Tennessee approves plan to dig up, remove the remains of Confederate General

In an unanimous vote, the council approved a resolution for the removal of Bedford’s remains from under a statue in his honor that now sits in Health Sciences Park on Union Avenue.

Shortly after the Mayor’s announcement, the Memphis City Council returned with an approval of now moving the bodies back to Elmwood Cemetery.

But one council member had another thought about the exhumation of Forrest and sale of his statue.

There’s still a ways to go before the move can be completed; approval is required from a Tennessee court and the state historic commission.

Forrest was a plantation owner and slave trader, and a lieutenant general in the Confederate army during the Civil War. In 2013, Memphis re-named the park where Forrest is buried from “Forrest Park” to “Health Sciences Park” to be more inclusive.

Officials at Elmwood Cemetery where Bedford’s grave was originally located indicated that they would be willing to accept the remains. The entire process to remove the remains and the statue is going to take some time.

City Council Chairman Myron Lowery attended the rally, and he says a protest is supposed to take place Sunday for people who want the statue to stay right where it is.

“What’s happening here is we are seeing political entities such as the County Commission, the State Legislature are all taking a stance on what is politically correct, and that is removing symbols of racism and bigotry away from public property”, Lowery added.

The Governor’s office said in order for that to change it would take legislation, so some lawmakers called on the governor to make it happen. He said there has been a wave of “hysteria” over Confederate symbols since the recent massacre of nine people at a black church in South Carolina.

The council’s decision has faced opposition from Lee Miller, spokesman for the Sons of the Confederate Veterans, who commented on the issue. “To attack something like that now I feel is just really misguided”, he said. Council rules require the ordinance to be read three times before a vote can be held.

Edmund Ford Jr. said he’d talked to a man who was interested in having the statue moved to Shiloh Military Park in Tennessee.