The Myth Of Nathan Bedford Forrest

An insightful exploration of the relentless myth of the famous Civil War general, this volume scrutinizes the collective public memory of Nathan Bedford Forrest as it has evolved through the press, memoirs, biographies, and popular culture.

If you think the 19th-Century Ku Klux Klan was a violent racist organization that was founded and headed by Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest, you've been deceived by anti-South historians! Learn the truth in Colonel Lochlainn Seabrook's must-have book, "Nathan Bedford Forrest and the Ku Klux Klan: Yankee Myth, Confederate Fact."

According to Yankee historians Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest was a vicious redneck who detested blacks, beat his slaves, refused to fight alongside African-Americans, killed black Union soldiers on sight, committed a racist massacre at the Battle of Fort Pillow, and founded and led the Ku Klux Klan in an attempt to rid the South of blacks. Actually, the opposite is true. But Liberals, anti-South writers, and pro-North educators have done their best to make sure you never find out. Now all of that's changed! In his enlightening book "Nathan Bedford Forrest and African-Americans: Yankee Myth, Confederate Fact," award-winning author, Forrest scholar, and unreconstructed Southern historian Lochlainn Seabrook reveals the facts about the great Confederate chieftain that have been suppressed for 150 years, debunking these and other Yankee myths that were long ago invented in order to taint Forrest's reputation, demean the South, and hide the truth about Lincoln's War from the public. Mr. Seabrook's generously illustrated, clearly written work examines the five primary myths associated with Forrest and African-Americans, from the General's alleged racism and his treatment of slaves, to his attitude toward black Confederates and his real relationship with the original KKK. The reader will learn, for example, that Forrest, while possessed of the characteristic European-American values and views of his day, was far from the monstrous bigot portrayed in our history books, and that he was, as he himself put it, "a friend of the colored race," one who treated his slaves with respect and humanity, freed them long before Lincoln's fake and illegal Emancipation Proclamation, enlisted 45 of them in his cavalry, and hand-picked seven to be his personal armed guards. Of his loyal and brave African-American soldiers Forrest publicly said: "These boys stayed with me for the entire war. Better Confederates did not live." We also learn that there was no "racist massacre" at the Battle of Fort Pillow, that Forrest was neither the founder or the Grand Wizard of the KKK, that the Civil War Klan was not a racist organization (but an anti-carpetbag group with no connection to the modern KKK), and that thousands of African-Americans not only supported and even assisted the Civil War KKK, there was also an all-black Ku Klux Klan in Nashville, Tennessee. This one-of-a-kind book, Mr. Seabrook's ninth on the General, blows the lid off the Yankee myths about "Nathan Bedford Forrest and African-Americans." Includes an index, bibliography, reference notes, and a comprehensive appendices section. Though brief, this heavily researched study is a powerful educational tool that will forever alter the way you look at Forrest, Lincoln's War, and the South. Destined to become a Southern classic. Civil War scholar Lochlainn Seabrook, a descendant of the families of Alexander H. Stephens and John S. Mosby, is the most prolific and popular pro-South writer in the world today. Known as the "new Shelby Foote," he is a recipient of the prestigious Jefferson Davis Historical Gold Medal and the author of over 45 books that have introduced thousands to the truth about the War for Southern Independence. A seventh-generation Kentuckian of Appalachian heritage and the sixth great-grandson of the Earl of Oxford, Mr. Seabrook has a forty-year background in American and Southern history, and is the author of the runaway bestsellers "Everything You Were Taught About the Civil War is Wrong, Ask a Southerner!" and "Confederate Flag Facts: What Every American Should Know About Dixie's Southern Cross."

If you want to know what really happened at the Battle of Fort Pillow you'll never learn about it from our mainstream history books. But you will in award-winning historian Colonel Lochlainn Seabrook's work "Nathan Bedford Forrest and the Battle of Fort Pillow: Yankee Myth, Confederate Fact." The South's version is true, and this book proves it!

This Civil War biography sheds new light on the life of the legendary Confederate general before, during, and after the conflict that defined his legacy. Shelby Foote called Nathan Bedford Forrest one of the most authentic geniuses produced by the American Civil War, and Ulysses S. Grant said that Forrest was the only Confederate cavalry leader he feared. Sherman wanted him killed even if doing so broke the broke the Federal treasury and cost ten thousand lives. Arguably the best cavalry leader of the Civil War and undoubtedly one of the greatest in the history of mounted warfare, Nathan Bedford Forrest has been acclaimed and vilified, revered and hated, and still he is a man whose life defies categorization. This in-depth biography goes beyond Forrest’s war exploits. Here, historians Eddy W. Davison and Daniel Foxx depict a man as complex, brilliant, revolutionary, and tragic as the times in which he lived. In addition to revealing details about his childhood, marriage, and life as a businessman and civic leader, this comprehensive biography explains the alleged massacre at Fort Pillow, Tennessee, and the reasons for Forrest’s leadership in the Ku Klux Klan.

A balanced perspective that contains previously unknown information. Includes unsavory aspects, such as the Fort Pillow Massacre of Black federal troops, & his post war founding of the KKK.

A book to challenge the status quo, spark a debate, and get people talking about the issues and questions we face as a country!

*Includes pictures of Forrest and important people, places, and events. *Includes a lengthy bibliography for further reading. "I got there first with the most men." - Nathan Bedford Forrest Despite the fact that the Civil War was fought nearly 150 years ago, it remains a polarizing topic for the country to this day. And nowhere is this more evident than in the life and legacy of Confederate Lieutenant General Nathan Bedford Forrest, the war's most controversial soldier. When the war broke out, Forrest enlisted in the army and was instructed to raise a battalion of cavalry. A self-made man with no formal military training, Forrest spent the entire war fighting in the Western theater, becoming the only individual in the war to rise from the rank of Private to Lieutenant General. By the end of the war, Forrest was known throughout the South as the "Wizard of the Saddle," and anecdotes of his prowess in battle were legendary. In addition to being injured multiple times in battle, Forrest has been credited with having killed 30 Union soldiers in combat and having 29 horses shot out from under him. Northerners weren't the only ones who felt his wrath; Forrest famously feuded with several commanding officers and notoriously killed an artillery commander in his unit after a verbal confrontation spiraled out of control. History has properly accorded Forrest his place as one of the most courageous soldiers of the Civil War, and Forrest attained a number of command successes in the Western theater of the war. But Forrest was also at the head of Confederate troops accused of massacring a Union garrison comprised mostly of black soldiers at Fort Pillow, and he was also a prominent slave trader, an overt racist, and likely a leader of the Ku Klux Klan after the Civil War. When he died in 1877, in part due to various war wounds, he was the nation's most notorious unreconstructed rebel. Ashdown and Caudill, authors of The Myth of Nathan Bedford Forrest, write that the story of Forrest "embraces violence, race, realism, sectionalism, politics, reconciliation, and repentance." With these characteristics, it has proven almost impossible for any American to have a neutral view of Forrest, and it has been even harder to ignore him. Subsequently, Forrest's image has vacillated from celebrated to reviled, sometimes both at the same time, over the last 150 years, as the numerous and notable aspects of Forrest's life and legacy were considered by different people at different times. The Wizard of the Saddle: The Battle over the Life and Legacy of Nathan Bedford Forrest traces his life and Civil War record in the first part, detailing both his wild successes and his biggest controversies. The second part looks at how Forrest's legacy has been interpreted in the North and South since the end of the war, and how it fits within the context of Civil War memory and historiography as a whole, showing how Americans' opinions of Forrest have changed over time in conjunction with how the war and its aftermath were viewed. Along with pictures of Forrest and other important people, places and events in his life, you will learn about the Wizard of the Saddle like you never have before, in no time at all.