Vestiges of the Confederacy, supported by the U.S. Government

Fort Hood -- John Bell Hood (Texas)
Fort A.P. Hill -- Ambrose Powell Hill (Virginia)
Fort Lee -- Robert E. Lee (Virginia)
Fort Benning -- Henry L. Benning (Georgia)
Fort Gordon -- John Brown Gordon (Georgia)
Fort McPherson -- James McPherson (Georgia -- this one is an anomaly, because it's a
Union general)
Fort Polk -- Leonidas Polk (Louisiana)

It struck me yesterday after hearing about the horribly tragic events at Fort Hood that there were still a few military bases in the United States named after heroes of the Confederacy. Now, I'm going to be the first to say that I find the Civil War fascinating (with horrific carnage when you stop to think about it) -- and the generals on both sides were at times valiant and at time stupid and idiotic (which come to think about it, is pretty much true of any military conflict). There is no dispute about the right of the Confederate generals to defend their country at the time -- they signed up to fight and they led their troops into battle.



The thing is -- there have been ongoing battles to stop various levels of government from glorifying their past relationship/alliance with the Confederacy. Places that used to display the battle flag have been compelled to stop doing so, either by force of law or by force of public opinion. Places and situations where they used to play "Dixie" don't do so anymore. I won't try to go into details, because we know it has happened.


But the remainder of military bases in the South named after Confederate generals is a vestige of the remaining affiliation in the minds of Southerners with the heritage of the Civil War. Now, it's entirely possible to claim that the war was about "states' rights", but the right that those states were most concerned with was the right of people to keep slaves. And that's why all those other symbols of the Confederacy in "public places" have slowly (at times painfully and with resistance) been phased out or severely downgraded.

But with military bases still named after Confederate generals, the U.S. government still condones and supports this recognition of the heritage of the Confederacy -- and it's affiliation with slavery.

They should be phased out too. History's one thing, but -- let's call 'em as we see 'em.