The Base Names: Adding Insult to Injury
Military bases' new names sound as if they're named after Confederates, but that's not the case
According to the media howl you would think that Trump and Hegseth are going full-Dixie. They Aren’t! Not even close. They are not restoring the names of Confederates to US military bases. They are renaming them for a preponderance of yankee’s and buffalo soldiers with shared surnames. Not that these aren’t brave and laudable men, but this is NOT what we voted for… - DD
During a visit to Fort Bragg in North Carolina, President Donald Trump said that seven military bases once named for Confederate military figures -- and then renamed under former President Joe Biden for other military honorees -- would revert to their original names.
But they’re not being named for Confederates.
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"For a little breaking news, we are also going to be restoring the names to Fort Pickett, Fort Hood, Fort Gordon, Fort Rucker, Fort Polk, Fort A.P. Hill and Fort Robert E. Lee," Trump said June 10. "We won a lot of battles out of those forts. It's no time to change. And I'm superstitious, you know, I like to keep it going, right?"
Fort Bragg, along with Fort Benning in Georgia, reverted to their original names earlier this year under Trump.
Those two bases’ names changed after passage of a 2020 federal law following nationwide protests over the murder of George Floyd, a Black man, in Minneapolis. The law required renaming military bases named for Confederate leaders. Trump vetoed the 2020 bill, citing the bill’s "politically motivated attempts ... to wash away history." Congress overrode his veto.
In 2022 and 2023, the federal government renamed nine Army bases named for Confederates after a commission’s deliberations.
The names of the seven bases Trump mentioned are not reverting to honor Confederate military figures, as some media coverage said they would.
Rather, the Pentagon found different military awardees with the same last names as the Confederate figures and named the bases after them.
For instance, Fort Hood in Texas was originally named for Confederate Maj. Gen. John Hood and renamed Fort Cavazos after Gen. Richard E. Cavazos, the Army’s first Hispanic four-star general. The base name now reverts to Fort Hood, this time honoring Col. Robert B. Hood, who was awarded a Distinguished Service Cross for service in World War I.
Military historians we contacted criticized…
For even more analysis see:
Don't celebrate yet - by Don Smith - Confederate Honor
Base Names 2.0 - HK Edgerton's Reports & Letters
President Donald J. Trump
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington DC 20500
11 June, 2025
Dear President Trump,
While many will be ecstatic over your move to change the names of military bases that were wrongfully changed under the Biden administration, it is a hollow victory. In fact, it is not a victory in the sense of “righting a wrong”, because the wrong is not being righted. Keeping the same name, but substituting a different namesake is just as wrong as what was done under the Biden administration with the illegal Naming Commission. This seems to be an attempt to appease Southerners who were slighted by Senator Elizabeth Warren and the Naming Commission. I can assure you that I, and many others, are not appeased by this “name restoration”. Renaming these bases for anyone other than the Confederate officers for whom they were originally named is a slap in the face to the descendants of all Confederate soldiers.
First, we get slapped by the Naming Commission and Pentagon with their illegal name changes. Then, you “restore” the names, but change the namesakes. That is telling us, “You can have the names back, but they cannot be restored to their original names which honor their namesakes”. So, you substitute one fake name for another. That’s another slap.
Our Confederate ancestors did nothing that warrants shame or derision. They legally seceded from the U.S. in order to keep alive those principles of our Founding Fathers; self-determination, independence from an oppressive government, and the right to self-govern. The Confederacy was illegally invaded by Lincoln in order to continue collecting excessive and unconstitutional tariffs, transferring wealth from the South to the North. The Confederate soldier fought in defense of his country and family, not to protect and perpetuate slavery, as is continually spewed by academia, Hollywood, and the media. Since Lincoln endorsed the Corwin Amendment (which would have forever made it illegal to abolish slavery), it baffles me how anyone can persist that the war was fought “to free the slaves”. It is only fitting that monuments be erected and military bases be named in recognition and honor of their selfless sacrifice to preserve those principles stated in our founding documents.
I hope that you will consider an honest and complete restoration of the names of these bases.
Sincerely,
Jeff Paulk
Oklahoma Division Commander
Sons of Confederate Veterans