Committee Recommends Placing Statue of Nathan Forrest Be Placed in Musuem, Not in Public

A committee of citizens has recommended that the state of Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest be placed inside the Rome Area History Center rather than outside in a public place.

Rome City Commissioner Jamie Doss reported the recommendation of the Interpretations Advisory Committee to the full City Commission on Monday night.

According to Doss, ““The committee likes the idea because they can tell the whole story, whether it be the good or the bad.”

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After last year’s Rome City Commission vote the statue of Confederate general war hero William Bedford Forrest was finally removed from Myrle Hill Cemetery Friday.

The statue has been moved to storage and will soon find its new home at the former location of Fort Norton on Jackson Hill.

According to Rome City Commissioner Wendy Davis, “Currently the statue is being housed in an unknown location for safe keeping until we can relocate it to its new home”.

Along with being credited for saving Rome during the Civil War, Bedford’s national legacy stems from his being the founder of the Ku Klux Klan.

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The City Commissioners voted on Monday to move the Nathan Bedford Forrest statue that is located at Myrtle Hill to a new location on History Jackson Jill at Fort Norton.

City Commissioners said that the move is being done to preserve and protect the statue from possible vandalism and destruction.

Commissioners will now conduct a study to see if the statue can be property moved without any type of destruction to the monument.  

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A recommendation from the Rome Community Development Services Committee to move the statue of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest from Myrtle Hill Cemetery to Fort Norton Park on top of Jackson Hill was approved this week.

The next step is to have the city petition the state for approval to move the monument.

The recommendation states that the statue should be located as quickly and expeditiously as possible.

The committee , which includes commissions Randy Quick, Mark Cochran and Sundai Stevenson.

The motion is expected to go on Monday’s agenda at the Rome City Commission Meeting.

A proposed interpretation advisory committee would write a full history on Forrest that would be placed near the statute. The six-member committee would feature three pro-Forrest and three anti-Forrest city residents. It would be chaired for a neutral person selected by the other six members. The group would be provided a $5,000 budget to hire academic historians to make sure all accounts are factual and accurate.