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Nathan Bedford Forrest Monument Rome, GA


338thRCT
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This monument is at the Mrytle Hill Cemetary in Rome ,GA. Also there is a graveyard of Confederate Soldiers. Many of the tombstones are very difficult to read die to years of erosion and many are marked "Unknown". As can be seen in one scan, a new marker was placed over one of the graves. The monument was placed by the UDC in 1909.post-70300-0-01340800-1382034893.jpg

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Rather than try to drag this into a comment about what is or is not "PC", it's not a matter of care, it's the material they are made of. Slate tombstones dating to the early 18th century often look like they were made yesterday. Marble, which it appears these are made of, tends to weather very poorly.

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OK then. Too bad they weren't replaced as needed. Or new ground level markers of weather resistant materials installed so identities aren't lost.

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YankeeSpirit76

Very nice memorial but, I don't think the good General would be exactly wild about the American flag looking down on his grave. :blink:

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439th Signal Battalion

I believe he is buried in Memphis.

 

I've been through and in the vicinity of Nathan Bedford Forrest park (and Jefferson Davis park for that matter) several times in Memphis.

 

The last time I was down there, however, I overheard some local chatter about there being a push to remove the statues and call the parks something else...

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The last time I was down there, however, I overheard some local chatter about there being a push to remove the statues and call the parks something else...

 

Hmmm....... I wonder why? :dry:

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Hmmm....... I wonder why? :dry:

 

Well, I can't speak for the locals but I would guess it might have something to do with NBF not exactly being uncontroversial given what he was accused of allowing under his command during the battle of Fort Pillow. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fort_Pillow#Massacre

 

In any event, one online source stated that the gravestones were placed around 1900; I don't think it's much of a stretch to say that many hundreds (if not more) cemeteries in the US have old headstones showing wear and tear after over 100 years exposed to the elements.

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General Forrest probably wouldn't mind the American flag behind his monument. He has a bigger monument than Braxton Bragg does in Magnolia Cemetery in Mobile. Of course Bragg, no flag, has a military base name after him in South Carolina. Wonder how that happened? On the other hand Ft. Benning, home of the US infantry is named after a Confederate of even lesser note than Bragg.

 

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General Forrest probably wouldn't mind the American flag behind his monument. He has a bigger monument than Braxton Bragg does in Magnolia Cemetery in Mobile. Of course Bragg, no flag, has a military base name after him in South Carolina. Wonder how that happened? On the other hand Ft. Benning, home of the US infantry is named after a Confederate of even lesser note than Bragg.

 

General Bragg won his honors and accolades in the Mexican War as a Artillery Officer. He was born in Warrenton, North Carolina. He lost most of his honor and accolades in The War between the States. IMHO. Robert

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Sorry about mixing my Carolina's up. I have a friend I was talking to in South Carolina last night...maybe that was the reason. He did his basic training at Bragg in 1969. :unsure:

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I've been through and in the vicinity of Nathan Bedford Forrest park (and Jefferson Davis park for that matter) several times in Memphis.

 

The last time I was down there, however, I overheard some local chatter about there being a push to remove the statues and call the parks something else...

I used to live just outside of Memphis and now live about 90 miles away. As far back as I can remember, every few years they have tried to rename or move his grave and statue. This past Summer, they did rename any park that had a Confederate reference, but they said if they didn't then the State had some type of say in it. N.B. Forrest and his wife are both buried where his statue stands.

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The PC crowd would have kittens if they were actually knew who some of the posts, camps, and bases are named for...Ft.'s Jackson, Polk, Hood, Bragg, Camp Shelby, Barksdale AFB, Ft. Gordon... Ft. Lee, VA? Those evil Confederates. My great grandfather would probably joined the Confederate army, but the neighbor boys, who he said were a bunch of horse thieves, had already joined the rebel side. So he joined the Union side and served in the US 23rd Mo Vol Inf. No more of a reason than that.

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Hello,

Having walked the hallow grounds of Myrtle Hill many a time, I can tell you that the Confederate graves are well taken care of. There are 377 Confederates and 8 Federal soldiers buried there. Each year during Confederate Memorial Day flags are placed on all the graves. Each grave is plotted on a map and if one of the 100 plus year old markers crumbles they are replaced.

Many famous people are buried here including President Wilson wife, and Pvt. Charles W. Graves the known soldier of WWI, which is right behind the General Forrest statue. This statue of General Forrest along with many others, were moved from downtown Rome, when it was no longer PC to honor Confederate heroes of the Civil War. A Confederate soldiers statue was placed at the very crest of the hill, were a Confederate Fort once stood, Fort Stovall. In the fifties Congress passed a law giving all Confederate veterans full US veteran rights.

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