Description: Though Nathan Bedford Forrest was not a writer, had little formal education, never authored a book, and was not a professional speaker, he did leave us with a number of witty comments, profound words, and sublime statements.  Award-winning author and Forrest scholar, Lochlainn Seabrook has gathered together some of the more memorable and impressive of these and forged them into a small but fascinating work.

• Among the nearly 140 footnoted quotes included here are Forrest’s thoughts on warfare, military rules, West Point graduates, education, friendship, and even drinking, gambling, cussing, and morality.  Seabrook has also included excerpts from newspaper interviews, Forrest’s postwar appearance before the U.S. Joint Select Committee, and numerous examples of the General’s personal notes and letters and, of course, his military dispatches and reports.  

• Much of what Forrest said was never written down but was recorded from the memory of those who associated with him.  Particularly poignant is the inclusion of Forrest’s black equal rights speech to the Independent Order of Pole Bearers, the forerunner of the modern NAACP, chronicled by a local reporter.

• From the General’s own words we learn that he was not an “illiterate inbred hillbilly,” a “monstrous racist,” or a “cruel and violent slave owner,” as the North and New South disingenuously continue to preach.  

• Quite the opposite.  He was not only, as Confederate General Richard Taylor said of him, a “tender-hearted, kindly man,” he was also a true Southern gentleman, a fair and compassionate Rebel officer, a successful businessman, and a faithful husband who loved children, protected women, and gave charitably to war veterans, orphans, and widows.  

• A staunch supporter of both states’ rights and black civil rights, one who freed his slaves years before Abraham Lincoln issued his fraudulent Emancipation Proclamation, unlike the North, conservative Southerner Forrest stood firmly behind our country’s most sacred document, the Constitution—before, during, and after Lincoln’s War.

• This brief but important work will help destroy the numerous absurd and slanderous Northern myths surrounding him, and bring him out of the shadows and into the mainstream of American history where he justly belongs.  

• Obscured for the past 150 years, now discover the real man for yourself - in his own words.  Also available in hardcover.

Published by Sea Raven Press, beautifully designed, educational  books with a vintage vibe. 

Kentucky Colonel, Lochlainn Seabrook, has written 12 books on General Forrest, is a recipient of the Jefferson Davis Historical Gold Medal and a popular author of over 50 books on U.S. history.