The Campaigns of General Nathan Bedford Forrest and of Forrest's Cavalry

In June 1861, practically unschooled, without military training or experience, Nathan Bedford Forrest (1821-1877) enlisted in the Confederated Army as a private. Yet by the Civil War's end he was a lieutenant general whose dazzling exploits and bloody victories caused him to be regarded by his Northern opponents as a "devil", by Southerners as a living legend, and by historians as the greatest cavalry commander and one of the few authentic military geniuses produced by the war. His spectacular, unparalleled career (no high-ranking commander since medieval times personally killed as many enemies in combat as Forrest did) has intrigued generations of Civil War scholars and enthusiasts. Subsequent biographies or studies of him have never totally superseded The Campaigns of General Nathan Bedford Forrest (1868) by General Thomas Jordan (West Pointer and chief of staff to Generals Beauregard, Albert Sidney Johnston, and Braxton Bragg) and the professional journalist J. P. Pryor. Forrest himself gave them complete access to his military papers, spent many hours being interviewed by them, and closely supervised their writing. Hence, this work is not just a flat campaign study of Forrest - in effect, it is his military memoir and, as such, remains the most valuable source on Forrest and his cavalry.

* Ancestry, Parentage, and Birthplace of General Forrest * Nathan Bedford Forrest a Planter in Mississippi up to June, 1861 * Topographical Sketch of Fort Donelson * Alarm of People in Consequence of Actual Disaster and Exaggerated Reports * Confederated in Battle Order by Dawn * General Forrest assigned to a Cavalry Command at Chattanooga * General Forrest Established his Headquarters at Murfreesboro, Tennessee * Set Out for Expedition into West-Tennessee * Restablishment on Picket Service, with Headquarters at Columbia, Tennessee * Forrests Brigade Ordered to North Alabama * False Report of Another Federal Raid * Topographical Sketch of Theatre of War * General Forrest pursued Enemy upon Missionary Ridge * Beginning of a New Epoch in General Forrests Career * Forrest made a Major-General * Small Brigade of Kentuckians Added to Command * Forrest in Movement upon Fort Pillow * Chalmers Detached with Command to Okolona * Sketch of Theatre of War * Rapid March of Chalmers from Monte Vallo * Correspondence with Department Commander * Forrests Cavalry Reorganized * Campaign to Kentucky Border * Sketch of General Hoods Plans and Movements * Headquarters at Corinth