[140] The organization had grown to the point that an experienced commander was needed, and Forrest was well-suited to assume the role. [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. [13] Forrest's family lived in a log house (now preserved as the Nathan Bedford Forrest Boyhood Home) from 1830 to 1833. Forrest became well known for his early use of maneuver tactics as applied to a mobile horse cavalry deployment. Nathan Bedford Forrest (1821-1877) was a Confederate general during the Civil War (1861-65). [14] He and his twin sister, Fanny, were the two eldest of 12 children. [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. The illness also claimed Forrest's twin sister, Fanny. [125], The historian Court Carney writes that Forrest was not universally popular in the white Memphis community: he alienated many of the city's business people in his commercial dealings and was criticized for questionable business practices that caused him to default on debts. [9] In the last years of his life, Forrest insisted he had never been a member,[10] and made public calls for black advancement. Lieutenant General Nathan Bedford Forrest was a skilled Confederate cavalry leader during the Civil War who served in the west and was a master of mobile warfare. -- Nathan Bedford Forrest #Military #Firsts "I have never on the field of battle sent you where I was unwilling to go myself, nor would I now advise you to a course which I felt myself unwilling to pursue. Lieutenant Andrew Wills Gould, an artillery officer in Forrest's command, was being transferred, presumably because cannons under his command[66] were spiked (disabled) by the enemy[67] during the Battle of Day's Gap. Forrest died of acute complications from diabetes at the Memphis home of his brother, Jesse. No direct evidence suggests that he ordered the shooting of surrendering or unarmed men, but to fully exonerate him from responsibility is also impossible". A common report is that Forrest arrived in Nashville in April 1867 while the Klan was meeting at the Maxwell House Hotel, probably at the encouragement of a state Klan leader, former Confederate general George Gordon. His acts have photographed themselves upon the hearts of thousands, and will speak there forever. Meskipun para cendekiawan umumnya mengakui kemampuan Forrest dan keterampilannya sebagai pemimpin kavaleri dan pakar strategi militer, ia masih menjadi figur kontroversial dalam sejarah rasial, khususnya karena . [141][142] Brian Steel Wills quotes two KKK members who identified Forrest as a Klan leader. The Confederates tried to storm the fort but were repulsed; they rallied and made two more attempts, both of which failed. After serving as the president of the Selma, Marion and Memphis Railroad, he settled on managing a plantation manned by convict labour. [103][104], S.C. Gwynne writes, "Forrest's responsibility for the massacre has been actively debated for a century and a half. Sister: Mildred Forrest (1831-1841) Brother: Bedford Forest (b. The Life of Nathan Bedford Forrest by Brian Steel Wills. The Tennessee Historical Commission denied removal on October 21, 2016, under the authority granted it by the Tennessee Heritage Protection Act of 2013, which prevents cities and counties from relocating, removing, renaming, or otherwise disturbing without permission war memorials on public property. In what would be known as the Third Battle of Murfreesboro, a portion of Forrest's command broke and ran. [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. [188], Forrest was buried at Elmwood Cemetery in Memphis. The effort was spearheaded by Take 'Em Down 901, an organization dedicated to removing Confederate iconography founded by activist Tami Sawyer. I think it is the best government in the world, if administered as it was before the war. Early Life. An expert cavalry leader, Forrest was given command of a corps and established new doctrines for mobile forces, earning the nickname "The Wizard of the Saddle". [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. [143] James R. Crowe stated, "After the order grew to large numbers we found it necessary to have someone of large experience to command. 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. [214] A significant push to change its name failed on February 16, 2018, when the governor-controlled Tennessee Historical Commission denied Middle Tennessee State University's petition to rename Forrest Hall. For Selma, of all places, to have a big monument to a Klansman is totally unacceptable". Nathan Unhealthy Forest Essay. #1. Former Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton, who is black, blocked the move. [93] The rebels said the U.S. flag was still flying over the fort, which indicated that the force had not formally surrendered. In all, the maneuver cost Forrest 96 men killed and 396 wounded. [168] The SeymourBlair Democratic ticket's campaign slogan was: "Our Ticket, Our Motto, This Is a White Man's Country; Let White Men Rule". Nathan Bedford Forrest Quotes. All of the sidewalks in the park were named after officers who served under himexcept for one, which was named for his war horse King Philip. During the war, he became interested in the area around Crowley's Ridge and took up civilian life in 1865 in Memphis, Tennessee. After his bloody defeat at Franklin, Hood continued to Nashville. 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. [45] Forrest posted advertisements to join his regiment, with the slogan, "Let's have some fun and kill some Yankees!". His mother, Miriam, then married James Horatio Luxton, of Marshall, Texas, in 1843 and gave birth to four more children.[36]. Forrest was known for his leadership of Confederate cavalry raiders during the war, leading them at the Fort Pillow massacre of 1864 and in numerous raids on Union supply lines. [203] The bust of Forrest was stolen from the cemetery monument in March 2012 and replaced in May 2015. Instead, he noted that the state legislature would not likely approve the plate anyway. At once "a soft-spoken gentleman of marked placidity and an overbearing bully of homicidal wrath," Forrest is best remembered for the combination of brilliant military leadership and flamboyant bravery that drove his Confederate cavalry troops from victory to victory on the . [249][250], As of 2019, Nathan Bedford Forrest Day was still observed in Tennessee, though some Democrats in the state had attempted to change the law, which required Tennessee's governor to sign a proclamation honoring the holiday. [60][61], The U.S. Army gained military control of Tennessee in 1862 and occupied it for the duration of the war, having taken control of strategic cities and railroads. Nathan Bedford Forrest Escape From Fort Donelson Strain DuncansMarketplace (207) $995.00 Nathan Bedford Forrest American Civil War Double Sided Maple Veneer Wooden Christmas Ornament CivilWarChristmas (73) $16.95 FREE shipping Nathan Bedford Forrest Print Poster American Civil War General FroehlichArtStudio (32) $59.99 Tennessee officials voted Thursday to remove the bust of a Ku Klux Klan and Confederate leader Nathan Bedford Forrest from the State Capitol and into the Tennessee State Museum. He emptied his Colt Army revolvers into the swirling mass of U.S. Army soldiers and pulled out his saber, hacking, and slashing. [70] Like several others under Bragg's command, he urged an immediate follow-up attack to recapture Chattanooga, which had fallen a few weeks before. The Horrors and Cruelties of the Scene Intensified. Confederate States Army general and Ku Klux Klan leader (1821-1877), This article is about the Confederate general. Death of Nathan Bedford Forrest's Brother at the Battle of Okolona February 23, 2022 Map of Okolona Battlefield core and study areas by the American Battlefield Protection Program. [169] The Democratic Party platform denounced the Reconstruction Acts as unconstitutional, void, and revolutionary. [120] A portion of his command, now dismounted, was surprised and captured in their camp at Verona, Mississippi on December 25, 1864, during a raid of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad by a brigade of Brig. Bedford Forrest, the great Confederate cavalry officer, died at 7:30 o'clock this evening at the residence of his brother, Col. Jesse Forrest. RebelForrest.com | "Rebel Forrest" is a one-hour documentary on Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest (1821-1877) and has been presented at film festivals in Knoxville. The members are sworn to recognize the government of the United States Its objects originally were protection against Loyal Leagues and the Grand Army of the Republic". [126], He later found employment at the Selma-based Marion & Memphis Railroad and eventually became the company president. The exhumation and reburial were the results of a campaign that began after the Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017. [23], Forrest was well-known as a Memphis speculator and Mississippi gambler. Their fort turned out to be a great slaughter pen. Gene Kizer, Jr. [24] In 1859, he bought two large cotton plantations in Coahoma County, Mississippi and a half-interest in another plantation in Arkansas;[25] by October 1860, he owned at least 3,345 acres in Mississippi. . [231], Whether the massacre was premeditated or spontaneous does not address the more fundamental question of whether a massacre took place it certainly did, in every dictionary sense of the word. [53], A month later, Forrest was back in action at the Battle of Shiloh, fought April 67, 1862. [110] Sturgis ordered his infantry to advance to the front line to counteract the cavalry. Nathan Bedford Forrest birth b: 13 Jul 1821 in Bedford then now,TN 2. 1887-1961. 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. Local lawyer and radio host Rose Sanders said, "Glorifying Nathan B. Forrest here is like glorifying a Nazi in Germany. On Tuesday, work began on exhuming the remains of General Nathan Bedford Forrest from Health Sciences Park. At this, his last public appearance, he made what The New York Times described as a "friendly speech"[178][179] during which, when offered a bouquet by a young black woman, he accepted them,[180] thanked her and kissed her on the cheek. At the onset of the war in 1861, Jeffery and Nathan each enlisted as a Private into Captain Josiah White's Tennessee Mounted Rifles, a command that would later be designated the 7th Tennessee Cavalry. Pelican Publishing, Feb 28, 2007 - History - 560 pages. CSA 18211877, one of the South's finest heroes. [108] Forrest set up a position for an attack to repulse a pursuing force commanded by Sturgis, who had been sent to impede Forrest from destroying U.S. Army supply lines and fortifications. According to Richard L. Fuchs, "records concerning the fate of the black prisoners are either nonexistent or unreliable". [121], In the spring of 1865, Forrest led an unsuccessful defense of the state of Alabama against Wilson's Raid. [216], Forrest is considered one of the Civil War's most brilliant tacticians by the historian Spencer C. [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. A Confederate general and Ku Klux Klan 'Grand Wizard' has been exhumed and moved from a park where a statue of him once stood in Memphis, Tennessee. 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. He wanted nothing more to do with the Klan, but felt honor bound to protect former associates. [109] When Sturgis's Federal army came upon the crossroads, they collided with Forrest's cavalry. Nathan Bedford Forrest Birth 21 Feb 1938. [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. Not realizing that the rest of his men had halted their charge when they reached the full U.S. brigade, Forrest charged the brigade alone and soon found himself surrounded. [94] These statements were contradicted by U.S. Army survivors and by the letter of a Confederate soldier who graphically recounted a massacre. Nathan Bedford Forrest War, Ku Klux Klan, League 168 Copy quote I loved the old government in 1861. Colonel Stephen G. Hicks: "if I have to storm your works, you may expect no quarter." Forrest was elevated in Memphiswhere he lived and diedto the status of folk hero. [171][172] Forrest played a prominent role in the spread of the Klan in the Southern United States, meeting with racist whites in Atlanta several times between February and March 1868. Parents and Siblings. . [31] He was known as a tireless rider in the saddle and a skilled swordsman. [95][96][97], Following the cessation of hostilities, Forrest transferred the 14 most seriously wounded United States Colored Troops (USCT) to the U.S. steamer Silver Cloud. Eva, TN 38333. 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. Forrest, who was a Freemason,[7] joined the Ku Klux Klan in 1867 (two years after its founding) and was elected its first Grand Wizard. The ball went through Forrest's pelvis and lodged near his spine. Nathan Bedford Forrest statue.jpg 2,048 1,536; 1.03 MB. 769 Words4 Pages. Avoiding attack by never staying in one place long, Forrest eventually led his troops during the spring and summer of 1864 on raids into west Tennessee, as far north as the banks of the Ohio River in southwest Kentucky and into north Mississippi. This unit, which varied in size from 40 to 90 men, constituted the elite of his cavalry. Beliefs/Organizations. Sherman, who had recognized how formidable an opponent Forrest was in battle during the Civil War, replied after the crisis settled down. [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. Forrest assisted in maintaining order. Klansmen took their orders from their former Confederate officers. 29.--Gen. 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