Mark Forsyth

Colonel Mark Forsyth was Commandant of the Confederation Bureau of Investigation under Governor-General John McDowell. Forsyth was working under Superintendent Geoffrey Prentice in 1880 when Prentice assigned Forsyth to go to Mexico City to help President George Vining establish the Constabulary. Forsyth was in Mexico for a year, and worked closely with Constabulary Commandant Benito Hermión. As a result, Forsyth knew Hermión better than any North American, and became McDowell's unofficial expert on Mexican affairs after Hermión became Chief of State of the U.S.M. on 17 September 1881.

McDowell chose Forsyth to replace Prentiss in the early 1880s when the C.B.I.'s mission was changed from investigating government corruption to investigating subversive individuals and groups, and Forsyth became a major power behind the scenes in the McDowell administration.

Forsyth's law enforcement methods brought criticism from Michigan City Mayor Ezra Gallivan. After Gallivan became Governor-General in 1888, he replaced Forsyth with C.B.I. Vice-Commandant Norton Kamen.

Sobel's source for the life of Mark Forsyth is Forsyth's memoirs, Under Three Governors: My Life in the C.B.I. (New York, 1900).