American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)

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Gen. Blake Strickler
Confederate General-in-Chief
El Presidente 2010 - 2012

"Tennessee law does not allow it - plain and simple."

Unfortunately, that can be circumvented.

In February 2013 Forrest Park, Memphis, Tennessee, was renamed Health Sciences Park. On 20 December 2017, Memphis City Council sold that park to Memphis Greenspace fora token US$1,000. The park comprised close to 10 acres of land near the centre of Memphis. Its centrepiece was a statue of General N.B. Forrest. According to Wikipedia, the monument cost $25,000 in 1901 to create, the equivalent of $676,000 in today’s money. The true value of the land alone must be a staggering sum of money.
The statue was removed the very evening the park was sold. There is nothing in the park or on the website for Health Sciences Park to remind anyone of the history of that space which had been established to house the monument to General Forrest and contain his gravesite.
Forrest Park and the statue of General Forrest had been listed on the National Register of Historic Places (https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/AssetDetail/4aba74de-2316-4d1e-a8ea-8e7f5172a170). It should be delisted. The very things (see 'Download PDF' on of the left of the previous link) that made that place historic have been removed (see #8 in PDF).

In front of the statue, the remains of General Forrest and his wife lay. They were dug up and removed in 2021.

General Forrest (and his wife) now lay somewhere on the grounds of the National Confederate Museum, Columbia, Tennessee.
The magnificent and historic statue is now owned by the Sons of Confederate Veterans. It had been planned to place the statue at their headquarters in Columbia Tennessee. I do not know if this has occurred although it is some years now since it disappeared from public view.

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Paul Swanson
Lieutenant-General
First Division
First Corps
Army of Northern Virginia

Any law can be circumvented if you get enough lawyers. But the law was strengthened in 2023 and has worked to at least hear all the sides of an issue and then act. In Murfreesboro, Forrest Hall remains open at Middle Tennessee State University because the commission ruled against the petition to rename the building.

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Gen. Blake Strickler
Confederate General-in-Chief
El Presidente 2010 - 2012

Hopefully those 2023 amendments have some effect in that State.

Regrettably many historic places and things that were on the National Register are now gone, one even melted by a group that included the director of a museum.
Best to try and retain what remains.

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Paul Swanson
Lieutenant-General
First Division
First Corps
Army of Northern Virginia

When I visited Prairie Grove Battlefield in January 2023 i was relieved(?) to see that the Hindman Hall Museum and visitor center was still named as such. Interesting that it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as late as 2020.

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Brigadier General Richard Simonitch
SIXTH BRIGADE (Artillery)
1st. Div. / V Corps
Army of the Potomac

I'm always happy to see anything named after Civil War events/generals.

Growing up near Chicago there was a village where all the roads north-south were battles (Bull Run Ave., Antietam Ln.) and the east-west roads were Union generals (Sherman St., McDowell Ct.). I am guessing whoever laid out the roads was a Union veteran.

Around me in Tennessee are hundreds (seemingly) of roads named after Confederate generals. Forrest seems to be the most popular in central Tennessee. Forrest Glen, Forrest Oaks, Forrest Lane etc. etc. We also have a lot of roads named for old families which settled Tennessee (Donelson Pike, Crockett Ln., Robertson Rd.). Then, of course, there are a ton of Old Hickory Pike and Andrew Jackson areas. Poor James K. Polk does not get much love though. His grave is located prominently near the state capital building but he has faded from popular view (despite historians trying to resurrect him). Andrew Johnson was/is probably ignored on purpose.

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Gen. Blake Strickler
Confederate General-in-Chief
El Presidente 2010 - 2012

When I was a young Civil Engineer in the mid '80's I had the opportunity to name some streets on a subdivision map I was preparing in Vacaville California. The developer changed a few before it recorded but two names stuck: Stuart Court and Meade Court.
Checking this morning I found it interesting that someone named the daycare across the street "Little Yankee Daycare".

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Brigadier General Richard Simonitch
SIXTH BRIGADE (Artillery)
1st. Div. / V Corps
Army of the Potomac