This edition includes a modern introduction and a list of suggested further reading.
Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest is perhaps the most compelling and complicated individual that the Civil War brought to prominence. In looking at his life and military career, it quickly becomes obvious that for those who admire him, as well as those who despise him, there is no shortage of ammunition. In
The Life of General Nathan Bedford Forrest (1899), John Allan Wyeth, a former Confederate soldier who briefly served under Forrest’s command, narrates some of the building blocks of the Forrest legend, from his spectacular string of victories as a brave and gifted soldier to his prominent role in the founding of the Ku Klux Klan.
Over de auteur
It is rare for the author of a biography to have led as interesting and accomplished a life as that of his subject, but in John Allan Wyeth, who was by turns a soldier, a medical innovator, a distinguished surgeon, as well as a prolific author, the exception proves the rule. Wyeth was born in 1845 in Alabama and educated at the Lagrange Military Academy in his home state. He went on to serve as a private in the 4th Alabama Cavalry and took part in several skirmishes and battles, some of them as part of General Nathan Bedford Forrest’s command.