During the war he served under his brother Nathan Bedford Forrest's command as leader of a group of Confederate-aligned raiders called the Forty Thieves.

Later, Nathan Bedford Forrest's five younger brothers were "ideal junior partners" who contributed to a "building a formidable slave-trading operation.

[1] Bill Forrest was described in a highly critical anti-Forrest article published in the aftermath of the Battle of Fort Pillow as "an extensive negro trader at Vicksburg.

"[2] According to historian Jack Hurst, Bill Forrest frequented St. Louis where he collected "sizable" gangs of Missouri slaves for resale.

[3] In autumn 1853, when he was about 23 years old, Bill Forrest allegedly shot and killed James Holt of Vine Grove, Texas.

[9] However, at least one military historian argues that Forrest primarily operated outside the mainline Confederate States Army command structure:[10] Perhaps no part of [N.B.]

[11] The nature of this group is described in Joel Chandler Harris's 1904 A Little Union Scout, wherein a character explains, "I was billeted with Captain Bill Forrest's company of Independents, sometimes known as the Forty Thieves, owing to their ability as foragers.

"[13] In April 1863, Bill Forrest was wounded and captured at the Battle of Day's Gap—"after being unhorsed by a bullet that smashed one of his thigh bones.

"[15] On May 21, 1864, Forrest and his men routed a scouting party of the 4th Missouri Cavalry Regiment (Union) (Col. George E. Waring Jr.) in a skirmish near Mount Pleasant, Mississippi.

"[17] Forrest and his company rode their horses into the lobby of the elegant Gayoso Hotel, "where he thumped on his desk with the butt end of his revolver to gain the attention of the clerk,"[18] and "there gave further instructions to his men, who barred all egress and streamed through the corridors in search of their prey.

According to one news account, "Seventeen men of the 11th New York Cavalry, under command of a Lieutenant, were bushwhacked near Germantown this morning by about 100 rebels under Capt.

"[23] In 1930, Warmoth wrote of Bill Forrest, "He spent some time in New Orleans after the War and he well remembered our contests and the incidents of the battles which we fought.

'"[15] Post-bellum, William H. Forrest was involved in a number of shootings that made headlines in part due to his brother's fame.

Forrest, described by the Freedmen's Bureau as the leader of a gang of local thugs, later clubbed a man who dared suggest there was anything amiss in Yalobusha County.