April 27-30, 2021 Extraordinary Firearms & Militaria
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 4/30/2021
This vest has a tight provenance to Forrest through Dr. Roland Bill, a Memphis dentist and prominent Civil War collector from the 1960s through the 1980s, and is accompanied by a 1984 notarized letter from him attesting to his purchase of it with other Nathan Bedford Forrest material from a great-grand daughter of the general. Bill had a good eye, taste, and the money to back it up: a quarter-plate daguerreotype of Jefferson Davis from his collection now resides in the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Museum (NPG.77.260.) Bill sold a number of the Forrest pieces to dealer Gary Hendershott. This vest went through Hendershott into the Lattimer collection. Few, if any, other textiles attributable to Forrest exist. In 1877 he was buried in his general’s uniform. Hendershott thought the vest dated 1865 to 1877, but it could possibly be earlier. The vest is made of a cream-colored cotton, with paisley boteh motifs worked in it with white silk. The vest is fully lined and reinforced inside with thin leather along the lower front. Measuring about 25 inches tall, it has six buttons down the lower front with broad, turned-over lapels above. The adjusting belt and buckle at rear are in place. Born in 1821, Forrest made a fortune before the Civil War in real estate, livestock, cotton, and, most notoriously, in slave trading. The treatment by his men of black Union troops at the capture of Fort Pillow and his postwar association with the KKK, are no less controversial. His military record as a cavalry leader was respected by both sides. Enlisting as a private in a Tennessee cavalry unit in 1861, he was quickly commissioned lieutenant colonel in October 1861; colonel, February 1862; brigadier general, July 1862; major general, December 1863; and, lieutenant general, March 1865. He was famous for his mobile tactics, aggressiveness, natural strategic sense, and bravery, engaging in personal combat several times and surviving several wounds. His postwar career in business was troubled. He died in Memphis in 1877. CONDITION: Light sweat stains upper right shoulder reverse. Scattered small stains on front. Runs between upper two button holes on wearer’s left, bottom corners and on wearer’s lower right from zigzag to lower corner. Buttons are in place. Still very solid and displayable. A remarkable piece associated with a well known Confederate general. SR
Paperwork
Past auction receipt and letter, box