Tennessee is getting closer and closer to ridding itself of this abomination.

Slave trading. 

Treason. 

War crimes. 

First Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. 

This is the resume of the man whose 44-inch bronze bust resides in a place of honor on the second floor of the Tennessee State Capitol between the Senate and House chambers. 

Since the day it was placed there in 1978 by the Sons of Confederate Veterans, it has been the target of unrelenting protests. Now, for the first time in more than four decades, there is traction toward removing the bust of Confederate Lt. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest from its place of prominence.

As Sons of Confederate Veterans push back by filing a lawsuit, organizers for the bust’s removal are asking supporters to join them online Friday night to flood the state’s Historical Commissioners with messages.

Who was Forrest?

While Forrest’s resume of atrocities is long, among his most heinous acts was the slaughter of 300 surrendering American soldiers in violation of the rules of war in the final year of the U.S. Civil War. 

By the time the Civil War began, Forrest had become one of the richest men in the South through slave trading and with profits from the labor of enslaved people in cotton production on his plantations throughout Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi. Forrest poured money into the Confederate States Army, buying horses and equipment.

Because of his wealth, Forrest was quickly promoted to lieutenant colonel. He fought in battles across Tennessee and Kentucky before arriving at Fort Pillow in west Tennessee on April 12, 1964.

Union forces had controlled Fort Pillow since 1862. It was staffed by 295 white soldiers and 262 Black soldiers on the morning Forrest’s men attacked. The commander of the fort and his adjutant were killed in the ensuing battle, which raged from morning until late afternoon when Forrest’s men finally captured it.

Forrest’s men opened fire on the surrendering U.S. troops.

Accounts of what happened next include Forrest’s men burning U.S. soldiers alive, literal crucifixion of some Union troops, and hacking others to pieces with sabers.

A letter Confederate Sgt. Achilles V. Clark wrote home to his sister on April 14 described what he had seen two days earlier at Fort Pillow: “The slaughter was awful. Words cannot describe the scene. The poor deluded negros would run up to our men fall on their knees and with uplifted hands scream for mercy but they were ordered to their feet and then shot down. The whitte [sic] men fared but little better. The fort turned out to be a great slaughter pen. Blood, human blood stood about in pools and brains could have been gathered up in any quantity. I with several others tried to stop the butchery and at one time had partially succeeded but Gen. Forrest ordered them shot down like dogs and the carnage continued. Finally our men became sick of blood and the firing ceased.”

While those who want to continue to give Forrest a place of honor in the Tennessee Capitol will point out that he eventually left the Klan and gave a public speech in which he talked about “reconciliation between the white and colored races of the Southern states,” they seldom mention that Forrest had simply and quickly moved on to profiting off a new form of slavery. 

In his final days, his fortune mostly lost, he ran an eight-hundred acre farm on leased land. The farms labor was done by more than 100 prison convicts. 

Why is a bust of Forrest in the Capitol?

Douglas Henry, who died in 2017, is the longest-serving member of the Tennessee legislature. He was also a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and brought the organization’s agenda to the statehouse. 

It was in 1973 that Henry proposed the resolution calling for the Forrest bust to be installed.

In 1987 he would demand the removal of a portrait of Republican Gov. William G. Brownlow from the capitol and there would be quick acquiescence. Brownlow, who served during Reconstruction, had been a Radical Republican who withheld voting rights from former Confederate officials and military leaders while extending suffrage to Black men.

When Brownlow’s portrait was removed, Forrest’s bust had already been enshrined between legislative chambers for nearly a decade. Sons of Confederate Veterans were responsible for the bust from start to finish, including fundraising and design.

On Nov. 5, 1978, the bust was dedicated amidst ongoing protests. In February 1979, the bust was allegedly damaged after being struck with a blunt object. Two crosses were burned in Nashville, including one outside the NAACP headquarters. In October 1980, the Grand Dragon and other members of the Tennessee KKK held a news conference in front of the bust to talk about their training for “race war.” 

After the 2015 Charleston church shooting and after the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va., calls came from state legislators, U.S. senators and the governor to remove the bust from the capitol. In December 2017, a bill was introduced calling for the bust to be moved to the Tennessee State Museum.

But, it’s not that simple. 

Removal of the state has to be requested by the State Capitol Commission and then approved by the Tennessee Historical Commission. A new 2016 law requires that the Historical Commission approve by a two-thirds majority vote the renaming, removing or relocating of statues, monuments or memorials on publicly owned property.

In 2017 and again in 2019 the State Capitol Commission voted to reject requests to remove the bust from the Capitol. Finally, on July 9, 2020, the Capitol Commission voted 9-2 in favor of relocating the bust to the Tennessee State Museum.

In a nod to “both sides,” State Comptroller Justin Wilson made an amendment to the proposal to move the Forrest bust that resulted in the Historical Commission voting in favor of removing not just the Forrest bust, but also busts of U.S. Admiral David Farragut and U.S. Admiral Albert Gleaves from the Capitol as well.

Farragut, of East Tennessee, led U.S. forces that captured New Orleans during the Civil War and remains one of the most renowned U.S. naval commanders in history. Gleaves, of Nashville, received the Distinguished Service Award from both the Navy and Army, fought in the Spanish-American War and World War I, and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Before the busts can be removed, the Historical Commission has to approve the removal. When the Historical Commission might take up the issue is not known, but it has a regular meeting scheduled in October.

Middle Tennessee DSA, Workers Against Racism, Memphis Mid-South DSA, Chattanooga Democratic Socialists of America and Black Lives Matter Nashville are hosting the second #BuryTheBust Mass Mobilization on Friday, Aug. 28 from 7-8 p.m. Central/8-9 p.m Eastern.

Tennessee State University Associate Professor of African American and Public History Learotha Williams will speak about the history of struggle against Forrest, followed by the launch of an effort to send 1,000 emails to Historical Commissioners within 72 hours.

Organizers welcome supporters of #BuryTheBust to join the mass mobilization from wherever they may be in the world.