Roy Exum
Historians largely agree that Confederate General Braxton Bragg wasn’t the sharpest pencil in the drawer. He lost as many battles as he won and was such a crummy leader and arrogant goof his own men allegedly tried to kill him two different times. But whether we like it or not, Bragg is part of the Great American Story, and our history is so precious we should never ever dilute its good or its bad.
This week the Pentagon joined The Legion of the Miserable. Get this: We are spending $62 million in taxpayer money to rename nine Army forts that in the early 1900s were named for Confederate generals. Those like Fort Bragg, Fort Benning and Fort Polk are intricately woven into the very vivid tapestry of America’s military but, due to the spread of wokeness, it was discovered that Bragg, Benning, and Polk were once slave owners, among other things repugnant to modern-day judges
By today’s standards, the belief that only if we erase their names is about as unsettling as the hundreds of statues and monuments that have already been torn asunder in the liberals’ quest to rewrite – or forever bury - the history of one of our nation’s darkest times. The Civil War was awful indeed but to simply wish it away, or change an entrance sign, is equally obscene to many Americans.
For the record, I live at 104 South Bragg Ave. It is on historically rich Lookout Mountain where, during the Civil War's Battles of Chattanooga, there was a famous “Battle above the Clouds.” Subsequently, when the town was incorporated about the same time military forts were being named, this years after the war was actually over, some streets on the mountain were named for Civil War generals who fought here.
For example, at one time in my life I lived on Hooker Street, named for Fightin’ Joe, and that’s a lot harder to explain than Bragg at an out-of-town saloon late in the night. There is a Lee Avenue, and a Lincoln Street, along with others.
It could be worse. Across the state line the Georgia community of Fairyland has a bunch of streets named for fairies and gnomes. There is Tinkerbell Lane, Wood Nymph Trail, Red Riding Hood, and Mother Goose Village. This is due to the presence of Rock City, of course, and nobody seems to mind. At the time I reckon the street names seemed a cute idea.
Then again, the best answer I’ve learned about history is “That was then, and this is now.” Only a fool compares 1861 and leading 1,500 battle-weary troops into Chickamauga while arriving in Fort Oglethorpe in an air-conditioned Lexus on I-75. Comparisons – other than to gauge the human spirit and a Christian faith – are impossible.
I can’t imagine being a slave owner or chasing some Union soldier from the Indiana Third Dragoons through the rocks below where I live, trying to kill him over nothing. I can’t envision the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, the assassinations of JFK or MLK, or stepping on the moon, but, as has been wisely noted, to not study history is to relive it.
So leave my street sign alone. Don’t add me to those who twist in whatever breeze is most popular this month. Bragg Avenue suits me just fine, and, if you’ll follow his lifeline, you’ll discover a troubled man who should have never become a general. Yet that’s the beauty of history – the ending of each saga includes the lesson – and where we learn anew, “That was then, and this is now.”
According to a news release from the Department of Defense: “Some Army bases, established in the build-up and during World War I, were named for Confederate officers in an effort to court support from local populations in the South. That the men for whom the bases were named had taken up arms against the government they had sworn to defend was seen by some as a sign of reconciliation between the North and South. It was also the height of the Jim Crow laws in the South, so there was no consideration for the feelings of African Americans who had to serve at bases named after men who fought to defend slavery.
“All this changed in the aftermath of the police killing of George Floyd in 2020,” the Department of Defense statement reads. “Many people protested systemic racism and pointed to Confederate statues and bases as part of that system. Congress established the commission in the National Defense Authorization Act of fiscal 2021. Then-President Donald J. Trump vetoed the legislation because of the presence of the commission, and huge bi-partisan majorities in both houses of Congress overrode his veto.”
Here are the changes:
FORT BRAGG, NORTH CAROLINA is renamed Fort Liberty. It is home to the Army’s elite special forces and airborne warriors. The new name is n commemoration of the United States’ value on Liberty.
FORT BENNING, GEORGIA is renamed Fort Moore after Army Lt. General Hal Moore and his wife, Julia Compton Moore. Moore commanded U.S. forces in the first large-scale battle of the Vietnam War. His book — "We Were Soldiers Once…And Young" was made into the 2002 movie We Were Soldiers.
FORT GORDON, GEORGIA is renamed Fort Eisenhower after General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower, the leader of the liberation of Europe in World War II, and the 34th president of the United States.
FORT A.P. HILL, VIRGINIA is renamed Fort Walker after Dr. Mary Edwards Walker — the first woman surgeon in the Civil War, and the only woman awarded the Medal of Honor. (She was awarded the Medal for her efforts at Chickamauga.)
FORT HOOD, TEXAS is renamed Fort Cavazos in honor of Army General Richard E. Cavazos, a Hispanic-American hero of both the Korean and Vietnam Wars.
FORT LEE, VIRGINIA is renamed after two soldiers and will become Fort Gregg-Adams. Army Lt. Gen. Arthur J. Gregg was an African-American soldier who rose from private to three-star during a career in military logistics. Army Lt. Col. Charity Adams was the first African American officer in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps in World War II and led the first African-American WAAC unit to serve overseas.
FORT PICKETT, VIRGINIA is renamed Fort Barfoot in honor of Army Tech Sgt. Van T. Barfoot, who received the Medal of Honor for his actions with the 45th Infantry Division in Italy in 1944.
FORT POLK, LOUISIANA is renamed Fort Johnson to commemorate Army Sgt. William Henry Johnson. Johnson was a member of the famous Harlem Hellfighters that fought under French Army command during World War I. Johnson belatedly received the Medal of Honor for an action in the Argonne Forest of France where he fought off a German raid and received 21 wounds in the hand-to-hand fighting. President Barack Obama awarded Johnson the medal in 2015, long after the soldier died in 1929.
FORT RUCKER, ALABAMA is renamed after Army Chief Warrant Officer 4 Michael J. Novosel. The chief was an aviator who flew combat in both World War II and Vietnam and received the Medal of Honor for a Medevac mission under fire in Vietnam where he saved 29 soldiers.
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While Army bases are the most conspicuous examples, many installations have street names or buildings named after Confederates. The Navy will rename the cruiser USS Chancellorsville, which commemorates a Confederate victory, and the USNS Maury — named after a U.S. Navy officer who resigned his commission to fight for the Confederate Navy — will also be renamed. Battle streamers commemorating Confederate service will no longer be authorized.
royexum@aol.com