When the Civil War commenced, Forrest enlisted as a private, but by October 1861 he was a Lt. Colonel in command of his own troop of cavalry. He participated in many of the early battles including Shiloh, but soon began to operate on his own, using his cavalry as a strike force. His motto was the phrase attributed to him, “Git there fustest with the mostest.” Aggressive and daring, he stabbed a would be assailant to death after taking a near fatal gunshot wound and struck hard at the Union lines in Tennessee and Kentucky from 1862-4. Troops under his command carried out an infamous massacre of black Union troops at Fort Willow, TN. After the war he served as grand wizard of the newly organized Ku Klux Klan (1867-69) but resigned in protest of some of its tactics. Partial self-contained Selma, Marion, and Memphis Railroad Company DS, signed “N. B. Forrest,” one page, 8.5 x 3.5, September 1, 1869. Document signed by Forrest as president of the Railroad Company, agreeing to pay the principal and interest of the bond in gold coin, with integral partial second page bearing interest calculation. In fine condition, with old tape remnant along top edge and light show-through from vignettes on reverse. Auction LOA John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and R&R COA.
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