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Nathan Bedford Forrest III
ForrestIII
Historical Figure
Nationality: United States
Year of Birth: 1905
Year of Death: 1943
Cause of Death: Plane shot down in combat
Occupation: Pilot, Soldier
Parents: N.B. Forrest II, Mattie Patterson
Spouse: Frances Brassler
Children: None
Relatives: Nathan Bedford Forrest (great-grandfather)
Military Branch: United States Army Air Forces (World War II)
Fictional Appearances:
Joe Steele
POD: 1878;
Relevant POD: July, 1932
Novel or Story?: Novel only
Type of Appearance: Direct

Nathan Bedford Forrest III (April 7, 1905 - June 13, 1943) was a Brigadier General of the United States Army Air Forces, and a great-grandson of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest. He was born in Memphis, Tennessee in 1905. Although he married in 1930, he never had children.

Forrest graduated from West Point in 1928 in the cavalry. He transferred to the Air Corps, and rose through the ranks quickly, being promoted to brigadier general in 1942. He was killed in 1943, while flying a mission over Germany during World War II, making him the first U.S. general to be killed during the war.

Nathan Bedford Forrest III in Joe Steele[]

The military tribunal hearing of alleged traitor and Nazi spy, Father Coughlin was headed by U.S. Army colonel Walter Short, with Navy captain William Halsey, Army major Carl Spatz and first lieutenant Nathan Bedford Forrest III making up the rest of the panel. Charlie Sullivan was reminded of Forrest's famous ancestor by the former's eyebrows.[1]

When asked by Colonel Short on what Coughlin's fate should be, while the other judges remained silent, Forrest replied that the only penalty for a crime like Coughlin's was to ensure that he never be able to do anything of the sort ever again. The sentence, death, was passed immediately; Coughlin was shot by firing squad a few days later.[2]

Nathan Bedford Forrest III in Southern Victory[]

Nathan Bedford Forrest III (1905-1944) was a C.S. Army officer during the Second Great War. The great-grandson of Nathan Bedford Forrest I, he was one of the best generals on the General Staff despite being too young to have fought in the Great War, and rose to become the C.S. Army's Chief of Staff before the Second Great War. In spite of his campaign to purge the C.S. Army of aristocratic deadwood, President Jake Featherston valued Forrest highly for his willingness to speak his mind, and for his visions of how to use barrels.[3].

Southern Victory
POD: September 10, 1862
Appearance(s): The Victorious Opposition
through
In at the Death
Type of Appearance: Direct
Nationality: Confederate States
Date of Death: 1944
Cause of Death: Execution
Military Branch: Confederate States Army (Second Great War)

Before the war, Forrest helped plan Operation Blackbeard and oversaw its successful completion in 1941.[4]. Forrest then began planning the defense of northern Virginia against the coming U.S. counteroffensive, which he prepared in cooperation with General Hank Coomer of the Army of Northern Virginia.[5] Forrest also helped Confederate spymaster Brigadier General Clarence Potter root out U.S. "gopher" spies in the General Staff. Both of these assignments were successful as Forrest was able to stall the United States' offensive and several spies were caught by Potter with Forrest's help.[6]

Forrest next planned Operation Coalscuttle in 1942, which initially proved to be as successful as Blackbeard had been. However the plan began to unravel when C.S. troops bogged down during the Battle of Pittsburgh. Forrest protested to Featherston that, because of its heavy casualties and the destruction inflicted on the city, the C.S. Army of Kentucky should be withdrawn.[7] Featherston so vehemently opposed the decision that Forrest began to doubt Featherston's sanity, a doubt he shared with Potter.[8] Potter, ever the pragmatist, reminded Forrest that he hadn't worried so much about Featherston's sanity when the C.S.A. was winning, then pointed out that Featherston would never simply step down and that Forrest would have to forcibly remove Featherston from office.[9] They left it at that for the time being, although both men weight the option of a coup for some time afterward.

However, those tentative plans were put on hold as U.S. General Irving Morrell, flush from the success of Operation Rosebud, began his drive to the heart of the C.S.A., and Potter was reassigned to the front. Forrest spent most of 1943 attempting to slow the U.S. advance. Each successive failure led to more heated meetings with Featherston.[10]

Following the fall of Atlanta in 1944, Forrest lost all confidence in Featherston. Clarence Potter was not willing to join him in his coup,[11] so Forrest initiated his own plan with the support of a number of regular army personnel who worked in the presidential compound. Acting alone and with only a handful of common soldiers as allies, Forrest nonetheless tried to oust Featherston in a pitifully-obvious attempt at a coup. Featherston got wise to what was going on and Forrest's soldiers swiftly lost a gunfight with Freedom Party Guards, who arrested, tortured, and executed Forrest on the President's orders.[12] Pitiful and inadequate as the lone attempt by Forrest was, no one else even raised a whisper of defiance as Jake Featherston led the Confederate States down into total defeat.

References[]

  1. Joe Steele, pg. 123.
  2. Id. at 125-126.
  3. The Victorious Opposition. pg. 515.
  4. Id., at 516-518.
  5. Return Engagement, pgs. 127-129.
  6. Id., at 400-405.
  7. Drive to the East, pgs. 405-578, generally.
  8. Id., at pg. 455.
  9. Id. at 456-457.
  10. The Grapple, generally.
  11. In at the Death, pgs. 108-109.
  12. Id. at 198-200.
Military offices
(Southern Victory)
Preceded by
Unknown,
last known is
Thomas Jackson
as General-in-Chief
Chief of the Confederate States General Staff
1940-1944
Succeeded by
Willard
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