Editing Nathan Bedford Forrest (section)

====Race and politics (1870s)====
[[File:The Commercial Appeal Sun Jun 14 1908.jpg|thumb|The lionization of Forrest was especially keen during the post-[[Reconstruction Era|Reconstruction]] period now known as the [[nadir of American race relations]] ("When Forrest Came to Town" ''Memphis Commercial Appeal'', June 14, 1908)]]
After the [[lynching|lynch mob]] murder of four black people who had been arrested for defending themselves in a brawl at a barbecue, Forrest wrote to Tennessee governor [[John C. Brown]] in August 1874 volunteering to personally lead a posse to punish the "white marauders" responsible. Brown politely declined the offer.{{sfn|Davison|Foxx|2007|pp=474–475}}

In January 1875, Forrest came to Nashville to work against the re-election of Andrew Johnson for Senate; four of the six other candidates being considered by the Tennessee Assembly were fellow former high officers in the Confederate Army, namely generals [[John C. Brown]], [[William B. Bate]], [[William Andrew Quarles|W. A. Quarles]], and Colonel [[John H. Savage]]. According to historian [[Fay W. Brabson]], when Forrest arrived Johnson cunningly told him, "When the gods arrive, the half-gods depart; if the people really wanted to bestow honor where honor was due, they should support Forrest for the Senate instead of any one-horse general." Forrest was duly flattered and left town for Memphis that night, leaving the "lesser military contenders" to fight amongst themselves amidst a losing battle with Johnson.<ref name=":6">{{Cite book |last=Brabson |first=Fay Warrington |url=https://catalog.loc.gov/vwebv/search?searchCode=LCCN&searchArg=77151079&searchType=1&permalink=y |title=Andrew Johnson: a life in pursuit of the right course, 1808–1875: the seventeenth President of the United States |date=1972 |publisher=Seeman Printery |location=Durham, N.C |pages=258 |language=en-us |access-date=December 27, 2023 |archive-date=August 3, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230803085005/https://catalog.loc.gov/vwebv/search?searchCode=LCCN&searchArg=77151079&searchType=1&permalink=y |url-status=live }}</ref>

In his last public appearance, Forrest gave a speech on July 5, 1875 before the Independent Order of Pole-Bearers Association, a post-war organization of black Southerners advocating to both improve black people's economic condition and gain equal rights for all citizens. He made what ''[[The New York Times]]'' described as a "friendly speech"<ref>{{Cite journal |doi=10.1111/j.1533-8525.1999.tb02361.x |title=Kommemorating the Ku Klux Klan |journal=The Sociological Quarterly |volume=40 |pages=139–158 |year=1999 |last1=Lewis |first1=Michael |last2=Serbu |first2=Jacqueline}}</ref><ref name="nytimes.com">{{citation|url=https://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0713.html|title=On This Day: Death of General Forrest|newspaper=The New York Times|date=October 30, 1877|access-date=February 17, 2017|archive-date=June 11, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160611180050/http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0713.html|url-status=live}}</ref> during which, when offered a bouquet by the daughter of a Pole Bearers' officer, he accepted them,<ref name="Stephens2012">{{cite book |author=John Richard Stephens |title=Commanding the Storm: Civil War Battles in the Words of the Generals Who Fought Them |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e2VBBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT319 |year=2012|publisher=Lyons Press|isbn=978-0-7627-9002-9|page=319 |access-date=April 9, 2018|archive-date=May 9, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240509180540/https://books.google.com/books?id=e2VBBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT319#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> thanked the young black woman and kissed her on the cheek. Forrest spoke in encouragement of black advancement and endeavored to be a proponent for espousing peace and harmony between black and white Americans.<ref name="memphis-appeal">{{citation|title=Memphis daily appeal. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847–1886, July 06, 1875, Image 1|website=Library of Congress, Chronicling America|issue=1875/07/06|date=August 4, 2008 |issn=2166-1898|url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045160/1875-07-06/ed-1/seq-1/|access-date=August 23, 2017|publisher=National Endowment for the Humanities|archive-date=August 23, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170823161940/http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045160/1875-07-06/ed-1/seq-1/|url-status=live}}</ref>

In response to the Pole-Bearers speech, the [[Confederate Survivors Association|Cavalry Survivors Association of Augusta]], the first Confederate organization formed after the war, held a meeting on July 30, 1875 in which Captain Francis Edgeworth Eve, a former enlisted cavalry soldier who had been [[Confederate Conscription Acts 1862–1864#Election of officers|elected to his rank]] in the [[Georgia Hussars]], gave a speech expressing strong disapproval of Forrest's remarks promoting inter-ethnic harmony, ridiculing his faculties and judgment and berating the woman who gave Forrest flowers as "a mulatto wench". The association voted unanimously to amend its constitution to expressly forbid publicly advocating for or hinting at any association of white women and girls as being in the same classes as "females of the negro race".<ref>{{citation|work=Augusta Georgia Chronicle|date=July 31, 1875|url=http://deadconfederates.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/augusta-chronicle-31-july-1875-p-4.pdf|title=Ex-Confederates: Meeting of Cavalry Survivor's Association|access-date=July 13, 2015|archive-date=September 16, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150916000410/https://deadconfederates.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/augusta-chronicle-31-july-1875-p-4.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> The ''[[The Telegraph (Macon)|Macon Weekly Telegraph]]'' newspaper also condemned Forrest for his speech, describing the event as "the recent disgusting exhibition of himself at the negro jamboree" and quoting part of a ''[[Charlotte Observer]]'' article, which read "We have infinitely more respect for [[James Longstreet|Longstreet]], who fraternizes with negro men on public occasions, with the pay for the treason to his race in his pocket, than with Forrest and [[Gideon Johnson Pillow|[General] Pillow]], who equalize with the negro women, with only 'futures' in payment".<ref name="SavannahMorningNews1875">{{cite news |editor1-last=Thompson |editor1-first=W. T. |title=Savannah Morning News (Savannah, Ga.) 1868-1887, July 17, 1875 |url=https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/lccn/sn82015137/1875-07-17/ed-1/seq-2/ |access-date=10 December 2024 |work=Savannah Morning News |date=July 17, 1875 |page=2}}</ref>