Samuel W. Mitcham - Bust Hell Wide Open : The Life of Nathan Bedford Forrest

Copyright 2016 by Samuel W. Mitcham, Jr.

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First e-book edition 2016: ISBN 978-1-62157-600-6

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CONTENTS

Introduction

CHAPTER 1

FRONTIERSMAN TO MILLIONAIRE

CHAPTER 2

FIRST BLOOD

CHAPTER 3

ILL BE DAMNED IF ILL SURRENDER

CHAPTER 4

SHILOH

CHAPTER 5

THE MURFREESBORO RAID

CHAPTER 6

THE WEST TENNESSEE RAID

CHAPTER 7

FAILURE AT FORT DONELSON

CHAPTER 8

THOMPSONS STATION AND BRENTWOOD

CHAPTER 9

THE PURSUIT OF THE JACKASS BRIGADE

CHAPTER 10

RIVER OF DEATH

CHAPTER 11

FORREST CREATES AN ARMY: THE SECOND WEST TENNESSEE RAID

CHAPTER 12

OKOLONA

CHAPTER 13

THE THIRD WEST TENNESSEE RAID

CHAPTER 14

FORT PILLOW

CHAPTER 15

THE MOST PERFECT BATTLE: BRICES CROSS ROADS

CHAPTER 16

THERE WILL NEVER BE PEACE: TUPELO AND THE MEMPHIS RAID

CHAPTER 17

RIDING AGAINST SHERMAN

CHAPTER 18

THE NASHVILLE CAMPAIGN

CHAPTER 19

THE LAST BATTLE

CHAPTER 20

AFTER THE WAR

NOTES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

INDEX

Lieutenant General Nathan Bedford Forrest

INTRODUCTION

No great man lives in vain. The history of the world is but the biography of great men.

Thomas Carlyle

I grew up in Mer Rouge, Louisiana, in the 1950s and 60s. It was a world different from todayin some ways better, and in some ways worse. Overall, though, I am quite satisfied with my small Southern town upbringing. Early in life, I developed a passionate interest in the Civil War. This, however, did not extend to Nathan Bedford Forrest, who reminded me too much of my grandfather, whom I loved but sometimes wasnt sure I liked. Grover Mitcham had a fierce temper and would lash out violently at the slightest provocation. He carried a cane of pressed cypress and did not hesitate to use it. Like Forrest, he employed two-fisted business methods and rose up from a sharecroppers cabin (or worse, in Forrests case) to owner of the Big House.

As a graduate student, my research carried me into World War II. After writing a number of books on that era, however, I decided to retool and return to my first interestthe War Between the States. I now plan to spend the rest of my life writing about this conflict.

My interests had shifted westward, and my first Civil War book dealt with the 1864 Red River Campaign in Louisiana. My interest in Nathan Bedford Forrest remained minimal until I came across a quote from Robert E. Lee who, when asked to name the best general in the Civil War, picked Forrest, despite the fact that they had never met and never would. That prompted me to read a biography or two about him. I was hooked. Although existing Forrest biographies are good, they are more military history and less biography. Napoleon once said: In war, men are nothing. The man is everything! Although I dont buy this completely, there is some truth to it. Alexander the Great said that he did not fear an army of lions led by a sheep, but he did fear an army of sheep led by a lion. And with an army of wolves led by a lion, you get astonishing results. Had Jefferson Davis and his advisers recognized Forrests genius in time, I might today be writing this book from the Confederate state of Louisiana. So, although military history and biography are to a degree inseparable, this book will emphasize the latter. I want readers, upon finishing this book, to feel like they know Nathan Bedford Forrest, the man.

Nearing completion of this book, I feel much the same as I did when I finished my three-volume biography of Field Marshall Erwin Rommel, the famed Desert Fox of World War II: sadness. Like many historians, I always write an Introduction last. I have learned that if you go into a project without preconceptions, you never know what you will find. Like Rommel, Forrest had his flaws, but getting to know him well has been a pleasureand, in many ways, Ill miss him.

The average reader might be surprised at how much Forrests frontier upbringing played in his life and campaigns. My biggest surprise in this effort is the abiding admiration I now feel for Forrests wife, Mary Ann. She was an awesome Christian woman. She would have to have been, to put up with her husband for all those years. Mary rather reminds me of my grandmother, who put up with Grover Mitcham. Both eventually achieved their long-range goal and saw their husbands convert to Christianity, but, in both cases, it was a long, hard ride.

Now, a warning, to my liberal friends. Forrests world view was that of a Nineteenth Century Southerner, a Confederate patriot, and a man who grew to manhood in the raw, tough, and often violent world of the antebellum American frontier. I firmly believe that its a mistake to judge the past entirely by the standards and values of today, a practice some historians call Presentism, in which the past is always wrong because it is not the present. I hold that we can learn a great deal from the past and from the people who populated it, people like Forrest, even though we might not want them as neighbors.

The structure of this book is different from all my others. The first hardback books I ever owned were Douglas Southall Freemans four-volume Pulitzer Prize-winning R. E. Lee. I have tended to follow Dr. Freemans pattern of footnoting. Now, after reading books by Winston Groom and others, I have decided to go in the opposite direction. The footnotes in this book will be mostly informational in nature, so as to convey additional data, such as military details or biographical material on secondary characters who do not fit neatly into the flow of Forrests major endeavors. Those interested in the finer details of his operations, his times, or the people with whom he interacted should find them interesting. There is a full bibliography included as well.

The first four maps are patterned after those in Robert S. Henrys 1956 book, First With the Most Forrest.

I thank Texas A & M for the use of its outstanding library. Major thanks also go to my agent, Dr. Al Zuckerman, who, as usual, performed yeoman service. The major thanks, however, goes to my family, especially my extremely tolerant Christian wife, Donna, who is an inspiration to all who know her. Take heart, dear. You might have had to put up with a lot, but at least you didnt have to put up with Nathan Bedford Forrest!