Pre Civil war Forrest

The controversy over the commemoration of Nathan Bedford Forrest centers on his history with Afircan Americans. It is a well documented fact that prior to the Civil War Forrest was a successful slave trader in Tennessee. Les Smith, a reporter for fox news, cites an advertisement from 1857 posted in the Appeal which describes Forrest's "slave mart" as one of the more humane and well stocked in Memphis. Advertisements such as the image below were common place in Tennessee news papers as Forrest and his business partners sought new "products" to market to white Tennesseans.

While the evidence is undeniable that Forrest was a successful slave trader, "by the late 1850's Forrest claimed to be worth over a million dollars (Carney P.602)," supporters of his commemoration believe he was a kind slave trader. Writer Lafacadio Hearn wrote of how Forrest treated his slaves while attending his funeral in 1877, "King to his Negros; that he never separated members of a family, and that he always told his slaves to go out into the city and choose their own masters." However this was written nearly 20 years after Forrest had joined the confederate army and nearly immediately after his death as such it is subject scrutiny. However another man Colonel George W. Adair, who was associated with Forrest during his years as a slave trader, wrote of relationships with "his Negros." "[Forrest] was overwhelmed with applications from many of this class, who begged him to purchase them...[Forrest] was very careful when he purchased a married slave to use every effort to secure also the husband or wife, as the case might be, and unite them, and in handling children he would not permit the separation of a family." But while there exists historical documentation attesting to Forrest's humanity with his slaves the NAACP and many African Americans take a different opinion of Forrest's treatment of his slaves.

Detractors from the glorification of Forrest believe that Forrest was far more cruel to his slaves and as with his supporters there are historical documents to this effect. In 1864 the New York Tribune published a dispatch that described the conditions of the slave yards as "a perfect horror to all Negros far and near." The same dispatch goes on to describe the measures Forrest would take to punish his slaves. "Forrest and his crippled brother John would stand one on each side and cut up the victim with bullwhips until the blood trickled to the ground." While this information is from a historic news paper it still has the same short comings as the passage by Lafacadio Hearn. The New York Tribune wrote and published this article near the end of the civil war and not long after the "Fort Pillow Massacre" became public knowledge. As such this piece is also subject to scrutiny as it is likely that this piece was written as propaganda to create support for the union and for the liberation of enslaved blacks. While there are conflicting historical accounts about how Nathan Bedford Forrest treated his slaves one thing is certain and that is that he was a slave trader. And regardless of how he treated his slaves the fact that Forrest was a slave trader is one of the key issues surrounding his legacy.