Forrest A REBEL BORN : THE MOVIE

"A REBEL BORN": THE MOVIE - Sea Raven Press is happy to announce that our author, Southern historian and acclaimed screenwriter Lochlainn Seabrook,

Have you read any of Lochlainn Seabrook's books? I was thinking about buying a few.
 
The General is spinning like a top in his grave right now. I'm surprised Memphis hasn't been afflicted with the second version of the New Madrid earthquake, with reviews like this one by a Mr. Shand: (Italics are mine for obvious reasons).



Bedford Forrest was unique in American history. As a warrior his legend ranks with Samson and Beowulf: superhuman - not understandable in human terms, an elemental force, like a tornado. He had amazing strength and stamina, both physical and of will power; inexplicable powers to grasp the situation on a battlefield and formulate a winning strategy; wonderful sense of timing for maximum effect; character to inspire men to follow him; courage to lead the attack; audacity as great as Robert E. Lee himself.

For the Confederate forces west of the Appalachian Mountains, the war was a tragedy with occasional successes. Overall it was marked by valiant soldiers with poor leadership. Bedford Forrest had no military training and was 40 when he entered as a private, and despite being commanded and handicapped by such incompetents as Braxton Bragg, advanced by merit all the way to Lieutenant General. Along the way he killed about 30 Yankees with sword and pistol and had about the same number of horses shot under him. He was wounded seriously three times.
The war in the "west" lasted amazingly long, considering all the advantages possessed by the invaders. Forrest probably was responsible for a year of that time. The frustration and anger he caused among the Yankees was extreme, and they and their supporters found it useful to tarnish Forrest's reputation in every way possible. Today it is not politically correct to say anything positive about Forrest (or anything Southern, for that matter.)
The author, Lochlainn Seabrook, comes from "Forrest country" in Tennessee, and has been collecting the history of the War for a long time. In this book he confronts directly all the lies and insinuations used then and now to diminish the great man. He also relates the many amazing triumphs, and gives details and explanations that I didn't know or remember from the dozen books I own on the subject.
Also the "if only" side: if only Forrest had been in command at Fort Donelson, and if only his plan to obstruct the Mississippi for a thousand miles had been authorized, and if only he had been in command during the Atlanta campaign. One realizes that the Army of Tennessee didn't have to lose in Georgia!
This new book is highly recommended. It is important enough that we can expect a reaction against it!
 
The General is spinning like a top in his grave right now. I'm surprised Memphis hasn't been afflicted with the second version of the New Madrid earthquake, with reviews like this one by a Mr. Shand: (Italics are mine for obvious reasons).

Heretic! He could have parted the Mississippi any time he wanted. The Tennessee, too. :smug:
 
The website looks cheap and poorly made, but I'm more interested in the book's content. From what I read on Amazon, people were saying that he uses a large amount of cited material. I'm most interested in seeing those.

I think you should go ahead and read it but it is quite nasty toward Lincoln and so forth. However the UDC gave it their Jefferson Davis Medal of Honor - they liked it a lot! There's a few things to take with a lot of grains of salt. For example, Forrest might be surprised to find he was an advocate of African immigration with full civil rights because he was liberal. He supported importing Chinese, too, and they had no civil rights. The South needed cheap labor!
 
I would love to see a factual based movie on Bedford's life and military history, just not sure the mainstream movie going public would accept it. Too many people still equate him with, erroneously, founding the KKK. Not to even begin to mention the Ft Pillow affair.
 
New
I would love to see a factual based movie on Bedford's life and military history, just not sure the mainstream movie going public would accept it. Too many people still equate him with, erroneously, founding the KKK. Not to even begin to mention the Ft Pillow affair.

I agree. this is the point I tried to make earlier. I don't think people are ready for a NB Forrest Movie. It does have the potential to be a good movie if done right. However, you have to treat the controversial material with a velvet glove. :D
 
I agree. this is the point I tried to make earlier. I don't think people are ready for a NB Forrest Movie. It does have the potential to be a good movie if done right. However, you have to treat the controversial material with a velvet glove. :D
I disagree. I think an NBF movie would go over well enough if, and it's a big if, it avoids outright lying and Lost Cause nonsense. Show the man warts and all. There's no doubt he was an effective combat leader but show all aspects of his life; the slave trading, the inability to get along with his superiors, the KKK and his break with the KKK, everything. If they do that, then it might be a good movie.

But if it's along the lines of what was quoted in post #26, then it'll be another Lost Cause piece of drivel that'll be unwatchable. (Gods And Generals anyone?)
 
I disagree. I think an NBF movie would go over well enough if, and it's a big if, it avoids outright lying and Lost Cause nonsense. Show the man warts and all. There's no doubt he was an effective combat leader but show all aspects of his life; the slave trading, the inability to get along with his superiors, the KKK and his break with the KKK, everything. If they do that, then it might be a good movie.

But if it's along the lines of what was quoted in post #26, then it'll be another Lost Cause piece of drivel that'll be unwatchable. (Gods And Generals anyone?)

That's what I want to see. Forrest is a remarkable character, just sticking to the plain facts. He cleans up well but it's a disservice to him to think he takes a polish let alone a saintly glow! He'd be the first to tell you that.
 
I happen to agree. I think that the majority of the population is not ready for the truth. Most are comfortable with what is convenient. The North were the good guys and did no wrong, every Southerner owned slaves and were the bad guys.
Let ignorance prevail........

However......
I for one would love to see the movie made.
Exactly!
 
I disagree. I think an NBF movie would go over well enough if, and it's a big if, it avoids outright lying and Lost Cause nonsense. Show the man warts and all. There's no doubt he was an effective combat leader but show all aspects of his life; the slave trading, the inability to get along with his superiors, the KKK and his break with the KKK, everything. If they do that, then it might be a good movie.

But if it's along the lines of what was quoted in post #26, then it'll be another Lost Cause piece of drivel that'll be unwatchable. (Gods And Generals anyone?)

We don't have a "I love this post" button. But I do.
 
I would very much love a good Forrest movie. We obviously know where SRP's allegiance is. That said, I would still watch it. I have seem several low budget Civil War films that were good enough to watch.
 
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