New Rules Don’t Clarify Whether Forrest’s Bust Will Stay In Tennessee Capitol

A subcommittee has approved new rules for deciding what historical markers and statues should be displayed at the state Capitol. 

But it isn’t clear that they’ll lead to the removal of a controversial bust of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest.

The State Capitol Commission’s specially-appointed
Artifacts Subcommittee voted Tuesday morning to give commissioners almost complete discretion over memorials and where to place them. But
the rules don’t spell out who should be honored — only that works should “reflect the diverse people of Tennessee and their values.”

The move came at the end of a relatively quiet meeting attended by only about a half-dozen supporters of the Forrest bust.
Elizabeth Coker
of Rockvale 
called the policy “reactionary” and doubts state leaders will use it to take Forrest’s statue from its place near the entrance to the Tennessee Senate.

“I don’t think they have the votes necessary to remove him. But that’s not the point.”

The point, says
Coker
, is that Forrest is a hero to many in Tennessee. He may have traded in slaves, provided early encouragement to the Ku Klux Klan and failed to stop his troops from
massacring African-American soldiers during the Civil War.

But
he also repented of his misdeeds and supported Confederate widows and their orphans, Coker says. His bust also helps tell the story of how the state was divided during the Civil War, standing as it does opposite
Admiral David Farragut, a native Tennessean who fought for the Union side.

The full Capitol Commission must approve the rules before they go into effect, but even that might not be the final word on Forrest’s bust. State lawmakers could wade into the controversy when they return in January.