,
who was a Civil War general, a slave trader, and
a KKK leader. Yes, yeah, I mean, what are you
gonna say about the guy?

Speaker 3 (01:19:16):
Clearly no military training and he clearly was a racist guy. Yeah,
no doubt about that.

Speaker 2 (01:19:24):
Yeah, yeah, we'll leave it at that. There's already a
long episode for this guy. And there's nothing more we
can say about the old Civil War general, slave trader
and uh KKK leader.

Speaker 3 (01:19:33):
So yeah, we'll be back former presidential candidate, former presidential
candidate and oh he wasn't.

Speaker 2 (01:19:44):
Whatever. There's a lot of things racist for us and
this episode behind the battles. Back next week for another
Union generality. Maybe we'll finally get to Sherman or shared
in one of those two guys. But it's just gonna
be along the Both of those guys might even be
two parts because they do a lot after the war

(01:20:06):
as well.

Speaker 3 (01:20:07):
So crazy.

Speaker 2 (01:20:09):
Yeah, So we'll be back next week for more old
beyond the battles of the Civil War.

Speaker 3 (01:20:14):
To Frederick Douglas or something.

Speaker 2 (01:20:15):
Yeah either way, will be back for something Yeah, maybe
something that led up to the war. Oh no either
or will still be back next week for more battles
of the AMERICANSIP War. Behind the battles, We'll see you then.
Were the Mother's gonna be? Si

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Behind The Battles | Nathan Bedford Forrest

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