The Army Should Rid Itself Of Symbols Of Treason

[Albany Rifles]

Actually I recommended Alvin York an 82 Div alumni

Gunny, if the 82nd was a standard Infantry Division I would say yes. But Bragg is so much more then the 82nd ABN...the majority of the folks stationed there are not in the division. And as th ehome to the Airborne it needs to and should go to an Airborne/Special Operations leader.

BTW, did you know Bragg was originally an artillery center? It is where mobilizing artillery units trained for World War 1. Became a standard training post in World War 2. Post war is when it became the Airborne center.

[zraver]

Ft Bragg would be a great candidate for James Wiley, Georgia native who fought with a BY regiment in the ACW, captured the colors of a Georgia regiment. From Andersonville GA so possibly the only decent thing to come from there then. The capturing the confederate colors seems fitting to posthumously recapture a base named for a confederate.

[Albany Rifles]

Ft Bragg would be a great candidate for James Wiley, Georgia native who fought with a BY regiment in the ACW, captured the colors of a Georgia regiment. From Andersonville GA so possibly the only decent thing to come from there then. The capturing the confederate colors seems fitting to posthumously recapture a base named for a confederate.

As he is not from NC then FT Gordon would be a better selection. But I think we need more REV War recognition hence why I said Greene.

I recommended 2 forts in VA be named for USCT (I guess the BY in your statement is who you are referring to) when I made the recommendations to the Group.

Both were from VA and both earned their MOH at Chaffin's Farm here in VA.

[zraver]

Oops, I was thinking Benning in Georgia. Wiley, was from GA, fought in a NY regiment and captured a Georgia conferdate regiment's colors. Regardless, there are so many real patriots from each state that has a base named after a confederate traitor that there is no shortage of names of local boys done good.

[Albany Rifles]

This is a great start to the interpretation of history. 20,133 African American Tennesseans served the United States as either USCT or USN Sailors.

As there is now room on Monument Avenue in Richmond I would love to have a similar statue there to commemorate the first liberating troops to enter the city and helped to extinguish the fires which retreating Confederate soldiers had set. Nearly a third of the city waterfront was ablaze when they arrived and many fought for hours to extinguish the flames. They deserve a statue.

Statue stands on Franklin square honoring enslaved troops who served in Civil War

Brinley Hineman
Nashville Tennessean

For the first time in Franklin city history, a statue now stands on the historic square honoring the Black enslaved men who enlisted in the U.S. Colored Troops, a segregated part of the Union Army during the Civil War.

The statue was unveiled Saturday during an emotional ceremony commemorating the troops and their sacrifices. They fought not only for their individual freedoms, but for those millions of enslaved men, women and children across the nation. More than 300 men with connections to Williamson County have been identified as USCT soldiers — a number that grows as more men are discovered.

The monument is the showpiece of the Fuller Story project, which was launched to tell a more inclusive and accurate city history, finally including voices long left out.

The statue, of a USCT soldier, stands close to eye-level, so viewers can look into his eyes and see his wisdom, Pastor Chris Williamson said. Williamson is one of the leaders of the Fuller Story project, along with Pastors Hewitt Sawyers and Kevin Riggs and historian Eric Jacobson.

For many in Franklin, the square has long been the center of the community, where they gathered, shopped, ate and enjoyed the city. But for most of the city's history, that was only guaranteed for white residents. Black residents were forced to use separate water fountains and bathrooms and were forced to get their food at the back of restaurants rather than the front of the house.

Riggs was told by a Black friend that he didn't venture to the city square, because there was nothing there for him. The square is where enslaved people were sold and was the site of lynchings. And while the statue cannot undo the past, it serves as a reminder that Black residents are valued, seen and have a place in the City of Franklin.


When speaking of the square's history, Sawyers, a native of College Grove, recalled visiting Franklin during its segregated years. The square was a reminder of his conditioning as a Black man.

"I was conditioned, in other words, to know where my place was," he said.

City leaders at the ceremony vowed that this wasn't the end to Fuller Story, but a beginning as more stories left untold are unearthed and shared.

What the statue means to attendees — and what should come next


At the unveiling ceremony, The Tennessean asked attendees what the statue meant to them and what they'd like to see come next in the city's goal to tell a more inclusive and accurate story.

Gary Burke, a USCT reenactor who has long championed the stories of the soldiers, said more recognition of the African American experience during the Civil War must be done.

"This is a start, but there should be more education around the subject, especially taught in schools and taught in museums about this rich history," he said. "It's a long overdue recognition of the original freedom fighters who fought to solidify their freedoms."

The African American Heritage Society of Williamson County President Alma McLemore, a Franklin native whose family has lived in the city for generations, was amazed at the event. She has long worked to preserve the stories of the city's Black residents.

"We all know people who come through this community, the first thing they see is the statue in the middle," she said, referring to "Chip," a Confederate statue in the center of the city square.

Now, when they gaze upon the historic courthouse, they'll see a new statue, one that tells the "tearjerker" story of grit and resolve, McLemore said.

"This is unity," she said. "This is bringing people together. We have to come together and tell the full story."

Rochelle Wright, a first grade teacher at Poplar Grove Elementary School and Franklin native, said the statue gives her hope.

"Something like this to happen gives hope to the future," she said.

All agreed that the city has an obligation to keep digging into its history to share more stories of the Black experience. This includes giving Black leaders a platform and teaching more Black history in schools.

[TopHatter]

Goodbye Bragg and Benning: These are the potential names for Army bases honoring Confederates
Make way for 'Fort Eisenhower,' 'Fort Cavazos,' and 'Fort Barfoot'

The Army now has nine new potential namesakes to consider for Army bases originally named after the Confederacy. Among them are Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, Lt. Gen. Hal Moore and Mary Edwards Walker, the only woman to ever receive the Medal of Honor.

At a press conference Tuesday afternoon the Naming Commission, comprised of eight retired general officers and historians, announced the new names, which will replace some of the Army’s most notable forts. The recommendations by the Naming Commission will go to Congress and ultimately to the Secretary of Defense.

The commission had previously reviewed thousands of names, eventually settling on 87 finalists, among them Alwyn Cashe and Audie Murphy.

The nine posts that will be renamed are Fort Benning and Fort Gordon in Georgia; Fort Bragg, North Carolina; Fort Hood, Texas; Fort Rucker, Alabama; Fort Polk, Louisiana; and Fort A.P. Hill, Fort Pickett and Fort Lee in Virginia.

The full list of new Army base names
Fort Benning would be renamed Fort Moore, after Lt. Gen. Hal Moore and his wife, Julia Moore. Moore, who passed away in 2017, graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1945 and was later reassigned to the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C., where he he jump-tested experimental parachutes and made more than 130 test jumps in two years. In 1965, he served as the commander of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, and led his unit in the Battle of Ia Drang in 1965, which was the basis of his book “We Were Soldiers Once, and Young,” which he co-authored in 2001 with former war correspondent Joe Galloway.

His wife Julia was also instrumental in the creation of the casualty notification team, having accompanied the telegrams that were normally delivered to households alerting family members of casualty.

Fort Gordon would be renamed Fort Eisenhower, after Dwight Eisenhower, the famed general who led the allied armies across Europe during World War II. Eisenhower would later go on to serve as the 34th president of the United States.

Fort A.P. Hill would be renamed Fort Walker, after Mary Edwards Walker. A surgeon, spy and advocate for women’s rights, Walker served as a doctor during the Civil War, risking capture to treat wounded soldiers. In 1886, she became the only woman to receive the Medal of Honor.

Fort Hood would be renamed Fort Cavazos, after Gen. Richard Cavazos, the Army’s first Hispanic four-star general. As a platoon leader in a company of Puerto Rican soldiers during the Korean War, Cavazos was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. He would be given that award a second time for his actions in the Vietnam War, before retiring in 1984.

Fort Lee would be renamed Fort Gregg-Adams after both Lt. Gen. Arthur Gregg and Lt. Col. Charity Adams. Gregg enlisted in the Army in 1945, at a time when the service was still segregated along racial lines. Commissioned as an officer, he would eventually rise to Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics for the Army, and also supervised the desegregation of the Fort Lee Officers Club.

Adams entered the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps in 1942. Two years later, she was commanding the first unit of Black women to serve overseas. The 6888th Central Postal Directory in England, Adams’ unit was “tasked with delivering mail to and from almost seven million soldiers fighting in Europe.”

Fort Pickett would be given the new name of Fort Barfoot. Tech. Sgt. Van Barfoot was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in Northern Italy on May 23, 1944. Over the course of that day, Barfoot single handedly took out multiple machine gun emplacements, captured several prisoners and evacuated two severely wounded soldiers.

Fort Polk would be renamed Fort Johnson, after Sgt. William Henry Johnson.

In 1918, during a German raid on his trench, Johnson “threw grenades until his supply was

exhausted. When he ran out of grenades, Johnson fired his rifle until he spent his ammunition. When he ran out of bullets, Johnson charged the enemy, swinging his rifle

as a club. And when he observed two Germans about to carry his wounded comrade away for interrogation, Johnson abandoned his rifle and instead drew his bolo knife, fighting off the raiders at close quarters and pushing them back from the position.”

These actions earned him the moniker of “Black Death” and Teddy Roosevelt called Johnson one of the “five bravest Americans” to serve during the war. Unable to work because of his injuries and not granted any disability benefits by the government, though, Johnson passed away in 1929.

Fort Rucker would be renamed for Michael Novosel. During World War II, Novosel flew B-29 bombers. Almost two decades later, Novosel resigned his Air Force commission and joined the Army as a warrant officer and helicopter pilot. He flew 2,543 extraction missions, rescuing over 5,500 seriously wounded soldiers. In 1969, Novosel braved enemy fire to rescue 29 soldiers over the course of 18 hours, for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor.

Fort Bragg would be the only post to not be renamed for an individual. The Naming Committee announced that Fort Bragg would be designated Fort Liberty.

“Throughout our history, liberty remains the greatest value ever since the nation created a standing army to provide for the common defense that Army’s greatest battles have been for liberty,” said retired Brig. Gen. Ty Seidule, the committee’s vice-chair.

When questioned further on why Fort Bragg would be renamed for a concept rather than a person, Seidule and the other committee members reiterated that the decisions were made with input from people on the posts themselves as well as the surrounding communities.

“We went and listened to local sensitivities, and they told us that Liberty was a name we should consider,” said Seidule.
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Damn fine choices, loyal heroes all.

Michael Novosel...holy shit...how did he get that helo off the ground with the weight of his balls?

[TopHatter]

West Point Has a KKK Plaque Mounted Above Entrance to Science Hall



A plaque that is mounted at the entrance of Bartlett Hall Science Center at West Point includes an image of a hooded figure and the words "Ku Klux Klan." (The Naming Commission via The New York Times)
For decades, the students at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in New York have walked beneath a panel of three bronze plaques mounted at the entrance of Bartlett Hall Science Center that includes an image of a hooded figure and the words “Ku Klux Klan” written below it, according to findings in a report released by a congressional panel Monday.

The report from the panel, the Naming Commission, which was created by Congress last year and tasked with providing recommendations for the removal or renaming of Defense Department assets that commemorate the Confederacy, included multiple suggestions regarding paintings, statues and other items at West Point as well as at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

But the commission said that recommending the removal of the plaque fell outside of its scope because the Ku Klux Klan, founded by former Confederate soldiers, emerged after the Civil War. The panel flagged the item for review in its report and included a picture.

A spokesperson for West Point said the academy is reviewing the recommendations made by the panel and will collaborate with the Defense Department and the U.S. Army to implement the approved changes.

“As a values-based institution, we are fully committed to creating a climate where everyone is treated with dignity and respect,” she said in an email.

“The reason that we put that in there was because we thought it was wrong,” said Ty Seidule, a retired brigadier general who serves as vice chair of the commission, referring to the flagging of the KKK plaque in the report. “When we find something that’s wrong, but it’s not within our remit, we wanted to tell the Secretary of Defense about that.”

The other two plaques above the entrance to the science hall specifically commemorate Confederate figures, including Robert E. Lee and J.E.B. Stuart, the commission found. They were recommended to be modified or removed.

Seidule, who is also a professor emeritus of military history at West Point, wrote a book last year trying to understand why the Military Academy still displayed a portrait of Lee, who graduated from West Point but resigned his Army commission to fight with the Confederacy. The commission unanimously recommended that the portrait of Lee, in Confederate uniform and displayed in Jefferson Hall Library, be modified or removed.

The Naming Commission, established by the National Defense Authorization Act of 2021 following a national outcry over the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police in 2020, suggested new names last year for nine Army bases that honor Confederate officers. That effort led to the renaming of a street in New York City’s only Army post after a Black officer who died saving other soldiers in Vietnam.

The commission’s first report, released earlier this month, focused on Army bases. A third report, due before Oct. 1, will include recommendations for all remaining Department of Defense assets. The secretary of defense has until Jan. 1, 2024, to implement a plan submitted by the commission.

The commission recommended several monuments, portraits and engraved images that depicted Confederate officers to be removed, relocated, renamed or modified at West Point and the Naval Academy.

The cost estimates to implement the changes at West Point ranged from $1,000 for modifications to $300,000 for the removal of monuments and engravings at Reconciliation Plaza, which was built in 2001.

Before making its recommendations in its recent reports, the commission examined an inventory, created by the Department of Defense, listing assets throughout the country that were named after Confederate officers or that contained images depicting Confederate officers, Seidule said.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., who co-sponsored a measure that would require the secretary of defense to remove anything that commemorates the Confederacy, said she would work to ensure that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin III implements the commission’s recommendations.

“I am supportive of the findings in the report and will continue working with the Naming Commission and D.O.D. to remove these harmful tributes that uphold the legacy of Confederate leaders who killed thousands of American service members in order to preserve the institution of slavery,” she said in an email. “It’s a disgrace and damaging to our nation.”

Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-N.Y., whose district covers West Point and who wrote a letter in 2020 to then Defense Secretary Mark Esper arguing for the renaming of military buildings and facilities with Confederate names, said he supports the commission’s unanimous recommendations.

“We cannot allow bigotry of the past to be perpetuated and celebrated in the same halls that educate our leaders of the future,” he said in an email. “It is essential that West Point’s campus and culture be one that is welcoming to students of all backgrounds.”
_________

Yeah I'm pretty sure my head just exploded....

[tbm3fan]

Yeah I'm pretty sure my head just exploded....

You know I would think that trumps (I think usage of that word is damaged now) anything called Fort Hood or Fort Lee. Talk about overt and obvious.

[Officer of Engineers]

Yeah I'm pretty sure my head just exploded....

Want more? School Cmdant happens to be black.

[Albany Rifles]

Want more? School Cmdant happens to be black.

At West Point, the Commandant is a brigadier general in charge of the Corps of Cadets. The Superintendent is a lieutenant general who is in overall command. It is not within the authority of the commandant to make changes.

Here is something more for you....BITD ROTC at a school would be branch specific...i.e., my alma mater, West Virginia University, had all graduates assigned to the Infantry. Many historic black colleges & universities (HBCUs) had ROTC and they commissioned officers into the combat service support branches...i.e., quartermaster, ordnance, transportation. It was a legacy of the segregated Army where Black soldiers only served in those branches.

So that means hundreds, if not thousands, of Black officers trained at Fort Lee. Additionally, 6 of the last 10 commanders at Fort Lee have been Black. So it is not the least bit ironic the a Black servicemember would serve at an instalation with symbols of racial prejudice.

[JRT]

A plaque that is mounted at the entrance of Bartlett Hall Science Center at West Point includes an image of a hooded figure and the words "Ku Klux Klan."

_________

Yeah I'm pretty sure my head just exploded....

A cheap cordless angle grinder and a few minutes of effort would obliterate the image. Leaving the small scar in place would be worthwhile in provoking memory of the removal.

[Albany Rifles]

So, further information reveals it is not as it has been reported...

Kevin Levin is a great Civil War historian who specializes in the interpretation of the Civil War through various times in our history.

https://kevinmlevin.substack.com/p/a...m_medium=email

About that Ku Klux Klan Marker at West Point

Update: I have received additional information that sheds light on this marker. The image is part of a large relief that features roughly 150 additional images that reference important events and people in American history. They include John Brown, William Lloyd Garrison, Booker T. Washington, the Atomic Bomb, and the Santa Maria, among others. The relief—executed by artist Laura Gardin Fraser—was completed in 1956 and dedicated in 1965. One of her most notable projects was the statue of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson that was located in Baltimore before its removal in 2017.

West Point’s archive includes the artist’s brief notes that explain each image. The Ku Klux Klan image is described as an “organization of white people who hid their criminal activity behind a mask and sheet.” There is nothing celebratory about it and it is certainly not in any way connected to the commemoration of Confederate military leaders on campus. One of the things that I now realize is highly misleading, both in the Naming Commission’s report and in the extensive media coverage, is that there is no indication that the particular image is part of a much larger relief.

West Point’s library has digitized the artist’s description of the relief and the key to understanding the individual images.

Source: US Military Academy Public Affairs Office

---

The release of the final report from a Congressional committee (Naming Commission) assigned to look into how West Point and the Naval Academy have commemorated the Confederacy is receiving a great deal of media attention. It should come as no surprise that they are focusing much of their coverage on the discovery of a small marker located above the entrance of West Point’s science building that depicts a man in a hood holding a rifle and the words “Ku Klux Klan” below it.

Headlines such as, “K.K.K. Plague Hangs Above Entrance to West Point Science Hall” and “West Point's KKK shame” will no doubt leave readers assuming the worst about the institution and the reasons for this small marker that few people appear ever to have noticed.

Souce: Naming Commission Report
But here’s the problem.

No one has been able to explain why it’s there in the first place or what it represents. Even the Naming Commission failed to offer any explanation or provide the relevant historical context for its placement in its report.

A photograph of the marker is included in their report, which is accompanied by the following caption:

The Commission visited West Point and worked closely with leaders and historians there to identify assets such as these that have clear ties to the Confederacy, while also gathering information to determine whether or not those assets fall within the Commission’s remit.

The implication, as I read this, is that the placement of the marker was part of a broader commemoration or celebration of the Confederacy and the Klan.

This wording is potentially misleading.

It isn’t clear to me at all that this is a vindication of the Confederacy or the Klan and it has troubled me ever since I wrote about it yesterday morning.

Earlier today my friend and fellow historian Mark Snell left a comment that offers one possible explanation. Mark lived and taught at West Point for a number of years and admitted that he never noticed the marker while on campus. He writes:

Since the Force Acts were implemented during the first administration of President U.S. Grant (USMA 1843), and the final of the acts, called the Ku Klux Klan Act (1871), was enforced in part by the U.S. Army, this could be the reason for the inclusion of the Klansman--a domestic terrorist and enemy of the United States--on the plaque. I'm just guessing--maybe another reader out there will have some more information.

This an interesting observation that is worth further research. For those of you who need your memory refereshed the Enforcement or Ku Klux Klan Acts were passed by the House and Senate in 1870 and 1871 in an effort to protect the civil rights and voting rights of African Americans in the former Confederacy. As many of you know violence was rampant during this period as terrorist groups like the Klan attacked and murdered scores of Black Americans.

The actions of the Grant administration effectively ended the Klan’s reign of terror.

It is possible that this marker is, in fact, intended to commemorate the US military’s role, including officers like Major Lewis Merrill, Major General Frederick Steele and others, in ending the Klan’s violence in the postwar South.

This is a reasonable interpretation. It certainly makes better sense than what is being portrayed in the media right now.

After all, I understand why West Point eventually chose to honor graduates who served in the Confederate army, but I cannot think of any reason why the institution would have honored the Klan.

Obviously, we need additional information. I have been unable to uncover anything that would provide some historical context to better understand this marker.

I will keep you updated as I learn more.

[TopHatter]

So, further information reveals it is not as it has been reported...

Kevin Levin is a great Civil War historian who specializes in the interpretation of the Civil War through various times in our history.

https://kevinmlevin.substack.com/p/a...m_medium=email

That sound you just heard was my gigantic sigh of relief....

[TopHatter]

It’s official: The US military will rename bases that honor Confederates
Goodbye Fort Bragg, hello 'Fort Liberty.'

After years of debate, the Defense Department will finally rename the U.S. military bases and other installations that bear the names of Confederate officers.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin officially gave the go-ahead to implement the final recommendations of the so-called Commission on the Naming of Items of the DoD that Commemorate the Confederate States of America or Any Person Who Served Voluntarily with the Confederate States of America (or, “the Naming Commission”) in a memo released on Thursday.

The recommendations from the Naming Commission call for the Defense Department to alter the names of some 1,111 installations and facilities, including nine major Army bases originally named after rebel leaders.

Those nine posts are Fort Benning and Fort Gordon in Georgia; Fort Bragg, North Carolina; Fort Hood, Texas; Fort Rucker, Alabama; Fort Polk, Louisiana; and Fort A.P. Hill, Fort Pickett, and Fort Lee in Virginia. The Naming Commission released a list of potential new names for the bases back in May, names that included ‘Fort Eisenhower’ for Fort Gordon and ‘Fort Liberty’ for Fort Bragg, among others. The renaming effort comes after 18 months of work by the Commission that included “extensive consultations with experts, historians, and the communities rooted in the bases in question,” according to Austin’s memo.

The majority of the facilities in question will face renaming after a congressionally-mandated 90-day waiting period that will conclude in December.

“The installations and facilities that our Department operates are more than vital national security assets. They are also powerful public symbols of our military, and of course, they are the places where our Service members and their families work and live,” Austin wrote.

“The names of these installations and facilities should inspire all those who call them home, fully reflect the history and the values of the United States, and commemorate the best of the republic that we are all sworn to protect.”

The move to rename bases that honored Confederate officers comes after a long push from activists and lawmakers to divest the U.S. military of symbols of the 19th-century rebellion, which saw the Southern states secede from the Union in an effort to preserve the slave trade.

The proliferation of Confederate base names began at the beginning of the 20th century after an Army general established an informal policy of naming the U.S. military’s many new training camps for troops headed overseas to fight in World War I, a policy generally left up to regional commanders and based on “federal commanders for camps or divisions from northern States and of Confederates for camps of divisions from southern States,” according to an Army Center of Military History study initiated in 2017.

The Naming Commission’s renaming plan “will give proud new names that are rooted in their local communities and that honor American heroes whose valor, courage, and patriotism exemplify the very best of the United States military,” Austin wrote in his memo.

Implementing the Naming Commission’s renaming plan and ridding the U.S. military vestigates of the Confederacy will cost the Defense Department roughly $62.5 million, according to the commission’s final report.
_____

[TopHatter]

West Point to Remove Monuments to Confederate Alumni

Lieutenant General Steven Gilland, the current superintendent of West Point, announced yesterday afternoon that the historic military academy would begin removing Confederate monuments and artwork across its properties over the upcoming holiday break.

During this time “we will begin a multi-phased process, in accordance with Department of Defense (DoD) directives, to remove, rename or modify assets and real property at the United States Military Academy (USMA) and West Point installation that commemorate or memorialize the Confederacy or those who voluntarily served with the Confederacy,” Gilland wrote in a letter addressed to West Point community members obtained by National Review.

Robert E. Lee, the Confederacy’s leading general and a graduate of West Point, features prominently in Gilland’s letter. The reconstruction efforts West Point will begin undertaking over the holiday break include replacing Lee’s uniform from the USMA Library, a bust of Lee at Reconciliation Plaza, and a quote of Lee’s at Honor Plaza.

The school will also be renaming several Confederate-related buildings and streets in the surrounding area including Lee Barracks, Lee Housing Area, Beauregard Place, and Hardee Place.

A Naming Commission appointed by Congress to address the question of renaming the Confederate monuments on campus recommended removing such tributes in August 2022, arguing that the school resisted honoring Confederates for decades after the Civil War until finally relenting to political pressure in the 1930’s.

“Commemorating the Confederacy alongside those graduates honors men who fought against the United States of America, and whose cause sought to destroy the nation as well know it,” the report asserted.

The announcement comes as President Joe Biden is poised to undertake a similar process of removing a Confederate bust of Roger Taney from the Capitol building. Taney was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court who defended slavery throughout his career and the American Civil War.

No replacement names have been selected or approved as of now, though Gilland stated West Point intends to begin the process by Spring 2023.
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