At the Capitol in Nashville, there have been protests all day to remove Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest’s bust from the entrance to the Senate Chambers. This afternoon, Governor Haslam (Republican) issued the following statement:
“My position on this issue has not changed – I do not believe Nathan Bedford Forrest should be one of the individuals we honor at the Capitol. The General Assembly has established a process for addressing these matters and I strongly encourage the Capitol Commission and the Historical Commission to act.”
Forrest was a slave holder, slave trader and Grand Wizard of the KuKluxKlan. He fought for the Confederacy in many battles in Tennessee, but is remembered for the Fort Pillow Massacre, where roughly 500 negro Union soldiers were murdered after they had surrendered to the Confederates.
From Grant’s Personal Memoirs
These troops fought bravely, but were overpowered. I will leave Forrest in his dispatches to tell what he did with them. 'The river was dyed,' he says, 'with the blood of the slaughtered for two hundred yards. The approximate loss was upward of five hundred killed, but few of the officers escaping. My loss was about twenty killed. It is hoped that these facts will demonstrate to the Northern people that negro soldiers cannot cope with Southerners.' Subsequently Forrest made a report in which he left out the part which shocks humanity to read.[42]
Nathan Bedford Forrest is revered by the White Supremacist and the KKK. He was one of them. The State of Tennessee should never have honored him in the Capitol and all over the State with statues and busts. Let’s hope the Historical Commission and Capitol Commission listen to the Governor and the people about removing Forrest for good.
To see live coverage of the Nashville Protests go to Facebook - Tennessean -Nathan Bedford Forrest protest