Vandals strike Forrest monument (Nathan Bedford)

wmc Channel 5 ^ | 3/14/05 | wmc

[Sybeck1]

Vandals strike Forrest monument Apr 13, 2005, 11:02 PM Vandals spray painted a 4-letter word followed by the letters "K-K-K" on a monuimen to former Confederate Gerneral Nathan Bedford Forrest. It's the latest turn in an effort to change the names of confederate Mid-South parks. Gene Ingram says this isn't the first time the monument of Nathan Bedford Forrest has been vandalized.

"The people that do these things they don't read they don't know they take the word of other people" said Ingram.

Ingram is a relative of the general's wife, Mary Anne Montgomery who is buried inside the tomb on Union that will turn 100 years old this summer.

"Im very proud of my heritage I've got 26 confederate ancestors and only one of them owned slaves and that was the general," said Ingram.

That's one of the reasons county commissioner Walter Bailey has been pushing to have this and other city parks related to the confederacy renamed.

"Mr. Bailey is an intelligent man but he doesn't know all the history if he knew the history he would back off," Ingram said.

The debate over fact and fiction is as old as the civil war itself. U of M grad student Donna Reeves has studied how Memphians interpret symbols like the Forrest Monument.

"Forrest was a great man as far as his military prowess is concerned he was also a man who terrorized my ancestors and intimidated them away from the polls," said Reeves.

Reeves doesn't have much hope the two sides of the age old argument will ever come to an agreement. As for this confederate ancestor.

"You can't condemn everybody for what's happened in the past,"said Reeves.

Ingram says because this is a gravesite the city would have to have a family member's permission to remove it, and he says he would never agree to that and he doesn't believe any other living relatives would either.

[Sybeck1]

The fight is on to erase history. I posted an article this week saying vandalism of an MLK monument was a "hate crimes". What is this?

[AReaganGirl]

It is a hate crime, too.

Martin Luther King, Jr. is said to have an affair or two during his life. Does that mean we should denigrate his work because of this? No. Our ancestors lived in the time that they did, they made mistakes, and we should be reminded of their mistakes by reading history. We can learn a lot from their lives.

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

There's a monument to that man? I'm surprised to hear that.

[xzins]

I've read someplace that Forrest WAS the originator of the KKK. Is that not accurate? (serious question.)

[Tijeras_Slim]

ping for a N.B. Forrest question.

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

KKK ALERT!

Google link:

Nathan Bedford Forrest and the KKK:

http://www.google.com/search?as_q=kkk&num=10&hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&btnG=Google+Search&as_epq=Nathan+Bedford+Forrest&as_oq=&as_eq=&lr=&as_ft=i&as_filetype=&as_qdr=all&as_occt=any&as_dt=i&as_sitesearch=&safe=images

[RebelBanker]

Dixie ping

[Luigi Vasellini]

These "protestors" need to go to a certain senators office from West Virginny. But something tells me they wont.

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

You might want to consider your ping list for this. Personally, I think anyone putting up a monument of Nathan Bedford Forrest is just begging to have vandals go at it.

FReegards....

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

Yeah. They should put a monument of Sheets Byrd right next to this one.

[Monterrosa-24]

Forrest was an early leader of the organization but it must be remembered that it was during the most tyrannical period of reconstruction. There was no vote and no justice for Whites in many areas. Judah P. Benjamin, the former Secretary of State for the Confederacy, and a Jew, also supported the Klan financially.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Yes he was. When it started getting too radical, he cut all associations with them. Makes me ask just what kind of history is being taught in schools these days.

[Little Ray]

Don't forget that he plagarized his doctoral thesis - from a paper that wasn't good enough to get a white a PhD.

[Taggart_D]

Embittered by the state of his homeland after the war, in May 1866, Forrest became "Grand Wizard" of the Ku Klux Klan, an organization of Confederate veterans. Because of Forrest's prominence, the organization grew rapidly under his leadership. In addition to aiding Confederate widows and orphans of the war, many members of the new group began to use force to oppose the extension of voting rights to blacks, and to resist Reconstruction-introduced measures for the ending of segregation. In 1869, Forrest, disagreeing with its increasingly violent tactics, ordered the Klan to disband. However, many of its groups in other parts of the country ignored the order and continued to function. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Bedford_Forrest FYI..

[fireforeffect]

Actually he is buried there.

Every few years local politicians try to get him moved, his monument torn down, and the park renamed. Then they discover that the park is a land grant. If they move him or the monument or change the park name, the property goes back to the family. This is an entire city block in downtown Memphis. Very valuable.

In regards to the post War Between the States Klan. Lee was offered the grand kleagel (or whatever) position and turned it down because he saw the potential for thuggery. Forrest accepted but disbanded it in the 1870's because he saw that it had become a terrorist group in many areas.

Ironic that the man who disbanded the Klan because it had become abusive is vilified by the ancestors of the people he disbanded it to protect.

The current klan was started after his death for purely racist purposes. When my Grandfather was asked to join in the 1930's he said, "why would I join an organization made up of people I would not sit in same pew with at church?"

[xzins]

Although there are extenuating circumstances, it seems you are agreeing that Forrest is viewed as the founder of the KKK.

With that kind of infamy will follow a certain amount of defamation.

I'm not surprised that it happened.


We used to live near the Jeff Davis monument in Kentucky and it got vandalized every now and then, too.

[kalee]

Judah P. Benjamin, the former Secretary of State for the Confederacy, and a Jew, also supported the Klan financially.


I had not heard this before. Benjamin is sort of a mystery man although it is known that he sent lots of money back to the South after the War. Can you tell me where you read this?
I'm not questioning it's veracity, just wondering where it came from.

[mainepatsfan]

With the way history is taught in our public schools I'm surprised many folks even know who Jeff Davis was.

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

Did Karl Marx realise exactly what Stalin would do with his ideas?

[xzins]

...know who Jeff Davis is...

Isn't he shortstop for a minor league team in the Carolinas....:?)