Nathan Bedford Forrest

Nathan Bedford Forrest (July 13, 1821 - October 29, 1877) was the first supposed Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. He was a Civil War Confederate general who is known for a massacre of 300 black Union troops under his command. Forrest later formed the Ku Klux Klan during the Reconstruction period after the war to regulate supposed northern injustices. He later left the organization under the supposition that they began to become unnecessarily violent. Reveled as a villain to many, he is still celebrated by some for his service to the Confederacy and the "southern cause".