Forrest Forrest hat/uniform

TheRealMrHoward

Private
Joined
Jun 9, 2021
(Re-posting as recommended)


Curious if anyone knows what kind of hat Forrest wore? Similar to Mosby? Doesn't strike me as a JEB Stuart type. And his uniform? Doesn't seem like he would be riding around in gold trimmed frock coat...

Also had anyone read

The Battles and Campaigns of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest, 1861-1865?

 
Little is known of Forrest's uniforms outside of the photos of him wearing a double-breasted frock. He was buried in one of his best uniforms, and the family removed the stars from the collar before burial. It is documented that Forrest removed his coat in battle during some summer engagements and fought in his vest and shirt sleeves. As for his hat, again not documented, but it is believed he wore an imported British or French/Belgian hat typical of a man of his wealth.

The only identified article of clothing belonging to Forrest is one of his vests being prepared for museum display. It is light-colored with an embroidered paisley design. The textile or possibly the vest itself was imported from Europe. The vest has a large stain from a "wound seepage" on the back. The conjecture is he wore this vest after he was wounded at Fallen Timbers. I realize there aren't many confirmed facts in my reply, but it is all we know at this point. Forrest's vest, sword, revolvers, and other items have been discussed in the North Mississippi Civil War History Facebook group.

I'm attaching a photo of a friend of mine who is slightly larger than Forrest, a close-up of the wound seepage, and a photo of the stars removed from his collar.





Mike with Forrest vest.jpg
inside vest edit.jpg
forrest stars.jpg


Mike with Forrest vest.jpg


inside vest edit.jpg


forrest stars.jpg
 
(Re-posting as recommended)


Curious if anyone knows what kind of hat Forrest wore? Similar to Mosby? Doesn't strike me as a JEB Stuart type. And his uniform? Doesn't seem like he would be riding around in gold trimmed frock coat...

Also had anyone read

The Battles and Campaigns of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest, 1861-1865?

Here is a section of a page from https://archive.org/details/lifeoflieutenant00wyeth/page/666/mode/2up?view=theater&q=religion
Screenshot (28).png
 
It is documented that Forrest removed his coat in battle during some summer engagements and fought in his vest and shirt sleeves. As for his hat, again not documented

Yep,

No feathers at all.
( That was for those fancy Eastern sport models )
:smoke:

My second favorite painting of NBF on campaign:

Stunning boots and General's kit, but wearing civilian clothes in the field.
I love how this artist has depicted that his big azz floppy hat ... has been blown off the General .


c07aad697b7044c80bdb8baf89bd0b90.jpg

http://www.dannance.com/civil-war
 
What flag would he have h
Forrest's Command primarily carried First and Second National pattern flags at Brice's Crossroads and Harrisburg. In the spring and summer of 1864, ladies groups in Aberdeen and Columbus made Second National Flags for Forrest's Cavalry to replace their First Nationals, but not all received them. They also made the Rucker flag, but that was possibly after Harrisburg

Forrest's command was the last in the Department of Alabama, Mississippi, and East Louisiana to receive the 12-star flags made in Mobile sometime between Harrisburg and the Memphis Raid. The only confirmed St Andrew's cross flags in Forrest's command prior to this issue were the ones carried by Morton's Battery and Duff's 19th Miss Cav BN. Gartrell's Georgia Independent Company had a 13-star saltire flag, but there is debate when they received it.
 
Many of the surviving Forrest relics/artifacts have gone into private collections
Well, considering everything that has happened to Forrest's and Mary Ann's bones, the few remaining
relics/artifacts are probably safer in private collections.

never to be displayed, sad.

Never say Never !

While I don't expect anything will be on public display during the foreseeable future, I wouldn't underestimate the combined financial resources of the SCV, UDC, MOSB, and many others. Should they decide to put away their petty feuds for a few minutes (and work together for one common goal) ... much can be accomplished.

I'm not a collector of such high end objects, but I understand prices are down these days. No doubt Forrest's vest and gold braid Generals stars could be purchased for less than 100 K. These two items would be a tremendous draw for the new SCV Museum.

At the same time, I've heard Forrest's primary saber and revolvers remain within the Forrest family ... and will never be sold for any price. (I understand, and would have the same view) .

But no doubt there are many that know way more than myself about these topics.


Just my thoughts .... from the outside looking in.
 
Last edited:
I wouldn't underestimate the combined financial resources of the SCV, UDC, MOSB, and many others.
Yeah, there ain't any financial resources on the first two. Too many years of cronyism and now they are beyond all hope of surviving the decade due to debt, and many local Camps/Chapters refusing to recruit new members as they age. Especially the SCV....

I'm not a collector of such high end objects, but I understand prices are down these days. No doubt Forrest's vest and gold braid Generals stars could be purchased for less than 100 K. These two items would be a tremendous draw for the new SCV Museum.

At the same time, I've heard Forrest's primary saber and revolvers remain within the Forrest family ... and will never be sold for any price. (I understand, and would have the same view) .

But no doubt there are many that know way more than myself about these topics.


Just my thoughts .... from the outside looking in.
Last I heard his sword was in Dallas owned by a CW roundtable, (there's an old thread on that somewhere...) and as far as I know his personal revolver is long lost, though one revolver he bought for his troopers at the beginning of the war survives in a museum. The Family? Yeah ancestry sights, his legend, and so forth have so muddied the waters on who his actual descendants are that many things could be said. Plenty of folks with the same last name claim to be grandchildren, but can't possibly be, so I would personally be distrustful of such rumors on his personal weapons being in the family.
 
Last I heard his sword was in Dallas owned by a CW roundtable, (there's an old thread on that somewhere...)
Is this the thread ?
https://civilwartalk.com/threads/forrests-sword.82769/

I don't think anyone disputes the fact that a Dallas Civil War Roundtable group owns/owned one of his swords/sabers.

But Forrest had more than one.
The Family? Yeah ancestry sights, his legend, and so forth have so muddied the waters on who his actual descendants are that many things could be said. Plenty of folks with the same last name claim to be grandchildren, but can't possibly be, so I would personally be distrustful of such rumors on his personal weapons being in the family.

Very true.

I don't trust anything on Ancestry either.

My apologies for not being more specific, but actually I was referring to a first person interview with the late Shelby Foote on C-Span
about 20 years ago.

To paraphrase ... Mr. Foote said something like:

" Forrest's Granddaughter was very old when I got to know her. She wouldn't talk much at first, but once she trusted me, she even let me hold Forrest's saber and swing it over my head for a minute" .

I tried to find the specific part of the interview, but could not. That's a three hour video.

But's it's within this link:
https://www.c-span.org/video/?165823-1/depth-shelby-foote

Although I recently posted this same link a different thread, anyone that enjoys literary & Civil War history will
probably enjoy a three hour conversation with Shelby Foote.

But my point is, the true Forrest ancestors are with us ... and they retain the serious artifacts.
 
Last edited:
Well, considering everything that has happened to Forrest's and Mary Ann's bones, the few remaining
relics/artifacts are probably safer in private collections.



Never say Never !

While I don't expect anything will be on public display during the foreseeable future, I wouldn't underestimate the combined financial resources of the SCV, UDC, MOSB, and many others. Should they decide to put away their petty feuds for a few minutes (and work together for one common goal) ... much can be accomplished.

I'm not a collector of such high end objects, but I understand prices are down these days. No doubt Forrest's vest and gold braid Generals stars could be purchased for less than 100 K. These two items would be a tremendous draw for the new SCV Museum.

At the same time, I've heard Forrest's primary saber and revolvers remain within the Forrest family ... and will never be sold for any price. (I understand, and would have the same view) .

But no doubt there are many that know way more than myself about these topics.


Just my thoughts .... from the outside looking in.
Thats true, remember that no one thought the Second Texas flag would ever appear, and all of a sudden five years ago or so it shows up, now in a museum in Texas.
 
Well, considering everything that has happened to Forrest's and Mary Ann's bones, the few remaining
relics/artifacts are probably safer in private collections.



Never say Never !

While I don't expect anything will be on public display during the foreseeable future, I wouldn't underestimate the combined financial resources of the SCV, UDC, MOSB, and many others. Should they decide to put away their petty feuds for a few minutes (and work together for one common goal) ... much can be accomplished.

I'm not a collector of such high end objects, but I understand prices are down these days. No doubt Forrest's vest and gold braid Generals stars could be purchased for less than 100 K. These two items would be a tremendous draw for the new SCV Museum.

At the same time, I've heard Forrest's primary saber and revolvers remain within the Forrest family ... and will never be sold for any price. (I understand, and would have the same view) .

But no doubt there are many that know way more than myself about these topics.


Just my thoughts .... from the outside looking in.
There is also a Tennessee SCV organization too.
 
I read in another thread (far post-dating this) that Forrest's men captured union uniforms when possible and dyed them black. There may be a possibility he dressed in similar garb.
That's true about the captured uniforms.

We've had a few threads about that topic, here are two of my favorites :



Forrest was adamant that his troops dye the "confiscated" clothing so as not to be accused of impersonating the enemy.
I think he even gave his men a time limit to make it happen. From what I recall, I think Forrest wanted the captured uniforms
to be dyed brown. But in one of the above threads, @John Winn pointed out his wife said that changing the color from dark blue to brown would have been difficult. So most of the uniforms probably did end up a blackish color.

Regarding Forrest, I doubt he had to use captured Union clothing.
 
That's true about the captured uniforms.

We've had a few threads about that topic, here are two of my favorites :



Forrest was adamant that his troops dye the "confiscated" clothing so as not to be accused of impersonating the enemy.
I think he even gave his men a time limit to make it happen. From what I recall, I think Forrest wanted the captured uniforms
to be dyed brown. But in one of the above threads, @John Winn pointed out his wife said that changing the color from dark blue to brown would have been difficult. So most of the uniforms probably did end up a blackish color.

Regarding Forrest, I doubt he had to use captured Union clothing.
Thanks for your filling in my growing, but still limited knowledge of uniforms.

Forrest was fierce but I can't imagine how his wife was.
 
Back
Top