It’s Veteran’s Day. A military post, Fort Hood in Texas, has been much in the news of late on account of a tragic mass murder. And I’m a history buff.
These threads all came together when I found out that Fort Hood was named for an army veteran — Gen. John Bell Hood. He did serve in the U.S. Army from 1853 to 1861, when he resigned his commission and joined the Confederate army. So we have a U.S. military post named after a man who fought against the U.S. Army.
That got me to wondering. How many active U.S. Army bases on U.S. soil are named after Confederate soldiers? And how many are named after Union officers?
I had never heard of any current forts named after the major Union generals. No Fort [Ulysses S.] Grant, Fort [William Tecumseh] Sherman, or Fort [George H.] Thomas. There were some old facilities now closed, like Fort [John] Logan near Denver, but nothing current.
So I did some quick searching (the list may not be exhaustive) for active Army forts in the U.S. and their namesakes.
Fort Meade in Maryland, named for Gen. George G. Meade, commander of the Union’s Army of the Potomac, and the victor at Gettysburg.
Fort Sill in Oklahoma, named for Gen. Joshua W. Sill, who died in combat.
Fort Carson in Colorado, named for Col. Kit Carson, who led various Union units in the West during the Civil War; mostly he fought Navajo rather than Confederates.
As for the other Confederate namesakes:
Fort Benning in Georgia and Alabama, for Gen. Henry L. Benning.
Fort Bragg in North Caroline, for Gen. Braxton Bragg.
Fort Gordon in Georgia, for Gen. John Brown Gordon.
Fort Polk in Louisiana, for Gen. Leonidas Polk, “the fighting bishop.” A West Point graduate, he left the Army for the clergy and became Episcopal Bishop of Louisiana. When the state seceded, he joined the Confederate Army.
Fort Lee in Virginia, of course named for Gen. Robert E. Lee, commander of the Army of Northern Virginia.
Add it up, and there are four active forts named for Union officers, and six named for Confederates who fought against the Union. What does this Dixie majority signify? An effort at national reconciliation after the Civil War? The power of Southern representatives and senators on military appropriation committees?
Or that one way for an American to be honored by the U.S. Army is to fight against the Army, rather than serve in it? In that case, why isn’t there a Fort Sitting Bull or a Fort Geronimo?
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