Nathan Bedford Forrest, called Bedford Forrest in his lifetime, was a lieutenant general in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. He is remembered as a self-educated, brutal, and innovative cavalry leader during the war and as a leading southern advocate in the postwar years. He was a pledged delegate from Tennessee to the New York Democratic national convention of 4 July 1868. Read more...
50 Nathan Bedford Forrest Day Quotes
TAKING CHARGE QUOTES
Never stand and take a charge... charge them too.
COUNTRY QUOTES
We have but one flag, one country; let us stand together. We may differ in color, but not in sentiment.
MEN QUOTES
I've got no respect for any young man who won't join the colors.
AMONG QUOTES
I am not an enemy of the Negro. We want him here among us; he is the only laboring class we have.
WAR QUOTES
Men, do as I say and I will always lead you to victory.
WAR QUOTES
I did not come here for the purpose of surrendering my command.
WAR QUOTES
Forward, men, and mix with them.
WAR QUOTES
What I desire most of you, my son, is never to gamble or swear. These are baneful vices.
MEN QUOTES
No damn man kills me and lives.
WAR QUOTES
I will be in my coffin before I will fight again under your command.
WAR QUOTES
If you surrender you shall be treated as prisoners of war, but if I have to storm your works you may expect no quarter.
WAR QUOTES
I done told you twice already goddammit no!
Attack in all directions!
WOULD BE QUOTES
If one road led to hell and the other to Mexico, I would be indifferent about which to take.
MILITARY QUOTES
Get there first with the most.
WAR QUOTES
I have stood your meanness as long as I intend to. You have played the part of a damn scoundrel, and if you were any part of a man I would slap your jaws and force you to resent it...
WAR QUOTES
I have never on the field of battle sent you where I was unwilling to go myself, nor would I now advise you to a course which I felt myself unwilling to pursue. You have been good soldiers. You can be good citizens. Obey the laws, preserve your honor, and the government to which you have surrendered can afford to be and will be magnanimous.
BROTHER QUOTES
We are born on the same soil, breathe the same air, live on the same land, and why should we not be brothers and sisters?
BADASS QUOTES
Nobody kills me and lives to tell about it.
ARMY QUOTES
I went into the army worth a million and a half dollars and came out a beggar.
HATE QUOTES
I loved the old government in 1861. I loved the old Constitution yet. I think it is the best government in the world if administered as it was before the war. I do not hate it; I am opposing now only the radical revolutionists who are trying to destroy it. I believe that party to be composed, as I know it is in Tennessee, of the worst men on God's earth - men who would not hesitate at no crime, and who have only one object in view - to enrich themselves.
WAR QUOTES
War means fighting, and fighting means killing.
WAR QUOTES
I am not here to pass civilities or compliments with you but on other business. I have stood your meanness as long as I intend to. You have played the part of a damned scoundrel, and are a coward, and if you were any part of a man I would slap your jaws and force you to resent it. You may as well not issue any more orders to me, for I will not obey them... and as I say to you that if you ever again try to interfere with me or cross my path it will be at the peril of your life.
WAR QUOTES
Abolish the Loyal League and the Ku Klux Klan; let us come together and stand together.
No damn man kills me and lives.
We have but one flag, one country; let us stand together.
We may differ in color, but not in sentiment.
Many things have been said about me which are wrong, and which white and black persons here, who stood by me through the war, can contradict.
Get there first with the most.
I've got no respect for any young man who won't join the colors.
I ended the war a horse ahead.
I am not an enemy of the Negro. We want him here among us; he is the only laboring class we have.
War means fighting, and fighting means killing.
Never stand and take a charge... charge them too.