Although the individual states are not required to rename their state-owned National Guard facilities, Louisiana has chosen to do so. There are currently no plans to rename state-owned facilities outside of Louisiana, with governors
Greg Abbott of Texas and
Glenn Youngkin of Virginia electing to leave the names of Confederate figures in place.
During the
world wars, the United States established numerous military bases in former states of the
Confederacy that were named after Confederate military figures. Calls to rename the bases occurred sporadically during the 2010s.
In 2015,
the Pentagon declared it would not rename any military installations named after Confederate generals, saying "the naming occurred in the spirit of reconciliation, not division",[5] and declined to make further comment when the issue was raised in 2017.[6] Following the June 2020
nationwide protests over the
murder of George Floyd by a police officer, the federal government began rethinking its traditional connection to Confederate Army symbols, including base names.
President Donald Trump strongly opposed renaming the bases.[7] Partially due to provisions allowing Confederate-named bases to be renamed, Trump vetoed the
2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), however, the veto was overridden by a bipartisan vote of
Congress.[8]
In 2021, per a provision in the NDAA, Congress created
The Naming Commission in order to rename military assets with names associated with the Confederacy.[9] The
United States Secretary of Defense was required to implement a plan developed by the commission and to "remove all names, symbols, displays, monuments, and paraphernalia that honor or commemorate the Confederate States of America or any person who served voluntarily with the Confederate States of America from all assets of the
Department of Defense" within three years of the commission's creation.[10][11]
Active installations
There are nine major U.S. military bases that were formerly named in honor of Confederate military leaders, all in former Confederate States.[12] All were renamed in 2023:
Fort Bragg (1918), in North Carolina, named for Confederate General
Braxton Bragg, was redesignated
Fort Liberty on 2 June 2023 in honor of
liberty[14]
Former federal installations that were given to the states
The following installations were transferred over to their respective state's National Guard units and are not considered to be assets of the Federal government nor part of The Naming Commission's mandate:[23]
Camp Van Dorn, another massive WWII-era training facility near
Centreville, Mississippi named for CSA Maj. Gen.
Earl Van Dorn. Except for areas still possessing environmental hazards caused by hazardous munitions, most of the area has been transferred to private ownership.
Camp Wheeler, in Georgia, named for
Joseph Wheeler. The former camp is now occupied by a municipal airport and an industrial park.
See also
Fort Belvoir, in
Fairfax County, Virginia, which was renamed from honoring a Union general to one honoring a slave plantation in 1935 and has also attracted support for potential renaming[30]