The country needed camps to house and train troops. Add two wars on top of that, and any free time on the calendar quickly goes away. Five Benning daughters (Mary Howard, Augusta Jones, Louisa Vivian, Anna Caroline, and Sarah Jones) survived their parents. The facility is home to the U.S. Army Signal Corps and Cyber Corps. The other bases named after Confederate commanders are: The Army, steeped in its history and traditions, has fought efforts to rename the installations and even the names of roads on its posts, saying in 2017 that such moves would be controversial and divisive.. After Pickett's death in 1875, his widow, LaSalle, spent the rest of her life promoting her husband's role in the war by lecturing and publishing three books on his career. In a speech in Virginia in early 1861, Benning revealed in unflinching terms his belief that secession was the only way to save slavery in the South. The statue of Robert E. Lee on Monument Avenue in Richmond, Va., was removed in September, just as the names of Lee and other Confederate generals should be removed, as soon as possible,. Buoyed byprotests over the deaths of African Americans at the hands of police, support for removing Confederate monuments and street names has increased. He married Mary Howard Jones and fathered 10 children. I say give me pestilence and famine sooner than that. Long before the Civil War, Braggs mother shot and killed a free black man who said something to her that she didnt like. While at New York Newsday in the 1980s and 1990s, Goldberg was a Middle East correspondent and political reporter. After the war, Spencer attained great prominence as a railroad tycoon, and he is known today as the "Father of the Southern Railroad System." Hill; For Lee; Fort Pickett; Fort Gordon; Fort Benning; Fort Rucker; Camp Beauregard; Fort Polk; Fort Hood Those bases were not founded in the wake of the Civil War, when President Lincoln encouraged national conciliation. After he was elected to the U.S. Senate, Gordon helped forge an infamous political deal in which white Southern politicians agreed to break a prolonged deadlock over the outcome of the 1876 presidential election by not blocking the Republican candidate, Rutherford B. Hayes, from assuming office. Benning advocated for Georgia's secession, arguing that separating from the Union was the only way to . Later this year in Georgia, Fort Gordon outside Augusta will be renamed for former President Dwight Eisenhower, who served as a five-star Army general. Hill in Virginia, Five features iPhone users can test now in the iOS 17 public beta, Elon Musk talks xAI, AI superintelligence, aliens and more on Twitter. Since the skirmish over the street names at Fort Hamilton died down, the Confederate names of Army bases have received little public attention despite a surge in white supremacist violence this year, including the mass shooting in El Paso in August. He attended Franklin College (now the University of Georgia), graduating in 1834. Which military bases are named after Confederate Generals? And individuals are difficult to separate from their ideologies. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. Take, for instance, the response to a request from Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY) in 2017. Following the election of Abraham Lincoln to the U.S. presidency in 1860 on a platform opposing the expansion of slavery into the territories, Benning took an active part in the state convention that voted to secede from the Union, representing Muscogee County. If things are allowed to go on as they are, it is certain that slavery is to be abolished. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Op-Ed: Rename the Army posts these 10 soldiers deserve the honor, Calmes: Heres whats so frightening about the Supreme Courts latest power trip. Although he was considered for a cabinet position in the government of the newly-established Confederacy, he chose to join the Confederate army instead and became the colonel of the 17th Georgia Infantry, a regiment that he raised himself in Columbus on August 29, 1861. [5] That wound kept him out of the remainder of the campaign and much of the subsequent Siege of Petersburg, but he was able to return in time for the waning days of that lengthy campaign. Of course, this was a war between the states, and one key goal when it ended was to reunite the country. He was a bad strategist, an inept tactician whose usual order was to charge straight aheadHe did absolutely nothing to establish a claim to a place in national or even Southern memory "I just find it mystifying," he says, "that two iconic American army installations should have been named in honor of a racist and a screw-up." After graduating college, he returned to Columbus, where he established his permanent home. Soldiers and dignitaries attended a ceremony Thursday unveiling the new sign that will stand outside the base headquarters. When I was a cadet at West Point in the early 1970s, enthusiasm for Generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson was widespread, Petraeus wrote. Legal Statement. The U.S. position, then as now, should be unambiguous: We reject it, and we will not honor those who led the fight to keep it alive. The post commander, Maj. Gen. Curtis Buzzard, welcomed attendees for the first time to Fort Moore, named in honor of the late Lt. Gen. Hal Moore and his wife, Julia Moore. Beauregard, Benning, Lee , Pickett, Rucker, A.P. To learn more or opt-out, read our Cookie Policy. We believe thats an important part of building a more equal society. The name change for the post formerly known as Fort Benning had been in the making for more than a year, since an independent commission recommended in May 2022 renaming nine of its bases commemorating Confederate officers. The statue of Robert E. Lee on Monument Avenue in Richmond, Va., was removed in September, just as the names of Lee and other Confederate generals should be removed, as soon as possible, from U.S. Army installations. Fort Benning, for example, was built in 1918, at the height of Jim Crow, when lynching and other white violence against black people throughout the South was widespread. Original reporting. After the defeat, he was notably opposed to the idea of Confederate monuments, writing in 1869 that it was better "not to keep open the sores of war but to follow the examples of those nations who endeavored to obliterate the marks of civil strife.". 410-11. Others who served in the Army told me thats an understandable position, as the service always has a lot going on trying to keep Pentagon bosses, lawmakers, and the American people happy and its troops alive. History During the world wars, the United States established numerous military bases in former states of the Confederacy that were named after Confederate military figures. A spokesperson for Clarke said that she plans to introduce legislation soon that would mandate the renaming of military bases named for Confederates, similar to a measure she proposed in 2017. Why did the Army name facilities after men who served a vanquished foe? Experts have offered three main explanations some more convincing than others for why those 10 facilities havent had their names changed: 1) the pervasiveness of the Lost Cause myth in Army culture, 2) bureaucratic inertia and competing problems, and 3) courting controversy. He was a Confederate and he was from Georgia. He commanded "Benning's Brigade" during the American Civil War. Remember, this wasnt Mississippi or Alabama honoring Confederate officers this was the United States of America. Please give me orders where I can do some fighting." Lee. And while the West Point campus features a gate, barracks, and a statute all dedicated to Lee, the academy only got a statue of Union General (and later US president) Ulysses S. Grant a West Point alum last year. He then became a vocal advocate for secession and earned the rank of brigadier general during the Civil War (1861-65). Founded in 1918 as Camp Benning, the Georgia base had long been named for Henry L. Benning, a justice on the Georgia Supreme Court who vocally supported secession after Abraham Lincoln won the presidency in 1860. We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from. If the Army were to follow through, experts say the next step would be for current Army chief Ryan McCarthy to issue a memo to change the names or seek support from the armed services committees in Congress to approve changes in a forthcoming, must-pass budget authorization. Lt. Gen. A.P. And the Confederate officers the Army chose to name the bases after werent just selected at random or because of their military prowess during the Civil War. Beauregard and his commanding officer, Gen. Joseph Johnston, were the military leaders who convinced President Jefferson Davis that the war was lost. This means Fort Benning will be renamed. You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter! Fort Benning in Georgia, the home of Army infantry and airborne training, is named after Brig. The Pentagons official history of racial integration in the armed forces concluded that, with varying degrees of success, such changes actually spread federally sponsored segregation into areas where it had never before existed with the force of law.. The battles she fought at home were those of nearly every Southern woman, but her burdens were heavier than most. Harold Holzer calls him "a pretty formidable military commander. She was arrested but acquitted by a jury. hide caption. The Ft. Bragg military courthouse in 2017. I commanded Fort Benning, Home of the Infantry, one of 10 Army installation named after Confederate generals. If you also believe that everyone deserves access to trusted high-quality information, will you make a gift to Vox today? Many werent even particularly effective military leaders. Oops. And Fort Hood, Texas, was renamed Fort Cavazos on Tuesday. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. All rights reserved. Located in Georgia, the installation was established as a basic training ground during World War I. It is named after Henry Benning, a Confederate general, who was . Southern towns feverishly lobbied for them and for the economic benefits they would bring. assailed as one of the most bumbling commanders in the war. Defense officials declined to comment on plans for the installation names after Trumps remarks. Now Smith and House Democrats are pushing for a provision in the legislation covering the Pentagons budget that would require new military naming conventions, congressional officials say, but it is unclear whether they would require the renaming of existing bases or would only apply to future installations. On the second day of the bloody Battle of Chickamauga, Benning participated in Longstreet's massive charge against a gap in the Union line even as his horse was shot out from under him. All of those Confederate statues were really symbols of white supremacy, and they were put up in the late 19thand early 20thcenturies, not right after the Civil War, noted Catherine Lutz, an anthropologist at Brown University and author of a book about the relationship between Fort Bragg and Fayetteville, where the base is located. We were not encouraged to think deeply about the cause for which they had fought, at least not in our military history classes. Why are there U.S. military bases named for Confederate officers who took up arms against the United States? On 21 May 1918, the Adjutant General (AG) of the Army appointed COL Henry E. Eames, Infantry, to head a board of ocers to meet at Fort Sill to select a new site for the Infantry School of Arms.. Despite that massive blunder and the fact that he fled to Canada to avoid execution as a traitor, Virginias Camp Pickett was dedicated in 1942, earning the larger fort designation in 1979. Fort Lee was, of course . The city can save lives by requiring A/C in rentals, Letters to the Editor: Climate change seems insurmountable. But who was Henry Benning? May 24, 2022 7:44 PM EDT A U.S. Army commission has recommended new names for nine military bases commemorating Confederate officers, including the head of its army, the reputed Georgia chief of. A native of Knoxville and graduate of the University of Tennessee, she has worked at the AJC for 22 years. A movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries known as "The Lost Cause" sought to defend the motivations of the Confederacy, obscure the role of slavery and drape these men in romance and devotion to homeland. To her fell the work of superintending the weaving and spinning of enough cloth, not only to clothe her own children and servants, but also Confederate soldiers. Benning was active in Southern U.S. politics and an ardent secessionist, bitterly opposing abolition and the emancipation of slaves. Benning graduated from the University of Georgia in 1834 and then studied law. The issue of what an Army base is named isnt trivial: It has an actual effect on the thousands of black Americans and other minorities who put on the Army uniform every day to serve their country.
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why was fort benning named after a confederate general
