Dear Editor:

Monday is Confederate Memorial Day in honor of our 800,000 Confederate Veterans, who defended the South from Lincoln’s illegal invasion to collect a 40 percent Federal import tax.

Few Confederate Veterans have been more falsely accused than the brilliant General Nathan Bedford Forrest. Forrest debunked the Klan lies by testifying in letters, interviews and before Congress that he was never even a member of the Klan, not its founder or leader and there is no proof he was ever in the Klan.

Likewise, the “massacre” at Fort Pillow is fake history. The Federal Commander placed vats of whiskey next to his soldiers, who became drunk, disorderly, refused to surrender and kept firing at Forrest’s Confederates.

The black civil rights organization, Independent Order of Pole-Bearers, invited General Forrest to speak to them on July 4, 1875, presenting Forrest with a bouquet of flowers.

Forrest stated: “I am here as a representative of the Southern people, one more slandered and maligned than any man in the nation. The men who bore arms and followed the Flag of the Confederacy are, with very few exceptions, your friends.”

“It has always been my motto to elevate every man to depress none (Applause).   I want to elevate you to take positions in law offices, in stores, on farms, and wherever you are capable of going.”

“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. Go to work, be industrious, live honestly and act truly, and when you are oppressed, I’ll come to your relief.” (Memphis Daily Appeal, July 6, 1875, front page).

 

Roger K. Broxton, President

Confederate Heritage Fund

Andalusia