Of course, and Forrest was a slave-trader before the war.
jmacusa: "We don't venerate German generals."
Of course, but among students of the period several are recognized as outstanding military officers who made the best of impossible situations.
One in particular was in recent years honored in Iraq by naming a coalition operation after him: Desert Fox.
jmacusa: "Nathan Bedford Forrest was the first Grand Wizard of the worlds first hate group..."
I think a more careful study will show that Forrest resigned when he learned it was being used as such.
jmacusa: "To put it succinctly F**k Nathan Bedford Forrest and the horse he rode in on."
My great grandfather's unit did better than that.
They defeated and wounded Forrest in battle (Tupelo), to my knowledge the only Union unit to do that.
Bottom line is that Forrest was certainly a complicated leader who inspired great loyalty among his troops and respect among his enemies.
As I said before, he was innovative and cunning and by the end of his life made peace with former enemies and former slaves.
I bear him no posthumous animosity.
As an aside, I can guarantee you that the horse he rode in on was not the same horse he rode out on. He had had 29 horses shot from under him, and killed or seriously wounded at least thirty enemy soldiers in hand-to-hand combat. And as Shelby Foote put it, "I guess you could say he came out once horse ahead".