The leader., 1905-05-20
NATHAN BEDFORD FORREsT.
MONUMENT 10 GREAT SOLDIER
UNVEILED AT MEMPHIS.
Great Granddaughter Of the Confed-
crate Chieftain Draws the Veil,
Disclosing the Splendid Statue.

Memphis, Tenn. May 17In the
presence Of surviving comrades and
thousands Of animated spectators the
veil was yesterday afternoon removed.
from the Niehaus statue Of Nathan
Bedford Forrest. There was no element
Of discord in either service or celebration.
AS the parting flags revealed the heroic
figure Of the wizard Of the saddle,
vast crowd gave voice to loud cheers.
1t was an event of historic interest. The
South's great hero received from the
hands Of a grateful public royal honors
well and honestly earned.
The scene at Forrest Park at the time
of the unveiling was one of tremendous
interest. Citizens from seven States
applauded little Miss Kathleen Bradley
as she removed the Confederate colors
which veiled the statue. Inbehalf of the
Forrest Memorial Association Senator
Thomas B. Turley presented the statue
to the city of Memphis and in behalf OF
the citizens Of Memphis Mayor Will
hams, in a few well chosen remarks, ac-
cepted it. The incident will be record
ed among the important events in the
history of the city. There was nothing
lacking to make the affair complete
and pronounced success.
It was an ideal afternoon for the un-
yelling. Forrest Park was full of steady
slanting sunshine and half defined flow
er scents. The air was soft and throaty
and Southern, with suspended caden-
ces and unexpected cords coming from
the trees and wind. Between $4,000
and 10000 people filled the park enclos-
ure. The crowd was vivid in color and
restless in action. The streets on each
of the four sides of the park were block
ed with vehicles. Windows of all ad-
jacent buildings were filed with spec
tators About the statue the crowd
was closely packed and it was impos-
sible to penetrate to the speakers stand
without police assistance.
The gathered guard in grey stood
bareheaded in the presence of the statue,
so life-like, so real and so impressive is
the work of the sculptor. To his for
mer comrades it seems but yesterday
when the firm set lips opened to COM
mand. The dark day when he was
gathered in the greater glory of another
world was memory fresh in the hearts
of the men who fought with him. The
historian of the present time will re-
view many important and significant
lives. He will lay the laurel upon many
a storied tomb; but he will honor no
genius more loved and revered than the
one who rests beneath the heroic statue
in Forrest Park.
The present presses hard upon the
past, and while yesterday was day OF
brilliant eulogy, to the comrades of the
late Gen. Forrest there came feeling
Ia sense of loss. His career and fame
were linked and identified with so many
daring achievements that this unyeiling
of his statue awakened many minds to
the sense of the mutability and decline
of today. Standing about the statue
only remnant of the brilliant band of
the great commander could be counted.
They are vanishing one by one. A lit
tie later and these survivors will be-
come shadows themselves, but the great
bronze statue of Gen. Forrest will stand
for all time to come a yindication of a
nations hero; tribute to great mans
greater achievements; figure of SUI
preme interest; a record of an epoch in
the experience of a generation, during
period of awful stress and vicissitude;
an illustration that the memory of dar-
ing deeds well done can never die.
One Veteran, old and stopped, stood
before the statue, as the crowd crept
by, and looking up into the eyes of
bronze, Wept tribute of tears. The
face was parchment upon which time
had written some terrible lessons, but
he was moved as though he stood in the
presence of the wizard of the saddle.
1t was but one of the many touching in
cidents which linked the master and
the man.
All were anxious to see the statue
stripped of its gossamer of Confederate
cOlors. There was triumphant cheer
when the little great-grandd daughter of
Gen. Forrest, Miss Kathleen Bradley
stepped forward to release the Haunting
white and red. The crowd was hushed.
Tranquility lay upon the scene like
caress. Every one was silent. Little
Miss Bradley seemed to realize the
honor Of her great grandparent. Her
lips huttered with smile like the red
petals of iacqueminot rose, gently
blown, and her eyes danced as she re-
leased the cords and allowed the wind
to carry off in triumph the shielding
bunting, and real rebel yell split the
silence into a resounding roar. It was
another tribute to Forrest.
The memory of the man was honored
in tributes of tears, in tributes of graft
tude and in a triumph of love and 10y
atty. In bronze in the fairest of Mem
phis parks, with head barred and in
trepid eyes directed to the land he loved
so well, Gen. Forrest commands today,
as he did in the days of struggle and
strife, when his words were law and his
commands were as binding as bands Of
steel. He sits the more supreme in the
saddle to exercise an unconscious infiu-
ence among the people who SO honored
him yesterday.