MEMPHIS (AP) — Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest's family and the Sons of Confederate Veterans are challenging last month's removal of Confederate statues from Memphis parks.

According to The Commercial Appeal , the petition with the Tennessee Historical Commission claims Memphis and nonprofit Memphis Greenspace Inc. violated numerous state laws.

The city sold the nonprofit two parks for $1,000 each last month. The nonprofit removed statues of Forrest, Confederate President Jefferson Davis and war correspondent and Capt. J. Harvey Mathes.

Sons of Confederate Veterans lawyer Doug Jones says they removed the top of graves of Forrest and his wife. The city says the statues weren't headstones. Markers with their names remain.

City Attorney Bruce McMullen maintains the move was legal.

Another Sons of Confederate Veterans chapter lawsuit seeks to keep the statues from being sold or harmed.