Nathan Bedford Forrest

Now, in spite of this, we see elite Southerners in a couple of states join these vigilante organizations.

But I think a good example of the sort of Southern elite involved in the Klan would be Nathan Bedford Forrest.

Nathan Bedford Forrest, famous cavalry commander, military genius, hero of Tennessee, was a self-educated entrepreneur who engaged in many forms of business, including slave trading, which put him kind of at the bottom of Southern polite society.

All right.

Slave traders were not welcomed into the higher circles in the South.

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But I'm making headway on that front.

Interestingly, Nathan Bedford Forrest actually testified to the congressional committee.

Mm-hmm

... uh, people like Nathan Bedford Forrest, who could barely read and write, but fought like [beep] uh, to maintain, uh, you know, the, uh, white South, uh, and the Confederacy.

And these became his heroes.

And he gradually developed a whole way of appealing to people.

It was after the devastating loss of this political race for governor that Asa began writing the novels he'd always wanted to write.

He knew he'd never get published as Asa Carter, so he changed his name to Bedford Forrest Carter, which eventually just became Forrest Carter.

And FYI, Nathan Bedford Forrest was the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, who would later renounce his involvement in the Klan.

We mentioned him before on our episode about Holt Collier.

I am on the state capitol commission.

And we were having that whole thing about Nathan Bedford Forrest.

And I spent a year just reading and studying about Nathan Bedford Forrest.

I read one book that was pro, one book that was against, and one book that was down the middle.

And then I went back and I read all of the meeting minutes from all of the meetings of the House of Representatives and the Senate around the issue.

Indeed.

In fact, Nathan Bedford Forrest, the founder of the Klan, was a delegate to the 1860 Democrat National Convention.

What party wrote the Jim Crow laws in the South?

The Democrats.

mounted cavalry like Jeb Stewart to protect Jeff Davis, a.k.a. Lane Kiffin, no doubt a controversial leader.

That's Nathan Bedford Forrest, Matt, okay? Jeb Stewart is a totally different guy.

Jeb Stewart had to wear it.

Yeah, well, so did Forrest at a certain point.

Lil Wayne and Lane Kiffin.

They rolled up to watch them kind of sort of toy around with Louisiana Tech.

But I thought it was more apropos to mention the mounted police, like as you raised the saber over your head, Nathan Bedford Forrest, who's more of a Tennessee man.

That's a Blue Raiders, Middle Tennessee State.

See what it's all about.

You know what that stands for? Nathan Bedford's Forrest's.

I just want to see what it is in Tuscaloosa, buddy.

I'm kind of excited to see.