Forrest Article on Forrest.

It's certainly groundbreaking. He's done a magnificent job. My own opinion is that if Forrest wanted to massacre all the survivors, there would have been very danged few left to tell the tale.....but you can see for yourself.
Oh yes, I'm very much aware of the facts surrounding Fort Pillow. As Ed Bearss said, “If Forrest had intended a ‘massacre’ there would have been few, if any survivors.”
 
Garbage.....A sinner that accepts Salvation is no longer a sinner....His past, descpicable as it may be, though remembered, is not held against him towards his present or future....Say what you will about Forrest, an evil slave trader, a ruthless, blood-thirsty cut-throat..Yes, he was the Grand Wiazard of the KKK, BUT, he ORDERED it disbanded and, subsequently he renounced his affiliation with it......But consider W. T. Sherman's assessment: "I think Forrest was the most remarkable man the civil war produced on either side. His opponents were professional soldiers, while he had no military training. He was never taught tactics yet he had a genius for strategy that was original and to me incomprehensible. I couldn’t calculate what he was up to, yet he always knew my intentions."....That is why George S. Patton, early in the history of American Tank war-fare, designed U.S. tank tactics that substantially aide America in winning WWII...Shelby Foote state that the Civil War produced two authentic geniuses: Abraham Lincoln and Nathan Bedford Forrest.....WHY did he say that??.....Crucify Forrest, if you must, for lack of anything else to do...or anyone else to point the finger at.....

If you all get to like Forest then I get to quote Chamberlain,

"I was speaking of epitaphs, and I took the one the Virginia father put above the names of his two sons, one of whom fell for the stars and stripes and the one for the Lost Cause, "God only knows which of the boys was right." I took that as a text to illustrate the truth that "right" motives are not sufficient to make a right cause.
The best of men are sometimes enlisted in the worst of causes, and you know very well that men sometimes serve in the best of causes from the worst of motives. Now my point was that while God alone can judge of individual motives, looking, as man cannot, into the heart, and he alone can judge of these two boys, yet the right cause and the wrong cause were as far apart as light and darkness, and as I said "never can stand in equal honor before God or man - never to the end of time."
 
If you all get to like Forest then I get to quote Chamberlain,

"I was speaking of epitaphs, and I took the one the Virginia father put above the names of his two sons, one of whom fell for the stars and stripes and the one for the Lost Cause, "God only knows which of the boys was right." I took that as a text to illustrate the truth that "right" motives are not sufficient to make a right cause.
The best of men are sometimes enlisted in the worst of causes, and you know very well that men sometimes serve in the best of causes from the worst of motives. Now my point was that while God alone can judge of individual motives, looking, as man cannot, into the heart, and he alone can judge of these two boys, yet the right cause and the wrong cause were as far apart as light and darkness, and as I said "never can stand in equal honor before God or man - never to the end of time."

Makes you wonder at how Forrest would be judged.
 
Makes you wonder at how Forrest would be judged.
By God? That's not for us to say. As Albert says, "A sinner that accepts Salvation is no longer a sinner" but I think only God can know that.

13 “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’

16 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
Matthew 20
 
As with so many other figures from the Confederacy, Forrest is an enigma, cloaked in myth, and surrounded by hyperbole. Bottom line is that he is neither the saint the neo-rebs make him out to be, nor the devil some others make him out to be.

AMEN. Which is why digging for some of the truth is so fascinating.
 
As with so many other figures from the Confederacy, Forrest is an enigma, cloaked in myth, and surrounded by hyperbole. Bottom line is that he is neither the saint the neo-rebs make him out to be, nor the devil some others make him out to be.
I don't know, no matter how nice of a slave catcher, slave trader and kkk member you were, you still were a slave catcher, slave trader and kkk member. And I'm not sure that he was all that nice when he was any of those three things.
I'm keeping him on my evil genius list.
 
Oh yes, I'm very much aware of the facts surrounding Fort Pillow. As Ed Bearss said, “If Forrest had intended a ‘massacre’ there would have been few, if any survivors.”


That's what I've always thought about Ft Pillow. Forrest didn't do things half-way! His post-war activities with the klan may not have been his finest hour but, at that time, he believed the blacks should go back to the plantations. They weren't his specific targets, however, but he wasn't overly concerned if hard things happened to them. It took time for him to realize - and he did this considerably before many other Confederates - that the genie was out of the bottle. The blacks would never go back to the plantations and their rights were supported by the amendments to the Constitution - which document he was sworn to uphold - and by Grant's administration. It's not a coincidence he quit the klan when Grant won the election! Forrest wasn't particularly racist, by the way. He believed the best condition for the blacks was slavery and didn't believe any should be free for any reason, but racism contains hatred. There's no evidence he hated them. His religious conversion, I believe, was real. One Sunday his wife finally dragged him to church - he'd always left the praying to the women of his family. The sermon the preacher was giving was based on the parable Jesus gave about the foolish man who built his house on sand, and when the storm came the sand was washed away and the house fell. This struck Forrest like a chunk of cement between the eyes. He took the minister aside and was much shaken, and said, "I am that man." He realized that he had built his house on the sand of slavery and the war was the storm that washed it away, and his house. I think Forrest, at the end of his life, was considerably different. 3,000+ black people seemed to think so, too - that's how many came to his funeral. It wasn't just to make sure the devil was dead, either! Many left flowers and other mementos as well.
 
That's what I've always thought about Ft Pillow. Forrest didn't do things half-way! His post-war activities with the klan may not have been his finest hour but, at that time, he believed the blacks should go back to the plantations. They weren't his specific targets, however, but he wasn't overly concerned if hard things happened to them. It took time for him to realize - and he did this considerably before many other Confederates - that the genie was out of the bottle. The blacks would never go back to the plantations and their rights were supported by the amendments to the Constitution - which document he was sworn to uphold - and by Grant's administration. It's not a coincidence he quit the klan when Grant won the election! Forrest wasn't particularly racist, by the way. He believed the best condition for the blacks was slavery and didn't believe any should be free for any reason, but racism contains hatred. There's no evidence he hated them. His religious conversion, I believe, was real. One Sunday his wife finally dragged him to church - he'd always left the praying to the women of his family. The sermon the preacher was giving was based on the parable Jesus gave about the foolish man who built his house on sand, and when the storm came the sand was washed away and the house fell. This struck Forrest like a chunk of cement between the eyes. He took the minister aside and was much shaken, and said, "I am that man." He realized that he had built his house on the sand of slavery and the war was the storm that washed it away, and his house. I think Forrest, at the end of his life, was considerably different. 3,000+ black people seemed to think so, too - that's how many came to his funeral. It wasn't just to make sure the devil was dead, either! Many left flowers and other mementos as well.

diane,

As usual, your post above is well thought out, balanced, well researched, AND interesting.

Good job, as always.

Sincerely,
Unionblue
 
I don't know, no matter how nice of a slave catcher, slave trader and kkk member you were, you still were a slave catcher, slave trader and kkk member. And I'm not sure that he was all that nice when he was any of those three things.
I'm keeping him on my evil genius list.

Hence the myth machine. He was a slave trader, but some try to make him out to be a nice slave trader who never split up slave families. Totally untrue. He was head of the Klan, but some try to make him out as a hero who reined in the Klan excesses, again not true. Forrest was undoubtedly a member of the Klan, but he neither founded it or was the Klan leader. Nor did he appear to have any problems with what it stood for.
 
Hence the myth machine. He was a slave trader, but some try to make him out to be a nice slave trader who never split up slave families. Totally untrue. He was head of the Klan, but some try to make him out as a hero who reined in the Klan excesses, again not true. Forrest was undoubtedly a member of the Klan, but he neither founded it or was the Klan leader. Nor did he appear to have any problems with what it stood for.
I think you are agreeing with me. :unsure:
 
That's what I've always thought about Ft Pillow. Forrest didn't do things half-way! His post-war activities with the klan may not have been his finest hour but, at that time, he believed the blacks should go back to the plantations. They weren't his specific targets, however, but he wasn't overly concerned if hard things happened to them. It took time for him to realize - and he did this considerably before many other Confederates - that the genie was out of the bottle. The blacks would never go back to the plantations and their rights were supported by the amendments to the Constitution - which document he was sworn to uphold - and by Grant's administration. It's not a coincidence he quit the klan when Grant won the election! Forrest wasn't particularly racist, by the way. He believed the best condition for the blacks was slavery and didn't believe any should be free for any reason, but racism contains hatred. There's no evidence he hated them. His religious conversion, I believe, was real. One Sunday his wife finally dragged him to church - he'd always left the praying to the women of his family. The sermon the preacher was giving was based on the parable Jesus gave about the foolish man who built his house on sand, and when the storm came the sand was washed away and the house fell. This struck Forrest like a chunk of cement between the eyes. He took the minister aside and was much shaken, and said, "I am that man." He realized that he had built his house on the sand of slavery and the war was the storm that washed it away, and his house. I think Forrest, at the end of his life, was considerably different. 3,000+ black people seemed to think so, too - that's how many came to his funeral. It wasn't just to make sure the devil was dead, either! Many left flowers and other mementos as well.

When you read of his funeral, you can just imagine the scale of it!
 
I don't know, no matter how nice of a slave catcher, slave trader and kkk member you were, you still were a slave catcher, slave trader and kkk member. And I'm not sure that he was all that nice when he was any of those three things.
I'm keeping him on my evil genius list.

I think he'd be comfortable on that list. Deception was one of his greatest attributes in war and he's quite celebrated for that. And yet we're supposed to take him at his word about the Klan and about how sweet he was to his human property. Sure thing, Forrest wink wink.

What we do know about him is that he broke into business catching and returning people into slavery then buying and selling slaves. And the KKK proudly claim him as a founding leader, regardless of what he testified in public. Some freaking hero. He's fierce and brilliant and a heck of a character but I'm rooting for the guy trying to get away from his hounds for a mere taste of freedom. Can't really stomach Forrest the heroic even endearing figure as some people have him.
 
I think he'd be comfortable on that list. Deception was one of his greatest attributes in war and he's quite celebrated for that. And yet we're supposed to take him at his word about the Klan and about how sweet he was to his human property. Sure thing, Forrest wink wink.

What we do know about him is that he broke into business catching and returning people into slavery then buying and selling slaves. And the KKK proudly claim him as a founding leader, regardless of what he testified in public. Some freaking hero. He's fierce and brilliant and a heck of a character but I'm rooting for the guy trying to get away from his hounds for a mere taste of freedom. Can't really stomach Forrest the heroic even endearing figure as some people have him.

Always did seem to me that Forrest was a man of his word.
 
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