Rick Hess sometimes gets things right. He’s not about to endorse Jacobin mobs pulling down statues on their own, but he does realize that these Confederate “heroes” were monsters. Here is part of his article:

“Start with Nathan Bedford Forrest, whose name appears on eight U.S. schools, more than all but five other Confederates. In the six years before the Civil War, Forrest sold around 7,500 people, making a net profit of over $1 million (not adjusted for inflation). His cruelty knew few bounds. In 1859, he advertisedforsale an enslaved female who “is said to be of the class known among the dealers as a ‘likely girl,’ ” callously emphasizing her vulnerability to rape.

“Forrest’s Civil War career was marked by similar cruelty. At Fort Pillow in April 1864, his men massacred about 300 African American soldiers after they surrendered. Once the war ended, Forrest became the…