Nathan Bedford Forrest by Jack Hurst is a meticulously researched and candid biography of one of the most controversial figures of the American Civil War. Known for his ferocity on the battlefield and feared for his brutal tactics, Forrest rose from a barely educated frontiersman and slave trader to become a Confederate cavalry general whose lightning-fast raids earned him both admiration and infamy. Union General Sherman called him a “devil” who should be relentlessly pursued — a testament to Forrest’s strategic prowess and ruthless command style.
This biography does not shy away from Forrest’s darker legacy, including his role at the Fort Pillow Massacre and later leadership of the Ku Klux Klan. Yet it also traces his complex evolution, revealing a man of contradictions who, in his final years, distanced himself from the Klan and advocated for racial reconciliation in the postwar South. Hurst’s work paints a comprehensive, balanced portrait, placing Forrest’s genius and brutality in the broader context of his turbulent era.
Essential reading for Civil War historians, military history enthusiasts, and readers interested in the tangled legacy of America’s past, Nathan Bedford Forrest is a compelling, unflinching account of a man both larger-than-life and deeply flawed.
