Slave Trader Politicians
PoliticalGraveyard.com
Slave Trader Politicians
Very incomplete list!
|  Nathan Bedford Forrest (1821-1877) — also known as"Wizard of the Saddle" — of Memphis,ShelbyCounty, Tenn.Born near Chapel Hill, Bedford County (nowMarshallCounty), Tenn.,July 13,1821.Democrat.Cottonplanter;slave trader; general in the Confederate Army during the CivilWar; in April 1864, after the Battle of Fort Pillow, Tennessee,Confederate troops under his commandmassacredAfrican-American Union soldiers, not accepting them as prisoners,since the Confederacyrefused torecognize ex-slaves as legitimate combatants; this event, seen asawarcrime, sparkedoutrageacross the North, and a congressionalinquiry;in 1867, he became involved in theKu KluxKlan and was elected Grand Wizard; the organization used violenttactics tointimidateBlack voters andsuppresstheir votes; delegate to Democratic National Convention fromTennessee,1868;in 1869, he had a change of heart, and issued a letter ordering thatthe Klan be dissolved and its costumes destroyed; he went on todenounce the group and its crimes; in 1875, he gave a "friendlyspeech" to a meeting of an African-American organization in Memphis,calling for peace, harmony, and economic advancement of formerslaves; for this speech, he was vehemently denounced in the Southernpress as a race traitor.Englishancestry. Member,Ku Klux Klan.After his death, he became a folk hero among white racists,particularly during the imposition of Jim Crow segregation laws inthe early 20th century, and later, in reaction to the Civil Rightsmovement in the 1950s and 1960s.Slaveowner. Died, from complications ofdiabetes,in Memphis,ShelbyCounty, Tenn.,October29, 1877 (age56 years, 108days).Original interment atElmwoodCemetery, Memphis, Tenn.; subsequent interment in 1904 atHealth Sciences Park, Memphis, Tenn.; reinterment in 2021 atNational Confederate Museum at Elm Springs, Columbia, Tenn.
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