Editing Nathan Bedford Forrest (section)

==Marriage and family==
[[File:Nathan B. Forrest, William H. Forrest, Jesse A. Forrest, Jeffrey E. Forrest.jpg|thumb|The brothers Forrest, left to right: N. B. Forrest, [[William H. Forrest]], [[Jesse A. Forrest]] (photographed after the civil war), and [[Jeffrey E. Forrest]]; there may be no surviving photographs of [[Aaron H. Forrest]] and [[John N. Forrest]] ]]
[[File:Capt William M Forrest With a Group of the Members of Gen Nathan Bedford Forrest s Staff.jpg|thumb|N. B. Forrest, his 15-year-old son W. M. Forrest, and his 25-year-old brother J. E. Forrest all enlisted in the Confederate States Army on the same day; Jeffrey Forrest was killed in action at the [[Battle of Okolona]] in 1864 ("Capt. William M. Forrest With a Group of the Members of Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest's Staff" ''Memphis Commercial Appeal'', February 9, 1908)]]
Forrest had twelve brothers and sisters; two of his eight brothers and three of his four sisters died of [[typhoid fever]] at an early age, all at about the same time.{{sfn|Welsh|1999|p=70}}{{sfn|Hurst|1993|p=20}} He also contracted the disease, but survived; his father recovered but died from residual effects of the disease five years later when Bedford was 16. His mother, Miriam, then married James Horatio Luxton, of [[Marshall, Texas]], in 1843 and gave birth to four more children.{{sfn|Mitcham|2016|p=13}} All of Forrest's younger brothers{{mdash}}in order, [[John N. Forrest]], [[William H. Forrest]], [[Aaron H. Forrest]], [[Jesse A. Forrest]], and [[Jeffrey E. Forrest]]{{mdash}}worked as slave traders with Bedford before the war.<ref name="Huebner2023" /> All but John, who was a disabled veteran of the [[Mexican–American War]], served as [[Confederate States Army|Confederate]] military officers in Tennessee and Mississippi during the American Civil War.{{sfn|Wyeth|1989|pp=6–8}} Forrest's son William M. Forrest served as his [[aide-de-camp]],{{sfn|Wyeth|1989|p=120}} and his half-brother [[Mat Luxton]] was a sergeant and scout in his cavalry.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Special to The Examiner |date=2023-01-04 |title=Preserving historic Camp Family Cemetery |website=Navasota Examiner |url=https://www.navasotaexaminer.com/article/news/preserving-historic-camp-family-cemetery |access-date=2023-12-17 |language=en |archive-date=December 17, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231217174004/https://www.navasotaexaminer.com/article/news/preserving-historic-camp-family-cemetery |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1845, Forrest married Mary Ann Montgomery (1826–1893), the niece of a Presbyterian minister who was her legal guardian.{{sfn|Ashdown|Caudill|2006|p=10}} They had two children, William Montgomery Bedford Forrest IIII (1846–1908), who enlisted at the age of 15 and served alongside his father in the war, and a daughter, Fanny (1849–1854), who died in childhood. There are also reports dating to 1864 that Forrest had two children, Thomas and Narcissa, with an enslaved woman named [[Catharine (Tennessee)|Catharine]].{{sfn|Hurst|1993|pp=36–37}}

Forrest's grandson, [[Nathan Bedford Forrest II]] (1872–1931), became commander-in-chief of the [[Sons of Confederate Veterans]]<ref>{{cite book|title=Confederate Veteran Magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wKkVAQAAMAAJ&q=%22Nathan%20Bedford%20Forrest%20II%22 |year=2003 |publisher=Sons of Confederate Veterans|page=59|access-date=March 1, 2018|archive-date=May 9, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240509165049/https://books.google.com/books?id=wKkVAQAAMAAJ&q=%22Nathan%20Bedford%20Forrest%20II%22|url-status=live}}</ref> and a [[Grand Dragon]] of the [[Ku Klux Klan]] in Georgia and secretary of the national organization.{{sfn|Ashdown|Caudill|2006|p=187}} A great-grandson, [[Nathan Bedford Forrest III]] (1905–1943), graduated from [[West Point]] and rose to the rank of brigadier general in the [[U.S. Army Air Corps]]; he was killed during a bombing raid over [[Nazi Germany]] in 1943, becoming the first American general to die in combat in the [[European theatre of World War II|European theater]] during World War II.{{sfn|Hurst|2011|p=387}}