SCV Telegraph
Compatriots:
This is a video that should fully explain the reason we contacted Mr. Beck. Watch and "hang on" --
my response is posted below.
Gene Hogan
Chief of Heritage Defense
Sons of Confederate Veterans
(866) 681 - 7314
Sons of Confederate Veterans
(866) 681 - 7314
_____________________________________
Dear Mr. Beck:
Recently,
on GBTV, with WallBuilders' Founder and President David Barton present,
you displayed what you claim was the sword belonging to Nathan Bedford
Forrest - an example of "tremendous American evil," in your words. You
spoke of the War Between The States' engagement at Ft. Pillow and
perpetuated Rev. Barton's conjecture (which I'd never before heard) that
the sword "skinned people alive."
Perhaps
you and Rev. Barton should actually read the Congressional inquiry into
the matter -- it is inconclusive, neither exonerating nor condemning
Forrest. Ft. Pillow was the typical "fog of war" circumstance that makes
it impossible to sort out events as they actually occurred.
However, don't feel compelled to accept my opinion. Lt. Col. Edwin L. Kennedy, Jr. is an Assistant Professor, Department of Command and Leadership, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama. His review of the events at Ft. Pillow follows:
Only
two weeks after the battle, a U.S. Congressional inquiry could not
conclusively determine exactly what happened. Both sides failed to
control the action, and only Forrest's direct, personal intervention to
stop the shooting saved many of the Union defenders left standing on the
beach. Not satisfied with the Congressional inquiry, Union General
William T. Sherman convened a not-so-impartial inquiry. He openly stated
that he would try and convict General Forrest. However, Sherman's
inquiry also ended without substantive evidence to find Forrest
culpable.
Northern newspapers criticizing Forrest's effort "to explain away the Fort Pillow affair," however, seem especially disingenuous since the sensationalist accounts by the partisan Northern press bears a large share of the burden for creating and perpetuating the "massacre" claim in the first place. Forrest always disputed claims that his Fort Pillow victory was a "massacre." Any fair-minded judgment as to whether it was truly the racism-inspired, premeditated massacre claimed by the Northern press and Union leaders at the time must also take into consideration the inevitable confusion of desperate, hand-to-hand combat and the many contributing factors that created and exacerbated the disastrous Union rout.
Of
course, wartime events concerning Forrest cannot be considered in a
vacuum - he has become unfairly associated with the actions of the KKK.
Again, a bit of digging instead of accepting "flat earth history" will
give the intellectually honest person a different perspective. Consider
the findings of the Anti-Defamation League:
By
1869, internal strife led Klansmen to fight against Klansmen as
competing factions struggled for control. The Klan's increasing
reputation for violence led the more prominent citizens to drop out and
criminals and the dispossessed began to fill the ranks. Local chapters
proved difficult, if not impossible, to monitor and direct. In disgust,
Forrest officially disbanded the organization and the vast majority of
local groups followed his lead.
If
the treatment of Forrest was not bad enough, to follow it up with a
reference to Herman Goering amplified the insult, effectively equating
Forrest to a Nazi. From a practical standpoint, why would you alienate
Southerners by doing this? The South has obviously been very accepting
of your message - we value the Constitution and eschew progressivism.
In
the first chapter of the Gospel of John, we are told that Jesus came
"full of grace and truth" (v.14). While you and Rev. Barton are
"Restoring Love," why not restore some grace to the Southern people and
some truth for their history?
