Forrest Fight Continues in Memphis

Originally published December 2019 · p. 38

MEMPHIS, Tenn.—The legal clash over the Forrest Equestrian Statue in Memphis stretches on, as the Sons of Confederate Veterans and the Forrest Family Descendants jointly battle in court against the City of Memphis and their nonprofit company, Memphis Greenspace. In August 2019, the N.B. Forrest Camp 215 SCV filed an appeal to the Tennessee Supreme Court over the illegal taking of the Forrest Statue and two other statues from Memphis parks in December 2017. Likewise, the Forrest Family¸ the five great-greatgrandsons of Nathan Bedford Forrest, has filed a suit in Shelby

County Chancery Court over a multitude of issues and crimes that they say were committed by the City and Greenspace in the same illegal removal of the statues. The Forrest monument itself raises unique issues in that the statue is the headstone of the graves of General N.B. Forrest and his wife MaryAnn Montgomery Forrest, who are entombed beneath the pedestal of the monument. This fact makes the statue a headstone under common law and Tennessee law. The Forrest Camp and the Forrest Family note several errors in the lower court ruling that the sale of the parks was legal, countering that the sales were not legal, and in particular, point out that the lower court never ruled on the cemetery issue. In 2017, on Wednesday, December 20, the City of Memphis sold two $30-million public parks to a newly organized nonprofit, Memphis Greenspace, Inc., for $1,000 each. This nonprofit organization was led by an elected official, Shelby County Commissioner and attorney Van Turner, who that night brought in cranes to remove Confederate statues of General Nathan Bedford Forrest, President Jefferson Davis, and Captain J. Harvey Mathes, along with other historical markers referring to the War Between the States. The Memphis City Council unanimously approved these actions, which were signed into action by Mayor Jim Strickland. This ruling was explicitly made to circumvent the October 13, 2017, ruling by the Tennessee Historical Commission that forbade the city of Memphis from removing the Confederate statues from the parks deemed as public property. Thus, the city made a sale to Memphis Greenspace, turning the public property to private for a total sales price of $2,000 for both parks, bypassing state law. The Sons of Confederate Veterans then sued the city of Memphis and Memphis Greenspace for violation of the Tennessee Historic Preservation Act. The SCV lost in chancery court and then again in the Tennessee Court of Appeals. As the Forrest Camp and Family pointed out in the appeal to the state Supreme Court the Forrest Monument/headstone is covered by Family Burial Law and the Tennessee Cemetery Act, both of which prohibit the removal of a headstone. Desecration of a gravesite is a felony under state law. The lower courts ignored these statutes. In addition, the city mayor signed the land sale deeds on December 15, 2017, five days before the city council met to authorize a sale—thus violating the city charter and making the sale invalid as ultra vires. Memphis Greenspace claims that the statues are currently stored and protected in an undisclosed secure warehouse. The Forrest Camp SCV and Forrest Family are suing for the return of the statues to their rightful and legal place. As yet, no court date has been set in either matter.