[Rabble]

Forrest's contemporaries showed much respect for the Confederate General.

Reportedly, someone asked Robert E. Lee to name the greatest soldier produced on either side during the war and he replied, "A man I have never seen, sir. His name is Forrest."

[Walvoord]

Not many people know this, but Forest became a devoted Christian before his death. A preacher in Memphis tried for many years to convert Forest. Forest always refused. Finally one day on a Memphis street, the preacher said, “General, are you ready to meet the Lord?” Forest stopped, swung round, and said, “Yes preacher. I'm ready.” The preacher took him aside and talked to Forest. He was soon baptized. After that, Forest was a changed man. He wrote letters to every person he had ever affronted and apologized. He used his money to open a school for Black children. He would leave anonymous gifts of shoes, food, and blankets on the doorsteps of black peoples shacks. When he died, many Black people attended his wake and funeral. An amazing turn around for a man who once bought and sold slaves, the Fort Pillow tragedy, and the formation of the Klan.

[lentulusgracchus]

If only Pat Cleburne and A.P. Hill had survived those last few months of the war! How much better-led the South would have been, in defeat.