Basil Childress
Gentlemen,
My father was a WWII veteran. His father a WWI veteran. His older brothers Korean War vets and his youngest brother was killed in action in Vietnam in 1969 (serving in the unit portrayed in the movie We Were Soldiers). My dad’s great grandfather was Cpl George Washington Childress, 10th Kentucky Cavalry CSA. (There were two black brothers in his regiment and were evidently two of the more proficient Yankee killers in that unit. At least one of them spent time in the hell holes that were northern POW camps. He was there with one of my GG Grandfather’s first cousins, Loving Childress. Like nearly all black Confederate soldiers, he adamantly refused to take the oath of allegiance to the US Govt which would have freed him from that pestiferous place) Cpl Childress’ grandfather was Pleasant Childress, Revolutionary War veteran, buried in Pike County Kentucky. Both were related to Childress boys who fought on the Kings Mountain battlefield (one of whom was mortally wounded) and of which Capt Webb writes in his book cited below.
I would suggest to you that one of the preeminent Warriors of whom Webb writes was Nathan Bedford Forrest. I would assert to you that contemplating changing the name of MTSU’s ROTC building is an outrage.
As the descendent of those kin who have shed blood from the very founding of this country, I only desire to honor and be honest about why such men as Forrest and those that followed him and other Southern warriors sacrificed as they did. I would suggest the name of my great great grandfather is a hint – indeed, the Great Seal of the Confederacy is George Washington on horseback and the birthdate of the CSA was George Washington’s birthday. Webb hits that link between the exertions of our Southern forbears dead on target in the chapter I’ve excerpted below.
Basil D. (Bazz) Childress
