Memphis mayor wants to dig up Confederate General (and his wife!)

a reply to: damwel

"The war is over — the rebels are our countrymen again."

(After stopping his men from cheering Lee's surrender at Appomattox Courthouse.)

Gen. U.S. Grant

The war was over. To punish people for fighting for what they believed in would have reignited the war. Grant knew this. Lee knew this. Lincoln knew it. Andrew Johnson, knew it as well. Unfortunately, Congress, in the control of Radical Republicans wanted exactly what you just said. Punishment. Vengeance. As if all those thousands upon thousands of dead and maimed boys weren't punishment enough. Thus we got the Reconstruction Era in the South. Which is still having ugly ramifications even today over a century later.

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

From Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address. Had more listened, perhaps the state of the Union, even today, would be better than it currently is.

Explain to me, how, hanging him would have improved matters. Or hanging any of the men and women who, in all honesty, rebelled against their own country. Do you not understand what that would have ignited another round of civil war?

originally posted by: damwel
Well since many of you are "great Americans"'. He fought a war against the United States and turned his back to our flag. What he was is a traitor. They should have hung him. It never ceases to amaze me how conservatives can blindly bend anything to fit their agenda.

Surely what or didn't occur during the Reconstruction period is more important then the fact Forest wasn't hung for atrocity's. A more rational argument could start with how ex slaves and land ownership. During his march to the Sea General Sherman granted free slaves land. Sherman intended this to be an interim measure that would serve a couple of purposes. Sherman had been under pressure from Washington to take better care of the freed slaves. Freed slaves ran the risk of bogging down his army and needed shelter and feeding.

Had the freed slaves been allowed to keep their budding farms , just how different would American history look?

Memphis city council has agreed with the deranged, grave-robbing mayor - Nathan Bedford Forrest and his wife's bodies must be removed from their current resting place. This is just too ghoulish that anyone would consider this kind of stunt just to garner political points. It's sickening.

How do you go from some nutcase shooting up a church - to digging up dead generals from 200 years ago..

The mental disorder known as liberalism, that's how.

a reply to: Asktheanimals

Are they actually going to do this thing?

I'm sorry, that's just not right.

originally posted by: Asktheanimals
Memphis city council has agreed with the deranged, grave-robbing mayor - Nathan Bedford Forrest and his wife's bodies must be removed from their current resting place. This is just too ghoulish that anyone would consider this kind of stunt just to garner political points. It's sickening.

Gee , could you get anymore distasteful?

It's not like the Graves are shine to the KKK. I can understand why Rudolf Hess grave was removed because it became a rallying point for neo-Naizs. In this case some deranged people are getting there own way.

a reply to: xpert11

It's my understanding, and I could be wrong, that the KKK has no use for Forrest since he left the group way, way back in the day...

Council Vote says the remains will be removed.

MEMPHIS, TN (localmemphis.com)--The Memphis City Council unanimously approved a resolution Tuesday to move the remains of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest and his wife from Health Sciences Park.

Source - Video included.

This one says they plan to remove/sell statue as well as removal of the remains:



The statue is protected under state law.

a reply to: seagull

That makes perfect sense. The people who are behind digging up the graves and those who have backed the idea clearly aren't rational people. Either an idea that was designed solely designed to attract media attention and not take place has backfired or the Memphis City Council needs to undergo a series of mental health checks.

originally posted by: dreamingawake


Source - Video included.

This one says they plan to remove/sell statue as well as removal of the remains:

The statue is protected under state law.

I may add its protected under a Congressional mandate ordering equal treatment for Confederate burials the same as Union.

The white guy at the end of video I could just slap. You can tell from his accent he's from the North but his spiel about "ending racism and moving ahead, other cultures blah blah" is such a bland pantomime of liberal ideology.

Forrest's remains and statue should be undisturbed because the man took up the cause of civil rights for blacks. Do these idiots not know this? He was loved by the local Black community and respected by all in his day and for long afterward until history books decided to slant everything.

Forrest is the supreme example of self-made man, citizen-soldier and once change came upon the Nation he led in assisting that change. What more can you ask of a man? And to think they are preparing to spit on his memory.

I wasn't going to say this until the issue was settled but though I am not a direct descendant of Forrest he is family on my mother's side. Her cousin was even named for him.

I find it unbelievable this is even being seriously considered.
If this is how our Nation's most heroic figures are to be treated we deserve the wrath of God heaped upon us.

a reply to: Asktheanimals

You can tell from his accent he's from the North but his spiel about "ending racism and moving ahead, other cultures blah blah" is such a bland pantomime of liberal ideology.

I know I just don't identify with that thinking of people from the North seeing Southern heritage as only racist. Growing up in the South(FL),and my family is originally from the North(as much as know of the past) and more recent Europe. In school, sometimes we had teachers from the northeast, such as in English would remind us to not use "ain't" for example. Also, by family members, some married into Southern families, and my husband(making my last name) is Southern based.

Most people raised in FL now days(not born or not born and have family from there) seem to be further and further distanced from that due to the state being so population transient.

Ideology wise: Exactly the ills of the ideology and these partisan ideologies as a whole. "If so and so on my "side" thinks it's bad then it is bad".

Forrest's remains and statue should be undisturbed because the man took up the cause of civil rights for blacks. Do these idiots not know this? He was loved by the local Black community and respected by all in his day and for long afterward until history books decided to slant everything.

The most vocal are sometimes the most ignorant to the fact of what is going on. In fact they can even be shown, but will further ignore the fact of what is being presented. Then there's being met with ridicule.

I find it unbelievable this is even being seriously considered. If this is how our Nation's most heroic figures are to be treated we deserve the wrath of God heaped upon us.

Same and It's sad many family's have to feel this way now. Thus why I am standing against these decisions and the looming ones that are being discussed. Guess in time it will only be fashionable to say I'm originally from New York and use that family influenced (and somewhat S. FL)accent. Not even to mention, while not a Recheck or country gal, I do identify with Dixie more than my northeastern family ties at times.