This is a great story by Stephanie Garry that was published today in the
St. Petersburg (FL) Times about Nelson Winbush, grandson of a Confederate veteran who is steadfastly holding onto his pride in the service of his grandfather Louis Napoleon Nelson who fought under Nathan Bedford Forrest at the Battle of Shiloh among other engagements. Don't be surprised at the photo of Winbrush from the article...
While I can understand Mr. Winbush's pride in his grandfather fighting in the Civil War, I cannot reconcile for even one second why he is proud that his grandfather fought under the man who founded the Ku Klux Klan. Nathan Bedford Forrest was a vicious racist who committed war crimes against Union soldiers any chance he got.
ReplyDeleteThe Sons of Confederate Veterans, United Daughters of the Confederacy, and all neo-Confederates continue to spout their twisted logic claiming falsely that the war was about "states' rights."
And if Slavery was "dying out" then why did Southern leaders advocate a spread of it to Kansas, Cuba, and elsewhere in the Americas?
Geoff Elliott
http://abrahamlincolnblog.blogspot.com
Nathan Bedford Forrest did not establish the KKK. Get your information correct before spouting. And Oh by the way, the almighty Abraham Lincoln too was a full blown racist who fully endorsed his henchmen (Grant, Sheridan and Sherman) while they committed war crimes day-in and day-out. Briefly: The former persecuted Jewish persons simply because they were of that faith while the latter advocated ethnic cleansing (genocide) of all Southerners. He later supported the same against the Native Americans. A certain German with a funny little mustache had a lot in common with these two “heroes”. Yet a Yankee apologist quickly turns up their uppity noses when this stench wisps through the air because surely their bowel movements don’t stink.
ReplyDeleteForrest may not have founded the Klan technically, but most historians do believe that he was the Grand Wizard of the First Clan, from 1865 to 1871.
ReplyDeleteSaying that Lincoln was a "full blown racist" is an over-simplification at best. One cannot judge him by our current racial standards.
Yes, Nathan Bedford Forrest was indeed a war criminal as the atrocities committed at Fort Pillow prove.
Finally, it takes a GREAT amount of courage to post a comment anonymously. How brave of you, defending traitors under the guise of anonymity.
“Forrest may not have founded the Klan technically, but most historians do believe that he was the Grand Wizard of the First Clan, from 1865 to 1871.”
ReplyDeleteThat is not what you said, inferred, implied or meant. There is nothing “technically” about it. You were absolutely wrong. In the process, you simply showed how ignorant you are about Forrest.
As Eddy W. Davidson and Daniel Fox correctly writes in their recent biography of Nathan Bedford Forrest:
“…when the original Klan began in Pulaski, Tennessee, in May 1866 (not 1865 as you cited, and Forrest joined in 1867), its founders were all Confederate veterans. They all came from good families, all were well educated for the times, and none of them was Nathan Bedford Forrest. The myth of Nathan Bedford Forrest as the founding father of the Ku Klux Klan has been perpetuated [exactly what you were doing] to the extent that it is now accepted as fact.”
From the left side of your mouth spurts “one cannot judge [Lincoln] by our current racial standards”, while quickly spewing condemnation and hatred out the right towards historic figures as Nathan Bedford Forrest for being a product of theirs. You sir are a typical Yankee apologist.
Still bravely posting anonymously, I see. Have the courage to post under your name.
ReplyDeleteMy citations come from the book "Lies Across America". There's a wonderful chapter about your hero, Forrest, and the KKK.
Also a cool chapter about his and his soldiers' massacre of Union troops at Fort Pillow.
I'd rather be a Yankee apologist than a neo-Confederate.
For a less biased account of Nathan Bedford Forrest, see the 1994 biography by Jack Hurst, simply titled "Nathan Bedford Forrest - A Biography".
ReplyDeleteHe was no doubt a military genius. However, he was a slave trader, caused the massacre of unarmed soldiers at Fort Pillow, and was a Grand Wizard in the KKK.
For some reason, he's a hero to today's neo-Confederates.
“Also a cool chapter about his and his soldiers' massacre of Union troops at Fort Pillow.”
ReplyDeleteDid it have a cool chapter about how the saintly Abraham Lincoln murdered over three dozen of innocent Native Americans in Minnesota 1862?
It is the largest mass killing in this country’s history, and yet this racist murderer is an idol to today’s Yankee apologists.
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ReplyDelete