John Horace Forney Bio-Sketch

QUICK FACTS (JHF)

Name: John Horace Forney
Rank: Major General
Education: US Military Academy
Birth Date: August 12, 1829
Birth Place: Lincolnton, North Carolina
Death Date: September 13, 1902
Death Place: Jacksonville, Alabama

John Horace Forney was born August 12, 1829 in Lincolnton, North Carolina to parents Jacob and Sabrina Hoke Forney. His younger brother was William Forney. His cousins also included Stephen D Ramseur, Robert F. Hoke and Robert Daniel Johnston, all of which would hold commissions as Brigadier General in the Confederate Army. His family moved to Alabama when Forney was about 7 years old. He was appointed to the United States Military Academy at West Point and graduated in 1852. Forney received a commission in the Army where he served in the 7^th US Infantry.

In January 1861, Forney resigned his United States Army commission and offered his services to the Confederacy. He was appointed Colonel of the 10^th Alabama Infantry Regiment. Forney led his unit in the First Battle of Manassas. In December of 1861, Forney was wounded in Dranesville, Virginia. In March of 1862, he was promoted to Brigadier General. Forney was then be promoted in October of 1862 to the rank of Major General. He served in the position of Commander of the Departments of Florida and Alabama before being sent to General John C. Pemberton’s Army to lead a division. He fought in the siege of Vicksburg until the subsequent fall of the city in July 1863. Forney was captured and eventually exchanged. Following his release, he was put in command of a Texas Division. He would serve in this position until the close of the war.

Forney returned to Alabama at the end of the war and became a civil engineer and farmer until his death in 1902. He was buried in the City Cemetery in Jacksonville, Alabama.