Any of you Left-headed wingnuts who served in the Army ever stationed at one of these posts? Did you realize who it was named for and how many times Dead-headed Liberal Pukes tried to have them renamed? Never happen, G.I.
Camp Beauregard, La., honors Louisiana native and Confederate General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard (1818-1893, West Point class of 1838). It is a major training site for the Louisiana National Guard. Beauregard was the first brigadier general in the Confederate army. Dispatched to defend Charleston, S.C., his troops began shelling Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, launching the Civil War.
Fort Benning, Ga., honors Brigadier General Henry Benning (1814-1875), a Georgia lawyer, politician, judge and supporter of slavery. The Army established Camp Benning, known as the Home of the Infantry, in 1918; it became a fort four years later 1950 (forts generally are bigger, more permanent installations than camps). āIn the wake of Lincolnās election, Benning became one of Georgiaās most vocal proponents of secession,ā according to the
New Georgia Encyclopedia. āOn November 19, 1860, he delivered a speech before the state legislature urging immediate secession, ending the speech by saying,`[L]et us do our duty; and what is our duty? I say, men of Georgia, let us lift up our voices and shout, āHo! for independence!ā Let us follow the example of our ancestors, and prove ourselves worthy sons of worthy sires!āā
Fort Bragg, N.C., honors General Braxton Bragg (1817-1876, West Point class of 1837). He waged war ploddingly with frontal assaults, and a lack of post-battle follow-through that turned battlefield successes into post-battle disappointments. āEven Braggās staunchest supporters admonished him for his quick temper, general irritability, and tendency to wound innocent men with barbs thrown during his frequent fits of anger,ā historian Peter Cozzens has written. āHis reluctance to praise or flatter was exceeded, we are told, only by the tenacity with which, once formed, he clung to an adverse impression of a subordinate. For such officersāand they were many in the Army of the MississippiāBraggās removal or their transfer were the only alternatives to an unbearable existence.ā
Fort Gordon, Ga., honors Lieut. General John Brown Gordon (1832-1904), one of Leeās most-trusted officers. The post began as Camp Gordon in 1917; it became Fort Gordon in 1956. It is home to the Army Signal Corps and the serviceās Cyber Center of Excellence. āGenerally acknowledged as the head of the Ku Klux Klan in Georgia, he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1872,ā according to the
New Georgia Encyclopedia (Gordon denied the charge). āBy the time of his death in 1904, Gordon had capitalized on his war record to such an extent that he had become for many Georgians, and southerners in general, the living embodiment of the Confederacy.ā
Fort A.P. Hill, Va., honors Virginia native Lieut. General A.P. Hill (1825-1865, West Point class of 1847). The Army created the post six months before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941. Today it is a training and maneuver center focused on providing realistic joint and combined-arms training. Hill had a frail physique and was frequently ill, attributes some historians believe are linked to the gonorrhea he contracted while on furlough from West Point (an infection that forced him to repeat his third year). A Union soldier from Pennsylvania shot and killed Hill in Petersburg, Va., a week before the end of the Civil War.
U.S. Army, from Fort A.P. Hillās website
Fort Hood, Texas, honors native Kentuckian General John Bell Hood (1831-1879, West Point class of 1853). The post began as Camp Hood in 1942, becoming a fort in 1950. It is the largest active duty armored post in the U.S. military. Hood was wounded at Gettysburg, losing the use of his left arm. Despite that, he led his troops in a massive assault during the Battle of Chickamauga, suffering wounds that led to the loss of his right leg.
Fort Lee, Va., honors Virginian General Robert E. Lee (1807-1870, West Point class of 1829), the Southās commanding officer by the Civil Warās end. The War Department created Camp Lee within weeks of declaring war on Germany in 1917. The Pentagon promoted it to Fort Lee in 1950. Just south of Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy, the post is home to the Army Quartermaster School. Lee was the Confederacyās most renowned general, and his forces inflicted tens of thousands of casualties on Union soldiersā at Antietam, Gettysburg and Manassas.
Fort Pickett, Va., honors Major General George Pickett (1825-1875, West Point class of 1846), a Virginia native. Pickettās 1863 charge at Gettysburg has been called āthe high-water mark of the Confederacyā before ending up a Union victory. The charge resulted in a rebel bloodbath. Pickett fled to Canada for a year after the war ended, fearing execution as a traitor. Camp Pickett was dedicated on July 3, 1942, at 3 p.m., 79 years to the day and hour of Pickettās charge in Gettysburg. It became a fort in 1974 and now is a Virginia Army National Guard installation.
Fort Polk, La., honors Lieut. General Leonidas Polk (1806-1864, West Point class of 1827), an Episcopal bishop born in North Carolina. Established in 1941, the post is now home to the Armyās Joint Readiness Training Center, which trains thousands of soldiers annually for overseas deployments. Polk fought bitterly during the Civil War with his immediate superior, General Braxton Bragg, of Fort Bragg fame. Before being killed in action in 1864 during the Atlanta campaign, Polk committed one of the biggest blunders of the war. He sent troops to occupy Columbus, Ky., which led the Kentucky legislature to appeal to Washington for help, ending the stateās brief try at neutrality.
Fort Rucker, Alabama, honors Tennessee native Colonel Edmund Rucker (1835-1924) who was often called āgeneralā but never attained the rank (he was known as āgeneralā after becoming a leading Birmingham, Ala., industrialist after the Civil War). Known today as the Home of Army Aviation, Fort Rucker was originally the Ozark Triangular Division Camp before being renamed Camp Rucker in 1942. It became Fort Rucker in 1955.
Ten Army Bases Named for Confederate Officers