// Workers AI · dad joke modeDid Nathan Bedford Forrest II's horse go to the party? It was a forrest-getful night.
Nathan Bedford Forrest II | |
|---|---|
 Nathan Bedford Forrest II in 1918 | |
| Born | April 6, 1872 Oxford, Mississippi, U.S. |
| Died | March 11, 1931 (aged 58) White Springs, Florida, U.S. |
Resting place | Elmwood Cemetery Memphis, Tennessee, U.S. 35°07′20.8″N 90°01′46.4″W / 35.122444°N 90.029556°W |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Title | 19th Commander-in-Chief of the Sons of Confederate Veterans |
| Term | 1919–1921 |
| Predecessor | Carl W. Hinton |
| Successor | Edgar Scurry |
| Spouse |
Mattie Patton (m. 1904) |
| Children | 5, including Nathan Bedford III |
| Relatives | Mary Forrest Bradley (sister) Nathan Bedford Forrest (grandfather) |
Nathan Bedford Forrest II (April 6, 1872 – March 11, 1931) was an American businessman who served as the 19th Commander-in-Chief of the Sons of Confederate Veterans from 1919 to 1921.
Early life
[edit]Nathan Bedford Forrest II was born on April 6, 1872, in Oxford, Mississippi, as the third son of Jane Taylor (née Cook) and William Montgomery Forrest. His father served as a captain in the Confederate States Army.[1][2] He was the grandson of Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest.[3] He was high school classmates with James R. Venable.[4]
Career
[edit]At the age of 25, Forrest engaged in the Klondike Gold Rush for four years as a miner and prospector.[3] In Memphis, Tennessee, Forrest was a railroad and levee contractor and was associated with his father's work.[3]
Forrest was adjutant general of the Sons of Confederate Veterans for 14 years. On October 9, 1919, he was elected as commander-in-chief of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, succeeding Carl Hinton.[5] In 1921, he did seek re-election. He was succeeded by Edgar Scurry.[6][7] In the Confederate Veteran, Forrest claimed that in 1915 he and Tate Brady were making plans together for an "active campaign throughout Oklahoma" on behalf of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.[8] He served as secretary and business manager at Lanier University in Atlanta, a college that was sold to the Klan in 1921.[9]
In 1915, Forrest was aide to William Joseph Simmons during the Ku Klux Klan revival. Forrest became an exalted cyclops of the Nathan Bedford Forrest Klan No. 1 in Atlanta.[4] In July 1922, he was appointed as Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan in Georgia.[10] He was succeeded in the position by Samuel Green.[3] In 1922, he moved from Biloxi, Mississippi, to Atlanta. He was no longer active with the Klan, but held an honorary title of klokann, a national body office. He was imperial kligrapp (national secretary of the Klan) for five years until he left the position due to poor health.[3] He was one of six klansmen in the 1923 imperial kloncilium that settled financial disputes between William Joseph Simmons and Hiram Wesley Evans.[4] He was on the Klan's strategy board at the 1924 Democratic National Convention.[4]
Personal life
[edit]Forrest married Mattie Patton, daughter of Helen (née Coulter) and Thomas Newton Patton, on June 1, 1904.[3][11][12] Her father served under Forrest's grandfather in the Civil War.[12] They had two sons and three daughters, Ford Tyler, Nathan Bedford III, Mary Helen, Nancy, and Martha.[3][11] His son Nathan Bedford III was a senior officer of the United States Army Air Forces killed in action in the European Theater of World War II.[2][13] His sister was historian Mary Forrest Bradley.[14]
Forrest was a member of the Sardis Lodge; the Free and Accepted Masons, Mount Herman chapter; the Royal Arch Masons, Jason Burr council; the Royal and Select Masons; the Atlanta Commandery No. 9 of the Knights Templar; the Arctic Brothers; the Yukon Pioneers; and the North Avenue Presbyterian Church.[3] Towards the end of his life, he lived in Atlanta.[15]
Forrest had a stroke in 1930. He died on March 12, 1931, in White Springs, Florida, while visiting there. He was buried at Elmwood Cemetery in Memphis, Tennessee.[3][15]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ↑ "Nathan B. Forest Claimed by Death". The Columbus Enquirer-Sun. March 13, 1931. p. 4. Retrieved June 29, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
- 1 2 Magness, Perre (June 15, 1989). "Forrests Produced Heroes in Two Wars". The Commercial Appeal. p. CE2. Retrieved June 29, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Nathan Forrest Dies in Florida". The Atlanta Constitution. March 13, 1931. p. 2. Retrieved June 29, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
- 1 2 3 4 Newton, Michael (2007). The Ku Klux Klan. McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 69. Retrieved June 29, 2026 – via Archive.org.
- ↑ "Nathan Forrest Will Head Sons". The Atlanta Constitution. October 10, 1919. p. 2. Retrieved June 29, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ "Not To Be Candidate". Daily Arkansas Gazette. October 10, 1921. p. 10. Retrieved June 29, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ Hopkins, Walter Lee, ed. (1926). Year Book and Minutes of the Thirty-First Annual Convention of the Sons of Confederate Veterans in the City of Birmingham, Ala., May 18–21, 1926. Richmond, Va.: Dudley Printing Co. p. 10.
- ↑ Chapman, Lee Roy Archived March 29, 2023, at the Wayback Machine, "The Nightmare of Dreamland", This Land, September 2011, accessed September 1, 2011.
- ↑ "Forrest Tells Aims of Ku Klux College". The New York Times. September 12, 1921. p. 12. Retrieved June 29, 2026.
- ↑ "Grand Dragon of K.K.K." Arkansas Gazette. July 10, 1922. p. 1. Retrieved June 29, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
- 1 2 "Mrs. Mattie Forrest". Memphis Press-Scimitar. November 17, 1969. p. 24. Retrieved June 29, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
- 1 2 Magness, Perre (1983). Good Abode: Nineteenth Century Architecture in Memphis and Shelby County, Tennessee. The Junior League of Memphis, Inc. p. 76. Retrieved June 29, 2026 – via Archive.org.
- ↑ "Nathan Bedford Forrest, III". Military Times. Retrieved June 29, 2026.
- ↑ "Mrs. Mary Forrest Bradley Dies at 96; Services Today". The Commercial Appeal. October 22, 1965. p. 34. Retrieved June 29, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
- 1 2 "Bury Grandson of Forrest Here Today". The Commercial Appeal. March 15, 1931. p. 9. Retrieved June 29, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
External links
[edit]
Media related to Nathan Bedford Forrest II at Wikimedia Commons
- 1872 births
- 1931 deaths
- Commanders-in-chief of the Sons of Confederate Veterans
- Forrest family
- Ku Klux Klan Grand Dragons
- People from Oxford, Mississippi
- People from Biloxi, Mississippi
- People from Atlanta
- Members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans
- Burials at Elmwood Cemetery (Memphis, Tennessee)
- 20th-century American businesspeople