A commission to purge any mention of Confederate generals like Robert E. Lee and John Bell Hood from the front gates at U.S. Army posts is now also poring over lists of military street signs, barracks facilities and baseball fields named for figures from the Confederacy.
On Wednesday, the congressionally-mandated Naming Commission released an inventory of more than 750 Department of Defense sites, place names and other markers to determine whether their names commemorate the leaders of the rebellion against the Union from 1861 to 1865.
Some are obvious, such as Robert E. Lee Street at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., or Forrest Avenue at Fort Stewart, Ga., named for notorious Southern General Nathan Bedford Forrest. Fort Stewart gets to keep its name, however, because its namesake was a general in the Revolutionary War.
“We will update the inventory list in collaboration with the Department of Defense, including its sub-agencies and the military branches, as we continue to identify assets within our area of consideration,” retired Navy Admiral Michelle Howard, chairwoman of the commission, said in a statement.
Some of the names on the review list aren’t so cut-and-dried, however. The USS Vella Gulf, a Navy cruiser based in Norfolk, Va., is named for an August 1943 battle in the Solomon Islands during World War II. But its crest contains the motto “Move Swiftly, Strike Vigorously” which was reportedly coined by Confederate Gen. Stonewall Jackson.
Also on the list is the USS Shiloh, a Navy cruiser at Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan. While the Battle of Shiloh was Union Gen. Grant’s first major victory, the ship’s crest contains an image of a Confederate flag, according to the Naming Commission.
“This work is vital to understand the scope and estimated costs of renaming or removing Confederate-named assets,” Admiral Howard said. It “will enable us to provide the most accurate report possible to Congress.”
The commission came about following the George Floyd protests in mid-2020 that sparked the removal of a number of Confederate monuments around the country. President Donald Trump opposed the re-naming drive, calling it a movement to cancel and erase American history. But his veto of the 2020 defense authorization act, which created the re-naming panel, resulted in the only veto override by Congress during his presidency.
The costs for renaming or removing items named in honor of the Confederacy will be included in the final recommendations to Congress. The panel’s report is due to the House and Senate Armed Services committees by Oct. 1.