The Sons of Confederate Veterans are in Memphis digging up the coffins that hold Nathan Bedford Forrest and his wife so they can transport them to the National Confederate Museum in Columbia, Tennessee.
Staff at the National Confederate Museum did not return The Tennessee Star’s request for comment Sunday.
The National Confederate Museum, according to its website, is a Greek-Revival mansion situated on nearly 80 acres of rolling farmland. The museum accepts no government funding. The Sons of Confederate Museums own the facility.
DNYUZ.com reported on the matter Saturday and said the excavation might take several weeks.
“The exhumation follows years of protests at the site, decades of demands from the city’s black residents to remove the statue and the remains, and numerous court fights over what should happen to the burial site,” the website reported.
DNYUZ also reported that the Sons of Confederate Veterans will spend about $200,000 “to exhume the remains and move the coffins and the statue” and that group members raised the money through donations.
According to History.com, Forrest was a Civil War Confederate general who served as a cavalry officer at several engagements including the battles of Shiloh, Chickamauga, Brice’s Crossroads, and Second Franklin.
“Known for his maxim ‘get there first with the most men,’ Forrest was relentless in harassing Union forces during the Vicksburg Campaign in 1862 and 1863, and conducted successful raiding operations on federal supplies and communication lines throughout the war,” History.com reported.
“In addition to his ingenious cavalry tactics, Forrest is also remembered for his controversial involvement in the Battle of Fort Pillow in April 1864, when his troops massacred black soldiers following a Union surrender. After the Civil War Forrest worked as a planter and railroad president, and served as the first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. He died in 1877 at the age of 56.”
Many people, History.com reported, believe Forrest served as the Ku Klux Klan’s first grand wizard, although he denied the association later in life.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
I look forward to visiting General Forest when his remains are taken to a better place . He was a great leader and man of the people .
It is a great move to bring the remains of Nathan Bedford Forrest and his wife to Columbia and get out of the Memphis s- -t hole! Decent people should not be there! They need to move Graceland also! Let Memphrica destroy it self and it is at a rapid pace!.
Gen Nathan Bedford Forrest was far beyond his time in promoting equality of rights and full integration into society for Black People. But today, there is pervasive historical ignorance, prejudice and bigotry. Below is an account of that and why Forrest was beloved by the Black Community in Memphis:
Forrest’s speech during a meeting of the “Jubilee of Pole Bearers” is a story that needs to be told. Gen. Forrest was the first white man to be invited by this group which was a forerunner of today’s Civil Right’s group. A reporter of the Memphis Avalanche newspaper was sent to cover the event that included a Southern barbeque supper.
Miss Lou Lewis, daughter of a Pole Bearer member, was introduced to Forrest and she presented the former general a bouquet of flowers as a token of reconciliation, peace and good will. On July 5, 1875, Nathan Bedford Forrest delivered this speech:
“Ladies and Gentlemen, I accept the flowers as a memento of reconciliation between the white and colored races of the Southern states. I accept it more particularly as it comes from a colored lady, for if there is any one on God’s earth who loves the ladies I believe it is myself. (Immense applause and laughter.) I came here with the jeers of some white people, who think that I am doing wrong. I believe I can exert some influence, and do much to assist the people in strengthening fraternal relations, and shall do all in my power to elevate every man, to depress none.
(Applause.)
I want to elevate you to take positions in law offices, in stores, on farms, and wherever you are capable of going. I have not said anything about politics today. I don’t propose to say anything about politics. You have a right to elect whom you please; vote for the man you think best, and I think, when that is done, you and I are freemen. Do as you consider right and honest in electing men for office. I did not come here to make you a long speech, although invited to do so by you. I am not much of a speaker, and my business prevented me from preparing myself. I came to meet you as friends, and welcome you to the white people. I want you to come nearer to us. When I can serve you I will do so. We have but one flag, one country; let us stand together. We may differ in color, but not in sentiment. Many things have been said about me which are wrong, and which white and black persons here, who stood by me through the war, can contradict. Go to work, be industrious, live honestly and act truly, and when you are oppressed I’ll come to your relief. I thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for this opportunity you have afforded me to be with you, and to assure you that I am with you in heart and in hand.” (Prolonged applause.)
End of speech.1
Nathan Bedford Forrest again thanked Miss Lewis for the bouquet and then gave her a kiss on the cheek. Such a kiss was unheard of in the society of those days, in 1875, but it showed a token of respect and friendship between the general and the black community and did much to promote harmony among the citizens of Memphis.
J.H. Sears, Charles Kelly Barrow “Black Southerners In Confederate Armies” (Pelican, 2007)
Thank you for publishing this, should be read and taught in every school.
I hope they get the statue too. Memphis forgets their history, several thousand black folks turned out for Gen. Forrest`s funeral for all the things he did to help the blacks in Memphis. History.com is another fundamentally flawed website that has been “politically corrected”.
it is my understanding that part of the settlement includes relocating that wonderful statue to columbia also.
I wonder if the residents of Memphis are aware that slavery is still very much alive and well on the Continent of Africa? Before the internal combustion engine, it was pretty much a way of life in the old world. Even the American Indians participated. You were either killed on the field of battle or enslaved.
Memphis is no longer a decent city for the living OR the Dead.
Why does Chris Butler continue to propogate false history about Forrest, who was never the Grand Wizard of the Klan.
His only association was verified by family and by academia, and that was to disband the organization, altough the date is still disputed.
Years ago, a Cumberland University professor and a graduate student filed a paper with the West Tn. Historical Society proving that another was the Grand Wizard, not Forrest. It’s appalling what is allowed to be presented as Truth after you are dead and gone. Even accused criminals have their day in court to face accusers. Forrest testified in Congress and was backed up by Federal officers who knew him after the war and yet these false accusations are still accepted.
It’s what the left has been counseled to do by one of their gurus, Saul Alinsky, “accuse others of what you do, while you’re doing it.”
Another glorious waste of money to save fragile feelings of complainers. If we did this for every similar situation, we would have to erase history entirely. I doubt they would do the same for all the black slaveowners of the day.
This points to another sad trait of human existence. Emotional rooted ignorance.