In a bit of a trick, Trump has placed Confederate names back on Southern military bases
By Tony Pederson
Confederate generals Braxton Bragg (left), for whom Fort Bragg in North Carolina was named and John Bell Hood, for whom Fort Hood in Texas was originally named. Illustrations from Shutterstock.
Confederate names on military installations are in the news again as the Trump administration has renamed several military bases. President Donald Trump announced last week that seven military bases, all in the South, would be renamed. The bases previously had names of Confederate leaders but were renamed after a review by Congress. The name changes were completed during the Biden administration.
Before Trump’s announcement, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced that the names of Fort Bragg in North Carolina and Fort Benning in Georgia would be restored. Fort Bragg, the largest in the United States and home to more than 52,000 military personnel, was renamed Fort Liberty in 2023. Also in 2023, Fort Benning had been renamed Fort Moore after Army Lt. Gen. Hal Moore and his wife, Julia Compton Moore. Hal Moore led troops in the Battle of la Drang in 1965 and co-authored the book, “We Were Soldiers Once…and Young,” which was made into a film starring Mel Gibson as Moore.
The trick, and many consider it just that, is that the bases are now being renamed for military heroes who were not part of the Confederacy. Their surnames coincide with the names of Confederate leaders for whom the installations were previously named. This conforms with the congressional mandate that the installations not be named for Confederate soldiers.
For example, Braxton Bragg was a North Carolina native who as a Confederate general led the Army of Mississippi (later named the Army of Tennessee). Fort Bragg was originally named for him, beginning as Camp Bragg in 1918. Now, the base is named for Pfc. Roland L. Bragg who earned a Silver Star and Purple Heart during the Battle of the Bulge in World War II.
Among the installations reverting to previous names announced last week by Trump are three in Virginia, Fort Lee, Fort A.P. Hill and Fort Pickett. Others are Fort Hood in Texas, Fort Polk in Louisiana, Fort Rucker in Alabama, and Fort Gordon in Georgia.
Near the end of Trump’s first term in 2020, he vetoed legislation that would have established a commission to study the names on military installations. The bipartisan legislation was revived and approved as part of the reconsideration of racial issues in the United States after the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer in May of 2020. Congress established the Naming Commission in 2021. The commission’s report was made in late 2022 with implementation of the changes ordered in January 2023.
Retired Army Brig. Gen. Ty Seidule, who was the vice chair of the Naming Commission, said Trump is "overturning the will of the American people through their elected representatives who set up the Naming Commission.” Seidule said the commission had selected "true American heroes who fought for our great nation and reflect the best of our values."
Seidule is professor emeritus of history at the United States Military Academy at West Point and authored the popular book, “Robert E. Lee and Me: A Southerner’s Reckoning with the Myth of the Lost Cause.” He described his youth and the reverence for Lee that was part of his upbringing in Virginia. And yet he concluded that the Lost Cause meme perpetuated for generations in the South was but fanciful thinking and that the Confederacy had engaged in treason.
The reversion to the name of Fort Hood carries the likelihood of resentment among some Texas Hispanics who make up 40% of the state’s population. In 2023, the base was named for Gen. Richard Cavazos, a native Texan who was the U.S. Army’s first Hispanic four-star general. He was twice awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, first in the Korean War and later in Vietnam. His award in Korea was later upgraded, and he was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously. Cavazos died in 2017 at the age of 88.
The Department of Defense has removed Cavazos’ name and renamed the base Fort Hood. Originally Camp Hood and founded in 1942, the base was named for John Bell Hood, a Confederate general who commanded the Texas Brigade. With the recent change, Fort Hood is named for Col. Robert B. Hood, a Kansas native who won the Distinguished Service Cross in World War I.
Fort Hood is the third-largest military installation in the United States and a sprawling complex of 214,000 acres that is a significant part of the economy and culture in central Texas. The base is home to about 45,000 military personnel.
In an editorial headlined “Re-embracing the Confederacy is a disgrace,” The Dallas Morning News was sharply critical of the decision, noting that Trump’s motive apparently was a consideration that anything anti-Confederate was woke. “Renaming the Army base in central Texas as Fort Cavazos in 2023 was a step forward,” the paper said. “Changing the name back to ‘Hood’ is underhanded.”
The Morning News noted that John Bell Hood was “a Confederate general known as a military failure.” It has long been observed even by those with a casual knowledge of Civil War history that many Confederate generals whose names were on military installations were poor leaders. After being promoted to general and placed in command of the Army of Tennessee, Hood proved ineffective with heavy losses of his troops. After the disastrous Battle of Nashville, he asked to be relieved. Another example would be Braxton Bragg, generally considered one of the worst Confederate generals. He was known for being quick-tempered and a poor battlefield strategist whose troops also suffered heavy losses. Bragg was also relieved of command.
The removal of Confederate names on military bases coincided with removing names from streets, schools and public spaces. There were also numerous Confederate statues and monuments removed. Such removals were not universally accepted. In fact, polling was frequently mixed on the removal of statues and monuments.
And the issue cuts deeply in the South where tradition, culture and family connections frequently involve respect for the memory of the Civil War. It remains to be seen whether changing the names of installations again will create any broad acceptance.
No women or people of color are among those being honored with the current name changes. The changes include Fort Eisenhower in Georgia that is again Fort Gordon. The earlier name honored Dwight D. Eisenhower, former president and Allied forces commander who engineered the World War II invasions of Africa and Europe, including Normandy on D-Day.
Steve Moore is the son of Army Lt. Gen. Hal Moore and his wife, Julia. He told CBS News that he was especially pleased when his mother was honored by the Naming Commission to recognize “the value of the military spouse.” He called the removal of his family name from Fort Moore and the change back to Fort Benning “an absolute loophole.”
Whether these changes remain when Democrats regain power remains to be seen. There is emotion tied to the names and the changes. It would seem that the women and men who serve the United States military should not be such a part of the political process.
“There is a long American tradition of mixing politics with the military, religion, race, and every other aspect of life,” said Michael Parrish, professor emeritus in history at Baylor University and a Civil War scholar. “But the increasing politicization of the military, along with the increasing militarization of politics, is a highly worrisome antidemocratic trend. Armed public servants, in uniform or otherwise—present and past—must not project ultimate loyalty to a particular political party or politician.”
The military personnel now being honored by the Trump administration who happen to have Confederate surnames by any measure have demonstrated extraordinary bravery and leadership. They deserve recognition, and there can be no debate about the contributions they made. Whether their names should be on military installations is another discussion.
Names are symbolic, wrote Paige Masten, deputy opinion editor for The Charlotte Observer after Fort Liberty became Fort Bragg again. “Restoring those names, as Trump has vowed to do, is symbolic, too, because it’s yet another thing he’s doing just to show he can.”
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Tony Pederson is managing fellow of the Overby Center for Southern Journalism and Politics and professor emeritus in journalism at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.