Save That Confederate Monument: But Explain It

Few people can match Nathan Bedford Forrest for his racial brutality and his racial reconciliation. Forrest was a Civil War lieutenant general. He was responsible for ordering his troops to massacre 200 Union soldiers—many black— at the surrender of Fort Pillow.

After the war, he became the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. During his reign, he led the Klan on a campaign of midnight parades, known as “ghost masquerades,” that featured whipping and killing blacks and Republicans. His primary goal was to suppress the liberal-black vote—reason enough to keep his evil deeds alive in our memories.

By the early 1870s, the Klan’s violence sickened Forrest. He quit his post. Then he reached out to blacks for racial reconciliation. He started by hiring hundreds of blacks to his railroad after they failed to find jobs in a hostile economy.

Forgiveness was forthcoming.

On July 5, 1875, Forrest was invited to give a speech before the Independent Order of Pole-Bearers Association, a post-war organization of black Southerners advocating to improve the economic condition of blacks and to gain equal rights for all citizens. He accepted.

Forrest gave a friendly speech—and he unwittingly made a new controversy by accepting a bouquet from a young black woman, thanking her, and kissing her on the cheek as a token of reconciliation between the races. Forrest ignored his critics and spoke in encouragement of black advancement and of endeavoring to be a proponent for espousing peace and harmony between black and white Americans going forward.

Forrest was intensely criticized by the southern media.

The Macon newspaper condemned Forrest for his speech, describing the event as “the recent disgusting exhibition of himself at the negro jamboree.” The Charlotte Observer wrote, “We have infinitely more respect for Longstreet, who fraternizes with negro men on public occasions, with the pay for the treason to his race in his pocket, than with Forrest, who equalize(s) with the negro women….”

His bust stands without any explanation in the Tennessee state capitol. Lt. Gen. Forrest’s disgrace and redemption are important stories for today. It’s never too late to put away hate; and it’s never too late to forgive.

Thank you to state senator Kerry Roberts for telling a high school class (and our interloping family) this important story.