Nathan Bedford Forrest's Last Stand

[Bojeffries]

At the Battle of Fallen Timbers Lieutenant General Nathan Bedford Forrest broke through a Union skirmish line. Unbeknownst to him his troops had halted their charge forcing General Forrest to charge the enemy brigade himself. He emptied both his Colt revolvers before proceeding to hack and slashing at the Union Infantry. He was eventually shot and killed by a Union soldier who lay not far from where Bedford Forrest sat atop his steed. How would this situation have changed the course of the civil war?

 

[Some Bloke]

Didn't he go on to found the Ku Klux Klan?

 

[Anarch King of Dipsodes]

At the Battle of Fallen Timbers ...

8 April 1862.

Lieutenant General...

Colonel, then.

... Nathan Bedford Forrest broke through a Union skirmish line. Unbeknownst to him his troops had halted their charge forcing General Forrest to charge the enemy brigade himself. He emptied both his Colt revolvers before proceeding to hack and slashing at the Union Infantry. He was eventually shot and killed by a Union soldier who lay not far from where Bedford Forrest sat atop his steed. How would this situation have changed the course of the civil war?

Confederate cavalry in the west have a different, less effective commander. Union forces are spared several annoying minor defeats and raids. Forrest's operations were a serious distraction to Union forces in the summer of 1864, diverting troops from Sherman's Atlanta campaign. Possibly Atlanta falls a few weeks sooner.

 

[jmc247]

Didn't he go on to found the Ku Klux Klan?

It was founded by some of his unemployed troops in the mountains who later asked him to be the first Grand Wizard. It was an organization powered early on by poor whites and new men not so much the old southern aristocracy.

 

[Simreeve]

It was founded by some of his unemployed troops in the mountains who later asked him to be the first Grand Wizard. It was an organization powered early on by poor whites and new men not so much the old southern aristocracy.

And he publicly condemned it quite early on.

 

[Don Corleone]

He's barely a footnote in the history books. Forrest Gump is Jackson Gump or Lee Gump.