Although several historians dispute Forrest's role in the organization -- most agree he did not found the Ku Klux Klan -- many believe he was elected the organization's first "Grand Wizard," the highest possible leadership post. Again, historians argue over Forrest's goals for the organization: Some say he simply wanted to combat unfair, retaliatory practices associated with Reconstruction.
Others note that as the organization grew, it clearly worked to scare and attack former slaves, giving the basis for the white supremacy organizations that still exist, to some extent, today. It is clear that Forrest eventually left the organization and reportedly renounced its racist actions.
Forrest supporters point to the general's actions at the end of his life as evidence he was not an evil man. He started attending church and advocating for "black civil rights" while living in Memphis, writes Shane Kastler in his book, "Nathan Bedford Forrest's Redemption. While noting that change before his death in , many historians argue those actions are too little too late for the Confederate general and Ku Klux Klan leader.
Nationally, Southern states continue to face pressure for the continued public prevalence of Confederate symbols. While Tennessee does not fly the Confederate battle flag at the state Capitol, a 4-foot tall bust of Forrest sits in the Capitol with the likes of presidents Andrew Jackson and James K.
After the horse suffered three wounds, Forrest dismounted and ordered him taken to the rear for treatment. The following spring, while raiding in Kentucky and Tennessee, he became a central figure in one of the most controversial episodes of the Civil War, at Fort Pillow , north of Memphis.
Residents of West Tennessee had complained to Forrest about abuse by Union troops stationed at the fort. Local residents claimed some of the cavalry were Confederate deserters and that many of the United States Colored Troops in the fort were runaway slaves from the area. On April 12, , Forrest invested the men inside the fort with about 1, men of his command and demanded its surrender. His demands were refused. After several hours of fighting, the Confederates broke into the fort, and the controversy began.
Eyewitness accounts by Union survivors say many of the black soldiers and some whites were killed even after they surrendered, and some were burned alive in their quarters. Even some of the Confederates acknowledged a slaughter took place. Sergeant Achilles V. Words cannot describe the scene. 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. The white men fared but little better.
A Union Army surgeon, Dr. About of the plus Union troops were killed. Some 60 black troops and about whites were taken prisoner. Forrest had the most seriously wounded, including 14 black soldiers, sent to the U.
Navy steamer Silver Cloud. An inquiry by the U. Congress two weeks after the battle was inconclusive in its findings. The approximate loss was upward of five hundred killed, but few of the officers escaping. My loss was about twenty killed. It is hoped these facts will demonstrate to the Northern people that negro soldiers cannot cope with Southerners. I told these boys that this war was about slavery, and if we lose, you will be made free. If we whip the fight and you stay with me you will be made free.
Either way, you will be freed. These boys stayed with me, drove my teams, and better confederates did not live. However, the image of Forrest as a butcher wantonly killing black troops at Fort Pillow was reinforced in the public mind by his post-war activities. Admitting membership during Reconstruction might have meant prison for him. Supporters attempting to improve his public image often claim he was not a member of the Klan, let alone its Grand Wizard, yet they also credit him with disbanding the group when he decided it had become too violent.
Along line of Confederate cavalrymen interrupted the quiet tranquility of a Kentucky winter as they slowly rode north. Their horses picked their way across the frost-covered ground, crunching through semi-frozen puddles and pockets of deep mud. The first week of winter was hardly an ideal time for soldiering, but these inexperienced troopers were looking forward to their first real action of the Civil War.
Tall and well-built, the Tennessee native had inherited the strength and vigor of his father, a blacksmith. Like the eager horsemen in his charge, Forrest itched for a fight. For three months his battalion had been conducting routine reconnaissance operations in Tennessee and Kentucky, and gathering up horses, cattle, hogs, and other supplies for the Confederate army. Such monotonous duty had its purpose, but Forrest expected to make his mark in a more direct and memorable way.
Harris had plucked Forrest from the ranks of the Tennessee Mounted Rifles Company and offered him a command of his own. Forrest had enlisted as a private only a month before. Isham, who knew Forrest by his reputation as a businessman in Memphis, commissioned him a lieutenant colonel with the authority to recruit a battalion of mounted rangers.
Forrest wasted no time. Before the end of July, he ran advertisements in the Memphis Avalanche and other newspapers. Those who cannot entirely equip themselves will be furnished arms by the State. He quietly scoured neutral Kentucky for revolvers, shotguns, saddles, blankets, and other equipment, and sent his purchases south in wagons. In Louisville, six teenage volunteers helped Forrest smuggle supplies out of the city in coffee sacks.
A vigorous and powerfully built man, Forrest was his own best recruiting tool, inspiring would-be volunteers with confidence in his ability to lead them.
Charles W. I was introduced to Col. Forrest and told that he was recruiting soldiers, and, as I had already determined to go out, he wished me to go with him. His recruits found him impressive in both stature and manner. We can use that to keep the niggers in their place. However, violence against blacks by the organization was pervasive. 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 era measures for ending segregation.
Subsequently, Forrest distanced himself from the KKK. He and his wife lived in a log cabin they had salvaged from his plantation. Although his speech was short, he expressed the opinion that blacks had the right to vote for any candidates they wanted and that the role of blacks should be elevated. He ended the speech by kissing the cheek of one of the daughters of one of the Pole-Bearer members. Forrest died in October , reportedly from complications of diabetes, in Memphis and was buried at Elmwood Cemetery.
In his remains were disinterred and moved to Forrest Park, a Memphis city park. Controversy still surrounds his actions at Fort Pillow, and his reputation has been marred by his involvement in the first incarnation of the Ku Klux Klan. His remarkably changed views on race in his latter years were quickly forgotten as Forrest became an icon for the Klan and other Southerners.
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