Myth of Nathan Bedford Forrest: A book review

Myth of Forrest by Ashdown and Caudill

       I just finished the book The Myth of Nathan Bedford Forrest by Paul Ashdown and Edward Caudill. I've read so many books on that war that I didn't recognize the authors names. The writing was very familiar to me. It reminded me of another book I'd read on a famous personality of the Civil War. After reading over half the book, it finally dawned on me who these two authors were. 

       Both Ashdown and Caudill are professors of journalism at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. They wrote the book The Mosby Myth reflecting on the life of John Singleton Mosby. Like the Mosby book, I was a bit disappointed about their writing. Both books speculate on what may or may not be correct in the present stories pertaining to Forrest and Mosby's lives. 

The Wizard of the Saddle

       Somethings they say make sense, but other things seemed to frustrate me. When they didn't have the facts to back up their claims, they simply cast doubt on the story. The biggest thing that frustrates me with the book is the fact that they continued to return to the same fact over and over. Nathan Bedford Forrest was a racist. Again, you have two people writing history from today's perspective. To be a fair historian, one cannot compare past values with present values. If the writers wanted to be fair to Forrest, they would have talked more about the belief system of all white people during that time period, not just Forrest's. Instead, they spend chapter after chapter attempting to compare Forrest to Greek myths. At one point, they even wonder if Forrest was a military genius. Maybe, both men should leave the historical writing to the historians and just concentrate on their specialty which happens to be journalism. 

       Let's compare the racist Forrest to other famous people of that war. Ulysses Grant, William Sherman, and David Porter all three ranted against the Jews. On December 17, 1862, Grant passed an order preventing Jews from passing into his lines. Sherman actually said that Africans (I will not use his word for the black race here), Mexicans, Indians, and Jews were all inferior to the white race. In 1859, Sherman wrote his wife, "the n____ here must of necessity remain slaves...damn the n____."

       Let's not stop with three of the most famous commanders on the Northern side of that war, let's see what the President of the United States had to say. The following are the words of Abraham Lincoln, also known as the 'Great Emancipator'. 

       Lincoln in 1858: "I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white races."

       Lincoln in 1859: "Negro equality! Fudge! How long, in the government of a God, great enough to make and maintain this universe, shall there continue knaves to vend, and fools to gulp, so low a piece of demagogism as this."

       Lincoln to a black audience in 1862: "I think your race suffer very greatly, many of them by living among us, while ours suffers from your presence."

       There is more and more that can be added by Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Ulysses Grant, Sherman, and others as they rant about the superiority of the white race. What do you think would happen today if Romney was to say any of the above quotes? A good historian doesn't take today's values and apply them to times long ago.

Northern Born Confederate Generals

       Of the 425 Confederate generals commissioned during the Civil War you may find it surprising to learn that 33 were born in Northern states. New York was the leader with seven Confederate generals followed by Pennsylvania and Ohio who had six each. Massachusetts had five, New Jersey three, Maine two, and one each from Iowa, Connecticut, Indiana and Rhode Island. I did a little research to try and figure out why so many fought for the South. 

       There were six generals that moved with their families at a very young age and were raised in the South. All served in the war as brigadier Generals. They were Charles Clark (Ohio), Robert Hopkins Hatton (Ohio), William Miller (New York), Lawrence Sullivan Ross (Iowa), Clement Hoffman Stevens (Connecticut), and William Stephen Walker (Pennsylvania).

       There were 15 generals that moved to the South after reaching adulthood and in essence considered themselves Southerners. Two were eventually promoted to major general. They were Samuel Gibbs French (New Jersey) and Bushrod Rust Johnson (Ohio). The other 13 were commissioned brigadier generals and they were Albert Gallatin Blanchard (Massachusetts), Julius Adolph De Lagnel (New Jersey), Johnson Kelly Duncan (Pennsylvania), Daniel Marsh Frost (New York), Archibald Gracie, Jr. (New York), Richard Griffith (Pennsylvania), Danville Leadbetter (Maine), William McComb (Pennsylvania), Edward Aylesworth Perry (Massachusetts), Albert Pike (Massachusetts), Daniel Harris Reynolds (Ohio), Claudius Wistar Sears (Massachusetts), and Zebulon York (Maine).

General Samuel Cooper

       Eight Northern born generals married Southern women and that's how they came about joining the Confederacy. One may come as a complete surprise to most. That was General Samuel Cooper (New Jersey) who was the highest ranking Confederate general. Although he was essentially a desk general, many are surprised that the man actually ranked General Robert E. Lee. One was Lieutenant General John Clifford Pemberton (Pennsylvania) who eventually would become hated in the South for surrendering Vicksburg. Two became major generals. One was Martin Luther Smith (New York) and Franklin Gardner (New York) who ironically was forced to surrender Port Hudson after Vicksburg fell. The other four were brigadier generals. They were Josiah Gorgas (Pennsylvania), Roswell Sabine Ripley (Ohio), William Steele (New York), and Walter Husted Stevens (New York). 

Major General Lunsford Lindsay Lomax

       Major General Lunsford Lindsay Lomax (Rhode Island) really can't be counted like the others because he was born to Southerners while his father was stationed up North in the army. Brigadier General Otho French Strahl (Ohio) moved South because his grandmothers were Southerners and impressed him with stories of the South. One of the most surprising of all was Brigadier General Francis Asbury Shoup (Indiana) who was still living in Indiana when the Southern states began seceding. The man immediately moved to Florida because of his admiration of the South and claimed he was a Southerner in his heart. The other was Brigadier General Daniel Ruggles (Massachusetts) who I was unable to find the reason for his joining the South. 

       Of those 33 Confederate generals born in the Northern states, five would be killed in action. All five were brigadier generals. They were Archibald Gracie, Jr. (Petersburg), Richard Griffith (Savage's Station), Robert Hopkins Hatton (Fair Oaks), Clement Hoffman Stevens (Atlanta), and Otho French Strahl (Franklin). 

       Later, I will try and figure out how many Southern born generals served in the Union army during the war. It will be daunting task as the Union army had so many more generals than the Confederacy.