re: Nathan Bedford Forrest Monument is Coming Down in Memphis

You are not educated on the topic. Forrest later wanted to disband the KKK.

Plus:

On July 5, 1875, Forrest demonstrated that his personal sentiments on the issue of race now differed from those of the Klan when he 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. At this, his last public appearance, he made what the New York Times described as a "friendly speech"[13] during which, when offered a bouquet of flowers by a young black woman, he accepted them, thanked her and kissed 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.[

See my post right above yours

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Take up your technicalities with the Civil War Trust website:

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After the war, Forrest is best known as having been a prominent figure in the foundation of the Ku Klux Klan

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Plus: On July 5, 1875, Forrest demonstrated that his personal sentiments on the issue of race now differed from those of the Klan when he 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. At this, his last public appearance, he made what the New York Times described as a "friendly speech"[13] during which, when offered a bouquet of flowers by a young black woman, he accepted them, thanked her and kissed 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.

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These two posts clearly demostrate that people and history are never as generic and black and white as some people fool themselves into believing. On one hand you have a poster that only knows of NBF’s association with the early history of the klan. That’s all he needs to know for him to spout his opinion about what a horrible man he was. On the other hand, we have a post that shows him as a complex human being, clearly not the person the uniformed poster claims he was. My advice is not simply to take snippets of a man’s life and condemn him, but to learn about these figures and who they actually were. They were as complex as any of us here.

Bedford Forrest was a true military genius. He wasn't called "The Wizard of the Saddle" for nothing. He got a bad rap at Fort Pillow also. Grant and Sherman wanted the man dead because they feared what Forrest could do and what he achieved. Shelby Foote stated that Forrest was one of two geniuses that the war produced. I agree with you about him being buried with his men in Elmwood.

Do you know anything about his later history?

Have you read any of the info I posted here? Or are you just ignoring it?

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Have you read any of the info I posted here? Or are you just ignoring it?

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Sure, and that is why his statue is coming down tonight. For his kindness and benevolent attitude towards black folk that he made lots of money with on the auction blocks.

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For his kindness and benevolent attitude towards black folk that he made lots of money with on the auction blocks

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Find me any military leader who is immortilized via statue and I will give you several reasons on why that person was a pile of shite and doesn't deserve to have a statue.

Literally any. Single. Historical figure.

Any. US. European. Antiquity. Middle ages. Doesn't matter. Name one. I will demonize them and tell you how they are horrible.

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I don't see anything redeemable about him.

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He tried to keep the klan from becoming an anonymous terrorist organization. He spoke out against violence towards blacks and reached out to black people in personal speaking engagements.

Not that it made up for what he did before, but he did more than anyone at that time to try and stop the postwar violence and terror.

Statue or not he is one on the greatest military minds the US has ever produced. One hard S.O.B. with much to be admired and admonished for.

The dude is obviously misunderstood. He and his buddies just wanted to ride around in their bedsheets like spooks, or ghosts, or somethin