Another Strange Claim About Forrest

10th Michigan Infantry · Sep 20, 2023

I've probably spent more time researching N.B. Forrest than any other Civil War General, and in my research I've come across many weird claims made. This one I found originally in a Daily Beast article claiming that during the retreat from Selma, Forrest had a child with a slave named Dorothy in Newbern, Alabama. The original claim appears in the book Mind to Stay: White Plantation, Black Homeland. The book includes a story about Forrest supposedly summoning Dorothy the slave to his tent while his men were encamped in Newbern, and supposedly raping her, and conceiving a child with her. Of course, this story appears to have no evidence backing it, originating as a folktale. As with many of these stories, it seems fantastical, and near slanderous. I'll share some passages from the book below and the link the the DailyBeast Article: https://www.thedailybeast.com/missi...eneral-and-klan-wizard-nathan-bedford-forrest