[Tamaroa]

DMZ,

Ah, yes, the stuff of which legends are made!!! Forrest did not start the KKK. He was approached by the fledgling organization and asked to be its head because of his status. He agreed but after two or three years finally realized its true purpose and disbanded it and quit. The KKK emerged again about 3 decades later much more virulent than it had ever been under Forrest.

Forrest is an enigma. He is accused of the worst crimes, of hatred of racism, etc. yet if you examine every incident where he is thrown to the wolves, you will see that he eventually realized the folly of his ways and changed his mind.

Even at Fort Pillow where he is most criticized, there was nothing about the massacre piece of it in reports or newspaper accounts immediately following the incident. Later evidence surfaced that indicated that many of the Blacks and Whites as well, I might add were killed after their surrender. Number one, this is nothing new in a civil war where violence tends to be much worse in the heat of battle and number two, Forrest did realize what terror he unleashed in the fort and had difficulty reigning in his troops. He did LOSE control of them, that is true and he should have reacted more quickly when he saw that defenseless troops were being shot. Point is he did regain a measure of control and stopped the slaughter of a garrison who initially refused to surrender.

I just reread this post and realized I sound like a forrest apologist. That is not the case. However, I have read enough books about him to see a pattern emerge. He usually went overboard and was very violent, zealous and emotional about issues where he felt strongly. But in the midst of it all, he realized where he was wrong and pulled back, i.e. his slow reaction in stopping his rampaging troops at Fort Pillow and his slow reaction to the Klan and eventually leaving it 2 years down the road.

None of that can take away from his legendary performance in battle. No one can ever take that from him.

Bill