Nathan Bedford Forrest II

Nathan Bedford Forrest II
Nathan Bedford Forrest II in 1918
Born(1872-04-06)April 6, 1872
Oxford, Mississippi, U.S.
DiedMarch 11, 1931(1931-03-11) (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 / 35.122444; -90.029556
OccupationBusinessman
Title19th Commander-in-Chief of the
Sons of Confederate Veterans
Term1919–1921
PredecessorCarl W. Hinton
SuccessorEdgar Scurry
Spouse
Mattie Patton
​
(m. 1904)​
Children5, including Nathan Bedford III
RelativesMary 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

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

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 He was no longer active with the Klan, but held an honorary title of klokann, a national body office.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

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

References

  1. ↑ "Nathan B. Forest Claimed by Death". The Columbus Enquirer-Sun. March 13, 1931. p. 4. Retrieved June 29, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.Open access icon
  2. 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.Open access icon
  3. 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.Open access icon
  4. 1 2 3 4 Newton, Michael (2007). The Ku Klux Klan. McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 69. Retrieved June 29, 2026 – via Archive.org.
  5. ↑ "Nathan Forrest Will Head Sons". The Atlanta Constitution. October 10, 1919. p. 2. Retrieved June 29, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.Open access icon
  6. ↑ "Not To Be Candidate". Daily Arkansas Gazette. October 10, 1921. p. 10. Retrieved June 29, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.Open access icon
  7. ↑ 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.
  8. ↑ Chapman, Lee Roy Archived March 29, 2023, at the Wayback Machine, "The Nightmare of Dreamland", This Land, September 2011, accessed September 1, 2011.
  9. ↑ "Forrest Tells Aims of Ku Klux College". The New York Times. September 12, 1921. p. 12. Retrieved June 29, 2026.Closed access icon
  10. ↑ "Grand Dragon of K.K.K." Arkansas Gazette. July 10, 1922. p. 1. Retrieved June 29, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.Open access icon
  11. 1 2 "Mrs. Mattie Forrest". Memphis Press-Scimitar. November 17, 1969. p. 24. Retrieved June 29, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.Open access icon
  12. 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.
  13. ↑ "Nathan Bedford Forrest, III". Military Times. Retrieved June 29, 2026.
  14. ↑ "Mrs. Mary Forrest Bradley Dies at 96; Services Today". The Commercial Appeal. October 22, 1965. p. 34. Retrieved June 29, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.Open access icon
  15. 1 2 "Bury Grandson of Forrest Here Today". The Commercial Appeal. March 15, 1931. p. 9. Retrieved June 29, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.Open access icon
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