The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Pentagon open to renaming bases
10 military installations named for Confederate officers include Benning and Gordon in Georgia.
U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy are “open” to discussing renaming 10 military installations that honor Confederate figures, including Forts Benning and Gordon in Georgia, the U.S. Army said Tuesday.
The Army did not say what prompted their position, which was first reported by Politico. But the move follows days of protests that have rocked the nation since the violent deaths of unarmed black people in Kentucky, Minnesota and Georgia, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery. A moving funeral was held for Floyd in Houston on Tuesday.
The Army’s statement came just days after the U.S Marine Corps announced a ban on public displays of Confederate battle flags at Marine installations, an order that also applies to mugs, posters and bumper stickers.
Meanwhile, Georgians — many of them inspired by the recent protests — braved the coronavirus pandemic, hours-long lines and malfunctioning voting machines to cast ballots in Tuesday’s primary elections. Anticipating long waits, some brought their own chairs. Many wore masks to protect themselves from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
“I decided I’m absolutely going this year,” first-time voter Morgan Brown said after arriving early to cast her vote at the Bitsy Grant Tennis Center in North Atlanta. “With the pandemic and George Floyd, I said ‘Morgan, you have to.’ So I went online to make sure I’m registered. I just feel like it’s my societal duty and privilege that I get to.”
Alfred Grant of Jonesboro said he couldn’t make the protests so he did the next best thing by voting. “I wanted to do my part and since I wasn’t able to protest downtown, this is my contribution,” said Grant, who cast his ballot at Lillie E. Suder Elementary School in Jonesboro.
In addition to possible changes in their elected leadership, Georgians could also see changes with their military bases.
“The Secretary of Defense and Secretary of the Army are open to a bipartisan discussion on the topic,” an Army spokesman said in an email about renaming the bases. “Each Army installation is named for a soldier who has a significant place in our military history. Accordingly, the historic names represent individuals, not causes or ideologies.”
In addition to Forts Benning and Gordon, eight other bases are named after Confederate officers: Fort Bragg in North Carolina; Forts Pickett, A.P. Hill and Lee in Virginia; Fort Polk and Camp Beauregard in Louisiana; Fort Hood in Texas; and Fort Rucker in Alabama.
Located in Augusta, Fort Gordon is named after John Gordon, who commanded half of Robert E. Lee’s army for a time. Wounded five times at the Battle of Antietam, Gordon went on to be elected governor of Georgia and a U.S. senator. He owned slaves, fought Reconstruction and was generally recognized as the head of the Ku Klux Klan in Georgia.
Fort Benning, which sits just outside of Columbus, was named after Henry Benning at the request of the Columbus Rotary Club, according to the New Georgia Encyclopedia. Nicknamed “Old Rock” for his steadfastness in battle, the Confederate general became an associate justice of the Georgia Supreme Court.
He was an ardent secessionist before the war, warning that if slavery were abolished there would be “black governors, black legislatures, black juries, black everything.”
Benning and Gordon employ thousands of people and produce billions of dollars in economic impact for the surrounding regions. Spokespeople for the bases said they support “our Army senior leaders’ decision to be part of this national conversation.”
The responsibility for naming bases has shifted over time among various military officials and agencies, according to the U.S. Army Center of Military History. The responsibility now belongs to the U.S. Army’s assistant secretary for manpower and reserve affairs.
The head of the Georgia NAACP hailed the Army’s move Tuesday.
“We welcome the opportunity to right the course of history and put an end to the glorification of Confederate leaders who sought to maintain the institution of white supremacy and chattel slavery,” said the Rev. James Woodall, the Georgia NAACP’s state president.
“As an eight-year veteran of the United States Army, I stand in the legacy of so many who fought for this country and I embrace that legacy of continuing to fight for the freedom and liberty of all people.”
Controversy surrounding the base names has smoldered for years. It resurfaced in 2015 after the racially motivated killings of nine people at a historic black church in Charleston.
In a column published in Time magazine after the mass murder, George Eaton — a retired Army officer — wrote in favor of renaming Fort Benning and others after “native sons from those states who supported the Constitution of the United States while also performing admirably in battle.”
“Many of the Confederates honored in naming rights,” Eaton wrote, “chose to rescind their heavy oath of loyalty to the Constitution of the United States and turned their guns on the Union soldiers, Army, and nation they had sworn to defend.”
In a separate statement, Woodall of the NAACP also condemned the “massive failures” that led to the long lines and waits for many voters Tuesday and called for immediate action to improve Georgia’s voting systems.