A holiday present for all of us… no more Confederate names of military bases

On Oct. 7, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin ordered implementation of the findings of the Naming Commission, established by Congress last year. Austin's order will be held up by a 90-day waiting period, and the renaming process should be in place by 2024 at the latest.

The Commission took inventory of all the military's contemporary references to the Confederacy. It found nine Army bases and several buildings commemorating rebel officers, in addition to a monument honoring Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery.

Using the word "haphazard," the Commission reported that the naming of these Department of Defense assets had to do with faulty memories about the Civil War in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, rather than with any historical acts actually committed by their namesakes. The report says that White Southerners advocated for names they had been raised to revere, such as Benning, Bragg, Gordon, Hill, Hood, Lee, Pickett, Polk and Rucker. According to its findings, in preparing for World War I and World War II, while hastily naming bases, the Army often deferred to local sensitivities and regional connections of a namesake.

In the case of the nine bases, the Commission voted unanimously on each of the names it recommended for renaming.

Fort Benning will be renamed Fort Moore

Fort Benning is named after Henry Lewis Benning, a former Confederate General. Prior to his military service, he served as a justice on the Georgia Supreme Court, where he authored Padelford v. Savannah (1854) 14 Ga. 438. In that opinion, he stated: "The Supreme Court of Georgia is co-equal and co-ordinate with the Supreme Court of the U.S. and therefore the latter cannot give the former an order, or make for it a precedent." In 1860, Benning led a walkout of the Georgia delegation to the Democratic National Convention when the national party refused to put a plank supporting slavery into its platform.

If you watched the film We Were Soldiers Once. . .And Young, based on a book by Hal Moore and war correspondent Joe Galloway, you already know why Fort Benning, in Georgia, will be renamed Fort Moore. Moore's troops, who were sent to Vietnam from Fort Benning, greatly respected him. He was like a father to them.

Lieutenant General Hal Moore commanded the forces in the first major battle in Vietnam, the Battle of Ia Drang Valley, that took place in November 1965. An American battalion was ambushed and was in such close quarters with the enemy that the U.S. was unable to use air and artillery support. The Americans suffered an over-50 percent casualty rate. Galloway would later write it was the battle that convinced Ho Chi Minh he could win.

The renaming includes not only General Moore, but his wife Julia Moore. At the time of the Ia Drang Campaign, the Army had not yet set up an adequate system of notifying the next of kin of battlefield fatalities. Telegrams were given to taxicab drivers for delivery. Julia Moore took it upon herself to accompany the cab drivers who delivered the telegrams and assisted in the death notifications, grieving with the widows and families of men killed in battle. She attended the funerals of those who fell under her husband's command. She was instrumental in prompting the Army to immediately set up notification teams consisting of a uniformed officer and a chaplain.

Fort A.P. Hill will be renamed Fort Walker

Fort A.P. Hill is named after Ambrose Powell Hill, who served as a Confederate general during the Civil War. His father and uncle were slave owners.

Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia will be renamed Fort Walker after Dr. Mary Edwards Walker. Dr. Walker received the Medal of Honor in 1865, during the Civil War for her efforts in treating the wounded in battle and across enemy lines.

She attempted to join the Union Army at the outbreak of the war but was denied admission. Later, she was hired as the first female surgeon in the U.S. Army. Walker worked on the battlefield in tent hospitals in Virginia and Tennessee. She was captured by Confederate forces as a spy when she crossed the enemy line to treat wounded civilians, just after assisting a Confederate doctor perform a surgery. Walker was held in Castle Thunder Prison in Richmond, Virginia.

During and after the war, Walker was criticized for refusing to wear clothes more becoming of her sex. She is said to have tartly explained: "I have the right to dress as I please in free America on whose tented fields I have served for four years in the cause of human freedom."

Walker is the only woman to receive the Medal of Honor. Of course, they later rescinded the award after Congress tweaked the criteria in 1916 to include only those who had actual combat with the enemy. But she defiantly wore the Medal every day until her death in 1919. In 1976, President Jimmy Carter restored Walker's award posthumously.

Fort Hood will be renamed Fort Cavazos

Fort Hood is named after Confederate General John Bell Hood. In a letter Hood wrote to General Sherman on Sept. 12, 1864, Hood described his conviction that Negroes were an inferior race. In that same letter, Hood wrote: "I believe, for all the true men, aye, and women and children, in my country, we will fight you to the death. Better die a thousand deaths than submit to live under you or your Government and your Negro allies." Within a year, Hood surrendered.

Fort Hood is in Texas, where General Richard E. Cavazos was born. It will be renamed Fort Cavazos after General Cavazos, the Army's first Hispanic four-star general.

For his service in Korea, Cavazos was presented with the Distinguished Service Cross by President Dwight Eisenhower. In 1953, Cavazos led his men in a raid on the entrenched enemy upon whom heavy casualties were inflicted. When a crippling barrage was laid on the position by the enemy, then-Lieutenant Cavazos regrouped his men. Three times he led his company through the heavy assaults onto the enemy position, each time destroying vital enemy equipment and personnel. When ordered to withdraw, Lieutenant Cavazos remained alone to search the area for missing men. He located five men who were wounded in action and evacuated them, one at a time. Not until all his men were off the hill did Lieutenant Cavazos allow treatment of his own wounds.

For his service in Vietnam, then-Lieutenant Colonel Cavazos received a second Distinguished Service Cross for his heroic leadership in a 1967 battle. When the fighting reached such close quarters that supporting fire could no longer be used, Cavazos completely disregarded his own safety and personally led a determined assault on the enemy positions. The assault was carried out with such force and aggressiveness that the Viet Cong were overrun and fled their trenches. His brilliant leadership in the face of grave danger resulted in maximum enemy casualties and the capture of many hostile weapons.

Fort Polk will be renamed Fort Johnson

Fort Polk is named after Leonidas Polk, a prominent Episcopal bishop who was a corps commander in the Confederate Army. Polk was the founder of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Confederate States of America, which separated from the Episcopal Church of the United States of America. He was a slaveholding planter in Maury County, Tennessee before moving to Louisiana.

Fort Polk in Louisiana will be renamed Fort Johnson after Sergeant William Henry Johnson. Sergeant Johnson was in the first African American unit of the United States Army to engage in combat in World War I. On watch in the Argonne Forest on May 14, 1918, he fought off a German raid in hand-to-hand combat, killing multiple German soldiers and rescuing a fellow soldier from being taken prisoner while experiencing 21 wounds himself.

On June 2, 2015, he was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Barack Obama in a posthumous ceremony at the White House. Additionally, Johnson was one of the first Americans to be awarded the French Croix de Guerre avec Palme, France's highest award of valor.

Fort Gordon will be renamed Fort Eisenhower

Fort Gordon is named after Confederate General John Brown Gordon. His father owned slaves and Gordon owned one slave, a 14-year-old girl. Gordon was a lawyer.

Fort Gordon in Georgia will be renamed Fort Eisenhower after General of the Army and 34th President of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower.

During World War II, Eisenhower served as Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe, and achieved the five-star rank of General of the Army. He planned and supervised the invasion of North Africa in Operation Torch in 1942-1943 and the invasion of Normandy (D-Day) from the Western Front in 1944-1945.

In his farewell address to the nation, President Eisenhower expressed his concerns about the dangers of massive military spending, particularly deficit spending and government contracts to private military manufacturers, which he dubbed "the military-industrial complex." Historical evaluations of his presidency place him among the upper tier of American presidents.

Fort Lee will be renamed Fort Gregg-Adams

Fort Lee is named after the Confederate States General in Chief, Robert E. Lee. He was a slave owner and considered himself a paternalistic master. While there are no historical records of eyewitnesses, there are various accounts of Lee personally whipping a slave.

Fort Lee in Virginia is to be renamed Fort Gregg-Adams after Lieutenant General Arthur J. Gregg and Lieutenant Colonel Charity Adams.

Arthur J. Gregg enlisted in the Army in 1946 and retired as Deputy Chief of Staff. When a young Lieutenant, Gregg, who is African American, arrived at Fort Lee in 1950. It was a racially segregated Army post at the time. General Gregg served in two wars, Korea and Vietnam. In his final assignment as Deputy Chief of Staff, he was responsible for logistical support of the entire United States Army.

Lieutenant Colonel Charity Adams was the first African American woman to be an officer in the Women's Auxiliary Corps. At the end of 1944, Adams was chosen to be the commanding officer of the first unit of WAC African Americans to go overseas. Her unit was the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion. Their mission, in Birmingham, England, was to organize and direct mail to U.S. servicemen which had gone undelivered. The battalion was faced with air hangers full of undelivered post, which needed to be sorted and redirected. The women worked around the clock in three shifts, for eight hours per shift, seven days a week. They were tasked with clearing all the backlogged mail in six months, but they were able to accomplish their goal in three months. Last March, President Joseph Biden signed into law legislation to award the 6888th the Congressional Gold Medal.

Fort Pickett will be renamed Fort Barfoot

Fort Pickett is named after Confederate General George E. Pickett. While he was raised on a plantation in Virginia, he is said to have personally disliked slavery. For a time, Pickett served as a law clerk for his uncle. He was accused of war crimes committed during the Civil War for executing 22 Union prisoners in 1864.

Fort Pickett in Virginia will be renamed Fort Barfoot after Van Thomas Barfoot, a Choctaw Indian who was awarded the Medal of Honor.

When he was a technical sergeant on May 23, 1944, Barfoot crawled off alone and made a direct hit into an enemy machine gun nest. He continued along the German defense line, and with his tommy gun killed two and captured three soldiers. By the time he was through, he had 17 prisoners. Later the same day, after he had reorganized his men on the newly captured ground, the enemy launched a counterattack. Using a bazooka, Barfoot stood in front of a German tank, and with his first shot, destroyed it. He then assisted two severely wounded men to safety.

Fort Rucker will be renamed Fort Novosel

Fort Rucker is named after Confederate General Edmund W. Rucker. The title "General" was merely honorary for Rucker, who entered the Civil War as a Private. He rose in rank to become an acting Brigadier General, but his commission was never confirmed by the Confederate Congress. One of his duties was to force into service men who did not want to join the Confederacy.

Fort Rucker in Alabama will be renamed Fort Novosel after Michael J. Novosel, Sr. Novosel was the son of Croatian immigrants. He joined the Army ten months prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor.

During World War II, Novosel flew B-29 bombers in the war against Japan. He returned to active duty in the Air Force in 1953 during the Korean War. By then he had achieved the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

After flying as a civilian pilot, he decided to return to the military, but the Air Force did not need more officers. So, Novosel gave up his rank and served in the Army as a Warrant Officer with the special forces, beginning in 1963. He flew 2,543 missions during his two tours in Vietnam, extracting 5,589 wounded personnel, among them his own son.

On the morning of Oct. 2, 1969, Novosel set out to evacuate a group of South Vietnamese soldiers who were surrounded by several thousand North Vietnamese light infantry near the Cambodian border. Radio communication was lost and the soldiers had expended their ammunition. Without air cover or fire support, Novosel flew at low altitude under continuous enemy fire. He skimmed the ground with his helicopter while his medic and crew chief pulled the wounded men on board. He completed 15 hazardous extractions, was wounded in a barrage of enemy fire, and momentarily lost control of his helicopter, but when it was over, he had rescued 29 men.

In 1971, President Richard Nixon awarded Novosel the Medal of Honor.

Fort Bragg will be renamed Fort Liberty

Fort Bragg is named after Confederate General Braxton Bragg. He was a slave owner prior to the Civil War. Fort Bragg in North Carolina will be renamed Fort Liberty to commemorate the American value of liberty.

Conclusion

The goal of the Naming Commission was to inspire soldiers and local communities with names or values that have meaning, and that underpin the core responsibility of the military to defend the Constitution of the United States. The new names are for heroes of the United States, and they reflect America's populace. Four of the forts will be given the names of Medal of Honor recipients. The Commission met its goal.