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QUITE POSSIBLY UNIQUE
74
●
(SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.) FORREST, NATHAN BEDFORD.
Partially
printed, official slave sale receipt, accomplished by hand, acknowledging pay-
ment for a sixteen year old girl.
Small 8vo, paper evenly toned.
SIGNED BY NATHAN
BEDFORD FORREST
.
Memphis, TN, 4 April 1860
[15,000/25,000]
AN EXCEEDINGLY RARE AND QUITE POSSIBLY UNIQUE
,
PRINTED RECEIPT FOR A
16
YEAR
-
OLD FEMALE SLAVE
,
SIGNED BY NATHAN BEDFORD FORREST
.
Forrest (1821-1877), was one of
only a handful of Civil War generals to have volunteered as a private and risen to general through the
ranks. Before the war Forrest had amassed a large fortune as a planter and slave dealer, worth $1.5
million by his own declaration. He was considered to be a brilliant officer, but his record was sullied by
allowing his men to slaughter surrendering black troops, and Southern Union volunteers at the battle
of Fort Pillow. Some dispute the massacre, but testimony of survivors as well as a Confederate officer’s
letter to his wife confirms the savage behavior of the Confederate troops. Forrest is also remembered as
one of the founders of the Ku Klux Klan. No other such document recording the purchase of a slave
by Forrest is recorded.