Nathan Bedford Forrest (July 13, 1821 - October 29, 1877) was a lieutenant general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He is remembered both as a self-made and innovative cavalry leader during the war and as a leading Southern advocate in the postwar years as a figure. He participated in the postwar establishment of the first Ku Klux Klan organization opposing the reconstruction era in the South, and served as the first Grand Wizard, although he distanced himself from the KKK in later years, and at least professed some acceptance of the notion of racial harmony.