Monday, March 19, 2012

General Forrest's Monument in Selma Vandalized

The monument for General Nathan Bedford Forrest in Selma's Old Live Oak Cemetary was vandalized recently when the bust of Gen. Forrest was stolen.  Here is an excerpt from a news account:
SELMA, Alabama — Police in Selma are investigating the disappearance of a bust of Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest from a city cemetery.
Old Live Oak Cemetery superintendent tells The Selma Times-Journal the last time anyone remembers seeing the bust was Friday. The bronze bust sat atop a large granite monument.
Some in Selma have criticized the monument. In addition to leading Confederate troops in the Battle of Selma, Forrest is also known as the founder of the Ku Klux Klan.
Soon after it was dedicated in October 2000, the monument was vandalized and was moved to the Confederate monument area inside the cemetery.
Selma police Chief William T. Riley says his department didn't have any leads but did contact area scrap yards to see if anyone had tried to sell it.

Dragoons Wyatt Willis and Stuart Waldo visited the monument some months back and took the photograph below.  Dragoons 1st Lt Stuart Forrest Waldo is named for Generals J.E.B Stuart and Nathan Bedford Forrest and Waldo has perpetuated that distinguished name by naming his eldest son Clinton Forrest Waldo.  Forrest was an accomplished businessman and man of his time, a brilliant tactician and fearless leader for the Confederacy and only led the Ku Klux Klan briefly after the War for Southern Independence as a response to the Northern carpet baggers.  Forrest found his Saviour Jesus Christ later in life as he experienced a conversion to Christianity.  Ignorant hateful people would be responsible for this vandalism and hopefully the perpetrator will be found and held accountable and forced to make restitution.

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