The remains of Nathan Bedford Forrest and his wife were reinterred in Columbia, Tennessee on Saturday. The Sons of Confederate Veterans hosted a private, military-style funeral for the Civil War general and early Ku Klux Klan leader.
Forrest was once laid to rest in what was then called Forrest Park in Memphis, near a statue of him on a horse. Now, his remains, his name and his likeness have been removed amid protests.
Activists in the majority-Black city argued that Forrest, who was a slave trader, should not have such a prominent presence in a public park.
Sons of Confederate Veterans member Lee Millar says he’s relieved that Forrest’s remains are buried at the group’s headquarters in Columbia, Tennessee.
“It was a bad place in Memphis to be,” Millar says. “So we were glad that we were able to move him to private property where he can still be visited.”
The group says the event, which featured cannons and reenactors, drew thousands. Millar says the group plans to eventually re-erect the Forrest statue from Memphis near the new gravesite. The statue is in need of repair and has been in a warehouse since it was taken down years ago.
But Millar calls the reinterment “making the best out of a bad situation.” He does not believe that Forrest should have been exhumed in the first place.
The burial comes at a moment of reckoning for Forrest — his bust was removed from the state capitol this summer, and Middle Tennessee State University announced it is going back to the state to try to remove his name from a school building.
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