Task force: Naval Academy should rename street, two buildings named for Confederate sailors

A federal task force formed to examine Confederate symbols on military installations recommended that two buildings and a street on the U.S. Naval Academy campus be renamed.

In a report published in August, the Naming Commission recommended that the secretary of defense authorize the secretaries of the Army and Navy to begin the removal and renaming activities using the institution’s memorialization procedures.

The academy has detailed instructions of how it names items after individuals closely affiliated with it.

The report made recommendations for the Naval Academy and the United States Military Academy at West Point.

The eight-person commission, consisting of retired military, civilian and elected officials, took more than a year to reach a conclusion. It conducted campuswide tours and held multiple engagement sessions with faculty, staff, alumni, Midshipmen and newly commissioned officers.

The commission collaborated with the academy’s Board of Visitors as part of the study. One of the board members, Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, is pleased with efforts of the commission and its report.

“We should not lift up the legacies of men who actively fought against American values like equality and tolerance, especially at our nation’s most prestigious institutions,” said

Ruppersberger, a Baltimore County Democrat. “Midshipmen who have earned the honor to attend the Naval Academy should not have to live and study on a campus home to buildings named for men who fought to preserve slavery and promote white supremacy.”

He said he hopes these changes can be executed by the Naval Academy as soon as possible.

The committee concluded that Maury Hall, named after Matthew Fontaine Maury, and Buchanan House, named after Franklin Buchanan, the first superintendent of the academy, should be renamed. Also, the name of Buchanan Road, the 510-foot road adjacent to Buchanan House, should be changed.

Maury served in the U.S. Navy more than 30 years before the Civil War started and was one of the nation’s first oceanographers and climatologists. Maury didn’t view African Americans as deserving of equal rights under the law, according to the commission report. These views led to him to join the Confederacy, lobby European nations to recognize the Confederate States of America and help build the Confederate Navy.

Buchanan served in the Navy for 45 years before the Civil War, performing a number of roles, from being an officer during the Mexican American War to serving as a steamboat commodore. He was also the first superintendent of the Naval Academy. During the Civil War, he joined the Confederacy and rose to the rank of admiral and commanded the CSS

Virginia. He commanded several battles that led to the killing of hundreds of U.S. sailors.

The commission report also concluded that the memorial column inside Memorial Hall that has a roll call for Naval Academy graduates who died during naval operations will remain, according to the report. The commission decided that even though some names are noted as Confederate, the limited factual nature should allow the structure to remain.

The academy also may identify Confederacy-affiliated items in the future.

An academy spokesman said the institution was aware of the committee’s recommendations but didn’t specify next steps in the renaming process.

“The U.S. Naval Academy is aware of the findings in Part II of the final report released by the Naming Commission to rename Maury Hall, Buchanan House, and Buchanan Road,” said Alana Garas, a Navy public affairs officer commander. “USNA is reviewing the matter for further action per the Commission’s recommendations.”

The name changes are estimated to cost $12,000 for each building and $3,000 for the road, based on information provided by the U.S. Navy, according to the committee report.

The Naming Commission was formed by the National Defense Authorization Act and was given three years to investigate the names of bases, ships and other military infrastructure that may have names related to the Confederacy.