John Horace Forney, CSA Maj. Gen

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John Horace Forney (August 12, 1829 – September 13, 1902) was a major general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.

Early life

John Horace Forney was born in Lincolnton, North Carolina to Jacob and Sabina Swope Hoke Forney. He was the younger brother of Confederate Brigadier General William H. Forney, first cousin of Confederate Brigadier General Robert Daniel Johnston, and second cousin of Confederate Major Generals Robert F. Hoke and Stephen Dodson Ramseur. His parents moved to Alabama in 1835. John Horace Forney was appointed to the United States Military Academy at West Point, NY and graduated in 1852, twenty-second in his class. Forney was commissioned brevet second lieutenant of the 7th U.S. Infantry. He was promoted to second lieutenant on October 24, 1853, and transferred to the 10th Infantry on March 3, 1855. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1855.

Civil War

Forney resigned his commission on January 23, 1861, and entered the Confederate Army as colonel of the 10th Alabama Infantry and took part in the First Battle of Manassas. He was wounded at Dranesville, Virginia, in December 1861. Forney was promoted to brigadier general on March 10, 1862, and to major general on October 27—a rise in rank that probably outran his abilities. After brief service as commander of the Departments of Alabama and Florida he was given a division of Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton's army defending Vicksburg and was captured there when the city fell in July 1863. After being exchanged, Forney was sent to the Department of the Trans-Mississippi, where he followed John George Walker as commander of the Texas Division.

Post-war and death

At the end of the war, he returned to Alabama, where he was a farmer and civil engineer until his death in Jacksonville on September 13, 1902. He was interred at City Cemetery.

• Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Horace_Forney
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Civil War Confederate Major General. He was born in Lincolnton, North Carolina, but moved with his family in 1835 to Alabama. He and his older brother, William Henry, also a future Confederate General, were educated by tutors. He entered West Point in 1848, graduating 22nd four years later. Through most of his United States Army career he was assigned to frontier garrisons or recruiting duty, achieving rank of 1st Lieutenant on August 25, 1855. After participating in Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston's Utah Expedition, he taught tactics at West Point until resigning his commission on January 23, 1861. He first joined Alabama troops as a Colonel of Artillery under Brigadier General Braxton Bragg at Pensacola. In March he resigned from state service to accept a captaincy in the Confederate army. He then raised the 10th Alabama, and on June 4th of that year, was commissioned Colonel of the regiment. His insistence on strict discipline made him unpopular with some volunteer soldiers, though it earned him respect from his peers. Early in the war he fought in Virginia, and was severely wounded in the right arm on December 20th at Dranesville. Advanced to Brigadier General on March 10, 1862, he was ordered to Mobile, Alabama, and given charge of the District of the Gulf on July 2nd. On October 27th he was promoted to Major General. At the close of 1862 he reported to Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton at Vicksburg, Mississippi, where he held divisional command until the city and his command was surrendered on July 4, 1863. He was exchanged on July 13th and took leave to spend time with his family. He then oversaw the parole and exchange of troops in Mississippi from November 1863 to July 1864. He then commanded a division under General E. Kirby Smith in Louisiana through 1864. By right of seniority he superseded Major General John G. Walker as commander of the District of Texas in March 1865. On June 2nd General Smith surrendered and he was paroled on June 20th at Galveston, Texas. After the war, he operated a small military academy in Jacksonville, Alabama, and worked as a surveyor and civil engineer.

• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Feb 9 2019, 19:03:29 UTC