Editing Nathan Bedford Forrest (section)

==American Civil War==

===Early cavalry command===
After the Civil War broke out, Forrest returned to Tennessee from his Mississippi ventures and enlisted in the [[Confederate States Army]] (CSA) on June 14, 1861. He reported for training at [[Fort Wright (Tennessee)|Fort Wright]] near [[Randolph, Tennessee]],<ref name="Chalmers1878">{{cite book|author=James R. Chalmers|editor=R.A. Brock|title=Southern Historical Society Papers|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ex5PAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA455|volume=7|year=1878|publisher=Virginia Historical Society|page=455|chapter=Lieutenant-General N. B. Forrest and His Campaigns|access-date=March 3, 2018|archive-date=May 9, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240509170140/https://books.google.com/books?id=ex5PAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA455#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> joining [[Captain (OF-2)|Captain]] Josiah White's cavalry company, the Tennessee Mounted Rifles (Seventh Tennessee Cavalry), as a [[Private (rank)|private]] along with his youngest brother and 15-year-old son. Upon seeing how badly equipped the CSA was, Forrest offered to buy horses and equipment with his own money for a [[regiment]] of Tennessee volunteer soldiers.{{sfn|Axelrod|2011|p=84}}<ref name="Dougherty2015">{{cite book|author=Kevin Dougherty|title=The Vicksburg Campaign: Strategy, Battles and Key Figures|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m4P2BgAAQBAJ&pg=PA62|year=2015|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-9797-3|page=62|access-date=March 2, 2018|archive-date=May 9, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240509170123/https://books.google.com/books?id=m4P2BgAAQBAJ&pg=PA62#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>

His superior officers and [[Governor of Tennessee]] [[Isham G. Harris]] were surprised that someone of Forrest's wealth and prominence had enlisted as a soldier, especially since significant planters were exempted from service. They commissioned him as a [[Lieutenant colonel (United States)|lieutenant colonel]] and authorized him to recruit and train a battalion of Confederate mounted rangers.{{sfn|Browning|2004|pp=9–10}} In October 1861, Forrest was given command of a regiment, the 3rd Tennessee Cavalry. Though Forrest had no prior formal [[military training]] or experience, he had exhibited leadership and soon proved he could successfully employ [[military tactics]].<ref name="Knight2014">{{cite book |author=James R. Knight|title=Hood's Tennessee Campaign: The Desperate Venture of a Desperate Man |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VBR3CQAAQBAJ&pg=PT27 |year=2014|publisher=Arcadia Publishing Inc.|isbn=978-1-62585-130-7|page=27|access-date=March 2, 2018|archive-date=May 9, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240509170134/https://books.google.com/books?id=VBR3CQAAQBAJ&pg=PT27#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{citation|last=Morton|first=John Watson|year=1909|title=The Artillery of Nathan Bedford Forrest's Cavalry: 'the Wizard of the Saddle'|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nmQUAAAAYAAJ|publisher=Publishing house of the M.E. Church, South, Smith & Lamar, agents |page=1|isbn=978-1560130086|access-date=December 11, 2015|archive-date=May 9, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240509170201/https://books.google.com/books?id=nmQUAAAAYAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>

Forrest gained a reputation for his willingness to maintain discipline through the use of physical force. When the information with which a scout returned proved to be erroneous, Forrest struck the man's head against a tree. After a lieutenant refused to join his troops in a river where they were building a bridge, Forrest pushed him into the water. A soldier who refused to paddle across the [[Tennessee River]] was hit with an oar by his general. Two others who fled from a rout were beaten with a branch, and Forrest shot the one who had borne the colors. Along with brutal treatment of his prisoners, this led many soldiers and junior officers to refuse to serve under him.{{sfn|Rein|2022|p=54–55}}

Public debate surrounded [[Tennessee in the American Civil War|Tennessee]]'s decision to join the Confederacy, and both the Confederate and [[Union Army|United States]] armies recruited soldiers from the state. Over 100,000 men from Tennessee served with the Confederacy, and over 31,000 served with the U.S. Army.<ref name="McKim1912">{{cite book|author=Randolph Harrison McKim |year=1912|title=The Numerical Strength of the Confederate Army |url=https://archive.org/details/numericalstreng01mckigoog |publisher=Neale Publishing Company|page=[https://archive.org/details/numericalstreng01mckigoog/page/n63 59]}}</ref> Forrest posted advertisements to join his regiment, with the slogan, "Let's have some fun and kill some Yankees!".{{sfn|Mitcham|2016|p=26}} Forrest's command included his Escort Company (his "Special Forces"), for which he selected the best soldiers available. This unit, which varied in size from 40 to 90 men, constituted the elite of his cavalry.{{sfn|Mitcham|2016|p=151}}

===Sacramento and Fort Donelson===
{{image flip|[[File:Nathan Bedford Forrest 1861–1865 era Carte de visite by Bingham & Brothers Gallery of Memphis, Tenn. Steve and Mike Romano Collection.jpg|thumb|Col. Bedford Forrest ''[[carte de visite]]'' by Bingham & Brothers Gallery of Memphis (Steve and Mike Romano Collection, ''Military Images'')]]}}
Forrest won praise for his performance under fire during an early victory in the [[Battle of Sacramento (Kentucky)|Battle of Sacramento]] in [[Kentucky in the American Civil War|Kentucky]], the first in which he commanded troops in the field, where he routed a U.S. Army force by personally leading a cavalry charge that Brigadier General [[Charles Clark (governor)|Charles Clark]] later commended.{{sfn|Davison|Foxx|2007|pp=36–41}} Forrest distinguished himself further at the [[Battle of Fort Donelson]] in February 1862. After his cavalry captured a U.S. [[artillery battery]], he broke out of a [[siege]] headed by [[Major General#United States|Major General]] [[Ulysses S. Grant]], rallying nearly 4,000 troops and leading them to escape across the [[Cumberland River]].<ref name="Hurst2008">{{cite book|author=Jack Hurst|title=Men of Fire: Grant, Forrest, and the Campaign That Decided the Civil War|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AItjjfjiYB0C&pg=PA252|year=2008|publisher=Basic Books|isbn=978-0-465-00847-6|pages=252–254|access-date=March 7, 2018|archive-date=May 9, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240509170149/https://books.google.com/books?id=AItjjfjiYB0C&pg=PA252#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>

A few days after the Confederate surrender of Fort Donelson, with the fall of [[Nashville, Tennessee|Nashville]] to U.S. forces imminent, Forrest took command of the city. All available carts and wagons were pressed into service to haul 600 boxes of army clothing, 250,000 pounds of bacon, and 40 wagon-loads of ammunition to the railroad depots, to be sent off to Chattanooga and Decatur.<ref name="JordanPryor1868">{{cite book|author1=Thomas Jordan|author2=J.P. Pryor|title=The Campaigns of Lieut.-Gen. N.B. Forrest, and of Forrest's Cavalry|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RcO_Lj_RK4AC&pg=PA104|year=1868|publisher=Blelock & Company|page=104|isbn=978-0722292792|access-date=March 9, 2018|archive-date=May 9, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240509170256/https://books.google.com/books?id=RcO_Lj_RK4AC&pg=PA104#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Horn1993">{{cite book|author=Stanley F. Horn|title=The Army of Tennessee|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mBTHxoaz--0C&pg=PA103|year=1993|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|isbn=978-0-8061-2565-7|page=103|access-date=March 9, 2018|archive-date=May 9, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240509170959/https://books.google.com/books?id=mBTHxoaz--0C&pg=PA103#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> Forrest arranged for heavy [[artillery|ordnance]] machinery, including a new cannon rifling machine and 14 cannons, as well as parts from the Nashville Armory, to be sent to Atlanta for use by the Confederate Army.<ref name="Durham1985">{{cite book|author=Walter T. Durham|author-link=Walter T. Durham|title=Nashville, the Occupied City: The First Seventeen Months, February 16, 1862, to June 30, 1863|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q-oTAAAAYAAJ&q=%22rifling%20machine%22|year=1985|publisher=Tennessee Historical Society|page=37|access-date=March 9, 2018|archive-date=May 9, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240509171034/https://books.google.com/books?id=q-oTAAAAYAAJ&q=%22rifling%20machine%22|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Shiloh and Murfreesboro===
A month later, Forrest was back in action at the [[Battle of Shiloh]], fought April 6–7, 1862. After the U.S. victory, Forrest commanded a Confederate [[rear guard]]. In the battle of [[Battle of Shiloh#Fallen Timbers, April 8|Fallen Timbers]], he drove through the U.S. [[skirmish line]]. Not realizing that the rest of his men had halted their charge when they reached the full U.S. brigade, Forrest charged the brigade alone and soon found himself surrounded. He emptied his Colt Army revolvers into the swirling mass of U.S. Army soldiers and pulled out his saber, hacking, and slashing. A U.S. [[infantryman]] on the ground beside Forrest fired a musket ball at him with a point-blank shot, nearly knocking him out of the saddle. The ball went through Forrest's pelvis and lodged near his spine. A surgeon removed the musket ball a week later without anesthesia, which was unavailable.{{sfn|Welsh|1999|p=70}}<ref name="Isbell2007">{{cite book|author=Timothy T. Isbell|title=Shiloh and Corinth: Sentinels of Stone|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iqd19sm_br0C&pg=PA108|year=2007|publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi|isbn=978-1-61703-435-0|page=108|access-date=April 14, 2018|archive-date=May 9, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240509171051/https://books.google.com/books?id=iqd19sm_br0C&pg=PA108#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>

By early summer, Forrest commanded a new brigade of inexperienced cavalry regiments. He led them into Middle Tennessee in July under orders to launch a cavalry raid. On July 13, 1862, he led them into the [[First Battle of Murfreesboro]], as a result of which all of the U.S. units surrendered to Forrest. The Confederates destroyed much of the U.S. Army's supplies and railroad tracks in the area.{{sfn|Boatner III|1988|p=289}}

===West Tennessee raids===
[[File:NathanBedfordForrestportrait.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Gen. Bedford Forrest]]
Promoted on July 21, 1862, to [[Brigadier General (CSA)|brigadier general]], Forrest was given command of a Confederate cavalry brigade.{{sfn|Eicher|Eicher|2001|p=240}} In December 1862, Forrest's veteran troopers were reassigned by General [[Braxton Bragg]] to another officer despite his protest. Forrest had to recruit a new brigade of about 2,000 inexperienced men, most of whom lacked weapons.<ref name="Jones2017">{{cite book|author=Robert C. Jones|title=Alabama and the Civil War: A History & Guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SggmDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA13|year=2017|publisher=Arcadia Publishing Inc.|isbn=978-1-4396-6075-1|page=13|access-date=March 12, 2018|archive-date=May 9, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240509171041/https://books.google.com/books?id=SggmDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA13#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> Again, Bragg ordered a series of raids to disrupt the communications of the U.S. Army forces under Grant, which were threatening the city of [[Vicksburg, Mississippi]]. Forrest protested that sending such untrained men behind enemy lines was suicidal, but Bragg insisted, and Forrest obeyed his orders. In the ensuing raids, he was pursued by thousands of U.S. soldiers trying to locate his fast-moving forces. Avoiding attack by never staying in one place long, Forrest eventually led his troops during the spring and summer of 1864 on [[West Tennessee Raids|raids]] into west Tennessee, as far north as the banks of the [[Ohio River]] in southwest Kentucky and into north Mississippi.{{sfn|Axelrod|2011|p=86}}<ref name="Millar2018">{{cite book|author=G. Lee Millar|title=Forrest Stories: Humor of Bedford Forrest and His Cavalry|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MYRVDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT60|year=2018|publisher=AuthorHouse|isbn=978-1546235569|page=60|access-date=May 20, 2020|archive-date=May 9, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240509170958/https://books.google.com/books?id=MYRVDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT60#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>

Forrest returned to his base in Mississippi with more men than he had started with. By then, all were fully armed with captured U.S. Army weapons. As a result, Grant was forced to revise and delay his [[Vicksburg campaign]] strategy. Newspaper correspondent Sylvanus Cadwallader, who traveled with Grant for three years during his campaigns, wrote that Forrest "was the only Confederate cavalryman of whom Grant stood in much dread".<ref name="Miers1984">{{cite book|author=Earl S. Miers|title=The Web of Victory: Grant at Vicksburg|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E4wmyy-nBfgC&pg=PA53|year=1984|publisher=LSU Press|isbn=978-0-8071-1199-4|page=53|access-date=March 4, 2018|archive-date=May 9, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240509171053/https://books.google.com/books?id=E4wmyy-nBfgC&pg=PA53#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Mitcham|2016|p=10}}

===Dover, Brentwood, and Chattanooga===
The U.S. Army gained military control of Tennessee in 1862 and occupied it for the duration of the war, having taken control of strategic cities and railroads. Forrest continued to lead his men in small-scale operations, including the [[Battle of Dover (1863)|Battle of Dover]] and the [[Battle of Brentwood]] until April 1863. The Confederate army dispatched him with a small force into the [[backcountry]] of northern [[Alabama in the American Civil War|Alabama]] and western [[Georgia in the American Civil War|Georgia]] to defend against an attack of 3,000 U.S. Army cavalrymen commanded by Colonel [[Abel Streight]]. Streight had orders to cut the Confederate railroad south of [[Chattanooga, Tennessee]], to seal off Bragg's supply line and force him to retreat into Georgia.<ref name="Conway1966">{{cite book|author=Alan Conway|title=Reconstruction of Georgia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gVkHeW45ELAC&pg=PA4|year=1966|publisher=University of Minnesota Press|isbn=978-0-8166-0392-3|page=4|access-date=March 19, 2018|archive-date=May 9, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240509170959/https://books.google.com/books?id=gVkHeW45ELAC&pg=PA4#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> Forrest chased Streight's men for 16 days, harassing them all the way. Streight's goal changed from dismantling the railroad to escaping the pursuit. On May 3, Forrest caught up with Streight's unit east of [[Cedar Bluff, Alabama]]. Forrest had fewer men than the U.S. side but feigned having a larger force by repeatedly parading some around a hilltop until Streight was convinced to surrender his 1,500 or so exhausted troops (historians Kevin Dougherty and Keith S. Hebert say he had about 1,700 men).<ref name="Hebert2007">{{cite web|author1=Keith S. Hebert|title=Streight's Raid|url=http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1380|website=Encyclopedia of Alabama|publisher=Alabama Humanities Foundation|access-date=March 18, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150712093424/http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1380|archive-date=July 12, 2015|language=en|date=October 30, 2007}}</ref><ref name="Dougherty201580">{{cite book|author=Kevin Dougherty|title=The Vicksburg Campaign: Strategy, Battles and Key Figures|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m4P2BgAAQBAJ&pg=PA80|year=2015|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-9797-3|page=80}}</ref><ref name="Beck2016">{{cite book|author=Brandon H. Beck|title=Streight's Foiled Raid on the Western & Atlantic Railroad: Emma Sansom's Courage and Nathan Bedford Forrest's Pursuit|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tr84CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA76|year=2016|publisher=Arcadia Publishing Inc.|isbn=978-1-62585-355-4|pages=76–|access-date=March 18, 2018|archive-date=May 9, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240509172053/https://books.google.com/books?id=tr84CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA76#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Day's Gap, Chickamauga, and Paducah===
Not all of Forrest's exploits of individual combat involved enemy troops. Lieutenant Andrew Wills Gould, an artillery officer in Forrest's command, was being transferred, presumably because cannons under his command{{sfn|Hurst|2011|p=119}} were [[touch hole|spiked]] (disabled) by the enemy{{sfn|Hurst|2011|p=120}} during the [[Battle of Day's Gap]]. On June 13, 1863, Gould confronted Forrest about his transfer, which escalated into a violent exchange. Gould shot Forrest in the left side,{{sfn|Hurst|2011|pp=127–128}} and Forrest mortally stabbed Gould. Forrest was thought to have been fatally wounded by Gould, but he recovered and was ready to fight in the Chickamauga Campaign.{{sfn|Spaulding|1931|p=532}}

Forrest served with the main army at the [[Battle of Chickamauga]] on September 18–20, 1863, in which he pursued the retreating U.S. Army and took hundreds of prisoners.{{sfn|Axelrod|2011|p=87}} Like several others under Bragg's command, he urged an immediate follow-up attack to recapture Chattanooga, which had fallen a few weeks before. Bragg failed to do so, upon which Forrest was quoted as saying, "What does he fight battles for?"{{sfn|Ashdown|Caudill|2006|p=24}}<ref name="Powell2016">{{cite book|author=David Powell|title=The Chickamauga Campaign, Barren Victory: The Retreat into Chattanooga, the Confederate Pursuit, and the Aftermath of the Battle, September 21 to October 20, 1863 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=214qDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA34 |year=2016|publisher=Savas Beatie|isbn=978-1-61121-329-4|page=34 |access-date=March 19, 2018|archive-date=May 9, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240509172121/https://books.google.com/books?id=214qDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA34#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>

Forrest (along with other subordinates of Bragg) was not blameless for the disorganization that had led Bragg to decide against pursuit after the Chickamauga victory. He and Wheeler had regularly failed throughout the entire Chattanooga campaign to gather intelligence on the disposition of Union forces, in Forrest's case because he often involved himself in the thick of battles where he could not gather this information. Forrest also failed tactically on the first day of battle, moving his troops north up the creek in response to a perceived threat instead of screening the Confederate advance as he had been ordered to. As a result, the time it took the infantry to fight for the crossings at Alexander's and Reed's bridges allowed General [[William Rosecrans]] to shore up his Union defenses in the area. That night, Forrest again declined to screen the army's right flank; if he had he would have found a wide gap in the Union lines, a misstep that has been called "the most significant intelligence oversight of the entire battle" as it left Bragg utterly uninformed about Union dispositions even as he planned a counterattack. The next morning a poorly planned attack Forrest initiated in that area led to heavy casualties and delayed the counterattack.{{sfn|Rein|2022|pp=56—57}}

In an attempt to build a foothold to retake Chattanooga, Bragg ordered Forrest and Wheeler north after the battle in order that they might disrupt Rosecrans's fragile supply line from Nashville. But Forrest diverted to [[Knoxville, Tennessee|Knoxville]], allowing Rosecrans to consolidate his hold on the city, leading Bragg to describe Forrest as "nothing more than a good raider" as he signed orders to transfer Forrest out of his command, to western Tennessee, a month or so later. This supposedly led to a meeting where Forrest confronted and threatened Bragg's life, calling him a coward and saying "you might as well not give me any orders, for I will not obey them", one of several instances in his career where Forrest was openly insubordinate to his superior officers.{{sfn|Rein|2022|p=58}} It is now considered to be [[apocrypha#Metaphorical usage|apocryphal]],<ref name="Powell2010">{{cite book|author=David Powell|title=Failure in the Saddle: Nathan Bedford Forrest, Joe Wheeler, and the Confederate Cavalry in the Chickamauga Campaign|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tg0bYP_xRcAC&pg=PA320|year=2010|publisher=Savas Beatie|isbn=978-1-61121-056-9|pages=320–321|access-date=March 21, 2018|archive-date=May 9, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240509172150/https://books.google.com/books?id=tg0bYP_xRcAC&pg=PA320#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author1=Lawrence Lee Hewitt |title=Civil War Myths, Mistakes and Fabrications|journal=Haversacks and Saddlebags|volume=27 |issue=3|pages=50–57|date=March 2014|url= http://www.civilwarroundtablepalmbeach.org/newsletters/v27n3.htm |quote=Neither Bragg nor Forrest ever mentioned the incident, nor does it appear in Jordan and Pryor's The Campaigns of Lieut. Gen. N. B. Forrest (1868)&nbsp;... The story originated with Dr. James Cowan, Forrest's chief surgeon, in Wyeth's Life of General Nathan Bedford Forrest (1899). Cowan claimed to have followed Forrest into Bragg's tent, making him the only eyewitness, and the only one of the three still alive when his tale was printed.|access-date=March 21, 2018|archive-date=March 22, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180322020354/http://www.civilwarroundtablepalmbeach.org/newsletters/v27n3.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|contributor-last1=Castel|contributor-first1=Albert|last=Wyeth|first=John Allan|title=That Devil Forrest: Life of General Nathan Bedford Forrest |year=1989|publisher=Louisiana State University Press|location=Baton Rouge|isbn=978-0-8071-1578-7|contribution=Foreword}}</ref> although it was repeated in biographies published with Forrest's approval, suggesting it reflected his assessment of Bragg.{{sfn|Rein|2022|p=58}}

On December 4, 1863, Forrest was promoted to the rank of [[Major General (CSA)|major general]].{{sfn|Eicher|Eicher|2001|p=809}} On March 25, 1864, Forrest's cavalry raided the town of [[Paducah, Kentucky]], in the [[Battle of Paducah]], during which Forrest demanded the surrender of U.S. Colonel [[Stephen G. Hicks]]: "if I have to storm your works, you may expect no quarter." Hicks refused to comply with the ultimatum, and according to his subsequent report, Forrest's troops took a position and set up a battery of guns while a flag of truce was still up. As soon as they received the U.S. reply, they moved forward at the command of a junior officer, and the U.S. forces opened fire. The Confederates tried to storm the fort but were repulsed; they rallied and made two more attempts, both of which failed.<ref name="WarDept1891">{{cite book|author=United States War Dept.|title=The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xcVZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA547 |year=1891|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|page=547 |access-date=December 11, 2015|archive-date=May 9, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240509172106/https://books.google.com/books?id=xcVZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA547#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Tap|2013|p=45}}{{sfn|Davison|Foxx|2007|p=219}}

===Fort Pillow massacre===
{{Main|Battle of Fort Pillow}}
[[File:P15138coll19 51 full - The War in Tennessee Confederate massacre of Federal troops after the surrender of Fort Pillow April 12th 1864.jpg|thumb|"The War in Tennessee Confederate massacre of Federal troops after the surrender of Fort Pillow April 12th 1864" (Frank Leslie's Illustrated News, May 7, 1864, colored)]]
Fort Pillow, located {{convert|40|mi|km|abbr=}} upriver from Memphis (near [[Henning, Tennessee]]), was initially constructed by Confederate forces under General [[Gideon Johnson Pillow]] on the bluffs of the Mississippi River, and taken over by U.S. forces in 1862 after the Confederates had abandoned the fort.{{sfn|Buhk|2012|p=139}} The fort was defended by 557 U.S. Army troops, 295 white and 262 black, under U.S. Army Maj. L.F. Booth.{{sfn|Buhk|2012|p=139}}

On April 12, 1864, Forrest's men, under Brigadier General [[James Ronald Chalmers|James R. Chalmers]], attacked and recaptured Fort Pillow.{{sfn|Buhk|2012|p=139}} Booth and his adjutant were killed in the battle, leaving Fort Pillow under the command of Major William Bradford.{{sfn|Buhk|2012|p=139}} Forrest had reached the fort at 10 a.m. after a hard ride from Mississippi,{{sfn|Buhk|2012|p=139}} during which two horses were shot out from under him.{{sfn|Buhk|2012|p=139}} By 3:30&nbsp;p.m., Forrest had concluded that the U.S. troops could not hold the fort; thus, he ordered a flag of truce raised and demanded that the fort be surrendered.{{sfn|Buhk|2012|p=140}} As he often did to avoid the high casualties that came with having to storm fortifications, Forrest warned Bradford that he could not be held responsible for what his men might do in the heat of such a battle.{{sfn|Rein|2022|p=58}} Bradford refused to surrender, believing his troops could escape to the U.S. Navy gunboat, [[USS New Era (1862)|USS ''New Era'']], on the Mississippi River.{{sfn|Buhk|2012|p=140}} Forrest's men immediately took over the fort, while U.S. Army soldiers retreated to the lower bluffs of the river, but the gunboat did not come to their rescue.{{sfn|Buhk|2012|p=140}}

What happened next became known as the Fort Pillow Massacre.{{sfn|Buhk|2012|p=141}} As the U.S. Army troops surrendered, Forrest's men opened fire, slaughtering black and white U.S. Army soldiers.{{sfn|Buhk|2012|p=141}}<ref name="WarDept1891610">{{cite book|author=United States. War Dept|title=The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xcVZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA610|year=1891|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|pages=610–|access-date=March 22, 2018|archive-date=May 9, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240509172105/https://books.google.com/books?id=xcVZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA610#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="CimprichMainfort1982">{{cite journal|author1=John Cimprich |author2=Robert C. Mainfort|title=Fort Pillow Revisited: New Evidence about an Old Controversy|journal=Civil War History|date=December 1982 |volume=28|issue=4|pages=293–306|doi=10.1353/cwh.1982.0009 |s2cid=145324569 }}</ref> According to historians John Cimprich and Bruce Tap, although their numbers were roughly equal, two-thirds of the black U.S. Army soldiers were killed, while only a third of the whites were killed.<ref name="Cimprich201168">{{cite book|author=John Cimprich |title=Fort Pillow, a Civil War Massacre, and Public Memory |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q374hywnjm0C&pg=PP89|year=2011 |publisher=Louisiana State University Press|isbn=978-0-8071-3949-3 |page=lxviii|access-date=September 1, 2019|archive-date=May 9, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240509172143/https://books.google.com/books?id=q374hywnjm0C&pg=PP89#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Tap|2013|p=113}} The atrocities at Fort Pillow continued throughout the night. Conflicting accounts of what occurred were given later.<ref name=Times>{{cite news|newspaper=The New York Times|title=The Fort Pillow Massacre. Report of the Committee on the Conduct of the War. All Previous Reports Fully Confirmed. The Horrors and Cruelties of the Scene Intensified. Report of the Sub-committee|date=May 6, 1864 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1864/05/06/archives/the-fort-pillow-massacre-report-of-the-committee-on-the-conduct-of.html |access-date=March 5, 2018|archive-date=March 6, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180306082704/https://www.nytimes.com/1864/05/06/archives/the-fort-pillow-massacre-report-of-the-committee-on-the-conduct-of.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=The Black Flag. Horrible Massacre by the Rebels. Fort Pillow Captured After a Desperate Fight. Four Hundred of the Garrison Brutally Murdered. Wounded and Unarmed Men Bayoneted and Their Bodies Burned. White and Black Indiscriminately Butchered. Devilish Atrocities of the Insatiate Fiends.|newspaper=The New York Times|date=April 16, 1864|author=Unsigned (wire reports)|quote=Included in Sheehan-Dean, p. 49}}</ref>{{sfn|Eicher|Eicher|2001|p=240}}

Forrest's Confederate forces were accused of subjecting captured U.S. Army soldiers to extreme brutality, with allegations of back-shooting soldiers who fled into the river, shooting wounded soldiers, burning men alive, nailing men to barrels and igniting them, [[crucifixion]], and hacking men to death with sabers.{{sfn|Buhk|2012|p=142}} Forrest's men were alleged to have set fire to a U.S. [[barracks]] with wounded U.S. Army soldiers inside.<ref name="WarDept1891570">{{cite book|author=United States. War Dept|title=The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xcVZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA570 |year=1891|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|page=570 |access-date=March 22, 2018|archive-date=May 9, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240509172144/https://books.google.com/books?id=xcVZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA570#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{citation |last1=Jordon |first1=Thomas |last2=Pryor |first2=J. P. |title=The Campaigns Of General Nathan Bedford Forrest And Of Forrest's Cavalry |year=1868 |pages=430–435}}</ref> In defense of their actions, Forrest's men insisted that the U.S. soldiers, although fleeing, kept their weapons and frequently turned to shoot, forcing the Confederates to keep firing in [[self-defense]].{{sfn|Bailey|1985|p=25}} The rebels said the U.S. flag was still flying over the fort, which indicated that the force had not formally surrendered. A contemporary newspaper account from [[Jackson, Tennessee]], stated that "General Forrest begged them to surrender", but "not the first sign of surrender was ever given". Similar accounts were reported in many Confederate newspapers at the time.<ref name="CimprichMainfort1982"/> These statements were contradicted by U.S. Army survivors and by the letter of Achilles Clark, a Confederate soldier with the 20th Tennessee Cavalry who graphically recounted a massacre. Clark wrote to his sisters immediately after the battle:

{{blockquote|The slaughter was awful. Words cannot describe the scene. The poor deluded negroes would run up to our men fall upon their knees and with uplifted hands scream for mercy but they were ordered to their feet and then shot down. The white men fared but little better. Their fort turned out to be a great slaughter pen. Blood, human blood stood about in pools and brains could have been gathered up in any quantity.<ref name="Cimprich201164">{{cite book|author=John Cimprich|title=Fort Pillow, a Civil War Massacre, and Public Memory |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BeFiumliWOEC&pg=PR64|year=2011|publisher=LSU Press|isbn=978-0-8071-3918-9|page=lxiv|access-date=March 22, 2018|archive-date=May 9, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240509173100/https://books.google.com/books?id=BeFiumliWOEC&pg=PR64#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Burkhardt2013">{{cite book|author=George S Burkhardt |title=Confederate Rage, Yankee Wrath: No Quarter in the Civil War |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uaDEAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA110 |year=2013|publisher=SIU Press|isbn=978-0-8093-8954-4|page=110 |access-date=February 28, 2018|archive-date=May 9, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240509173107/https://books.google.com/books?id=uaDEAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA110#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>}}

Following the cessation of hostilities, Forrest transferred the 14 most seriously wounded [[United States Colored Troops]] (USCT) to the U.S. steamer ''Silver Cloud''.<ref>{{citation|last=Stewart|first=Charles W.|year=1914|title=Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion, Series I Volume 26|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fXbhAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA234|location=Washington, DC|publisher=Government Printing Office|page=234 <!--|id={{ASIN|B000KWIXX4}} -->|quote=I hereby acknowledge to have received from Major-General Forrest 2 first and 1 second lieutenants, 43 white privates, and 14 negroes.|access-date=December 11, 2015|archive-date=May 9, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240509173057/https://books.google.com/books?id=fXbhAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA234#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> The 226 U.S. Army troops taken prisoner at Fort Pillow were marched under guard to [[Holly Springs, Mississippi]], and then convoyed to [[Demopolis, Alabama]]. On April 21, Capt. John Goodwin, of Forrest's cavalry command, forwarded a dispatch listing the prisoners captured. The list included the names of 7 officers and 219 white enlisted soldiers. According to Richard L. Fuchs, "records concerning the fate of the black prisoners are either nonexistent or unreliable".<ref name="Fuchs2001140">{{cite book|author=Richard L. Fuchs|year=2001 |title=An Unerring Fire: The Massacre at Fort Pillow |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PFRqUSZUEOkC&pg=PA140 |publisher=Stackpole Books|isbn=978-0-8117-1824-0 |page=140|access-date=April 15, 2018|archive-date=May 9, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240509173101/https://books.google.com/books?id=PFRqUSZUEOkC&pg=PA140#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> President [[Abraham Lincoln]] asked his cabinet for opinions as to how the United States should respond to the massacre.<ref>{{citation|last=Lincoln|first=Abraham.|chapter=Abraham Lincoln to Cabinet, Tuesday, May 03, 1864 (Fort Pillow massacre)|title=Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress|date=May 3, 1864|chapter-url=http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/alhtml/malhome.html|access-date=July 11, 2015|archive-date=August 4, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080804233156/http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/alhtml/malhome.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Nathan Bedford Forrest - Thomas Nast - Sept 5 1868.jpg|thumb|right|Union and Republican-aligned editorial cartoonist [[Thomas Nast]] often awarded Forrest "with an ironic Fort Pillow 'medal' when he skewered him in a dozen cartoons as a prominent [[white supremacy]], [[Lost Cause of the Confederacy]] symbol."<ref name="ThomasNast">{{Cite book |last=Adler |first=John |title=America's Most Influential Journalist and Premier Political Cartoonist: The Life, Times and Legacy of Thomas Nast |publisher=Harpweek LLC |year=2022 |isbn=978-0-578-29454-4 |location=Sarasota, Fla. |pages=213 |language=en-us}}</ref>]]
At the time of the massacre, General Grant was no longer in Tennessee but had transferred to the east to command all U.S. troops. Grant wrote in his [[Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant|memoirs]] that Forrest, in his report of the battle, had "left out the part which shocks humanity to read".<ref name="Grant1895417">{{cite book|author=Ulysses Simpson Grant|title=Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VrInAWjWVJ0C&pg=PA417|year=1895|publisher=Sampson Low|page=417|quote=These troops fought bravely, but were overpowered. I will leave Forrest in his dispatches to tell what he did with them. "The river was dyed," he says, "with the blood of the slaughtered for two hundred yards. The approximate loss was upward of five hundred killed, but few of the officers escaping. My loss was about twenty killed. It is hoped that these facts will demonstrate to the Northern people that negro soldiers cannot cope with Southerners". Subsequently, Forrest made a report in which he left out the part which shocks humanity to read.|access-date=March 18, 2018|archive-date=May 9, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240509173102/https://books.google.com/books?id=VrInAWjWVJ0C&pg=PA417|url-status=live}}</ref>

Because of the events at Fort Pillow, the U.S. public and press viewed Forrest as a war criminal. A Knoxville correspondent for the ''New York Tribune'' wrote that Forrest and his brothers were "slave drivers and woman whippers", while Forrest himself was described as "mean, vindictive, cruel, and unscrupulous".{{sfn|Davison|Foxx|2007|p=253}} The Confederate press steadfastly defended Forrest's reputation.{{sfn|Ashdown|Caudill|2006|p=91}}<ref name="SachsmanRushing2008">{{cite book|author1=Paul Ashdown|author2=Edward Caudill|editor=David B. Sachsman|editor2=S. Kittrell Rushing|editor3=Roy Morris|title=Words at War: The Civil War and American Journalism|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7n8CSw1xfAsC&pg=PA323 |year=2008|publisher=Purdue University Press|isbn=978-1-55753-494-1|pages=323–325 |chapter=What Can We Say of Such a Hero? |access-date=November 8, 2018|archive-date=May 9, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240509173059/https://books.google.com/books?id=7n8CSw1xfAsC&pg=PA323#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>

According to a historian studying in the Cumberland River valley during the Civil War, "Fully aware of the significance of the large-scale recruitment of black troops, the Confederates did what they could to disrupt it...Forrest himself, operating in west Tennessee, chose to interpret his stunning victory over a racially mixed garrison at Fort Pillow in April as, in part, a warning about using black troops. He described the battle graphically, recounted exaggerated Union casualty figures, and noted, 'It is hoped that these facts will demonstrate to the Northern people that negro soldiers cannot cope with the Southerners.'"<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gildrie |first=Richard P. |date=1990 |title=Guerrilla Warfare in the Lower Cumberland River Valley, 1862–1865 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/42626879 |journal=Tennessee Historical Quarterly |volume=49 |issue=3 |pages=161–176 |jstor=42626879 |issn=0040-3261 |access-date=December 18, 2023 |archive-date=December 18, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231218013543/https://www.jstor.org/stable/42626879 |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[S. C. Gwynne|S.C. Gwynne]] writes, "Forrest's responsibility for the massacre has been actively debated for a century and a half. ... No direct evidence suggests that he ordered the shooting of surrendering or unarmed men, but to fully exonerate him from responsibility is also impossible".<ref name=":0" />

{{further|Slavery during the American Civil War|Confederate no-quarter policy}}

===Brices Cross Roads and Tupelo===
{{Main|Battle of Brices Cross Roads}}
[[Image:Brices Crossroads.svg|right|thumb|Battle of Brices Cross Roads]]
Forrest's most decisive victory came on June 10, 1864, when his 3,500-man force clashed with 8,500 men commanded by U.S. Army Brig. Gen. [[Samuel D. Sturgis]] at the [[Battle of Brices Crossroads]] in northeastern [[Mississippi in the American Civil War|Mississippi]].<ref name="AllardiceHewitt2015">{{cite book|author1=Bruce S. Allardice|author2=Lawrence Lee Hewitt|title=Kentuckians in Gray: Confederate Generals and Field Officers of the Bluegrass State|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lq8fBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA53|year=2015|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|isbn=978-0-8131-5987-4|page=53|access-date=March 26, 2018|archive-date=May 9, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240509173103/https://books.google.com/books?id=lq8fBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA53#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> Here, the mobility of the troops under his command and his superior tactics led to victory,<ref name="Dougherty2010">{{cite book|author=Kevin Dougherty |title=Weapons of Mississippi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2pMqE2E63XgC&pg=PA86|year=2010|publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi|isbn=978-1-60473-452-2|page=86|access-date=March 26, 2018|archive-date=May 9, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240509173105/https://books.google.com/books?id=2pMqE2E63XgC&pg=PA86#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Ballard2011">{{cite book|author=Michael B. Ballard|title=The Civil War in Mississippi: Major Campaigns and Battles |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VgkbBwAAQBAJ&pg=PT245|year=2011|publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi|isbn=978-1-62674-417-2|page=245 |access-date=March 26, 2018|archive-date=May 9, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240509173111/https://books.google.com/books?id=VgkbBwAAQBAJ&pg=PT245#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> allowing him to continue harassing U.S. forces in southwestern Tennessee and northern Mississippi throughout the war.<ref name="Barney2011">{{cite book|author=William L. Barney|title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Civil War|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5b4qd_NKXicC&pg=PT188|year=2011|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-989024-8|page=188 |access-date=March 26, 2018|archive-date=May 9, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240509173157/https://books.google.com/books?id=5b4qd_NKXicC&pg=PT188#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> Forrest set up a position for an attack to repulse a pursuing force commanded by Sturgis, who had been sent to impede Forrest from destroying U.S. Army supply lines and fortifications.<ref name="Busbee2014">{{cite book|author=Westley F. Busbee, Jr|title=Mississippi: A History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sG0gBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA144 |year=2014|publisher=Wiley|isbn=978-1-118-75592-1|page=144|access-date=March 26, 2018|archive-date=May 9, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240509173122/https://books.google.com/books?id=sG0gBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA144#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> When Sturgis's Federal army came upon the crossroads, they collided with Forrest's cavalry.<ref>{{citation|first=Colonel Howard Lee|last=Landers|title=Battle of Brice's Cross Roads, Mississippi. June 10, 1864|location=Washington, DC|publisher=Historical Section, Army War College|year=1928}}</ref> Sturgis ordered his infantry to advance to the front line to counteract the cavalry. The infantry, tired, weary, and suffering under the heat, were quickly broken and sent into mass retreat. Forrest sent a full charge after the retreating army and captured 16 artillery pieces, 176 wagons, and 1,500 stands of small arms. In all, the maneuver cost Forrest 96 men killed and 396 wounded. The day was worse for U.S. troops, who suffered 223 killed, 394 wounded, and 1,623 missing. The losses were a deep blow to the black regiment under Sturgis's command. In the hasty retreat, they stripped off commemorative badges that read "Remember Fort Pillow" to avoid goading the Confederate force pursuing them.{{sfn|Wills|1993|p=215}}

One month later, while serving under General [[Stephen D. Lee]], Forrest experienced [[tactical defeat]] at the [[Battle of Tupelo]] in 1864.<ref name="Jones2009">{{cite book|author=Terry L. Jones|title=The American Civil War|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DUPSqK11f8gC&q=%22tactical%20defeat%22|year=2009|publisher=McGraw-Hill|isbn=978-0-07-302204-8|page=565|access-date=March 26, 2018|archive-date=May 9, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240509173132/https://books.google.com/books?id=DUPSqK11f8gC&q=%22tactical%20defeat%22 |url-status=live}}</ref> Concerned about U.S. Army supply lines, Maj. Gen. Sherman [[Smith's Expedition to Tupelo|sent a force]] under the command of Maj. Gen. [[Andrew J. Smith]] to deal with Forrest.<ref name="CozzensGirardi2004">{{cite book|author=William S. Burns|editor=Peter Cozzens|editor2=Robert I. Girardi|title=The New Annals of the Civil War|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XZ0GZqxayG8C&pg=PT387 |year=2004|publisher=Stackpole Books|isbn=978-0-8117-4645-8|page=387|chapter=The Battle of Tupelo|access-date=March 26, 2018|archive-date=May 9, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240509174148/https://books.google.com/books?id=XZ0GZqxayG8C&pg=PT387#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> U.S. Army forces drove the Confederates from the field, and Forrest was wounded in the foot, but his forces were not wholly destroyed. He continued to oppose U.S. Army efforts in the West for the remainder of the war.

===Tennessee Raids===
[[File:Forrest's Raid - Harper's Weekly - September 10, 1864.jpg|thumb|"Forrest's Raid" sketched by [[George H. Ellsbury]] (''Harper's Weekly'', September 10, 1864)]]
Forrest led other raids that summer and fall, including a famous one into U.S. Army-held downtown Memphis in August 1864 (the [[Second Battle of Memphis]]){{Citation needed|date=June 2023}} and another on a major U.S. Army supply depot at [[New Johnsonville, Tennessee|Johnsonville, Tennessee]]. On November 4, 1864, during the [[Battle of Johnsonville]], the Confederates shelled the city, sinking three gunboats and nearly thirty other ships and destroying many tons of supplies.<ref name="Smith2014">{{cite book|author=Michael Thomas Smith|title=The 1864 Franklin-Nashville Campaign: The Finishing Stroke|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0BODBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA28|year=2014|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0-313-39235-1|page=28|access-date=March 26, 2018|archive-date=May 9, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240509174156/https://books.google.com/books?id=0BODBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA28|url-status=live}}</ref> During [[Franklin-Nashville Campaign|Hood's Tennessee Campaign]], he fought alongside General [[John Bell Hood]], the newest commander of the Confederate [[Army of Tennessee]], in the [[Battle of Franklin (1864)|Second Battle of Franklin]] on November 30.<ref name="Tucker2014168">{{cite book|author=Spencer C. Tucker|title=Battles That Changed American History: 100 of the Greatest Victories and Defeats|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zMmUAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA168|year=2014|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-4408-2862-1|page=168|access-date=March 26, 2018|archive-date=May 9, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240509174156/https://books.google.com/books?id=zMmUAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA168|url-status=live}}</ref> Facing a disastrous defeat, Forrest argued bitterly with Hood (his [[Superior (hierarchy)|superior officer]]) demanding permission to cross the [[Harpeth River]] and cut off the escape route of U.S. Army Maj. Gen. [[John Schofield|John M. Schofield]]'s army.<ref name="Knight201456">{{cite book|author=James R. Knight|title=Hood's Tennessee Campaign: The Desperate Venture of a Desperate Man|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VBR3CQAAQBAJ&pg=PT56|year=2014|publisher=Arcadia Publishing Inc.|isbn=978-1-62585-130-7|pages=56|access-date=March 17, 2018|archive-date=May 9, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240509174246/https://books.google.com/books?id=VBR3CQAAQBAJ&pg=PT56#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> He eventually attempted, but it was too late.

===Murfreesboro, Nashville, and Selma===
[[File:Franklin-Nashville campaign.svg|thumb|left|Map of the Franklin–Nashville campaign including troops commanded by Forrest]]
After his bloody defeat at Franklin, Hood continued to Nashville. Hood ordered Forrest to conduct an independent raid against the [[Murfreesboro, Tennessee|Murfreesboro]] [[garrison]]. After success in achieving the objectives specified by Hood, Forrest engaged U.S. forces near Murfreesboro on December 5, 1864. In what would be known as the [[Third Battle of Murfreesboro]], a portion of Forrest's command broke and ran.<ref name="Lardas2017">{{cite book|author=Mark Lardas|title=Nashville 1864: From the Tennessee to the Cumberland|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JfwyDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA74|year=2017|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-1-4728-1983-3|page=74|access-date=March 27, 2018|archive-date=May 9, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240509174354/https://books.google.com/books?id=JfwyDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA74#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> When Hood's battle-hardened Army of Tennessee, consisting of 40,000 men deployed in three infantry corps plus 10,000 to 15,000 cavalry, was all but destroyed on December 15–16, at the [[Battle of Nashville]],<ref name="Bobrick2010">{{cite book|author=Benson Bobrick|title=The Battle of Nashville|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dZJ0BI6VLRwC&pg=PA81|year=2010|publisher=Random House Children's Books|isbn=978-0-375-84887-2|pages=81, 100|access-date=March 27, 2018|archive-date=May 9, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240509174354/https://books.google.com/books?id=dZJ0BI6VLRwC&pg=PA81#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> Forrest distinguished himself by commanding the Confederate rear guard in a series of actions that allowed what was left of the army to escape. For this, he would later be promoted to the rank of [[Lieutenant General (CSA)|lieutenant general]] on March 2, 1865.<ref name="Head1885">{{cite book|author=Thomas A. Head|title=Campaigns and Battles of the Sixteenth Regiment, Tennessee Volunteers, in the War Between the States: With Incidental Sketches of the Part Performed by Other Tennessee Troops in the Same War. 1861–1865|url=https://archive.org/details/campaignsandbatt00headiala|year=1885|publisher=Cumberland Presbyterian publishing house|page=[https://archive.org/details/campaignsandbatt00headiala/page/453 453]}}</ref> A portion of his command, now dismounted, was surprised and captured in their camp at [[Verona, Mississippi]] on December 25, 1864, during a raid of the [[Mobile and Ohio Railroad]] by a brigade of Brig. Gen. [[Benjamin Grierson]]'s cavalry division.<ref name="Moore1881">{{cite book|author=James Moore|title=A Complete History of the Great Rebellion: Or, The Civil War in the United States, 1861–1865. Comprising a Full and Impartial Account of the Various Battles, Bombardments, Skirmishes, Etc., which Took Place on Land and Water; the Whole Embracing a Complete History of the War for the Union{{snd}}also Biographical Sketches of the Principal Actors in the Great Drama|url=https://archive.org/details/completehistoryo00mooriala|year=1881|publisher=W.S. Burlock|page=[https://archive.org/details/completehistoryo00mooriala/page/473 473]}}</ref>

In the spring of 1865, Forrest led an unsuccessful defense of the state of Alabama against [[Wilson's Raid]]. His opponent, U.S. Army Brig. Gen. [[James H. Wilson]], defeated Forrest at the [[Battle of Selma]] on April 2, 1865.<ref name="Eicher2002">{{cite book|author=David J Eicher |title=The Longest Night: A Military History of the Civil War|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1p94XzYASDAC&pg=PA837|year=2002|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-0-7432-1846-7|page=837|access-date=April 3, 2018|archive-date=May 9, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240509174434/https://books.google.com/books?id=1p94XzYASDAC&pg=PA837#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> A week later, General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Grant in Virginia. When he received news of Lee's surrender, Forrest surrendered as well. On May 9, 1865, at [[Gainesville, Alabama|Gainesville]], Forrest read his [[farewell address]] to the men under his command, urging them to "submit to the powers to be, and to aid in restoring peace and establishing law and order throughout the land."{{sfn|Davison|Foxx|2007|p=405}}

===War record and promotions===
{{columns-list|colwidth=35em|
* Enlisted as [[Private (rank)|private]] July 1861. (White's Company "E", Tennessee Mounted Rifles)
* Commissioned as [[Lieutenant colonel (United States)|lieutenant colonel]], October 1861 (3rd Tennessee Cavalry)
* Promoted to [[Colonel (United States)|colonel]], February 1862
* [[Battle of Fort Donelson]], February 12–16, 1862
* Wounded at [[Battle of Shiloh]], April 6–8, 1862
* Promoted to [[Brigadier General (CSA)|brigadier general]], July 21, 1862
* [[Battle of Murfreesboro I|First Battle of Murfreesboro]], July 1862
* Raids in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Mississippi, early December 1862 – early January 1863
* [[Battle of Day's Gap]], April 30 – May 2, 1863
* Assigned to command [[Forrest's Cavalry Corps]], May 1863
* [[Battle of Chickamauga]], September 18–20, 1863
* Promoted to [[Major General (CSA)|major general]], December 4, 1863
* [[Battle of Paducah]], March 25, 1864
* [[Battle of Fort Pillow]], April 12, 1864
* [[Battle of Brices Crossroads]], June 10, 1864
* [[Battle of Tupelo]], July 14–15, 1864
* Raids in Tennessee, August–October 1864
* [[Battle of Spring Hill]], November 29, 1864
* [[Battle of Franklin II|Battle of Franklin]], November 30, 1864
* [[Third Battle of Murfreesboro]], December 5–7, 1864
* [[Battle of Nashville]], December 15–16, 1864
* Promoted to [[Lieutenant General (CSA)|lieutenant general]], February 28, 1865{{sfn|Eicher|Eicher|2001|p=240}}
* [[Battle of Selma]], April 2, 1865
* Farewell address to his troops, May 9, 1865
}}