Ten Military Heroes the Army Could Rename its Confederate-named Bases After

Photo of Col Charles Young ArlingtonCementary.net

It is time to rename the ten U.S. Army bases currently named for Confederate soldiers. New namesakes should represent the full spectrum of American society, honoring military veterans of every race and gender who personify the highest virtues of our country.

A recent comment from a U.S. Army spokesman via Task and Purpose stated:

“It is important to note that the naming of installations and streets was done in a spirit of reconciliation, not to demonstrate support for any particular cause or ideology.”

This statement is a historically inaccurate ex post facto justification for a decision driven by white supremacy and the fallacy of the Lost Cause of the Confederacy. We continue to see countless examples of white supremacists upholding the history and flag of the Confederacy as they continue to enact violence on Black bodies in the middle of the street. Bases that honor Confederate soldiers have not brought reconciliation or a lasting peace, instead they feed into and perpetuate a cycle of never-ending terror against the Black community.

But there has recently been a groundswell of support for renaming these bases, with General David Petraeus recently adding his voice in support of the change.

Now the Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy has stated he is open to renaming the bases. He has called for a bipartisan review process, even though he has full authority to make this decision unilaterally. We welcome his signal of openness, and we are sharing ten U.S. Army veterans who would be better namesakes for these bases.

1. Fort Lee, VA. Current namesake: Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Better namesake: General George C. Marshall. Marshall was the Army Chief of Staff in World War II, and went on to serve as both Secretary of State and Defense.
2. Fort Benning, GA. Current namesake: Confederate Brigadier General Henry Benning. Better namesake: General Colin Powell. Powell was the first Black American to become Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and went on to serve as Secretary of State. Boom.
3. Fort Bragg, NC. Current namesake: Confederate General Braxton Bragg. Better Namesake: General Matthew Ridgeway, Army Chief of Staff, and commander of the 82nd Airborne and XVIII Airborne Corps during World War II.
4. Fort Hood, TX. Current namesake: Confederate General John Bell Hood. Better namesake: Master Sergeant Roy Benavidez, Medal of Honor recipient for action in Vietnam, Special Forces veteran, and native Texan.
5. Fort Polk, LA. Current namesake: Confederate General Leonidas Polk. Better namesake: General Ulysses S. Grant, General of the Union Army, 18th President of the United States of America. What is more anti-racist than defeating the Confederacy?
6. Fort Gordon, GA. Current namesake: Confederate Lieutenant General John Brown Gordon. Better namesake: General James Mcpherson was a career United States Army officer who served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. McPherson was on the General’s staff of Henry Halleck and later, of Ulysses S. Grant and was with Grant at the Battle of Shiloh. He was killed at the Battle of Atlanta, facing the army of his old West Point classmate John Bell Hood, who paid a warm tribute to his character. He was the second-highest-ranking Union officer killed in action during the war. The base in ATL used to be named after him.
7. Fort A.P. Hill, VA. Current namesake: Confederate General A.P. Hill. Better namesake: Brigadier General Benjamin O. Davis, Sr., the first Black American to achieve that rank. His son went on to be a 4-Star General in the Air Force.
8. Fort Pickett, VA. Current namesake: Confederate Major General George Pickett. Better namesake: General Ann Dunwoody, first female 4-Star General and Virginia Native.
9. Fort Rucker, AL. Current namesake: Confederate General Edmund Rucker. Better namesake: Senator Tammy Duckworth, Army Aviator, combat veteran, and legislator.
10. Camp Beauregard, LA. Current namesake: Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard. Better namesake: Colonel Charles Young, U.S. Army, first Black Regular Army Officer to achieve the rank of Colonel. Led troops in the 9th & 10th Cavalry Regiment (all black units). The Army tried to force him into retirement so he rode his horse 497 miles from Wilberforce, Ohio to Washington D.C to prove that they were wrong. Ohhh and he tutored B.O Davis, Sr, who would end up being the 1st Black American 1-Star General. Winning battles, riding horses for hundreds of miles, fighting American racism, and tutoring the future Father of an American 4-Star General. What else could you possibly want in a hero!?!?

For good measure, we would endorse renaming Fort Sam Houston, TX, which is named for General Sam Houston, the first President of the Republic of Texas and a key figure in the annexation of Texas as a state where slavery was legal. Since Fort Sam Houston is home to the Army Medical Corps, we recommend renaming the base in honor of Dr. Mary Walker, the only woman to receive the Medal of Honor and a surgeon with the Union Army in the Civil War.

There are so many more U.S. Army veterans worthy of recognition. Who do you think should be considered as a new namesake for Army bases? Leave a comment with names below.

This piece was co-authored by:

Timothy Berry and Daniel Lennox-Choate