Forrest William Montgomery Bedford Forrest

hanna260

Sergeant Major
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Just Around the Riverbend
I know we have some Forrest experts on this forum (seriously it is insane what some of you know), so I was wondering what you guys could tell me about his son. I know his son enlisted when he was 15 and served with his dad. Other than that- nada. Was Forrest a good father? What happened to his son?
 
Was Forrest a good father? What happened to his son?
Forrest loved his son very much.
A situation during Shiloh caused Bedford great anxiety as Diane illustrated in a separate thread:

Willie was there. In fact, just about two nights before the retreat to Corinth, he'd gone missing and his father did a frantic search. Turned out Willie and two other boys had come upon some Union soldiers - about 20 - and had captured them all at once. The boys were bringing these prisoners back to camp when Pa finally found them. Since he'd been looking among the wounded, he was a very happy dad. Willie was in every fight except Ft Pillow and was wounded as many times as his old man. At Tupelo, he was right behind Forrest when he was shot in the foot, and - what do you know - got hit in the arm with the same bullet! Talk about having the family name written on it...
 
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There is a letter Forrest wrote to his son after the surrender at Gainesville. It's very touching. In those times it was customary for a father to write a letter of advice and so forth to a son on his 18th birthday, and this was Forrest's - only he didn't know what was going to happen to him. He might go to Mexico or he might get hung, he didn't know. I can't find the text of the letter but it's one Forrest had his clerk, George Cable, write for spelling and grammar but the composition is all Forrest. In it he advises his son to get all the education he can and to follow his mother's example of living rather than his father's - especially cussing and gambling! One of the interesting things in it is Forrest was most dismayed to find Willie had decided to get married. He told him the girl was 'not worthy of him' and that he disapproved of the match. Willie did not marry this girl but it shows he tended to be impulsive and quick to fall for a pretty face.

I think Forrest was a good father. Willie seems to have come out all right and been an interesting person, a respected businessman and a popular citizen. And he raised his brothers - he was considerably older than all of them, the ones in between having died and left a sizable age gap. He was more like a father to them than a brother. They all seemed to turn out well except for John, who took to drink. He was crippled and, with the abolition of slavery, no longer employable anywhere as he'd been a clerk for his brother.

Forrest loved children. Once when he was stopped at a doctor's house overnight he miffed his guest, who wanted to discuss the war, by spending the whole time with the doctor's two year old boy, who took a shine to the cavalryman. He packed the kid all over the place, crawled under the table with him to play! Now that's not the first picture one sees when thinking about Gen Forrest, sitting under a dining table playing with a two year old... :laugh:
 
There is a letter Forrest wrote to his son after the surrender at Gainesville. It's very touching. In those times it was customary for a father to write a letter of advice and so forth to a son on his 18th birthday, and this was Forrest's - only he didn't know what was going to happen to him. He might go to Mexico or he might get hung, he didn't know. I can't find the text of the letter but it's one Forrest had his clerk, George Cable, write for spelling and grammar but the composition is all Forrest. In it he advises his son to get all the education he can and to follow his mother's example of living rather than his father's - especially cussing and gambling! One of the interesting things in it is Forrest was most dismayed to find Willie had decided to get married. He told him the girl was 'not worthy of him' and that he disapproved of the match. Willie did not marry this girl but it shows he tended to be impulsive and quick to fall for a pretty face.

I think Forrest was a good father. Willie seems to have come out all right and been an interesting person, a respected businessman and a popular citizen. And he raised his brothers - he was considerably older than all of them, the ones in between having died and left a sizable age gap. He was more like a father to them than a brother. They all seemed to turn out well except for John, who took to drink. He was crippled and, with the abolition of slavery, no longer employable anywhere as he'd been a clerk for his brother.

Forrest loved children. Once when he was stopped at a doctor's house overnight he miffed his guest, who wanted to discuss the war, by spending the whole time with the doctor's two year old boy, who took a shine to the cavalryman. He packed the kid all over the place, crawled under the table with him to play! Now that's not the first picture one sees when thinking about Gen Forrest, sitting under a dining table playing with a two year old... :laugh:

Gah, Diane! Amazing post. Is there an off-chance that you were Forrest in your past life? I don't think there's any other explanation for you knowing just so much about him!
 
From my short time here (and my time lurking) I've been made to understand that Larry Cockerham was the ultimate expert.

Diane is, too....and her memory is simply scary to those of us who can't remember where we put our car keys. (Although she does say her memory for normal stuff isn't any better than that of the rest of us! I guess it's all in priorities!) Between the two this place is an encyclopedia. I just try to keep my basics refreshed. :smile:
 
Diane is, too....and her memory is simply scary to those of us who can't remember where we put our car keys. (Although she does say her memory for normal stuff isn't any better than that of the rest of us! I guess it's all in priorities!) Between the two this place is an encyclopedia. I just try to keep my basics refreshed. :smile:

Diane seems to be an expert on just about everything as pertains to the ACW. And I've been in awe of you too for your knowledge (well, actually everyone on this forum. You guys are kinda intimidating y'know.) So, thanks guys. Truck on.
 
Nathanb1, 7th Mississippi Infantry, and Dixie Rifles aren't too far behind you either. There's so much knowledge.
Thank's for the compliment, but I'm not even close to my fellow Forrest Forum co hosts.
The other three are the experts, I think I got shanghaied because I was one of the loudest calling for a separate Forrest forum.

What's the old saying . . . "be careful, you might get what you wished for ?" :help:
 
Thank's for the compliment, but I'm not even close to my fellow Forrest Forum co hosts.
The other three are the experts, I think I got shanghaied because I was one of the loudest calling for a separate Forrest forum.

What's the old saying . . . "be careful, you might get what you wished for ?" :help:

Bwahahahaha. :laugh:
 
I always hesitate to talk about people who lived more recently than the Civil War, especially those with living relatives, but I don't necessarily agree that Willie "turned out all right." A reasonable case can be made that despite Nathan Bedford Forrest's involvement in the original Klan, he may have ordered it disbanded when he felt it had outlived its usefulness because the men who were in it had been reenfranchised. His descendants were involved in the second Klan, the Klan of the twenties which lynched a whole lot of people and was created by people who had full legal rights and no excuse. Willie's son, NBF II, was Grand Dragon of the Klan. I don't know what Willie's attitudes were, but based on his reported delight with the idea of "The Clansman," basically the founding document of the second Klan, being produced as a play, I doubt he was a person I would have admired much.
 
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I always hesitate to talk about people who lived more recently than the Civil War, especially those with living relatives, but I don't necessarily agree that Willie "turned out all right." A reasonable case can be made that despite Nathan Bedford Forrest's involvement in the original Klan, he may have ordered it disbanded when he felt it had outlived its usefulness because the men who were in it had been reenfranchised. His descendants were involved in the second Klan, the Klan of the twenties which lynched a whole lot of people and was created by people who had full legal rights and no excuse. Willie's son, NBF II, was Grand Dragon of the Klan. I don't know what Willie's attitudes were, but based on his reported delight with the idea of "The Clansman," basically the founding document of the second Klan, being produced as a play, I doubt he was a person I would have admired much.

This is quite true and one of the reasons Forrest was dodgy with the inquiry committee about the klan. Once he was out, he tried to dissuade others from being in it and some of those others were his son and brothers. Willie blamed Ft Pillow for his father's being unable to get back on his feet after the war - it sure didn't help but it wasn't the only reason. He didn't want to recognize the law regarding black civil rights and equality was out of the question for him. This attitude was passed on and unfortunately the involvement of his descendants in the klan helped stick the thing to Forrest. He really did dump them and accept the new reality. His son, not so much.
 
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