Forrest Help deciphering this note

A lot of people don't realizes just how much the Ladies were involved. I have many items in my KKK collection but my favorite is below. Th hood, cape and banner were worn by a Lady that is in the photo.

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Have you looked in newspapers from the era? Sometimes if your folks' area had a local correspondent, they might mention your folks in passing. Even if you read through and got a feel for what was going on in the area, you might run across some mention of them.
They were simple farmers and stockmen. I haven't found much about them in newspapers. I think they were of the ilk that a gentleman's name should be in the papers just three times. When you are born, get married, and when you die.
 
And another, I found on the web.
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According to at least one place I've seen this famous and often reproduced photo, it does NOT show Klansmen, but rather government agents wearing Klan outfits to demonstrate what they looked like. (A subtle difference, perhaps; but no doubt important to the men in the photo!)
 
They were simple farmers and stockmen. I haven't found much about them in newspapers. I think they were of the ilk that a gentleman's name should be in the papers just three times. When you are born, get married, and when you die.

My people were river rats and farmers -- weren't making the big bucks at all. But they were pretty popular with the correspondents because they wrote about them a lot. Which was very helpful in my genealogy! So it's worth a shot. Some of those little rural communities are pretty tight, but they really had a lot going on, such as ice cream socials, clubs, musical gatherings, dinners. I was impressed, reading about them.
 
A lot of people don't realizes just how much the Ladies were involved. I have many items in my KKK collection but my favorite is below. Th hood, cape and banner were worn by a Lady that is in the photo...

When I was in high school back in the 1960's living in a small Dallas suburb, I found in a big junk shop a complete Klan outfit consisting of robe and hood, still in its tarred canvas (made like a haversack!) issue bag. All pieces were marked with a serial or issue number in black ink. Unfortunately, I couldn't afford the $3 it was priced, but a friend of mine could, so he bought it. Unfortunately his stupid mother couldn't stand to have it around as it was and put it in the washing machine where naturally, the black-and-red embroidered patch on the robe bled. My friend died prematurely, now quite a long time ago back in the 1980's and I have NO idea what became of the outfit - and none as to what it might be worth today.
 
According to at least one place I've seen this famous and often reproduced photo, it does NOT show Klansmen, but rather government agents wearing Klan outfits to demonstrate what they looked like. (A subtle difference, perhaps; but no doubt important to the men in the photo!)
I'll buy that. What I noticed is how different the original klan robes look compared to the stereotypical white robes.
 
Here is another I have in my collection, This one is from the early 1900's. This one also bleed the red from the emblem. It also has his initials DM in sewn red thread. You can date these by the hood. If it has a removable face mask then it from after 1963.


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Here is another I have in my collection, This one is from the early 1900's. This one also bleed the red from the emblem. It also has his initials DM in sewn red thread. You can date these by the hood. If it has a removable face mask then it from after 1963.

That's about what the one I found was like, though it actually looked better than this one; after the washing only the patch had bled onto itself. I figured it was probably ca. 1920's or so.
 
Very interesting! The only thing I can add now is that the note wasn't written by Forrest. Here is a note he wrote himself, responding to a person seeking autographs:
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Forrest's handwriting is excellent in this example - one can almost read it! He had the long sloping typical of a left-handed person writing with his right hand, which he did.

Here is my reading....

Memphis Tenn
March 30, 1869

Mr R A (Morris?)
Lancaster, Pa

Sir I have no signatures of any distinguished gentleman or of any other persons that I feel would add to your collection but send you mine hoping you may fill your collection to your satisfaction.

I am respectfully,
Just
N B Forrest
 
Here is my reading....

Memphis Tenn
March 30, 1869

Mr R A (Morris?)
Lancaster, Pa

Sir I have no signatures of any distinguished gentleman or of any other persons that I feel would add to your collection but send you mine hoping you may fill your collection to your satisfaction.

I am respectfully,
Just
N B Forrest

That's very good! Forrest had a bit of humor in there - the letter Mr Morris had written to request these signatures addressed him as General Forrest!
 
Speaking of ladies' involvement, there are KKK quilts made in the 1930's as well. I have seen one in book, but believe thst others have survived as well.
 
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Brigadier-General George Gibbs Dibrell

Brigadier-General George Gibbs Dibrell was born in White
county, Tenn., April 12, 1822. After receiving a common school
education, which was supplemented by one year at the East
Tennessee university, he engaged for a while in farming and
then in mercantile pursuits.

In 1861 he was elected to the Tennessee convention as a Union
delegate. But when his native State at last decided on
secession, like most of those who held similar views, he obeyed
the voice of the majority and was among the first to enlist
under the banner of the new Confederacy.

He entered the service as a private, but was elected
lieutenant-colonel of his regiment, receiving his commission as
such, August 10, 1861. In September of the same year he was
commissioned colonel of partisan rangers. In the reports of
the movements of Forrest's command, we find Colonel Dibrell's
name favorably mentioned on many occasions.

In one of many brilliant affairs in which Dibrell's regiment
participated, Col. R. G. Ingersoll is mentioned as one of the
captives. In March, 1863, General Bragg requested Forrest to
send a force to defend the manufacturing establishments at
Tuscumbia and Florence, Ala., against Federal raiders. Colonel
Dibrell's command was detached for this purpose, and on March
25th near Florence, he defeated two Union gunboats and a body
of raiders.

During the summer campaign of 1863, when Rosecrans was trying
to maneuver Bragg out of Tennessee, Forrest sent Dibrell to
reinforce Wheeler. Near Sparta, Tenn., they had a fierce fight
with the enemy, which, after varied fortune, was finally
decided in favor of the Confederates, who chased their
opponents for several miles and then returned to camp. They
found to their delight that the ladies of Sparta had cooked and
sent to the camp a fine breakfast for the entire command.

On the 26th of July, 1864, Colonel Dibrell received well-
merited promotion and was commissioned brigadier-general of
cavalry. He continued to sustain his high reputation in the
campaigns of Forrest and afterward of Wheeler. Toward the
close of the war he served in North Carolina.

After the fall of Richmond and the surrender of Lee's army he
had charge for a while of the Confederate archives. After the
long agony of war had ended he returned to his native State.
In 1870 he served in the Tennessee constitutional convention.

He was twice elected to Congress, and served from 1875 to 1879.
At Sparta, Tenn., in September, 1883, General Dibrell's old
cavalry command organized a brotherhood, officered with members
of his old regiment, the Eighth Tennessee. At their second
meeting, held at Gainesboro in 1884, the following commands
were added to the organization: The Eighth, Sixteenth,
Seventeenth, Twenty-fifth, Twenty- eighth and Thirty-fifth
Tennessee infantry and Colms' battalion, Hamilton's, Bledsoe's
and Bennett's battalions of cavalry.

General Dibrell commanded this "reunion brigade" up to his
death in 1886, and never failed to attend its meetings.

Source: Confederate Military History, vol. X, p. 305
 
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