The president’s insistence a few weeks ago that he will not allow the names of U.S. Army bases named for Southern Civil War generals to be changed - there is a military commission looking into the matter - got me thinking.
It is, of course, a distraction from the far more important problems facing our nation, but it’s a really great distraction. I’m a Civil War buff - I think it was the most transformative event in our nation’s history - and at least 10 military bases named for rebel traitors who fought against the U.S. Army - all of them Southerners - now face re-naming.
Duh, you may say. But, is it right not to name even one fort or airfield for a northern officer who betrayed our nation long, long ago? Where is the fairness in that?
So, let me propose one. I think one of those southern bases under review should get the name of a really good Revolutionary War Major - a favorite of George Washington himself - who was ready to sell West Point to the British, who fled the country when he got a chance, and died rich and happy in exile in England.
Just think of the pride some future Army officer will have when he is made commander of Fort Benedict Arnold!
To be completely fair, there is a monument to Benedict Arnold at West Point, or at least part of him. It is just a boot - his leg was blown off in combat - and it was put up by people who wanted to memorialize the only part of him that remained loyal to our country.
But, enough of that. Let’s take a look at a couple of the worthy Confederate generals some bases were named for, an honor they don’t really deserve. Unless, of course, they were honored for their contribution to the loss of the South in the Civil War.
(To be fair, there were lousy generals on both sides in the Civil War. Why that happened is worth a whole semester’s study. Let’s just say that’s the way it was back then. After all, there are no Army bases named for bad Union officers.)
I will start my list with Fort Bragg, one of the largest military bases in the world. It takes up 251 square miles of North Carolina and has about 57,000 military personnel, including the 82nd Airborne and the Special Operations Command.
It was named for Braxton Bragg, a hero of the Mexican-American War, who is on several lists of the worst generals of the Civil War. He rarely gave clear orders, abandoned an important defensive position and fled to Chattanooga using a six-month old order as an excuse, then fled Chattanooga thinking he was being attacked by a massive Union army which was nowhere near him.
Then there’s Ft. Hood, which covers 332 square miles of Killeen, Texas, named for Confederate General John Bell Hood, who commanded the Texas Brigade during the Civil War. Nearly 90,000 military work there.
Hood commanded the Army of Tennessee in 1864, and had a perfect record of losing every major battle he fought in. After the surrender of Atlanta - remember Gone With The Wind - he lost the battles of Allatoona Pass, Spring Hill, Franklin and Nashville, allowing the Union Army to drive through the heart of the Confederacy.
Not on the list for re-naming - but it should be - is Fort Belvoir in Virginia. Originally named for Union General A. A. Humphreys, the name was changed in the 1930’s by a Virginia Congressman who hated the idea of an army base in his state being named for a Yankee general. He never said anything about the statue of Humphreys at Gettysburg, but that was in Pennsylvania.
Anyway, Fort Belvoir - it’s French for good view - wasn’t named for a person, but for a slave plantation run by a British loyalist in the Revolutionary war. William Fairfax first bought the property in 1738 and built an imposing brick mansion on the Picnic River. The Fairfax family lived there until George William Fairfax sailed away to England on business in 1773 and never came back. Somehow, the slaves were never able to deal with a fire that destroyed the manor home in 1783. But, the name survives as home for the Army Corps of Engineers.
To be fair, you can find a record of some military installations named for failed Union generals as well, if you look hard enough. General Ambrose Burnside, for instance, lost nearly 1,000 men at the battle of Antietam, but did go on to become Rhode Island’s Governor. His major contribution to history was his unusual hair style. He wore his hair long down his face, a style that gave us the word “sideburns.”
Anyway, in 1942 a coastal defense fort was built on Beavertail Point in Newport, Rhode Island and named Ft. Burnside, The 16-inch guns were never fired at an enemy, and the facility was abandoned by the Army at the end of World War II.
See what a great distraction.
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