Here is a story I did not know and do not if true... Do we not have those eight names... He ran an honorable KKK ? I found this article and thought it could set the tone... It is slanted to the right...
One of your neighbors posted in Community Corner. Click through to read what they have to say. (The views expressed in this post are the author’s own.)
patch.com
snip... when did this happen got names... quote below from Forrest...
- "Many things have been said about me which are wrong, and which white and black persons here, who stood by me through the war, can contradict. I have been in the heat of battle when colored men, asked me to protect them. I have placed myself between them and the bullets of my men, and told them they should be kept unharmed. Go to work, be industrious, live honestly and act truly, and when you are oppressed I'll come to your relief. I thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for this opportunity you have afforded me to be with you, and to assure you that I am with you in heart and in hand."
snip...
When the war started, Forrest asked 45 of his slaves (which he considered as servants) to join him, offering them their freedom after the war, no matter how it turned out. They all joined him and although they had numerous opportunities to desert him, 44 stayed by his side until the end of the war. In fact, part of his special command escort later called "the green berets" (ironic isn't it), consisted of the most elite and best soldiers available, and among them were eight black men. (Surely you are aware that nearly 100,000 black men fought for the Confederacy?).
snip... KKK honorable ?
The KKK of the late 1860's bears no resemblance to the thugs and racists of the new Klan formed at the turn of the century. The Klan Forrest rode with was to fight against the Yankee scalawags and carpetbaggers who were raping the south after the war. US. Army occupation forces committed innumerable atrocities, which today would certainly be classified as international war crimes, much of it against the free blacks. General Forrest joined a citizen militia then called the Klan to protect the citizens of the South, black and white alike, from these vicious atrocities.
This is the remarkable speech that Nathan Bedford Forrest gave to his troops as a farewell following his unconditional surrender to the North:
"Civil war, such as you have just passed through naturally engenders feelings of animosity, hatred, and revenge. It is our duty to divest ourselves of all such feelings; and as far as it is in our power to do so, to cultivate friendly feelings towards those with whom we have so long contended, and heretofore so widely, but honestly, differed. Neighborhood feuds, personal animosities, and private differences should be blotted out; and, when you return home, a manly, straightforward course of conduct will secure the respect of your enemies. Whatever your responsibilities may be to Government, to society, or to individuals meet them like men."
This is a mix - which is why Forrest is so difficult to fathom today.
The first snip is from the Polebearers Speech, given on the Fourth of July celebration in 1875. Two versions of it were published in the two Memphis newspapers - the Avalanche and the Appeal. One omitted the part where Forrest asked the black audience, "Come closer to us. We were born on the same land, breathe the same air, why should we not be brothers and sisters? We may differ in color but not in sentiment. We have one flag, one country - let us stand together." A few days later, after this speech of reconciliation, a sizable group of his old cavalry veterans signed a letter and published it condemning the speech and pointing out their outrage that he had kissed a black lady when she gave him some flowers. That put her on the same level as their wives, mothers, daughters and sisters! Forrest, of course, knew that. Before he gave the speech he had been in talks with black leaders in Memphis who, one might arguably say, were his counterparts - they ran groups of the Union League and other black organizations who were very much like the klan. (Brownlow encouraged black anger against whites - he was very cynical about the former slaves and had no problem using them against the former rebels.)
The next snip is again half and half. Forrest used his escort as no other general used theirs - for Forrest they were often shock troops, dismounted infantry, special forces, spies or whatever he needed them to be. It's true that his escort had six to eight black men in it but they were his own slaves. He trusted them as completely as anyone else he picked for his escort and they were very good. Two were badly wounded and disabled, one was killed.
Can't find a good thing to say about the klan at any point or in any of its many incarnations. However, it is true that many decent men joined the early one in the belief, like Forrest, that they were protecting their families, friends, way of life, and so forth. Really believed they were knights of old. Forrest can be blamed for para-militarizing it and for giving it a structure that made it almost impossible to irradicate, but he can also be noted as trying to stuff the genie back in the bottle. He did, particularly around the time of his Polebearers speech, try to dissuade anyone he knew was in the klan to leave it, not join up or have anything to do with it. He wrote a letter to a friend and said his involvement with the klan was 'the worst mistake of my life.'
Lastly, Forrest's farewell address was pretty good. He was very concerned about soldiers taking revenge for things that happened in the war. While he had the opportunity to go to Mexico, and Richard Taylor had actually arranged for him to go to Europe, Forrest decided to stay in Tennessee. He felt maybe the young men he had led to war could use his help to find peace. It was a very bumpy ride, to be sure!
