List of U.S. Army installations named for Confederate soldiers
Numerous military installations in the United States are named after general officers in the Confederate States Army (CSA). These are all U.S. Army or Army National Guard posts, named mostly following World War I and during the 1940s.[1][2] In 2021, the United States Congress created the Naming Commission, a United States government commission, in order to rename military assets that have names associated with the CSA.[3]
Active installations
There are nine major U.S. military bases named in honor of Confederate military leaders, all in former Confederate States:[4]
- Fort Benning (1917), near Columbus, Georgia, named after Henry L. Benning, a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army[5][6]
- Fort Bragg (1918), in North Carolina, named for Confederate General Braxton Bragg
- Fort Gordon (1917), near Augusta, Georgia, named in honor of John Brown Gordon, who was a major general in the Confederate army
- Fort A.P. Hill (1941), near Bowling Green, Virginia, named for Virginia native and Confederate Lieutenant General A. P. Hill[7]
- Fort Hood (1942), in Killeen, Texas, named after Confederate General John Bell Hood, who is best known for commanding the Texas Brigade during the American Civil War
- Fort Lee (1917), in Prince George County, Virginia, named for Confederate General Robert E. Lee[8]
- Fort Pickett (1942), near Blackstone, Virginia, a Virginia National Guard installation named for Confederate General George Pickett
- Fort Polk (1941), near Leesville, Louisiana, named in honor of the Right Reverend Leonidas Polk, an Episcopal bishop and Confederate general
- Fort Rucker (1942), in Dale County, Alabama, named for Edmund Rucker, a colonel appointed acting brigadier general in November 1864, whose promotion went unconfirmed by the Confederate Congress (disbanded March 18, 1865)
Former installations that were given to the states
The following installations were transferred over to their respective state's National Guard units and are not considered to be assets of the Federal government nor part of The Naming Commission's mandate:[9]
- Camp Beauregard, near Pineville, Louisiana, a Louisiana National Guard installation named for Louisiana native and Confederate General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard[10]
- Camp Maxey, near Paris, Texas, a Texas National Guard installation named after Confederate Brigadier General Samuel B. Maxey.[11]
- Camp Pendleton, in Virginia Beach, Virginia, a Virginia National Guard installation named after Confederate Brigadier General William N. Pendleton
Deactivated installations
Other 20th century installations, now deactivated, named for Confederate Generals were:
- Camp Breckinridge, in Kentucky, named for John C. Breckinridge
- Camp Forrest, a large WWII-era training base near Tullahoma, Tennessee named for Nathan Bedford Forrest, now the site of Arnold Air Force Base
- Camp Pike, a U.S. Army Reserve installation co-located with Camp Joseph T. Robinson outside Little Rock, Arkansas named after Confederate General Albert Pike
- Camp Van Dorn, another massive WWII-era training facility near Centreville, Mississippi named for CSA Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn
- Camp Wheeler, in Georgia, named for Joseph Wheeler
Calls to rename
In 2015, the Pentagon declared it would not rename any military installations named after Confederate generals, saying “the naming occurred in the spirit of reconciliation, not division”,[12] and declined to make further comment in 2017.[13]
Following the June 2020 nationwide protests over the murder of George Floyd by a police officer, the U.S. military began rethinking its traditional connection to Confederate Army symbols, including base names. The use of confederate flags, and statues or memorials dedicated to Confederate Army officers, has been seen as part of racism in the country. In 2021, the United States Congress created The Naming Commission in order to rename military assets that have names associated with the Confederacy.[14] The Naming Commission is mandated by Section 370 of the United States National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (NDAA), enacted on January 1, 2021. Within three years of enactment, the United States Secretary of Defense is required to implement a plan developed by the Commission and to "remove all names, symbols, displays, monuments, and paraphernalia that honor or commemorate the Confederate States of America or any person who served voluntarily with the Confederate States of America from all assets of the Department of Defense."[15][16]
See also
- Fort Belvoir, which was renamed from honoring a Union general to one honoring a slave plantation in 1935 and has also attracted support for potential renaming[17]
- List of name changes due to the George Floyd protests
References
- ^ Burns, Robert (June 10, 2020). "Trump: No change at bases named for Confederate officers". Associated Press. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
- ^ Grosvenor, Edwin S. (June 1, 2020). "Confederates Honored by the U.S. Army". American Heritage Magazine. 65 (3).
- ^ "H.R.6395 - 116th Congress (2019-2020): National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021". U.S. Congress. January 1, 2021. Retrieved February 12, 2021.
- ^ Caitlin Doornboos (25 May 2022) New names recommended for 9 Army bases that honor Confederates
- ^ Rhea, Gordon (January 25, 2011). "Why Non-Slaveholding Southerners Fought". Civil War Trust. Archived from the original on March 21, 2011. Retrieved March 21, 2011.
- ^ Benning, Henry L. (February 18, 1861). "Speech of Henry Benning to the Virginia Convention". Proceedings of the Virginia State Convention of 1861. pp. 62–75. Retrieved March 17, 2015.
- ^ "Fort A.P. Hill History". U.S. Army. Archived from the original on July 1, 2013. Retrieved March 18, 2013.
- ^ "The Three Lives of Fort Lee, Virginia: World War I". U.S. Army. Retrieved July 16, 2021.
- ^ Dickstein, Corey (March 31, 2022). "More than 750 Defense Department items with names tied to the Confederacy listed for possible renaming". Stars and Stripes.
- ^ "Camp Beauregard, near Alexandria Louisiana in World War II". Alexandria-Louisiana.com. Retrieved June 17, 2014.
- ^ Malachowski, James. "Camp Maxey". East Texas History. Sam Houston State University.
- ^ Sims, Cliff (June 30, 2015). "Pentagon won't rename Alabama's Ft. Rucker, named after Confederate officer". Yellowhammer News. Yellowhammer Multimedia. Retrieved August 26, 2017.
- ^ Bergengruen, Vera (August 16, 2017). "Ten major Army bases honor Confederate generals, and there are no plans to change that". McClatchy DC Bureau. Retrieved September 3, 2017.
- ^ "The Naming Commission". www.thenamingcommission.gov. Retrieved September 2, 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "H.R.6395 - 116th Congress (2019-2020): National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021". U.S. Congress. January 1, 2021. Retrieved February 12, 2021.
- ^ Homan, Timothy R. (February 12, 2021). "Pentagon, Congress appoint panel members to rename Confederate base names". TheHill. Retrieved September 3, 2021.
- ^ Seidule, Ty (June 16, 2020). "What to rename the Army bases that honor Confederate soldiers". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 1, 2020.