Praising Forrest for his Calvary Tactics that are still taught today to officers and enlisted, is dealing with history truthfully.
And they did not just treat Blacks like shit in the South. Everything that was happening in the South, was happening in the North.
Uh, no, we didn't have Jim Crow in the North.
No one but military history buffs really care about his Calvary charges. The fact that he FOUNDED THE ******* KLAN is kind of a bigger deal.
Since no one is going to do a calvary charge any time soon, kind of more important to hold him to account for his evils.
And if we rename the bases buildings, and streets. Will Racism and Slavery disappear from History?
No, but it would be put in the proper context.
These were not men we should honor or respect.
Just like we can't undo the holocaust, but damn, we aren't going to put up any statues of Hitler or name any streets after him.
You are absolutely wrong. Let’s use events in history where the people knew or did not know the lessons from Forrest.
The Russians at Tannenberg. World War One. The Russians managed to turn the attack and the Germans withdrew. Failing to learn the lessons of Forrest they did not “Keep up the Skeer”. They did not maintain pressure and turn the withdrawal into a route. It may not have saved the Russians. It certainly did not help.
Same war. The Germans maintained an aggressive pursuit behind the British and French. By maintaining this pressure they did not allow the French and British to regroup or reinforce until they reached the Marne River. As a result the entire war for the Western Front would be fought in France. Reducing the damage to German Infrastructure and communities.
Shall I continue? We have Calvary Units now. The tactics taken from among others Forrest are part of the SOP. By studying the battles back in antiquity we learn why the rules we follow matter. So that we learn and when the pressure is on we do not make the mistakes that doomed units in the past.
During his career a Military Leader will read a lot of books. He will study battles. How they unfolded. How they were won or lost. He will study racists like Forrest. Sun Tzu. And more than I can name in a brief post. They will study barbaric civilizations like the Spartans to understand the battle of Thermopylae.
It does not mean the Military people will enshrine those racist ideas. They will learn.
Robert E. Lee was a brilliant General. He won battles the Union should have won. General Longstreet showed how defensive firepower and entrenched infantry were a major force that was hard to overcome.
General Jim Gavin was the commander during the Bridge To Far debacle of World War Two. 82nd Airborne. The military was segregated in those days. So we can’t honor him. He was a part of the Segregation Era. And if he made General a full throated supporter of it.
Sherman as I posted above committed a massacre of Black Civilians. We can’t honor him.
Grant authorized and ordered Sherman to carry out the planned brutal march through Georgia and would not hear of disciplining him. We can’t honor Grant.
We can’t honor anyone. My God. Everyone was not worthy using modern terms.
Perhaps we can name ships after States since we can’t use people. But the States have a horrible history too. Indian massacres and many other dark patches. Well what is left. Places and people are out. What can we use?