Forrest's notoriety only increased . In 2013, Forrest Park in Memphis was renamed the Health Sciences Park amid substantial controversy. During . Others have tried to remove Forrest's bust from the Tennessee House of Representatives chamber. [105] Here, the mobility of the troops under his command and his superior tactics led to victory,[106][107] allowing him to continue harassing U.S. forces in southwestern Tennessee and northern Mississippi throughout the war. He reported for training at Fort Wright near Randolph, Tennessee,[41] joining Captain Josiah White's cavalry company, the Tennessee Mounted Rifles (Seventh Tennessee Cavalry), as a private along with his youngest brother and 15-year-old son. [227] Forrest's claim that the Fort Pillow massacre was an invention of U.S. reporters is contradicted by letters written by Confederate soldiers to their own families, which described extreme brutality on the part of Confederate troops. [240][239] The Mississippi NAACP petitioned Governor Haley Barbour to denounce the plates and prevent their distribution. He played an important part in the civil war and helped with many victories in several battles. Richard L. Fuchs, author of An Unerring Fire, concluded: The affair at Fort Pillow was simply an orgy of death, a mass lynching to satisfy the basest of conductintentional murderfor the vilest of reasonsracism and personal enmity. [251][252] However, since that time, Governor Bill Lee's administration introduced a bill passed by the Tennessee legislature on June 10, 2020 which released the governor from the former requirement that he proclaim that observance each year and a spokesperson for Governor Lee confirmed that he would not be signing a Forrest Day proclamation in July 2020. [16] William Forrest worked as a blacksmith in Tennessee until 1834, when he moved with his family to Salem, Mississippi. [132], Forrest reportedly died from acute complications of diabetes at the Memphis home of his brother Jesse on October 29, 1877. The Klan's activity infiltrated the Democratic Party's campaign for the presidential election of 1868. [147][148][149][150][151][152][153], Following the war, the United States Congress began passing the Reconstruction Acts to specify conditions for the readmission of former Confederate States to the United States,[154][155][156] including ratification of the Fourteenth (1868), and Fifteenth (1870) Amendments to the United States Constitution. [13], Forrest served with the main army at the Battle of Chickamauga on September 1820, 1863, in which he pursued the retreating U.S. Army and took hundreds of prisoners. [80], On April 12, 1864, Forrest's men, under Brig. On May 3, Forrest caught up with Streight's unit east of Cedar Bluff, Alabama. [37] They had two children, William Montgomery Bedford Forrest (18461908), who enlisted at the age of 15 and served alongside his father in the war, and a daughter, Fanny (18491854), who died in childhood. [43] In October 1861, Forrest was given command of a regiment, the 3rd Tennessee Cavalry. [173] The Klan's violent tactics backfired, as Grant, whose slogan was "Let us have peace", won the election and Republicans gained a majority in Congress. [114] He continued to oppose U.S. Army efforts in the West for the remainder of the war. 1887-1961. Removing the bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest from the capitol would move us a step closer toward ensuring that the history we choose to celebrate and honor in our public spaces reflects respect and . [100], At the time of the massacre, General Grant was no longer in Tennessee but had transferred to the east to command all U.S. troops. [253], In June 2020, after Black members of the Tennessee House of Representatives unsuccessfully asked it to eliminate a state celebration of Forrest, Representative Cameron Sexton opined: "I dont think anybody here is truly racist. After his bloody defeat at Franklin, Hood continued to Nashville. [6], Forrest's most decisive victory came on June 10, 1864, when his 3,500-man force clashed with 8,500 men commanded by U.S. Army Brig. [239], A 2011 Mississippi license plate proposal to honor him by the Sons of Confederate Veterans revived tensions and raised objections from Mississippi NAACP chapter president Derrick Johnson, who compared Forrest to Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. [113] U.S. Army forces drove the Confederates from the field, and Forrest was wounded in the foot, but his forces were not wholly destroyed. [11], Nathan Bedford Forrest was born on July 13, 1821, to a poor settler family in a secluded frontier cabin near Chapel Hill hamlet, then part of Bedford County, Tennessee, but now encompassed in Marshall County. After these efforts failed, Klan violence and intimidation escalated and became widespread. Birth: 6 Jul 1801 in NC Death: 1837 in Salem,Tippah,MS PEDI: birth Father: Nathan Forrest b: 28 Oct 1776 in ,Orange,NC Mother: Nancy Shepherd Baugh b: 16 Apr 1778 in VA Marriage 1 Mariam Beck b: Abt 1801 in SC Married: 1820 in Gallatin,Bedford,TN Children 1. By then, all were fully armed with captured U.S. Army weapons. Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the U.S. Confederate States presidential election of 1861, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nathan_Bedford_Forrest&oldid=1138674019, Confederate States Army lieutenant generals, People of Tennessee in the American Civil War, Articles with dead external links from August 2018, Articles with permanently dead external links, Short description is different from Wikidata, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2007, All articles containing potentially dated statements, Pages using Sister project links with wikidata namespace mismatch, Pages using Sister project links with hidden wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Raids in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Mississippi, early December 1862 early January 1863, Farewell address to his troops, May 9, 1865, This page was last edited on 10 February 2023, at 23:40. Jack Hurst, another Forrest historian, described him as a physically imposing man for the time: He was more than 6 feet tall and weighed 180 pounds, Hurst wrote in "Nathan Bedford Forrest: A . MEMPHIS, Tenn., Oct. 5.] Nathan Bedford Forrest, fdd 13 juli 1821 i Chapel Hill, Tennessee, dd 29 oktober 1877 i Memphis, Tennessee, var en amerikansk plantagegare och generalljtnant i sydstatsarmn under amerikanska inbrdeskriget. [158] Author Andrew Ward, however, writes, "In the spring of 1867, Forrest and his dragoons launched a campaign of midnight parades; 'ghost' masquerades; and 'whipping' and even 'killing Negro voters and white Republicans, to scare blacks off voting and running for office'". [188], Forrest was buried at Elmwood Cemetery in Memphis. The Confederate army dispatched him with a small force into the backcountry of northern Alabama and western Georgia to defend against an attack of 3,000 U.S. Army cavalrymen commanded by Colonel Abel Streight. The poor deluded negroes would run up to our men fall upon their knees and with uplifted hands scream for mercy but they were ordered to their feet and then shot down. [157] According to Wills, in the August 1867 state elections the Klan was relatively restrained in its actions. His father, a blacksmith, died and left young Forrest to fend for his six younger siblings and mother on their farm. Congress and Grant passed the Enforcement Acts from 1870 to 1871 to protect the "registration, voting, officeholding, or jury service" of African Americans. 769 Words4 Pages. 200. Forest of Confederate fame was at our head, and was known as the Grand Wizard. He sidestepped some questions and pleaded failure of memory on others. [80] Forrest had reached the fort at 10:00 am after a hard ride from Mississippi,[80] and his horse was soon shot out from under him, causing him to fall to the ground. [13] His blacksmith father was of English descent, and most of his biographers state that his mother was of Scotch-Irish descent, but the Memphis Genealogical Society says that she was of English descent. He denied membership, but his role in the KKK was beyond the scope of the investigating committee, which wrote: "Our design is not to connect General Forrest with this order (the reader may form his own conclusion upon this question)". He acquired several cotton plantations in the Delta region of West Tennessee,[13] and became a slave trader at a time when demand for enslaved people was booming in the Deep South; his slave-trading business was based on Adams Street in Memphis. Nathan Bedford Forrest. Nathan Bedford Forrest (July 13, 1821 - October 29, 1877) was a prominent Confederate Army general during the American Civil War and the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan from 1867 to 1869. Morton. [129], On July 5, 1875, Forrest gave a speech before the Independent Order of Pole-Bearers Association, a post-war organization of black Southerners advocating to improve black people's economic condition and gain equal rights for all citizens. Forrest rarely drank and abstained from tobacco use; he was often described as generally mild-mannered, but according to Hosea and other contemporaries who knew him, his demeanor changed drastically when provoked or angered. [170] These developments worked to the advantage of the Republicans, who focused on the Democratic Party's alleged disloyalty during and after the Civil War. [124] The ridgetop commissary he built as a provisioning store for the 1,000 Irish laborers hired to lay the rails became the nucleus of a town, which most residents called "Forrest's Town" and which was incorporated as Forrest City, Arkansas in 1870. [20][42], His superior officers and Governor of Tennessee Isham G. Harris were surprised that someone of Forrest's wealth and prominence had enlisted as a soldier, especially since significant planters were exempted from service. [199] The Tennessee legislature established July 13 as "Nathan Bedford Forrest Day". Nathan Bedford Forrest died in 1877 from health complications related to his diabetes, leaving behind a legacy of racism, first as a slave trader, then as a soldier in the Confederate Army where he became one of the south's greatest military strategists, and following the Civil War when he joined the KKK and became a grand wizard of one of the . [122] A week later, General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Grant in Virginia. Forrest spoke in the encouragement of black advancement and endeavored to be a proponent for espousing peace and harmony between black and white Americans. [94] These statements were contradicted by U.S. Army survivors and by the letter of a Confederate soldier who graphically recounted a massacre. The effort was spearheaded by Take 'Em Down 901, an organization dedicated to removing Confederate iconography founded by activist Tami Sawyer. Legacy. [192] Consequently, Memphis sold the park land to Memphis Greenspace, a non-profit entity not subject to the Tennessee Heritage Protection Act, which immediately removed the monument as explained below. [236] Foote also made Forrest a major character in his novel Shiloh, which used numerous first-person stories to illustrate a detailed timeline and account of the battle.[237][238]. Forrest passed away on October 29, 1877. Conflicting accounts of what occurred were given later.[87][88][89]. He was a big, rough man, 6-foot-2-inches, over 200 pounds, during a time when . [234], Grant himself described Forrest as "a brave and intrepid cavalry general" while noting that Forrest sent a dispatch on the Fort Pillow Massacre "in which he left out the part which shocks humanity to read". The following scene satirically depicts Hanks as Forrest in a Ku Klux Klan outfit, donning a hood and being superimposed into Klan footage from The Birth of a Nation. When Forrest rose and approached the bully his larger challenger's "purpose evaporated. In retaliation, Forrest shot and killed two of them with his two-shot pistol and wounded two others with a knife thrown to him. In the battle of Fallen Timbers, he drove through the U.S. skirmish line. Known as "the Wizard of the Saddle," Nathan Bedford Forrest was a prominent Confederate cavalry officer whose reputation was stained by accusations regarding his role in the "Fort Pillow Massacre" on April 12, 1864. 29.--Gen. and The Mansion ), none of the eleven fictions that mention . "[146] Forrest was the Klan's first and only Grand Wizard, and he was active in recruitment for the Klan from 1867 to 1868. The plans triggered outrage, and around 20 protesters attempted to block the construction of the new monument by lying in the path of a concrete truck. White Americans who made up the KKK hoped to persuade black voters that returning to their pre-war state of bondage was in their best interest. Local lawyer and radio host Rose Sanders said, "Glorifying Nathan B. Forrest here is like glorifying a Nazi in Germany. MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest's polarizing presence has hung over Memphis since he moved here in 1852 his legacy cemented by a giant statue that loomed over. Nathan Bedford Forrest (grandfather) Nathan Bedford Forrest II (August 1871 - March 11, 1931) was an American businessman who served as the 19th Commander-in-Chief of the Sons of Confederate Veterans from 1919 to 1921, [1] [2] [3] and as the Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan for Georgia. Nathan Bedford Forrest. The Life of Nathan Bedford Forrest by Brian Steel Wills. Forrest died of acute complications from diabetes at the Memphis home of his brother, Jesse. Nathan Bedford Forrest was the only soldier to rise from the rank of private to general during the U.S. Civil War. #1. The Confederate States of America a slave narrator cites Nathan Bedford Forrest as the leader of a Confederate army that massacred hundreds of freed slaves in the North shortly after the Civil War, possibly an alternate reference to the Fort Pillow Massacre. [97] It was the Confederacy's publicly stated position that formerly enslaved people firing on whites would be killed on the spot, along with Southern whites that fought for the Union, whom the Confederacy considered traitors. If you read Eddy W. Davison's "Nathan Bedford Forrest: In Search of the Enigma," on page 464 and 474-475, you can see that Forrest not only publicly disavowed the KKK and worked to terminate it, but in August 1874, Forrest "volunteered to help 'exterminate' those men responsible for the continued violence against the blacks." After the murder of four blacks by a lynch mob after they were . Forrest probably organized a statewide Klan network in Georgia during these visits. We chose General Forrest". Nathan Bedford Forest was a well-known confederate general and early leader of the Ku Klux Klan (Tilinghast 1). Consequently, his role at Fort Pillow was a stigmatizing one for him the rest of his life, both professionally and personally,[229][230] and contributed to his business problems after the war. When he expressed his opinion to one of General Forrest's granddaughters, she replied after a pause, "You know, we never thought much of Mr. Lincoln in my family". Parents and Siblings. [80] The fort was defended by 557 U.S. Army troops, 295 white and 262 black, under U.S. Army Maj. L.F. This monument stands as testament of our perpetual devotion and respect for Lieutenant General Nathan Bedford Forrest. No direct evidence suggests that he ordered the shooting of surrendering or unarmed men, but to fully exonerate him from responsibility is also impossible". The Confederates destroyed much of the U.S. Army's supplies and railroad tracks in the area. [162][163] After only a year as Grand Wizard, in January 1869, faced with an ungovernable membership employing methods that seemed increasingly counterproductive, Forrest dissolved the Klan, ordered their costumes destroyed,[164] and withdrew from participation. Nathan Unhealthy Forest Essay. [127][128], During the Virginius Affair of 1873, some of Forrest's old Confederate friends were filibusters aboard the vessel; consequently, he wrote a letter to the then General-in-Chief of the United States Army William T. Sherman and offered his services in case a war were to break out between the United States and Spain. [40], After the Civil War broke out, Forrest returned to Tennessee from his Mississippi ventures and enlisted in the Confederate States Army (CSA) on June 14, 1861. ", "Sons of Confederate Veterans 'Put to Rest for Eternity' Gen. Nathan Bedford in Columbia, Tennessee", Animated History of The Campaigns of Nathan Bedford Forrest, General Nathan Bedford Forrest Historical Society, List of Union Civil War monuments and memorials, List of memorials to the Grand Army of the Republic, Confederate artworks in the United States Capitol, List of Confederate monuments and memorials. DEO VINDICE". [140] The organization had grown to the point that an experienced commander was needed, and Forrest was well-suited to assume the role. 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