Nathan Bedford Forrest’s Bust Will Remain In Tennessee Capitol — At Least Until Fall

The bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest will remain in the Tennessee State Capitol — for now — after the commission that controls what goes on display put off a decision.

Commissioners say the delay will give them time to develop new standards for all of the statehouse’s memorials.

The State Capitol Commission voted 9-0 Friday morning to slow down the process for removing the statue of Forrest, a famed Confederate general, slave trader and purported early leader of the Ku Klux Klan. The decision means the earliest that Forrest’s bust would come down now appears to be the fall. 

Commissioners took the action swiftly, with little debate. A crowd of about 50 people turned out for the meeting, including a Civil War reenactor, two African-American lawmakers and members of groups that represent Confederate descendants.

Nashville Representative Brenda Gilmore, the president of the legislature’s black caucus, said she was pleased commissioners took a step toward taking down Forrest’s memorial. But she “was hoping that we would have been able to remove the bust from the Capitol in a little bit faster pace than it looks like that’s actually going to happen.”

The plan approved by the State Capitol Commission calls for five of its 11 commissioners to come up with rules that would be applied to all the busts, portraits and statues at the Capitol. They’ll hand in their recommendations no later than Oct. 1.

Don Scruggs, a historian with Sons of Confederate Veterans, said it’ll be hard for the commission to find anyone in Tennessee’s history who’s faultless.

“You can’t go and pick out the sins that you want — I agree with this guy’s sin but I don’t agree with this guy’s sin. We all sin.”

Finance Commissioner Larry Martin, the body’s chairman, came up with the proposal. He said the goal would be for all memorials in the Capitol to come under review, specifically naming Union Admiral David Farragut as another figure who would be scrutinized.

Farragut’s bust faces Forrest’s sculpture at the Capitol — a placement meant to symbolize their opposing sides in the Civil War.

A Tennessee native, Farragut is the celebrated commander who famously screamed, “Damn the torpedoes” when his ships failed to engage rebel forces quickly during the Battle of Mobile Bay. He might be in for another fight 150 years later.