Forrest, Brother of Nathan Bedford

Character Key Number: 
3668
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Forrest, Brother of Nathan Bedford
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Forrest, Brother of Nathan Bedford
Ever Present in Yoknapatawpha?: 
No
Biography: 

Nathan Bedford Forrest had two brothers who also served as Confederate officers during the Civil War: Colonel Jeffrey Edward Forrest and Lieutenant Colonel Jesse Anderson Forrest. Either could have been the officer in charge of the event Lucius recalls in The Reivers - "legend to some people maybe. To us historical fact" - about the Confederate cavalrymen who galloped into Memphis' Gayoso Hotel "and almost captured a Yankee general," but it's more likely Faulkner was thinking of Jeffrey, the younger brother, who was born in Mississippi and who died in action in Mississippi in 1864 (94).