What he lacked in formal education Forrest made up for in native intelligence and pure fighting spirit. If the American Civil War brought forth any military genius who was admired and studied around the world, it was Nathan Bedford Forrest. He enlisted as a 39-year-old private in 1861 and, by the time the war had ended, had risen to the rank of lieutenant general, the only man of over three million participants on both sides to do so. Print signed by Tracy Stivers.